Rainbow Dash Around the World

by MagicS

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Original Character, Adventure
Length: 977726

Rainbow Dash continues her flight around the world.

Rainbow Dash’s journey to be the first pony to ever fly all the way around the world is only beginning. Now on the other side of the world she faces all new trials as she crosses mountains, forests, deserts, oceans and more. Old enemies still chase her, new enemies will be made, but new friendships will be forged as well. As long as she believes in herself and keeps her friends in her heart, no monster, ancient demon, griffon pirate, evil pony, or anything else can break her determination and her desire for an awesome adventure.

Updates daily. Art provided by ZettaiDullahan.

Published 2022-03-12 19:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2023-06-16 18:28:49 UTC

The Other Side of the World

Rainbow Dash flew through the cold air above the rolling hills of snow below. She shivered once or twice, things much colder out here than they were inside the magically temperate city of Nogt. After spending days in there she might need a little more time to readjust to the usual cold of the north. Thanks to the perpetually cloudy sky over her head she wasn’t exactly sure what time of day it was either.

“Geez, not so much to look at over here,” Rainbow Dash said as her eyes scanned around the northern landscape.

It was pretty impressive how much more desolate things appeared on this side compared to where she had come from. Almost like she was in another world entirely instead of just a different part of it. If this was par for the course for this side then it was no surprise the Reindeer didn’t really travel through or live here. She should’ve asked Ark’Nogt more about what he knew of this side of the True North. Wasn’t his wife a historian or something when it came to this stuff? Oh well, just another case of Rainbow acting without thinking, it would all work out in the end.

Besides, it was more exciting when she didn’t know what was coming.

Since there was nothing on the ground but snow, Rainbow Dash looked ahead at the upcoming mountains. They were quite large and jagged, with some peaks arching over others and the valleys between them not allowing for any sort of level ground even if they weren’t buried in more snow. It would’ve been a nightmare traveling through them without the gift of flight. For the millionth time on this journey she felt blessed to be able to fly.

The mountains weren’t exceptionally taller than most she had seen in her life but the sheer amount of them and how they were nearly completely covered in snow and ice made them a daunting sight. There was far less uncovered rock on their features than there was ice or snow covering it all up, almost making the mountains look more like white daggers or teeth than mountains of stone. And as far as she could tell they went east, west, and south as far as the eye could see. There was probably plenty of snow-covered land and unbroken ground beyond them but for now it was truly mountain territory.

“Maybe I’ll at least see a lake or river or something somewhere...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.

Looking down again at the snow it was quite obvious that she’d at least never be thirsty up in this part of the world. Ice, ice, everywhere and all the bites to eat. Not the best way to quench one’s thirst but she had done it a lot before on this journey. Chewing and eating the ice could be a decent substitute for actual food for a little while if she couldn’t find any as well. And to be honest her prospects in that area didn’t look too good. Rainbow Dash didn’t see any hints of color or vegetation anywhere, not a surprise and she figured she’d have to keep traveling south for a while before she did but it certainly didn’t make this place any more inviting. Food was probably going to be her number one concern while she was flying through here.

Rainbow Dash blinked and started looking directly ahead again right before her eyes narrowed and she peaked back down. “Wait a second.”

She had thought she had seen something in the snow, something out of place. Perhaps it was just a rock but there was definitely something that wasn’t part of the pure white canvas down there. Rainbow Dash peered harder towards the edge of the snow ocean before the mountains started to rise.

There. A series of brown triangles stabbed out of the surface of snow right in front of a valley between the two closest mountains to Rainbow Dash. They didn’t look like rocks from this distance—too uniform and not the right color—but she wasn’t sure just what they were yet. So obviously she knew what to do now.

“Already found something to check out. Awesome,” Rainbow Dash grinned and dove down towards the triangles.

Luckily for her, despite the poor light thanks to the clouds, there wasn’t much wind or a lot of falling snow around her right now, otherwise she probably wouldn’t have seen the objects in the snow to begin with. The closer she approached the easier it was to tell that she was clearly looking at something unnatural, and she was fairly certain she knew what the triangles were. Or at least what they were the remnants of.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves landed in the snow in the middle of them, sinking down a few inches until her fetlocks were totally buried and flinching at the sudden chill, and she looked around at the group of decaying brown tents. It was tough to tell how old these things were or how long they had been here, but very long was a good guess. Their canvasses were a thick brown fabric of some kind and the poles that Rainbow Dash could still see were made of wood. All of them were at least halfway buried in the snow or more, they had been sitting here unattended for ages while more and more snow dropped on them.

So Rainbow approached the one nearest to her and tried to open up the front flap. But when she tried it wouldn’t open up, like something was holding the two flaps together. Rainbow Dash frowned and dug away a few bits of snow at the front of the tent to reveal more of the flap, finally seeing a spot where two holes in the front flap were connected and tied together by a piece of rope. With a click of her tongue, Rainbow Dash untied it and pulled open the flap.

The foul smell of rotting and fermenting something burst from inside the newly opened tent and Rainbow Dash nearly retched. The snow and cold obviously hadn’t preserved everything perfectly. Rainbow Dash closed the tent flap immediately and backed away.

“Okay, let’s try a different one and hope it doesn’t smell so bad,” Rainbow said. She didn’t exactly want to think about what might have been inside that tent.

Looking around at some of the others she noticed a tent that had all but the top couple of feet completely submerged in snow and the front flap was open, allowing snow to pour into the insides. Digging through snow didn’t bother her at this point though so Rainbow Dash trotted over and fully opened up the tent before digging around inside to find anything. Her hoof soon hit something hard and her eyes widened, Rainbow Dash dug faster and faster to uncover whatever was in this tent. Throwing snow out behind her she uncovered something that looked almost like a gnarled set of tree branches. But Rainbow Dash was able to recognize what they really were immediately: Reindeer horns.

“Oh. That figures,” Rainbow Dash frowned and spent the next minute fully digging out the frozen and relatively well preserved Reindeer from inside the tent. She grimaced as she looked on at him in pity. “You must be from Nogt… part of some expedition, huh?” She stuck her head out and looked around at the other tents as she could only assume what else was in them. “Looks like exploring this side of the world didn’t go too well for you guys.”

It gave Rainbow Dash pause; the Reindeer of the True North were used to these kinds of places, weren’t they? Their bodies were better suited for the climate and they had thousands of years of history up on the other side. And Nogt wasn’t even that far from here, in fact if Rainbow looked back she could still barely make out the wall and tornado. Yet… they had all perished out here in the snow? Rainbow couldn’t help but be curious. Was this side of the True North really that much worse? She had thought that there were plenty of extremely cold and desolate places from where she had come from already, and she didn’t remember hearing any stories of Reindeer dying out there.

Rainbow Dash searched through the rest of the snowed-in tent, ignoring the freezing numbness that had conquered her hooves. A book, a scroll, some parchment, if these guys were explorers from Nogt they must have kept a journal of what had happened on their expedition.

It reminded her of when she had been searching through the crash site of a large airship on a mountainside, looking for answers…

Rainbow Dash shook her head. That had nothing to do with this.

At last she found something else under the snow, a wooden box of some sort that when she opened it up revealed a scattered assortment of ancient papers and one wood-bound book that looked like it was practically falling apart. Rainbow Dash very carefully opened the front cover of the book and to her dismay half the pages came with it, their edges flaking off as they partially disintegrated from her touch.

“Ugh, better than nothing still,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the faded words on the page she had randomly opened up to. “Time to read.”

-become apparent that we have not taken what we need from our home of Nogt despite our best preparations. We simply couldn’t have known how empty the other side beyond Nogt was. It’s unlike the lands we came from at all.

Three months of supplies was thought to be enough but we have been unable to find any extra kindling or even the slightest sign of food. Animal or plant. I dare say that there’s nothing alive at all out here. And now we won’t even have the wood to keep our fires going.

What’s more is that getting back to Nogt is impossible, the snow has-

The rest of the words on the page were too faded to read so Rainbow Dash turned to the next one she could.

-the sun still refuses to show and the winds block us from attempting to head any direction but south. However we know that there’s no refuge for us that way either. All the scouts and the other parties that left our main camp in the first week of the expedition have failed to return or check in in any way.

Why is it so cold? I thought I was used to the cold after my numerous expeditions south of Nogt on the other side. Only now I realize how wrong I was.

It’s obvious we’ve failed in our mission to map out and discover these lands and whatever other creatures or kingdoms might call them home. What I don’t think everyone else on the expedition has grasped though is that we likely will not be able to return to Nogt to speak of our failure.

This camp was supposed to be a hoofhold into this part of the world, somewhere relatively close to our home that could be resupplied and work as the starting point for future expeditions further south. It was supposed to be simple. The other ones journeying off into the mountains were the ones doing the dangerous work, I thought. I don’t think anyone else here at camp but me realizes that we’ve already been claimed by the snow.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she reached the end of that page, she carefully tried to reach towards the back of the book and read the last words written to see if she could glean any knowledge that would be more helpful. Right now all she had gotten was what she expected but just maybe there was something informative or revealing about this place that would help her when she started flying again.

We still have plenty of food but it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t have the strength to eat. I barely have the strength left to write. It’s so cold, we’re all so cold. Nothing can live in this place. I haven’t seen a single arctic bird or heard the cry of a beast, nor have I seen any plants growing anywhere, and now I know why. This place is death. Cold death. The other parties we sent south were futile, I understand now. They will find nothing, no one will ever find anything here. No Reindeer could make a home here, nor any other warm, living creature. It’s all a wasteland of snow and ice, it has to be. This is not our home. This place is different from where we came from where even in the blinding snow one could still find warmth and life. Here there is only the merciless cold. And death.

Rainbow Dash closed the book with a sigh and let it rest beside the frozen Reindeer. She calmly walked out of the tent and looked towards the towering mountains south of her.

“Well guess what? I like a challenge,” Rainbow Dash spread her wings and shot off into the sky once more.

A cold wind came down from the mountains, making her shiver slightly before she blasted beyond them.

Author's Note

True Cold

The entry in the journal about the Reindeer thinking he knew what it meant to be cold before coming here came to Rainbow Dash’s mind. Because she thought she had known the same thing too.

She was wrong.

Whatever “cold” she had been through on her journey before this was nothing. This was what it meant to be cold. Ice frosted over the bottom of her eyes, making her certain that if she blinked her eyes would momentarily get stuck shut. Her nose had two icicles dripping down from it, her extremities were completely numb and unresponsive, frost had turned her tail into a frozen, unmoving sheet of hair. The chill from the air went through her entire body and into her very soul, making Rainbow Dash wonder if she’d ever be able to feel warm again.

Her teeth chattered and her body constantly shivered thanks to the cold air around the mountains. Each beat of her wings was agony. Winter days spent back in Ponyville were like summer compared to this. Nothing could prepare Rainbow Dash, or any other creature for that matter, for sheer unrelenting cold like this. It was almost a crime to even compare other cold places or seasons like winter to the cold death of this strange other half of the True North.

While just previously the wind hadn’t been more than a breeze before she made it to the mountains, now the freezing gales surrounded her. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even really tell from which direction it was mainly coming thanks to how numb and unresponsive so much of her body was. Maybe everywhere? Snow was falling all around her too, making visibility practically nil. It was only thanks to her massive amount of experience that she hadn’t crashed into a mountainside already.

The frost was settling on her wings as well despite their constant movement and the warm blood rushing into them. Her feathers were slowly becoming glazed over with ice.

By this point she could feel icicles forming on the hair of her underbelly as well, her ears too became little more than frozen points with icicles hanging off them. Rainbow Dash could do nothing about it. The freezing power of the weather around her was simply too much, even for a pegasus who normally manipulated the weather to do her bidding. Perhaps she could form a cloud shelter at some point to stave off the cold or give her wings some rest but she truly didn’t feel like she had the energy to do that. Not with the cold piercing and enveloping her entire body, mind and spirit. Mercilessly.

Her lips had turned to a far deeper blue than the rest of her coat and the meager amount of moisture from her mouth had long gone dry thanks to the howling winds and cold. Frost too caked around the corners of her mouth, making her uncomfortable and wishing she could lick the frost away. A fool’s errand if there was one.

Not one to give up, however, Rainbow Dash continued on through the mountains and did all she could to keep herself going. She flew up and down in short dips so as to break the monotonous act of flying straight ahead and try to force some more blood through her veins, keep her heart pumping and her body heated as best she could. Mentally she hummed to herself and finally wiped away the icicles hanging from her nose to breathe easier.

Think warm thoughts, think warm thoughts… Rainbow Dash repeated to herself again and again. Taking a hot shower. Taking a dip in the spa back home. Group hug with everyone else. Going to the Dragon Lands. Being stuck in the maintenance area of the Metal Mountain. Sitting around a campfire with my friends…

This might have been a colder place than she had ever been before, but—this place had also never had a pony like Rainbow Dash fly through it. She wasn’t going to lose to weather. Not after everything else and not with everything still ahead of her.

Unfortunately the more she tried to fight against it the colder it seemed to get. Any icicles brushed away just reformed and the wind only increased in fierceness. Rainbow Dash had to squeeze her eyes shut as a hail of snow was blown into her face and once she was able to open her eyes back up she had to instantly suck in a sharp breath and just barely dart out of the way of a white cliff that suddenly appeared in front of her face. This place was treacherous with a capitol “T”.

And now the flaps of her wings were growing slower and weaker. Despite quite possibly being the greatest flier in the whole world, her normally strong appendages so full of life felt heavy on Rainbow’s sides.

For a second she thought of potentially looking for a cave or at least some sort of cleft in one of the nearby mountains where she could rest for a bit and try to see if the cold and winds would let up. But immediately she realized that was a bad idea. Slowing down and stopping anywhere in this kind of weather was a death sentence. She didn’t exactly know how she knew this, but her heart was telling her that things would never get better than they are now. She’d have to keep moving or the cold would claim her just like it did those Reindeer.

Shivers were breaking out through her entire body and her teeth clattered with such frequency that she could’ve bit through a plank of wood. Only her own internal sense of direction was keeping her on the track south, otherwise she’d be lost in this blizzard of white. With her eyes narrowed she could only occasionally make out any shapes in front of her. She guessed she had passed a couple of mountains but it was hard to tell exactly how far she had gone. There was a way for her to tell where mountains were by feeling the air currents around her, but her senses were so shot by the cold that Rainbow Dash was blind by that method as well.

With a grunt, she struggled to make her wings move normally now, she felt a strange hitch in them like her joints were freezing up and the feathers were stuck together. It took a little bit of extra strength to get a complete flap out of them each time.

Rainbow Dash chanced a glance back at her own wings and saw them practically covered with a sheen of ice. She hadn’t even noticed how bad it had gotten until now.

“Darn it...” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and tried to shake the ice off, trying to break her wings free. She reached a shaking hoof up to her back to try and shatter the ice but all she could do was ineffectually paw at it. There was no strength left in any of her limbs.

And because of that, Rainbow Dash began to fall.

Her body faltered thanks to the uneven flapping of her wings, making her wobble back and forth as she quickly descended to the ground. Far too quickly to call safe. It was probably only snow down there but even that could make for a hard landing depending how it went, and there was the possibility of her hitting solid rock or ice too.

Rainbow Dash futilely attempted to free up her wings for a few moments longer before checking down at the ground again. White. Technically good but she was still approaching at too fast and steep an angle.

So she gave up on flying normally and spread her wings as wide as they could go now in an attempt to glide safely to the ground. Her wings were stiff and they twitched in refusal at first but Rainbow Dash finally forced them open enough to catch the wind beneath them. She jilted in the air and looked towards the ground, trying to pull up a little bit more so as not to just smack right into the packed snow. Finally the wind obscuring her vision gave way nearly completely and Rainbow Dash sharply pulled up just five feet above the surface of the snow.

At high speed she glided for a second longer before her hooves started catching along and digging tiny trenches out of the snow. At last her hooves caught on a thick pile of it and launched Rainbow Dash end over end and smashing a pony shaped hole in the snow twenty feet from where she started to land. Freezing cold and covered in snow, she pulled herself free of the hole and looked around.

The wind wasn’t as bad down here and it looked like she was on a mountain ridge. It sloped up ahead of her and she could just barely make out the crest of the ridge maybe a hundred feet ahead.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked at her wings—still frozen. She tried flapping them and shaking them free of the ice but it was no good. Her wings and all the feathers on them were frozen together. Even if she could get a few beats and make it into the air she wouldn’t stay up there for long. With a grimace, she squeezed her wings shut (also pushing them down with her hooves) and kept them against her sides for now.

The worst possible situation had arrived. It was time for her to walk.

Snowscape

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Four steps.

Rainbow Dash made the slow climb up the snowy mountain ridge after the far more appealing option of flight was taken away from her. Snow clung to her in matted clumps, making the task of walking even more difficult. Her hooves also felt like nothing more than big blocks of ice thanks to how numb the cold had made them. If Rainbow Dash knew this was going to happen she would’ve gotten some boots and a heavy coat at some point. Instead, each step was a painful labor and she hadn’t even been walking for more than two minutes. This sort of pace was agonizingly slow for her and she had barely covered any actual distance at all since she was still just going up the sloped ridge.

Once she made it to the top though she’d at least be able to look out and see what lied ahead. Rainbow Dash was expecting a series of valleys and mountains covered in snow that were going to be an absolute pain to walk through but maybe she’d at least see a decent path south. The wind and snowfall had let up slightly in that it wasn’t blinding her anymore but the freezing cold temperature of the world around her had gotten worse if anything. Directly being in contact with so much snow was a painful thing.

Her wings were stuck uselessly at her sides and her mane had become full of icicles and covered in a sheen of frost that made her hair feel brittle atop her head. Cold, cold, cold, from every direction pressing down on every part of her body. Rainbow Dash thought that even a fire at this point might not overcome the sheer cold out here. Shaking her body to try and free herself of the snow or at least shake what had fallen on her back off was only a temporary fix. A few seconds later the light amount of snow falling would still be enough to keep her back powdery white.

“Think warm thoughts,” Dash said aloud to remind herself she was still alive and moving.

“Princess Celestia is moving the sun overhead right now… i-it’s the middle of the day and it’s n-nice and warm out,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

It wouldn’t the first time she had tried to use mind over matter on this trip, Twilight would be happy to know. If only the weather was just a little less crazy and independent she could probably manipulate it a little bit to make things easier for herself but the way it was she’d probably need a whole weather team to do that. Those scientist guys she had met way back would be a huge help now, the flightsuit and weather dampening spells they had invented were perfect for a situation like this.

Instead, Rainbow had to trudge through the snow with her hooves feeling twice—thrice—as heavy as normal. The snow all around her gave her nothing but a white wasteland to look at thanks to the slope obscuring her vision of everything ahead. At least when she got to the top of it she’d be able to see the mountains the ridge directly ran across, and whatever lied down the other side.

Walking up a steep slope like this was tough though and Rainbow was partially worried that every time her hoof made snowfall she was accidentally going to dislodge a huge drift and go plunging away with it. Every step saw her legs go down past the halfway point and dig out huge chunks of snow, showing her that there was a lot of loose snow beneath her hooves. These top layers were probably the result of freshly fallen snow that had only come down in the past few days before blowing away. A foot or two down she’d find much firmer snow all packed together, along with ice and the rock that actually made up this mountain she was walking on.

“Twilight is never going to let me hear the end of how I didn’t know barely anything about snowy mountains when I get home. She’s going to lecture me so much on how unprepared and reckless I was… ugh, I hate getting lectured by her.”

The one positive she could hold onto at the moment was she wasn’t hungry or thirsty yet. Because if the Reindeer’s journal was accurate, she wasn’t going to find food anytime soon. But her last meal she had back in Nogt was still in her stomach and she was going to enjoy all the nourishment it could provide.

Rainbow Dash was now about fifty feet from the top of the ridge but the slope got steeper and steeper the closer to the top she got until it was nearly vertical. It was impossible for her to tell how narrow it was up there or if she could really stand on it and take a look at everything on the other side… or if she would accidentally take a tumble down the other side as soon as she crested it. Her hooves were having trouble getting any purchase in the snow either, Rainbow Dash grunted in frustration as she kept pulling away clumps of snow and backsliding along with them each time, not making any progress.

“C-Come on!” She dug away at some of the loose snow on top to find a better purchase below it. Not like her hooves could get any number anyways.

Finding some snow that didn’t feel like she was trying to swim through it, she managed to make a slow and steady progress back up the slope. Quite a few snowball-sized pieces were still falling loose all around her but Rainbow at least hadn't started a chain-reaction and brought the whole ridge down. So she’d call that a plus. Still half-frozen with snow and icicles clinging all over her body, Rainbow Dash climbed the final lengths of the slope right up until her hoof crested the top of the ridge.

“Y-Yes!” She called out a little too loudly, forgetting about the possibility of avalanches in her moment of triumph. There didn’t seem to be a danger of that at the moment though and Rainbow Dash heaved the rest of her body up. “Whoa!” Rainbow said as she teetered on top of the ridge, it was way too narrow for her to stand on she threw half her body over and straddled it for a second to take a breather.

Now she could see what was coming up next for her.

Dozens of snowy mountains and valleys spread in front of her until the whiteness all blurred together in the distance, creating a blank and impenetrable canvas. A glacier or two was along the way but for the most part it looked like Rainbow would be walking up and down drifts of snow and along the treacherous sides of mountains. Without her wings as a safety net. Speaking of that, she spied a path along the mountain that this ridge connected to she could take or she could go down the other side of this ridge and keep walking through the snow. She honestly doubted either was better than the other.

The decision was made for her anyways when the snow she was resting on started to crumble away and slide downwards.

“Aw crud...” Rainbow Dash said as the portion of the ridge she was on fell away completely and took her down the other side in a messy roll with enough snow to bury her twice over.

Like a barrel of apples she tumbled down only to finally stop at the bottom of the ridge once the momentum had died off, leaving her at a level plain of snow. Rainbow Dash fought her way out of the snow that she ended up buried under, shivering and shaking with her whole body a numb dark blue. That was not what she had in mind. She pulled her lower body out of the pile and shook herself off as best she could but it hardly did anything to help.

Rainbow Dash took a deep, shuddering, breath and continued her walk across the snow. The cold around her not letting up for a second.

Frozen

It was down here, level with the wide valley of snow in front of her, that Rainbow Dash was able to see something poking out like a sore hoof not far ahead of her. Another Reindeer tent that must’ve been left behind by one of the parties she read about in the journal. Rainbow Dash wondered if the other groups who had left that main camp had only made it this far or if there were others yet further south. Regardless, it was a welcome sight. Like the other tents this one looked mostly buried in the snow so she’d probably have to dig it out but maybe there’d be something inside it that could help her.

First she still had to walk across the deep snow to get to it—something that was getting to be more difficult with every step. That tent was a couple hundred feet away and her wings refused to budge at her sides. Rainbow couldn’t even open them anymore without forcing them with her hooves. At least the ground was level and straight, she didn’t have to navigate any hills or go past any boulders. Barring a hidden crevice under the snow she should be okay.

Not flying, the wind didn’t affect her too badly either, the harshest and strongest winds seemed to stay up at higher altitudes. Walking across the snow like this was more difficult for her but at least she could see where she was going. There was a worry in the back of her mind about all this snow and cold actually seriously hurting her hooves if enough time went by with her walking through it. What was that called? Freezebite?

“Come on, Dash, you should know what that kind of thing is called… you were a weather pony for how long? And high-altitude flying is already chilly...” she frowned in annoyance at her inability to recall the right word. “Ugh, whatever.”

The tent still steadily approached, the brown material making it up still poked out noticeably a few feet above the snow. By the time Rainbow Dash got to it she was hoping there would still be a part of her that wasn’t covered in snow or ice either. Her mane even felt heavier and colder on her head because of all the frost in it and the icicles sticking off the tips of her bangs. Snow and ice either caked or clung to the rest of her body in much the same way. If she could get inside that tent and clear it out a little she could take the time to shake off and free herself (momentarily at least) of this cold plague all over her. Stopping for long didn’t seem like a good idea to her but if she was at least inside that tent she didn’t think it would be too bad. She just couldn’t let herself “rest” for real or fall asleep.

“I s-swear if I get to this tent and there’s n-nothing in it, I’m g-going to lose it,” Rainbow Dash reflexively ground her teeth back and forth.

She started getting close to the tent, the trail of hoofsteps behind her already filling up slightly with the light snowfall coming down from the sky. With a single glance, Rainbow was able to tell she was facing the back of the tent and she ended up having to circle around to the front. Like some of the others back at the main camp she had first stumbled upon, this one had the front flaps tied up to keep most of the snow out. Or at least it had at one point. The rope binding them together was torn loose and snow had partially buried much of the tent’s insides.

Rainbow Dash scowled in annoyance and went on her way of digging it all out. At least the frantic actions helped her keep up her movement. She dug like a dog this time, throwing the snow out between her back legs to join the rest of the snow in the wide field. So far she hadn’t found any hidden Reindeer bodies or anything either, but they could be buried all around the tent for all she knew. Not a pleasant thought.

“Dumb… stupid… snow,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she continued digging out the tent.

Clack!

Her hoof struck something hard. Rainbow paused and raised her eyebrow, digging around that spot to uncover a rocky surface beneath the snow. She kept digging and digging at it and found that the entire tent looked like it was first set up on top of a rock instead of the snow. The bottom of the tent had either rotted or been torn away, leaving it entirely open to the ground below it. But at least now she didn’t have to dig out as much snow. Rainbow Dash instead only had to shift around some of it and push it to the sides of the tent to uncover most of the tent’s bottom.

Like she had figured, no bodies inside it. But there were a few things scattered on the ground that grabbed her attention. For one was a circle of old burned up wood and a pile of ashes with some weird rocks scattered about it. It looked like someone had lit a fire inside this tent to either keep warm or cook something at this point. Dash was surprised it didn’t end in the whole tent being burned up. There were a few bags around her but as Dash checked them, every last one was empty. It looked like this tent had been mostly cleaned out before it was abandoned. Made sense to her, the Reindeer had probably figured they couldn’t just stay here and needed to keep on moving if they had any chance at surviving. So they took what they could and left their ruined tent behind.

Rainbow Dash reached down and grabbed two of the rocks that had caught her attention. They definitely weren’t just pebbles or something, they were gray and looked like they had been carved and chiseled a specific way. Thanks to her camping trips with Applejack she actually knew what they were too: Flint. Stones of flint made for help with starting fires if you didn’t feel like matches. Seems the ancient Reindeer must’ve used them.

“Okay… these could be useful,” Rainbow Dash nodded her head, making sure that she would bring them with her when she left. “Anything else?”

No food no matter where she checked, that was unfortunate but not the worst thing right now. No clothes she could put on or any sort of tools either though. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. The tent hadn’t been a waste but it hadn’t given her as much as she wanted either. She’d take one of the empty bags with her at least, she could carry the rocks and anything else she found on her journey through the snow inside it. Rainbow Dash took the time to scrape the snow and ice off her body and then flung the bag over her back, the strap and other material thankfully holding up after all these years. Tossing the flint stones inside she grinned and turned to head back out the tent and into the unforgiving snow.

But when she tried to step out she felt yanked back as if something had grabbed her tail. Dash almost stumbled and fell to the ground before looking back and seeing the last few inches of her rainbow tail had frozen stuck to the rock that made up the bed of this tent.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow frowned.

She tried tugging it loose but it wouldn’t budge at all. Something she was willing to blame on the lack of strength she had in her body right now. Either way, that thin coat of ice that had covered up the end of her tail kept her stuck like glue to the rock. Rainbow Dash growled and sat down before reaching back and trying to shatter her tail free with her hoof. All it did though was mash her poor tail harder against the rock.

“Come on, I can’t afford to stay here!”

She wouldn’t mind cutting the last few inches of her tail hairs off but she didn’t have anything to cut with. Short of yanking them out she didn’t know how she was going to get herself free. And she didn’t even have the strength in her limbs and body to do that right now anyways.

Her eyes then spied the pile of old burnt wood and ash. And then a rather dumb idea popped into her head.

A grin stretched across her face as Rainbow Dash pulled the two flint stones out of her bag and held them in her hooves. “Well if I can’t cut or pull my way loose then I guess I’ll just have to take care of that ice another way.”

Problem was she couldn’t exactly burn her new bag. So that left the tent around her being the only thing to set fire to. Which could end very badly. Of course, Rainbow was used to stupid decisions, she needed some fire in here to raise the temperature and melt the ice. She brought up the two stones and started banging them together to try and create some sparks that would light up the tent. Only as much as she hit them together, nothing happened.

“How does Applejack do this?” Rainbow Dash frowned in annoyance. “It’s just hitting two rocks together, isn’t it?”

Remembering that when it came to starting fire with sticks you were supposed to rub them together at high speed, Rainbow Dash started to slide one of the flint stones against the other. She held one steady in her hoof and flicked the other against its jagged surface, trying to make sparks that would land on the tent walls. She felt the right kind of resistance as she scraped them back and forth but all the while she did this it was getting colder around her and snow was starting to fall back into the tent. She either needed to get that fire started right now or get moving in some other way.

Perhaps her desperation was all she needed—the next strike of flint against flint produced a shower of weak sparks that sprayed onto the worn material of the tent. The faintest bit possible of a glowing red ember appeared on the brown material with a small trail of smoke coming up from it. Rainbow Dash giggled in glee as she kept on hitting the flint together just like that to make more sparks and get a real fire started.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Rainbow said as an actual fire started burning up and down the tent. Burning much faster than she had anticipated. The smile quickly left her face as the fire spread to the top of the tent and threatened to envelop the two front flaps as well. “No, no, no!”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her tail and tried to tug it loose, she threw the flint stones back into her bag. The temperature was heating up in the tent but it still hadn’t melted away the ice that imprisoned her tail. But what it was doing was making the rest of her feel a whole lot better. For the first time since traveling through here she felt some actual warmth. The frost covering her body was evaporating and her wings were starting to loosen up. Strength was actually returning to her thanks to the heat.

With the tent now going up in flames around her, melted ice and sweat both poured down her body in rivulets. Rainbow Dash grabbed her tail between her hooves and with all her might yanked it free of the ice holding it in place.

The ice cracked apart around her tail and Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in victory. “Yeah!”

It wasn’t a moment too soon as the fire had caused the tent to start to collapse, Rainbow Dash gulped and without even worrying about it, turned and jumped through the burning flaps and dove out into the snow. She felt the licks of flame along her sides and back—instantly replaced by biting cold and the hiss of steam as she formed a pony shaped hole in the snow. Rainbow Dash stuck her head out and looked back at the tent, seeing it collapsing into a simple bonfire, burning strong as a lot of the snow around it melted. It wouldn’t last for much longer but for the moment it provided Rainbow Dash with an incredibly welcome source of heat.

The smug grin came right back onto her face as she sat down in front of the fire and warmed herself up. “This turned out way better than expected.”

Walk

Even with the snow falling around her and the unnatural freezing cold of these mountains, Rainbow Dash managed to still feel a little bit warm thanks to the fire she had started. By now the burning tent was little more than a heap of ashes with dying flames atop it but it would stay alive for at least a couple minutes longer. Rainbow Dash planned to enjoy and bask in the heat of it for as long as she could.

Felt good to move her wings around too, even if she wasn’t flying, just getting some blood pumping through them again was doing wonders. Rainbow Dash had to shake them (and her mane and tail) a few times to get all the melting ice and snow out. It wouldn’t do any good to just end up covered in water for when she got up and started moving again, she had to be dry too.

“Almost doesn’t feel so bad like this,” Rainbow said as she patted her new bag with the helpful flint inside it. “That’s gonna change soon...”

Despite her desire to fly off as soon as the fire died she knew she shouldn’t. Soon enough her wings would freeze again and if she happened to be above some rocks when that happened… that might be it. So it would be back to walking and walking and walking some more through the snow. This crazy place was just too extreme, she couldn’t fly through it without any way to keep her wings and the rest of her body from failing her. And the winds and snow up higher in the sky would make her blind again. No, she hated to admit it but she need to take the slow walk through the snow and keep going south.

So once the fire had reached it’s last few, pitiful moments, Rainbow Dash stood up and stretched. There was still cold whipping all around her now but it didn’t feel any worse than “average winter” to her thanks to the fire. She knew that was going to change the instant she stepped away and started walking again. Rainbow Dash huffed and blew a breath of air out her nose before cracking her neck and turning away from the dying fire. All that was left now was a black pit in the middle of the snow, and soon that would be buried too, erasing all traces of the former tent.

Just as she had expected, a freezing cold breeze blew over her body once she had only stepped a few feet away from the fire and the numbness started crawling up her snow covered hooves. Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings every few seconds, not flapping them fully, just moving them to keep some activity up and make it take a little longer before they froze completely.

Ahead of her she didn’t see anything yet. Just the snowy landscape with all the valleys and mountains she had seen from atop the ridge. So still no idea where she was actually going or how far she would have to walk, just the vague direction of “south” was in her head.

That was good enough for now.

Eventually she knew she’d have to start climbing up hills again, or even over and around some of the mountains. There was the possibility she’d get lost or snowed in or stuck somewhere and have to backtrack. That’s just the weakness of walking and Rainbow Dash hated it. And while she was a risk taker she knew flying was basically pointless with how fast her wings would freeze back up. So might as well just walk from the beginning.

And as she thought about that she could feel the frost working its way back over her exposed feathers once again. Rainbow Dash tried to keep them loose but the snow and ice continued to fall and coalesce on her. A shiver or two was all she had before her body started turning a deeper shade of blue again, and her lips turning even deeper than that.

The bag and the flint were the only positives Rainbow could think about right now. If she ever came across something else she could burn for heat she had the tools to do so now. And if worst came to worst she could set the bag on fire too. If she could actually set it down someplace a little dry.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky to see if she could tell how late in the day it was but all she saw was the same impenetrable cover of clouds high above the peaks of even the tallest mountains. A blurry grayness clotted out everything. It was definitely still daytime or she wouldn’t have any light at all but things were still far darker than she would have preferred. Judging from what she had seen so far and what she read from that journal, she didn’t think the sky would be clearing up for her soon either. Only the faint shadow of sunlight made it through those clouds and brought a dim light to this frozen wasteland. If she was the type of pony to get depressed she would probably find this place depressing.

Instead she was just more annoyed than anything.

Dumb colder than cold weather that she thought she’d be more than used to by now. Dumb walking that she didn’t want to do. Dumb north that she just wanted to be out of.

It was so cold, so inhospitable here that it made Rainbow Dash think about the Windigos from Hearth’s Warming legend. But they only came around when ponies were at each other’s throats and not getting along. Still, she had seen so many crazy things on her journey that it wouldn’t surprise her if somehow Windigos lived up here too. If you could even call creatures like that alive in the first place.

Rainbow Dash shivered, she didn’t like the idea of facing an enemy or problem she couldn’t punch. Or challenge to and beat in a super awesome race.

She didn’t have enough of those in her life.

Now she was back to being as cold as she was before she had found the tent and the fire, any lingering traces of warmth had completely left her body. With a grimace, she closed her wings tight against her sides as she felt her feathers completely freeze over. Her mane and tail were in a similar frosted situation and freshly made icicles hung from her chin and ears. A pony popsicle once again. But she was still moving. The cold was a problem but she wasn’t going to let it beat her, as agonizing as this trek was.

Unbeknownst to her, a shadow flew through the clouds above her head.

Skeleton

Now she reached a rather unfortunate spot in this underground cave. A crossroads. And she had absolutely nothing to go on when it came to deciding which direction to go in. Both paths looked pretty much the same to her so Rainbow Dash did what anypony would do in a situation like this: close her eyes and spin around a couple of times to decide which way to go. Left.

“Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged and started walking down the path going to her left. She was going to have to remember just which path to go back down if she ended up backtracking, especially if there were more crossroads and branching paths in the future.

Her hooves echoed against the hard rock ground of the cave, each click annoying her further with nothing else to drown out the sound of them. She wasn’t sure how much distance she had traveled in these caves but she definitely hadn’t made much progress in the direction she wanted since it was mostly a bunch of winding back and forth. If she was going to be the first pony to fly all the way around the world she’d need to make a better pace once she got out of these frozen northern lands. Her first experience with this side of the world wasn’t going too well.

If she could just get to a place where she could fly for real again…

She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to be flying over green forests, blue rivers, fields of flowers, rolling hills. Warm places. Rainbow Dash just couldn’t wait.

But first she had to get out of this cave and then out of this seemingly endless and inhospitable snowscape. Which was all looking less easy by the second. She still didn’t have a good idea for how she would get out of this cave if she didn’t find another exit soon, and now if she had to walk back to the crevice it would waste so much more time.

To take her mind off those annoying thoughts she started humming to herself and thinking about all the way more fun stuff she’d surely be doing later on on her adventure.

While she was in the middle of that, she saw the path she was on opening up into a new chamber. Rainbow Dash stepped out into it and took a look around in the hopes she would find something here.

She did, but it wasn’t what she expected.

“Oh...” a grim frown made its way across Rainbow’s face as she spotted the ancient Reindeer skeleton lying in the middle of this small cave chamber. She slowly walked up to it—him judging by the antlers—and let out a deep breath. “Sorry dude, guess you went out the same way as your friends.”

Unlike the others she had come across so far though he wasn’t preserved, probably due to a lack of ice and snow. However long ago he had passed away he eventually was reduced to nothing more than the bones Rainbow Dash was now looking at. But it wasn’t just his skeleton in this chamber either, all around him were numerous bags and other belongings, most long since decayed and unrecognizable to Dash but there was also what looked like the remainders of a tent. The poles that would normally hold up its frame looked like they had been smashed.

“You fell down here too, didn’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked the skeleton. “And it looks like you were alone, wonder what happened to the rest of your party.”

She shook her head. “Ugh, now I’m talking to skeletons… I need to get out of this place.”

Rainbow Dash wished Pinkie Pie was here right now to lighten the mood, or any of her other friends for that matter. At the very least it looked like she had some things she could use thanks to everything this Reindeer had brought down here with him. Rainbow Dash felt bad for him but she didn’t want to waste anymore time down here so she quickly got around to checking out what she had on her hooves now.

She grabbed the remnants of the tent and threw that off to the side—she knew what she was using to make a fire down here now—and started going through the various bags. One was full of old papers that completely disintegrated when she just tried touching them and another had a cracked magnifying glass and a broken compass. Not exactly useful tools for her. Rainbow Dash scowled as the next bag she grabbed fell apart like a wet sheet of paper in her hooves, spilling its contents all over the ground.

Seed. She wasn’t sure what kind but she knew seeds when she saw them. It must’ve been the Reindeer’s food and it looked like he still had plenty left when he died. Rainbow glanced over at him, wondering if it was the cold that had gotten to him or if he just gave up. She then looked back down at the pile of seed on the ground and swallowed a lump in her throat.

“Frozen and hundreds of years old… wonder if it’s still good to eat?” She grabbed up a hoofful and ate them up immediately. Maybe not the smartest move but more energy would do her good.

Unfortunately it was like chewing on rocks with how frozen the tiny seeds were, and they were utterly tasteless. It took a bit of struggle but she managed to swallow them down anyways. But a drink of water would’ve really helped her right now.

After eating her fill, Rainbow went over to the next bag, the largest one down here. It looked like a heavy backpack with numerous flaps and pockets in it.

“Please let there be something useful in here,” Rainbow Dash said as she opened up the main flap on top.

A wide smile spread across her face. “Oh yeah.”

While the fire of yet another Reindeer tent burned in front of her, Rainbow Dash finally felt truly comfortable for the first time since coming out into this snowy place.

That was thanks to the treasure she had found in this Reindeer’s discarded possessions.

Her hooves were now fitted by warm woolly boots and a heavy feather jacket with a puffy hood was now wrapped around the rest of her body. Finally she was dressed for the occasion. With the clothes and the fire she had totally gotten rid of the ice and frost all over the rest of her body, it was just a shame that she still couldn’t fly out of the crevice. But another tool she had found in the bag would help with that.

Rainbow Dash turned the old hatchet around in her hooves, it was rusted over almost its entire surface and she wouldn’t be surprised if it broke after a few uses. But it would still help her a lot for climbing her way out of the crevice. She still hadn’t found any other way out of these caves so back there was looking like her only choice. Besides the hatchet she had also found an even more rusted hoof saw, its teeth so dull that they might as well have been square.

She glanced at the Reindeer, unsure of how with all these things he couldn’t make it out of here or last long enough to use up all that food. Maybe the cold and isolation got to him in more ways than one.

Well Rainbow Dash certainly didn’t plan on letting that happen to her. Once the fire burned itself out she was going to take the tools she had discovered and head back to the crevice. Rainbow Dash was going to get herself out of here.

Right after she was done letting the fire warm her up.

Climb

She no longer had to worry about her hooves freezing to the icy walls of the crevice, as long as she could get up there in the first place she could either shimmy up or use the hatchet to dig cuts into the ice and pull herself up with it. Rainbow Dash exhaled as she looked up at the crevice she had fallen down only an hour or two earlier. It was still open on top, snow hadn’t concealed it once more, so she had best get working now before her best opportunity slid on by.

“Piece of cake,” Rainbow Dash confidently grinned and cracked her hooves. She pulled the hatchet from one of the pockets on her down jacket and stood up on her back legs.

Rainbow Dash swung the hatchet as hard as she could at the icy surface of the cave wall in front of her, the rusted blade embedding about halfway in and getting stuck. Just what she wanted, it clearly wasn’t coming loose on its own. Rainbow Dash kept it grasped in her hoof and took a deep breath before pulling herself up by the hatchet and kicking her back hooves against the wall at the same time. She had to do this all in an instant, as soon as she reached the apex of her little lift and jump she kicked off the wall and jumped towards the opening of the crevice above her, pulling her hatchet out of the ice at the same time and readying it again.

“Haaa!” Rainbow Dash yelled and swung the hatchet at the inner wall of the crevice while reaching out to the other side with her boot-covered hoof in an attempt to wedge herself in.

The hatchet caught the ice and dug in deep but Rainbow’s weight almost tore it loose. It was only thanks to her firmly pressing her other limb against the wall of the crevice to lessen the amount of pressure on the tool that she didn’t end up falling back to the ground. Now Rainbow Dash hung loosely there inside the crevice, her head and front legs in it and the rest of her dangling beneath her. She couldn’t dislodge the hatchet just yet, she had to pull herself up and get her body all the way in.

A pony who wasn’t as athletic and in-shape as she was might have trouble with that, but even though upper-body strength wasn’t her best area, Rainbow Dash was able to easily pull the rest of herself up into the crevice. She pressed her back against one side of it and her hooves against the either—keeping herself perfectly pinned. She could tell she was still in a precarious position though. The boots she wore now were made for warmth, not grip, and they slid against the ice even with her pressing her limbs down as hard as she could. Rainbow knew she would need the hatchet to make it the rest of the way up without falling.

Carefully reaching back down to it she yanked it loose. Rainbow Dash only paused for a second longer to catch her breath before reaching up and striking the hatchet into a new spot over her head. It dug in well and Rainbow Dash copied the same process as before; hoisting herself carefully up and wedging herself in tight before pulling the hatchet out and stabbing it into a new spot. Rinse and repeat. It was way too slow going for Rainbow’s tastes and the surface was still almost twenty feet away. Despite how great of shape she was in too it was a draining process, she was using muscles she wasn’t used to and the cold was affecting her even through her new outfit. Rainbow Dash was already panting and breathing hard by the time she had made two more moves.

This is a real pain in the flank… She growled inside her head. She didn’t even want to yell out or say anything to waste energy, which just made her more annoyed.

Rainbow Dash reached up for the fourth time and smashed her hatchet into the ice. After she had pulled herself up and pulled the hatchet loose she noticed that the rusted blade was becoming chipped. It was either going to break or stop being able to make the cuts she needed very soon. Rainbow Dash bit the inside of her cheek and braced herself against the walls of the crevice as best she could.

A single glance up told her she was still only about halfway there and she definitely couldn’t risk just crawling up without the hatchet. She’d slide back down and that would be that. There was nothing she could do but take her chances with the hatchet. She clicked her tongue and raised it up above her head, aiming for a fresh spot in the ice.

Here goes. Rainbow Dash hammered it into the ice, upon which the blade fractured into dozens of tiny pieces.

Her eyes went wide as she suddenly found herself without the purchase her body had been expecting, her coiled muscles gave out and she started to slide down the icy crevice. Rainbow Dash pounded her boot-clad hooves against the ice but just like she had noticed earlier they were far too slick to stop her descent.

“No!” Rainbow Dash yelled and tried jamming the broken hatchet into the ice to slow her descent. Unfortunately all it did was drag and bounce off the wall.

Her head banged back against the wall during her fall and Rainbow Dash dropped the hatchet, shortly after falling right out of the crevice and back to the ground below. She hit it with a hard thud and groaned in pain before picking herself up. Gritting her teeth she slammed a hoof down on the ground. The blue pegasus panted breathlessly before squeezing her eyes shut and groaning in frustration. She sat down and stared at her broken hatchet, wracking her mind.

“Now what?”

“This is so not right,” Rainbow Dash said as she sadly looked down at the Reindeer skeleton. “But… there’s no way you would want someone else to end up the same way as you, right?”

She held the dull hoofsaw in her hooves and gulped. “Aw geez… that doesn’t make me feel any better about doing this at all...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and walked over to the head of the skeleton. “Twilight, Fluttershy, I know you wouldn’t like me doing this but this totally doesn’t count as desecrating some creature. Totally doesn’t.”

With a deep sigh, Rainbow Dash got to work.

Minutes later she was back below the crevice with two tips of the Reindeer’s antlers gripped in her hooves. The hoofsaw and hatchet she had completely discarded, she’d get nothing else out of them, but with her new “tools” she could climb her way out of this crevice.

“Okay buddy, you’re helping me out a ton,” Rainbow said as she walked over to the wall and slammed the antler tip in her right hoof into the ice. She then brought up her left hoof and stabbed the other tip in slightly higher.

With a heave, Rainbow Dash pulled herself up and then took out the tip in her right hoof, bringing it back up higher and stabbing it in again. Foot by foot she did that until she was back at the crevice.

“This is going to take a while...” Rainbow Dash muttered.

It was just like before except now she didn’t have to brace herself against the walls of the crevice, with two things to plunge into the ice she could always hang off one and make sure she wasn’t going to fall. It took all of the strength she had in her limbs but Rainbow Dash made the slow climb up and up the crevice with the use of the cut off Reindeer antlers. She was breathing heavily and sweating inside the heavy jacket but the surface got closer and closer. She could feel the cold breeze from above and see the snow along the edges of the crevice. Almost there.

Rainbow Dash was thankful for that extra boost of energy she got from the seed bag earlier. Without it she might not have had the strength she needed to make this climb again.

She jammed the left antler tip into the ice and hoisted herself up, one more time and she’d be able to reach the surface and pull herself out of this stupid crevice. She wanted to put it all behind her already.

“Hrk!” Rainbow Dash grunted and thrust in the right antler tip, taking no time to pause or rest and throwing her left foreleg up and over the edge of the crevice. Her limb plopped into snow and she scrambled about with her back legs to push the rest of herself out onto the ground, finally rolling free and onto her back in the snow.

Rainbow Dash’s chest rose and fell in short bursts as she stared up at the cloudy sky until a small smile formed on her face. “That’s… how it’s done...”

Foxes

The snowfall had increased quite a bit in the short time since she had renewed her walk after making it out of the crevice. It was heavy coming down from the clouds and the winds swirling around her made Rainbow Dash think that she might now be caught in a blizzard. No longer were the harsh winds confined to the higher altitudes, now even just walking across the snow she was forced to endure them at their worst. As if traveling through here hadn’t been enough of a bother, it was like the weather was reacting to her finding these clothes and making sure things were still difficult for her. Now even with the boots and the jacket she could feel the cold piercing into her. It didn’t matter that the hood was pulled up, the wind still came at her face and soon Rainbow Dash ended up covered in frost and icicles again.

She had to hold her hoof up and try to block out the wind coming directly at her face in an attempt to see anything in front of her. Not like there was much to see in the first place. Just snow and mountains around her. She may have passed a glacier and some other solitary rock formations that were covered in ice but no more tents or anything particularly interesting.

Rainbow Dash wondered how far she had traveled through this snowscape so far. Probably not very since she had only been flying for a little while before she had to land. She’d make up for it somehow.

The antler tips she had used to climb her way out of the crevice were now rattling together with the flint stones in her bag. Her only tools left and hopefully all she would ever need out here. Though she still didn’t have anything extra to burn if she needed to start a fire, she supposed if it came down to it she could use the bag for that now. Burning some of her new clothes for warmth seemed really self-defeating.

Still, the clothes weren’t exactly doing their job right now. Made for keeping someone warm in freezing cold weather like this they might have been, but the unnatural deathly cold of this place was completely overwhelming. Rainbow Dash was feeling chilled to the bone and shivering with each pained step. She doubted anything but a constant fire or some kind of magic spell could keep her or anything else warm in this endless white country of snowy valleys and mountains.

And the skies above were now starting to become darker. Well, the clouds above were starting to become darker. It must be getting late in the day. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to stop though, she couldn’t without first finding a place that would at least protect her from the wind and keep the snow from burying her the more it fell. If only that Reindeer skeleton had a backup tent she could’ve carried it out too. Since she didn’t have one she was going to have to look for a cave somewhere that didn’t have its entrance facing the wind.

That was tough when she could barely see anything at all.

“I hate the snow. I officially, totally, one billion percent, hate the snow,” Rainbow growled as she fought to keep her hoof up and stop the icy wind from blinding her.

She ended up walking for another hour like that, fighting both the wind and the cold, going through other valleys of snow and around mountains, while her hooves grew number by the minute. As much as she hated to admit it, she could tell that her body was failing her. There was no way Rainbow Dash could survive a night in the snow. If she fell asleep she would never wake up.

While her thoughts were occupied by that, she almost didn’t notice the wall in front of her until she almost walked right into it.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the tall cliff of ice that had appeared out of the snowy winds before her. She hadn’t seen it coming at all. Thanks to where she was standing now though, the wind wasn’t whipping into her face quite as badly so she could actually look at it.

She wasn’t sure if she was looking at a glacier or perhaps a plateau covered in ice but either way it rose high above her head and stretched as far as she could see to both her right and left.

“Great. Just great. I can’t walk around something like this before night...” Rainbow Dash glared up at the icy wall. Her ears then perked up inside her hood. “But I don’t need to.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and reached into her bag to pull out the two antler tips. “You’ve been my best friend out here, dude.”

It was just like before, she stabbed the first antler in and then the other and slowly worked her way up the wall. A few chunks of ice would come away each time she thrust the antlers into the ice but there were only a couple of times where Rainbow Dash felt like she might accidentally come loose. Her mood was way better than when she was climbing up the crevice too, something about being able to tackle all the obstacles thrown at her was filling her up with a new round of determination. Even though this wall was a lot taller than the crevice was deep, she didn’t feel tired at all as she scaled it.

While there was still the last fading remnants of light in the world, Rainbow Dash made it to the top of the wall and pulled herself over. “Whoo!” She whistled to herself and cracked her neck, putting the antler tips away. “Now tell me I’m not awesome.”

The wind was still blowing full force in her face but she didn’t care right now. She was too invigorated from her recent victory. Rainbow Dash peered through the white blizzard to see if there was anything on top of this glacier or anything ahead. Her eyes widened out of reflex when she saw that there indeed was. Something very interesting and fortuitous to her.

A medium-sized domed dwelling stood close by, it was many times larger than any Reindeer tent she had seen and was partially made out of wood and what looked like large furs stretched over it. Rainbow Dash was a little put off by that part but she was still going to check this thing out. Her hopes that it was inhabited were dashed quickly though as she noticed how dilapidated it looked with several holes torn or busted open along its surface. Still, that was way better than just staying out in a blizzard unprotected and with the day turning to night out here she might just use this place to sleep.

Hopefully there was some more useful stuff inside too and she could get a fire going. Rainbow Dash walked towards the dome and skirted the perimeter in search of a door. She finally found one on the south side of the building, directly opposite from where she had first climbed up and seen the dome. Only problem was it was half-buried in snow. Not a surprise, but still annoying.

Rainbow Dash grumbled and started to dig the snow out of the way, something that took her longer than she wished it would what with the sky continuously growing darker over her head. She could somehow feel the temperature beginning to drop even more. It was instinctual, she knew that if she didn’t get inside and at least have a weak flame around her, she’d be frozen solid as soon as night came around, regardless of anything she wore to protect herself.

“Finally,” she said as she finished removing the snow from in front of the door. It wasn’t some simple flap but an actual wooden door with a carved handle on the front. Rainbow Dash calmly reached out to grasp it. “Here goes I guess.”

Upon opening the door the wind tried to rush in behind her but Rainbow Dash quickly slid in and closed the door back shut. She was thankful that it wasn’t stuck or anything. Thanks to some of the holes in the dome though there was still plenty of wind coming in but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Snow also covered most of the floor of the domicile, probably a good foot of it in most places. She saw boxes peaking out of the snow, along with some other planks of wood that looked like they might have belonged to beds or sleds at some point. In the very middle of the single-room dome there was a pillar of cedar wood that held up the entire thing. Rainbow Dash could tell just by checking things out that this definitely wasn’t left behind by the Reindeer. It was all too different.

As she walked over the snowy interior she kept her eyes open for anything else, including any unfortunate former inhabitants.

She almost missed them because of how well they blended in.

Rainbow Dash paused as she walked around the cedar pole, the door to the dome directly behind her. At the far wall from it was what at first looked to be an exceptionally large pile of snow, but as Rainbow Dash looked closer she realized that’s not what it was at all. Fur. Snow white fur, perfect for camouflage in an environment like this.

But the creatures piled up still weren’t moving and Rainbow Dash could tell just by looking at them that they had been dead for ages. That white fur that was so suited for the snow still hadn’t helped them with the cold.

“You’re… foxes, right? Arctic foxes?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head at the piled up creatures as she stepped over to them. “Being friends with Fluttershy has its perks in a few ways.”

She couldn’t tell how many there were but she would guess at least a dozen of them all in one pile, they seemed to be about half her size individually. She wondered why they were like this. Maybe they had been trying to huddle together for warmth in the end? Rainbow Dash swallowed and reached out to touch them even though it seemed a little rude to do so. Their fur was brittle and the bodies beneath felt more like rocks or blocks of ice than anything that had once been alive. Frozen completely solid and perfectly preserved by the cold here.

“So the Reindeer weren’t the only ones who had tried to go through here, huh? You guys must’ve wanted to explore this place too. Wonder how long ago… or if maybe you guys came from the south and not from the north like the Reindeer,” Rainbow Dash puzzled.

It was depressing to meet another group of creatures like this. Victims of this horrible, unnatural cold. The Reindeer’s journal was becoming more and more accurate about this place being death. Just simple death.

Suddenly the wind picked up from outside so fiercely that it blew in new waves of snow through the holes and made the entire dome shudder.

“Oh that’s just great!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she winced and bowed her head to try and avoid the biting cold winds.

It didn’t let up at all either. Night was practically upon her and a blizzard raged outside and she had no idea how long it would last. The cold was still overwhelming inside here as it obviously had been for these foxes ages and ages ago. At least there was discarded wood and other stuff in here that she could start a fire with, she just needed to clear out an area on the ground first. Maybe the floor of the tent was wood as well or a thick fur, but she needed to make a circle with rocks or something else to contain the fire so the whole place didn’t go up like the tent she had been in.

Rainbow Dash hated how much work she still had to do before she could rest, after everything else she had been through today she was tired. But a fire needed to be started before she could sleep.

“When am I going to get to the awesome stuff again?” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she shoveled snow out of the way with her hooves.

Outcome

She had woken up hours ago feeling colder than ever before. The warm fire she had started last night had allowed her some level of comfort as she finally drifted off to sleep, but now it seemed that warmth was gone. Even after she had torn open a box to find an old sheet to wrap herself in as well, Rainbow Dash still woke up a frozen, shivering, mess. The fire she had made sure was still going when she fell asleep was now little more than a few embers in front of her.

But even that should’ve provided her some warmth along with everything she was wearing. So why was she still so cold?

She already knew the answer, really. It’s just how this place was. It’s how all the Reindeer and these foxes too had frozen despite having shelter and supplies with them. Nothing did anything to stop the cold of this place, not for long.

Now she was wide awake and shivering through her jacket and sheet, eyes locked on the slowly dying embers in front of her. Rainbow Dash could hear the powerful blizzard still tearing through the world outside. It hadn’t died down yet in the slightest. She wondered how she had even slept through such a racket in the first place what with how it pounded against the dome. Snow fell through the holes in the walls of the dome as well, Rainbow Dash wished she had a way to block those but last night she hadn’t even been thinking about it and today she didn’t think she had the right tools anyways.

Rainbow Dash slowly peeled the sheet off her, it wasn’t helping her anyways, and stood up before the fire. Her body was a deep blue and frost somehow clung to wherever she wasn’t covered by the jacket or boots. Her tail was like ice and her teeth chattered in her mouth during every breath. She needed to get this fire back to being as strong as it was when she first made it last night. Otherwise she wasn’t going to last this morning, she couldn’t leave the dome when it was this cold, when the wind was raging like that and snow was falling like it was going out of style. It frustrated her, but she had to wait out the blizzard inside here.

Fire was the only thing that could keep her from freezing right now. Unless she had some way to safely take it with her outside, she couldn’t leave this spot. Not like the blizzard could last forever anyways. Right?

Right?

Rainbow Dash opened up her eyes the next morning to find herself in the same predicament. Frost coated her muzzle with actual ice forming at the corners of her eyes and icicles hanging from her chin. And of course the blizzard hadn’t let up one bit.

She could hardly even remember much of what happened the previous day. She remembered sitting around her fire, waiting for the wind and snow to let up outside. But it just never happened. Besides that it was all mostly a cold blur to her. The hours probably all congealed together as she just sat there staring at the fire until she finally fell asleep.

“I can’t just do that again today… I have to do something,” Rainbow Dash said to herself. She looked up at the holes that were continuously leaking in snow and the freezing wind. “No nails to board those shut, geez.”

Her eyes went to the foxes, and a number of the boxes she had opened up and looked inside, but nothing really stuck out to her. She hadn’t found any more particularly useful tools nor any warmer clothes than what she was wearing. She was so unbearably cold that she just wanted to scream about it. Maybe Twilight could think of something to do with all this stuff, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t a thinker like her friend. Stuck in a dumb situation like this where her survival was at stake was not what she wanted. If she could just power through and fly her way south that would be fine but Rainbow’s body just couldn’t do something like that right now.

This weather… it actually was starting to get the better of her. An awful, angering thought.

A lightbulb suddenly turned on right above her head as Rainbow Dash got an idea.

“Okay!” She said and started gathering up a bunch of the snow on the ground around her. She shuffled it all together and started building a small snowpony. Her boots molded its shape and formed the head and mane and she even made sure to make a small horn.

Rainbow Dash vigorously nodded as she finished it up and smiled down at the snowpony, her face still covered in bits of ice. “Okay, okay, this is perfect.” She said to her creation. “Alright, Twilight, how do I get out of this?”

She blinked a few times with a dumb grin on her face as she waited for the snow Twilight to respond.

Another couple of blinks and her grin turned into a frown as she swatted the snow Twilight into smithereens with her hoof. “Ugh! Now I’m just going crazy!”

Rainbow Dash lifted her hooves to her face and pulled down on her eyes, trying to relax and get her sense back. This blizzard was driving her nuts and she hated being cooped up in here. And talking to a snowpony Twilight wasn’t going to help her one bit. She just didn’t have any idea what would. What she did know for sure was she at least needed to help this fire stay strong. There were still plenty of things in the dome to help her with that but Rainbow Dash was already really tired of her days becoming little more than keeping a fire going. She paced around and around the cedar pole in circles, both to stave off boredom and keep her blood flowing, and occasionally played tic-tac-toe with herself in the snow. But that got really boring and lame very quickly.

Grumble~

The loud growling of her stomach made Rainbow Dash wince and reach to feel her hungry belly. She hadn’t had anything to eat since those seeds. So now she had hunger to worry about in addition to freezing.

Wonderful.

She started pacing even faster, teeth gnashing together when they weren’t chattering. The pounding of the wind and flying snow outside was nearly deafening at this point as it attacked the foxes’ dome. Ice pierced through her entire body and soul even as Rainbow tried not to think about how cold she was. It was just impossible to ignore.

“S-So this is what happened to all you foxes, huh?” Rainbow said as she circled the pole, not even looking at the pile. “W-Wonder how long you l-lasted before you f-froze...”

Rainbow Dash paused and stared at the fire. “Wonder how long I’m going to last.” She then grit her teeth and shook her head. “No! That’s loser talk! I’m not freezing in some stupid snow pit! I’m a pegasus, the greatest, coolest, pegasus ever! No dumb blizzard is beating me, you hear!”

She was breathing hard as she finished yelling at the storm and it still continued to rage outside without any regard for her anger.

When she had tried opening up the door to see how long she could last outside, she ended up having to close it and come back in almost immediately. Now she was back lying in front of the fire and barely able to do anything. Her strength had left her. There was only cold.

If only… if only what? I don’t even know anymore. Rainbow thought as she stared into the flames that practically offered her nothing now.

Snow that was blown in through the holes in the wall fell around and on top of her. Soon she’d be buried under it, despite the size of the fire it couldn’t even melt the snow.

Rainbow Dash’s breaths came out in shudders. She could see them practically freezing in the middle of the air right as they came out of her lungs. Her body was shaking as nothing but cold filled her entire being. No matter what, she knew she shouldn’t fall asleep like this, but her eyelids were becoming so heavy, and she felt so tired. Slowly her eyelids fluttered shut and closed, at first just for a split second, then one second, then for a few seconds each time.

“Am I… dying?”

Her eyes closed for a long time. She may have even fallen asleep.

A vision of her friends back in Ponyville flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot back open.

“No… no way,” Rainbow Dash stood up. “There is no way the most awesome pegasus in the world can go out in such a lame way. And even if I do I’m not going to take it lying down.”

Her eyes searched around the entirety of the dome until they came across her discarded sheet and a plank of wood from one of the boxes she had torn apart to use as firewood. Rainbow Dash still felt the cold creeping up all over her body like death, so she wanted to act fast. She quickly walked over to the plank and sheet and started tightly wrapping the sheet around one end of the plank. Satisfied with that she then grabbed some snow off the ground and rubbed it over the other end of the plank to get it cold and wet. Rainbow Dash nodded and went over to her smoldering fire.

“Blizzard or no blizzard, I’m not staying here for one more second,” Rainbow Dash said and stuck the sheet-covered tip of the plank into the fire. As soon as it caught ablaze she withdrew it and turned to the cedar pole in the middle of the dome.

“You foxes deserve better than to just stay here like this. Let’s heat things up,” Rainbow Dash walked over and lit the cedar pole on fire with her torch, watching as the flames climbed up it to the roof of the dome. As soon as she was satisfied that the whole place was going to catch fire she nodded and turned around to walk to the door.

The torch she was holding offered only a meager heat to her and Rainbow Dash could still hear the wind wailing outside and feel the icy teeth of coldness biting into her. But she didn’t care. She was done sitting around waiting for a blizzard to stop when it clearly wasn’t going to. She’d take her chances traveling and moving on like she always had before.

Rainbow Dash kicked open the door to the dome and walked out into the white abyss while it went up in flames behind her.

The Last of the Ice Dragons

The burning fire of the dome behind her was long gone. Not that she could tell, with the heavy snow falling all around her, Rainbow Dash could barely see anything in any direction. The wind whipped at her clothes and threatened to smother the fire on the torch she carried as well. Almost certain doom would become certain doom if that happened. She couldn’t fly or survive for long in this cold without any source of fire. Even with this fire she still could hardly do anything.

Rainbow Dash only knew that she was heading south right now. That was the only thing in her head, to keep on moving. Whatever mountains she may have passed by during her walk through this blinding blizzard were irrelevant. It didn’t matter if she was atop a glacier, about to fall down another crevice, or had to climb up a huge mountain of snow right in front of her. Rainbow Dash was moving forward.

“I… am not… going down here,” her eyes were narrowed as she tried to spy anything, anything at all, in front of her. It was the middle of the day, she knew that much from her own sense of time, but it might as well have been night with how little she could see.

Nothing, this is nothing. Rainbow Dash thought to herself. It was her mantra to keep going through the unnatural cold that she could feel inside her soul.

She knew the other side of the world had to hold so many awesome adventures for her if she could just get past this frozen snowscape of death.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Rainbow Dash shivered.

Rainbow Dash walked.

Her torch was going out but she never stopped. The thought never even went through her mind. She believed in herself, and believed she had the power to overcome anything. There had been so many obstacles on this journey so far and yet Rainbow Dash had persevered past them all. It would be the same here too.

The wind pushed against her, threatening to drown her face in snow and doing its best to halt her progress. It was difficult to walk like this through the heavy snow while carrying her torch in the first place. Her hoofsteps were slow and plodding and the deep snow on the ground didn’t seem to want her to be able to pull her hoof back out every time she stepped into it. The boots, the heavy jacket, it all felt like frozen ice clasped around her body.

Rainbow Dash looked around to try and see anything but it was all just howling winds and swirling snow. Nothing was visible more than five feet away from her.

“You think this scares me?!” She yelled to the blizzard. “Nothing scares me!”

The flame of her torch finally disappeared in the wind. Rainbow Dash threw the useless hunk of wood away and kept on walking. She could feel ice crawling all over her, trying to freeze her in place and make her even worse than what those foxes had become. All the while snow just swirled around her like Rainbow was in the apex of the blizzard itself.

Rainbow Dash just growled and stood her ground. “Did you hear me?! I told you this doesn’t scare me! I’m Rainbow Dash!”

“Rainbow Dash, eh? You’re a rather peculiar creature, I must admit.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked up at the sudden voice coming from above. A huge shadow was descending down through the blizzard, coming through the snow and winds like they and the insane cold were nothing. Rainbow Dash gawked up at the shape as it came into focus—huge wings were outlined against the fog, along with a long, slender, neck and an even longer tail. The closer it got the more defined it was to her, gigantic claws at the ends of its limbs, spikes running all over its body, and glowing blue eyes that were trained right on her.

“It can’t be...” Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck as the creature finally reached the snowy ground. The winds and snowfall around her lessened significantly thanks to the large creature blocking most of it from reaching Rainbow Dash with its wings.

“A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” the massive blue dragon said to her. In a distinctly male voice.

“You’re… a dragon? A dragon all the way up here? Living somewhere cold?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her head.

The dragon tilted his head curiously, as Rainbow Dash got a closer look now she saw that his jaw was full of teeth longer than she was and he could’ve easily swallowed a bear whole. He wasn’t the biggest dragon she had ever seen or heard of but he was still pretty darn impressive. And the shadowed spikes she had seen silhouetted earlier rose all over his back and the bony spines of his wings like weeds.

“You know what I am? I’m surprised, I have no idea what you are,” the dragon said.

“Of course I know what you are. Who the hay doesn’t know what a dragon is?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “But then how do you not know what ponies are?”

“Ponies? I see, that’s what you are. I see,” the dragon nodded and a hearty chuckle emerged from his throat. “I have never seen your kind before in my life, I’m afraid. There’s never been a creature like you up here in these snowy mountains before. Me and my kin were the only ones for a long, long time. Others occasionally traveled through—or tried to—but we were the only ones who made this place our home. As I’m sure you realized from seeing the remains of those other creatures, it’s not a place most can live in.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, I kind of got that.” She then frowned up at the big dragon as she realized something. “Were you… watching me?”

The dragon nodded. “I was. So very few things of interest come through here, I was curious. Well, not at first admittedly.” He chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were just going to die before a day had even passed so I didn’t bother paying any attention to you at first. Only when you kept somehow pushing on despite the cold eating away at you did I truly become interested in you, Rainbow Dash.”

Now that struck a nerve. “So you’ve just been flying around getting your kicks when you could’ve helped me?! I’ve been alone, barely making it through here, and all this time there was some big dragon who lives here and could’ve flown on down and at least given me some encouragement?!”

“I suppose you have the right to be angry, I’ve never bothered to show myself in front of the other creatures that have fallen victim to the cold. Though I could indeed have helped them as well,” the dragon stared off into the distance.

Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof down. “Then why didn’t you?!”

The dragon’s eyes looked back down at Rainbow Dash and he lowered his head so his chin was nearly touching the snow. “Apathy I suppose. But you surprised me. Your tenacity, your determination, how you’ve managed to survive so far despite being woefully unprepared for my home. You are a peculiar one, as I said. A creature I’ve never seen before that tries to shout down a deadly blizzard after marching her way through the snow and mountains far further than she should have ever been able to? I’ve never been so curious and interested in one of you travelers before.”

“Well thanks for helping, but that’s all I’m thanking you for,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

The dragon was silent for a moment before raising its head and sitting back on its haunches, its huge wings still brought up like shields to protect Rainbow Dash. “Well I don’t blame you for your… displeasure at my behavior. I have lived a long time and seen many die. Perhaps I have become accustomed to it. Seeing small creatures like yourself who suffer and die so easily from the cold, I simply haven’t found it in me to care about your lives… until you.”

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger, she would’ve spat on the snowy ground too if she could. “You’re awful.”

“Hm,” the dragon stared down at her and brought one claw up to his chin, stroking it. “Do you have any idea how old I am?”

“Well you’re a really big dragon so I’m guessing pretty old. Why?”

“Do you have any idea how long dragons like me have lived up here?”

“Of course not, duh.”

The dragon chuckled once more, finding amusement in Rainbow Dash’s answers and her lack of fear despite his size and how she was just previously on the brink of death thanks to the blizzard. “For thousands and thousands of years, we Ice Dragons called this place our home. I grew up alongside hundreds of my fellow dragons as we roamed these lands of ice and freezing cold. I myself have lived for well over one thousand of those years, flying where I desired, roosting on the highest peaks one could find, playing and competing with my brethren to see which of us was the biggest and strongest. I still remember those times fondly. But now those are little more than memories.”

Rainbow Dash frowned, a sinking feeling making itself known in her gut. “What happened? Where are all your friends now?”

“They died. Slowly over the years, the once great flock of dragons that lived here began to die off and there was nothing any of us could do,” the large dragon sighed. “My home is now a graveyard for my brothers and sisters as well, just as much as for any travelers like the ones you came across. My name is Raalzeron, and I am the last of the Ice Dragons and very soon there will be none of us left at all.”

“Look… I’m really sorry about all that, but-”

“I am not making an excuse for myself, Rainbow Dash,” Raalzeron smiled down at her. “I am merely explaining to you why I have become… detached. And used to death. A malaise has infested me for hundreds of years since the death of my last brother, a malaise of apathy and depression. Seeing little creatures like those white-furred ones and the antlered ones stirred nothing in my heart. You as well didn’t either, until I saw how hard you fought for survival. Curiosity, amusement… no, I do not think these were truly the things that made me come down and help you like I have. You have given me a new perspective, Rainbow Dash. Just from simply living like you have you have shown me something amazing.”

“Try awesome,” Rainbow smirked.

“Heh, awesome then,” Raalzeron smirked back before his face became much more somber. “I have been merely waiting around for death to claim me as well for a long time. And I did not help any of the other travelers who came through here, because of their small, short lives I knew death was inevitable for them at an even quicker pace than my own, no matter what I did to help them in the moment. I simply… did not care. And I know that was wrong. I always did, but simply had no desire or ability to change. Seeing death and knowing of its constant approach changed me from the dragon I was when my friends were still around.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought about what the Ice Dragon had told her. She couldn’t really fathom what a life like his was like. Having lived so long and seeing all your friends dying one by one? Rainbow knew that if she was in that situation she wouldn’t handle it well either, or stay the same pony she was. And living alone for so long, not being able to connect with anyone. She shuddered at the thought. She didn’t forgive Raalzeron for not helping or even caring to change or do anything in the past, but she felt bad for him too.

“I guess you’ve been through a lot too. More than most other creatures I’ve met have,” Rainbow Dash said to him. “You’re right it’s not a good excuse or anything, it doesn’t excuse anything, cause I’ve known ponies and other creatures even older than you who have still tried to be their best and most awesome every day. But… I don’t blame you for getting depressed. So sorry, about everything.”

“Perhaps now we can get off on the right wing. Since I would like to make at least a small part of my mistakes up to you,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “How?”

“Do not be panicked,” Raalzeron said and leaned toward her, opening up his mouth.

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but take a small step back as a blue light emerged from the back of his throat.

A blast of blue “fire” came from the dragon, smothering Rainbow Dash. She squeezed her eyes shut and expected to be burned alive but realized she didn’t feel anything. Including cold. Rainbow Dash tentatively opened her eyes up and saw herself surrounded by the blue flames, with snowflakes? Somehow dancing inside them. Whatever this blue fire was, it swirled unnaturally around her, covering her completely, before wisps of it flew out towards her body. Rainbow Dash merely watched in amazement as the blue flames entered through her clothes and into her body, filling her with warmth as if she was flying around outside of Ponyville, or even somewhere tropical.

Soon it was all finished and the flames disappeared, having entered Rainbow Dash completely and done whatever it was they were doing.

Rainbow Dash looked up at him. “What did you do?”

Raalzeron grinned and folded his long arms and claws in front of his chest. “I have given you some of my magic and essence. The cold will no longer affect you, for a time.” He pointed at her. “Take off your clothes and see for yourself.”

Rainbow Dash glanced down at her winter clothes clad body and realized that with how she was feeling she probably didn’t need them anymore if he was telling the truth. With a happy smirk on her face she practically threw the clothes off, dropping her bag as well. To her amazement, all the frost and icicles she had expected to be clinging to her body were gone and even her wings were no longer frozen over.

“This is awesome!” Rainbow Dash flexed her whole body and flapped her wings a few times, she ran a hoof through her mane and tail, they felt just like normal.

“I’m glad you approve. And you’re heading south, right?” Raalzeron asked.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow Dash said while looking over her body some more. “No offense but I think I’ve had more than enough of snow. I kind of want to get out of here and get back on track when it comes to adventuring. From what you’ve said it doesn’t seem like I’m going to find anything else in this part of the world.”

“In that case I can help you further.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash glanced at him.

Raalzeron lowered his head to the ground and beckoned Rainbow Dash forth, rolling up his eyes to look up at the top of his head. “Hop on, I’ll take you to exactly where you need to go.”

Rainbow Dash stared open-mouthed at him for a moment before she smiled. “Guess I can add “Riding a dragon” to my list of awesome stuff I’ll have done on my adventure.”

Imbued

“And then I flew up into the sky and slammed him back into the ground! You should’ve seen the crater that fat mammoth made!” Rainbow Dash said to Raalzeron as she sat atop his head, relating yet another one of her stories to him while he flew over the snowy landscape.

“Hahaha! I would’ve enjoyed seeing that,” Raalzeron laughed back.

At this point, thanks to the dragon’s magic, Rainbow Dash could’ve flown herself but she wasn’t exactly going to turn down this guy’s offer. Especially when it was part of his attempts to make up for his past inaction. And she had to admit that even though the cold wasn’t bothering her anymore, her body was still pretty spent and exhausted. Resting on his big head while his massive wings carried the two of them south, at an incredible pace thanks to the size and power of those wings, was pretty nice. Flying on a dragon going hypersonic speeds was unsurprisingly pretty cool.

“Well you can bet that when I tell other creatures I meet about you they’ll wish they could’ve seen you too,” Rainbow grinned and then looked down at the blur beneath them. “Wow, you really fly fast, dude.”

“Years upon years of having nothing else to do have made my wings quite robust,” Raalzeron said.

“Same with my wings,” Rainbow nodded. “You wanna hear about the next awesome thing I did back on the other side of the world?”

“Shortly. We have flown far and before the next night reaches us, our flight will be over, I would like to tell you what you must do next.”

“What do you mean? I thought-”

“I can carry you far, but not all the way out of these lands,” Raalzeron said. “The walls that encompass this frozen top portion of the world are impenetrable to me—in fact, I can not even get to within sight of them.”

“The walls… like the ones that border Nogt, and the ones I passed through to get into the True North in the first place?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Raalzeron nodded, Rainbow Dash dipping down briefly with his head. “Yes. I did not grasp this until you told me of such a thing existing on the other side of the world. But I believe now that those walls run the circumference of the northern edges of this world and also meet in the very center at the north pole. How they were built or formed, and why, I have no idea. They cannot be flown over and they repel me and the magic of us Ice Dragons. Perhaps all magic. When I was younger, when there was more of my brothers and sisters, we could venture to the walls, get close to them even, but not touch them. Now I can not even do that. It might have to do with my age, or size, or the walls able to focus all of themselves just on me, but because of that I can not fly you all the way out of my home.”

“Great, so I’m going to have to fly and walk through the snow some more soon?” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“Do not worry, the magic I have imbued you with will still last until you reach the walls themselves,” Raalzeron told her, a frown then tugged down his face as well. “I think.”

“You think?”

“I don’t exactly have proof of this working before. But yes, I think you’ll be fine.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m soooo convinced.”

Raalzeron chuckled. “My apologies, Rainbow Dash. There is simply nothing more I can offer. However, what I can tell you of is what you need to do when you reach the wall. And what is waiting for you there.”

“Yeah? What’s at the wall? I figured there would just be another opening to go through,” Rainbow said.

“Perhaps that is how the entrance you came through when you started this journey is, but if nothing has changed in the past few hundred years since I last ventured close enough to see the wall, that’s not how things will be up here.” Raalzeron narrowed his eyes and stared dead ahead. “There is no simple gap between the walls to the south for you to fly through. Instead what there is is a doorway.”

“There’s a door in the walls separating this place from the rest of the world?”

“Correct,” Raalzeron nodded. “We call it ‘The Gate of Winter’. It is a small stone door in the exact center of the walls, exactly south of the north pole.”

“When you say ‘small’ do you mean small by your standards or-”

“It’s probably about twenty feet tall and ten feet wide.”

“Your standards then.”

“Either way-” Raalzeron continued. “The gate exists at the end of a long tunnel that reaches through the entirety of the wall. The tunnel starts very large, almost like a gaping hole in the walls, before shrinking as it goes farther until finally ending in the gate. Beyond that gate is surely the rest of the world.”

Rainbow Dash stared down at him. “But you can’t know for sure cause you and all the other dragons could never go past it.”

“Yes.”

“What if it’s locked?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I do not know why it would be.”

“… I know you’re helping me out a lot but you’re really bad at this.”

“Hahaha… well, I’m not used to traveling around and going on grand adventures and helping creatures in need. The possibility of other obstacles hasn’t even come to my mind. I’m not like you,” he smirked and glanced up at her. “Flying you as far as I can is all I can do. You’ll have to do the rest on your own, I’m afraid. Though now I do wish I could do more. If any other creatures ever come through here, I promise you I will give them my help as well. To make up for my years of sloth.”

“It’s whatever, I guess.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “And I still love a good challenge, so if there is something in the way of getting through that gate then I’ll overcome it too.” A grin tugged up her lips. “I can’t wait to see the other side of the world. For real. Not just snow, and ice, and mountains all locked behind these crazy walls.”

“I assume it will be a miraculous sight,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the crown of the dragon’s head. “I, uh, feel kind of bad for you though. Once I’m gone you’re going to be alone again, there might never be another creature who comes through here. Ever.”

“I have gotten used to long stretches of time alone.”

“But you shouldn’t have to go through another one of them! That’s the point!” Rainbow Dash angrily growled.

“You should consider it penance. Or punishment. Whichever word you prefer. You were just saying not that long ago that you didn’t forgive me for not helping in the past,” Raalzeron tried to look up at her.

“Well I don’t want to be a jerk to some creature that doesn’t really deserve it either. There’s no… there’s no point to just hating and staying angry at you, not after getting to know you and flying with you like this. Not when there are so many others I’ve met who do deserve what they get.”

Rainbow Dash lowered her head. “You’re not a bad guy. You were just s-sad. And no one should have to be alone like this.”

“It’s alright, your concern for me already is all I need. I can be satisfied with that and the knowledge I have helped you alone as I live out the remainder of my days. I am the last of the Ice Dragons after all, and soon there will be no more of us at all. That is a truth I have made peace with,” Raalzeron calmly replied.

“Don’t just accept that so quickly...” Rainbow Dash said. “When I get home there are so many friends I have that I can tell about you. And I bet someday I could totally even fly back up here to say hi again. And there are other dragons! I know I already told you about them, but still! Don’t you want to meet other dragons?”

“Other being the keyword. They aren’t my dragons,” Raalzeron said.

“Ugh! Why are you being so defeatist? It’s like you want to be sad,” Rainbow frowned and folded her hooves over her chest.

A small smile graced Raalzeron’s features. “I am just aware of what the future holds. My end is near, and the end of the Ice Dragons along with it. I will not futilely fight or deny it.” He chuckled. “Another difference between the two of us.”

“It’s just so… not awesome.”

“From your stories you’re used to creatures and places like that. And I fear the rest of the world you seek to travel around will be the same. Consider this a lesson if it makes it easier for you.”

“Oh, great, now you’re teaching me too. Way to make this whole conversation even lamer.”

Raalzeron laughed. “My apologies, Rainbow Dash. But please, do not worry yourself over me. Worry yourself over those you can actually help. My time was over and done with a long, long time ago. When the last of my brethren passed I knew what I was doing was not living, but dying.”

Rainbow Dash was about to respond when Raalzeron lifted one of his claws and pointed into the distance. “Look.”

The blue pegasus looked ahead to see a massive wide open valley of snow past the mountains they were flying over. Beyond it was a hazy mist hanging down from the clouds that obscured the rest of the north.

“I will set you down there, I can go no further than that,” Raalzeron said.

Rainbow Dash said nothing, just watching in silence as Raalzeron flew on and brought them closer to their destination. With his wings it didn’t take long before the fast dragon had brought them over the fields of snow that stretched for miles. The flapping of his wings as he descended kicked up huge clouds of snow and whirlwinds that screamed off into the distance and his claws gouged huge cracks and wounds into the tough ice just below the surface. When he put his weight down it was like a thunderclap that rang out all around, unlike when he first met Rainbow there was no blizzard blowing to obscure the sounds such a massive creature made. There was nothing around at all except for the unrelenting white mists in the distance.

Raalzeron landed fully and drew in his wings and slowly lowered his head to the ground—even though Rainbow Dash could’ve easily flown off—and waited for the pony to hop off onto the snow.

“Walk or fly from here, whatever your choice is I wish you well and good luck on the remainder of your journey,” Raalzeron said to her.

Rainbow Dash glumly looked up at him. “Thank you, Raalzeron.”

The last of the Ice Dragons smiled at her and unfurled his wings, flapping them once, twice, and ascending into the air. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. And goodbye.”

“Goodbye...” she waved after him until he disappeared up through the gray clouds of the north. Then with a single deep breath she turned around and flew off towards the southern wall and the Gate of Winter.

The Gate of Winter

The magical power Raalzeron had imbued Rainbow Dash’s body with was still working as he said it should. The freezing cold of the north felt like nothing to her now even as she flew through it. It wasn’t just some simple painkiller or something that dulled her senses either, her wings and the rest of her body were completely absent of frost or icicles. It felt really good.

“I missed out on so much flying,” Rainbow Dash said as she twirled through the air, doing flips, corkscrews, and loops just to make sure she was at her peak again. A deep breath and she pushed her wings even harder than normal—shooting like a lightning bolt to the south.

“Aw yeah!” She yelled as the snowy ground whizzed by below her.

Soon she’d be in those far off mists and beyond that, hopefully the wall. Rainbow Dash had had enough adventures in winter wonderlands to last her a lifetime, she wanted to see things like deserts, oceans, massive jungles, cloud cities, and have awesome adventures there too. Whatever the world beyond the gate held for her she knew at the least it would be brimming with variety and new things she had never seen or experienced before. Again, she was so darn happy to have started this journey in the first place. Her destination may have been Equestria, her true goal to become the first pony to fly all the way around the world, but it was the journey and everything she would see and do on the way that was the truly fun and exciting part. The part that made it all worth it to begin with.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as the valley of snow started to peter off and turn into the columns of mist that rose high enough to touch the clouds. Like a dart she shot into them, feeling nothing more than a slight chilliness in the air. Though she was flying blind now she had no worries about mountains or storms or anything else. A sense of euphoria and victory was already running through her entire body. With the help of a new friend she had already conquered this frozen part of the world, the only thing left was to leave it.

Snowflakes were falling all through the fog, some of them landing on and trying to cling to her body, only to slowly melt away. Rainbow Dash saw the shadows of mountains inside the wintry mists, lazily gliding to the side to avoid any she was flying smack dab into. There was no more pressure on her, no rush, no fear. Just a pony flying. It was almost relaxing now.

The only downside was that it had slowly but surely gotten darker the more she had flown through the mists. Raalzeron was right that he had dropped her off shortly before nightfall, it was probably evening now.

“No rush, huh?” Rainbow Dash frowned to herself, she would have to stop and sleep for the night before reaching the wall and the Gate of Winter tomorrow.

Her eyes scanned through the mists, using the last bits of light Rainbow Dash had to find a mountaintop to rest on. Raalzeron’s magic still kept her warm even as it grew darker so she figured she’d be fine if she fell asleep too. In the twilight hours her eagle eyes did see a relatively flat mountaintop ahead and a bit below her. Seemed the perfect place to her.

Rainbow Dash descended to the mountain in search of a bed.

And tomorrow she’d be out of here.

A massive and unnatural wall of rock that was far larger than any other sort of building or construction in the world stretched across the entire horizon. One could not see how far it went for the simple fact that it did not truly end at all. It reached up into the clouds, seeming to stretch into the atmosphere itself, with the top completely obscured. At one point in the wall, the exact middle of it, was a hole that looked lit had been gouged out by some sort of gargantuan excavator. It gradually got smaller and smaller the deeper into the wall it went before ending in a shadowed speck. Before the wall lied a great sea of perpetually frozen ice that went hundreds of feet deep before hitting solid bedrock. And before that was snowy hills that led into rocky ice-capped mountains at the edge of a long field of mist.

It was early morning now and a rainbow missile shot out of that mist towards the wall.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the wall finally came into sight. Like she expected it was very similar to the wall at the north pole and the one just north of Yakyakistan. With the key difference being that hole that Raalzeron described. Allegedly there was a door leading to the world beyond inside it.

Rainbow Dash grinned as she looked on at it. “Goodbye frozen True North, hello… whatever is in the north on the other side.”

She rocketed towards the wall, aiming low towards the ground. As she came in she still felt just as warm as before, so Raalzeron’s assumption was proven correct again. Good on him. As Rainbow Dash reached the edge of the wall she dropped to the icy ground right in front of it and landed on her hooves. She whistled as she looked up at the big hole she was now in the middle of and then peered down into the depths of the wall.

Darkness. If there was a door at the end of it she couldn’t see it.

Rainbow Dash started walking anyways since there was nowhere else she could go. It wasn’t great how she was going to have to somehow open that door (that might be locked) in total darkness but oh well. Raalzeron said it was a pretty big door too, yeesh.

Her hooves walked across the ice until the ground suddenly became rock as she entered below the hood of the wall and truly moved into the tunnel leading to the Gate of Winter. Soon the meager light from the sky disappeared and Rainbow Dash was surrounded by shadows, walking and walking while the tunnel tightened around her. She was careful that she didn’t accidentally walk into anything, going slowly enough to feel her way around. Hitting that door face first would be pretty painful.

She walked like that for a couple more minutes before she looked behind her and saw the white world barely more than a blur in the distance. She couldn’t remember how wide the wall she had gone through to make it to the True North in the first place was, but Rainbow Dash doubted she had much further to go. The anticipation was killing her and she desperately wanted to fly forward at full speed but she just couldn’t yet.

This hole in the wall kept growing smaller around her but it kept going forwards too. More than traveling through the tornado that surrounded Nogt, this felt like Rainbow Dash was really going into a new world entirely.

Until a light appeared before her eyes.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash squinted to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.

And it seemed her eyes really weren’t playing tricks on her. A light that hadn’t been there just seconds previously was now glowing at the end of the tunnel. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air, quickly flying down towards the light. As she got closer it grew more defined, lines of blue-white light went up and down the wall at the end of the tunnel, criss-crossing in elaborate patterns and forming an arch at the top while a glowing snowflake was formed in the very center.

Fancy as it was, Rainbow Dash could still tell from the outline that it was a door.

“The Gate of Winter...” she breathed as she came to a stop before it.

It was easily several times her height and there was no knob or handle on it and any seams that might have existed were totally invisible. Rainbow Dash was undaunted though, she furrowed her brow and stepped forward, placing one hoof on the door to the right of the snowflake. As she did so her body suddenly became freezing cold as if Raalzeron’s magic left her completely and she had been doused in ice water. Rainbow Dash let out a frigid breath and shivered, withdrawing her hoof.

That did nothing though. Cold winds came from the True North behind her and blew through the tunnel and around the door. At once it felt as if a blizzard had erupted all around her.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and slammed her body into the door, pushing against it with all her might.

With an eons old creak the door began to open up down the middle so Rainbow Dash pushed and pushed harder to try and get it open far enough for her to get out. The cold barreled down on her as well and Rainbow Dash could feel the wind trying to escape the same way she was. Frost formed along her body, her wings started to freeze over once more, and cold was stabbing into her heart and soul.

“Noooo… way!” Rainbow Dash yelled and flung open the doors, stumbling out onto the ground beyond.

Behind her the ancient door closed shut and with it the freezing winter wind trying to escape disappeared. Rainbow Dash took but a second to realize that she was no longer cold and the ice covering her body had melted away. For practically the first time since she had started this journey, she was someplace outside where she wasn’t cold and it wasn’t because of any magical power or strange phenomena. It was just… how the weather was now.

She lifted her head up and looked forward. Her ruby eyes saw more rocky mountains in front of her but they were ones not capped by snow or covered in frost and no cold winds blew between their valleys. The sun was out above the mountains, creating an arid warmth in the range through a sky unmarred by any clouds. It was a whole new world in front of her full of the unknown and the exciting.

Rainbow Dash grinned in confident anticipation and took to the air, beginning her flight south.

Pink hooves walked through the snow on the trail of Rainbow Dash.

Author's Note

Moving South

“I. Love. The heat!” Rainbow Dash hollered as she flew through the sky. “I love the sun, I love warm weather, and I love not having to look at snow everywhere I go!”

It was funny in a way. What started as a simple journey going north—where she knew she would mostly be faced with snow and cold weather—had now evolved into something so much more and she was glad to see something different. She had spent so much time in the northern parts of the world, experienced so many things, and now it was all behind her. That kind of thing was probably over and done with for good all the way until she made it to the south pole.

Which of course she intended to.

Now as Rainbow Dash looked down she saw green grass, real green grass, unenchanted or affected by any sort of magic to keep it looking like that, growing across the ground along with flowers and trees. A winding river snaked across the ground heading downhill from east to west and Rainbow Dash bet that if she went in closer to it she’d see fish swimming through it.

Alive. This whole place was alive in a way that even the more hospitable parts of the True North could never claim to be. And colorful.

It probably wasn’t even actually that hot out either, Rainbow Dash was just used to being near freezing for so long that even “cool” would feel warm to her. Which was aided by the bright sun shining down on her. She missed this all so much. Nogt was an oasis in the north but even it only existed because of strange magic. This was all the real deal.

Rainbow Dash loved it. With a smile on her face she went lower to the ground to get a better view of things that were practically foreign to the north. The larger mountains were still quite a ways away, she could afford to relax and sight see a little. Right now she wanted to take in the smells of flowers and the scent of a green forest full of animals. It was something she might be a little embarrassed to admit to her friends she had done, but she didn’t care right now. Girly it may be but it’s what she needed after so many months through snow and ice. All of her other friends would be able to appreciate it so she could totally indulge every now and then too.

She saw a small forest of trees bordering the river on both sides and descended enough where she was just over the tops of the pine trees that made it up. The trees weren’t especially dense and Rainbow Dash could see down to the forest floor and make out the overgrowing grass and undisturbed flowers and bushes. Not a trail or anything in sight was going through the forest, it was pure, untouched nature. She saw bird nests, squirrels darting between branches, bees moving from flower to flower, and it was all so peaceful.

She reached the snaking river and instead of just passing over it, Rainbow Dash dropped down and started following the stream, heading west for a bit just so she could enjoy the sound of rushing water some more. Licking her lips she dipped her head down while flying right over the surface and dunked her head in the water. Swallowing a few big gulps of it and getting her mane all wet she pulled her head back out and tossed her mane back, sending droplets of water everywhere.

“Ah!” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. Real fresh water tasted good right now.

With a flap of her wings she popped back up away from the river and resumed her flight over the trees, going back south. After the forest she hit a few small grassy hills that led to a rocky area before the landscape started to turn into mountains. While she flew over them she flipped over and started flying upside down, putting her hooves behind her head and basking in the sunlight. The weather was so nice and things were so quiet here, it was the perfect time and place to be casual like this and get some relaxation in while flying. Not many pegasi could pull something like that off but Rainbow Dash was a master.

Of course though to ruin the pleasant day she was now having, her stomach growled. Rainbow Dash groaned and turned over, rubbing her belly. It had been a while now since she had anything to eat. And snow technically didn’t count.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “There’s gotta be a ton of fruit growing in a place like this, just gotta find it first.” She glanced down at the ground. “And there’s plenty of grass and flowers even if there aint.”

Honestly despite the rumbling from her stomach she didn’t want to interrupt her flight just yet to go search for food. It was just too nice getting to fly like this out here in perfect weather. She missed it way too much. Besides, she had pushed herself plenty of times before, she knew how long she could go before she had to go chow down. The drink she had just a minute ago was good enough for now.

Rainbow Dash heard the cawing of a bird and watched as a small flock took off from some trees below, heading east. She smiled after them, she didn’t envy their carefree life but she admired the freedom any other flying creatures like that had. A carefree life wasn’t quite fun, daring, and awesome enough for her. Carefree days where she was just lounging in the clouds were fine though. But on this adventure of hers though she wasn’t really looking for those either. Which is why she shortly found herself musing about what she might first find over here on this side of the world. What did it contain? What villains and monsters were there for her to fight? What purely awesome things were there for her to do?

And how long would it take before she found them?

She passed the green hills and made it to that rocky area she had seen earlier, below her were innumerable boulders of granite and dusty paths between the rock formations that led up towards the mountains. She saw a green lizard basking in the sunlight on top of one of the rocks. The moment her shadow passed over it it skittered away in fright.

Rainbow Dash pushed a little more power into her wings and rose up higher into the sky. She still had hours of daylight ahead of her and she was going to fully savor it all.

“Twilight’s going to love to hear about everything I see over here. And I’m going to love to brag about it,” Rainbow grinned.

Especially if whatever she got up to on this half of the world was even more epic and amazing than what she had already done and accomplished in the True North. Rainbow Dash could barely fathom herself just how much she had changed things and how many creatures she had saved back there. Now she was hoping to do the same, as she headed south instead.

Her flight over the rocks continued as the foothills of the mountains rose up just a short ways away. The impatience she had when it came to wanting to find a new adventure was starting to burn inside her chest once more.

For the First Time in a While

The first set of mountains she reached weren’t just bare rocks but had plenty of vegetation on them. Endless forests of trees seemed to creep up and over them, giving the whole place the look of a sprawling woodland. Occasionally Rainbow Dash saw streams that flowed downhill from the mountains and a couple of ponds or what could even be called small lakes. It was an evergreen world below her. Time had passed since Rainbow Dash emerged from the gate and now she could easily tell without even glancing up at the sky that it was past noon. The way the sun felt, the slight change in how the rays hit her, the way her shadow moved on the ground, Rainbow had gotten used to telling time this way years ago. When she was just a filly.

And since it was past noon she decided it was finally time to get some lunch. The casual flight, the chillaxing under the warm sun, was done with for now.

A forested mountain probably had all kinds of fruits and vegetables she could find to eat—Rainbow Dash doubted she’d have to resort to grass or flowers. And thanks to all the time spent with Fluttershy and Applejack (and Twilight to a lesser degree) she knew what sort of stuff was poisonous and what wasn’t. Mostly.

Rainbow Dash slowed her flight and went down, down to the mountains and the trees. She glided right between some large pines and descended all the way to the forest floor.

The soft feeling of dirt and grass beneath her hooves brought a smile to Rainbow Dash’s face.

“I almost forgot what that felt like,” Rainbow Dash said. She may not have loved the ground and the dirt the same way Applejack and Fluttershy did, but after so much snow and rock hard ground all the time even she savored it a little. The blades of grass and the slightly warm dirt just felt so good to her hooves.

For a moment she paused there and took everything about the mountain forest in. Trees surrounded her in every direction, she couldn’t see an end to them or even get an unobstructed view in one direction for more than twenty feet or so. All sorts of bugs buzzed and chirped around her, hidden under rocks and logs or flitting about from trees and flowers. A squirrel ran up the trunk of one of the trees and stopped on a higher branch as it stared down at Rainbow. The earthy smell of the forest filled her nose and when she took a deep breath the freshest of mountain air was drawn into her lungs.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash stretched like a cat and tucked her wings into her sides. “Let’s find some food.”

She sniffed the air a few times to see where her nose would take her. Rainbow Dash was pretty confident in her senses but she somehow didn’t think her nose was as sharp as her eyes or ears. She couldn’t really make out anything particular among the multitude of smells in the forest. Even when she closed her eyes to try to just focus on smelling something it didn’t really help.

Rainbow Dash frowned and opened her eyes. “Okay, time to look around.”

At least everything was just so dang colorful compared to the icy north. Even now when it was reduced mostly to browns and greens it was so much more enjoyable to look at and search through. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings again to hover a few feet off the ground and started casually making her way through the trees, looking for either berry bushes or fruit trees. Applejack could’ve found a trail or known what signs to look for to find some food but Rainbow Dash could only rely on her eyes actually seeing it.

She passed over a few flower patches and some bushes, along with a small stream that was barely two hooves wide, just looking for anything edible. No, not just edible, tasty too. A rabbit popped its head out of its warren for a moment but just as quickly retreated when it saw her flying.

Rainbow Dash grinned—if she was a carnivore…

“Hah! The look on Fluttershy’s face if I joked about something like that with her around...” Rainbow rubbed her eyes to clear away the tears after getting a nice laugh.

But if there were critters like that around there was probably some decent food somewhere too, right? Rabbits didn’t just eat grass or flowers. At least Rainbow Dash was pretty sure they didn’t. She really should know more but with how much Fluttershy spoiled Angel Bunny she wasn’t sure if that rabbit’s diet was normal.

Her stomach grumbled again mid-flight.

Rainbow frowned. “Maybe I should just go for the flowers...”

She soon got lucky though after just another couple of minutes of winding through the trees. Something different caught her eye, a group of trees that weren’t pines were growing in the forest just a little ways from where she was. And she thought she could spy a vibrant red color dotting their branches. Rainbow Dash zoomed through the trees towards the other grove and finally came to a halt right in front of them.

“Yes!” She pumped her hoof in triumph.

In front of her sat a grove of maybe twenty or thirty different cherry trees. They looked incredibly healthy and their branches were overflowing with the delicious red fruit.

“Not as good as apples, but you bet I’ll take it,” Rainbow Dash smiled and flapped up to the branches of the nearest tree. She pulled a few cherries right off their stems and chucked one in her mouth immediately. Biting down filled her mouth with sweet, juicy goodness. It was perfectly fresh without a hint of bitterness at all. Rainbow Dash expertly excavated the pit from inside the cherry and spat it on the ground while swallowing the good parts.

“That hits the spot,” she licked her lips and started eating a few more.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have thrown away that old bag,” Rainbow Dash scrunched up her face in bemusement as she looked at all the cherries she was carrying in her hooves.

She was currently flying high above the trees again after temporarily getting her fill of cherries. Her mouth was red and her stomach was full—too full, she had eaten way too many of them. It didn’t even matter to her at the time, they were too tasty and she was hungry. Getting to eat some real sweet fruit like that after so long was just too much.

It was so good that she had decided to bring as much as she could carry with her. Which was causing problems now as she didn’t have anything to carry them in. A bunch had already fallen out of her hooves and disappeared into the trees below and Rainbow Dash could only shrug. Whatever, at least she had another day’s worth of food with her now.

She didn’t know how long it would be until she found more food, especially since the lush forests were soon ending up ahead, so she was going to hold onto as much as she could.

The green mountains covered in trees were just about to give way to the taller rocky mountains that looked much less full of file. Rainbow doubted she’d be able to find anything more than a mountain spring up in them or maybe some sort of refuge. She didn’t think fruit normally grew at the altitude those taller mountains were at but maybe something she could eat did.

Rainbow Dash glanced below and took one last look at the great green forest, a smile tugging at her lips, before she jetted off to the next landscape to fly over. One more part of her journey already behind her.

Eagle Eyed Discovery

Between the various rocky mountains Rainbow Dash flew over was a land of rocky canyons and crags that tore apart the surface of the earth. Nowhere was there even the hint of even ground. It was hotter here too now despite the altitude being a little higher, the ground below just reflected most of the heat so Rainbow almost felt like she was being baked from both sides. It probably wasn’t as hot as she thought but her body had yet to readjust to normal temperatures after being in the snow for so long. She couldn’t imagine how badly she’d handle a desert now.

It didn’t take long before the glare of the sun started coming in from her side—Celestia was starting to lower the sun.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash looked down at her cherries and then at the mountains below. “Maybe I should find somewhere to stop for the night? Doesn’t look like I’m getting through here in one day… could speed up but I might miss something.”

That was always the essence of it. She could have flown at her full, dazzling speed above everything, but she might miss something or someplace interesting or cool. And the purpose of her journey wasn’t just to fly around the world now but to have a really awesome time doing it. What kind of adventures would she miss if she was just a rainbow blur in the sky the whole time?

She deftly moved her bundle of cherries around and grabbed one to snack on. While chewing on that she checked out the mountains some more to see if maybe there was a spring tucked away somewhere. She wasn’t really tired yet or anything but she already had food and didn’t need to go around looking for anything else so if she saw a good place to land for the night she might as well take it. Considering her day started out on the other side of the northern walls she had already made a ton of progress anyways. Rainbow just hoped that tomorrow she’d finally find some life—pony life or something more than animals at least—and maybe some kind of town or settlement or something unnatural to show she was going the right way. Just a sign or even an abandoned house would be enough. There were plenty of those she came across in the north too.

It would all have to wait until tomorrow by the looks of it though. There just wasn’t anything in the mountains below her yet. Nothing unnatural at least.

The rocky mountains had an orange makeup to them, something exaggerated even more by the sunlight hitting them. Rainbow Dash had no idea what kind of stone made up mountains like these (she wasn’t Maud) but she did recall seeing similar stuff a long time ago when her and her friends all went to Appleloosa. These two places probably couldn’t be any farther apart though.

Rainbow soon grinned as she saw what she was looking for and dove sharply down to one of the mountains.

A blue ball of pony jumped into the small spring nestled on the side of the mountain and sprayed waves of water in every direction. Rainbow’s soaked mane and head then broke the surface of the water a second later as she breathed deeply to fill her lungs. “Ahhhhh~”

It was just about getting dark now and where Rainbow was most of the remaining sunlight was already blocked by rocks. She had spotted this little spring and thought it looked perfect thanks to it having some covered areas that would protect her from the wind and other elements when she decided to sleep. Her bounty of cherries was already piled up under the shadow of a rock jutting out over the water and some of the ground next to it.

It wasn’t a Five-Star hotel but Rainbow had slept in way rougher places before. And now she was getting a bath first too, what’s there to complain about?

“So much better,” Rainbow Dash said as she stepped out of the water and shook all over to dry herself off. Then reaching behind her and wringing out her tail.

Finding herself to be sufficiently dry she went over to her cherries and took a seat. Three ripe fruits went right into her mouth and three pits were spat out several feet away onto the ground. Rainbow Dash thought about checking out this mountain more or walking out right around the spring but knew she wouldn’t find anything anyways so decided not to. Despite it not even really being night yet, now that she stopped it’s like her fatigue was catching up to her all at once. She had woken up early in the first place and had done a lot. Not her busiest or most exhausting day by a long shot but she could use some rest for sure.

Like this she could wake up early tomorrow, right as dawn struck, and get the most out of the day. With that thought in her head, Rainbow Dash curled up on the ground and shut her eyes, waiting for sleep.

The next morning she left a pile of cherry pits behind at the spring and took to the sky while the sun was still just barely rising. Maybe she shouldn’t have eaten all of them but she wanted to have max energy for today. As if to undercut that idea, a big yawn came over her and Rainbow had to rub her eyes to get them back into focus. Seems like no matter how much she slept she wasn’t much of an early riser.

It was more of the same she saw below her in this early sunlight. The mountains didn’t offer much else. They were, however, getting bigger and the land between them was becoming far less broken. Not that it mattered to her since she could fly but it did make her think she was entering an area that would be easier for other ponies and creatures to travel through.

Which is why she was keeping an extra sharp eye out for such a thing or anything unusual. Any paths, any roads, any structures of any sort. If they were there she wasn’t going to miss them.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums in boredom. “Come on, something, anything, I’m tired of just looking around!”

The pegasus still glided over some more empty mountains with nothing yet to show for it. The orange rocks beneath her lied dormant in the same spots they had for probably hundreds of years. A warm breeze was running through the sky and at least that was something Rainbow Dash could enjoy. Up ahead was a series of taller peaks than the average for the mountain range and Rainbow Dash sped up a little bit to check them out.

She fought the urge to do any loops or twirls for fun so she could focus on the ground. Her eyes scanned the first tall peak like a hawk looking for unassuming prey, the orange rock practically glowing in the sunlight. She saw movement but it turned out to be nothing more than a mountain goat. A good find if she was Fluttershy but not what she was looking for.

Rainbow was about to fly to the next peak when she saw something halfway up the mountain along its backside. It was so suddenly jarring that she jerked to a stop in midair.

There was a large circular platform carved out of the mountain, like an artificial summit or landing pad almost. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at it and quickly jetted right down to it. Her hooves landed with a clack on smoothly carved stone and she folded her wings in. The platform was easily a couple hundred feet wide with a stone railing around the edge to keep anyone from falling if they were on it. You could’ve fit a lot of ponies out here at once. What Rainbow Dash didn’t see though was a way up or down it from outside. There was no path or anything leading up it from the mountain. Her eyes glanced around to see if there was anything else and she finally found it nestled into the side of the mountain. A door.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash blinked and walked over to it. “That makes more sense.”

When she approached she noticed the door was entirely covered in dust, probably unopened for ages, and it was made of a dull gray metal. It had the remnants of faded and chipped away brown paint on it except for the middle where Rainbow Dash could barely make out a “C” that had been painted in red. There was no simple handle or knob on it, instead a metal curtain looked like it descended from the top of the door and went flush up against the ground, not even offering the slightest of openings.

“Well this is great,” Rainbow frowned and knocked on the door, hearing a reverberating echo beyond it as she did so. “Hello? Anybody back there? Open up the door!”

Nothing. She pressed her ear up against the door to try and hear if anything was moving back there but it was totally silent. Whatever was built inside this mountain it didn’t seem like it was occupied right now, or at least not close to the door. For all she knew it could’ve been an open elevator shaft right behind this thing anyways.

Rainbow Dash sighed and pulled away, pacing around the platform. “Okay so I found something but I can’t get in… now what?”

She looked towards the other mountains around her and nodded. “Maybe there are more of these around here? Yeah, there have to be.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the sky again, flying off to the next nearest mountain.

Mountain Ponies

As Rainbow Dash soon came to learn, similar platforms dotted both the mountains and the valleys between them all around her. Some were built on the peaks of smaller mountains while others on the ground floor of the range. And she had absolutely no idea what any of them were for. She inspected a few and found the same doors with the same red “C” on all of them leading deeper into the mountains or ground where they were built but nopony answered any of her knocks. Instead of flying further on, Rainbow Dash had spent the morning flying in circles around this place looking for more platforms or anything else.

“Okay… so I know there are a bunch of these weird places with weird doors. What else do I know?” Rainbow Dash asked herself as she stormed her brain while hovering above the landscape. “The first one I found was at the back of that mountain.” She lifted up her hoof and pointed at the mountain in question, now northeast of where she was. “And the others are...”

Rainbow Dash looked around and took note of the exact locations of all the platforms, trying to see if there was a pattern. There was one almost directly southeast of her, three more to the west, one true west, one northwest, and one southwest, and another one east of her. While two more of them were built parallel to each other south of her. And looking directly down there was another one almost in the middle of them but still leaning a bit further south.

“I wonder,” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. The platform below her was built on top of a smaller, flatter mountain. And why was there only one platform built in the middle like this surrounded by the others? She didn’t know if there was a real reason to it but it did make her a little more suspicious of this platform and mountain.

With a nod, Rainbow Dash flew down to give this mountain a closer look instead of just checking it out from the sky. Maybe if she checked it out from a lower angle—like the angle of something that walked—she’d see something.

Rainbow Dash flew to the north side of the mountain and dropped down almost right to the rocky ground, instead hovering a few feet off it since it was still way faster for her to look and move around that way. The ground was really uneven here and the mountain was a pockmarked mess of outcroppings, cliffs, and jagged ridges. But what she noticed was that closer to the base of the mountain things got much smoother, almost like they had been purposefully cleared out and made that way by somepony. Rainbow Dash grinned and flew towards the base of the mountain, there wasn’t anything on this side but she was sure there was something up with it. That ground had been made for travel, it was more like a road now that surrounded the mountain and everything. Rainbow was willing to bet there were probably other roads leading to it coming from elsewhere in this mountain range. Either the platforms or the chaotic mess of the rest of the ground and mountains had distracted her too much to notice it before.

She flew east first around the base of the mountain in search of anything and when she had made it to the exact middle of the east face she once again had to halt suddenly.

“Tch,” Rainbow clicked her tongue. “No wonder I didn’t see anything from above.”

At the bottom of the east side of the mountain lied a cave—or at least that’s all it appeared to be at first glance. A smooth, expertly carved arch of stone was built around it, the cave being wide enough that two, maybe even three, carriages could travel down it together, and tall enough for maybe ten ponies standing on top of each other. The interior walls were carved smooth and on the bottom of the tunnel, since it was no mere natural cave, was a red strip painted along the ground. It started right at the entrance of the tunnel and led in deeper. Rainbow Dash’s eyes followed it until the strip stopped.

She blinked. And then an annoyed frown broke out across her face. “Oh come on! Another door?”

Only about twenty feet into the tunnel a large door blocked off the rest of it entirely. Superficially it was similar to the others she had investigated up on the platforms but a closer look told a different story. It was much cleaner and better taken care of than the other doors, in fact the metal practically shone even in the weak light of the tunnel, and it looked segmented like a large warehouse door rather than an elevator door. Lastly, instead of just a red “C” painted on its exterior was a word written out in its entirety: COPPER.

“Okay?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head and dropped down onto her hooves, walking towards the door.

When she got close enough to touch it she took one last look around, like the others it appeared totally seamless on the bottom but at the top she could clearly see how it would raise and pull back inside when opened up. Rainbow Dash shrugged and lifted a blue hoof up to the door. “I swear if nopony answers or anything, I’m breaking this down.”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She hit the door three times, hard, getting a dull thud in response each time. It sounded different than when she hit the other doors, probably thanks to the size and thickness of this one and the wider space behind it. Either way, Rainbow Dash patiently waited in front of it with a slight frown on her face. One minute. That’s what she was going to give this door.

47 seconds passed before a rumbling sound came from the door. The sound of gears grinding against each other emerged from the top of the tunnel and slowly the door began to lift off the ground. Teeth along the bottom of it that went into metal slots lifted up and out as the entire thing retracted up onto the roof of the tunnel. When it stopped and the entire door had opened, Rainbow looked inside at the much different tunnel leading further into the mountain. Just right beyond the door the ground changed from natural stone to cement and electrical lights built into the ceiling of the tunnel lit it up entirely.

That wasn’t the main thing that caught Rainbow’s attention. Just right ahead of her was a gate and booth blocking off the rest of the tunnel.

With a pony sitting inside the booth.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it, she smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief. Another pony. Another living creature she could talk to. She had finally found someplace new outside of the north. Raalzeron had been the only thing she talked to since leaving Nogt but that didn’t compare to actually finding a real… town? Building? Mine? Whatever this place really was. She didn’t know yet but she was happy to have come across it.

Rainbow Dash walked towards the gate and booth. The gate was only pony height and didn’t look like it was for blocking individual ponies but to keep carts and carriages from going in or out without first checking in with the booth. She saw how the gate had hinges built on the left side and seemed designed to swing open towards the booth and into the tunnel, probably at the press of a button or pull of a lever from the pony in the booth. The booth itself was made of wood and sat on the left side of the tunnel. Rainbow couldn’t see anyway to get inside it so it probably had a door on the other side. A large glass window wrapped around it, with iron bars reinforcing it or perhaps protecting the pony inside the booth. As Rainbow got closer she saw a single hole in the glass, a slot right in front of the pony sitting in there, probably for papers or other stuff to go through, or maybe to just allow him and whoever was outside to hear and talk to each other better.

Now as Rainbow stood right in front of that booth she looked up at the earth pony inside who was somewhat disinterestedly looking back down at her. He was a brown earth pony with a golden mane practically shaved down to the roots and he wore a gray uniform with a nametag reading “Parnel” on it.

“Dude,” Rainbow Dash smiled up at him. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

Parnel raised an unamused eyebrow back at her. “I’m afraid I can’t say the same. You’re clearly not a merchant or trader are you? Are you some pegasus traveler from the Weeping Mountain? Whoever you are, we don’t open up to tourists.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and then glanced back over at the open door. “Uh, looks like you kind of do. And I’ve never heard of any Weeping Mountain.”

“Regardless. If you don’t have business here then you can just turn around and go back wherever you came from,” Parnel narrowed his eyes. “And if you’re not from the Weeping Mountain then just who are you?”

“Look, pal. I’ve been flying around and exploring a whole bunch of places for ages. I don’t even know what this place is called, I just wanted to check it out and maybe have a place to stay for a day,” she left out the part about wanting to find an awesome adventure, since he probably wouldn’t appreciate it. “And my name’s Rainbow Dash. I’m from Equestria.”

“A made up name and home if I ever heard one,” Parnel scoffed.

“Is not!” Rainbow Dash angrily said back to him.

Parnel chuckled. “You’re a bad liar. That would be the silliest name I’ve ever heard. You are from the Weeping Mountain aren’t you? Just some bored pegasus looking for kicks.”

Rainbow Dash stood up on her back legs and put her hooves down on the wooden surface of the booth, right beside the slot. “I’m telling the truth, don’t make fun of my name.” She glared at him.

“Are you threatening me now?” Parnel glared right back at her.

Rainbow sighed and took her hooves away. “No dude, I just-”

“Cause I could call security on you right now and have you thrown out of here, you miscreant.” Parnel said.

“Ughh,” a vein throbbed in Rainbow’s forehead, she dragged a hoof across her face. “I still don’t even know where here is!”

“Suuure you don’t,” Parnel sneered and rolled his eyes. “But fine, I’ll humor you, ‘Rainbow Dash’” He did air quotes to emphasize his disbelief of her name. “You’ve made your way to Oreville, Copper District, led by the Lord Copper.”

“Oreville, huh?” Rainbow Dash blinked.

“Yes. This entire mountain range makes up Oreville. Now would you please get lost?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “What? Are you busy?”

Parnel flushed. “Um… yes.”

“Now who’s a bad liar? I doubt barely anypony ever comes through here,” Rainbow said.

“That’s not the point! I have strict orders from Lord Copper to not let in anypony without authorization. And I haven’t gotten that for you,” Parnel folded his hooves over his chest.

“Then ask for it,” Rainbow Dash frowned again. She didn’t exactly like the sound of this “Lord Copper” guy already.

Parnel coughed. “I also have strict orders to not look for authorization.”

“What? You’re just supposed to turn me and everybody else away?” She shouted.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with you,” Parnel frowned. “It’s Oreville business and specific directions from my superior. Now I wasn’t bluffing about security either, I’ll call them on you right now.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the gate and the rest of the tunnel past it before looking back up at Parnel. “You know I could totally just fly over this gate and make it to the end of this tunnel in a flash, right?”

“You had better not,” Parnel icily said.

She smirked at him and stepped away, facing the gate. “Watch me.”

“I’m warning you! I’ve got a button right here for the alarm, security will swarm you as soon as you get to the end of the tunnel!”

“Well I hope they know what they’re getting into,” Rainbow Dash said and without another word she shot up and over the gate, flying down the tunnel like a whirlwind.

“Hey!” Parnel yelled after her. “S-Security!” He slammed his hoof down on a large red button next to his desktop.

Instantly an alarm rung up and down the entire tunnel, Rainbow Dash had to cover her ears for a moment to try and block out the loud ringing. It didn’t stop her at all though and she continued barreling down the tunnel towards its exit. She could see it only about one or two hundred feet away from her, it opened up into clearly a much larger area. Rainbow Dash grinned and ignored the ringing in her ears even as she saw movement coming up ahead—a couple of ponies had gathered around the exit to the tunnel.

Guards, huh? Rainbow Dash thought as her eyes narrowed and she flapped her wings harder so she could be upon them before they even registered what was happening.

Meanwhile, at the exit to the tunnel, two red-suited guards who had their station there were immediately alerted to the loud alarm and quickly got up from their desks.

“Ahhh~” One of the guards yawned. “What’s going on? Parnel hit the alarm?”

“He probably fell asleep and accidentally slipped on it, wouldn’t be the first time,” the other said. “Ugh, the whole tunnel security squad is going to be up here in a second now, why hasn’t the idiot switched it back off yet?”

“Hey, Schopen? What’s that?” The first guard pointed down the tunnel.

“Huh?” Schopen began to look but suddenly found himself tackled by a blue blur. “Agh!” He yelled as Rainbow Dash hit him and knocked him to the ground. “G-Get off me!” Knowing some pony had just attacked him, he threw up a left hook to try and punch her in the jaw.

Rainbow Dash easily avoided it by jumping off him while the other guard tried to grab her from behind. She ducked between his hooves and kicked him hard in the chest to knock him away. Schopen then got up and tried to punch her again but Rainbow Dash let his clumsy hoof fly right by her before she socked him in the face.

“Ngh!” Schopen grunted in pain and fell down, holding a hoof up to his eye. “You’re gonna give me a black eye! What’s the matter with you, you psycho?!”

Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the collar of his suit and pulled him close to her face, looking him straight in his one eye left open and glaring seriously at him. “Alright, now you tell me… uh.” Rainbow Dash blinked and looked at the two guards she attacked. The other one was coughing and sputtering and this guy she was holding was scared out of his mind. “Uh oh.” Rainbow Dash dropped Schopen and gulped. “I think I got a little carried away… I just broke into a city I know nothing about and attacked two ponies… am I the bad guy right now?”

Now that she had momentarily regained her senses, Rainbow Dash looked around her to see just where she was after coming out of that tunnel.

“Whoa...” She stared in awe at the massive city in front of her. It must’ve been built both partially inside the hollowed out interior of the mountain and under ground level at the same time. Rainbow Dash was standing on a somewhat raised level that the tunnel ended at, with several ramps, lifts, and stairways all leading down from it to other areas below. The ground was all paved black cement or asphalt that winded around huge stone and metal skyscrapers that went from the bottom floor of the city all the way up to the roof of the mountain. Lines painted on the ground in the colors of red, green, yellow, blue and more directed traffic on the streets and all went to different areas of the city. She could see underground tunnels and roads going out from this mountain into other parts of the mountain range, possibly leading to more sections of city like this or something else. Gigantic holes were carved into the ground that looked like they went hundreds of feet deep, peering down them Rainbow Dash saw a series of lights and walkways going down level by level until she couldn’t even see the bottom. It looked like apartments or buildings of some sort were built into the holes like honeycombs. The roof of the huge cave was covered in stalactites that themselves were wired with large lights that illuminated the entire underground city.

That wasn’t even getting to all the ponies she saw. “Traffic” indeed. The streets were positively bustling with earth ponies. Hundreds, thousands, of them walking every which way throughout the whole city. She saw some gathered outside a store built at the base of one of the skyscrapers, she saw one selling some kind of food at the corner of another, many others she saw pulling carts or carrying buckets of rocks or metal of some kind. It was an actual underground metropolis. Most of them were wearing work clothes or suits of some sort too.

“You nutjob!” Schopen yelped as he backed away from her, gaining Rainbow’s attention again. “What kind of crazy thug just barges into our city and attacks ponies for no good reason?”

“T-This is just a misunderstanding,” Rainbow Dash winced. “Actually, not really, but it’s just a mistake! I’m sorry!” She tried to wave her hooves in front of her chest and back away from him and the other guard.

“Freeze!” Another stallion voice yelled from her side.

“Crud...” Rainbow Dash looked to see two dozen more red-suited guards that had come up to the tunnel while she had been gawking.

Numerous crossbows were leveled at her while other guards carried swords, spears, staffs, and warhammers drawn and ready to be used. The alarm was still blaring from inside the tunnel and to Rainbow’s dismay, none of these ponies looked willing to just let things slide. She could just fly off or even back out of the tunnel—if the front door hadn’t been closed—but what would that get her? Rainbow didn’t know if a big adventure was here for her but she did know that she really wanted to explore and check out more of this cool place. Unfortunately the angry looking guards just continued to stare her down while the other two she had assaulted ran over to stand along with them.

The earth ponies began to fan out in an attempt to surround her as Rainbow Dash stood her ground.

“Look, I’m seriously sorry, I just wanted to come see your city,” Rainbow Dash said, trying to explain herself.

“Save it,” one of the guards growled. “You’ve broken in here uninvited and attacked Schopen and Hoff. If you’ve got any sense you’ll come quietly and nopony will have to get hurt.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes looked around at the guards forming a semi-circle around her. “I promise I’m not going to fight or hurt any of you again, but really, this is just a misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding indeed.”

The guards all turned to look back at the source of the voice and Rainbow peered behind them as well to see a tall stallion walking up behind them. He was a tan earth pony with a short black mane in a gray and blue uniform that was far cleaner and more stylish than any of the others she had seen so far. The way he walked made him seem like someone who saw themselves as very important and there was a mild but simultaneously haughty frown on his face as he looked upon Rainbow Dash. Two stallions in red uniforms similar to the other guards but with orange bands across their chests flanked him.

“This is quite far for a prank from a Weeping Mountain neerdowell to go,” the tan stallion said to her.

“L-Lord Copper, what are you doing here, sir?” The guard who had spoken to Rainbow Dash asked while the rest nervously looked back and forth between the Lord and Rainbow Dash.

“That’s no business of yours, guard.” Lord Copper sneered at him. “I happened to be nearby on my business and heard the alarm go off. That’s all you need to be concerned with.” He pushed past the other guards, his two personal stallions brusquely shoving them aside as well, and stood before Rainbow Dash.

Lord Copper huffed disdainfully at her. “Well aren’t you a colorful sight. A neon-nightmare as it were.”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “Okay, look, I know I screwed up but I’m not going to just stand here and be insulted either. All I wanted was to visit, okay? Look around, see the sights? That’s the truth. I’m not from the Weeping Mountain—I still don’t even know what that is! My name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from Equestria, a really far away and really awesome place. And I don’t have any problem with you or Oreville.”

“Sure you are,” Lord Copper smirked. “Well even if that’s true you certainly aren’t giving a good first impression of your home. What kind of awesome place raises such criminals?”

“I just got carried away, if you let me explain-”

“I don’t see why I would. You’re some vagabond from outside of Oreville, what do I owe you? Absolutely nothing,” Lord Copper said.

“I’m not-”

He cut her off again. “You are a violent pony who has illegally broken into my city. You say it’s all a misunderstanding and apparently you’re not even from the Weeping Mountain but some other far away land? Well why don’t you do a good job of proving that and trying to clean up your image, and your home’s image, by letting my guards peacefully take you to our correctional institution. A night, or two, or perhaps ten, in there and I might just forgive your transgressions without anymore fuss.” He then frowned and looked towards the tunnel. “And will someone go to the registration booth and tell that moron to turn off the alarm?”

“Yes, sir!” Schopen and Hoff both answered at once and ran down the tunnel.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the Lord Copper before grimacing and staring out at the other guards and the rest of the city as well. She didn’t want to cause anymore problems. This place actually looked peaceful, the ponies down in the streets were happy, she really had no reason to fight any of these ponies and she was really regretful of how she handled things earlier. And she really wanted to see more of this place, she wasn’t sure if there was a big adventure to be had here but it was still the first civilization she had come across on this side of the world. She needed to see more of it. But… she also really didn’t want to be thrown in jail. Rainbow could easily fight her way out of this situation and find someway to leave the city but that wouldn’t really solve anything or satisfy her curiosity. This guy also just plain rubbed her the wrong way. There was something up with him for sure. “His” city he had said, but she didn’t quite believe it was as simple as that. So in the end, to stay here, to get on Oreville’s good side, and to figure out if there was an awesome adventure to be had, there was only one decision she could make.

Rainbow Dash sighed and hung her head low. “Fine. I won’t fight or anything, I’m sorry for attacking the guards and I’ll spend a night or whatever in your jail to make up for it.”

A sneering smile came onto Lord Copper’s face. “Wonderful. I’ll have my personal guards escort you to our facility immediately.” He turned to his guards. “When she gets there, make sure she gets a, oh, warm welcome.” He chuckled.

After being savagely beaten by half a dozen ponies on the security force when she arrived at the correctional facility, Rainbow Dash had her bloodied and bruised body tossed into a cell and locked up. With how badly they had beaten her they saw no need for any other restraints so her wings were at least left free. Not like it mattered, she didn’t even have the strength to carry herself over to the meager bed inside her lonely cell. Rainbow Dash coughed and sputtered on the cold stone floor, spitting up a mouthful of blood while her vision grew darker and she threatened to slip into unconsciousness.

“This bites...”

Chief Constable

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up or even if it was the same day. What she did know was that her whole body hurt. Her eyes briefly stirred around behind her closed eyelids before she managed to painfully open them up and try to look around.

“Oh yeah,” she weakly said as she realized where she was. The rough beating she had received flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash tried to stand up.

Bad idea.

“Ngh!” Her legs gave out and she collapsed back onto the stone floor where she panted in pain. If she had a mirror in here she was almost certain her face would be a mess of purple bruises and welts, along with most of the rest of her body. Her vision was blurry and she had trouble keeping her eyes open from swelling around them, her jaw ached, her stomach ached, her limbs ached. They had made sure to do a real number on her.

And I’m the one who made a bad first impression, huh? Rainbow Dash idly thought. She wanted to give these ponies and Oreville the benefit of the doubt, since it really did look like a perfectly happy and functioning community out there in the city, but her experience at the hooves of these police ponies darkened her opinion a bit. Maybe they had only done it because that Lord guy had ordered them to, but still. Rainbow would’ve been fine taking a punch or two in retaliation for how she had assaulted those guards up there, but what had been meted out against her was overkill in her opinion.

Since she was still having trouble standing up, Rainbow Dash at least tried to turn her head to try and look around the cell as much as she could. Right now she was facing the back wall of it and could just barely see two other solid cement walls to her sides along with a bed to her right. And a bucket and hole in the ground to the left. Yuck.

Even though her head hurt she managed to lift it up and look over her shoulder. What she first noticed though wasn’t the iron bars of her cell or the hallway past them, but the tray sitting down on the floor just a few feet behind her. Rainbow Dash looked at it, a simple metal tray had been left in her cell with two bowls on it. One of water and another that looked like it was maybe oatmeal.

She blinked. Was I so out of it that I didn’t even wake up when somepony brought this in here and left it for me? Whatever, at least they’re still feeding me.

All she could do right now though was breathe and stare in its direction. It would take some time before she had the energy back in her body and could actually manage the pain enough to walk over to those bowls. If it wasn’t already, that oatmeal was going to become ice cold.

Rainbow Dash tried to roll over onto her side to see if that would feel any better. While she was successful it didn’t really change the amount of pain she was in. She looked across her body and saw all the purple bruises and hoof marks that peppered her coat. Her stomach in particular was especially bad looking thanks to the repeated kicks she had taken there. Since she wasn’t doing anything else and she currently hurt too much to fall asleep, Rainbow focused on trying to move one limb at a time. Even more than a twitch caused pain to lance up and down each one of her legs though. After trying for just a minute she figured she should probably just stay lying down.

There was a copper taste in her mouth thanks to the blood.

She chose not to think of the irony.

It had been her decision not to fight back since all that would do is cause more problems. Now she had to deal with the repercussions of that. Her memories were still a bit foggy but she did recall being led through a part of the city and into a tunnel leading out of the hollowed mountain before arriving here. Then as soon as she stepped into the facility, one of the guards who had brought her here whispered something to the staff—that was about when the beating had started. Everything after that was black.

Rainbow Dash breathed out her mouth. “Wish I could remember a little more about the city I saw on the way...”

She thought she might have been riding a tram or cart of some sort through the tunnel but she had taken too many hits to the head to remember correctly. Her curiosity at this point was bothering her almost as much as the physical pain she was in. She really wanted to go and learn about Oreville as much as she could. It seemed like an exciting place and it was obviously quite huge as well, Rainbow Dash knew there had to be something out there waiting for her. And with all those smiling faces she had seen most of the other ponies were probably pretty nice.

Just thinking about that Lord Copper guy made her mad. And was it really so hard for any of these ponies to believe she was from Equestria?

Rainbow Dash decided to shut out anymore obnoxious thoughts so she could just focus on recuperating. She shut her eyes and slowly breathed in and out, her bruised ribs making each necessary breath laborious. Time all sort of blurred together for her after that and she wasn’t sure if hours had been passing by or merely minutes. But her body now was really craving that food and water that had been left in the cell with her. Even if it hurt getting over to it, once she got it into her system it would do a lot of good and help her recover faster.

She didn’t stand up fully but she at least got to her knees and turned to face the tray. It was so close, it was so stupidly close but it was taking so much pain and effort to reach it. If she just managed to crawl a foot or two closer she could reach out and pull it over with a hoof.

“Urggg...” Rainbow Dash groaned as she tried to move her body, each time she scraped a bruise it sent pain through that part of her body. Rainbow Dash was tough, and she could take a lot of punishment and deal with a good deal of pain, but being beaten so thoroughly it was impossible to just fight through it. It felt like they had gone just shy of breaking some of her bones. Rainbow paused and took a deep breath that turned into a ragged cough before crawling just a few inches closer. After a few more agonizing minutes like that her sore and aching hoof reached out and grasped the edge of the tray.

Rainbow Dash pulled it along the floor of the cell towards her, ignoring the skin-crawling scraping sound it made as she did so. She took but one second to catch her breath before dipping her muzzle into the water bowl and taking a long drink from it. The cold water felt refreshing enough to die for, the cold feeling from it quickly filled her stomach and spread through her veins.

“That’s good,” Rainbow said before moving to the oatmeal and beginning to eat up as much of it as she could. Thankfully it was mushy enough where she didn’t have to chew or anything, it was already a little tough for her to swallow like this. Rainbow Dash lied there on the ground, eating and drinking up all she could.

She must have fallen asleep or fainted again at some point. A slight tapping noise was ringing in her ears and Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to see an empty, and messy, couple of bowls in front of her. She felt a little bit better, not too much but enough to move around without it feeling agonizing. A groan escaped her lips and she pushed the tray away from her while she sat up as best she could. Her body was still covered in black and purple welts and bruises, some looked like they had gotten better while others actually looked worse.

“What the hay is that stupid tapping?!” Rainbow Dash yelled and looked up. “Oh.”

A pony was standing right outside her cell, right in front of the locked door. In his hoof was a key ring and he was tapping one of the keys against the lock to get her attention.

“Good evening,” he said to her.

Rainbow Dash stared back at him for a second, wondering if she should bother responding at all. Eventually her sheer curiosity and boredom got the better of her. “...evening?”

“It’s about midnight at the moment. You were brought in earlier today.”

“Same day… alright,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“I’m aware you’ve been in and out of consciousness but yes, it hasn’t been that long since you were placed in this cell. I would’ve come by even sooner if I had heard but unfortunately some of my subordinates didn’t seem like they wanted to tell me about you and what had happened,” he said.

Rainbow Dash attempted to raise an eyebrow at him but her bruised face made that impossible. “Who are you?”

The stallion stood up a bit straighter and confidently responded- “Chief Constable Barnaby of Oreville. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“Believe me-” Rainbow Dash coughed. “Right now the pleasure is definitely all yours.” She grinned.

“I believe you,” he looked at her, frowning at the state of her body. The Chief Constable was a robust looking stallion, not as tall or muscular as some stallions Rainbow had met, but clearly in great shape. He had a sharply defined brow that sat below a thin cyan mane, his tail was cut fairly short and his coat was of a yellow-green mixture. Like the other security ponies Rainbow had seen he wore a red uniform but he also had a red helmet atop his head to go with it. “I more or less know what has occurred but I’d like to hear you tell me in your own words as well.”

“I think the story is going to be that I fell down the stairs a bunch of times—at least according to your guards and Lord Doofus,” Rainbow Dash dryly responded.

Barnaby’s frown deepened. “I meant from the beginning with you first coming into Oreville. But rest assured, you should never have been mistreated the way you were and those responsible under my authority have been strictly disciplined.”

Rainbow Dash was silent as she appraised him. He seemed sincere and her friends would definitely tell her to give him the benefit of the doubt. She had been burned by these security ponies so far… but at least a small portion of that was her fault in the first place and she wanted to believe the average pony of Oreville was a perfectly good pony.

“Okay, so what?” Rainbow Dash said to him. “I tell you what happened and you arrest Lord Copper instead or something?”

Barnaby sadly smirked and shook his head. “Afraid not. Arresting Lord Copper over anything would practically take a miracle. I just wanted to personally get your side of things to see what kind of pony you are before letting you out of here.”

“Letting me out?”

“You were already punished far worse than you deserved. However, you did assault two guards. I can’t just let you free without getting to know you a little better after such a thing. I am the Chief Constable of this city after all. So, Rainbow Dash, did you have a good reason for illegally trespassing into our city and attacking two of the tunnel guards?” Barnaby asked her.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “N-Not especially...”

“Care to elaborate?” Barnaby pressed.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes, tilting her head back and taking a deep breath. Gathering her thoughts she looked back at him. “Look, I’m really sorry about what I did to those two guys up there. It was a mistake. I… I’ve been to a lot of places, not all of them friendly, when I saw two guards I think maybe I thought they were more “dangerous” to me than they really were. Or like, I was breaking into some kind of oppressed city and doing a good thing...”

“You have quite the imagination,” Barnaby looked rather confusedly at her.

“Well I’m kind of speaking from personal experience here too...” Rainbow Dash grinned awkwardly. “Also, and this isn’t really a great excuse, but I hadn’t been anywhere like this for a while now and I got really annoyed at your gate guard or whoever when he said I couldn’t come in.”

“Gate guard? You mean the operator of the registration booth? What did he say to you?” Barnaby asked.

“He said that only ponies with authorized business or something could come into Oreville—and he said that he wasn’t supposed to ask to get authorization. Jerk,” Rainbow snorted.

Barnaby frowned. “I see. Thank you for telling me that, that’s not supposed to be the way we do things here. It seems you’ve been mistreated by my fellow citizens in more ways than one.”

Rainbow winced. “Well… like I said I kind of deserved some of it. Really screwed this up...” She shook her head. “I’m supposed to be way more awesome than this, I’m making my home look bad. Fighting is fun but attacking innocent ponies just because I’m being a hot-headed idiot? My friends would kill me.”

“Speaking of that, do you have any friends or family back at the Weeping Mountain who know you’re here?” Barnaby asked.

Instantly Rainbow Dash frowned. “I’m. Not. From. The Weeping Mountain!” She yelled. “I don’t even know what that is!”

Barnaby silently looked at her for a moment before his eyes narrowed. “You’re really telling the truth, aren’t you? I heard from some of my subordinates that you said you were from somewhere called Equestria but I thought you were just pulling their tails. And so Rainbow Dash is actually your real name too and not just a… rather apt moniker?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, painfully, and glared at him. “Yes. I’m from Equestria. And yes, my name really is Rainbow Dash.”

“My apologies for my disbelief then. It’s an unusual name for these parts. I don’t believe the pegasi of the Weeping Mountain have such fantastic names either,” Barnaby said while rubbing his chin.

“Can you please explain to me why everypony here thinks I’m from this Weeping Mountain place?” Rainbow Dash finally asked.

“Well that’s an easy one. It’s the only place where we know pegasi to live. Never heard of anywhere else pegasi call home. The Weeping Mountain is a pegasus enclave that lies far to the east of Oreville. In a lush highland, surrounded by fog, there is one great green mountain where dozens of waterfalls pour from. Hence the name “The Weeping Mountain”. It’s probably a much happier place than it sounds. I hear the pegasi living there make their homes on clouds and banks of fog surrounding the mountain,” Barnaby explained.

“Never been?”

Barnaby shook his head. “No. In fact I’ve never even seen a pegasus until you. I doubt any living pony in Oreville has, we simply don’t have that much contact with each other. Or practically anywhere else the past decade or two.”

“How come?” Rainbow asked, leaning forward a bit. “And if you don’t mind, could you tell me about what else is around here besides Oreville.”

“I’m afraid I won’t have that much to tell you on either question. We’ve simply become more introverted, only paying attention to ourselves. We used to trade and barter with outsiders but our economy and industry has advanced enough where we can pretty much purely rely on ourselves now. Even just ten years ago Oreville was much smaller than it is now,” Barnaby told her. “We still aren’t supposed to just turn away ponies like you but we rarely get any merchants or traders coming this way anymore.”

“I think I’m kind of a tourist at best anyways,” Rainbow Dash laughed at herself, even though the motion made her ribs ache.

“Nothing wrong with being a tourist either. Now like I said I—most of Oreville—doesn’t know a whole lot about the outside world that isn’t pretty much right next to us. All I can tell you for sure is that there are numerous small towns and villages in the mountains and valleys south of here. And beyond that is supposedly a desert of some sort, but nopony from Oreville has ever seen it in person, I can assure you. I also doubt anypony from that desert or further has been here. We’ve merely heard of it from traders from those villages to the south.”

“Desert huh? That’d be a big difference from where I’ve been lately,” Rainbow Dash mused.

“Oh?”

Rainbow grinned at him. “Yeah, not sure how much you guys know about what’s north of you but I just came down from there. Lots of snow and ice. Was really happy to see how different this place was, but I think now I’d probably melt in a desert after a day.”

“From the north...” Barnaby’s jaw opened and closed. “But there’s nothing there. We have old tales telling us of expeditions and other travelers who attempted to travel beyond the boundary walls but they all disappeared without a trace or came back as failures. How… how far have you traveled? Just how far away is your home of Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash whistled. “Wooh, buddy. You better find a chair cause this is gonna take a while.”

The next two hours was spent with Rainbow Dash regaling Barnaby of everything she had gone through and seen since she left Ponyville all that time ago. Barnaby for his part sat there and listened in flabbergasted shock. It was certainly a good way of getting Rainbow Dash to not think about her pain as well. By the time she finished her story she felt much better both mentally and physically.

“Stop me if you’ve heard this before-” Barnaby said. “But if even half of what you’ve told me is true I think you would have to be by far the most incredible pony I’ve met.”

“It’s all true. And duh, of course I am,” Rainbow smugly grinned.

Barbaby stared at her. “I like to consider myself as being a pony who is good at discerning the true nature of others. It has helped me well in my job here. Your name, where you’re from, what you’ve done to get here, I almost can’t believe it but it is true. Either that or you’re an amazing actress.” Barnaby sighed as he looked off into the distance. “I had no idea the world was so big.”

“Yeah it’s a pretty cool place,” Rainbow nodded.

Barnaby chuckled. “Indeed. And you seem to be a rather important pony from Equestria as well.”

“Well, yeah, but not like that. I’m just popular and I help save the day all the time but it’s not like I officially do anything you know?” Rainbow said.

“I’m just thinking that what was done to you here is even worse in retrospect. A pony from a new country—who represents her people—was treated so savagely. It reflects badly on Oreville and it makes me worry about our future,” Barnaby said. “Whether you consider yourself one or not, after hearing your story I would consider you as an ambassador of sorts for your home of Equestria. Despite your unbecoming behavior to our guards, which I’m willing to chalk up to a momentary lapse in judgment, you deserve better than this. Oreville deserves better than this.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “So does that mean…?”

“It means I’ll be opening up this cell and letting you out now. You’re far too important and unique of a pony to keep locked up. Provided you don’t punch anymore guards in the future.”

Rainbow Dash briefly laughed. “I won’t, I promise.”

Barnaby grinned back at her. “Good to hear. You’re an interesting one, Rainbow Dash. And I hope by the time you leave here you’ll be able to speak well of Oreville to any other ponies you meet in your travels, least of all your friends and Princesses back home.”

Rainbow Dash frowned as she processed his words. “Are you… only doing this cause you’re worried about me saying something bad about Oreville?”

“Absolutely not,” Barnaby instantly responded with a cold frown of his own. “While the well-being of Oreville is first and foremost in my mind I’m not the type to trade favors like that. Letting you out is simply the right thing to do. There is not an ulterior motive to it, I assure you. I tackle things honestly and with sincerity. I just wish that perhaps this moment can be the foundation of a good relationship between you and Oreville. And who you represent.”

“Hey, sorry for questioning your motives,” Rainbow Dash held up her hooves. “You don’t got to worry about anything though. I don’t really go around badmouthing places even if I had a bad time in them—you probably know that already from the stories I just told you. And believe me that even if my friends and the Princesses back in Equestria heard about me getting beat up by some jerks here, they’re not going to attack you out of retribution or anything crazy like that. We usually talk problems out, and one of my friends would just plan a big party with lots of cake for everypony.”

“Forgive me but you personally seem more fond of fighting your problems.”

“Well—yeah—but that’s me. And I’ve been alone and could only rely on myself and my way of doing things since leaving on this adventure,” Rainbow shrugged. “Twilight would be the real ambassador for something like this. She wouldn’t have attacked anypony.”

“Regardless, here you are, and I must admit to having quite a good first impression of you… or perhaps second impression would be more accurate,” Barnaby grinned.

“I can say my second impression of Oreville is a lot better after meeting you too,” Rainbow Dash stood up, her legs aching but not enough to keep her down anymore. “That Lord Copper guy is a real jerk.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,” Barnaby snorted.

“Yeah I kind of gathered that you really didn’t like him.”

“That’s putting it very lightly,” Barnaby said and paused for a minute, looking over Rainbow Dash.

She tilted her head at him. “What’s up?”

“Just thinking that it’s also nice to have somepony around like you. An outsider. And one that also hates Lord Copper just like me. This isn’t the place to talk about that scumbag but since you have no ties to anypony or anything in Oreville you’d be the perfect confidante. It’s funny to think that because you’re an outsider that maybe I can trust you more than most ponies,” Barnaby sadly chuckled. “Please don’t misunderstand, I don’t plan on using you or anything like that, but since you’ve already gotten on his bad side and him on yours, maybe we’ve got a common goal.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “That guy really rubbed me the wrong way. I could smell the dirt on him.”

“You are looking for adventures after all,” Barnaby smiled back.

“Sure am. And if there’s anything awesome here to do, or anything I can do to help this place, then I’m all over it.”

“Well first of all, I think it’s about time you leave this cell,” Barnaby said and reached up with the key he was holding to unlock her cell. With a simple turn and a clink, the door was unlocked and it swung open. Barnaby stepped inside to get a closer look at her and grimaced. “I think I know the first place you’re going after getting out of here. And you’re probably going to be happy to hear it.”

“Oh yeah? Where?”

He raised an obvious eyebrow at her. “The hospital. Also… I’d recommend not looking in any mirrors for a little while.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and tried to stretch a little to feel out her body, it ended up with a dull throbbing pain shooting all over her. “That sounds good to me.”

Uncommon Sight

Nurse Abernathy bit her lip as sweat gathered at her brow. She couldn’t believe the situation she was in and it didn’t help her at all that Rainbow Dash was confidently grinning at her the whole time. She thought things looked good, but she had thought that before and been dead wrong. Her chartreuse hooves shook as she laid the cards she was holding flat on the tray in front of her.

“Full House,” she said as confidently as she could muster to the blue pegasus.

Rainbow Dash whistled. “That’s a good hoof. Unfortunately...” She laid her own cards down to show off the Straight Flush she held.

“How?!” Nurse Abernathy yelled, a bit too loudly for a hospital room, even a private one. “How do you always win?!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve always had super good luck when it comes to card games.”

“Ugh… I thought I was pretty decent at this game,” the nurse pouted.

The two of them had been playing poker for a while now, it was already the evening of the day Rainbow Dash had been brought to the hospital and she was looking for anything that could pass the time. Oreville’s book selection wasn’t quite her cup of tea and when Rainbow Dash had gotten bored she asked Nurse Abernathy what else they could do. The nurse was now sitting on a stool with Rainbow’s food tray on the bed in-between them. Despite the numerous hooves of poker they had gone through, Nurse Abernathy hadn’t won once.

“Kind of tough to judge yourself against me,” Rainbow said.

“You’d make a killing at the casinos,” Nurse Abernathy murmured.

Rainbow Dash thought about the last time she had been to a casino. “Wouldn’t mind...”

The nurse took the short break from their game to visually inspect Rainbow Dash. “A lot of the swelling around your face has gone down. There’s still a decent amount of discoloration but I think by the time you wake up tomorrow you’ll look much better.”

“Good, I want to be out of here tomorrow.”

Abernathy giggled. “You say that but you were fast asleep for hours just earlier today.”

“Well I hadn’t gotten real sleep in a while,” Rainbow Dash blushed. “Guess all the fatigue caught up to me once I had a good bed and nothing else to do.”

“Speaking of, I can bring you something that will help you sleep tonight so your body’s normal routine isn’t ruined too badly.”

“Thanks.”

Nurse Abernathy’s eyes than wandered to Rainbow Dash’s wings. “You know… would you be alright with me giving your wings a medical examination? N-Not that I think there’s anything wrong with them or that they’re injured! But um, I’ve never seen a pegasus or had to treat any creature with wings before. I’m very intrigued by how they function and your skeletal structure.”

“Uhhh, gonna have to give you a no on that,” Rainbow Dash told the nurse with an awkward scrunch of her face.

She pouted. “Well, they’re your wings after all.” She continued to look the feathered blue appendages over. “Believe me though, you’re going to get a lot of looks anywhere you go in Oreville. A pegasus isn’t just rare, it’s unheard of these days.”

“Good thing I like being special then,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Center of attention? Sign me up.”

Abernathy giggled. “Good to know how enthusiastic you are. I still think all the staring is going to get unnerving rather quickly.”

“Eh, I’ve been to places like this where I’m the odd one out before. Sometimes even way more the odd one than just having wings,” Rainbow Dash said as she thought about her time in the Mammoth city. “Anyways, you want to play more poker?”

“No thank you. I think I’ve lost enough,” Nurse Abernathy shook her head.

Rainbow Dash sighed and leaned back onto her bed. “It’s already evening now, Barnaby’s been gone all day. I just want him to get back here already and tell me what’s going on so I can get out of here. No offense, cause it’s been fun hanging out with you, but I really, really want to leave the hospital. Need to stretch my wings.” She didn’t add the part about looking for adventure and any trouble afoot in Oreville. “Does a meeting with your Lord guys seriously take this long?”

“I didn’t want to eavesdrop but last time he was here it sounded like he had a few things he needed to do for you,” Abernathy said.

“Government stuff,” Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. “Blegh.”

Abernathy giggled again. “I don’t think you really need to worry or anything though. Barnaby’s an important pony and I’m sure he’ll be back before-”

The door to the hospital room was thrown open and Barnaby sauntered inside with a large smile on his face.

“-you know it.” Abernathy finished, blinking.

“Welcome back,” Rainbow Dash grinned and waved at him.

“Glad to see you’re doing alright, and looking much better,” Barnaby said.

“I think I’ll excuse myself then,” Nurse Abernathy said and hopped off her stool, nodding politely to both other ponies before leaving the room. “Goodbye Chief Constable, goodbye Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“See ya!” Rainbow said to her and then raised an eyebrow at Barnaby. “Glad to see you back at all by the way. How’d it go?”

Barnaby’s already large smile somehow got even bigger. “Swimmingly. I was going to wait until morning to come by since you’ll still be spending the night here anyways, but I had to tell you the good news as soon as possible. Lord Silver was very intrigued to hear of you and he and Lord Gold have approved your visa. You are now Oreville’s very important guest. While I know you will not care for the title, you have the honor of being known as the Ambassador of Equestria.”

“Been called worse things,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Tomorrow I’ll actually bring you your visa and then you can get your first real look at Oreville. Just the Copper Section for now, there’s a lot to see,” Barnaby continued.

“Works for me, anything sounds good now.”

“Of course because you’re such a special occurrence… in a couple days time a meeting has been set up between you and the three Lords. Nothing special, but just a dinner where they can get to know you,” Barnaby nervously scratched his neck.

“Three?” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.

“Lord Copper of course will also be there...”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Ugh, great.”

“Think of it this way, your presence will make him thoroughly uncomfortable. And you’re untouchable to him now,” Barnaby said.

“I guess...”

As Rainbow Dash paused while her mind went over the fact she’d have to go to some annoying, sure to be stuffy dinner, she glanced outside her hospital window and noticed the lights in the ceiling slowly begin to dim. It seemed it was even later than she thought and Oreville was beginning to rest. So much to see and so much to do and yet another day had passed her by like this. There had been times where she had been laid up before on her journey, but usually not before getting to really do anything herself.

“You know-” Rainbow Dash said as she continued to look out the window. “I hope you’re coming by first thing tomorrow morning. As soon as the lights turn on.”

“I promise,” Barnaby said. “You’ll have breakfast here and then we’ll be right out. Just try to rest and enjoy another night of sleep if you can. After all you still haven’t fully healed.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m tough and I’ve had… worse beatings. You’ll see tomorrow morning, I’ll be fantastic.”

“I believe you. But for now I will also be leaving. Good night, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said and bowed to her.

“Good night, dude. You’ll probably sleep better than me,” Rainbow mockingly saluted.

Barnaby chuckled as he pushed open the door and left her room, waving goodbye as he went.

Rainbow Dash watched him go and turned over on her bed with a sigh. “You had better be back first thing in the morning.” She grumbled.

“So how’s it feel to be out of that bed?” Barnaby asked her as the two walked out of the hospital.

“Feels even better than I look,” Rainbow Dash said. And it was true, the swelling around her face had gone down and most of the bruises and discoloration on her body had shrunk or faded away. Rainbow Dash was a quick healer. Helped having such a strong and healthy body.

The two of them were now on the sidewalk right outside the hospital and Rainbow Dash was taking a big look around at the newly awoken Copper Section. It was still early but droves of ponies were already walking up and down the streets on their way to work or any other sort of engagements. She saw carts and carriages being pulled down the paved streets along with red-suited constables like Barnaby making their rounds. One young colt stood at a corner selling newspapers while an older mare sat behind a mobile stand and sold coffee to ponies walking by.

“This… really is a nice place, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash said as she took it all in.

“I’m glad you think so. This? This working harmony and friendly atmosphere between ponies, friends and strangers alike, this is the true spirit of Oreville. Not the mistreatment you went through and the filthy behavior of Lord Copper,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash glanced up at him with a smile. “You really love your city.”

“Of course,” Barnaby nodded.

“I feel the same way about Equestria. And I’ve got a lot of friends who feel that way even more,” she thought about how passionate Applejack was about Ponyville and her farm in particular.

A smile slightly tugged up the corners of Barnaby’s lips. “Regardless—before anything else, I have something to give you.” He said and began rooting around inside a pocket of his suit.

Rainbow Dash watched as he pulled out a laminated name-tag on a black lanyard. “Ta-da, your diplomat’s visa!” He beamed at her. It was a simple thing for the most part, a white card with her name printed in the middle and some kind of seal that looked like a circle separated into three triangles with wavy lines of gold, silver, and copper drawn in them pressed right beneath that. In the top left corner a large “D” was printed.

“This might as well be your key to the city,” Barnaby said as he looped it around her neck. “Keep it on you at all times and you’ll have no problems here.”

“Thanks, dude. This is really awesome,” Rainbow Dash happily smiled at her name-tag as she held it in her hooves. “I’ve been treated really well before in a couple places but I don’t think anything has been so… official before. And you barely even know me, you’re really putting a lot of trust in me and everything.”

“You’re a very… passionate pony,” Barnaby said, as if struggling to find the right words. “There’s a fiery aura about you, something moving, something powerful. Just the way you talk and the way you act simply makes me believe there’s something truly special about you.”

“Well in fairness there totally is,” Rainbow plainly nodded along.

“Hah! That attitude is precisely what I’m talking about,” Barnaby laughed. “Either way, let’s get going. I’ll take you to the center of the Copper Section, the part of the city you initially entered into. There we can see, oh, practically everything. And get lunch when the time comes, I can think of several great places.”

“Uhhh, I can’t exactly pay...”

“I’ll pay. Or more accurately, the government will be covering all of your costs. You needn’t worry about a thing.”

Good thing I’m not the Element of Generosity right now. Rainbow Dash mused.

The two of them walked down the street away from the hospital, walking due east down a street with a red line painted along the sidewalk, Rainbow Dash didn’t need to ask to know it was to indicate a specific direction or place you would reach by heading down this street. At the corners there were the occasional street signs with names that looked like they took after minerals or metals; “Onyx”, “Iron”, “Steel” and so forth. She doubted it would take much effort to find her way around this city, big as it was, since everything was well designated.

Eventually their street converged with a couple others and went straight into an underground tunnel that had numerous lanes for things like carriages and wide walkways on the sides for ponies to travel through. Beyond it, Rainbow Dash could already see the sprawling “skyscrapers” and cityscape she had witnessed when she first entered Oreville.

She felt numerous eyes on her while walking with Barnaby and looked around—lots of ponies were staring at her. Some even paused in their walking to just gawk at her. She was kind of holding up traffic at this point.

“Kind of getting a lot of stares right now...” Rainbow Dash said.

“You might want to look at those things on the side of your body to figure out why,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked at her wings and lightly fluttered them. “Well, yeah. Also kind of noticed how you guys are really fond of clothes here. Don’t think I’ve seen a single pony yet not wearing any.”

“It is indeed the norm here in Oreville to wear clothing. Not so in Equestria?” Barnaby asked.

“Not really. Depends on where you go. Most ponies in Canterlot and Manehattan wear clothes, I think, but most ponies in Ponyville don’t. My friend Rarity though is a fashion designer, but none of my friends really wear clothes that much and unless I’m working I don’t either,” Rainbow told him.

Barnaby nodded. “I see. I don’t think anypony here will really give you heat for not wearing clothes, it’s hardly a taboo or anything, but it’s going to make you stick out just as much as your wings. And your mane. And your name.”

“I stick out. I get it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

The two of them walked out of the large tunnel and Rainbow Dash got a full view of the central Copper Section city once again. Its massive size and the architecture of it still amazed her. And to think this was but one portion of the massive city-state of Oreville. Thousands of ponies walked down the streets at a quick pace alongside dozens of carts carrying things like heavy machinery to who knows where. In the distance, Rainbow Dash saw a large mansion-like building built on one end of the huge cave, surrounded by an imposing stone wall.

“That’s the Copper Section Central Administrative Building,” Barnaby told her, following her eyes.

“So where Lord Copper works, huh?”

“For a given meaning of the word, yes.”

Rainbow Dash noticed that practically right next to it was some kind of train station. No—tram station, that had its rail line going into a dark cave. It must’ve been what Barnaby spoke of, that cave probably went to the Silver and Gold Sections. As they continued walking along the outer streets of this area of the Copper Section, Rainbow Dash saw things like elevators that looked like they went right into holes in the ground, passages leading into the walls of the mountain, huge warehouses and other buildings built directly into the rock, and more of those wide open holes that went deep down and had catwalks and walkways built all across them on the way down.

“I get the feeling there’s a lot more to this place than just what I’m seeing,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You would be correct in that assumption,” Barnaby grinned. “All in due time.”

As they now walked towards the center of the city, Rainbow Dash saw another pair of red-suited constables walking together. She frowned and glanced over at Barnaby. “Hey, so… been meaning to ask but… should you really be doing this? Escorting me around? I mean you’re like a police officer. This isn’t exactly your job, right? Don’t you have other police duties to do or whatever?”

“I’m the Chief Constable,” Barnaby said with a smirk. “That means I don’t do the same typical work as others. I handle workflow, designate jobs, take charge of big cases, and I take my work very, very seriously. I take the safety and well-being of Oreville most seriously of all.” He glanced at her. “And there is no one I trust more right now than myself to do this job.”

Rainbow Dash silently kept walking along with him, just humming to herself for a moment. How come she kept getting guides attached to her like this? Not that she didn’t like them or wasn’t grateful or nothing, but still. First Larkon, then Ark’Nogt, and now Barnaby. All guys too. Maybe it was because she was a mare? No, Larkon and Ark’Nogt were married. And Ark’Nogt was a Reindeer.

And Larkon was a Mammoth. It just didn’t add up.

“Ya married, Barnaby?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

He chuckled. “Hah, no I’m afraid. I’m actually married to my job.”

“I guess you could say I’m married to adventure and being awesome so I get it,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Indeed,” he laughed a bit more. “Anyways I’ll be alerted if anything important comes up for my regular work, right now I do think it’s in the best interest of Oreville—and yourself—if I stay with you.”

“Alright,” Rainbow nodded.

“Of course… that’s why I’m a bit hesitant about something else,” Barnaby started.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “What is it?”

“Well you’ll obviously need a place to stay while you’re here, right? Lord Silver suggested procuring you a temporary apartment in Gold Section. But I’m a bit hesitant to have you staying so far from my own home and office in Copper Section. Gold Section would be the most fitting and has the best places for a diplomat such as yourself to stay, but still. Luckily Lord Gold wasn’t as… responsive when the subject came up so it hasn’t been decided yet.”

Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. “You know you’ve kind of referred to that Lord Gold dude in a weird way a couple of times. What’s up with him?”

Barnaby awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “Lord Gold is… old. Very old. Unfortunately he’s just not all there anymore. On most days he isn’t very cognizant at all and he has to be attended to by servants at all times. However, until he actually dies, no one else can become Lord Gold.”

“Uh, sorry to hear...”

“It’s fine, it’s been like this for years now. Let’s continue going through the city, there’s quite a lot to see.”

He was right about that. Even if Rainbow Dash had been flying and looking around on her own it would’ve taken her a while to get through this whole place. Dozens of buildings, some tall enough to have almost fifty floors, covered the city. According to Barnaby they were mostly offices for various businesses and some apartment buildings. Rainbow Dash kind of wanted to fly up and by their windows to look inside but she figured that would probably spook some of the ponies inside. They also took a tour around a district more for “manufacturing”, smaller buildings like warehouses that Barnaby said built carriages and heavy mining equipment, among other things. He even pointed out a textile manufacturer, something that Rainbow Dash remembered for later since Rarity would probably appreciate learning about it.

“See that building in the middle of the city?” Barnaby said as the two of them walked down one of the main streets. He was pointing at a three-story building painted red with a large garage on one side, it sat between a few other smaller buildings and what looked like a small apartment complex. “Fire Service. Centralized so they can reach anywhere in the city as quickly as possible.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along and looked around for anything else notable. All she really saw was some outdoor cafe built in the courtyard of a large skyscraper.

“Hey, Barnaby? What do ponies do for fun around here? It’s all businesses and stuff,” Rainbow Dash asked him. “You guys not believe in fun and games or something?”

He smiled. “I can assure you we do but this part of the city isn’t exactly the place for that. There are a few outdoor places for lounging and relaxing, but generally speaking if you want entertainment you’d need to go elsewhere in the Copper Section.”

“Abernathy did mention a casino actually...”

“Yes, that’s in a part of the Copper Section through a southern tunnel, I can take you to visit it at some point. We have gymnasiums as well, I’m sure that interests an athletic pony like yourself, along with gardens and swimming pools, sports centers, it’s just most all of that is in other areas or just not here in the city center,” Barnaby explained. “There’s a large school a little to the east, between Copper and Silver Sections, and around it is a number of parks and recreational areas for families and younger ponies.”

“Got a library? My friend Twilight would probably like to hear about what kinds of books you guys keep. The hospital library was, uh, not well stocked,” Rainbow said.

“The Metropolitan Library in Gold Section should suit your needs. Besides that there are a few book stores scattered about here and there in every section.”

“Cool,” Rainbow said and the two resumed their travels through the city.

Ponies kept staring at her everywhere they went, just like they had been at the start. She smiled and gave a few friendly waves but most of the Oreville residents seemed too surprised or confused to return them. She saw one family even grasp the hooves of their children a little tighter when they saw Rainbow, only relaxing when they noticed Barnaby walking with her. Not exactly a warm welcome even though the average pony here seemed pretty nice. They just weren’t used to outsiders—or maybe had even been taught to be a little afraid of them. It was weird to think though that she had probably had a friendlier reception from the Mammoths though, despite the even wider gap between them and her. Barnaby had been a little cool with her when she first met him outside her cell though and he warmed up right away after a little talk. These ponies just needed to get to know her better too.

Barnaby also noticed the looks she was still receiving and spoke up. “I wouldn’t be worried for long. Our newspapers will be printing a favorable story about you tomorrow. You’ll be a hot-topic and ponies will be happy to see you.”

“If you say so. I definitely prefer being the center of attention in a positive way,” Rainbow said. “I’m used to stares but more when it’s coming from admirers and ponies who know how awesome I am.”

Most of the morning went by just like that until it finally came time for lunch and Barnaby said he had somewhere special to take her for it.

That turned out to be the top floor of a large building, which had the whole floor converted into an extravagant restaurant, apparently the most high-class and exclusive one in Copper Section. Only Rainbow Dash’s VIP status allowed the two of them in here. Barnaby made it obvious that he’d never be eating here otherwise. All the waiters and waitresses were wearing utterly immaculate suits and most of the patrons were themselves wearing either tuxedos or fancy dresses of some sort. Rarity would love it. The restaurant had a pony playing a slow tune on the piano in the corner and every table had an expensive looking vase with flowers in the center. Even the chairs at each table looked expensive, made from a carved dark brown wood with red velvet cushions. A few fountains and planters seeded with exotic flowers were placed around the black hardwood floor of the restaurant.

“This is pretty snazzy,” Rainbow Dash said as she and Barnaby took a seat at a table for two by one of the windows, it overlooked a courtyard set between several buildings that had ponies walking in and out of it below.

“You should see some of the better restaurants in Gold Section,” Barnaby leaned in to whisper to her.

“Don’t let the waiters hear you say that,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

And just a minute later a waiter came out with two glasses and a pair of menus that he gave to them. If he was perturbed or surprised by her wings he was professional enough to not let it show on his face. Rainbow Dash took her glass and menu but stopped before she took a drink. It looked like water but it was fizzy.

“Uhhhh, what is this?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Hm? Have you not had mineral water before?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “I think I’ve heard of it… maybe Rarity or Twilight mentioned it or something.”

“Well go right ahead and take a drink, it’s of exceptional quality.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and brought the glass to her lips, the fizzy water tickled her nose and tongue a little but she managed to take a big sip. It was weird. It didn’t taste bad or anything but it just felt super odd and strange to be drinking water like this. The carbonation made it almost like she was drinking a soda and there was some weird kind of extra flavor or sharpness to it that she couldn’t exactly describe. And then the texture of it too. Texture—you weren’t supposed to use that word to describe water but Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it. There was almost a grittiness to it but it wasn’t quite at that level. Still just so weird feeling.

“Whew, well, it’s refreshing,” Rainbow Dash said as she finished her drink, watching Barnaby take one of his own. She then grabbed the menu and opened it up—seeing a lot of fancy names for entrees and having no idea where to start. Rainbow Dash grimaced and set the menu down. “Uhhh, what do you recommend?”

Barnaby smirked and motioned their waiter over while collecting his and Rainbow’s menus. “Two of your lightly roasted oat steaks with hibiscus and pomegranate.” Barnaby said to the waiter while passing the menus back.

“Of course,” the waiter calmly bowed and went back to deliver the order to the chefs.

“Oat… steaks? Maybe it’s just me but I feel like I’ve entered some kind of alternate dimension in this restaurant,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Just wait for it,” Barnaby laughed.

Rainbow shrugged and sat back, looking at some of the other diners in the restaurant. Definitely the upper crust types like she would see in Canterlot back home. Some of them were stealing glances and whispering about her but Rainbow Dash ignored them for now. She just wanted to eat.

About thirty minutes of small talk and Rainbow Dash trying to get used to mineral water later, their food came. The waiter expertly slid two porcelain plates onto their table and Rainbow Dash checked out what she was about to eat. It was certainly pretty, she had to give it that. A rectangular “steak” of oats was cooked together with honey and sitting in the middle of the plate while small flowers were placed around it and a drizzling of pomegranate juice and seeds were done in a floral pattern radiating out from the oats.

At this point, Rainbow Dash didn’t have the heart to say she’d probably just prefer an apple or a hayburger.

It did taste good when she dug into it though but the portion was a little small for her tastes. So she perhaps did something a little uncouth and licked up all the juice on the plate.

“That was pretty good,” Rainbow smiled to Barnaby.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“What did that cost anyways? I didn’t see prices on my menu.”

“There’s a saying: ‘If you have to ask then you can’t afford it’. Believe me when I say that is an accurate statement for this restaurant,” Barnaby smirked.

“If it’s all on Lord Copper’s tab then that works for me,” Rainbow smirked back.

Barnaby took a little bit longer than Rainbow Dash to finish his meal but once he was done he took a deep breath and sighed in contentment. “Well, that should keep us for the rest of the day. I wanted us to have full stomachs before I took you to what I really wanted to show you today. The most important thing of all.” A proud look came over Barnaby’s face as he spoke.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head. “Oh yeah? What?”

“The lifeblood of our people ever since this great city was founded, and why we came here in the first place and continued to live and build more. The mines of Oreville.”

Veins

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby descended down an elevator deep below the surface of the earth and even deeper than the already sunken parts of the city Rainbow Dash had seen above her.

She wasn’t aware that mines were something to be so proud of but she guessed if Oreville pretty much revolved around them that they must be important to the ponies here. After all, she couldn’t even count how many carts full of mining equipment and raw materials she had seen on the streets above. Barnaby had taken her to a large building in the southwest part of the main Copper Section cavern. Dozens of ponies were going in and out of it, half of it looked like a standard office building while the other looked more like an elongated garage that went back directly into the wall of the mountain. Rainbow Dash and Barnaby went to the back of that garage after Barnaby had consulted with the mine forepony and found themselves at several freight elevators that descended into the ground. A couple of the elevators were even bigger than the one they were in now and looked like they were made specifically for large carts or equipment to be put on and taken below.

“This is the main entrance for entering the Copper Section mines,” Barnaby said while they made their long and slow way down. “There are dozens of other elevators, ladders, pulleys, and even just zig-zagging ramps that go below in other places in the city, but your average mine worker takes these elevators in and out.” He sounded very enthusiastic and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but grin a little.

Right now he reminded her a bit of how Twilight got when explaining... well, basically anything from her books, or Rarity about fashion or Pinkie Pie about parties... huh. Any of her friends and their passions worked. Probably including her and the Wonderbolts.

“At the bottom of these elevators is the staging area—a large dug out cavern full of small prefabricated buildings and the central station for the trams that run all throughout the mines,” Barnaby explained.

“You’ve got trams down here too?” Rainbow asked.

“Trams and minecart rails to make travel and ferrying of supplies and rocks easier. We’ve been building all of this for a long time, our mines are elaborate, efficient, and high-maintenance. Mines are what Oreville is all about and the Copper Section mines are growing and growing every day. We put everything into these mines. You could essentially say that all three Lords’ real jobs are just to make sure these mines are working in order,” Barnaby finished.

“Oh, so there’s mines like this in the other sections too?”

Barnaby’s eyes briefly flickered to her before he resumed looking ahead at the door of their elevator. “No. Not so much anymore.”

“Uhhh...”

Barnaby sighed. “Gold Section was the very first, and its mines were started hundreds, hundreds of years ago. Those mines have all gone dry. Same as Silver Section just about. It’s why we’re constantly expanding here in Copper Section and making more room to find new veins of precious metals. One day Copper Section will be as big as Gold Section and one day even these mines will go dry and we’ll start a new Section in these mountains looking for more.”

“What’s that gonna be called? Participation Section?”

Barnaby laughed good-naturedly. “Haha… perhaps, perhaps. There hasn’t really been any official talk of it, this is a situation possibly a hundred years off. At the moment these mines still haven’t given us the slightest sign of going dry anytime soon.”

The elevator rumbled as it continued on down and the light in the ceiling flickered once. She had been trying to estimate how far down they had gone and she was thinking maybe about two-hundred feet. The freight elevator was pretty slow and Rainbow Dash was starting to get a little antsy. She looked over her shoulder briefly at the empty space behind her, probably about thirty or forty ponies could fit in here if they were all bunched up together but she and Barnaby had taken it down on their own.

Finally the pace of the elevator slowed to just a crawl and it came to a stop with a dull grind as it landed at the bottom of the shaft. A red light buzzed on over the doors and they slid open to the sides to allow Rainbow Dash and Barnaby out. There was a small tunnel exiting from the elevator into a much larger chamber beyond it where Rainbow Dash could already see a bunch of other ponies moving around in. A pony in a yellow hardhat was standing right to the side of the elevator’s exit, holding a clipboard in hoof. He kind of dumbly looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby before shrugging.

“Governmental business, don’t worry about it,” Barnaby smiled friendly at him and led Rainbow Dash out of the elevator. He glanced at his mare companion and hummed to himself. “We’ll need to get you a hardhat while you’re down here.”

“Guess you’ve already got one, technically,” she said as she looked up at his red helmet.

“Yes, but no need to worry, there are plenty of extra supplies and equipment down here,” Barnaby said as they walked forward and into the main staging area of the mine.

Rainbow Dash took a long look around at the heart of the Oreville mining operation. As Barnaby had suggested it was a pretty big place. The ceiling was low over their heads with various lights strung up from it and electrical wires criss-crossing all over to feed them power. Various shacks made of corrugated steel and cheap building materials were set up inside it, Rainbow Dash saw one that looked like a kind of “bar” for the stallion mine workers who were on break and another few that were probably storage sheds.

And a lot of outhouses, but Rainbow did her best to ignore those.

Furthermore there were outright dozens of tunnels going off in other directions at every side of the cavern. Every last one of those tunnels had at least a rail for minecarts to travel down and a few of the bigger ones had large trams going in and out.

“Come on, we’ll hit up the head office and you can meet the mine chief and see a map of the mines,” Barnaby said and led Rainbow Dash on.

As expected, Rainbow Dash continued to get plenty of looks from the stallions down here. She didn’t notice any mare miners, which wasn’t really a surprise, probably not a job that was popular with mares. Eventually Barnaby took her past several other roughshod structures before they arrived at a squat but fairly long rectangular one. He opened up the metal door on its front and stepped inside with Rainbow Dash following him.

Inside was an assortment of lockers and metal tables set up with a few ponies mulling over charts and reports on one of the tables and another few who looked to be talking and laughing about something else entirely in the back. Boxes and crates of all sizes were also stacked up along the back wall and Rainbow was pretty sure she saw a coffee machine on top of one of them. It was really dusty inside but that wasn’t a surprise either. Didn’t stop Rainbow from coughing once or twice.

Of course once they had opened up the front door and stepped inside everypony looked up to see the two of them. And they were unsurprisingly flummoxed at the sight.

“Barnaby?” A heavyset, bearded stallion in the group near the back said as he sat up and started walking towards Barnaby and Rainbow Dash.

“Hello, Crom. How might your day be going?” Barnaby grinned.

“Uhh… was going pretty normal until now,” Crom said as his eyes wandered to Rainbow Dash, looking her up and down. “Who the-”

“The name’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said with an easygoing smile and reached her hoof out.

Crom took it and slowly shook her hoof. “Pleasure to meet you.” He still seemed a bit confused.

“Rainbow Dash here is from the outside, obviously. She’s an important ambassador from another land entirely. I’ve brought her here to show her the mines of Oreville,” Barnaby said to him.

Crom frowned up at him. “This isn’t a place for tours, Barnaby.”

Barnaby just rolled his eyes and huffed. “There’s no other place more important in all of Oreville than these mines. Rainbow Dash represents a country that has never had contact with us before, she’s not from the Weeping Mountain or any small town in the mountains to the south either. She needs firsthoof experience with these mines so she can tell her home and all the other countries she travels to about them. They’re our pride and joy, Crom.”

“Oh whatever...” Crom sighed and shook his head. “If it’s that big a deal then fine, you’ve been down here enough times to know how to take it safe.” He glanced at Rainbow. “Just give the ambassador a helmet and take a radio with you just in case.”

“Thanks, old friend. I’d like to show her the current map of the mines as well, if that’s alright?” Barnaby asked.

“Go right ahead, it’s on the table over there,” Crom said and pointed to a large table next to the one the other group of working stallions were at. He then chewed his lip and spoke to Rainbow- “Not that I’m not curious about you or where you’re from and it seems like Barnaby is gonna be monopolizing your time and all. But uh, what’s the name of your country?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and gave him a wink. “Heh, don’t worry about it dude, my home’s called Equestria and it’s an awesome place.”

“You’ll be able to read about Rainbow Dash in the paper tomorrow, don’t worry,” Barnaby said to Crom and ushered Rainbow Dash over to the other table. “That goes for everypony here.”

“Good cause I was wondering if I was seeing straight when a pegasus with a rainbow mane walked on in here,” another stallion said before Crom elbowed him in the gut.

“Be polite, idiot. She’s an important visitor to Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash just rubbed the back of her neck. “It’s totally alright, you guys can be casual around me. I actually really prefer it that way.”

“I can corroborate that,” Barnaby said.

The two of them then sidled up next to the table with the map of the mines on it and Rainbow Dash practically went cross-eyed immediately just looking at it. It was a mess of spider-webbing lines and hastily scrawled notes, some lines drawn in red, green, blue, and black with no legend she could see that helped denote their meanings. The only thing she could make out for sure was a large circle drawn near the middle of it with a gold star plastered in it—that was the staging area. But everything else was a mess. Parts of it looked like they were drawn from a bird’s eye view while others looked like a cross-section of the mine. Perhaps a trained eye for this sort of thing could decipher it but for Rainbow Dash it was just boggling.

“Grand, isn’t it?” Barnaby said with a proud smile on his face. “Hundreds of years of work is on this map. And these are just the mines of the Copper Section.”

“Very grand,” Rainbow attempted to sound genuine.

“We’ve got miles of tunnels and mine shafts mapped out here, obviously it’s far too large of a place to show you around all of it so I’m going to take you to one of the newer areas that we’ve been working on lately. There’s a rich mineral vein that was uncovered and we’re building the necessary tunnels to mine it all out as efficiently and quickly as possible,” Barnaby said.

“Geez, you’re sounding like you’re a miner instead of a constable,” Rainbow Dash said.

Barnaby grinned. “I just have a friend on the inside who I talk with about this stuff occasionally.” He glanced over at Crom and nodded.

“You’re always the one who brings it up whenever we meet up,” Crom mumbled.

“Anyways-” Barnaby said back to Rainbow Dash. “Let’s get you that helmet.”

Rainbow Dash stepped out of the main office with a yellow hardhat on her head and Barnaby came out with a radio clipped onto the front of his suit with an earpiece in his right ear and a small microphone in front of his mouth.

“Alright, where to now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“The tram,” Barnaby pointed to a large platform near the south side wall of the staging area to the left of the main office.

The two of them started walking towards it and Rainbow Dash glanced at his new piece of equipment. Tech like that wasn’t unheard of in Equestria and the places around it but it was still uncommon and Rainbow Dash admittedly had no idea how it worked. Might as well have been magic. She remembered the ponies in the Metal Mountain back in the True North had similar devices. “So how well does that thing actually work?”

“Depending on how far or deep you go there can be interference but we’ve got a lot of signal boosters and auxiliary stations set up through the mines to help that. After all these are specifically designed to be used down here and we’ve had a long time to adjust and improve them. You could contact me on this from the surface if you had your own radio,” Barnaby told her.

“Cool,” she nodded. “So a lot of the ponies down here seem to know you. You that famous around the city or something?”

“Hah! Not really,” Barnaby laughed. “You see, Crom and I are actually old friends from school. I’ve known him since I was just a young colt. And you obviously already know how much interest I take in our mines, I come down here fairly often to either talk with him or research them myself when I’m off duty. So a lot of the regulars working here have gotten to know me as well.”

“Crom seems like a decent guy too.”

Barnaby nodded. “He is, a no-nonsense type who has kept the mines running smoothly ever since he came to be in charge. Things’ll be great for years down here with him.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby walked past a group of miners who were playing some sort of dice game outside a steel hut. They briefly paused and tried to act like they were busy until the two ponies passed by, something that got a brief smile out of Rainbow. After that the constable and the ambassador made the short trip to the tram station—currently empty of any tram but with a couple dozen miners carrying pickaxes and other tools waiting on it. Rainbow and Barnaby had to step up onto a bridge that went over the tram line to get to the platform, then walking up a few steps to stand on the metal station with the miners.

“What’s up,” Rainbow Dash casually said as she waved to the surprised and curious miners.

A few of them gave waves back and one or two even managed a “Hello” or a “Hi” before Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Relax you guys, I know you haven’t seen a pegasus before but I’m not going to bite your heads off. Me and Barnaby here are just checking out the mines—and my name’s Rainbow Dash by the way, hope you have a fun time working,” she winked.

That bit of levity at least seemed to improve the mood on the platform and most of the miners gave her friendly smiles before returning to their own business and talking with each other.

“I think it’s good that you’re not actually some stuffy ambassador,” Barnaby said.

“So do I,” Rainbow Dash said and looked down both sides of the tram station. “Sooo, when’s the tram coming?”

Barnaby nodded to their left and towards a tunnel in the wall of the staging area that the rail emerged from. “It’ll be coming from there and it shouldn’t be too long. Don’t know when the last one came but if this many miners are waiting then it can’t be much longer.”

Impatient as ever, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but keep looking down that tunnel in the hopes that soon she’d see the tram emerging from it. Turns out though that she heard and felt it first.

The heavy sound of slowly spinning metal wheels over iron came from the tunnel and the entire rail line and platform shook as the tram approached. Rainbow squinted her eyes at the dark tunnel as a light emerged from around the corner and the tram came into view. A white front car came out of the tunnel with a strong light attached to its front, the cab was completely closed and she could see a single stallion driving the tram from the inside. More cars came out until the tram ended at eight total segments, all of them painted white with heavy steel doors on their right sides for entering and exiting. All of the cars were enclosed just like the front one, which probably made it a lot safer for riding through these tunnels.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head though when she saw it lumbering towards the station on its many grooved wheels that perfectly fit over the rails on the ground.

“How’s that thing move anyways? What powers it?” She asked Barnaby.

“Electricity,” Barnaby said and pointed down at the track. “There’s a special rail in the middle of the track which electricity flows through and into the tram.”

“Oh. We’ve got trains back home but they’re all powered by like steam or whatever,” Rainbow said.

The tram came to a stop in front of the platform, long enough that it took up pretty much all of the space in front of it, and the doors opened up to let them and the miners in. Barnaby took her to the very last car to leave the others for the miners so as not to interrupt their work. Inside it was pretty simplistic, as to be expected, with a couple of shelves for putting up your tools and rope loops hanging from the roof of the car to hold onto. The side opposite the door also had a long window running along it so you could at least look outside when you were riding, though Rainbow Dash expected it to be dark for quite a lot of the time. After about a minute the tram thrummed back to life and the wheels started to turn underneath them as it left the station.

“You’ll see a lot on our way to the newer area. But in a short while we’ll be stepping off the tram since the line doesn’t go that far yet,” Barnaby said.

“Whatever you say, I’m just following you right now,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Well soon you’ll have something far more interesting to see. An active mine with dozens of ponies working on excavating precious minerals. You’ll see what Oreville is all about,” Barnaby smiled.

Rainbow Dash grinned, it might not have been as interesting and exciting for her, but she was willing to check it out. “Looking forward to it.”

Deeper in the mines, a newly constructed four-way intersection of tunnels sat. It was an important new juncture for ferrying materials and ponies both from one of the older groups of tunnels to some of the newer ones that were still being constructed and mined out. The intersection was supported by a series of metal struts that would be there until a few more permanent support structures could be built in. It was dusty and poorly lit with nothing but a single lamp on an extension cord hammered into the ceiling with a series of large metal staples.

“And so all I’m saying is, I think I would work just as hard if they allowed drink on the job,” a miner in a group of five others said as they walked through the intersection.

“You drink on the job and you’re liable to put a pickaxe right through your hoof,” one of the others chuckled darkly at his friend.

“Or drive one of the drills straight into the wrong wall and cause a cave-in,” another said. “And that’d end you and everypony else around real quick.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” the first one started again. “Drinking on the job doesn’t mean being drunk on the job. There’s a difference.”

“Not for you there isn’t,” the second one said.

All the others laughed at the expense of their friend after that dig and walked on through the intersection to the newer tunnels where work was being done. Already they could hear the sound of heavy equipment being used to drill and smash through the stone of the mines down here on the search for more precious veins of minerals and metals. While most of them kept on walking and talking as they went, one figure at the back of the group stopped in the middle of the intersection.

The stallion carried a heavy bag on his back that he carefully took off and placed on the ground, his hooves shaking the entire time. As the bag rested there he took a couple of unsteady steps away from it and lifted a hoof to his forehead, wiping away a waterfall of sweat. In contrast to his wet brow his throat and lips were as dry as a desert. With a last, fearful look at the bag he quickly turned around and began running back the way he had come.

Author's Note

Definitely didn't make any last minute changes to this chapter.

Disaster

Rainbow Dash held one of the rope loops in her hoof to make the slow trip in the tram a bit easier. She wished the thing went faster but it was obvious why it didn’t. The kind of damage this thing could do if it went off the rails, especially if it was full of ponies, would be pretty serious. Looking out the window showed nothing but darkness or walls of rock most of the time with there occasionally being some ponies doing some work or her getting to see a more elaborate tunnel system. A couple of times the tram came to a stop at another station and ponies would get on or off before the tram continued its journey deeper into the mines.

“We’ll have to go down a lift once we get off the tram too but it’s not like that big elevator we first used to come down,” Barnaby said. “It’s a chain and gas-engine operated lift designed for a few ponies at a time, right now it’s the only way to get to the lowest section of the new mines.”

“I mean I can totally just fly down any mineshaft or empty cave if there’s room you know...” Rainbow said.

“Most of the passages get narrower the further you go so you might want to reconsider that,” Barnaby said.

“How many ponies are working down in those mines anyways? If they’re such a big deal?

“Hmm...” Barnaby rubbed his chin. “Several dozen at least. But as big a deal as it is there are still so many other veins and deposits to mine up elsewhere. In total there are hundreds of miners down here everyday working all over the place. I suspect if some more veins run dry we’ll see a lot of ponies moved to work on the new ones to dig them out as far as they can go.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have much else to offer in their conversation after that. The truth was she didn’t know enough about nor was passionate enough about mining to say anything else. Though she had done a lot of rough work, some of it very similar to this kind of stuff, it was always just as either a time killer or a means to an end. She would go on tours, she’d even help out if need be, but the desire for adventure was still burning in her chest and that’s what she wanted to satisfy the most. Oreville was a cool place and it definitely seemed like there was a lot to it so she wasn’t thinking about leaving yet, but if no opportunities for awesomeness presented themselves she’d be out of here sooner rather than later. Her journey couldn’t wait for her to be stopped over in a place without adventure for too long. It’s why she almost left the Mammoth city early, things just seemed too peaceful there for what she wanted. Oreville might or might not prove to be the same.

“By my count we should be reaching the last station and getting off in just a moment. After that the tram goes back on a large loop and gets back to the staging area,” Barnaby said.

“Are there other rails besides this one?” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby nodded. “Yes, you couldn’t see from inside here but there are a few junctions that let the trams go to various different areas in the mines. It’s not just one big circle or anything like that.”

There wasn’t a minute left after that until the tram came to a stop at the “last” station and Rainbow Dash and Barnaby prepared to get off. The door popped open automatically and the two walked out onto the platform, Rainbow fluttering and stretching her wings slightly. It was a much smaller platform than the one they had used to get on the tram and there weren’t any ponies waiting at it. Once all the ponies had gotten off the tram it quickly left and everypony headed off the platform to head towards the mines.

“And that’s where we’ll be going too,” Barnaby said as he led Rainbow Dash down the ramp of the platform at the heels of the other miners.

She had to once again offer warm smiles and some small hellos to all the new miners who hadn’t seen her before. After that the whole group was walking through the tunnels and Rainbow Dash could immediately tell the difference from the tunnels here to what she had seen in the staging area and closer to it. Everything was much rougher, there weren’t as many lights, and wooden and metal support beams ran haphazardly across the walls and ceilings of the tunnels. Lots of smaller tunnels branched off from the main one Rainbow and Barnaby were walking down and at each one a group of miners detached from the group and went into them for their own work.

“Ever gotten lost down here, Barnaby?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

He grimaced. “Several times.”

The two walked a bit further down their tunnel until they came to what from a distance almost looked like a dead end to Rainbow Dash. That was until she noticed the heavy chain pulleys on the sides of the walls and the small metal platform at the end of the rocky ground. It looked like it was built practically flush up against the walls, almost as tight as an elevator, and there was what looked like some kind of control panel with a lever at the back.

“That’s our ride,” Barnaby said. “That will take us down to the lowest point in these mines—aside from some naturally formed caverns that we aren’t using—and then I’ll show you the current fruits of our labors.”

“Okey-dokey,” Rainbow replied and squeezed onto the lift with the other stallions once they reached it. A tight fit since there were too extra ponies than normal but they still made it work. One of the miners in the back pulled the lever and the chains rattled, pulling through the pulleys and slowly dropping the lift down the mineshaft.

Once they reached the bottom after what Rainbow Dash would guess was about fifty to a hundred feet, they all shuffled out into a wide open cavern that looked to be some kind of temporary basecamp or outpost for the mine. It had a lot of boxes and sheds stacked up around it along with some tables and chairs that ponies were currently seated at, poring over a set of schematics. Beyond this area she saw three separate tunnels going off in different directions. They looked even shoddier than the ones right up above. From deeper in those tunnels Rainbow could hear the sounds of metal striking upon solid stone and the whine of heavy machinery along with the shouts and exertions of miners. Everypony was working hard down here to the point that Rainbow and Barnaby were both either completely ignored or not even noticed by the miners.

Barnaby pointed down the tunnel straight ahead. “Come on, through there you can see the work up close and personal.”

“And a lot of sweaty stallions by the sounds of things,” Rainbow added.

Barnaby laughed and the two of them were about to enter the tunnel when something happened.

A loud bang came from somewhere in the tunnel ahead, Rainbow Dash’s ears perking up instantly at the surprisingly loud and powerful noise. She knew exactly what that sound was—an explosion. There was nothing else it could be and Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed in worry and trepidation. She glanced up at Barnaby.

“Barnaby, that-”

“It’s alright, TNT is used for blasting down here all the time. I can understand why you’d be surprised by a sudden explosion though but don’t worry, it’s normal and controlled,” he told her.

But Rainbow Dash looked back at the other miners here and noticed that all of them seemed surprised by the explosion.

She gulped. “I don’t think so, Barnaby.”

The cave they were in and the tunnels started to shake as the distinctive sound of collapsing rocks and chaos came from further down the tunnel. It only lasted for a few brief seconds but it sounded bad. Barnaby’s breath hitched in his throat as he and Rainbow Dash looked down the tunnel at the flickering lights and felt a small wave of compressed air and dust get blown into them. This was no simple blasting to open up a new tunnel or remove some pesky rocks, there was far too much shaking involved.

“A cave-in...” Barnaby whispered in shock. “It sounded like the entire tunnel collapsed.”

“If it’s a cave-in there might be ponies in trouble!” Rainbow Dash shouted and immediately flapped her wings to get off the ground. “Let’s go!”

“R-Right! But be careful, Rainbow Dash! The tunnel could be unstable,” Barnaby agreed and looked over his shoulder at the other miners. “Everypony, get your gear and come on!”

While Rainbow Dash rocketed ahead at full speed towards the source of the explosion, the other ponies brought up the rear. A hard frown was on her face as the poorly lit walls of the tunnel sped by her. Had somepony accidentally detonated TNT in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or was it intentional? She wouldn’t exactly call it a cynical thought but she was definitely thinking the latter. The way the other ponies had acted when they heard the explosion—even for an accidental detonation it was just too shocked.

A cloud of dust was ahead and Rainbow Dash had to slow down her approach. Once she got close enough she started flapping her wings to push some of the dust to the sides.

“This aint good...” she grimaced as she saw the full extent of the damage. Hundreds of rocks completely buried the tunnel and made travel through it impossible. She couldn’t even tell how far the cave-in went either.

“Oh no,” Barnaby said as he came up behind her, panting hard, and was soon joined by the other miners.

“What happened?!”

“Who did this?”

“Is everypony on the other side okay?”

"What do we do?”

“It’s right where the intersection was!”

Shouts and clamoring voices from the couple dozen ponies filled up the partially collapsed tunnel as everypony got into a panic at the sight of it. Luckily Barnaby had a commanding presence and he quickly wheeled about to give orders.

“Everypony, calm down!” Barnaby shouted over them to quiet the group down. “This is a disaster but it’s not something we’re unfamiliar with! Some of you go back to the lift and get on the radio, contact Crom and tell him what happened and then try and contact the ponies on the other side of this cave-in. They should have a radio or two outside the mine they’re working in, right?”

“They do,” one of the other miners said and started running back down the tunnel. “I’ll get on the radio right now!” He looked at two others. “You come with me and head up the lift to tell the closest others on hoof!”

“Okay!”

“Right!”

The three miners then ran off back, leaving Barnaby and Rainbow in front of the massive pile of rocks with seemingly nothing to do. Rainbow wanted to dig in and start pulling rocks out of there to open up the tunnel and help anypony who might be stuck on the other side, but she had no idea if that was safe or not. It could just cause it to collapse further without anything to brace the ceiling of the tunnel.

“Hey, let’s brace up these walls to make sure the tunnel doesn’t get even worse, then we can start digging everypony on the other side out!” One miner said, an older stallion than most others

Barnaby looked to him. “Are you in charge down here?”

“Wouldn’t say that or nothing but I’m the most senior miner here for sure,” he said. “I’ve dealt with cave-ins like this before. If we can get some more struts and poles to hold up the walls of the tunnel we can start removing the rocks blocking the way. We’ve got some tools and extra supplies sitting around but until we get some more from above...”

“We have to hope that nopony on the other side is hurt,” Barnaby finished.

The old miner nodded. “Yep. From the look of it it seems like the explosion that set off this cave in happened in the middle of the tunnels and not in the mine where everypony was working. So hopefully as long as nopony was walking through the tunnel when it went off I don’t think anybody would’ve been blown up or buried.”

Rainbow Dash growled in annoyance and kicked a pebble. “Great! So there could be ponies in danger who need us right now and we can’t do anything to help them?”

“Patience, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said as he put a hoof on her shoulder. “A situation like this needs calm heads. We can’t be careless here.”

“Yeah, things are already bad enough, depending on the extent of the damage this could set us back weeks,” the old miner said.

So Rainbow Dash had to hold her frustration in and wait for back up and more ponies who knew what they were doing. In about five more minutes, one of the ponies who had left earlier came back with a portable radio. He was breathing heavily from running so much as he turned the radio on and set it down in front of everypony, the speakers turned up all the way.

“W-We already contacted Crom and now we’re trying to get on the other miners’ frequency to see how they’re doing,” he said.

All was static from the radio as the miner fiddled with its dials until-

Hello?--crrk! Hello? Can… hear us?

“Yes! We can hear you!” The miner who brought the radio shouted into it.

What… happened… there was… buried now...

It kept cutting out partially, maybe due to extra interference from the rocks or faulty equipment in the first place. The miner smacked the top of the radio to try and get it to work better while Barnaby grabbed the microphone to speak.

“Hello? For any ponies trapped on the other side of the cave-in, this is Chief Constable Barnaby. Are you alright?” He spoke calmly and authoritatively, Rainbow Dash had to give him props for that.

Crrk! Shhhhhhhk!

There was another burst of static before a voice broke through again. Yes! Yes, we’re okay! Just trapped.

Barnaby and the other ponies sighed in relief. “Good, good. Have you tried digging out yet? What’s it look like on your end?”

Just a bunch of rocks! The whole intersection is gone, we’re looking to bring up one of the drills from the mine to help get us through.

“We’ll be working on getting you out on this end soon too, we just need some things before we start,” Barnaby said.

Thanks, at least we’ve got everything we need to get out of here!

“How’s your air? Breathing alright?”

Plenty of air, still a lot of space back here, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck for more than a day or two.

“Don’t worry about that. Crom already knows and we’ll have you out of here before the day is over,” Barnaby told them before temporarily turning off the microphone. “Of course actually fixing this whole tunnel will take much longer.”

“You think you can just make a small hole to bring the trapped miners through first?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s probably what we’ll have to do… most of this will be moved out of the way and excavated later,” Barnaby rubbed away some sweat that had collected under his helmet. “What’s going on? And why today of all days?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t have an answer. She just hoped help would come soon so she could start doing something as well. Standing around, not doing anything, when ponies were in danger, it was the worst. Barnaby wasn’t looking much better as he paced back and forth in front of the pile of rocks while some of the miners chatted on the radio with the trapped ponies—just talking like normal to try and keep everypony calm and relaxed.

It took nearly thirty minutes but ponies from above started coming down with shovels, drills, pickaxes, and support beams to keep anymore of the tunnel from caving in when they started excavating it. They didn’t have a lot of space to put the rocks either so everypony had to slowly form up a big line and remove the rocks hoof by hoof, piling them up by the lift and then taking those up to areas where they could be dumped. The support beams were propped against the walls and bracers were locked between them to give the ceiling of the tunnel a ribbed appearance. Now it was safe to really start digging. The miners trapped on the other side got the message too and everypony worked together to make the quickest tunnel possible to them. Not enough where they had to completely uncover the entire tunnel but still big enough and safely supported enough that the ponies could crawl through.

It was hard work. Hard work that took hours with Rainbow Dash right at the front doing everything she could. She may not have had the sheer brawn of some of these miners but she more than made up for it in determination and willpower, any rocks that needed to be shoveled or carried out of the way she was there for. Her hooves were raw practically from the start but she didn’t care.

Despite the situation, this was the kind of thing that really invigorated Rainbow Dash and filled her with positive energy. A bunch of ponies working together to help those in need. That’s what she loved to see. And she got to be awesome during it all. There was nothing more she could ask for. Aside from potentially beating the snot out of some villain, but that was that and this was this.

She had lost track of time after working on digging with the other ponies for so long that she had no idea how late it might’ve been or just how many hours she had sunk into this tunnel. But none of that mattered when one last rock was moved out of the way and she reached her blue hoof down to help a formerly trapped miner get to his hooves. Rainbow Dash grinned at him and wiped the sweat from her brow, exhausted.

“Looks like you guys are okay,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked down at the small tunnel and saw more ponies making their way through it.

“Yep,” the miner said and then finally seemed to register who and what he was talking to. “Uhhh, who are you?”

Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement. “Let’s just say I’m a new friend around here.”

Barnaby and the other miners on this side continued to help the others through and keep the tunnel secure. It wasn’t a permanent solution and it was pretty slow going, but at least they’d be able to get all the trapped miners to safety. When things looked pretty stable, Barnaby sharply glanced to Rainbow Dash and came over to her with a frown on his face.

“I’m sorry something like this had to happen today while I was with you,” he said.

“It’s not your fault,” she looked at the damaged tunnel. “Besides, not like I would expect you to just ignore what happened or anything and keep giving me a tour.”

“But I still have to apologize, because it’s not over yet.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What do you mean?”

His gaze hardened and his eyes narrowed. “I think we both know this was no accident, and I must get to the bottom of it.”

Investigation

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were both back up in the main office of the mine’s central staging area. They stood in there with Crom and most of the other important chief’s and senior miners along with a group of miners who had been working in the mine right past where the explosion had happened and the tunnel caved in. Right now Crom was pacing back and forth in front of everypony else—his balding black mane falling down the back of his head while a harsh look settled on his face. It was the same look that Barnaby had.

“In case any of you were wondering-” Crom started and all of the other miners stiffly stood in place, hanging off his every word. “We’ve figured out that there’s no way this was just some accidental placement and discharge of TNT. Somepony did this on purpose. In my mine. In Oreville’s pride, joy and lifeblood. And now we have to figure out who, how, and why.”

“Are we sure it was on purpose? Like really sure?” One of Crom’s senior miners asked.

Crom nodded and looked over at Barnaby. “Barnaby? Care to tell everypony what you found out in your investigation so far?”

Barnaby breathed heavily out of his nose and stepped forward while Rainbow Dash hung back and watched him. The two of them had been even more busy after rescuing the miners in the first place. A quick glance at the clock on the wall of the office told her it was well past midnight—another night in Oreville she had stayed awake through. At least she was getting the most out of her days.

“I talked with the supervisor of the new mine down where the lift leaves off. He told me that not only was there no scheduled blasting in those tunnels for the day, they didn’t even have any stored TNT just sitting around,” Barnaby started. “That led me to wonder where the TNT that caused that explosion and cave-in came from. As you all know, all the TNT that goes through these mines is first brought here, stored here, and then given out for scheduled blastings. It’s all kept recorded in inventory and every last little bit of it is carefully kept track of when first brought here and when taken away.” Barnaby frowned. “So what did I find when I went to look for any missing or stolen TNT? I found that every last bit of it was well accounted for. Nothing was missing, there was no discrepancy in any paperwork, no signs of theft. Nothing. The TNT—the bomb—that caused that explosion didn’t use any of the TNT that was brought into the mines for regular blasting. Somepony brought their own explosives into this mine with the express purpose of using them to blow up that tunnel.”

“But how? Why?” One of the miners from the collapsed tunnel asked.

“Why didn’t he use any of the TNT already here? To make it harder to trace. He probably didn’t even have clearance to retrieve TNT in the first place and didn’t want anypony suspicious of him. As for why in general… I have even fewer ideas. But obviously he smuggled in TNT of his own somehow. How and where he got that I don’t believe I’ll be able to figure out without first finding the perpetrator,” Barnaby looked at all of the recently rescued miners. “Which is where you come in.”

“According to your supervisor—you were the last group to go into that tunnel before the explosion went off. Also according to him, he remembers that one of you came back from the tunnel and went up the lift early, shortly before Rainbow Dash and I arrived. So who was it? Who was the pony that wasn’t trapped with you behind all that rubble?” Barnaby asked.

The miners looked between each other before the one who had spoken up earlier gulped and came forward. “D-Dolph. He’s missing.”

“Dolph?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“We thought he was just lost—or something else happened or maybe he was even caught in the blast but...”

Barnaby shook his head. “Nopony was caught in the blast or buried in the rubble. We’re certain of that, luckily or intentionally, nopony was hurt by the explosion. All it did was destroy those tunnels.”

“Dolph, huh?” Crom muttered and walked over to some of the filing cabinets in the office. “I should have his file and picture somewhere in here...” he began rummaging around.

“And meanwhile, what can you ponies tell me about this Dolph fellow?” Barnaby asked.

“Well he’s our friend for one and he wouldn’t do something like this!” One of the miners angrily said and stomped his hoof on the ground.

“I-I agree with you, Kent, but...” another said.

Barnaby raised an eyebrow. “But what?”

The miner sweated nervously and tried to look away as he answered. “Well Dolph was, uh, kind of being a lot quieter than normal earlier today. We were all talking and having fun when we were getting ready to head to the mine but he wasn’t really saying nothing, I remember. And there was another thing… we all had our tools and stuff but Dolph also had a big bag, and he didn’t say what it was for or nothing.”

“I remember that bag, I didn’t really think nothing of it but it’s kind of weird now that you mention it,” another minder said. “There wasn’t anything big that any of us needed to carry to the mine, was there?”

“Nope,” Kent grunted, grinding his teeth as he stared at the ground. “I-I don’t know what he would’ve needed that bag for either.”

“And you also didn’t notice when he left you behind and wasn’t in the mine with you?” Barnaby asked.

The miners sheepishly looked around and shrugged at each other, none of them wanting to speak up and answer that question.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. They were friends, huh?

“Ah, found it!” Crom suddenly said from the cabinets as he pulled out a file. He walked over to Barnaby and hoofed it over to him, with Rainbow Dash coming up and also looking at it. “This is Dolph.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby looked at a simple photograph of a smiling stallion paperclipped to the inside of the file. He had a mop of unruly red mane on an ashen gray coat with hazel eyes peeking out at them. It was just a photo, but it made Rainbow Dash instantly frown. This guy just didn’t look like the type of pony who would do something like this. Barnaby took the photo from the file and showed it to the miners.

“So this is your friend, Dolph? And you’re sure it was indeed him with you today?” Barnaby asked.

“Definitely,” Kent nodded. “You could never mistake that mane.”

Rainbow Dash read bits of his file while Barnaby still held it open. “Says he’s married too and started working in these mines right after getting out of school.”

“Not just married—kids too,” one of the other miners said.

Barnaby frowned and lifted a hoof to his forehead, rubbing it in circles. “Why would he do something like this? What’s going on here?” He checked the file once more. “No marks for poor behavior or performance… he seemed like a stand-up miner.”

“We’ll have to find out exactly where he went after leaving that bomb, see what exit he took from the mines,” Crom said.

“This doesn’t make any sense!” Kent tried to say once more. “I-I don’t know what’s going on or how to explain all this, but Dolph would never do something like this! What does he even have to gain?”

“Nothing,” Barnaby said, causing Rainbow Dash to look at him. “Nothing at all. Nopony has anything to gain from sabotaging the mines—every last soul in Oreville is reliant on them. There’s no benefit to doing something like this for anypony. And that’s what worries me the most.”

He sighed and rubbed his eyes before giving the file and picture back to Crom. “Thank you for your help, you may leave. I suggest you all go get some sleep now.”

“Suggest?” Crom snorted at the miners. “You’ll need all the sleep you can get, tomorrow you’re going to have to help out fixing up the damaged tunnels. This has set us back by quite a bit.”

“Yes sir,” Kent and the other miners said before shooting a couple lasting looks at Barnaby and Rainbow Dash and then shuffling out of the office.

“Sorry about all this,” Crom said to Rainbow Dash once the miners had left.

Rainbow Dash shook her head in exasperation. “Dude, just like I told Barnaby, you guys don’t have to apologize. And uh—no offense since I know you won’t take it the same way but I don’t mind at all actually having something to do while I’m here.”

“The mines are my responsibility and I let something like this happen...” Crom ground his teeth.

“I don’t think you should blame yourself either,” Barnaby said. “There are too many questions here, and things that don’t make sense. An accident would at least have a real explanation. But this? This Dolph pony just doesn’t seem like the type to blow up a tunnel—for any reason. There has to be something else going on.”

“You think someone else wanted him to blow it up? Rainbow asked. “Dolph just set the bomb there but it was another pony’s plan?”

Barnaby nodded. “That’s exactly what I think. But the who and why still eludes me. And they had to have gotten their TNT from somewhere else.” He glanced at Crom. “Right?”

“Right,” Crom nodded back.

“There has to be a trail somewhere...” Barnaby said.

“Hey, I’ll help out anyway I can too,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m kind of used to it.”

Barnaby chuckled. “Yes, you are. I’d almost say trouble follows you but I know you’re far too well meaning. This is just bad timing. Exceedingly bad timing. I was hoping to show you the best of Oreville and you could tell your home and others about all of the nice and amazing things you saw here but now...”

“I can still do that,” Rainbow Dash reassured him. “Now I’ll just get the chance to tell others how you deal with criminals and work in times of crisis. Those kinds of stories are always the ones ponies want to hear most anyways.”

“Thank you but for now you shouldn’t have to do anything. And I know you’re going to keep offering but it’s really not something I want you to get involved with—you shouldn’t have to deal with our own internal problems,” Barnaby said.

“But you said-”

“This is different. Right now you’re a guest of Oreville and you should be treated as such. Not made to do grunt work or chase down criminals, that’s my and my officers’ job.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I’m telling you I’d have more fun doing that stuff anyways.”

“Be that as it may, there’s a lot that I would need to do first and report on anyways before getting you involved. And secondly, it’s very late and we all should’ve gotten some sleep a long time ago,” Barnaby looked at Crom. “Sorry that we couldn’t really catch up or anything but Rainbow Dash and I are going to be heading back up to the city.”

“We’ll talk again some other time,” Crom shrugged and faced Rainbow Dash. “And it was nice meeting you… even though I wish your first visit to the mines was more normal.”

“Nice meeting you too, dude. Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash winked and both she and Barnaby headed out of the office, towards the elevators that would take them back up to the main city of the Copper Section.

“So what does happen next?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Your tour and education of Oreville continues as normal. There’s a motel close to the mining building up above. We’ll get you checked in there just for the day while I go report everything that happened in the mines at the Correctional Facility and get the ball rolling for the investigation on my end. But you don’t need to worry about any of that. Tomorrow the two of us will be joining Lords Gold, Silver, and Copper for dinner in Gold Section. That’ll be your first real duty as a visiting diplomat and I know Lord Silver is enthusiastic about it. Gold and Copper… we’ll see how it goes.”

“I’m already looking forward to it,” Rainbow sarcastically grumbled.

“That makes two of us.” Barnaby yawned.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well at least I know exactly what I’m going to do when I get that motel room: sleep.”

“I’ll find a more permanent residence soon...”

Three Lords

“Woah… I gotta tell ya, Gold Section really lives up to its name,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked out the window of the tram as it entered the oldest and largest part of the grand city of Oreville.

It was late afternoon now, Barnaby had come to retrieve her just earlier and the two set off for their visit and meal with the three Lords of Oreville. Rainbow Dash wasn’t exactly looking forward to it but at least the food had to be good, right? They were in the front of the tram that they had taken from the Copper Section—an express one that went straight to the center of Gold Section. It wasn’t like the tram down in the mine at all, this was a luxurious passenger tram much more like a train from Equestria than anything else, with cushioned seats, tables, carpeted floors, and even a snack cart that went up and down the cars.

Rainbow Dash didn’t care about that anymore though as her first look at Gold Section currently had her eyes glued to the window. The cavern this underground city was built in was three or four times bigger than the largest part of Copper Section was, its buildings stretching far into the distance and created a sprawling cityscape. Most of the buildings weren’t as tall as the skyscrapers of Copper Section though, with only a few like that around the middle of the city and the rest taken up by smaller buildings and then houses the further one got from the city center. Another big difference was the color. Copper Section was a series of grays and blacks when it came to the paint (or lack thereof) used for the buildings. In Gold Section she saw that yellow was favored, most homes and buildings were painted some shade of yellow or gold, with a number that were orange and other bright daylight colors. The streets weren’t nearly as busy or hectic as Copper Section’s either despite the fact that clearly more ponies lived here. It had a much more relaxed feeling and look to it.

Their tram was now going right through the streets of the city on a raised line that allowed Rainbow Dash to get a closeup look of things on their way to Lord Gold’s administrative building. What could essentially be considered the capitol building of Oreville. Out her window she saw a market street with multiple different grocers selling food and lots of fruit stands. The average pony down below was dressed very nicely and the streets were spotlessly clean. Rarity would’ve liked to have joined her on this trip right now.

She saw a young filly accompanying her mother on a shopping trip look up at the tram as it passed overhead and gave it a wave. Rainbow Dash smiled down at the pony and waved back, even though she wasn’t sure if she could see her.

Why would somepony blow up part of the mines in a place like this? Rainbow Dash just couldn’t get it. Was there something about this place she didn’t know? Right now she couldn’t fathom why it had happened. At least nopony had gotten hurt, but this whole situation felt so wrong.

They were now getting much closer to the center and Rainbow Dash looked ahead to see them now traveling past taller office buildings. Through them all she saw one pyramidal building with a flat top, more like a 3D trapezoid, and towers at all of its corners that gave it a more classical look than other buildings Rainbow had seen in Oreville. It was also painted a very shiny gold, almost making it look like it was actually made of gold. To Rainbow’s surprise, the tram looked like it went inside the building itself instead of stopping at a station nearby.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash pointed ahead.

“I told you it went to the center of Gold Section, didn’t I?” Barnaby grinned at her.

“Guess you can’t ask for a more direct line to the government, huh?” Rainbow Dash said as she watched their tram get closer to the building.

Soon it passed through the golden walls of the capitol and into a brightly lit interior station. A large portion of the building must have been hollow to allow for this to be built as it seemed to go from one side of the building to the other with enough space at the station for two trams to fit at once. Both sides of the station had a lot of doors and stairs leading to other places in the capitol building and there were a fair amount of ponies milling about around it. Including a lot of security ponies wearing red uniforms with golden straps across their chests. More than anything though there were ponies in suits carrying briefcases waiting to get on the tram—Gold Section may not have been as busy as Copper Section but there were still plenty of hardworking ponies in it.

When the tram came to a stop, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash both quickly stepped off and immediately had to go through a security checkpoint. While they waited for that, Rainbow kept track of how many double-takes she got from ponies getting on and off the tram.

“Chief Constable,” the security guard at the checkpoint said to Barnaby and nodded, his eyes briefly flickering to Rainbow and the ID card she was wearing. “We were told of you and the special guest’s visit. There’s no need for any further formalities, you may proceed directly to Lord Gold’s private conference room.”

“Thank you, Ainsworth,” Barnaby smiled to the guard and took Rainbow Dash past the other security ponies. He had them heading for stairs that led up higher into the building which were flanked by more security guards—who he promptly walked past. They didn’t even bother looking at Barnaby and Rainbow.

“Nice perks,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“Actually it’s more because of your clearance that we’re able to go through here without being stopped by every guard and having to show ID or the correct papers. Capitol security is out of my jurisdiction, none of these ponies answer to me. But you have the highest level of diplomatic immunity and access. If any of these guards tried stopping you or inconvenienced you in some way, they’d be rebuked by Lord Gold himself. Well, at least officially, thanks to Lord Gold’s… state… it would be Lord Silver they’d have to answer to.”

“Should I be kind of worried about meeting Lord Gold?” Rainbow asked.

“Worried? No, not at all,” Barnaby shook his head. “Just don’t expect him to talk much, to you or anypony else. Lord Silver will more than be the representative and leader of Oreville that you need to meet, and Lord Copper… well he’ll be there too I guess.”

Rainbow Dash silently followed Barnaby as he led her through the interior of the capitol building. They passed numerous offices, guards, and ponies swiftly trotting through hallways on business. At one point they got to one of the higher levels and passed down a hallway whose outer wall was a large glass window that overlooked the entire city.

“So this conference room or whatever is at the top?” Rainbow asked when it looked like they had another guarded staircase to walk up.

“Yes. And truthfully it’s more like a suite—or home away from home rather than some place for business. Which Lord Silver and I both thought was a more fitting place to meet and for you to dine at,” Barnaby said.

“And I am totally okay with that,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

They ended up at the top floor after that last stairway and entered a long red carpet hallway with a set of golden double-doors at the end flanked by two more security guards. Paintings of mountains, flowers, the streets of Oreville, and landscapes covered the walls. When they got close to the doors both guards grabbed a door handle and pulled it open for them.

Inside was certainly more of a high-end luxurious apartment than any sort of office. A large foyer opened up into a living room with hardwood flooring and an ornate dining table in the center of it. Plants, fountains, and paintings lined the walls or were stuck in alcoves while to the right and left of the table there were open doorways leading to other parts of the suite. Behind the living room was another large floor to ceiling window that gave a commanding view of the city, with a few comfortable looking chairs and couches in front of it. There were no guards standing around but she saw a pair of stallions and mares off to the left of the table wearing butler and maid uniforms. Despite Rainbow Dash’s unique appearance they were too well trained to even glance in her direction without orders.

And of course, at the dining table itself there sat the three Lords of Oreville.

Lord Copper sat at the right side of the table, doing his best to not sneer in her and Barnaby’s direction the moment they came through the door. On the left side of the table sat a middle-aged stallion just at the cusp of what Rainbow Dash would call “old”. He had a maroon coat and a deep blue mane tied back in a ponytail, while lines of age and wrinkles had just started appearing on his face, and he wore a flowing black robe that covered the rest of his body. Directly in front of Rainbow at the head of the table was a much, much, older stallion. Positively ancient, his face was nothing but wrinkles and he shook even while sitting still, she couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open or not and his mane had gone completely white and thin over his yellow face.

“Announcing Miss Rainbow Dash of Equestria,” Barnaby suddenly said.

Both Lord Copper (and who had to be Lord Silver) stood up at the sides of the table and actually bowed slightly to her.

“Greetings, Rainbow Dash,” the maroon stallion said with a friendly smile on his face. “I am Lord Silver of Oreville and it is my greatest pleasure to welcome you to our realm.” He glanced at Lord Gold. “I assure you that Lord Gold is also happy to make your acquaintance, and I believe our Chief Constable told me that you met Lord Copper when you first arrived here?”

Lord Copper held back a derisive snort. “We have indeed already met, she took a rather nasty tumble down the stairs outside the tunnel entering Copper Section and I notified the Chief Constable and hospital of her arrival shortly after. I trust your wounds have healed?”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched and she saw Barnaby roll his eyes in annoyance as well. “Oh yeah, they’re great now. Thanks for the warm welcome you gave me.” She “smiled” at him.

“You’re welcome,” Lord Copper smirked and sat back down.

“And uh, nice to meet you too, Lord Silver,” Rainbow said much more cordially to him.

There were two other seats at the table, one at the head opposite from Lord Gold and one right next to Lord Silver. Naturally Barnaby walked past her to sit next to Lord Silver while Rainbow Dash got the seat of honor.

“Please, enjoy the appetizers that have been placed out for you while we discuss your home and ours. In a short time the main course will be brought out,” Lord Silver said and gestured to the table at an assortment of cheese and crackers, grapes, vegetables, and breads. “If you require anything else just ask and I will have our servants fetch it for you.”

“Hrmm...” Lord Gold suddenly sputtered and reached for a plate of caprese salad with a trembling hoof.

The others at the table winced but one of the maids quickly and quietly came forward and grabbed a slice of tomato and cheese together for him, feeding it into his mouth (his toothless mouth as Rainbow Dash now noticed) by hoof herself. She then even wiped his muzzle clean with a napkin after juice from the tomato spilled from his mouth. Both Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper shuddered as they watched how the old Lord needed to be taken care of, Silver and Barnaby had the decency to act like they didn’t notice.

“Right, well, we do wish to give you whatever you need and desire for your stay here,” Lord Silver said. “You’ll be treated to the best hospitality that Oreville has to offer.”

Lord Copper took a sip of water and raised a haughty eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, so if you’d like something a bit more high class and indulgent than simple food might I offer you some cognac? A cigar? A concubine?”

Rainbow Dash felt herself nearly gag. “Yes, no, and really no.”

“Don’t be put off, Miss Rainbow Dash, just a joke.” Lord Silver said as he glared across the table at Lord Copper. “A bad one. However we do have cognac and other spirits if they are to your taste?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh yeah.” She popped a grape into her mouth.

Lord Silver clapped his hooves together and one of the butlers quickly retreated into the doorway beside him, on an errand to get Rainbow Dash her cognac.

“Now please, why don’t you tell us about your home of Equestria. The Chief Constable has given me a brief lesson on it but I’d love to hear directly from you,” Lord Silver said with a genuine smile and enthusiasm.

“Yes, if I had known you were such an important visitor representing an entire country I would’ve been sure to have given you the true VIP treatment,” Lord Copper much more sarcastically said.

Rainbow Dash ignored him and just turned to Lord Silver instead. “Uhh, what do you want to know?”

At times like this she really wished she could just channel Twilight.

“Everything,” Lord Silver said.

Rainbow Dash whistled and rubbed her head. “Where do I begin...”

“And so these Princesses are actually responsible for moving the heavenly bodies in the sky?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yep, pretty cool right?”

“Remarkable… remarkable and wondrous...” Lord Silver responded.

“If it’s true,” Lord Copper muttered.

“It is,” Rainbow glared at him.

“You have quite the different system of government from our own then as well if these Princesses have been ruling your country of Equestria since the beginning,” Lord Silver continued. “I suppose we as Lords have superficial similarities to monarchs but it’s nothing like your Princesses.”

“Well it was just Celestia for a while but that’s a whole nother story...” Rainbow said. “And it’s not like we don’t still have mayors for other towns and cities, Equestria’s a really big place, bigger than anywhere else I’ve come across on my journey.”

“And you yourself are a special pony back home as well? An Element of Harmony as you put it?” Silver asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded with a proud smile on her face. “That’s right.”

“So you were given some title or artifact and that’s what makes you such an exceptional Equestrian?” Copper disinterestedly questioned.

Rainbow held up a hoof to stop him. “You’ve got that backwards. Being an Element didn’t make me awesome, being awesome made me an Element. What you see is all me.”

A smirk twisted his lips. “I never would have guessed.”

“You mentioned something about a school as well, didn’t you?” Lord Silver asked before Rainbow could say anything back to Copper.

Her head swung over to him. “Oh, yeah, the School of Friendship. That was Twilight’s idea, it’s an awesome place where ponies and other creatures from all over the world can come and learn about friendship and harmony. I would totally invite you guys to come see it—and just see plain old Equestria—buuuut, you’re kind of far away. I honestly have no idea how anypony from Oreville would make it there. I think if you basically just traveled southwest far enough you’d hit Griffonstone but who knows, I just don’t know what’s on the way.”

“That’s alright, it’s not something we could do anytime soon. Even if there were ponies willing to venture out that far it sounds like the sort of expedition that would take months of planning,” Lord Silver said. He sighed wistfully. “And I thought the Weeping Mountain sounded like a magical place.”

Lord Copper started chewing on a piece of bread. “As you can guess, we aren’t especially knowledgeable about the outside world. So hearing of such a place is obviously a little overwhelming for some of the more romantically-minded ponies of Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the unspoken words: “I couldn’t care less.”

“It’s true if Equestria was closer we could open up trade partnerships. I’m sure we’d both have unique things to share with each other,” Lord Silver mused.

“I don’t think we particularly need anything from outsiders,” Lord Copper furrowed his brow. “From the stories she’s told, there have been countless conflicts and villains that have plagued the outside world, even many that she has recently encountered on the journey she’s currently on.” He folded his hooves. “Oreville has always been free of such things. Why get involved with others? Even the villages to the south and the Weeping Mountain are totally irrelevant and unneeded for us and have been for over a century.”

“Well still, aren’t you-” Lord Silver started before Lord Copper cut him off with a swift wave of his hoof.

“Oreville only needs us,” the Lord said. “I don’t know why this dinner is taking place for this pony.”

At that, Lord Silver frowned. “Don’t be rude to our guest. You disgrace the name of Oreville that you’re so proud of, Copper. Whether you like it or not it’s still our way to treat others with respect and courtesy.”

Lord Copper huffed but quieted down and Lord Silver threw an apologetic look at Rainbow Dash. “My apologies for my associate’s behavior.”

“Don’t sweat it. Believe me when I say this is way better treatment than I’ve gotten in some places,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Yes… but I hear you also were involved in such unfortunate business down in our mines as well.”

Lord Copper coughed a few times, wiping his mouth with the back of his hoof and looked away from the others. Something that both Barnaby and Rainbow Dash picked up on. It was far too obvious for them to have not noticed it.

“R-Really? I had heard about the explosion in the tunnels, they are mines under my section after all, but I wasn’t aware you were down there as well when that happened,” Lord Copper fidgeted in his seat.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah… Barnaby was giving me a tour. The two of us were there to help, we were pretty lucky.”

“In fact I’ve already started my investigation to find the perpetrator and figure out what’s going on,” Barnaby said as he looked with a steely gaze at Lord Copper.

“To think somepony would do that on purpose. I thought it must have been an accident...” Lord Silver glumly shook his head.

“Yes, it doesn’t make any sense at all, does it?” Lord Copper coughed again as his eyes darted left and right. “But an investigation already started so soon? My you work very fast don’t you, Chief Constable?”

Rainbow Dash had to hold her jaw to keep it from dropping. This guy… is an idiot.

Barnaby also discreetly glanced in her direction and they shared a knowing look. It was almost comical how badly Lord Copper was reacting to hearing about the explosion and Rainbow Dash and Barnaby’s involvement in it.

“What a terrible coincidence that you come here right as something so unprecedented happens,” Lord Silver said.

“Don’t get so down, Oreville’s still a really nice looking place from everything I’ve seen so far. Your city is still making a great impression on me. It’s just that nowhere is perfect, everywhere has its troubles,” she looked over at Lord Copper. “And its troublemakers.”

“Oreville is free of such things… this is just some one-off act of destruction. S-Something I’m sure Constable Barnaby will get to the bottom of and prevent from ever happening again,” Lord Copper swallowed and averted his gaze from Rainbow Dash.

Before anypony could say anything else, the food came out from the kitchens.

Lord Gold sniffed the air a few times and looked towards it. “Gemme da, gemme da...”

A maid quickly brought a plate of oats and alfalfa soup over to him, feeding him with a spoon. And while that was going on, the others ate on their own. It was a bit quieter at the table after the conversation had taken a more melancholy turn and it was clear that Lord Copper wasn’t going to speak another word unless unprompted. But the food was at least good, even better than what Rainbow Dash had had here before. She dug in with gusto while Barnaby ate slowly and continued to glare at Lord Copper.

“Do you—do you have any idea how long you’ll be staying in Oreville?” Lord Silver finally asked midway through the meal.

Rainbow Dash stared at the ceiling for a moment and thought about it. “Well, not really. I still haven’t seen a whole lot so I wanted to at least look around more and learn before I left or anything.” And get to the bottom of what’s going on with Lord Copper.

“Then I suggest you stay here in Gold Section,” Lord Silver smiled. “The finest penthouse suite shall be yours and-”

“Lord Silver? If I may?” Barnaby interrupted. “I believe Miss Rainbow Dash would prefer a humbler place to stay while she’s visiting Oreville. Also I think it would be easier if it was somewhere in Copper Section, closer to my home, so we would both have to travel less when meeting up with each other. The ambassador and I have already created a rapport with each other and I would like to continue being her main contact for her stay here.”

Lord Silver looked a bit nonplussed but he seemed to trust Barnaby’s decisions well enough. “Do you have any ideas then?”

“I do, actually,” Barnaby smiled and looked at Rainbow Dash. “My apartment building. There are plenty of vacancies, I was thinking of having Miss Rainbow Dash over to my place tomorrow night and showing her the building.”

“Well if the Chief Constable thinks that’s a good idea I see no reason to disagree,” Lord Copper shrugged and attempted to whistle nonchalantly. Except he couldn’t whistle.

“Yes...” Barnaby narrowed his eyes at him before looking to Lord Silver. “Is that alright?”

“So long as Miss Rainbow Dash is fine with those accommodations,” Lord Silver said.

Rainbow Dash eagerly nodded a couple of times. “I totally am. I don’t need any big, extravagant place to stay.”

“Then it’s decided. I do hope you enjoy your visit to Oreville and we can show you the absolute best we have to offer. With luck, no more terrible mishaps will happen at all from now on,” Lord Silver smiled. He was probably unaware of how badly he just tempted fate.

The five ponies finished their meal in peace after that with Lord Gold only occasionally needing his mouth to be wiped down. By the end of it, Rainbow Dash was full and she had to admit that this food came really close to being as good as Shibu’s home-cooking. Though the meeting hadn’t exactly been perfect, Lord Silver was at least a cool guy. Lord Copper though… he was coming off even worse than he had at first. Her visit to Gold Section had certainly been good overall and it really was quite an impressive city. She hoped nothing bad happened here. She wanted fun and adventure but she didn’t want a perfectly good and nice place to be ruined for that to happen. But if she could stop something bad from happening here, well that was just as good.

“I think we’ll be heading back to the Copper Section now,” Barnaby said as he got up from his chair.

Rainbow Dash followed and gave a quick salute and smile to Lords Silver and Gold. “Nice meeting the two of you. Next time I’m sure there’s even more stuff I can tell you about Equestria.”

“Nice meeting you as well,” Lord Silver smiled and bowed his head slightly, Lord Gold stared off into space, and Lord Copper just narrowed his eyes and watched her and Barnaby go.

“Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash stopped right at the door, much to Barnaby’s confusion, and turned around, pointing at Lord Copper. “I’ve figured you out.”

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow at her. “You what?”

“You’re not a villain,” she smiled at him.

A smirk tugged up his lips. “Oh, well thank-”

“You’re a stooge.”

The smirk immediately turned into a frown. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a stooge,” Rainbow repeated, a more serious look on her face. “I’ve met and dealt with plenty of real villains before and you’re not like them at all. So whatever you’re doing, stop. Just stop before things get out of hoof and you do something you can’t take back. Okay?”

Lord Copper was positively fuming as Rainbow Dash turned back around and out the door, a surprised but very happy Barnaby now following her. Lord Silver looked across the table at Lord Copper and tilted his head, oblivious to everything going on while the butlers and maids also did their best to appear neutral. Lord Copper saw the look Lord Silver was giving him and just huffed and folded his forelegs in front of his chest, glancing away.

“I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

Tick, Tick, Tick...

The following day was spent mostly with Rainbow Dash inside the Correctional Facility with Barnaby as he did a truly monumental amount of paperwork. The disaster in the mines on top of his usual work and the work he needed to do for getting Rainbow a temporary apartment added up to a lot. While he clearly wanted to do something more proactive when it came to finding Dolph and uncovering the truth about the explosion, that had to temporarily wait. Rainbow and Barnaby were still both very thankful that nopony had been hurt back then.

So close to around dinner time, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash left his office to check out the apartment building he lived in in the Copper Section. It was just a short ways away and in the same area as the facility. Barnaby told her that most of the time he slept in his office anyways so he didn’t use his actual home for much but he still had food there so they could grab a bite to eat and he could tour her around the vacancies. Rainbow Dash didn’t really care where she ended up but a place on one of the top-stories would’ve been nice.

They passed a single pony reading a newspaper in the lobby and an elevator ride up to the 25th of 25 floors ended with Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stepping out into a quiet hallway.

“So you live at the very top, huh?” Rainbow asked him.

“A combination of personal preference and it being the most secure in my view,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash grinned and nodded. “Oh yeah, I get that. Are there any vacancies on the top floor? I’d totally go for a place up here too. I can just leave my window open and fly in and out.”

Barnaby chuckled but shook his head. “Sadly, no. No vacancies on this level. The highest floors only have a few larger apartments on them to begin with so there isn’t as much room.”

As he said that Rainbow Dash looked around and noted that they had barely passed by any doors after coming out of the elevator. All of the apartments were indeed pretty spread out. Barnaby had to take them around another corner before they arrived at a door marked with the number “4”. He took a key out of his red suit and unlocked the door, holding it open and allowing Rainbow Dash inside.

She took a brief look around, not like she really needed to get a feel for this place since she wouldn’t be living here, but she was still interested in the kind of place Barnaby lived in. It was unsurprisingly fairly spartan, with the living room they walked into having a coffee table and couch to her left, while a door leading to a small bathroom was on her right with a large grandfather clock pressed up against the wall right past it. There was just the faintest of ticks coming from the clock that reached her sensitive ears and provided a white noise in the background. Besides the coffee table there was another table behind the couch that had a couple of fake plants sitting on it and a large rug over the wooden floors. Directly ahead there was an opening that led into the kitchen and a door on the other side of the clock that probably went into a bedroom or something.

“Make yourself at home,” Barnaby said and walked beside her over to the couch and coffee table.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and joined him, seeing a bookshelf across from the coffee table loaded with all kinds of things. Though she doubted there was anything that interested her in that collection.

“Tomorrow I was going to personally visit Dolph’s family,” Barnaby said to her as she sat down. “I figured that would interest you too.”

“Yeah, I’d like to be there for that,” Rainbow said.

“There’s also the issue of where that TNT came from. There are a number of warehouses it’s stored in after coming from the manufacturer and before being taken into the mines, so I was going to investigate that too,” he said.

Rainbow grinned. “And here you said you don’t need to do the grunt work yourself.”

“This is quite a bit more serious than the average theft or illegal bootlegging and unsanctioned gambling that goes on in this city,” Barnaby said with a frown. “Nopony was hurt—something that’s enough of a miracle that it had to have been on purpose—but it still caused damage and delays to our mines, which means everything was slowed down in the city. Everything in Oreville starts in and revolves around those mines. We even draw up geothermal energy from some of the deeper areas for power. It’s just crazy to think that anypony would want to do something like blow up part of the mines.”

“Anypony?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

Barnaby bit his lip. “Yes… I think it’s obvious that Lord Copper is involved if not outright responsible.”

“He definitely is,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ve got an eye for this kind of thing and you saw how he was acting too back at that meeting. I don’t know what that moron’s deal is but he’s totally involved. And he’s a bad liar.”

“That’s certainly true...” Barnaby sighed and shook his head. “But as much as I’ve always disliked him he’s still one of the Three Lords. To bring him down for this… not only would it be incredibly difficult but the repercussions across the city would be terrible. Our citizens would be horrified. I always wanted to find a way to get that slimeball out of power, I know he’s done all sorts of other illegal things, but something like this? The ponies of Oreville won’t be glad to be rid of him, they’ll be scared and disgusted that he was ever a Lord to begin with. It could very well shake the foundations of Oreville and it might even lead to a lack of trust and faith in Lords Silver and Gold as well.”

Rainbow Dash looked at him and awkwardly grimaced, tugging at an errant strand of her mane. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was right at six. “I’m not going to force any decisions on you or nothing—this is your home, not mine. But… it’s still the right thing to do, right?”

“Yes. Absolutely,” Barnaby nodded with an iron frown on his face. “If he truly is responsible or even just slightly involved in something like this then I will bring him down like I’ve always wanted to do. I just hope I can do it in a way that causes the least amount of problems for Oreville.”

“Well no matter how it goes down, I’ll be there to help you out with it. That’s the kind of pony I am,” Rainbow Dash thumped a hoof over her chest.

“You sure are quick to form bonds and friendships...” Barnaby smiled.

“Lot better than making enemies everywhere I go,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Certainly true,” Barnaby sighed and stood up from the couch. “Either way though—there’s nothing for us to do involving that until tomorrow, let’s give you a look around my building and you can decide which vacant apartment you like the most.” His eyes then turned towards the kitchen. “Oh, after a quick bite to eat first.”

“Sounds good to me. I don’t think I’m gonna have any preference for the places you show me but hey, whatever.” Rainbow Dash stood up too and walked over towards the kitchen.

She stopped in front of the clock and frowned. There was a nagging feeling she had, butterflies in her stomach telling her that something was off in this apartment. Something her eyes and ears noticed but her brain hadn’t fully caught up on yet. Rainbow Dash looked up at the face of the grandfather clock, golden pendulums swinging beneath it behind the glass front case. She tilted her head to figure out what about it was confusing her like this and she finally realized; there was no second hoof. It was an old-fashioned clock that only had an hour and minute hoof that only moved when the time was right. There was no constant “tick, tick, tick” from a second hoof coming from it.

So where was that noise coming from?

Rainbow Dash placed her ear nearly against the clock and listened in. Yep—the ticking sound in this apartment definitely wasn’t coming from it.

“What’s wrong?” Barnaby said, noticing her weird behavior.

Rainbow Dash looked over at him. “Do you hear that ticking noise?”

Barnaby frowned at her, “I don’t think so...”

“Listen harder,” Rainbow said and held a hoof up for silence, trying to figure out the direction it was coming from on her own.

Barnaby stood silently for a moment and moved his ears around to listen in as well. His ears weren’t as sharp as Rainbow’s but now that he was actively looking for it he started to hear the ticking as well. “I do hear it… what is that?”

“I’m not… sure…” Rainbow’s eyes suddenly widened and she sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Out!” She yelled. “Get out now!”

“Wha-” Barnaby had no time to finish his sentence as a rainbow blur crashed into him and swiftly pulled him towards the front door.

When they had reached the doorframe an explosion went off and wreathed the apartment in flames.

A resounding bang was heard down the city block and ponies below the apartment building looked up to see the top floor suddenly explode in a fireball, raining burning debris down onto the street below. Ponies of Oreville screamed and ran in terror while inhabitants of the building started running out of their homes to safety. Constables came running from down the street to see what had happened while multiple ponies were already on the radio for the fire department.

And in an alley a couple buildings away a single pony with a red mop of mane stood behind a pair of trashcans, trying his best to stay out of sight while his shaking hooves held a two-way radio. A newly discarded newspaper lay crammed into one of the trashcans.

Snrrrkt!

He turned the radio on in his hooves and a voice came through the speaker:

Well? If you’re contacting me now that means you did it, right?

“Y-Yes,” Dolph bitterly said into his radio, tears spilling from his eyes and falling to the ground. “The bomb just went off in Barnaby’s apartment.”

So he and that rainbow pony are dead?

“I think so. I don’t see h-how they could have survived...”

Good. Very good.

“Good?” Dolph’s voice cracked. “Y-You said that nopony would be hurt. You said that I-I wouldn’t have to do something like this...”

Barnaby was too dangerous to keep alive. And that other pony from outside was a clear troublemaker too. I didn’t want anypony to have to get hurt either, and from here on out nopony should be, but this was a necessary step.

Dolph cried freely into the radio, shaking his head. “I don’t want to do this anymore, p-please, just let me go back to my family.”

If Barnaby is truly dead then you can consider yourself free, you and your family will be threatened no longer. However it will be some time before you can go back to your family and live a normal life in Oreville again. For now return to the safehouse I set up for you until we know for sure what’s happened.

Dolph peaked his head out from behind the trashcans and looked towards the burning building, hearing both the sound of crackling flames and screaming ponies. “What if he and that other pony survived?”

Then you had best prepare to do more work for me. I own you, Dolph.

The radio cut off and Dolph was left alone in the alley once more. He collapsed to the ground and cradled his head in his hooves, crying until his eyes were dry.

Suspicion

“I just don’t understand what’s going on in this city. I just really don’t,” Nurse Abernathy said with a stony expression of fear on her face as she rubbed a cream for burns onto Rainbow Dash’s wings. She looked at her patient with sympathy. “Just tell me if this hurts, okay?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve gone through way worse.” Rainbow responded as she lied on her belly on the hospital bed, her back and tail were partially singed but her wings were the only part of her that had gotten badly burnt.

On the other side of the room, Barnaby lied back in his bed, only a few bandages and cooling packs on his body. Thanks to Rainbow Dash quickly throwing him out of the apartment he didn’t directly come in contact with any flames. The heat had still harmed him but no burning hot licks of flame had ravaged his body. He was lucky. The both of them were.

The cream stung for just a second before a cool numbness started to wash over Rainbow Dash’s wings and Nurse Abernathy began to wrap them in bandages.

“I’m not familiar enough with pegasus physiology so I don’t exactly know how long your wings will take to heal but I’d like you to keep them in bandages for at least three days to a week,” she said to Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and sighed. “Kind of lame but alright, doctor’s orders...”

“I could give you a more accurate estimate if I was more used to pegasi but-”

“Like I said, it’s alright,” Rainbow smiled at her.

Abernathy looked over at Barnaby. “S-So it really was a bomb just like what happened in the mines? It wasn’t a busted gas pipe or anything?”

“I’m afraid so,” Barnaby nodded to her. He took a deep breath and rubbed at a bandage along his leg. “Abernathy? If you’re finished with Rainbow Dash can you leave us alone for a little while?”

The nurse looked a little worried as she fidgeted in place before nodding. “Of course, just let me finish up here...”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both waited patiently as Abernathy finished wrapping Rainbow’s injured wings. It was uncomfortable and probably going to get a bit itchy for her in a bit but she’d just have to deal with it. The last bit of bandages was cut off and stapled down so the whole thing wouldn’t unravel, Nurse Abernathy then gave a last look at her two recovering patients before leaving the room.

“Well...” Barnaby sighed. “I think we both know what happened.”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash stiffly nodded with a frown on her face.

“While you were under anesthetic, one of my investigators came and confirmed that it was a bomb. Apartment’s a complete loss but the fire department at least managed to fight the fire and get it under control. The top couple floors of the building will need to be refurbished but it’s not unsalvageable,” he told her.

Rainbow Dash sadly looked down at the floor. “So nopony else was hurt?”

Barnaby shook his head. “Thankfully not. The blast was controlled and the rest of the residents in danger were able to get out of the building before the fire had spread too far.”

“What a relief...” Rainbow Dash shut her eyes and relaxed.

“I think whoever’s planning these bombings honestly doesn’t want to hurt ponies if they can avoid it,” Barnaby said. “Otherwise it doesn’t really make any sense. The bomb that exploded in my apartment was just big enough to take it out while not directly blowing apart any of the other apartments on the top floor. But I still can’t figure out why anypony would be doing this in the first place.” He scratched his head. “Even if it is Lord Copper that almost makes even less sense… he’s already one of the most powerful and influential ponies in Oreville. What does he have to gain from doing this? Why is any of this happening?”

“Wish I could help you with that part but when it comes to foiling evil plans and stopping villains my specialty is kind of just, you know, beating them up,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Not saying I haven’t done the thinking and planning part before but it’s really not my strength.”

“I’d feel bad about asking even more from you anyways...” Barnaby bashfully responded.

“If it’s to do something awesome or stop a bad guy I don’t mind. I’ve never minded,” Rainbow told him. “And uh, on that note, it’s really pretty obvious that Lord Copper planted that bomb there. Or—well, had some crony of his plant it there on his orders.”

Barnaby nodded. “I agree. You remember the dinner with him and Lords Silver and Gold? Not just about how nervous he got when we brought up the mine bombing, but how he was perfectly okay with me taking you to find an apartment in my building? And how he heard that I would bring you to my home first of all.”

“He knew what we were going to be doing and had a bomb planted in your home sometime between that dinner and just now,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“Yes. I don’t know if he could have timed it perfectly… perhaps somepony saw us entering the building and activated it remotely, or there was some tripwire we missed or something, but I doubt it was ticking away for long before we entered my home. Former home.”

Rainbow Dash absentmindedly tried to flutter her wings before realizing she couldn’t and frowned. “I wonder if he had the same pony plant the bomb as in the mines. Dolph?”

“Maybe. Lord Copper is very wealthy and has many ponies on his payroll… though I don’t know if he’d trust the average pony in his employ to do something like this. He certainly has connections to more unsavory types but would he trust them as well? There’s likely something more to it, Dolph’s friends did seem very adamant that he’d never do something like this,” Barnaby mused.

“I think no matter what we need to find this Dolph guy,” Rainbow said.

“There’s been no trace of him since that day in the mines. But I think a visit to his home could still shed some light on things,” Barnaby agreed.

“Also to be honest… I kind of got the impression from Lord Copper that he’s not the brightest or most competent stallion out there,” Rainbow rubbed her head. “I get that he’s probably good at his job and making sure there isn’t any solid proof connecting him to this and other bad stuff he’s done, but I feel like he’s in way over his head and not used to being challenged or seriously investigated at all.”

“Good for us then,” Barnaby said.

“Maybe,” Rainbow frowned. “Or it might end up leading him to do something stupid. Take it from a pony with a lot of personal experience—dumb ponies do dumb things. Especially when they’re panicked or scared.”

“We’ll have to be cautious in our investigation from here on out then. No talking to anypony else about it unless we can absolutely trust them. And certainly no mentioning anything in front of Lord Copper. Not until we have solid proof we can arrest him with or at least enough that would convince the populace of his duplicity,” Barnaby said.

“Got it,” Rainbow nodded.

“With how widespread Lord Copper’s influence is there’s a lot we’re going to need to investigate and I have some ideas for tomorrow already besides just visiting Dolph’s family.”

“What are we going to do about ourselves?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, it’s totally possible that he’s going to try and have us taken out again. Bomb or otherwise. If we start staying in the same place for more than a day or two he could have somepony sneak another bomb in there while we’re gone. I’m not just worried about us but I don’t want any other pony blown up because of me.”

“For now—for the near future and maybe for your whole stay here—I think it will be best if we both lodge in the Correctional Facility. My office has enough room where I can set up a couch for you and I can go use one of the bunks in the officer’s quarters. I know you don’t have the best memories of that place but it’s going to be the safest place in Oreville for the both of us. I doubt Lord Copper could even get a bomb inside, much less have the nerve to try and bomb it in the first place,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck and then winced as she accidentally touched a healing burn. “I think you’re probably right but didn’t you say there are other constables you don’t trust? You said you were worried about Lord Copper buying them off. That’s kind of why I got beat up on his orders in the first place...”

“No place is going to be perfect. But even though there might be some of his lackeys trying to spy on us I still don’t think we’d have to worry about any of them attempting anything inside the facility. Most constables of mine are still perfectly upstanding and loyal. There are just a couple of bad seeds. It’s possible that this may even make it easier for us to weed out those bad seeds and hurt Lord Copper in other ways.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well it’s your city so you definitely know best. Just saying that I’m going to be looking over my shoulder while I’m living in there.”

Barnaby smiled. “Trust me. I wouldn’t be saying all this if I didn’t believe it truly was the safest place for the both of us to be.”

Rainbow Dash smiled back at him. “I do trust you. You’re a cool dude, Barnaby. Worth not being able to fly for a few days if it meant saving your hide.”

“Hah! I guess I’m glad about that!” He laughed.

A knock on the door came and the two of them looked to see Nurse Abernathy hesitantly pushing it open. “I-I didn’t mean to intrude but I have some medicine for the both of you...”

“It’s quite alright,” Barnaby smiled to her. “We were mostly finished talking about everything important, thank you.”

“Yep, just one night in here and then we can get out onto the streets tomorrow,” Rainbow grinned.

Family

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby currently walked through the streets of a residential area of the Copper Section. It was inside the massive cavern that housed the major parts of the city but more along the western side, out of the way of the busy streets and huge office skyscrapers. If any of the city could be described as “the poor part of town” then this would be it. The homes and small apartment buildings around her weren’t run down or anything but they weren’t anything special to look at either and she didn’t exactly see anything valuable outside or when she caught a glimpse of the interiors through any windows. Some stray graffiti and trash littering the ground every now and then only reinforced her opinion.

Apparently Dolph lived—or used to live—in one of these homes or apartments. Crom had given Barnaby all the information he had on the miner and now the two of them were going to find out whatever they could about the supposed bomber.

“So uh, how much does his family know about what’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked Barnaby as they walked down the street.

“They know he’s been missing for a few days. That’s it,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash awkwardly grimaced. “Are we going to tell them that we’re investigating him for setting off a bomb in the mines? And your home?”

“I don’t think so… I don’t want to alarm them, or perhaps if they’re secretly still in contact with him I don’t want them to send word along to him about what we’re doing,” Barnaby said. “Though I doubt they are.”

“Yeah, me either. I guess there isn’t a point to telling them, they’re probably worried enough about him, why make it worse?” Rainbow sighed.

“Unfortunately when we do find him they’re going to hear about all of this anyways...” Barnaby said.

“Not looking forward to that.”

Barnaby took a turn down a sidestreet that led into the courtyard of a small two-story apartment building. A group of fillies and colts were outside kicking a ball around and they all stopped to stare at Rainbow Dash as she went by. She put on her best smile and waved at them and a few shyly managed to wave back, as soon as she turned her head the whole group started whispering to each other about the strange looking pony. She was kind of disappointed none of the kids were curious enough to come up and talk to her, but she and Barnaby were busy anyways so it was probably for the best.

“Room 204...” Barnaby muttered and took the two of them to a stairwell on the left side of the courtyard.

The two trotted on up to the second floor and made their way down the railed walkway past door 200 and then 202 before finally stopping in front of 204. Barnaby took a deep breath and knocked on the door while Rainbow Dash stood beside him. Together they heard the somewhat frantic movements of several different ponies inside as well as the muffled voices of a few children. Rainbow and Barnaby both shared a somewhat uncertain look before the door was pulled open and a disheveled mare stood in the doorframe.

“W-What is it?” She asked between breaths.

Rainbow Dash took notice of her poor appearance. Her light brown coat and dark brown mane were both messy and her bloodshot eyes had deep bags under them. A dirty apron was tied around her body, wet spots on it that may have been from water or from tears.

“Your name is Eleanor, correct? Your husband is Dolph the miner?” Barnaby asked her.

Her eyes widened and she immediately grabbed the front of Barnaby’s suit. “Do you know anything about my husband? Where is he? Is he okay? You’re a constable, aren’t you? Please tell me my husband’s okay!”

“I-I’m sorry,” Barnaby apologized as he gently pulled the mare off him. “We don’t have any news pertaining to your husband’s location or what may have happened to him. We came here to ask you about him.”

The light in the mare’s eyes went out and she dropped her hooves to the ground, looking like all the life had just been drained right out of her. “Oh...”

Rainbow Dash winced and brought a comforting hoof up to her shoulder. “C-Can we come in? If that’s okay.”

She looked up at Dash with empty eyes before nodding and walking back into the apartment. “Come in, I’ll get you something to drink.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby sat on one side of the kitchen table while facing Eleanor on the other. Three rambunctious foals ran around in the messy living room, chasing each other and knocking things over, while an elderly mare sat asleep in a rocking chair. Two untouched glasses of water sat on the kitchen table and Eleanor had her face propped up on her hoof, her eyes closed and seemingly trying to block out all the noise. Neither Barnaby nor Rainbow Dash knew exactly how to start.

One of the foals (all three of them colts) rushed from the living room and into the kitchen, poking his mother in the leg. “Mom, mom! When’s dad coming home? Mom?”

“I told you he’s doing an important job in the mines,” Eleanor responded without opening her eyes. “He’s very busy and I’m not sure when he’s going to be back.”

“Aww, okay. I just wanna play ball with him again,” the colt said before running back to his two brothers and engaging in a bout of wrestling.

“Miss Eleanor...” Barnaby started. “If you would like to be able to speak without your children hearing...”

She held up a hoof and stopped him, finally opening up her eyes and looking over at the sleeping pony in the chair. “Mom! Grandma! Wake up!”

The elderly mare jerked awake with a start, a trail of spit dripping from her mouth. “Whazzat, dearie?”

“The kids, mom. Can you… can you take them outside for a bit? Have them play in the courtyard?” Eleanor said. She sighed and placed her face in her hooves, rubbing tiredly at her eyes.

Eleanor’s mom briefly looked at Barnaby and Rainbow Dash before nodding and trying to herd her grandchildren together. “Of course, dearie. You have a nice talk with your guests.” She gently patted each of the kids on the flank and motioned them to the door. “Come on, come along now, mommy needs some private time.”

The cheering kids went out with their grandma and the door shut closed behind them. Rainbow and Barnaby could both hear them scamper along outside towards the stairs. And now the three ponies had some privacy.

“So what did you want to know about my husband?” Eleanor asked them. Her eyes stalled on Rainbow’s bandages and strange appearance for a moment, but it was clear she just didn’t have the energy to care or ask about them.

Barnaby took a deep breath. “Miss Eleanor, please believe me when I say that we’re doing everything we can to find your husband.”

“Uh-huh, and do you know where he might be?” She asked with a bit of acid in her voice.

“No, unfortunately,” Barnaby said and Rainbow Dash had to wince as well. Eleanor didn’t even know why they were truly looking for Dolph in the first place. “But I’m not just a constable, I am Chief Constable Barnaby, and I am taking this investigation as seriously as possible.”

“The Chief Constable?” Eleanor said, some life coming back into her eyes. “I read in the news that your apartment was blown up.” Her eyes again found Rainbow’s bandages. “Were you there too? D-Does this have something to do with Dolph? He went missing on the same day of that explosion in the mines but-”

Barnaby raised a hoof. “Please, calm down. We’re not sure of anything right now, we just want to find your husband and make sure he’s safe.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and discreetly glanced at Barnaby. That wasn’t entirely true and now Eleanor might be suspicious of why they were here. She thought they had agreed not to let her know that they thought Dolph was responsible for both bombings? And it was clear as day to Rainbow that this mare definitely didn’t have any contact with her husband or know what was going on either. Her despair and exhaustion were too genuine. It looked like she was dealing with Tartarus itself right now.

“Um… how are you holding up?” Rainbow asked in an attempt to get the wife to warm up a little.

Eleanor looked at her with a quivering lip and red eyes. “Not… not great. It’s been horrible not even knowing what’s happened to him. When I heard about the explosion and that he was missing I-I thought that meant he was blown up or buried alive down there or something! But then I got the notice from Crom and heard from the news that nopony was hurt… s-so why’s he missing? What happened to him?!” She grabbed her mane in her hooves and slumped over in her seat, collapsing onto the table and crying.

She calmed down after a minute with Barnaby and Rainbow Dash both awkwardly fidgeting in their chairs. Eleanor sat back up and sniffled, wiping away her tears with her hoof. “I asked my mother to come help me out… she’s doing what she can but...” she gestured to the living room. “I can’t keep lying to my kids either.”

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through,” Barnaby said and reached a hoof across the table to grasp hers. “So you truly haven’t heard anything from him since the explosion in the mines? And you have no idea where he might be?”

Eleanor slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve been praying that he’d show up or I’d get a letter from him or something but there’s just been nothing. He has a cousin in Silver Section who hasn’t heard anything from him either. I’ve asked and looked around all I could but he’s just vanished.” She looked up at Barnaby. “After hearing about what almost happened to you, I know something has to be happening in this city. I-Is my husband involved?”

Rainbow Dash saw the desperation in Eleanors eyes, the worry that he might be and that’s why they were here, but also the worry that he wasn’t and still nopony knew anything about what was going on with him.

“I really can’t say,” Barnaby sadly frowned at her. “I’m sorry but we just don’t know enough for sure right now.”

Eleanor sniffled again and gave a shaky nod. “A-Alright.”

Barnaby sighed. “I do want to ask though; before he disappeared was he acting strange? Doing anything differently than normal?”

“Yes, he was,” Eleanor nodded. Rainbow Dash was surprised she was still talking to them, her voice came out choked and her eyes were red and puffy. “Dolph had been q-quieter than normal the week following up to his disappearance. He didn’t talk as much with me or play with the kids as much. W-Whenever I tried to ask him if something was wrong he just said he was stressed from work and things were busier than normal down in the mines. I… I knew he was lying about that. He really, really loved his job, nothing ever upset him about it. If things really were busier down there he should have been happy. But I never said anything. I was worried about him.” Eleanor sniffled and rubbed her hooves together. “I should’ve been more direct, I-I should’ve made him come clean so we could get through whatever was bothering him together...”

Rainbow Dash didn’t think that would’ve gone anywhere. Whatever had led to Dolph bombing the mines (and then likely bombing Barnaby’s apartment) was probably too much for him to reveal to his wife. He seemed like somepony that truly loved his family—loved them too much, and that might’ve been his weakness that Lord Copper or whoever it was exploited. She looked around at the living room and noticed a number of framed photographs sitting on a small table next to the rocking chair, all of them showing various happily smiling members of the family. In the middle of them was one picture with Dolph and Eleanor’s faces pressed together and wide grins splitting their cheeks.

Rainbow was starting to feel sick.

Eleanor was now almost openly sobbing again. “Please… anything… I’ll do anything just to see him again. Please find my husband...”

“Miss Eleanor, I-” Barnaby started before Rainbow Dash cut him off.

“We will,” she resolutely said. “I promise we’ll find your husband.”

Eleanor looked up at her with wide eyes while tears continued to gently flow down her cheeks. Barnaby grimaced and whispered out the side of his mouth to her. “Rainbow Dash...”

She cut him off again. “I-I can’t promise everything… or that things will be happy and normal again for you and your family. But we will find him.”

Eleanor hiccuped and wiped away her tears to the best of her ability once again. “T-Thank you...”

Barnaby sighed and lifted up a hoof to pinch the space between his eyes. “I promise you as well. This investigation will not end until your husband is found.”

“That’s all I need… I think I already know that things aren’t g-going to be as happy as they were. I just want my kids to be able to see their father again,” Eleanor said.

“I’m not sure we have anything else to ask of you today. It’s obvious you don’t know where your husband is—or have any ideas of where he could be. We won’t bother you any longer,” Barnaby said and politely nodded, sitting up from his chair. “I wish you well, Miss Eleanor.”

“Me too, sorry we didn’t come with happier news or anything,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood and rubbed the back of her neck. “Dolph seems like a really great husband, and you have a really happy family. Just uh—try and keep your chin up, okay?”

Eleanor nodded but didn’t respond otherwise. Rainbow honestly wasn’t sure if they were leaving her in a better or worse state after their visit. The housewife got up from her seat as well and led the two guests out of the kitchen and back to the front door. Finally as she pulled it open for them she offered up a weak smile. “Could you tell my mother and children they can come back inside when you get to the courtyard?”

“Of course,” Barnaby said and gave her a small bow before he stepped out the door, Rainbow copying him and following along.

Eleanor’s smile wavered slightly but she managed to keep it on her face while she slowly closed the door on them.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep sigh and shook her head as she stepped forward to the railing and looked down at the courtyard—there was Eleanor’s mother and children down there, playing around without a care in the world.

Barnaby came up beside her. “You know you shouldn’t have said that, right?”

“I know. I know, okay?” Rainbow frowned. “But I just had to, she was...”

“I understand. I’ve had similar moments in my career here in Oreville,” Barnaby nodded with a far off look in his eyes.

“Sorry… even if we do find him he’s just going to be arrested and, ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.” Rainbow shook her head.

“We didn’t really learn anything as to where he might be either,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah but… I’m sure of something now,” Rainbow said as she narrowed her eyes, anger forming behind her brow.

Barnaby raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Somepony is threatening him. His family. That’s how they got him to do this, it’s the only thing that makes sense after seeing his home and hearing his wife talk about him,” she looked at Barnaby with a fiery expression. “I know it’s not going to make things all squeaky clean but he’s just as much a victim, isn’t he? He shouldn’t be punished like whoever it is is manipulating him.”

“No, he shouldn’t be,” Barnaby shook his head. “But we don’t have all the facts yet and I can’t say for certain what his fate will be until then.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash felt some of her fire die down, replaced by exhaustion. She hated not being able to just do something. “Let’s go tell her kids they can come back up.”

Barnaby put a hoof on her back (careful to avoid any spots still painful) and led her to the stairs. “You’ve got a big heart, Rainbow Dash.”

“Really don’t need to make it sound so girly and mushy, you know?”

The two headed down into the courtyard and Rainbow Dash gave a big smile to the playing colts. “Hey, squirts! We’re done talking with your mom, go on up and give her a big hug, okay?”

The three colts cheered and swiftly ran past Rainbow Dash and Barnaby without a second look, making Barnaby snort in amusement. The grandmother was much slower as she walked past them, a grateful smile on her face. She paused for a moment in front of them and Rainbow Dash tilted her head at the older mare.

“Thank you, for whatever it is you’re doing. She needs anything that can help right now,” the grandmother said and then headed to the stairs as well.

Rainbow Dash watched her go with an impregnable look on her face. She stood there until she heard Eleanor’s grandmother walk all the way back to the apartment and close the door. All the other kids were gone from the courtyard now too, Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and looked over at Barnaby.

“Now what?”

Barnaby huffed. “Tomorrow we’re going to pay an unexpected visit to the warehouses that store the TNT that’s used in the Copper Section mines. I have the distinct feeling that that’s where the TNT used for the two bombs came from. I did some researching of my own into the warehouses recently and uncovered some disturbing facts regarding them and Lord Copper. I think that we’ll finally get some answers there.”

Rainbow Dash punched her hooves together. “Good.”

What's That Coming Over the Hill

Well, Dolph, I think you know by now that your work for me isn’t done yet.

“It’s not my fault they survived, I did everything you said,” he clutched the radio in his grip with shaking hooves.

That doesn’t matter. Results are what matters. It’s bad enough that plans have had to change because of Barnaby and that outsider, I can’t do what I truly want to do right now without suspicion falling on me. And if you ever want to see your family again you’re going to have to help me all the way to the end now.

“There’s not going to be another opportunity to take them out...” Dolph cried into the microphone.

I know, so I’ll have you do something else.

“What?”

A sinister chuckle came from the radio, reverberating through the small safehouse Dolph was inside. Here’s what you’re going to need to do…

The following day saw Rainbow Dash and Barnaby walking through a part of Copper Section close to the main entrance to the mines that most of the workers traveled through. A large wall ran the perimeter of this area and inside it sat four different large warehouses. There was a little gate and a security booth set up blocking their way inside but Rainbow Dash had the distinct feeling that the guard wasn’t going to keep them from entering for long.

“Excuse me,” Barnaby said with a cold frown on his face as he walked up to the security guard. “Could you open the gate for us? I have business here.”

“Uhh...” the guard practically turned white as a sheet as Barnaby stared him down and Rainbow Dash glared at him. “S-Sure, let me get that for you.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. He probably had been told not to let anypony in but he couldn’t exactly refuse the Chief Constable entry. A button was pressed and the gate rolled back into the wall, letting Rainbow and Barnaby just walk on in.

“We’ll find the shift supervisor now,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash nodded and glanced up at him. “So what was the connection between this place and Lord Copper? What makes you so sure the TNT was taken from here?”

“Immediately after the TNT is produced in its factory it’s shipped here for safekeeping before then being transported down into the mine and moved into the staging area. We know already from Crom’s records that no TNT that was brought down into the mines was missing or moved. The only place it could’ve been taken from was these warehouses—we need to find a discrepancy or missing order somewhere. As for Lord Copper… he owns these warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes.

“He owns them?” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“He didn’t used to. Previously they were privately owned by a family of businessponies, passed down from father to son and all that. But a few months ago, Lord Copper bought the rights to the warehouses and put them directly under Copper Section governmental control. The security guards and all the other workers you’ll see here answer directly to him now,” Barnaby said. “I can’t imagine the family that used to own these warehouses transferred ownership willingly. It’s more likely they were strong-armed into it or threatened in some way, but they’ve refused any attempts of me to contact them.”

“Fantastic, so I guess Lord Copper has been planning this for a while. Who knows how much TNT he stole out of here?” Rainbow said.

“I doubt that too much was taken. You see, the factory keeps records of how much they produce and the mines keep their records on how much is brought down to them. If there’s a discrepancy in the amounts left in these warehouses, the bigger it is the easier it will be to find, so Lord Copper probably only had a small amount taken to not make it easily noticeable,” Barnaby smirked. “However, we’re going to be able to find it anyways by cross-referencing the records from the mines, the factory, and here.”

“Nice,” Rainbow grinned.

When the two of them approached the central warehouse, a pony out front with a clipboard saw them approaching and walked over with an unpleasant frown on his face. It was clear he recognized Barnaby.

“What are you doing here? This is private property, even as the Chief Constable you can’t just-”

“Oskar, the day-shift supervisor, correct?” Barnaby immediately cut him off.

The supervisor looked startled, not expecting Barnaby to know his name. “Y-Yes, but these warehouses are owned by the Lord Copper and you don’t have the authority to waltz on in here as you please.”

“These warehouses are subject to an important investigation. I do have the authority,” Barnaby smirked at him. “Lord Copper is lord of Copper Section but not all of Oreville. What I’m doing concerns the well-being of every citizen that lives here—that is what my investigation entails. Of course if you’re not satisfied by that I can tell you the results of another minor investigation I recently partook in.”

“Excuse me?” The confused Oskar raised an eyebrow.

“Why, I merely looked into you, my good supervisor,” the smirk on Barnaby’s face widened as he leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “You see I had been researching these warehouses and I happened to come across some rather interesting tidbits of information. Namely the salary you’re paid for your job but also the fact that you’ve recently been seen dining at the Gilded Flower restaurant. A rather high-end and expensive place to be eating regularly for one such as yourself. In fact, looking into you further you’ve never been there before until just recently. Curious, right? I wonder where you may have gotten the money to afford to regularly dine at a place like that? You didn’t win any sort of lottery or prizes at the casino—I checked. So where did you get the money, Oskar? Perhaps a bonus from your boss, Lord Copper? Maybe some extra tax free, off the books, money for some exemplary service?”

By now Oskar was sweating bullets and Rainbow Dash had to keep herself from laughing.

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve just been saving up for a long time,” Oskar tried to explain.

“I’m sure,” Barnaby’s expression darkened. “Now, I could care less about you. But if you want to not be stuck inside a cell for the rest of your life, you’ll let us into the warehouse and hoof over every record and count of TNT at your disposal.”

“B-B-But-”

“Are you going to keep defending Lord Copper at your own expense?” Barnaby growled.

Oskar gulped. “L-Lord Copper hasn’t told me anything or given me any sort of extra money, t-that’s the truth. I don’t know what you’re investigating at all but it has nothing to do with him or me.”

Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Some well-recited lines indeed. Either way, we’re looking through your records for evidence of stolen TNT. If you’re not going to be forthcoming on your own you should hope we don’t find anything. Otherwise I can’t promise you any sort of immunity when we uncover this plot and take down Lord Copper.”

“I...” Oskar nervously looked back and forth between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby before clamming up. “I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Sure you don’t,” Barnaby huffed and walked past him to the warehouses front door. “Come on, Rainbow Dash, we’ve got some paperwork to sort through.”

Inside the warehouse was a carefully stacked up library of crates. Hundreds of large wooden crates of TNT. Rainbow and Barnaby both walked past rows and rows of them while ignoring the other surprised and confused workers inside the warehouse as they made their way to the back office. On every crate there was stamped a warning in red ink that the contents of the boxes were highly explosive and dangerous while on the walls there were multiple signs disallowing any open flames inside the warehouse.

Rainbow Dash whistled as she took in the massive amount of TNT stored here. And if every other warehouse had the same amount? That was a lot of explosives.

“You guys ever have any accidents with this stuff?” Rainbow asked.

“There used to be rigorous weekly safety checks under the old management. Under Lord Copper? Who even knows,” Barnaby answered.

They reached the door of the back office and Barnaby opened it up, startling awake a formerly sleeping stallion. “Huh?! What?!”

“Get out,” Barnaby simply said to him.

The stallion looked at him and Rainbow Dash from his desk with lacking comprehension. “Umm...”

“Out,” Barnaby sharply commanded.

“Y-Yeah...” the stallion gulped and got up, heading out of the office.

“You’re pretty good at putting on an intimidating face when you want, you know?” Rainbow Dash said to Barnaby as the stallion shut the door on his way out.

“Combined with a reputation for my distaste of Lord Copper and these putzes on his payroll don’t want anything to do with me,” Barnaby said.

The two of them looked at the mess of filing cabinets behind the desk. Barnaby sighed and went to the one with the most recent date labeled on it. “Well at least we don’t have to bother with looking through anything from more than a few months back.”

“Should we be worried about that Oskar dude or whatever? What if he calls Lord Copper and tells him we’re snooping through this stuff?” Rainbow wondered.

“He doesn’t have the nerve. He’s trying to feign complete ignorance and he’d be in deep trouble anyways if Copper found out he let us in here. There’s nothing he can do,” Barnaby said as he pulled open a few drawers and showed off the files inside. “Alright, let’s see what we have here.”

“Now the boring part...” Rainbow sighed and joined him.

It wasn’t something that should be difficult to find. They needed to check how many crates came from the factory, how many had gone into the mines, and how many were currently in the warehouses. A single crate unaccounted for and Barnaby and Rainbow Dash would know where the TNT for the bombs had come from. Figuring out what exactly happened to that crate or who took it would be the second part. Although Rainbow and Barnaby both doubted there’d be a direct connection to Lord Copper.

The good news was that even if the records kept at the warehouse had been altered or disposed of they could still check the factory and mine records to find anything missing. It would just possibly entail them having to do a manual count of all the crates in the warehouses. It just depended on how Lord Copper’s employees were treating this warehouse business.

Barnaby threw a file down on the desk and let its contents spill open for Rainbow Dash, he pointed directly at a relatively newly printed piece of paper. “60 crates arrived from the factory last month. 59 were taken down to the mines.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her head as her lip curled. “They’re… they’re not even trying to hide this.”

“What diligent bookkeepers,” Barnaby shook his head, a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips.

“No offense but… these guys are idiots,” Rainbow said. “I’ve been through a lot of things in my life and these guys? Lord Copper? They’re just stupid thugs doing something that’s way, way, beyond them. I mean come on, somepony at least thinking would’ve forged these or just written down the right number.” She facehooved. “Ugh, this is so lame.”

“It’s good for us though. Even if we can’t prove that Lord Copper stole or planned the theft of the TNT, this proof of such gross mismanagement should at least let us place control of the warehouses under somepony else. Hopefully direct constable control, especially with the danger of another potential bombing,” Barnaby said.

“And now we’ve got something that will make Oskar sweat even more,” Rainbow Dash somewhat malevolently rubbed her hooves together with a smirk on her face.

“Oh yes, I think he’s going to be just a little bit more willing to talk now.”

“Lord Copper isn’t involved-”

“Oh shut it already!” Barnaby screamed and slammed a hoof down on the ground as he and Rainbow Dash cornered the day shift supervisor in front of the warehouse. “You are an accessory to two bombings that have taken place in this city! A crate of TNT was taken from this warehouse and used to make explosive devices!”

“Maybe it was taken under the night-shift supervisor’s watch...”

Barnaby had to resist punching the stallion, instead he settled for shoving the paper with the recent TNT records into his face. “This is still your signature on the paper! You are responsible, you had accountability! Now just tell us that Lord Copper had the TNT meant for the mines illegally and secretly taken from this warehouse.”

Oskar’s lip quivered and he looked like he was on the verge of fainting. “I-I don’t know nothing about that.”

“Are you that afraid of him?” Barnaby’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea how many years you’ll be languishing in a cell now because of this?”

“It is fear, right?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Obviously you’re being paid too, but you’re afraid of what he can do to you, or your family, or whoever if you betray him. Right? It’s the same thing with Dolph, I know it...”

“I don’t know what either of you are talking about,” Oskar squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head.

“Urgh!” Barnaby slammed another hoof down.

“This isn’t getting anywhere,” Rainbow said. “This idiot isn’t going to say anything about Lord Copper. He’s a coward. I really, really would just like to beat some sense into him, and Lord Copper too, buuut...”

“I know,” Barnaby frowned.

“I didn’t even do anything, n-none of this is my fault, I’m just a warehouse manager,” Oskar told them.

“Don’t even start, Oskar,” Barnaby coldly responded. “Even if you didn’t know what the TNT was used for, you knew a crate was missing when you signed this report and did nothing, and even if you didn’t know what you were being paid extra for you had to know it still wasn’t on the up and up. And considering your fear of your boss, I’d say you knew exactly that the money you were given was to keep you quiet. You’re not blameless in this, Oskar.”

The supervisor paled and his legs began to shake. “Y-You...”

“Hm?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow at him. “Is there something you actually want to say now, Oskar?”

“I-Immunity...” he barely whispered.

Barnaby snorted. “What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you.”

“Immunity! Give me immunity! Y-You said-”

“I remember what I said to you. Are you willing to give us information on Lord Copper’s culpability in the taking of the missing crate of TNT?” Barnaby asked him.

Oskar sweated buckets and he brought a trembling hoof up to his brow to wipe as much away as he could. “L-Lord Copper isn’t involved, honest.”

Barnaby grabbed him by the collar of his suit and yanked him close. “Then what do you-!”

“B-But I know something!” Oskar shouted. “I-I can t-tell you something about the missing crate!”

“Oh? So you are willing to admit to something I suppose,” Barnaby said.

“What is it? What do you know?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

Oskar tried his best to look away. “I-I’m not admitting to nothing… b-but I may have overheard and may have seen something out of the corner of my eye one day while I was working here...”

Barnaby rolled his eyes. “Just out with it already!”

“I-I-I don’t know where the TNT was taken but I know who took it!” Oskar said. “T-They were four toughs who live in the Copper Section, I think they’re like a small street gang or something. I recognized one of them from seeing them in the news sometimes being arrested for petty theft, intimidation, stuff like that, you know?”

“Some career-criminal hired to do the dirty work of actually stealing and relocating the TNT...” Barnaby mused. “What was their name? If they’ve truly been arrested a number of times I should know them as well.”

“Malthus. I’m sure that’s what his name was. He had a yellow mane drawn back in a ponytail, and a few teeth missing, right?” Oskar said.

Barnaby snorted in amusement, a chuckle escaping his lips. “Malthus, and his stupid gang of petty thieves and hoodlums.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash. “The bottom of the barrel when it comes to the criminal hierarchy in Oreville, they’re basically vagrants who act much tougher than they actually are. Practically just dumb ponies barely out of their teens who have been playing at being criminals their whole lives. Whoever hired them for this wanted ponies who could be bought off cheap and couldn’t cause a fuss on their own.” His eyes glanced back to Oskar. “So who was it who hired them? And did you just turn a blind eye while they were taking the TNT?”

“I-I have no idea who hired them… and maybe I was busy doing something else when they moved the TNT,” Oskar said.

“Useless,” Barnaby finally released his hold on the supervisor and Oskar collapsed to the ground as his legs failed him. He smiled and turned to Rainbow Dash. “I’ve got double good news, Rainbow Dash. First of all, I know exactly where we can find Malthus and his little gang.”

“And what’s the other good news?” Rainbow asked as a smirk of her own started to spread on her face.

“You’re going to get to partake in some action for once down here.”

Rainbow Dash’s hoof collided with the face of a thug as she punched him through a table and he went sputtering down to the ground out cold. Around her lied several other down and out stallions either taken care of by her or Barnaby when they had arrived at the grungy dive in a seedy part of Copper Section. Probable Cause was a real door opener. Malthus was now wearing a black eye and being held up by Barnaby against the wall of the “gang’s” “hideout”.

“And I couldn’t even use my wings for any of this,” Rainbow said as she cracked her neck and stepped over some of the other unconscious stallions to join Barnaby.

“You’re not just going to get a few months or have to do some community service for this, Malthus,” Barnaby said to the small-time crook. “Have you been paying attention to the news?”

Malthus gulped and nodded as best he could in Barnaby’s grip.

“However, you can save yourself some considerable time in prison if you give us what we want. Right now, constables are on their way here to arrest you and the rest of your gang. Before that I would like you to tell us who hired you to take the TNT from the warehouses,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes.

“N-No comment...” Malthus choked out.

“Are you sure?” Barnaby’s grip tightened. “Honor among thieves, is it?”

Malthus quivered in his grip and grimaced. “I-I won’t name anypony… b-but I can tell you where the TNT was taken… there’s a safehouse hidden in the sewers under Copper Section. If I tell you where it is… m-maybe a light sentence?”

“Lighter sentence,” Barnaby dropped him.

He hit the floor with a grunt and soon found a pegasus standing over him with a harsh expression on her face. For some reason, she was even more intimidating than Barnaby was. Rainbow leaned down and stared right into his face.

“Okay, so where’s the TNT?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The Gate of Winter opened and closed and a pink pony emerged from the True North, walking south.

Dead End

Dolph collapsed onto the cheap mattress held up by an even cheaper wooden frame in the “bedroom” of the safehouse he was living in. He didn’t even take the time to shed the disguise he wore after just getting back from the outside. The large coat and hat he wore worked as his blanket and source of warmth for now. It had been a long day and like all of his days recently he just wanted to sleep and forget about it.

“How did it come to this?” He cried into the pillow.

After a few minutes of sobbing and agonizing over the recent turn of events in his life, Dolph finally reached up to take his hat off and then reached under the pillow to withdraw something. A picture. A photograph of him and his wife, Eleanor, sitting together outside their favorite cafe in the Copper Section.

“It’s all for you… everything I do is for you and our kids,” Dolph sniffled and rubbed his eyes. “Eleanor, Dolph Jr., Grommit, Sturm. No matter what happens or what I have to do, I’ll protect you.”

He slid the picture back under his pillow and turned to stare at the wall. Suddenly he didn’t feel like sleeping anymore despite it being well past midnight.

Dolph sighed and rolled off his bed, taking a moment to look in his dirty bedside mirror and notice what the stress had done to his face. Lines that shouldn’t be there for a pony his age marked his features, bags under his eyes that would never go away existed, a redness to his eyes that wasn’t just from crying was visible, his hair had even started to fall out. He turned away before he could take in anything else and stepped out of the bedroom. There wasn’t even a door in the frame, after all no one but him used this place, there were only a few rusty hinges left in its stead. Most of the rest of the safehouse was barren, with a refrigerator being the newest and most well taken care of thing in the main room. Besides that a folding table and chair was his only real furniture. A sink with a single glass for water sitting on its rim was built in the wall opposite of the refrigerator but parts of it were rusty and grimy and just downright disgusting. On top of the folding table sat a simple deck of cards and a few newspapers, the only things he had to pass the time down here.

But there were two other things next to the cards and newspapers though that he both dreaded. The first was the radio. He was always afraid that that tell-tale buzz of static would suddenly come through it and he would contact him again with another job to do. Even though Dolph had just gotten back from doing something, he was still always afraid.

The second was a spare bomb he had been told to construct and keep with him for the next job. Whenever it came and whatever it was. It sat in a small box he could easily carry in his hooves, with a remote detonator lying next to it.

There was a door that led from the sewers into the main room, Dolph supposed he could call it the front door. It wasn’t the only way in our out of the safehouse but it did lead to one of the main sewer canals which made it easier to get out of the sewers and into anywhere else in the Copper Section. A heavy lock was placed on the wooden door, Dolph doubted anypony would ever come down here but he still locked it every time he left and came back out of sheer paranoia. The wooden planks that made up the door weren’t especially strong though, anypony with a hammer or axe would make short work of it if they really wanted to get in.

Everything was so dark and grungy looking in here. He only had one small light hanging above the table and another in the bedroom for illumination. The floor (if it could even be called that) was a black mess of tile and stone and the walls as well were nothing more than the stone and metal plating that made up the sewer system. It was constantly moist inside with moss and fungus growing everywhere and the sound of dripping water never ended.

A closed door next to the sink led to the storage room of this dingy looking safehouse. Inside, Dolph kept the stolen crate of TNT, now half-empty. He hoped he would never have to put another bomb together again after the ones he had just made earlier today. He was already eternally grateful that nopony had been hurt by the ones he had made, but if things kept escalating… who knew.

Nothing would ever be normal again. As much as he wished to go back to the old life he had, he knew that even if he somehow got off scot-free that he’d still be torn apart inside after everything he’s done and what he’s caused. How could he look his wife and children in the face? His wife would always know he was hiding something… his friends in the mine would know what he did.

It was hopeless for him. Dolph maybe always knew this. All he could do now was protect his wife and children.

He sighed and took a seat at the folding table. Dragging his hooves through his mane a few times and propping his elbows up on the table, he tried to calm down. It didn’t do him any good. At this point the only way he was going to fall asleep was pure exhaustion. He stood up from the table and accidentally knocked his chair over, pacing around the main room a few times with his heart beating anxiously. The room practically spun around him with the other small passages and doors leading out of the safehouse to other parts of the sewer. He didn’t want to take a walk though, mostly because he was too scared to leave this place whenever he didn’t absolutely have to.

Dolph instead walked over to the sink and turned the faucet’s knob. Out poured a steady stream of murky water, sediment and who knows what else dirtied it, he hated having to drink it but right now he wasn’t thirsty anyways. Dolph put his hooves under the stream and splashed some water on his face to try and relax. If he could get his heart to stop pounding then maybe he could get some sleep.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves splashed into the shallow water of the sewer after she jumped down from the pony hole. Barnaby did the smarter thing and used the ladder.

“Yuck!” Rainbow Dash grimaced and stuck out her tongue as the gross green water reached up past her fetlocks.

“I told you, it’s hardly flooded down here but there’s going to be water. It is the sewers after all,” Barnaby said as he stepped off the ladder, pointing his flashlight down the tunnel, not splattering water everywhere like Rainbow had just done.

“I’m not the cleanest pony or anything but this is just gross,” Rainbow’s nose curled. “Ugh! That smell...”

“Better get used to it, I’ve been in the sewers several times before this and it’s not going to get better. And let me take the lead, I know where we’re going,” Barnaby said and stepped in front of her. “We have to be careful too, these sewers are practically ancient.”

“You guys dug out so much earth and stuff under your city it’s a wonder it hasn’t all collapsed,” Rainbow said.

Barnaby grunted and nodded. “Hm. The sewers were built over a long period of time, they were part of laying the foundation for the entire Copper Section. A lot of hard work went into making them as safe and efficient as possible. They’re incredibly intricate and mostly self-sufficient and any further mining had to be done around them or in areas completely removed from the sewers.”

“Incredibly intricate, huh?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“We’re… going to be walking around for a while.”

“Great,” Rainbow shook her head.

“Sorry, but there’s no other entrance closer to the safehouse the TNT was taken to. At least not any written down on any blueprints of the sewers,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the ugly water her hooves were drowned in. “And I can’t even fly through here right now...”

“It’s alright, just follow behind me and we’ll find this place eventually.”

“Shouldn’t there be a walkway on the side so we don’t have to walk through water?”

“In some places there will be but normally everypony who comes down here would be wearing boots and other clothes to deal with the mess. So unless there needs to be a part raised up where sewer water shouldn’t reach we’re just going to have to wade through it for now. Uhh… watch for rats.”

The sewer they were in now was a wide and long tunnel that seemed to stretch endlessly ahead, Barnaby’s flashlight only illuminated up to a few feet in front of them. Grates and pipes built into the walls leaked out more water into the “river” at the bottom of the sewer and it all flowed together in the direction they were walking. The walls of the sewer looked like they had been made of brick and cement that at one point may have been a different color but were now nearly pure black after years of muck and wear. Rainbow Dash’s soggy hooves walked over a layer of soft grime and mold that was just beneath the water—she was thankful that the water was so clouded that she couldn’t actually see what she was stepping on. And the smell. She knew not to expect flowers from a sewer but this was ridiculous.

At least Barnaby knew where they were going, every time they came to an intersection he knew exactly which way to take. Rainbow Dash kind of wondered where in the Copper Section they were now. What buildings were they under? How far away were any mining tunnels?

“Hey so what if there’s like a gate or something blocking off part of the sewer that we can’t get past? Is there anything like that down here?” Rainbow asked.

“There is, but not where we’re going. Which is probably why Lord Copper chose to put this supposed safehouse for his TNT down there,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I can’t believe none of these jerks so far have had the nerve to actually tell us outright that Lord Copper’s the one responsible for this...”

“A mixture of fear, money, and probably even a little bit of loyalty for some of them. Lord Copper is very influential and he can do practically anything or reach practically anywhere in Oreville. They probably think it’s far worse to implicate him for a variety of reasons than it is to get on my bad side. Even if it might save their skins,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as they continued walking together. “What if… what if Dolph is at the safehouse?”

Barnaby looked back at her over his shoulder. “You think he is?”

“I dunno—maybe. Eleanor has no idea where he is, and we haven’t found any trace of him yet either. Nopony has seen him for sure since that day in the mines. It just makes sense to me that maybe he’s been hidden away in the same spot the TNT has,” Rainbow shrugged.

“That would make sense. Especially since then he’d be able to make bombs and take them to anywhere else in the Copper Section much easier,” Barnaby nodded. “Tch, I should’ve brought a pair of hoofcuffs with me.”

“No sweat, this Dolph guy isn’t a soldier or anything, I doubt he’d even put up a fight…” Rainbow winced at her own words. The miner wouldn’t be any sort of threat but he didn’t need to be—shouldn’t be—treated roughly or like some criminal. That’s what she believed. But even then she doubted this situation was going to be resolved in an easy way. She just hoped that if Dolph was down here he’d give them a chance to talk and help him.

They started to enter a part of the sewers that looked even less maintained than the rest if that was even possible, but it did come with one benefit: they didn’t have to walk through water anymore. Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both hopped onto a small ledge built into the side of the sewer. Rainbow was going to question what it was for but she soon saw it herself. The canal widened and deepened considerably just a few feet ahead as it was joined by the streams from several other sewer lines, creating a steady river that flowed into a closed off tunnel. The only way to directly follow the water would be to hold your breath and swim into that tunnel with it. Thankfully not something they had to do.

“I think this goes to the water reclamation plant,” Barnaby said as he shined his flashlight at the river of sewer water.

“I think I don’t really care to find out,” Rainbow said.

There was a little side passage now that led away from the main tunnel they were in. Some kind of maintenance access corridor according to Barnaby. There were pipes all over the ceiling and running up and down the walls inside it, Rainbow Dash saw rats scurrying between them, trying to avoid the light of Barnaby’s flashlight. The ground was still wet and a lot of the pipes were leaking to some degree but it was much better than wading through that water back there.

“Malthus said the safehouse was built out of an old, defunct pump station that had all its machinery torn out and placed somewhere else years ago, but the room it used to be in stayed open and wasn’t sealed up. I bet Lord Copper further refurbished it to some degree,” Barnaby said.

“If he did something like that I wonder if there’ll be some evidence left in the safehouse tying it to him,” Rainbow said.

“Possibly but I’d say fairly unlikely. He may be a terrible nervous liar when confronted directly but so far he’s done a good job of not having anything concretely traceable back to him,” Barnaby replied.

“How much farther is it now?” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby hummed and looked at some of the pipes along the walls. “I think we’re pretty close now. There should be a door to our right coming up, and that should be the safehouse.”

“I guess past the pipes,” Rainbow muttered as they kept walking on past, a droplet of water dripping down and hitting her on the head. It was bad enough that she couldn’t fly at all but being stuck in little underground tunnels like this made it so much worse. She didn’t have claustrophobia but she still hated it.

“We should be quiet for now, if Dolph or anypony else is there we don’t want them to hear us coming,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash silently nodded and clammed up, just following behind him as he led the way with his flashlight. The sound of scurrying rats and dripping water now became even more noticeable to her. Her heart was surprisingly beating a bit harder than usual. Though she wasn’t scared for herself in the slightest.

It only took another minute before Barnaby came to a stop and motioned Rainbow Dash to come right up alongside him. She joined him as he faced a section of the wall that was devoid of pipes. Instead a simple, practically rotted, door stood in the middle of it. Barnaby’s flashlight showed a handle on it and he tellingly glanced at Rainbow Dash and lifted a hoof up to his mouth.

“Shh,” he whispered. “I’m going to open it.”

“What if it’s locked?” She whispered back.

“Then you can knock.”

Dolph was shaken out of his fugue when the sound of the rusty handle on the front door of the safehouse being turned reached his ears. He sat at the table with his mouth halfway open in shock. Who could that be? Nopony should be down here, nopony should even know about this place besides his “boss” and maybe a couple other ponies. Dolph’s eyes glanced up at the rattling padlock that kept the door closed, hoping that whoever it was that was trying to get in here didn’t know what was on the other side and would leave once they realized it was locked.

The handle was turned all the way but the door wouldn’t budge any further thanks to the padlock and shortly after whoever it was released the door handle. But Dolph didn’t move from his spot. He had no idea if the pony was still there. He didn’t even want to breathe right now.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The sound of a hoof knocking on the door startled him and he nearly fell out of his seat. If they were knocking… was it somepony who was here on orders? Had more TNT been brought? Dolph may not have been totally thinking clearly right now buuut…

“W-Who is it?” He asked.

No answer.

He was about to ask again when the door exploded and a blue cannonball barreled into the room while the smashed splinters of the door flew all around it.

“Ahh!” Dolph screamed and fell backwards out of his chair.

“Ughhh...” Rainbow Dash dizzily wheezed as she sat up on the floor. “That was really stupid.”

“Rainbow, are you-” Barnaby said as he walked through the door but paused as soon as his eyes landed on Dolph.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes were still spinning but she too managed to steady her vision long enough to see the other pony in the room. “Oh—he is here.”

Everything was still in the safehouse for a moment. Dolph knew who these ponies were. They knew who he was. They knew what he had done. His family… if he was captured here they wouldn’t be safe anymore. His blackmailer would know he needed to be kept quiet, and the only way that could happen for sure was death. Either his own or his family’s.

Dolph’s eyes flickered to the bomb on the table.

Barnaby noticed and followed his look, gasping in surprise when he noticed just what was on the table. “Dolph, don’t-”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence as Dolph grabbed the bomb and detonator and ran out through one of the side passages.

“Rainbow! After him!” Barnaby yelled.

“I’m on it!” Rainbow shot to her hooves and started running after him—but in her haste accidentally tripped over a piece of wood from the door and fell flat on her face (out of habit she had attempted to fly before her body remembered). “Ow! Ugh, stupid bandages!” She could feel her injured wings trying to break out on reflex but that wasn’t happening right now. She was going to chase him on hoof and now he had a lead.

“Dolph! Stop, we just want to talk to you!” Rainbow Dash yelled down the dark and narrow passageway.

“We know you only did this because you didn’t have a choice!” Barnaby shouted as he followed Rainbow.

Rainbow skidded to a stop as she almost crashed into a wall and turned to go chasing Dolph through the twists of these maze-like sewer tunnels. If she had her darn wings right now this wouldn’t even be a chase. For Dolph’s part, he ran like a stallion possessed while carrying the bomb. Why did he grab it? It was reflex, or maybe a subconscious thought. He didn’t even know where he was going now, even if he could outrun them, it was over. His teeth clenched together as fresh tears started to spill from his eyes as he ran.

Over.

“Just stop already!” Rainbow Dash roared from behind him as she managed to keep a steady distance behind him despite having to navigate the tunnels for the first time. “I know your family is being threatened! We know Lord Copper is the one responsible for all of this!”

It just made Dolph run harder. His family…

“We met Eleanor! We saw your kids, they all just want to see you again!” Rainbow pleaded.

“Shut up!” Dolph finally yelled. “You don’t know anything… y-you don’t know… I can’t… I can’t ever see them again.”

“Yes you can! Just help us, I don’t want to have to punish you or anything, you’re a victim here too, Dolph. Nopony has been hurt, just help us out here and we can make it all better,” Rainbow said to him.

Dolph shook his head. “It’s already over for me.”

“If you feel that way then at least give yourself up!” Barnaby shouted. “Stop this chase and let us bring down Lord Copper!”

“You don’t understand… oh Eleanor, why?” Dolph cried.

Their hooves clattered along the wet stone ground as Dolph led them on a panicked chase. No other words were spoken anymore, the futility of them was obvious at this point. Now the only sounds were the echoing hoofsteps and the splashing sound of puddles being ran through. The dimmest of lights lit up the tunnels and Rainbow and Barnaby were worried Dolph would simply disappear into the shadows at some point. Dolph was in good shape thanks to his work consisting of so much manual labor, but he wasn’t built for endurance running. Rainbow was confident she and Barnaby would catch him before long if they just kept within sight of him.

Dolph’s haggard breaths started to become more noticeable to both himself and his pursuers. It wasn’t just from exhaustion that he was breathing hard, it was from his frenzied panic and fear.

He turned a corner and came out into a circular chamber that had numerous other paths branching out of it. In the center a drain was built that water was slowly flowing into, going deeper down into the sewers. Dolph turned around in circles, his mane falling about his face, his eyes searching around for the right way to go.

It was that indecision that allowed Rainbow and Barnaby to slide right into the circular room with him. Barnaby grabbed Rainbow Dash by the shoulder and held her back for now since Dolph still had the bomb and detonator. But the both of them were within spitting distance of him.

“Come on, Dolph. Put the bomb down and let’s all go home,” Barnaby said.

“There’s no need for this to not have a happy ending,” Rainbow said.

Dolph was panting heavily and his hooves were shaking around the bomb. Rainbow and Barnaby weren’t even sure how well he was registering their words. His pupils narrowed to pinpricks as his hoof grasped the detonator. “S-Stay back… I have to protect my family...”

“We’re bringing down Lord Copper. We can protect your family,” Barnaby told him, his jaw clenching. “Lord Copper wont be able to hurt you or your loved ones anymore.”

“Believe me, I never let the bad guy get away. Please, Dolph, help us help you,” Rainbow pleaded.

A whimpering cry came from Dolph’s throat as he shook his head back and forth. “I-I can’t fail him… I can’t. My family...”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and Barnaby realized how badly Dolph was slipping as well. If she had her wings she bet she could burst forward and grab the detonator out of his hoof before he pressed it. But without them she just wasn’t sure of her speed on her legs. “Dolph, please-”

“I need to protect them,” Dolph said as he looked down at the bomb and detonator. “For my family...”

Barnaby grabbed Rainbow by the mane and yanked her back the moment Dolph pressed the button of the detonator. Without even thinking they ran back into the tunnel to try and get around the nearest corner as a blast loud enough to momentarily deafen them and a shockwave that rattled the teeth in their mouths overtook them. Flames and heat rushed out from the explosion, obliterating the sewer room they had been in and sending cracks through the ground above. On the street level right above them the asphalt warped and shattered apart in a fissure.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were thrown down the tunnel by the blast and momentarily knocked senseless. After a minute the two got up and Rainbow Dash’s vision came back into focus.

The tunnel was covered in flames.

Most of the sewer where the blast had occurred had collapsed entirely, and the flames continued to burn and flicker along the walls.

“No...” Rainbow Dash looked on in disbelief. “Why… why’d he do it?”

Barnaby grunted and stood up beside her. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. He—Dolph thought there was no way out. To him, this was the only way to protect his family.”

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and slowly clenched her hooves, her eyes narrowing in anger and her teeth clenching together so hard she could nearly break them. “Copper. I don’t care if we don’t have anypony willing to talk, or any solid proof. We know he’s the one behind all this.” She looked up at Barnaby.

The Chief Constable returned her look with a hard frown of his own. “Yes. And we’re going to stop him now.”

Confrontation

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both walked down the busy streets of the Copper Section towards Lord Copper’s administration building. The lights in the city had turned on a couple of hours ago; it was a brand new day. And they were going to start it by giving Oreville a brand new future. The memories of what had happened last night and the decisions they made after Dolph’s death were still fresh in their minds. Nothing had turned out like they wanted it to, but Barnaby and Rainbow Dash still knew they had to confront Lord Copper and put a stop to all of this. Their faces were cold masks of ice as they reached the building and prepared to go in.

“I just don’t even know,” Rainbow Dash said as she shook her head, the flames of the bomb still dancing in the tunnel ahead. “What am I even going to tell Eleanor now?”

Barnaby too was staring at the flames as he let out a heavy sigh. “You don’t have to tell her anything. I’ll take care of it.”

“No, I’m going to tell her,” Rainbow was adamant.

“Rainbow Dash, it’s not your job. It’s not even your city.”

She turned her head and glared up at him with fiercely narrowed eyes. “I’m. Telling. Her. I promised her we would find Dolph. I gave her hope. I’m telling her.”

Barnaby opened his mouth but just as quickly closed it. He knew Rainbow Dash wouldn’t waver on this. “Alright. But for now we have other business to take care of. We should get back to that safehouse and turn it upside down, though I doubt we’ll find anything incriminating, and then we’ll get back to my office. I’ll have other constables come here to take over investigating and getting everything out of the safehouse… and I’ll have to write up a report of what’s happened. That explosion probably damaged the street above as well. I’m also going to send a message to Lords Silver and Gold, telling them everything before we leave to apprehend Lord Copper.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow nodded, though her voice had no trace of joy to it.

“There’s a big day ahead of us tomorrow, come on, we have a lot to do,” Barnaby said and turned around.

Rainbow Dash didn’t say another word as she turned to follow him back to the safehouse.

“Excuse me, is Lord Copper currently in?” Barnaby asked the secretary in the front office of the Copper Section administration building. She had a lemon coat and a summer green mane and tail, young with wide open eyes.

“I… I believe so?” The worried looking lemon-colored secretary said as her eyes darted between Rainbow Dash and Barnaby. It might have been normal apprehension at the Chief Constable coming to pay an unexpected visit but there was the possibility that she was wrapped up in Lord Copper’s business too. After all, she was already on his payroll. But Dash didn’t want to be so paranoid and untrusting of ponies she didn’t even know so she’d give the secretary the benefit of the doubt for now.

“Could you please radio his office for us? Right now,” Barnaby said a bit forcefully. “Tell him that the Chief Constable is here to see him and it’s a matter of the utmost importance.”

The secretary gulped. “H-Has there been another bombing? I-I heard about the first two and-”

“Just radio him, please,” Barnaby cut her off. “There isn’t anything for you to worry about.”

“R-Right,” the secretary said and got on the line.

While she did that, Rainbow looked around at what was going on in the lobby. This building wasn’t even remotely as big as the one in Gold Section but it was still pretty huge. Ponyville’s town hall would pretty much just fit inside this lobby. A lot of other ponies were going in and out of the front door and to other places inside the building, ponies with briefcases, ponies running to meetings, and other civilians who looked like they had business of some sort in here. A lot of them were now paying attention to Rainbow and Barnaby as well. They likely knew that something important must be going on if the Chief Constable was here, and by now they had probably read about Rainbow Dash in the newspapers too. Some of the ones walking close by had also probably heard Barnaby’s demand to meet with Lord Copper.

It was easy to feel the tension in the atmosphere now. Everypony could tell something was happening.

Barnaby’s hoof rapped up and down on the front desk while the nervous secretary waited for Lord Copper to turn on the radio at the other end. After a minute it was clear he wasn’t answering.

“I’m sorry, Chief Constable. Lord Copper either isn’t in his office or he’s busy, would you like to book an appointment to see him?” The secretary asked.

“No, we’ll go and find him ourselves,” Barnaby said and walked around the desk towards the stairs, Rainbow Dash right on his heels.

“W-Wait!” The secretary sat up. “Even as the Chief Constable you can’t just go to his office or intrude on business without an appointment or warrant!”

Barnaby glanced over his shoulder at her and narrowed a cold eye. “Tell security then.”

She gulped and sat back down. “Um… enjoy your visit and I hope your meeting goes well.”

“Do we have to worry about security?” Rainbow asked as she and Barnaby headed to the stairs leading out of the lobby.

“As you can probably already tell, there’s not as many security ponies here as in Gold Section’s capitol building. While legally we don’t exactly have the right to just go wherever we want at the moment in here, none of them are going to have the guts to say no to me and you. And if they do I think you’d like what happens next,” Barnaby answered.

Rainbow grinned. “I think so too.”

Their walk took them up five flights of stairs, unlike at Gold Section’s building, Lord Copper’s main office was not as high as possible, instead he was somewhere around the middle floors. Once they stepped off the stairs and into the single hallway that led from them, Rainbow Dash noticed a checkpoint dead ahead with two security guards at it. Their first encounter with Lord Copper’s personal guards, Rainbow Dash recognized their uniforms from that day she had entered Oreville and got beaten senseless. Would they let them pass without a fuss? Rainbow kind of hoped they didn’t.

The two guards seemed surprised to see Rainbow Dash and Barnaby and they stood in front of the metal gate that sectioned off the rest of the hallway. “What are you doing here, Chief Constable? We’ve gotten no notice of any meeting you have with Lord Copper.”

“That’s because I’m not here on any business that’s so formal. I am here to speak with and potentially arrest Lord Copper,” Barnaby said.

The security guards backed up in shock, jaws hanging open in disbelief.

“A-Are you out of your mind?” The other one asked.

“Barnaby, there’s absolutely no way we’re letting you past without a warrant,” the first one shook his head.

“Well that’s more of a problem for you than it is for me,” Barnaby narrowed his eyes. “You see, Lords Silver and Gold have been notified about what I’m intending to do and why and they will be here, in Copper Section, shortly. However, this is a matter so grave and so serious that I could not wait for a warrant or their approval. Which is why I came here unannounced to “meet” with Lord Copper. You can now let us through to find him, or you can be seen as obstructions to justice and accessories to a megalomaniacal villain. And also be arrested.”

The two guards winced and shared a nervous look. Rainbow wasn’t sure if Barnaby was exaggerating or not either.

“Ah, whatever… not paid enough for this,” the first guard said and stepped aside.

“W-What he said,” the second said and opened the gate for Barnaby and Dash.

“Thank you, I’ll remember your cooperation,” Barnaby said.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash walked through the gate and shortly began to make their way through the inner areas of the building. Lord Copper’s office was close by but he might truly not be there. Much like in Gold Section’s building, Rainbow Dash saw a lot of art and fancy sculptures as they walked down hallways and past doors, actually, she saw even more than in Gold Section. Lord Copper was probably trying to make his place appear grander. Besides that there weren’t many other ponies around anymore, not that she saw at least, they could all be busy inside whatever these various rooms were.

“You don’t think we’ll have a problem with security anymore?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Any other guards we come across will know we got past those other two. They probably won’t start anything because of that either,” Barnaby answered.

The two rounded a corner and came to a wider hallway that had a large set of heavy marble double doors in the middle of it, flanked by two large potted plants. On the opposite side of the wall a clock and a couch sat. Likely for ponies waiting to visit Lord Copper would use.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby had no intention of sitting around.

Naturally Barnaby grabbed the door handle and attempted to open it only to find it was locked. He furrowed his brow; “Well he’s either not in or his door is just locked.” He brought a hoof up and started to knock loudly on the door.

No answer.

“I think he isn’t in, cause that guy would definitely be the type to get all snobby and annoyed at somepony banging on his door and get up to make a fuss about it,” Rainbow said.

“Agreed,” Barnaby nodded. “Let’s go find him.”

They actually didn’t need to search much at all. No sooner had they left the door and gone to walk down the hallway did the sound of another set of doors being opened somewhere around the corner reach them along with the sounds of numerous ponies conversing and walking with each other. Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stood and waited, hearing a very distinct and very haughty voice mixed in with the others. As soon as Lord Copper and his retinue of businessponies and clerks rounded the corner they stopped. Two pairs of cold eyes were locked dead on them.

Lord Copper didn’t seem surprised to see them (something Rainbow took note of) but he did seem supremely annoyed. The others were a mix of confusion and apprehension—no one in this building was happy to see the Chief Constable.

“Lord Copper,” Barnaby loudly said, projecting his voice down the entire hallway. “A word with you, please.”

The Lord frowned and narrowed his eyes, looking back between Rainbow and Barnaby. At last he huffed in derision and turned to the others with him. “Head down to the Onyx conference room on the second floor, I’ll be with you shortly to finish things.”

The ponies excused themselves and quickly walked past Barnaby and Rainbow without daring to meet their eyes. Once they were around the corner, Lord Copper snorted and came stiffly walking towards them, his eyes glanced over at the clock to check the time.

“And just what is it that you want, Constable?” He asked Barnaby before his face twisted in even more annoyance as he glanced at Rainbow. “And you, diplomat? I am a very busy pony.”

Rainbow Dash had to hold back from outright socking him in the face. “We know exactly how busy you are.”

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow in an attempt to feign ignorance, but a bead of sweat rolled down his brow all the same. “Excuse me?”

“Forget it, Lord Copper. You aren’t going to just lie and pretend your way out of this,” Barnaby shook his head. “We found out about the stolen TNT from your warehouses. We found the safehouse you set up where the TNT was stored. And we found Dolph.”

“Dolph? I don’t know any ponies named Dolph,” Lord Copper said.

That set Rainbow Dash off and she got right in Lord Copper’s face to let him know it. “Dolph’s the innocent pony you threatened into setting off bombs for you!”

“And this Dolph pony told you this?” Lord Copper dangerously sneered at her.

Rainbow’s eye twitched. “H-He-”

Lord Copper looked at Barnaby. “Hah, of course he didn’t. After all I still have no idea what you’re talking about. You seem to be implying something very sinister here, Barnaby. Perhaps you should interrogate this Dolph pony more thoroughly.”

“He’s dead!” Rainbow roared and almost grabbed Lord Copper by his suit before Barnaby held her back. “He’s dead because of you! Because he was trying to protect his family!”

Lord Copper took a few steps back as Rainbow glared at him, he coughed and turned his head to the side. “Well I’m sorry to hear that but it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. None of this does.”

“Oh really?” Now Barnaby took over again while Rainbow seethed. “Lord Copper, there’s far too much going on around you to be all a coincidence. I know you purchased the warehouses that store the mining TNT in them from their previous owners, what reason did you have for this?”

Lord Copper shrugged. “I simply think it’s better that something so serious and important to Oreville should be under direct government control. There are many records of the change in ownership and you can ask numerous other ponies who work here of the meetings and discussions had on the subject. Is that all?”

“Your day shift supervisor has also been receiving exorbitant amounts of money outside his regular salary, care to explain?” Barnaby asked.

“Care to explain what? What does that have to do with me? If he’s making some extra money that doesn’t suddenly mean I’m paying him under the table. He already gets his normal salary from working with me,” Lord Copper turned up his nose at the two of them.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby both looked at each other, Rainbow biting her lip.

“We also know about Malthus,” Barnaby said.

“Who? Again,” Lord Copper asked, rolling his eyes.

“I suppose you don’t keep up with small time criminals in Oreville,” Barnaby sarcastically said. “We have an eyewitness who says Malthus and his gang removed a crate of TNT from one of your warehouses. This happened in the middle of the day with many workers there and for some reason nopony stopped them or told the authorities or did anything. As if they were told to keep it a complete secret. That crate of TNT was found—half empty—in the same safehouse Dolph was residing in.”

Lord Copper just stood there in front of them for a few moments, as if waiting for them to continue. “And?” He finally asked.

“And what?” Barnaby furrowed his brow.

“And where’s the proof? Is that all? Because it doesn’t sound like you have any solid evidence that I’m involved with any of this,” he shrugged and looked between them as both Barnaby and Rainbow Dash struggled to come up with words. “I see, that’s it then? You really don’t have anything proving that I’m responsible for all this, you’re just hoping I’d admit my guilt or say something incriminating. Hm? Trying to catch me off-balance? Well I’m afraid you’re wrong. All of this is mere coincidences and lots of circumstantial evidence. I haven’t done anything.”

Lord Copper gave a single laugh of amusement. “Hah! I know you, Barnaby. If you really could prove any of this you wouldn’t have just come for a “talk” with this outsider pegasus. I’d already be in chains and Lords Silver and Gold would be here too.”

“Lords Silver and Gold are on their way and they’ve been informed of everything,” Barnaby coldly told him.

“Well what a waste of a trip you’ve had them go on then!” Lord Copper shouted. “They’ll see right through this pointless charade as well and know there’s no grounds to arrest me or tie me to these bombings at all. There’s not even a motive!”

“Oh for the love of—so what?!” Rainbow Dash roared at him. “We know you’re behind this, we may not be able to prove it, we may not even know why you’re doing all this awful stuff, but that doesn’t matter! If you think you can just talk your way out of this you’ve got another thing coming! I don’t care if you call it coincidences, I’ve been around the block enough times to smell a rat when I see one!”

Lord Copper’s eyes widened in fear as he stepped away from Rainbow. “C-Constable, she’s threatening me! A-As Chief Constable don’t you think you should be doing something about that!”

“Relax, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said and tried to calm her down before glaring at Lord Copper. “And personally, I very much agree with her and any such threats she makes against you.”

Lord Copper’s lip trembled as he angrily looked back at Barnaby. “Y-Y-You’ve always had it out for me! And now you’re just bullying me because you can’t find any legitimate reason to arrest me. Well I’m sorry to disappoint you but you won’t be arresting me for this either. I think I’ve had quite enough of the two of you!” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I am far too busy today anyways, Oreville doesn’t wait.”

He went to walk past Barnaby and Rainbow Dash and head towards his office but Barnaby grabbed his shoulder.

“Now you wait right there, we aren’t done talking yet,” Barnaby told him.

Lord Copper huffed and retrieved a key from his suit, bringing it towards the door. “No, I believe we are quite done. And if you think otherwise then-”

He didn’t get the chance to finish that sentence as an explosion went off from inside his office and blew apart the doors, blasting Rainbow Dash, Barnaby and Lord Copper to the floor.

For the third time in recent memory, Rainbow Dash got up in a daze with her blurred vision only slowly coming back into focus. Burning rocks that formally made up the doors to Lord Copper’s office lied all around the three of them and the furniture had all been knocked over. Barnaby and Lord Copper were both struggling to their hooves as well. Still groggy and confused—Rainbow Dash looked towards the office Lord Copper was about to step into.

It was a devastated inferno. Any desk that may have been inside at some point was completely gone, the high walls were covered in flames climbing to the vaulted ceiling and the large glass windows that made the back of the office were completely blown out. Rainbow Dash could hear voices from outside shouting in a panic at what had just happened. Lord Copper’s large, spacious, office was nothing more than a smoked crater.

Rainbow Dash was staring in stunned silence at it, Barnaby in disbelief, and Lord Copper finally manged to gulp and turn to the Chief Constable.

“P-Perhaps you believe me now?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over at the haggard Lord. He was a sweating, disheveled mess. And she still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.

Square One

The administrative building of the Copper Section was a mess of activity after the bombing. The fire department had been on the scene within minutes and constables as well as concerned and outright curious citizens also flocked to it. Thankfully because the explosion was contained to one area the fire didn’t spread to the rest of the building and it was put out without too much trouble. Of course that was only the case for the physical damage. Who knew what the psychological affect would be of seeing one of the centers of government in Oreville bombed. The one consolation the citizens could take was that at least once more there were no deaths.

In an office building across the street from the administration building, quite the gathering had occurred. Rainbow Dash, Barnaby, Lord Copper, Lords Silver and Gold, and a host of other lower-level administrators and secretaries working under the Lords had gathered in a conference room to discuss the recent happenings. Lords Silver and Gold had arrived in Copper Section not too long after the explosion and Lord Silver believed it would be better to meet somewhere else, something both Barnaby and Lord Copper concurred on.

Now Rainbow Dash sat next to Barnaby at the end of a long table, with Lord Copper on the other side of the Chief Constable. All three of them still looked like wrecks after the explosion.

It seemed nopony wanted to start talking—and Lord Gold was staring off into space—so Lord Silver took the initiative.

“Chief Constable, when we received your message we were shocked beyond belief,” Lord Silver started. “I couldn’t fathom that Lord Copper could do such a thing-”

“I didn’t! I’m innocent! I almost just got blown up!” Lord Copper interrupted, standing up out of his chair and repeatedly slamming his hooves on the table.

Lord Silver held up a hoof to silence him. “I know. I was hoping this has all been a huge mistake and after the events of today I believe that the Chief Constable must be wrong.” He looked at Barnaby. “Constable? Is there any real proof of Lord Copper being behind the bombings?”

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash shared a look, Barnaby grinding his teeth together before he finally sighed. “No. There is no solid evidence. Just many, many coincidences. We have some other criminals in custody right now but they have so far refused to say who hired them to remove the TNT that was used for the bombs. And there are multiple other things. Unfortunately one of the only ponies who may have been convinced to speak blew himself up—as I notified you of in my message.”

“Yes, a tragedy that is. From what else was in your report though, he was the one responsible for placing the other bombs?”

“We believe so,” Barnaby nodded.

“And he said nothing of who made him do this?”

Barnaby’s jaw clenched but he nodded once more. “Yes.”

Lord Silver frowned and looked between Barnaby and Lord Copper. “Chief Constable… I do not believe it would be in the best interest of Oreville to continue with investigating and badgering Lord Copper. It is clear to me that after today he’s also a target of whoever is truly behind these bombings.”

“But my Lord, there isn’t just-” Barnaby said.

“I am a victim of a conspiracy!” Lord Copper interrupted and folded his hooves in front of his chest. “I-I almost died just now but you and your pegasus friend are still going to say I’m responsible? You couldn’t even prove anything even before the three of us almost all got blown up!”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her forehead with her hoof as Lord Copper went on. She didn’t know what to think, and her head was still pounding thanks to the explosion in the first place. She just felt like she had failed. Dolph, Eleanor, Barnaby, Oreville… she thought they could take down Lord Copper because it was so obvious he was guilty even without anypony naming him. Now everything had been turned on its head. They had no proof. They had no motive. And now Lord Copper was a “victim” too. Was it truly somepony else behind all of this? Rainbow Dash knew if she was just a little smarter or more perceptive like Twilight she’d be able to figure all this out. She knew there were so many things wrong about all this but she couldn’t put it together.

“Chief Constable, you must continue with your investigation,” Lord Silver said. “However it must also be clear that Lord Copper is not the focus of it. This is a time where all of Oreville must be unified and that cannot happen if a Lord is suspected of blowing it up. The citizens must be able to look to all three of us and feel safe and secure.”

Rainbow looked at Barnaby with a weak frown on her face. He was shaking a bit before he finally lowered his head.

“Yes, my Lords. But I promise you that I will still figure out who is behind this and why.”

Lord Silver nodded. “Good, because the situation has gotten so bad I think there are other measures that may need to be taken.

Rainbow, Barnaby, and Lord Copper even, all looked at him as he said that.

“What do you mean?” Lord Copper asked.

“This is unprecedented in Oreville. This kind of thing should not be happening in our peaceful, wonderful city.” Lord Silver said. “So far it has been contained to Copper Section but what if it spreads? What if bombs start going off in Silver and Gold Section too?” He shook his head. “This cannot be allowed. Chief Constable, if even one more bomb goes off, if a murder happens, if anything strange seems to be going on in Copper Section, we will enter lock-down.”

“Lock… down?” Lord Copper repeated, a slightly nervous timber in his voice.

“Yes,” Lord Silver confirmed. “Every way in or out of Copper Section will be sealed. The mines will be sealed. The tram tunnels sealed. And no stone will go unturned until the culprit in this, this, disaster! Is found.” He sat back. “Due to the special nature of the situation as well as to reassure the citizens, my own guards will take up positions at the entrances and exits to Copper Section, including the main gate and all the main mine tunnels. If anything happens they can be instantly alerted and seal things up.”

“I… I see. I acknowledge your wisdom on the matter, Lord Silver,” Lord Copper said. He bit his lip and looked down at his hooves with a look of dismay on his face.

Rainbow Dash took note of that but she couldn’t say anything right now—this was all so crazy.

Barnaby though had something to add. “A suggestion to your ideas, Lord Silver.”

“Yes?” Lord Silver raised an eyebrow.

“To make sure no more TNT can be stolen I would like to place the warehouses here directly under my control. I will choose trusted constables to watch over the warehouses and keep track of everything that goes in and out. Even if Lord Copper wasn’t responsible for the theft it’s still proof that his employees can not be fully trusted with such an important thing,” Barnaby glared out the corner of his eyes at Lord Copper.

Lord Silver seemed to muse on it for a second before nodding. “Agreed. Until this whole matter is taken care of, I want you to keep those warehouses under lock and key. Only your constables will be allowed to hoof off TNT to ponies taking it to the mines.”

“Gladly,” Barnaby nodded. “Now regardless of whoever is responsible for these bombings they wont be able to make anymore bombs. Not unless they want to try committing a very obvious and very forceful robbery of the warehouses.”

Lord Copper quietly clicked his tongue, another thing that Rainbow picked up on.

“Good. Is there anything more to discuss?” Lord Silver asked.

“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and watched as the other eyes in the room fell upon her. “I… I just wanted to say that whenever it’s put in the newspapers or whatever, that Dolph shouldn’t be blamed for what happened. He was a victim too and the only reason he did what he did was because his family was threatened. I don’t want it to be like he was one of the bad guys too.”

Lord Silver rubbed his chin and looked at the Chief Constable. “Barnaby?”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash. Dolph and his family’s name shouldn’t be dragged through the mud,” Barnaby said.

“Very well,” Lord Silver nodded and turned a sad face towards Rainbow Dash. “And you, Miss Rainbow Dash, I am deeply regretful that you came here at a time like this—seeing Oreville at its worst. My sincerest apologies, I would ask you if you wish to please take up residence in Gold Section while-”

“No can do. Sorry Lord Silver and thanks for the offer, but I’m with Barnaby on all of this. I want to help too, it’s just the kind of pony I am. Doesn’t matter if Oreville isn’t my city,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Well… it certainly does reflect well on you and your home,” Lord Silver offered a sad smile. “Though I feel we’re being out-shined here when we’re the ones who should be impressing upon you the best we have to offer...”

Rainbow grinned. “Don’t worry about that, Barnaby’s doing a great job of showing me the best of Oreville.”

Lord Copper scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sure he is...”

“I’m grateful for your words, Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said, ignoring Lord Copper. “And I think everypony else here is as well that you haven’t decided to simply leave us behind during this time of catastrophe.” There was a chorus of agreement (sans Lord Copper) from the rest of the conference room. “We want to show you we can overcome this so you have nothing but positive things to say about Oreville when you move on.”

Rainbow gave him a hoof bump. “Right on. I believe in you, dude.”

“I think that covers everything important then,” Lord Copper sneered. “If we’re quite done here I obviously have much to do. Not to mention fear for my life. Who knows when I’ll even get to use my office again, and the paperwork that’s going to have to be done...” He stood up from his chair. “Yes, I think with the absolute mayhem that I now have to sort through I better get started as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, we all have a lot to do now. Lord Gold and I will depart. We trust the Chief Constable in the rest of this matter absolutely,” Lord Silver said. He stood up and motioned for one of the secretaries to help up the oblivious Lord Gold.

“Thank you,” Barnaby said. He and Rainbow Dash got out of their seats and the Chief Constable looked Lord Copper dead in the eye. “And Lord Copper, I apologize for being so unfair to you. I will never accuse you without evidence again.”

Lord Copper’s lip curled and his hooves shook, but he said nothing as he stiffly walked past Barnaby and Rainbow.

“Good one,” Rainbow winked at him. She then bit her lip as she looked at all of the other ponies filing out of the conference room. “But now what?”

“We still have a few leads to go on. And I won’t rest until the truth of these bombings is uncovered,” Barnaby said.

“Do you still think Lord Copper is behind it… even after he almost got blown up? He’s definitely suspicious and up to something but now I’m not totally sure if it’s that simple. He seriously did almost get vaporized,” Rainbow asked.

Barnaby bit his lip. “I’m not entirely sure either. Everything pointed to him, but we have no solid proof, no motive, and now he was almost blown up just like we were so he looks even less guilty. We just… don’t have anything provable. Going after him hasn’t led anywhere substantial—but Malthus and his gang might have the answers we want. I think we should go back to the correctional facility and interrogate them next.”

Malthus and the other members of his gang were no longer in their cells. Apparently their release had been ordered by none other than the Chief Constable himself, after all, his signature was on the paperwork. The last anypony had seen of them they were being escorted out of the premises earlier. None of the constables on duty could recall just who had delivered the papers and escorted them out. There were some severe punishments handed out, but Barnaby knew it was no better than a temporary fix for the problem.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash now stared at an empty cell. Their lead was gone. There could be no more bombings but there was also no way for them to get to the bottom of them now. Oreville wasn’t in danger for the moment, but it wasn’t saved either.

“Now what?” Rainbow asked Barnaby.

“Now… we have nothing,” Barnaby sighed.

Rainbow Therapy

Rainbow Dash stood outside apartment 204 with her hoof halfway raised to the door. She had been like that for a solid minute, hesitant to finally knock. This isn’t the kind of thing she was used to. Normally Rainbow Dash came bearing good news and telling ponies how she had just saved the day. Not coming to tell newly widowed wives that she had completely failed to uphold her promise. Eleanor didn’t even know she was a widow yet. Her kids didn’t even know that… that…

The blue pegasus shook her head and took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. This wasn’t getting her anywhere. She didn’t want to do this but that wasn’t the point—she had to do it. And she had to just make herself do it already.

Rainbow Dash first ran her hoof back through her mane before at last gently knocking on the door. She ended up standing there awkwardly for a moment before she heard the door handle being turned and it was slowly pulled open. Her ruby eyes widened in shock at what she saw.

Eleanor, dressed all in black, with a veil over her face to hide her despair-twisted face that was covered in dry tears. Behind her the small apartment was full of similarly dressed ponies, including her children who were all huddled together and looked like they had been crying on and off as well. Eleanor’s mother was seated in her rocking chair and slowly going back and forth while some of the other guests greeted and spoke to her. Rainbow’s eyes took this all in and she stiffly looked back at Eleanor with a quivering jaw.

“Y-You… already, I...”

“We were told yesterday,” Eleanor’s voice was quiet and dull. “A messenger from Lord Silver came, shortly after the administrative building was bombed. He told us everything.”

Rainbow felt her eyes tearing up. “I-I’m sorry… I was s-supposed to… I was going to be the one to tell you what happened.”

Eleanor shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize.”

“But I do!” Rainbow’s voice cracked. “N-Not just for that, but for promising you-”

She paused as the others in the apartment had all turned to look at her, wondering what was going on. Rainbow realized she recognized a few of the guests as Dolph’s friends from the mines.

“I...”

“Would you like to come in? It’s a memorial service before the official funeral,” Eleanor asked and held the door open.

Rainbow’s lip quivered but she nodded and stepped inside. It seemed about ten others in addition to the rest of the family were here, and Eleanor’s kitchen table was full of food and drinks. A small table had been set up in the middle of the living room with numerous photos of Dolph and his family on it. Rainbow tried to avoid looking at it. Eleanor stood with her while a couple of the other miners nodded to Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t sure how much any of them really knew how involved she was in the investigation and Dolph’s death.

“Do you want something to eat or drink?” Eleanor asked, her voice like a phantom cutting through Rainbow’s thought.

Rainbow stiffly shook her head. “No, no thanks.”

Eleanor stood there and stared at her for a second. “I don’t blame you.”

“Huh?” The startled Rainbow Dash took a step back.

“I don’t blame you for not bringing him back to me. Learning about everything that happened… what he had been involved in… it was never going to be a happy ending. In fact I want to thank you for giving me that little bit of hope before it all ended,” Eleanor said. “I’m not left wondering or lost now anymore am I? I know what happened and why. I can make peace with that, so thank you.”

“But if it wasn’t for me—I was there when he-” Rainbow tried to explain before getting cut off.

Eleanor shook her head. “I already know. And I don’t blame you.” A softer look came over her face as her eyes sparkled with fresh tears. “But… what did he say? Did he say anything?”

Rainbow winced and put her hooves on Eleanor’s shoulders. “He said he did it all for his family.”

“I-I see...” Eleanor quivered and sniffled, bringing up a hoof to rub her eyes, but it didn’t stop the tears. “Thank you… t-that idiot.”

“Uhh, l-let’s uh, you know something to drink actually does sound good!” Rainbow quickly tried to change the subject. She looked over her shoulder and saw everypony else in the apartment still watching her and probably listening in too. “Aw geez...”

“Okay...” Eleanor nodded and she and Rainbow Dash walked over to the kitchen table. Eleanor grabbed a bottle of wine and quickly poured two glasses—making Rainbow wonder if this wasn’t her first of the day—and hoofed one over to Rainbow.

The dark red liquid swirled around in the glass and Rainbow Dash downed it all immediately in one gulp. Not exactly her preference but it still tasted good and the mild warmth it spread in her body felt nice. Eleanor was much slower with how she drank, either not being able to handle so much at once or wanting to savor it. Rainbow Dash stood around silently with her in the kitchen as the other guests in the apartment got back to talking with one another. The three colts of Dolph and Eleanor were standing in the corner and talking together, Rainbow kind of wanted to talk to them too but she had no idea what to say. Did she ever ask Applejack what it had been like when she lost her parents? No—that would’ve been rude. Now she was stuck here not knowing how to act though. She had cheered up Scootaloo and other kids tons of times for a myriad of reasons but she didn’t have the experience for something like this.

Eleanor poured herself and Rainbow another glass once she had finished.

“What are you going to do for the funeral?” Rainbow asked.

“Hm?” Eleanor seemed not to reach what Rainbow was getting at.

“I mean… there isn’t a body… to bury. Is what I’m getting at,” Rainbow awkwardly looked at the floor.

“We don’t bury our bodies in Oreville. Is it different in Equestria?” Eleanor asked. Upon seeing Rainbow’s look she elaborated: “I’ve read about you in the news since you left, and heard about you from others.”

“Oh, well, yeah. We bury our dead in coffins and put them in graveyards where anypony can go and visit them,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. Why did she bring this topic up? All it did was make her uncomfortable.

“I see,” Eleanor nodded. “In Oreville we cremate the bodies of the dead and spread their ashes in the deeper tunnels. Since Dolph is… since his body already… we’ll just have a funeral for formality’s sake.”

“Sorry...” Rainbow winced.

Eleanor chuckled briefly in sad amusement. “Stop apologizing. That’s all you’ve been doing since you came here. Everypony here is so morose—me included—but I want to celebrate Dolph’s life, not agonize over his death anymore. Me and the kids did enough crying when we first heard the news. I want to remember all the happy times we had, his smiling face, how he played with our kids, all the fun stories he told about hanging out with his friends.”

“He seemed like a really good guy. I may not have gotten to know him but anypony willing to do all that for his family can’t be a bad guy,” Rainbow said. Her eyes eventually roamed over to one of the pictures of Dolph and Eleanor. “You really had a great thing with him.”

Eleanor sniffled and took another drink of wine. “I did. W-Why don’t you talk with some of his friends from the mine for a moment? I’m sure they’d like to hear from you what exactly happened. Excuse me.”

The widow quickly set her glass down and walked past Rainbow, heading down the hallway towards the apartment’s bedrooms.

“Shouldn’t have said that...” Rainbow groaned and rubbed her forehead.

“Your name is Rainbow Dash, right?” A voice said from behind her.

Rainbow turned and saw one of Dolph’s friends from the mine, she remembered him from that first brief investigation. “Uh, yeah. And you were Kent, right?”

“Oh, you remember me?” He seemed surprised.

Rainbow nodded. “Totally. It was a pretty big deal being down there, and I think you talked the most. How uh, how are all you guys doing?”

Kent’s eyes drifted to the pictures as well. “We miss our friend.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow sighed.

“Do you… do you know who threatened him into doing all of this?” Kent asked her.

“I-” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. Did she say anything about Lord Copper? Did she give them false hope? Either way the investigation had totally stalled and she and Barnaby had nothing to go on. “I don’t know. We haven’t really figured it out yet. There’s just guesses, really.”

“I’m sorry that Dolph blew himself up like that, it could’ve killed you too couldn’t it have?”

“Yeah but he didn’t see any other choice. He was only thinking about his family, all the way to the end. I just wish he had talked to me. If he knew me better he knew I could’ve protected him and his family and brought down whoever is behind all this,” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Kent. “Which I still intend to do. Cause it just wouldn’t be awesome leaving this place like that.”

Kent’s eyes widened. “You’re every bit as interesting as the papers say. Is everypony from Equestria like you?”

“Nopony is like me. I’m totally original,” Rainbow grinned.

“Well, thank you for caring. I didn’t want to voice this to other ponies but I just don’t think Oreville is good at handling what’s going on right now,” Kent said. “It’s still amazing that so far the only pony that has died is Dolph, and that was because he, well, you know. But it just makes me think of how much worse it could be. Imagine if more bombs went off in the mines, the damage they could do, the safety that would be ruined in this city. Even if nopony died I think things would change a lot here.”

“Yeah… I just wish I knew why all this was happening anyways. That’s still something neither Barnaby or I can figure out. Why is the pony who’s doing this doing it at all?” Rainbow asked.

Kent shrugged. “Couldn’t tell you.”

“I feel like if we could just figure that out we’d be able to solve this whole thing,” Rainbow said. “Well, at least you don’t have to worry about any more bombs going off in the tunnels—or anywhere else for that matter—things are back to being safe in Oreville. Maybe not perfect, but safe for now.”

“I’m going to enjoy being able to work in peace. Just so you know, a lot of miners were pretty worried ever since the first bomb went off. Ponies have been afraid and taking extra special care of where they’re working and what’s going on around them,” Kent said.

“Really don’t blame you.”

“On that topic, are you ever going to be coming back into the mines?” Kent asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Dunno. Mostly still letting Barnaby show me around and following what he’s doing. We were sidetracked by the investigation for a while too so I’m not sure what he might want to do next. He’s been kind of depressed ever since yesterday.” Rainbow poured herself another glass of wine and took a drink. “I wouldn’t mind going off on my own but I feel like I’d get lost—and I’m not sure if Barnaby would think that’s totally safe. Plus, I get the feeling most of the ponies here still wouldn’t really act normal around me. I mean, even though you’ve read about me I haven’t really been like super visible around Oreville, you know?”

“I understand. I feel like most ponies wouldn’t know how to talk or act around you, unfortunately,” Kent nodded.

“Yeah...” Rainbow finished her drink and set the glass back down, looking at the other guests and members of Dolph’s family crammed into the small apartment. “Hey, when Eleanor is back can you tell her thank you? And that I wish her well?”

“Of course. Are you leaving?”

Rainbow nodded. “Honestly I don’t know if I should have even come in. I hope she’s doing okay, but I have to get back to Barnaby anyways. Just one last thing to do before I go.” Rainbow said and walked over to the three colts in the living room, all the eyes of the other ponies were on her. “Uh, hey.”

The three kids looked up at her, the oldest looking one venturing to say something.

“You’re the pony who came by before, you’re from that other place, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Are-” the youngest one started. “Are we going to get to see our dad again?”

A knife stabbed into Rainbow’s heart and she slowly let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry...”

The three colts started crying together, the oldest one holding his younger brothers. “Mom told us that-that...”

Rainbow reached out to pat him on the head. “You had a wonderful father who loved you very much. Never forget that. He’s wishing the best for you too.” Rainbow took her hoof away and backed off. “You kids need to be strong, for yourselves and your mom.” Her mouth opened and closed a few more times but Rainbow couldn’t decide on anything to say. She looked at Eleanor’s mother and gave her a curt nod, and then another nod to the other guests before she stepped to the front door of the apartment and left.

None of this was how she wanted things to go here at Oreville.

Fear

“You ever get the feeling that ponies are staring at you?” Rainbow Dash asked Barnaby as the two of them walked down the streets of the Copper Section.

“Considering you’ve been an outsider and have a—if I’m being totally honest—incredibly eye-catching appearance, I would think you’d be used to that by now.” Barnaby answered.

“True. But this is a different kind of staring. Like, the worried and unsettling kind,” Rainbow said as she looked around at the other ponies on the streets.

“You’re not wrong. I’ve noticed it too pretty much from the get go this morning. But it’s not only centered on you, the stares are coming for both of us,” Barnaby breathed out his nose and looked around. As soon as his eyes met another pony, they instantly averted their gaze. “It’s fear. Simple fear after everything that has happened. And they know we’re at the center of what’s going on and trying to uncover it.”

“So wherever we go they’re going to think...”

“That it concerns the bombings. And that perhaps they don’t want us around.”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Just great, this is what I really wanted, to scare ponies wherever I went.”

“You have to understand, Rainbow Dash. The unusual, the unexpected, it’s scary. These ponies aren’t used to change or conflict of any sort. For generations now we’ve lived peaceful and quiet lives in Oreville uninterrupted by anything or anypony else,” Barnaby.

“And then I come along and bombs start going off at the same time.”

“Yes...”

Rainbow looked around and saw a few ponies turn away from her with fear on their faces, not even the fear that something was going to happen right now, but an all-encompassing general fear. A mother quickly hurried her child down a side-street and a pretzel vendor grimaced in the hopes that Rainbow and Barnaby wouldn’t come over to his cart. There were times in the other places Rainbow had visited on her journey where ponies and other creatures reacted similarly to her, and where her presence caused distress. Rainbow just knew she had to get through it and leave Oreville better off than it was now. That would erase this atmosphere of fear.

But they had no leads and nothing to go on for finding the culprit behind the bombings and setting the populace at ease. That’s why she and Barnaby were out here just mindlessly walking around in the first place.

“Come on, let’s go to one of the local business parks and relax. Maybe it’ll set the minds of my ponies at ease if they simply see us having an ordinary day just like them,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Whatever you want to do, you’re still basically my tour guide. If we aren’t looking for bombs and crazy criminals I guess I might as well try and have fun another way.”

“I know you appreciate a good rest,” Barnaby smirked.

“Yeah, but not when there’s way more awesome stuff I could—should—be doing,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I can take a nap after the cool stuff.”

“Sorry but the “cool stuff” looks like it’s going to be on hold for a good while. And personally I don’t quite consider it as cool as you do,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow winced. “Look, I didn’t mean-”

“Relax,” Barnaby chuckled. “I’m messing with you. Although it’s true I want things to go back to being quiet and peaceful here I know you like things a bit more exciting.”

“Yeah but I don’t want anypony getting hurt either. I like having a big, obvious, villain right in front of me who I can punch and laugh in victory over!” Rainbow thumped her chest. “But, ugh, this is so not turning out like that at all. You know if it had been like two or three days of nothing happening down here when I first got here I would’ve just left? Just totally flown away looking for a more action-packed adventure.”

“So are you happy or sad about what’s occurred here?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“The answer that doesn’t make me sound like a jerk,” Rainbow groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “It’s complicated, okay?”

“Life is,” Barnaby shrugged. “I can’t really say I understand exactly where you’re coming from or what drives you. You’re such a larger than life pony I don’t think anypony else can. But I’m certainly not judging you.”

“Thanks, it’s just… after what happened with Dolph, and with how important the mines are to you guys, it’s kind of awful of me to wish for something to happen again. Isn’t it? That’s just going to make the ponies here more afraid. And who knows what else might happen,” Rainbow sighed.

“I don’t think you’re just craving fun for your own sake when you’re wishing for something to happen though,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow looked up at him. “Oh yeah?”

“I think you’re wishing for justice and true peace and happiness that can happen after you do something awesome. Deep down that even you may not have noticed it yourself,” he grinned at her.

Rainbow Dash gave a brief laugh before a smile came over her face. “Heh. Well it at least sounds better than what I was saying.”

“Do you want a snack to eat while we walk? Pretzel? Snowcone? Churro?” Barnaby asked as they passed by a few different carts and stands selling snacks on the street.

“Naw, not right now at least, most of these ponies look like they might faint if I talk to them,” Rainbow said.

“Good point,” Barnaby nodded.

Their stroll took them in-between some of the larger skyscrapers, where smaller buildings and business popped up all around the surface level of the streets and thoroughfares between the huge structures. Rainbow couldn’t see far off into the city anymore because the buildings were clustered so closely together. As were the ponies. It said something of Oreville that even with the budding fear over recent events that hundreds were still out and about going along with their normal lives. Barnaby took her to a pavilion where a number of stone benches sat around an area dotted with stone statues and several fancy fountains that dripped water in a weave of streams.

“So we’re just here to chillax?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m not entirely sure what that word means but I can venture a guess,” Barnaby said. “So yes. Just let the ponies see us doing nothing, staying calm, having fun.”

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby sat down on a bench and watched the civilians of Oreville walk on by at a brisk pace. She noticed immediately that most of the ponies walking by had also taken note of the two of them but were either trying not to look or had picked up their pace to get by faster. It made her snort in annoyance, she hated having this weird stigma attached to her. Though even though this was supposed to be a temporary solution, Rainbow Dash was pretty sure it wouldn’t be fixed for good until she brought down the pony behind the bombings.

She looked at one of the statues of a pair of marble mares standing up on their back two legs and holding a ball between them. Rainbow didn’t care much for art but even she could appreciate the symbolism of something that said “unity”.

Her wings felt itchy and Rainbow Dash looked at her sides and gazed at the bandages still wrapped around them. So annoying. Her wings were constantly twitching and moving around inside the bandages and it was especially troublesome when she was trying to sleep. She felt so wrong with her wings clipped like this. It wasn’t just that they were injured but that they were contained, held down, caged. She wanted these dumb bandages off already so she could fly around freely and just feel normal again.

“Seriously need to go back to Abernathy and see when I can get these bandages off,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Hm, I wouldn’t imagine it’ll be too much longer,” Barnaby mused. “Maybe a day or two. When you do get them off I have something special to take you too as well.”

Rainbow’s head swiveled up at him. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise, I can’t tell you yet,” he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah whatever. Better be worth the suspense. Whatever you’ve got in mind, let’s go back to the hospital tomorrow anyways. The sooner I get these off the better.”

“I’m sure Nurse Abernathy will enjoy seeing you again too,” Barnaby said.

“When I’m not injured for once,” Rainbow couldn’t help a small grin. She then let out a short breath through her nose as the grin left her face. “Are you afraid that you can’t really trust a lot of your constables?”

Barnaby frowned. “I’m afraid that I’m unable to clean house like I truly need to. Chief Constable I may be, but the Lords would kick up too much of a fuss if I suddenly fired half of my force and personally tried to find and screen every new recruit. They might think I was up to something.” He snorted.

“And so instead you just have to deal with a bunch of corruption...”

He shrugged. “I make it work. The ones guarding the TNT now are the ones I fully trust, and right now in the city that’s all I need. As long as we can make sure no more bombs go off… well that’s all I can ask for at the moment.”

“Don’t have to worry about the factory or anything?” Rainbow asked. “What if Lord Copper, or whoever, tries to steal from the source?”

Barnaby shook his head. “Not possible. The TNT is carefully manufactured on an assembly line from the raw materials and chemicals that go into it. Once it’s done it’s immediately shipped off by cart to the warehouses. The insides of that factory are carefully guarded and protected by the owners, an old family who have been in the TNT business for generations. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lord Copper attempted to buy the factory as well but was rebuffed. Even he would have trouble dealing with them. Not only are most employees and workers at the factory either members of the family or close family friends, but Lord Copper wouldn’t have the facilities or know-how to make bombs with any stolen chemicals. He would need finished TNT.”

“So I guess trying to spy on him or the factory won’t get us nothing either,” Rainbow folded her hooves. “I was thinking how wicked cool it would be to set up a sting...”

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Barnaby laughed.

Rainbow shrugged. “It’s alright. Just throwing ideas out there.” After she said that, a family walked through the pavilion and looked over at Rainbow Dash. She smiled and waved at them and much to her delight, the children waved back. The parents only offered up some awkward smiles but Dash was okay with that for now. “Not too bad.”

“I think it’s all worth it to see a smile on a child’s face,” Barnaby said. “Stop me if that sounds too schmaltzy.”

“It does,” Rainbow gagged.

“Well, to each their own.”

“Also—is it really going to make that big a difference for the ponies in here if some of them see us like this? No offense, but most of them are just going to keep walking by without giving us a second thought. And Copper Section is a really big place,” Rainbow sighed and unfolded her hooves, propping them up and instead resting her chin in them.

“We’re not going to be able to change the whole city, but it still matters for these ponies here. Ponies talk and word spreads. A few more days of everypony around Copper Section seeing us not stressed out or chasing down criminals and things will get back to normal for the average pony. They’ll be happy and get to live their lives in peace. And we’ll still deal with the culprit whenever another lead comes up for us to follow,” Barnaby said as he watched one of the fountains shoot out a complex pattern of water spouts from multiple different nozzles.

Rainbow Dash breathed out her nose and watched a few more families and business ponies go by. She blinked a few times with an even expression on her face, thinking about all the things she had been through recently and seen in Oreville. “I guess it’s worth being bored for a little while.”

Friends, at the Least

“Okay, now this—this here? Twilight would never leave this place if she came here,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around the gigantic Copper Section public library.

As far as libraries went the only two she could think of that surpassed this one were the Canterlot archives and the Crystal Empire’s library. This Copper Section library took up an entire building and there were multiple levels to it. Shelves upon huge shelves covered the first floor and the walls above, quiet tables, chairs, and reading alcoves could be found all over between the bookcases as well. Rainbow really could just imagine Twilight squeeing in delight and prancing up and down on her hooves.

“I hope you’ll be able to appreciate it just as much as your friend,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Nopony could appreciate it as much as Twilight. But I’ll try to get like—halfway to how she would be. Anyway I’m not really sure where I should start, truthfully I’m trying to think of what she would want to see most. Cause she’s going to want me to tell her a lot about Oreville and what kind of stuff you guys have in here.”

“You know… your inquisitive friend would want to know the most she could about this unknown part of the world, wouldn’t she? And probably the history of Oreville rather than any fiction books we read for fun,” Barnaby said.

“Yeah, probably,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well then instead of a leisure trip we can make our visit here a learning experience,” Barnaby said.

“Oh. Great,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

Barnaby chuckled. “Come on, I know exactly where we should go in here.”

The two of them went down the rows, passing numerous sections like Geology, Seismology, and Biology. And to be fair, Twilight Sparkle—the egghead among eggheads—probably already knew everything there was to know about those subjects. Rainbow Dash only spotted a few others in each part of the library, she wondered if it wasn’t busy hours yet or if there were always this few ponies in here. Would kind of be a shame if it was the latter. Even Rainbow Dash could appreciate libraries nowadays. She bet Larkon would also have loved to see a place like this.

Once they got to the History section, Barnaby took a turn and led them down a particular bookcase. They ended up in a little alcove surrounded on all sides by shelves with a small table with a lamp in the middle of it. A sign hanging above the entrance gave the name to this little sub-section: Cartography.

“These shelves are full of maps drawn by the ponies of Oreville over the centuries we’ve been here—and elsewhere for that matter. While we are not particularly traveled, especially not in the recent decades, these maps will still give you a detailed view of this part of the world,” Barnaby said. “Truthfully I wouldn’t know where to start, it’s not exactly my domain, and some of these historical maps are very old and very out of date.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out and try to soak up as much as I can—got a natural sense for maps and geography anyways. Comes with being a pegasus always flying above the ground,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “And gotta make sure I can fill up this noggin all the way too so Twilight doesn’t complain when I get back home.”

Thankfully the shelves with the various maps and atlases were organized by date so Rainbow was able to trot over to the more recent ones and pull a book out. Barnaby briefly glanced over the date on it.

“Oh, that’s only 125 years old. Should be as up to date for a map as you can find here in Oreville.”

“Ponyville didn’t even exist 125 years ago...” Rainbow grumbled.

She opened up the heavy book to a random page and saw a mess of grids and scribbled notes laid over a foreign landscape. But maybe not so foreign. It was part of her natural ability, as she had figured out with Twilight’s help a while ago, but Rainbow Dash was able to effortlessly remember any landscape she had flown over or seen while flying. And she vaguely recognized what she was looking at even through the grids and other notes. This was a topographical map of the mountains and landscape above Oreville. She could make out a lot of the mountains she had seen before coming down and first making her way into the Copper Section. Rainbow flipped a few more pages and saw that it was more of the same, more pages going over these mountains in details, some of them devoted entirely to one mountain or the land between them while others were huge sweeping maps of the entire range.

“Really gives a sense for how huge this place is,” Rainbow said.

“The mountain range is bigger than Oreville. The city and various sections don’t spread out entirely underneath it,” Barnaby said. “From what we know though, the mountain range spreads all the way across this side of the world like a belt, before hitting two other mountain ranges that go from north to south.” He pointed out at the edges of the map Rainbow was looking at.

Rainbow thought about it for a moment and pictured where those mountains would be if she was on the other side of the world, back home. “Yakyakistan… and the snowy mountains north of Griffonstone.”

“Hm?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow shook her head. “Just getting an idea of how the world looks.”

It was weird how even though the Ore-Range Mountains that Oreville sat under were at the same latitude as the icy, snow-capped mountains on the other side of the world, they were completely temperate. So was the landscape and forest right outside the Gate of Winter, while if Rainbow was at the other entrance to the True North she would’ve had to go through the snow and ice of the Yaket Range and the Crystal Empire before it. Maybe it had something to do with the gate itself?

Rainbow turned a page and saw a detailed drawing of a lone mountain to the east of Oreville—The Weeping Mountain. Another page and she saw something that was labeled “The Sloth Forest” to the west. She couldn’t recall Barnaby or anypony else mentioning that before. Another page showed a map of the forests and smaller mountains to the south, along with a place called “Pinetree Warren”. There were a few other small dots placed on the map to the east and west of Pinetree Warren labeled things like Wildflower Grove, Dagget’s Rush, Rockfall, Summerlight, and others. They must’ve been the towns and villages that supposedly existed south of Oreville.

She turned a few more pages in the hopes she’d find a map of the desert that also supposedly sat to the south but all she found were more maps of the mountains and the lands directly around them.

“I think once I leave Oreville the first place I hit up next is going to be this Pinetree Warren place,” Rainbow said as she scratched her head.

Barnaby peered over her and looked at the map. “An apt choice it seems. Maybe they’d have a map or at least some knowledge on what the desert that lies beyond them is like.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Would be nice but I’ve been fine not knowing what’s coming next anyways. Er—maybe not fine, but it kind of makes the adventure more fun like that. Right now I’m just doing this to mostly learn about where I already am. For Twilight’s sake.”

“What a wonderful friend you are then,” Barnaby rolled his eyes. “I suppose if you’re truly invested in informing your friend about this side of the world when you return home, you’ll want to read through our dullest, most tedious, and longest history book on the founding of Oreville.”

Rainbow Dash blanched. “Y-Yeah...”

It took less than 5 minutes of going through that dusty old tome of a history book before Rainbow Dash felt like falling asleep. Everything just slipped right out of her mind. The only thing that really stayed with her was how apparently the ponies who founded Oreville had migrated from the south and discovered these resource rich mountains. As the northernmost settlement on this side of the world they managed to be the last stop for any traders and travelers and survived on their exporting of precious metals and jewels before becoming totally self-sufficient. It would be easier to read on the history if there was any sort of flavor to the text whatsoever but instead it was like reading a dictionary. She didn’t even manage to see where they had started to live entirely underground. As much as she wanted to help Twilight out, this just wasn’t the kind of thing her brain could work through. Twilight would have to deal with the bare minimum.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash slammed the book shut and then slammed her head onto the table in front of her. Perhaps a little too loudly for a library.

“Tired?” Barnaby asked.

“What do you think?” Rainbow mumbled without looking up.

“Sorry you can’t take a book or map, or even just a notebook with you when you go,” Barnaby shrugged.

“Yep, gotta keep it allll in here as best I can,” Rainbow sighed and pivoted her head so her chin was resting flush against the table and her bored eyes were peeking out from behind her mane. “When I go, huh?”

“Something the matter?”

Rainbow sat up and leaned back, staring up at the library’s ceiling. “Sorry to be a downer but I’m just thinking how I haven’t really accomplished anything here. Nothing major at least, in fact I may have made some things worse. And now it’s like, I don’t even know if I will be able to do anything. I’m worried that I’m going to leave here like that. I can’t stay forever after all. When I think about all the other places I’ve been to, I was at least able to do something at them.”

Barnaby was quiet for a moment as he took a seat beside her, letting out a deep breath and thrumming his hoof on the table. “Well, it may not be a huge deal or anything, but I do think you did do at least something here.”

“Yeah? What?” She scoffed.

“Made a new friend.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared at him.

“I mean, with how much you ponies of Equestria seem to value friendship, it seems like making a new friend in a far away land should be a pretty big deal,” he smiled.

Rainbow looked back up at the ceiling and blew an errant strand of mane out of her face. “Honestly, you’re right. Making friends is important. I like doing it. And it should be a big enough accomplishment on its own.”

“But you want more.”

“Yeah. I want to be more awesome,” Rainbow nodded.

“It’ll come. We’ll find something somehow,” Barnaby tried to comfort her.

“That’d be nice,” Rainbow said and stood up out of her chair. “Well, I think I’m done here though. If I read anymore of this my brain’s going to melt. Got the maps down at least.”

“It’s pretty late in the day so we might as well head out,” Barnaby nodded.

“Before we go back to the facility let’s get something to eat again. All that reading made me hungry,” Rainbow grinned.

“Works for me,” Barnaby patted his belly and stood up to follow her.

As the two exited the history section though, they almost walked smack into a large group of young fillies and colts being led by a single older mare.

“Woah!” Rainbow said as she backed up to not accidentally trample any of them. Immediately she was subject to a chorus of shocked gasps and hooves being pointed at her in disbelief.

“It’s her!”

“The pegasus!”

“Look at her mane!”

“She has wings!”

“I read about her in the news!”

“Mom and dad were talking about her!”

Rainbow Dash sheepishly grinned and blushed at the attention being heaped on her from the kids. Meanwhile the older mare, their teacher most likely, was trying to corral them. And not having much success.

“Students, please quiet down! This is a library!” She said to them as they all rushed past her and mobbed Rainbow Dash.

“Your name’s Rainbow Dash right?”

“Is that mane real?”

“Your wings are so cool!”

“You’re from someplace called Equestria?”

Rainbow Dash coughed and decided she might as well indulge these kids. “Yes, yes, they’re totally awesome, and yes.”

“Oh, students… please...” The embarrassed teacher said but her pleas fell on deaf ears. As she tried to calm them down, Barnaby came up to her with an amused grin on his face.

“Well, miss, what do you think about turning this library visit into an impromptu lesson on Equestria?” He asked her.

The teacher bit her lip as she looked at her students and how enraptured they were with Rainbow Dash before she finally sighed in defeat. “I think that’s going to happen no matter what I say now.”

“So, if you kids are so curious about me and Equestria, let me start you off by telling you about something called the Sonic Rainboom...” Rainbow Dash grinned as she began to tell her story.

Dice Roll

Two die rolled out of Rainbow’s blue outstretched hoof and onto the green felt of the Craps table, they tumbled down its length before colliding with the end of the table and coming to a stop. All eyes of the ponies surrounding the table were glued to the small dots on the face up sides of the die. Chips were piled up at numerous spaces, their destiny tied to the roll of the dice. A lot of money was riding on this single roll. On every roll.

A four and a three.

“Lucky seven!” The dealer exclaimed exuberantly as he moved his rake to gather up the dice for Rainbow Dash while most of the crowd cheered around him.

Lots of winners on that roll.

Barnaby looked over at the grinning Rainbow Dash with a surprised look on his face. “And you’re sure you’ve never played this before?”

“Pretty sure.”

“How?” He wondered aloud as he scratched his head beneath his helmet. “How do you win on every single roll? Is it just beginner’s luck?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “That’s just how it is when I play games like this. I never lose.”

“The casino might end up getting suspicious and kicking us out at some point then...”

“Bunch of sore losers if they do,” Rainbow snorted. She grabbed the dice but instead of throwing them again she passed them along to the next shooter. “Here you go, pal. See if your luck is as good as mine.” It probably wouldn’t be and all the other gamblers at the table groaned in disappointment as their meal ticket left.

The casino of Copper Section was pretty large, as large as the main building of Las Pegasus’s resort and much bigger than the small casino she had briefly visited in the Metal Mountain earlier on her journey. Dozens of tables for all kinds of different games and hundreds of rows and circles of slot machines filled it up while mares and stallions from all trots of life came to hopefully make a fortune and not just throw their money down the drain. Mares and stallions in pin-striped uniforms worked as dealers or waiters/waitresses bringing drinks around to ponies in the casino. Free of charge of course, they wanted to give you a reason to stay. All in all it led to a cacophony of ringing noise and beeping from the machines as slots rolled and from ponies as they threw everything on the line.

To Rainbow Dash it was just a fun place to be right now.

She walked up to one of the slots and Barnaby offered her a coin to put in. Rainbow Dash pulled the lever and watched as it spun and spun until all three wheels stopped and showed her a gold bar. A celebratory ring came from the machine and dozens of coins fell out into the tray at the bottom of it. When Barnaby gave her a questioning look, all Rainbow Dash could do is shrug.

“I’m just a lucky pony. Watch me play poker, I’ll get a Royal Flush.”

“Do you mind if I put down a lot of money on you? I could use to make some extra cash,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash just laughed. “Go right ahead. Hay, put your life savings on the table. I may lose a hoof or two but I always come out ahead.” She grinned at him. “Thanks for bringing me here, needed something a little more exciting lately.”

“Well that goes for me too. And after some of the stories you’ve told I figured you’d enjoy this place, even if you didn’t play any games or do some gambling of your own I thought someplace lively would do you a lot of good,” Barnaby said.

“And it does,” Rainbow nodded. She looked at the coins that had come out of the slot machine. “I don’t really need any of this so you can keep it, or we can just give it to somepony else.”

Barnaby coughed into his hoof. “Let uh, let me get a bag...”

“Yeah, you do that,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and wandered over to some of the other tables where they had Poker, Blackjack, Baccarat and Roulette. She didn’t even know how Baccarat was played but she figured she’d probably win anyways even if she tried it, or if she put some random chips down on the Roulette table.

Maybe I should get into gambling when I go back home? Rainbow thought. Totally an easy way to make some extra bits.

She saw an open spot at a Poker table and hopped on, waiting for Barnaby to get back since she wasn’t carrying any chips or money on her. The ponies at the table were obviously a bit surprised to see their new arrival but Rainbow Dash just gave them an easy grin. “I’ll join in on the next hoof, you guys play another round first, then you can go back home bragging about how you got to play a game of Poker with the Rainbow Dash.”

That got a round of smiles and laughter from the others and shortly after Barnaby came back and found her. He stood behind her while Rainbow Dash traded in some of his newly obtained coins for chips to play with. After that it was just easy as pie for Rainbow. Ugh, not pie, make it cake.

Rainbow Dash cracked her hooves and casually sat back as five cards were dealt to her. So it wasn’t the same kind of Poker she had played back at the Metal Mountain, this was just standard 5 card Poker. You could still bluff easily enough but you didn’t have any guesses as to the possible hooves that the other players might have. No problem for Rainbow, she’d still just win it all anyways. She picked up her cards and made sure to hold them close to her so nopony but her and Barnaby looking over her shoulder could see them.

Queen of Hearts, 5 of Diamonds, 5 of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, 2 of Diamonds.

Barnaby rolled his eyes.

After a few quick hooves, Rainbow Dash was pretty much surrounded by piles of chips. The table was like a revolving door of gamblers now who came to play with her and fill in the spots of those who didn’t want to lose anymore. The whole time Barnaby was just shaking his head in disbelief.

“How do you get drawn four Kings? How?!” He pulled at his mane.

“I dunno, dude. I’m just awesome like that,” Rainbow shrugged and got ready for the next hoof.

“I wish I had your luck,” he grumbled.

“There’s not enough spare luck in the world for that,” she winked at him.

Five cards quickly came at her and Rainbow Dash held them up to find three 10’s a 7, and a 2. Rainbow Dash discarded everything except for the 2. Barnaby shot her a befuddled expression but Rainbow Dash completely ignored him for now and called all the bets placed by the other players. Her four replacement cards then came.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Barnaby’s eye twitched.

None of the other hooves on the table could beat the Straight and Rainbow Dash once again took the pot. That was the end for her, she had won enough at Poker.

“Alright, hope you all had fun!” Rainbow Dash said with a big smile on her face. “Whoever wants these chips can take em!” She said and quickly hopped out of the chair while the ravenous crowd around her all dove for the small fortune.

“Uhh, perhaps there was a better way to give those away,” Barnaby said as he walked away with Rainbow.

“Maybe. Anyways, gotta find something else to kick butt at in here,” Rainbow said, looking around the floor of the casino. “You got any games or sports to bet on?”

“Not the season for anything like that,” Barnaby shook his head.

“Guess I could just pull a few more levers and make you rich...” Rainbow considered.

Barnaby coughed. “Ahem, well, while I appreciate the sentiment I’m not sure how I feel about using your supernatural luck to essentially scam the casino.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, it’s not stealing. And this is a casino, they’ll be fine.”

“Still, I think the amount you’ve already won for me is decent enough. I mostly prefer to work for my money,” Barnaby said.

“You and Applejack would get along great,” Rainbow laughed.

Something else caught her eye then, and it wasn’t a table. Rainbow Dash walked right over to a mare carrying a tray of drinks and caught her attention. “Yo! Once you’re done hoofing those out, bring me back something tasty!”

“Of course, Miss diplomat,” the mare smiled and walked away to finish delivering her drinks.

Rainbow Dash watched her go, quietly, and then turned to Barnaby. “I still feel weird being called that. Especially since I’m not really doing much diplomatic stuff. I’m just doing whatever I want, really. Having fun and stuff. I wish I could ask Twilight or the Princesses right now and get some advice on what they would do in my situation.”

“Considering I’ve essentially conscripted you into my own business I don’t exactly think you should be blaming yourself,” Barnaby said.

“If I really wanted to though I could refuse, nothing stops me from doing what I want, if I wanted to be a real diplomat and really give my all to making friends with this place and connecting you to Equestria I could have… but I went along with you cause it was more fun,” Rainbow sighed.

“Hasn’t been very fun at all though,” Barnaby gave a short, mocking laugh.

“Whatever,” Rainbow said and sat down at a small table in a lounge area of the casino, waiting for her drink.

“We’ll get Lord Copper though,” Barnaby said as he sat down with her. “We definitely will.”

“If he really is the mastermind. Honestly after meeting him a couple of times he seems too dumb to be the pony that could threaten Dolph and the others so much that they wouldn’t dare speak out against him,” Rainbow said.

“They didn’t know him personally. Probably not at least. They just knew about his power and had likely heard bad rumors. That’s all he needed. I’m still sure it’s all him,” Barnaby frowned.

“Would make things simpler. And I don’t think that stooge is capable of being too much of a threat, but he might do something stupid,” Rainbow shrugged. “The two of us will take him down the moment he tries anything.”

The waitress then came back with Rainbow’s drink, a white cocktail of some sort with a mint leaf stuck on the top. Rainbow had to admit that it tasted pretty darn good. She looked across the small table at Barnaby and shot him a questioning glance.

“Did you want anything?”

“No, no, I’m fine like this. Just thinking.”

Rainbow Dash look out across the casino at everypony gambling and having a good time inside the exciting venue. “Me too I guess.”

Lord Copper crumpled up a piece of paper and angrily threw it off his desk before slamming his hooves down. “Why? Why did things have to go so terribly? It’s all Barnaby and that stupid pegasus’s fault! Things would be done already if it wasn’t for them!”

He fumed and sat back in his seat before swiveling his chair around and staring out the window. This new temporary office he was using didn’t have near the same view his old one did, but that had been a necessary sacrifice. He had been backed into a corner with no other options other than try his best to shift suspicion from himself and appear to be a victim as well. It worked temporarily but in the aftermath he had been cut off from his most important resource and ever since he’d been trying to come up with a new plan to work around it or somehow get his hooves on TNT again.

It hadn’t been going well, as evidenced by his current frustration.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid… I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to this!” Lord Copper growled. “Oreville should be sitting in my hooves.” He turned and knocked everything else off his desk in a rage aside from his intercom. “There isn’t anything else I can do, I need that TNT. It doesn’t matter what problems it may cause—if I can just get my plan rolling again everything will turn out fine.”

He bit his hoof as he mulled the idea over in his head. It wasn’t a new idea, it was a last resort he only wanted to do if he couldn’t come up with anything better. Which unfortunately he hadn’t been able to. It was a risky gamble he was about to set into motion but it was all he had.

Lord Copper took a deep breath and stared at his intercom before bringing a shaking hoof to it and buzzing his secretary.

“Yes, Lord Copper? Is there something you need?”

He swallowed. “Could you contact my chief of security and have him bring both his A-squad and my special guests to my office? He’ll know what that all means.”

“Yes, my lord, right away!”

The intercom buzzed off as soon as he removed his hoof and Lord Copper sat back in his chair, trying not to sweat. There was no turning back now with this decision. By tomorrow, no matter how it turned out, it would all be over. He clasped his hooves together and let out a slow breath, wishing that he had a cup of coffee or at the very least some water to drink.

A Light That Was Followed

One dozen ponies on Lord Copper’s security force along with four other ponies he had a business deal with were now gathered in his office. Everypony in the office knew that whatever was going on was extremely serious purely thanks to those who were here. Lord Copper leveled his gaze at his chief of security and the orange band worn around his uniform. He trusted him and his underlings completely, after all he had been paying them a small fortune under the table, what reason did he have to doubt their loyalty? The other four—Lord Copper turned his attention to Malthus and his thugs—simply knew they weren’t going to get any help if they came clean so they might as well stick with Copper.

Lord Copper let them all stand at attention for a moment longer as he gathered his thoughts. He really wished right now he had a speech or something prepared, but unfortunately he hadn’t been thinking that far ahead. They needed to act fast anyways, he just didn’t want to come off as not absolutely certain and in control to his employees. The situation had already gone sour enough.

“I think you can all figure out the reason I’ve called you here tonight to a degree,” he finally said, glancing at the clock on the wall that showed the time as but an hour before midnight. “But regardless of how much you grasp, let me tell you now that it is finally time for me to act and begin the final part of my grand plan. There will be difficulties involved, and dangerous risks since new problems have arisen, but what happens now will be no simple show or farce. This is the real deal and I’ll need all of you to play your parts.”

He continued- “You’re all well aware that we’ve lost access to the TNT we need for the bombs and that’s why nothing has been done lately. However, it’s become apparent that there is nothing we can do about that except for one thing.” His eyes narrowed coldly. “Break into the constable-guarded warehouses and steal more crates of TNT immediately.”

The mouth of his chief of security hung open in shock. “Sir, is that—can we really do that? Not only the danger but the constables and other Lords will know immediately, and what if they connect us to you?”

“That’s why you’ll wear casual clothes while doing it,” Lord Copper’s eyes narrowed. “Either way we need to do this. It’s more TNT or nothing. The longer Barnaby and that pegasus are suspicious of me the more likely it is that they unravel the whole thing.”

“What is this grand plan of yours anyways?” The uneasy Malthus asked.

“That’s none of your business. You’re just muscle hired to do the dirty work, and you’ve caused me a considerable amount of trouble so just shut your mouth and do what you’re told today,” Lord Copper spat.

Malthus’s jaw clenched as he glared at the floor but he and his gang decided it was best to keep quiet.

“Alright,” Lord Copper tapped his hoof on his desk. “You know that not only must this be done fast but much more TNT will be needed than before. Two or even three crates, and it must be used all at once. It can’t just be a small danger like that first bomb—it must be a massive, serious threat to Oreville or it’s meaningless! The plan won’t work otherwise, do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” His chief of security nodded.

“Good. You already know what needs to be done once you’ve acquired the TNT. So get to those warehouses and get it as quickly as possible! There’s no time to waste and we’ll be on a timer once the break in happens so you’ll have to work even faster at the second part! Now get out of here!” Lord Copper ordered.

The chief of security and his underlings swiftly saluted and turned to leave the office, marshaling Malthus and his gang with them.

Once they were gone, Lord Copper turned in his chair and looked out the window at Copper Section. His Copper Section. “Everything is going to be fine. It will all be over with soon.”

Jarvis, the chief of Lord Copper’s security forces, was fairly wary of the task he was currently undertaking. And he could tell from the tense atmosphere he wasn’t the only pony who felt that way. Both his fellow security officers and the slimy thugs they were working with had a lot to worry about. None of them had the courage to voice any of it though, especially not back in front of Lord Copper. He was just going to have to get the TNT and hope everything turned out alright. There was still a lot more work to be done after this point.

In truth he probably shouldn’t even be thinking that far ahead, he needed to stay focused on the present. There were likely a lot of constables guarding the warehouses now but Jarvis and his group had the element of surprise.

Now close to midnight, in the washroom of the main warehouse, a grating on the shower floor was popped open. Jarvis, Malthus, and everypony else quietly came up one by one until the whole group was gathered inside the washroom. The grating led to a secret tunnel in the sewers that few knew about, it was far too narrow to bring a crate of TNT back through it but it was useful to get into the warehouses and get the drop on the constables. Walking through all that dreck had been a pain but the next part of their business was probably going to be even worse.

“So do we just try and sneak a few crates out of here?” Malthus asked Jarvis.

“Sneak?” Jarvis looked at him like he was an idiot. “There’s no way the Chief Constable hasn’t explicitly instructed his constables to guard this place at all hours of the night. We won’t be getting these crates out the front without being seen, there’s bound to be too many around for that.”

“Well then what’s the plan, genius?” Malthus scowled at him.

Jarvis glared back at him. “There’s only one thing to do; we charge out of this washroom, hit them hard and fast in this warehouse, and run out of here with three crates before most of them can react and get here.”

“That’s not even really a plan at all...” Malthus shook his head. “We’re all going to end up dead or arrested, aren’t we?”

“Since you’d be rotting in a cell already if it wasn’t for Lord Copper you better still do your part anyways,” Jarvis narrowed his eyes.

“We will,” Malthus looked at his gang, who all nodded back to him.

“Then let’s do this. We’re already wasting too much time standing around and talking,” Jarvis said. He looked at his fellow security officers. “Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir,” they snapped a salute to him.

Jarvis nodded. “Good.” He took a deep breath. “Right out of the washroom, knock out and incapacitate everypony you see, try not to let them activate any alarms, and then the crates. It’ll take us all working together to carry the three crates we need.” He walked over to the door leading into the main part of the warehouse and put his hoof on the handle.

A lot of last second worries and regrets went through his mind right then but he snuffed them all out and quickly yanked the door open.

Almost twenty ponies ran out into the warehouse, closer to the back end where the office was. Jarvis immediately ran to the office with two others since he knew for sure there’d be at least one pony in there keeping watch. The rest fanned out and ran through the rows of crates of TNT to find and incapacitate any other constables that may be in here. Nopony yelled or screamed, they didn’t hide the sounds of their hooves running across the floor but they didn’t need to so obviously alert everypony else to what was going on.

Jarvis passed by the window of the back office right as the constable inside was sitting up after hearing the commotion. So Jarvis grit his teeth and threw open the door, stepping inside with his two comrades and pointing a hoof at the constable. “Stop right there!”

The eyes of the constable flickered to a conspicuous button on the side of the wall.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jarvis warned.

The constable didn’t listen, he ran to the alarm with an outstretched hoof—but he was intercepted by Jarvis, who grabbed him and put him in a headlock before spinning him around and slamming him into the filing cabinet by the desk. With a pained grunt, the constable tried to fight his way to his hooves but the other two security ponies came forward and kicked him repeatedly in the ribs. Jarvis ended it with a final punch across the jaw to knock the pony out cold.

“Well we don’t have to worry about that alarm going off anytime soon,” Jarvis said and then looked out the window at the quickly growing chaos inside the warehouse. “Come on, let’s hurry and finish up in here so we can get those crates out.”

Outside the office, Malthus was leading the charge against any constables who had been unlucky enough to be roaming around inside the warehouse keeping watch over the stockpile of TNT. They had already taken down three of them before the rest seemed to realize that something was wrong. Malthus only hoped that none of them were smart enough to go running outside for help. The other ponies in his gang and a few of Copper’s security guards were trailing behind him.

A constable came around the corner of a few stacked up crates of TNT, his red uniform easy to make out in the dim lighting of the warehouse. Malthus charged forward and body-checked him into the crate behind him before the constable could react. He then reached his hooves forward and grabbed the constables head and repeatedly slammed it into the heavy wooden crate. It felt good to be on the giving end of a beatdown after Barnaby and that pegasus had humiliated him a week ago.

“What’s going on?!”

“Stop!”

Two voices yelled from where the other constable had emerged from and Malthus looked to see two other uniformed guards coming at him. Malthus didn’t waste any time with talk, he charged at the two constables while his gang came behind him to back him up. To their credit, the two constables didn’t try to run away like cowards, they stood their ground even as they were tackled to the floor and beaten senseless.

Some of Copper’s guards came to a stop around the painful melee until Malthus was finished and got up.

“How many more do you think are in here?” One of the security guards asked him.

“Who cares? Can’t be too many,” Malthus said. “Your boss should come help us out so we can start moving these darn crates already.”

After that there were only about five more constables inside the warehouse that the group had to take care of. It was easy thanks to them having much superior numbers now after taking out some of the others by surprise. They had no idea how many might be patrolling outside, or at the gate, or in the other warehouses, but they were lucky to clear this one out. Jarvis and Malthus made sure everypony was knocked out and wouldn’t cause any trouble, then met up at the large front doors of the warehouse. The lights above only barely gave enough illumination inside here but it was all they needed. Multiple stacks of crates sat right in front of the large doors, just waiting to be moved.

“Alright, we’ll take down three, throw the doors open, and run for the gates. Somepony will need to be in front to either take out whichever pony is guarding the front gate or to just open it up for us in case nopony is there,” Jarvis said.

“I’ll do that,” Malthus volunteered. “Don’t want to help carrying one of those huge things anyways.”

Jarvis nodded. “Fine. Now let’s hope there aren’t any constables right outside when we open this up.”

Once they had gotten the crates down, five stallions each went to carry one with Malthus staying at point. The crates were heavy even for five stallions and it would be a mess of trouble if they didn’t get out of here with them soon. The huge doors that opened up into the yard of the walled off warehouses now needed to be opened. Thankfully that was easy. There was one metal drop rod that needed to be lifted out of its hole at the bottom of the door and turned aside. Then Malthus could easily push the doors open and they could make a break for it.

Malthus pulled up the rod to unlock the door and placed his hooves on them, briefly looking back at Jarvis. “Ready?”

“Ready,” Jarvis answered.

Malthus bit his lip and threw the doors open. Him, Jarvis, and all the others moved their hooves like their lives depended on it. Since it was the dead of night, most of the yard was dark and the lights built into the ceiling of the cavern weren’t turned on yet. There was one light on inside the pillbox at the front gate, a desk lamp, like a lighthouse showing exactly where they needed to go, and there were several constables roaming around with flashlights elsewhere in the yard. So it wasn’t exactly a perfect situation but it could’ve been worse.

The ponies flat out ignored the other constables, who noticed something was up but were slow to react, and ran straight for the front gate.

The constable stationed in the pillbox both heard and saw their shadowed approach. Trying to get a better view he pulled out a flashlight of his own and shone it at the running ponies. What he saw shocked him and he got out of the box to confront Malthus leading the charge.

“Stop there!” The constable yelled and whistled for help.

Malthus meanwhile just kept running at him, he could tell that not only had this constable realized what was going on, but he recognized Malthus as well. He must’ve been a pony that Barnaby trusted or at least kept up to date on recent important arrests. Either way, Malthus wasn’t going to let him off easy. He needed to take this constable out quick and open up the gate before more arrived.

The constable dropped the flashlight to the ground to keep his hooves free and went for a straight punch as soon as Malthus got close. Malthus cross-countered it, throwing his hoof right along the constable’s outstretched leg while ducking under the hoof coming for him. His hoof landed across the constable’s right jaw, knocking a tooth clean out of the pony’s mouth.

Blood was spat from the constable’s mouth as he took a few steps back while Malthus threw another punch to his face. But this time the constable blocked it and managed to uppercut a surprised Malthus instead. Meanwhile the three crates were practically right behind them and at the gates already.

“Malthus!” Jarvis shouted. “Hurry up and get the gate open!”

“What does it look like I’m trying to do?!” Malthus shouted back and tackled the constable.

The both of them fought to get on top of the other as they rolled across the hard ground and traded close blows with each other. Malthus ended up on top and slammed his hooves into the constable’s shoulders to keep him pinned, and then headbutted him with all the strength he could muster. The constable’s head snapped back and his skull echoed off the ground, his eyelids fluttering and his pupils losing focus. Satisfied that that was enough, Malthus quickly got off him while rubbing his own bruised forehead and ran into the pillbox.

There was a switch inside at the desk that he flipped and the metal gate started automatically rolling back into the stone wall. As soon as there was just barely enough room to fit through, Jarvis and the other ponies made a beeline for it and Malthus came running right after them.

“Come on, we’re not in the clear yet,” Jarvis said as the first crate made it past the gate. “We’ve gotta get the bombs ready and into the mines as fast as we can!”

“Whatever!” Malthus said and went to help carry the last crate as well.

In just a few seconds all three of them had been taken past the gate and were now being carried down the dark streets of the Copper Section. While finally a few of the other constables in the yard made it to the gate and noticed their downed comrade and his discarded flashlight.

“H-Hey! What happened?!” The first one yelled as he knelt down and tried to shake the semi-conscious guard back into coherency while the others shined their lights out into the street for a sign of where the ponies and crates of TNT had gone.

The eyes of the gate guard came back into focus for a brief moment as he coughed up some blood and spittle onto his uniform. “M-Mines...” His eyes then rolled back as he lost consciousness.

At the checkpoint right inside the front door that led to the main city center of Copper Section, an incredibly bored pony sat on a stool behind glass. Formerly this had been a position held by security guards of Copper Section, but Lord Silver had changed that. Now it was a personal guard from Lord Silver’s security forces that sat here and monitored the main tunnel in and out of Copper Section. A boring, empty job, but a job nonetheless.

Herman sat with his eyes half-closed, threatening to fall asleep, and stared at the turnstiles and gates that made up the checkpoint outside his little booth. His shift still had a few hours to go and he doubted those hours were going to be flying by. Near the entrance to the tunnel, the metal door stayed closed, the pulley system used to make it retreat up against the ceiling currently idle. Despite the hour the lights were on in the tunnel (they always were) and he could see the inner side of the door.

It was crazy to think a pony had actually come here for the first time in... how long? He wouldn’t have been surprised if that door went another hundred years without being-

*Knock knock knock*

The echoing of a hoof knocking on the outside of the metal door reverberated through the tunnel and made it to Herman’s booth. He practically fell off his stool.

“You’re kidding me?” He blinked a few times down at the door, wondering if maybe he had just imagined it.

*Knock knock knock*

Nope, there it was again.

Herman rubbed his head and looked at his clock: it was still a couple hours before the lights would come on in Oreville, it was still night outside too. Who the hay was coming here at this time of night? And why? His eyes looked at the button to raise the door that was sitting right on his desk, and even though he was confused and surprised, it was still his job to open up the door for any visitors and travelers.

The security guard shrugged and pushed the button, watching as the door slowly lifted.

He looked out past the glass of his booth and down the tunnel and once the door had risen by a few feet, the figure of a lone pony appeared to him.

Realization

Rainbow Dash was snoozing on a ratty old couch in Barnaby’s office while the Chief Constable himself was snoring his way through the night in his desk chair. Neither of them were particularly comfortable but this was one place the both of them considered safe in Oreville. Rainbow’s hooves and wings moved around a bit in her sleep as she dreamed of a race, she was just about to cross the finish line when-

The door to Barnaby’s office was thrown open with enough force to make the handle smack into the wall on the other side. The loud noise startled and woke up both ponies inside, with Rainbow Dash accidentally slipping off the couch and falling to the floor.

“Wha-what’s happening?!” The half-asleep Rainbow asked as she launched herself to her hooves and looked around.

“Ch-Chief Constable!” The pony who had opened the door said, he was sweaty and out of breath. “There’s been a break in at the TNT warehouses! Several crates were stolen, I just got it on the radio with the constables stationed there!”

“WHAT?!” Barnaby yelled and jumped out of his chair.

“I-I came to get you as fast as I could,” the constable said.

Rainbow Dash shot Barnaby a knowing look and he nodded back at her.

“Let’s get over there right now,” Barnaby said.

The lights had come on in Oreville by the time they made it to the warehouses and the rest of the city was starting to wake up, ponies were walking down the streets to work and wagons were carrying things already. The rest of the city had no idea what had happened yet.

Rainbow Dash and Barnaby were now right inside the front gate where most of the rest of the constables had gathered. Some of them looked injured, as if they had just gotten out of a fight, while one was still lying on the ground with his head being supported by a pillow another constable had brought. Barnaby was fuming but he wasn’t angry at his subordinates this time. He tilted his helmet back and looked around at all of them.

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“We figured out that they came up from the sewer beneath the washroom of the main warehouse,” one of the constables said. “We’re not sure how many there were, maybe twenty, but they overwhelmed the constables inside the warehouse and ran out with a few crates of TNT. Then one of them attacked Xavier here,” he nodded at the constable lying on the ground. “And opened up the gate.”

“This aint good...” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“And you lost them?” Barnaby asked. “Do you know who they were or at least where they were taking the TNT?”

“T-That’s what we were waiting for you on, we wanted to be sure of what you wanted us to do,” the constable said, rubbing the back of his neck, he looked nervous and scared at the same time.

“What do you mean?” Barnaby raised an eyebrow.

“Xavier heard something... and he and some of us thought we recognized some of the ponies that stole the TNT...” The constable said.

Before Barnaby or Rainbow Dash could tell him to spit it out already, Xavier coughed and weakly opened up his eyes.

“Mines... bombs... to the mines...” the pony said.

“That’s what he’s been saying,” the first constable said.

“They’re going to set off more explosions in the mines... we can’t let that happen!” Barnaby said.

“Why are you all so dang slow to act?!” Rainbow Dash said to the constables. “If you know where they were going to be taking bombs to-”

“Malthus... security guards...” Xavier coughed.

Barnaby and Rainbow Dash looked at him while the first constable gulped.

“T-That’s the thing. We think some of the other ponies who came to steal those crates were some of Lord Copper’s security guards. Some think they recognized the face of his chief of security. I-If Lord Copper is involved... I’m sorry sir, but we know what happened earlier between you and him and Lord Silver. If we’re wrong about him again won’t you be in a lot of trouble?”

Barnaby shook his head. “That doesn’t matter right now. Whatever Lord Copper is planning to do with those bombs has to be stopped, consequences be damned. And if you can identify some of the ponies that stole the TNT as his security forces I think it’s certain that he’s the one behind this. He always was.”

“What do we do now?” Rainbow Dash asked him. She then shook her head. “Scratch that. I know what we do now.” She punched her hooves together.

“Right,” Barnaby nodded. “But it’s a little more complicated than that. If three crates were stolen and all the TNT in them was used to make bombs and they were taken to the mines... that’s the worst case scenario and I don’t want to rule it out. It wouldn’t just be a single collapsed cave we’d be facing, there could be catastrophic damage that could put the entire Copper Section at risk. Finding the bombs and stopping them from going off is more important than apprehending Lord Copper right now.”

“But he has to know exactly what’s being done with them!” Rainbow said.

Barnaby bit his lip. “You’re right but we aren’t even sure where exactly he is right now and his security could cause us problems if we try to force our way into his building...” Barnaby paced back and forth and tried to think of what to do. “Rainbow Dash, can I ask something of you?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, what?”

“It’s easier for you to travel through the Copper Section, and I know you’re perfectly capable on your own, I don’t think his security officers are a danger to you if you’re fighting back,” Barnaby said. “I want you to find Lord Copper and get him to spill the beans on everything, tell him we know for sure he’s behind things now. Threaten him if you have to. But in the meantime I’ll be taking my constables into the mines, I can meet up with Crom and his teams and we’ll scour the mines together to find the bombs. I can grab a pair of long distance radios back at the correctional facility and give one to you so we can stay in contact with each other.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “You can count on me, and I know you won’t be upset if he ends up with a few bruises.”

“Not at all,” Barnaby smiled back. “Now come on, we need to get back to the facility quickly.” He looked at the other constables. “Some of you stay here and watch over the injured, get in touch with the hospital, but the rest of you get to the elevators that will take you into the mines right now and wait for me! Together we’ll go down and tell Crom what’s going on.”

“Yes, sir!” The constables saluted and began to break off into groups to do their duties.

Barnaby gave them a last nod and shared a glance with Rainbow Dash before they both zoomed out of the warehouse grounds. He was running at full speed and she was keeping pace in the air right beside him.

“So Lord Copper finally ran out of patience and made a move I guess?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Must have,” Barnaby answered. “I’m still not sure what happened with that bomb that blew up his office last time though. And I still have no idea what his goal with all of this is.”

“Actually, I think I can piece together what that whole explosion in his office was about,” Dash said.

“Really?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’ve got a nose for picking out lies and evil jerks. Now that we know for sure he’s the one doing this, I’m finally getting what happened back then.” She narrowed her eyes as she looked ahead and thought back on that day when they confronted Lord Copper. “This guy had to know we were suspicious of him and would be coming after him sooner or later after surviving that explosion at your home. So he got himself some insurance to try and throw us off his back or at least make himself look like a victim and sympathetic or whatever to the public and Lord Silver.”

“But the timing-”

“It was just like with Dolph,” Rainbow Dash said. “That bomb wasn’t on a timer like the one that blew up your place. It was activated by him pushing some kind of detonator. I bet Lord Copper had one that worked both ways, do you remember how he was acting? And how he looked at the clock right before he went into his office?”

“Yes... yes, I do.” Barnaby said, thinking back on the moment as well.

“I think he was checking to make exactly sure when that bomb was going to go off. The moment he saw us in the hallway I bet he pressed a detonator he had concealed in his clothes or something. And after that it was just stalling and waiting for the right time. He cut us off and tried to get out of the conversation right before the bomb exploded. That was too perfect to be a coincidence, he knew the bomb was going to explode right as he was about to open the door,” Rainbow said. “And then the way he acted after it exploded and during the meeting with Lords Silver and Gold was just a show.”

“Except Lord Silver’s proclamations caused new problems for him,” Barnaby suggested.

Rainbow nodded. “Exactly. And that’s why this is happening now. Still don’t know what his main goal in all this is though.”

“We can figure that out later, let’s just get the radios we need and work together to stop him and those bombs. I get the feeling we don’t have all the time in the world,” Barnaby said.

Carter whistled as he walked down the Copper Section tunnel to start his shift as checkpoint guard today. It was early morning now and he was preparing to relieve Herman who worked the night shift. Unlike most others from Silver Section, Carter actually volunteered to come out here and help since it meant getting away from his wife and in-laws back in Silver Section. Besides, it was a nice easy job and you hardly had to do anything at all. He always brought a book with him to pass the time, technically he wasn’t supposed to but nopony was going to come out here and find out.

As he made his way down the tunnel he suddenly shivered thanks to a cold breeze blowing down it.

“Brrr... what the?” Carter tilted his head. “Why’s there a breeze?” He looked down the lit up tunnel until it became little more than shadows. Was the door open or closed?

He quickened his pace a bit to make it to the checkpoint and the booth that Herman should be in. Did he fall asleep and accidentally open up the door or something? Only a bit further along did he get to where he could see the checkpoint and the entrance to the tunnel beyond that. He had to squint for the moment but he was pretty darn sure the door was open and the very first glimmer of sunlight was starting to peak in.

“Herman? Herman!” Carter shouted at the booth as he quickly trotted up to it. “You fall asleep?”

Carter reached the door on the side of the booth and opened it up with his key. As soon as he opened the door and looked inside, he dropped his keys in shock. Herman was fallen on the floor of the booth, his stool tipped over, and glass from the broken window in front his station lying all around him.

“Herman!” Carter yelled and ran over to his coworker. He grabbed his body and rolled him over, checking for a pulse and to see if the security guard was still breathing.

A pained wheeze from Herman told Carter that at least the other pony was still alive.

“Hey, hey! What happened?! Were you attacked?!” Carter shook Herman a few times to try and get an answer.

Suddenly Herman’s eyes shot open and he gripped Carter’s shoulder with his right hoof. A sharp intake of breath made his entire body shudder and his grip loosened, his limbs going limp and his eyes almost rolling back into his head. “Hahhhhh...” He choked out, trying to speak.

“What is it?” Carter stopped shaking him so as not to accidentally hurt him.

“Danger... t-tell Lord Silver... m-monster...everypony is in danger...” Herman choked in another lungful of air. “Run... tell everypony... run...”

Herman’s back arched as he finished his last words and his eyes rolled back into his head completely, before his body fell slack in Carter’s embrace. Carter stared at the corpse he held for a few moments longer before realization hit.

“H-Hey? What... this can’t be real can it?” Carter said as his body went cold and he accidentally dropped Herman’s body back to the floor. “M-Monster?”

Carter’s eyes glanced up at the booth’s desk. A newly placed radio sat there that would give him a direct line to the Silver Section government offices. He stood up on shaking hooves and walked over to it, pale in the face and lightheaded, turning it on and trying to make the call.

“Pick up, pick up, please pick up soon...” Carter said as the radio buzzed and a cold breeze continued to blow in from the outside.

Search

Lord Copper had his nicest, freshly cleaned, suit on for this important morning. A watch around his left hoof told him the time and he wore a small radio with a microphone in the neck of his suit that he could use to quickly communicate with others. The outfit was finished with him wearing a confident and happy smile on his face. He briefly looked out the window of his office at Copper Section before turning to the security ponies he had gathered here. Not Jarvis and his squad, who didn’t have the time to make it back here after doing their job and who he couldn’t risk being seen with, but another group who he had also firmly bought the loyalty of to escort him today. After all he needed witnesses he could trust when it came to what he was about to do. Jarvis, Malthus, and the others were safely waiting in the sewers and old abandoned tunnels that only Copper really knew about.

A glance at his watch told him they still had plenty of time but that they should probably get moving now anyways. No reason to cut things dangerously close.

“Alright, my ponies, today is the day that change comes to Oreville. You’ll all be part of it and greatly rewarded, I promise you,” Lord Copper said to his guards. “A new Oreville with one ruler is about to be born. No more sections, no more lords, just Oreville.”

His grin somehow widened even further as he walked through the guards towards the door. “Let us be off.”

“I’m going to have every available constable come with me, the mines are vast and there’s no telling how many bombs could be down there,” Barnaby said as he and Rainbow Dash rooted through the main supply room of his office.

“All good, I can handle Lord Copper and any guards he has with him. No offense but I don’t think most ponies in here can put up much of a fight,” Rainbow said.

“None taken. Considering what you’ve been through and some of the other opponents you’ve dealt with I think we’d all be little more than punching bags for you.” Barnaby opened up a locker and finally found what he had been looking for. “Aha!”

He pulled out the pair of radios and hoofed one over to Rainbow Dash. “Put that around your neck and put in the earpiece. Turn it on to frequency 1. I’ll keep my radio on that frequency too and we’ll be able to talk to each other just fine even when I’m down in the mines.”

“You got it,” Rainbow said and quickly affixed her radio.

Barnaby took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Rainbow Dash, I have to thank you for everything. Things would be even worse right now in Oreville if it wasn’t for you. Who knows where Lord Copper would be now. What we’re about to do is definitely dangerous, but it’ll all be worth it in the end. We’ll have taken down a dangerous lunatic and you’ll have gotten your adventure.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and raised a hoof. “Right on.”

Barnaby grinned and bumped it. “I’ll treat you to another meal once this is over and done with.”

“That’s gonna give me even more motivation then,” Rainbow said and cracked her neck. She then stretched her limbs and opened up her wings. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna fly.”

The pegasus then blasted out of the room, leaving a whirlwind behind that Barnaby had to shield his eyes from. She was probably out of the entire correctional facility in moments. Barnaby chuckled to himself, knowing Rainbow was getting a fast start on scouring the Copper Section for Lord Copper. It filled him with ease despite the potential danger. There was nothing else for him to do now but gather up his constables and get to the mines, once he was there he could get in touch with Crom and have him and the other miners help out as well. They were working against the clock, he just wished he knew how much time they had left.

Barnaby left the supply room and went to the intercom at his desk, there he could send an announcement throughout the entire facility. He pressed the button that would enable him to send an emergency message through every speaker in the facility.

“Good morning constables of Oreville,” he spoke calmly. “I’m afraid I have a very serious announcement to make...”

Though Barnaby knew not every constable on his force was the paragon of loyalty and justice, it didn’t matter right now as the threat to Oreville was too great. He hoped that all of those he brought along with him, even those who may have been bought off by Copper at previous times, would see that. Right now what was going on was bigger than any individual pony.

Civilians in the streets of the Copper Section gave them a wide berth as Barnaby and two-dozen other constables jogged to the main elevators that would take them down into the mines. Nopony else knew what was going on yet, and Barnaby didn’t want to scare any of them, but they could tell that something serious was up. At the mine entrances there were a number of his more trusted constables who had made their way over from the TNT warehouses. It made him happy to see that they had listened to orders well. A lot of the miners seemed perturbed and worried about what was going on but Barnaby couldn’t help that.

He came to a halt with the others in front of the warehouse group and got a swift salute from all of them. Barnaby returned it with a salute of his own and looked over his force of constables he had gathered here.

“Alright, you all know what the situation is and what we need to do now. Follow my lead to the staging area and then follow Crom’s lead if he asks anything of you. We’re going to need to split up into a lot of different groups so obey any orders Crom or the senior miners give you. They know the mines better than we do. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir!” The constables responded together.

Barnaby nodded. “Good. It’s going to be a tense day.”

The large group of constables quickly filed into the elevators and got ready to ride them down to the staging area. Barnaby had to make any other miners stop from coming down with them and told them to tell anypony else coming that the elevators were out of order. He tried not to sweat or show any hint of nervousness while he made the long trip down the elevator with his constables. It wasn’t easy.

He hated just standing here when he knew they needed to act fast. There was no telling where the bombs were, when they would go off, or how many there were in the first place. The ponies working with Copper had several hours to do their work and plant bombs in the mines. Barnaby wasn’t sure how but he knew there were plenty of other tunnels and entrances aside from the main ones, Lord Copper must have had more detailed knowledge of them than Barnaby. But Crom at least would give them an edge, he’d know all the places any bombs could be secretly planted.

The elevator finally came to a lurching stop and the grate in front opened up and allowed Barnaby and his constables to pour out. He ran right past the other miners minding the elevators, letting one of his subordinates tell them what was up, and traveled straight through the tunnel towards the staging area and Crom’s office. Just like above, a lot of miners were pretty darn confused to see what was going on.

Barnaby ignored it all as he emerged into the staging area, seeing so many other ponies milling about, not even knowing they were in danger, it lit a fire beneath his hooves. He charged to Crom’s office and threw the doors open while his constables came to a stop behind him.

“Crom!” Barnaby yelled.

The veteran miner spat out some coffee he had been drinking and started coughing. He was at a desk surrounded by some of his other foremen and chiefs. “W-What the? What’s going on?”

“We’ve got a huge problem and I need you to stay calm and help me out!” Barnaby said as he walked towards him.

“Have you lost your marbles?” Crom raised an eyebrow at him.

Barnaby grit his teeth and shook his head. “No, Crom, this is serious. Bombs have been placed inside the mines! It’s not just one this time either, there could potentially be dozens of them. I brought as many constables as I could on short notice down here but we need you to help us out too.”

Crom stared gapingly at his friend, looking past him at the horde of constables standing just outside the office as well. “You’re... you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Unfortunately,” Barnaby nodded. “There’s no time to waste now, I need you to send a broadcast through the mines telling everypony to evacuate, but I’ll still need you and your top miners to help me and my constables look for the bombs. Got that?” Barnaby grimaced and bit his lip. “If... If you want to evacuate too though, I’ll understand.”

“N-Now don’t be deciding nothing like that on your own. We’ve got your back,” Crom answered and looked at his fellow miners. “We can gather up some of the other tunnel supervisors as we go. But let me send out that broadcast over our radios first.”

“Thanks, Crom,” Barnaby smiled at his friend and sighed in relief.

“Don’t thank me until those bombs are found and deactivated or whatever,” Crom grumbled as he went over to the radio station in the office.

“Yeah. I’m going to take a few constables with me onto the tram so we can get a head start. If you need to contact me, use frequency 2 on your radio, I’m keeping 1 for me and Rainbow Dash,” Barnaby said.

“Alright... geez, I didn’t expect my day to go like this,” Crom shook his head and turned on the radio.

Barnaby left him and the miners to their own devices for now, walking out of the office and to his gathered constables. The staging area had become much more still and quieter than normal as most of the miners in it were looking at the constables and wondering what was going on. At least they’d all be out of here and safe soon. Barnaby grabbed the four closest constables to him and lead them on the way to the tram.

“Come on, you’re with me, the rest of you wait for Crom. We’re finding these bombs now.”

Lord Copper and his entourage of guards calmly walked down the streets of the Copper Section. Much like Barnaby and his constables, they were gathering quite a bit of attention from other ponies as well. He just happily waved to all those who looked over at him though. This was a momentous occasion and his spirits were high.

Some ponies had to make way to let him and his guards pass on this side of the street, Lord Copper tipped his head to them and smiled. “Good morning, my fellow citizens. And what a lovely morning in Oreville it is.”

The ponies smiled back. “Sure is, Lord Copper!” One of them said.

“Have a nice day now!” He waved and kept trotting along.

Ah, this is truly wonderful. I feel on top of the world. He thought. Everything’s going to be so much better for me after today, I’ll finally be able to do what I truly want with my home.

A blue missile crashed into the street in front of him and his guards, kicking up a cloud of dust and startling the ponies around them.

“W-What?!” Lord Copper screeched, stepping backwards and nearly tripping over his own hooves.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward from the cloud of dust and stared him cold in the eyes. The security guards formed up in front of Lord Copper but she completely ignored them. “Hey. You and I have something to talk about.”

Lord Copper’s eyes glanced down at his watch.

“Yes sir, I found him and he... n-no sir, I don’t know. He said it was a monster and... yes sir, a monster. He said that and said we were all in danger... l-lockdown? I don’t know sir, he... yes but he said we should run... I understand sir... I-I don’t know, but whatever did this has to have been in the Copper Section for hours now... a-are you sure that’s what... y-yes sir.”

Carter turned off the radio after finishing talking to Lord Silver and realized he had been having a cold sweat the entire time. Herman was still lying there on the floor but it would be some time before anything could be done about that. Carter brought a shaking hoof up to his forehead and wiped away as much sweat he could before looking down the tunnel at the open door. He bit his lip, unsure if this was the right course of action or not, but there was nothing else he could do. His hoof came down and hit the button for closing the main entrance into the Copper Section, the door gliding down its track and landing on the ground with a thud, securely shut.

Elsewhere throughout Copper Section, the rest of the lockdown was now beginning.

The Best Intentions and the Best Laid Plans

“Barnaby? It’s me, I’ve found Lord Copper and I’ll keep you posted,” Rainbow said into her microphone before clicking the radio off and glaring back at Lord Copper.

His guards took a step towards her but Rainbow Dash just huffed. “If you don’t want your guards to be a big pile of broken bones, I’d tell them to back off.”

At seeing just how serious Rainbow Dash was, his guards became a little uneasy and they looked back at him for any orders. Not only that, all of the other ponies on the street had stopped to look at what was happening. A huge crowd was forming around Lord Copper and Rainbow Dash. The lord swallowed a nervous gulp and coughed, trying to put on his most intimidating and confident face.

“J-Just what do you think you’re doing anyways? What reason do you have to come to me right now? Obviously you know not to bother me after last time,” Lord Copper said, projecting his voice so the civilians could hear him clearly.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me what I’m doing?” Rainbow Dash said.

“Excuse me?” Copper raised an eyebrow.

“I came here to stop you from doing whatever it is you’re planning. So why don’t you tell me exactly what I’m stopping?” Rainbow glared hard at him.

Her eyes made Lord Copper wilt. “R-Ridiculous... I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then what are you doing out here with these guys?” Rainbow said as she looked back and forth at the various guards.

Lord Copper looked around at the curious ponies and swallowed. “I-If you must know, we were going to the mines.”

“To check on the bombs you planted?” Rainbow accused. Her voice was still even, she wasn’t shouting, but there was an icy ferocity in her words all the same.

That sent a rumble through the crowd and they began muttering and talking to each other while Copper’s guards sweated and Lord Copper himself looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.

“Bombs?! That I planted?! Don’t be ridiculous you... you... vomit-maned outsider!” He shouted at her. “For your information, the only reason I’m going there is to check up on things. With all that’s happened lately, I thought it would be wise if the lord of Copper Section himself came down to the mines to reassure everypony and get a first-hoof look at things. Bombs? I have no knowledge of such horrid things and I certainly hope there’s nothing so sinister down in our mines right now!”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I told you.” She said as she opened her eyes and glared at him once more. “I told you to stop and not do anything stupid that you couldn’t handle. I told you. So I’m giving you one more chance to tell me where the bombs you’ve planted are, this is serious and ponies are in danger. So quit lying to me and just come clean already. Barnaby is down in the mines right now and he’s going to find those bombs, but we don’t know how long it is until they go off, everypony is still in danger. I don’t want ponies to get hurt. And... I don’t think you really do either.”

Unconsciously, Lord Copper looked down at the watch on his hoof again. “I-I-I really don’t know what you’re getting at. I was almost blown up! N-Now of course I don’t want to see any ponies hurt, but if you really care about that then how about letting me through to the mines so I can conduct my own inspection!”

“No deal, I’ve got a direct radio to Barnaby right now, just tell me where the bombs are!” Rainbow Dash’s wings flared opened and she menacingly took a step forward.

“G-Guards! Stop her!” Lord Copper commanded.

The captain of this squad looked at the very dangerous looking pegasus and then back at his lord. “Um, sir-”

“What am I paying you for! Stop that pegasus!” Lord Copper spat at him.

“Y-Yes, sir!” The captain turned and faced Rainbow Dash. He swallowed his fear and took a few steps towards her. “Okay, look, you’re outnumbered and we can’t let you threaten Lord Copper. So stop all this and come quietly and we can-” He blinked and she was gone. “Uhh... where’d she-”

His sentence was cut off as a lightning fast kick from a flying pegasus knocked him into the side of the building next to the street. He smacked off the stone facade and fell limp to the ground while Rainbow Dash landed right where he had been standing just before.

“I’m not playing around here,” Rainbow said.

The rest of the guards were shaking as they seemed to weigh the odds on fighting her and disobeying Lord Copper. However, Rainbow Dash wasn’t in the mood to waste any more time and let them come to a decision on their own. She was a blur as she shot towards the next two closest guards, simultaneously throwing a punch at one and a kick at the other. Both were knocked out by the singular blows and fell over limply onto the street. The rest of the guards now jumped at Rainbow Dash on instinct, trying to overpower and wrestle her to the ground with superior numbers.

Rainbow threw that plan right into the wood chipper when she grabbed the leg of the closest guard who had jumped at her and swung him over her shoulder using his own momentum and into one of the guards coming at her from the other side. That was two momentarily taken care of. The next closest she ducked under his attempted grab and headbutted him in the chest, making him wheeze and drop his head down, where she then elbowed him in the temple and knocked him out. Another guard each came at her right and left. Rainbow just rolled her eyes and flapped up, letting them run into each other, and then landed on the both of them and smashed them into the ground. The guard she had thrown earlier finally recovered and came at her with a swinging right hook. It didn’t compare at all to some of the attacks she had had to deal with on this adventure. She deftly moved her head out of the way and punched him straight between the eyes, finishing him with a spinning kick to the side of the head.

One last guard, blinded by adrenaline most likely, came rushing at her wildly. Rainbow Dash stepped inside his reach and brought her wing up, chopping him in the throat with it. The guard sputtered and coughed and Rainbow finished him off too with a strong elbow to the back of his head.

The only guard remaining was the one she had thrown the other into. And he was doing the smart thing and staying on the ground.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and started stalking towards Lord Copper again. “Your turn. Unless you want to talk?”

Lord Copper didn’t fancy either of those options. His lip quivered as he took a few steps back from Rainbow Dash, hearing some of the rumblings from the crowd, and their shocked voices at what Rainbow Dash just did to the guards, he got an idea. “C-Citizens of Oreville!” He yelled, looking out across the crowd. “H-Help me! This pegasus outsider is attacking me! They’re some kind of deranged lunatic, g-go get help! Get the constables! Protect me from her! Protect your lord!”

Rainbow Dash paused as the emotion of the crowd changed in an instant. A lot of ponies angrily began to converge on her position, mostly working stallions but even some mares, emboldened by the crowd, joined in. Oreville ponies up and down the street were forming a mob around the pegasus outsider, shouting and angrily staring her down. It’s not like she was in any real danger but they could make it impossible for her to get to Copper and do what she needed to do.

“No, stop!” Rainbow Dash shouted to the crowd. “I’m not the one you should be angry at, he is!” She pointed to Lord Copper. “Lord Copper is the bad guy here!”

“Preposterous!” Copper attempted to shout her down before anypony could think about it. “I am Lord Copper, lord of the Copper Section of Oreville, and I have done nothing but work for these ponies all my life! Why would they believe you over me?! You’re nothing but a dangerous outsider stirring up trouble and attempting an attack on an esteemed public figure!”

“That’s right!” A stallion said. “What do you think you’re doing, outsider!”

“We thought you were a diplomat from another country, why are you attacking Lord Copper?” An angry mare asked Rainbow.

“Y-You attacked Oreville ponies already!”

“What were you talking about with those bombs earlier? Are you going to blow something up?”

"Get out of here!”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, the crowd continuing to encroach on her. She looked through the mess of ponies and saw the smug face of Lord Copper smirking back at her. Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow and flexed her wings, powerfully flapping them once and sending wind through the crowd of ponies to temporarily startle them. She levitated off the ground, staying just barely at a level slightly above the heads of most ponies, and took in a deep breath.

“Listen to me!” She shouted with enough force to silence the crowd. “I know I’ve only been here for a short time, I know you’re scared, and I know you don’t really have a reason to trust me, but you need to. I’m here to help! Lord Copper is the one who’s behind all of this, all of the bombings, and he’s planning to commit even more right now!”

“That’s a lie!” Lord Copper interrupted, a frenzied scowl on his face.

Rainbow Dash ignored him. “I’m asking you all to believe in me, so I can put a stop to this and save Oreville! Look at me and look at him, and please, just put your trust in me today!”

Lord Copper clenched his jaw shut and looked around at the quieting down crowd in a panic, with some sweat dripping from his brow. To his horror, some of the ponies seemed to actually be considering her words. A lot of them still looked angry and unsure at her, but he didn’t want them thinking at all right now!

“Y-You’re not seriously thinking of believing her right now, are you?!” Lord Copper screamed at the crowd.

“I believe her!” A voice called out from deeper in the crowd.

Rainbow Dash, Lord Copper, and the rest of the ponies looked over as the crowed parted and a mare stepped forth.

“Eleanor...” Rainbow Dash whispered and came floating back to the ground.

“I believe Rainbow Dash!” Eleanor repeated for everypony to hear. “M-Most of you probably haven’t gotten to know her personally, but I have! She comforted me when my husband died, and I believe what she’s saying now!”

“So do I!” Another voice called from the crowd and Nurse Abernathy pushed her way through it. “If it wasn’t for Rainbow Dash, Chief Constable Barnaby would be dead right now. She risked her life and got hurt to save him, there’s no way she’s lying about this now!”

“Abernathy...” Rainbow smiled, the faith of the two mares warming her heart.

The attitude of the crowd shifted once again, and now most ponies were looking in Lord Copper’s direction.

He began to sweat even more. “T-This... y-you can’t...”

Rainbow Dash blew a breath of air out her nose as she narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s over, dude. Tell me where those bombs are right now so we can end this.”

“I-” Lord Copper started.

But he was immediately cut off as a blaring siren began to ring throughout the streets. It was deafening and it came from all around them, the entire Copper Section was being drowned out by the siren. Ponies looked around in confusion and fear, worried that maybe another bomb had gone off or something else had happened. Both Lord Copper and Rainbow Dash were completely surprised as well.

“The emergency alert siren... but-” Lord Copper said, his eyes then narrowed. “Lord Silver. But why?”

The siren shortly cut off but then a crackling noise like from an old speaker buzzed on and the air was filled with static.

Bzzt!

“Hello, Copper Section,” A voice spoke through the streets. “This is Administrator Darren, direct subordinate to Lord Silver. This is an emergency broadcast to inform you that lockdown of the Copper Section is commencing. The trams will be taken offline, tunnels leading to and from Copper Section are closing as I speak, and the entrances to the mines are being closed as well. Please calmly return to your homes and wait until lockdown has been lifted, thank you.”

Lord Copper’s eyes widened in shock and he once more looked at his watch, the seconds and minutes continuing to pass by.

Worst Case Scenario

Down in the mines, Barnaby and the others had no idea what was going on just yet. He in particular had been far too preoccupied with trying to find the bombs he and Rainbow knew Lord Copper had placed. Unfortunately they hadn’t had any luck yet. Wherever those bombs were they were well-hidden. It didn’t make any sense to Barnaby, Copper’s cronies shouldn’t have had so much time to find places to hide all the bombs they could’ve made. But everypony had reported on finding nothing. Not in the most structurally important parts of the mine, or the new tunnels, or anywhere in the staging area, or anywhere else. The phantom bombs had so far escaped both the constables and miners trying to find them.

Barnaby was riding one of the trams right now into a new area of the mines nopony had checked yet. The tram drivers had been some of the few workers down here who Crom didn’t have evacuate, since they needed them. The four other constables Barnaby had brought along were standing in the same car as him, all of them nervous and worried. The Chief Constable was feeling the same way, but just not showing it to make things worse.

The tram came to its next station and Barnaby and the other constables poured out of it. They quickly fanned out to all the nearby tunnels, most of the area completely devoid of other ponies after being evacuated.

“Keep your eyes sharp!” Barnaby shouted. “We need to find these bombs, there’s no time!”

He said that but in truth he wasn’t sure if they were going to be anymore successful than they already had been. Barnaby quickly jogged down the tunnel closest to him, checking every alcove and every spot a bomb could be hiding before reaching the end, where a smaller elevator went down a mineshaft. Still nothing here but there could be something placed at the bottom of the mineshaft or in the tunnel it led to. Barnaby stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button to lower himself down.

In the meantime he turned on his radio to reach out to Crom and see if he was having luck.

“Crom? You hear me? Have you had any luck finding the bombs?” Barnaby asked.

Bzzt!

“Hey, Barnaby, yeah I read you loud and clear. But we haven’t found nothing yet. And I mean nothing. We’ve been canvassing the whole darn place, checking everywhere they could’ve put a bomb, but we haven’t found any.”

Barnaby bit his lip and pounded a hoof against the frame of the elevator. “We know they’re down here, there must be something we’re missing, or maybe they were all placed in one spot we haven’t been to yet.”

“Maybe. That’d be a monster of an explosion if that happened.”

“Right now I’m in-” he looked at a sign on the elevator. “Area 3-Z. I can take the tram to Area 4 once I’m done here.”

“Good luck... how much time left do you think we have?”

“I don’t know. Rainbow Dash contacted me earlier and said she found Lord Copper but I haven’t heard from her since. It sounded like she was somewhere with a lot of ponies around them, I’m sure he’s planning something so if we’re lucky then maybe the bombs aren’t planned to go off for a while longer.”

“I’m gonna need a stiff drink after this...”

“You and me both.”

Barnaby turned off his radio and sighed. A moment later the elevator came to a stop and he stepped out and into the tunnel it led to. There was fresh equipment and tools that had been dropped all over by ponies who had recently evacuated, along with minecarts full of harvested ore and half-filled crates that would normally be brought back up by the elevator. Barnaby checked every single crate and cart to make sure he wasn’t missing a hidden bomb. The one positive in this situation was the evenly spaced lightbulbs on the ceiling of the tunnel. If there was less light down here he’d be in trouble.

There was a small supply closet down here where a batch of TNT was stored but not an actual bomb. There was a radio station that had been left on but nothing else was around it. There was a barrel full of pickaxes that he rooted around in to see if anything was hidden at the bottom. There was a tarp on the ground that he ripped up to see if anything was hiding beneath it.

In the end though it all came to nothing.

Barnaby angrily kicked over a bucket and watched as the rocks inside scattered across the ground. “Why can’t I find anything?!” Sweat was collecting beneath his helmet and he had to lift a shaky hoof up to wipe some of it away. “Darn it... what’s the answer?”

Finished down in this tunnel, he quickly made his way back to the elevator. The entire time a swarm of negative thoughts and ideas were passing through his mind. Something was wrong. They should’ve been able to find the bombs by now with how many ponies were looking for them and with Crom’s expert knowledge.

Once he finished riding the elevator he started going back to the tram. There wasn’t much distance to backtrot over and he ended up being there before any of the other constables were back. Since it would be pointless to go down any of the other tunnels, Barnaby just scowled and hopped up onto the platform, pacing about in front of the tram. The mines were huge but that also meant that the ponies who had planted the bombs couldn’t have gone too far into them before getting back out before most miners had come in for the day.

Maybe he should have brought more constables along even if it would’ve taken a little extra time to gather them all?

Maybe he shouldn’t have had Crom evacuate most of the miners and had them help look for bombs too?

Maybe there was something else he was forgetting or missing when it came to what Lord Copper had done?

As he was pacing, a buzzing noise suddenly came from his radio.

“Rainbow Dash?” Barnaby wondered aloud and flipped on his radio to frequency 1. “Hello, Rainbow Dash? Have you learned anything new?”

“Not quite,” Rainbow said as she scowled across the way at the frantic Lord Copper. “But something’s going on up here. Lord Silver had Copper Section placed under lockdown, I don’t know why though, but the entrances and exits and the mines are totally sealed off now. But anyways, Copper is totally freaking out about it and I’m about to find out why. I’ll call you right back real soon.”

Meanwhile Lord Copper was indeed having a freakout.

“No, no, this can’t be happening. Why is this happening? I need to get into the mines right now!” He loudly said.

The last guard of his that was still conscious nervously looked around at the crowd and Rainbow Dash. “S-Sir, we need to-”

“Shut up!” Lord Copper screamed at him. “Don’t say a word!”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash said as she finally flew right to Lord Copper and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t know if you’re responsible for this lockdown too or whatever and honestly I don’t care! Tell me where the bombs are!”

“Y-You’re talking crazy...” Lord Copper’s eyes darted around, refusing to directly look at her. “J-Just let me go, I need to i-inspect the mines, it’s very important!”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “Just what are you playing at? And the mines are closed, you’re not getting down there.”

He looked at his watch and his face went white as if finally realizing something. “This can’t be happening... this shouldn’t be happening like this. Y-You need to let me go!”

Rainbow noticed how his demeanor changed as soon as she saw his watch. “You... you already...” Her eyes widened and she started shaking him back and forth. “Copper! How much time is left?! How much time?!”

“Why... why lockdown? Why did you and Barnaby have to do this?” He kept whimpering in her grip.

Before Rainbow could open her mouth again, panicked voices came from all around her. The former mob of ponies was now turning into a frightened crowd again. They didn’t know what to do after the announcement and with what Copper and Rainbow Dash had been speaking about. And especially after what they had all heard Lord Copper just now yelling about. Rainbow saw the confused faces of Eleanor and Abernathy, the both of them looking to her for answers, and she just didn’t have any to give.

“Get to the mines, I have to get to the mines, everypony is in danger,” Lord Copper said, actually genuinely crying slightly now.

Rainbow Dash dropped her hooves from his collar and scowled at him. “You put new bombs in the mines didn’t you? Barnaby hasn’t found them yet or he would’ve contacted me. Tell me where they are so I can tell him.”

Lord Copper whined, shaking his head. “None of this was supposed to happen. I-I didn’t mean to...”

“Just tell me!” Rainbow roared, scaring the crowd too.

“I didn’t... I’m not the one... I-I almost died too, remember?” He tried to convince her, still pulling out the same old story even though he probably knew as well that it wasn’t going to work with her.

Rainbow Dash slapped him, making him wince and hold a hoof up to his cheek. “Enough of that! Come clean and let’s try and set things right!”

Lord Copper froze. He looked at his watch and shook his head. “It’s too late. It’s already over.”

“How much-” she grit her teeth and grabbed his hoof, looking at the watch. “How much time is left, Copper? Just give me a solid answer and we can stop this! If you tell me where they are, maybe Barnaby and the others can stop them in time!”

Tears fell down Lord Copper’s cheeks as he sniffled. “There’s no time left.” He pointed at the second hand of the watch as it started a new revolution around the face of the clock. “They’re about to go off. Why didn’t you just let me past? Why didn’t you let me go down to the mines?” He cried some more.

Rainbow Dash held back from outright decking him as she turned on her radio again to try and reach Barnaby. “Where are the bombs, Copper?!”

He looked at her with empty eyes and then lowered his head, staring at the ground. “The trams. Bombs were attached to the undersides of every tram in the mines.”

A buzz came from the radio as the line opened and Rainbow shook as she yelled into the microphone. “Barnaby! Barnaby, listen to me right now!”

The other constables he had brought with him still hadn’t gotten back from their tunnels. Though he doubted they’d come back with any good news even when they did. It left Barnaby alone on the platform, the tram right in front of him with only its confused and in the dark driver around. His hoof was impatiently tapping on the wooden platform, whether because of his slow constables or annoyance at his own failure he wasn’t sure. He had half a mind to get in the tram and tell the driver to just go now so he could search more.

Bzzt!

Barnaby jumped a bit in surprise and looked at his radio and flipped it on. Maybe Rainbow Dash had gotten something out of Lord Copper. “Rai-”

“Barnaby! Barnaby, listen to me right now!”

His ears perked up at how loudly she was yelling and just how scared she sounded. “Rainbow Dash? What is it? Did you learn something from Lord Copper?”

“Barnaby, you have to get out of the mines now! Tell everypony they have to get out of there, there’s no more time! The bombs are under the trams and they’re going to blow now!”

The Chief Constable of Oreville didn’t answer her. His heartbeat didn’t even increase for the moment. His mouth was stuck halfway open in stoic realization as he blinked and the world seemed to come back into focus around him. With a sharp gasp of air he ran to the edge of the platform and jumped off onto the track, directly in front of the tram. The driver saw him and stood up from his seat, trying to see out the window at what the hay Barnaby was doing.

“Barnaby? Barnaby?!”

He ducked his head under the metal casing of the tram and looked at the undercarriage. Nestled among some of the metal struts and axles were a series of boxes with wires interconnecting all of them and a small clock in the middle. The second hand was just about to reach 12.

“Oh.”

An intense wave of pressure and heat was the last thing he ever felt.

Collapse

A fiery explosion tore apart the tram and spread through every inch of the station before the fireballs spread into the surrounding tunnel, showing absolutely no signs of stopping. The tunnels were the perfect enclosed place for the fires to grow and keep burning as they sucked up all the air and ignited the dust in the mines. This was no mere blast like the first bomb. This was a violent, deadly inferno that was tearing through the mines and only growing stronger until it exhausted all the available oxygen. The rock walls of the tunnels were cracked and weakened, all the wooden and metal supports were either burned or blown away, and the explosion and resulting fireball caused permanent, unfixable devastation to the mines under Copper Section.

And it was only one of many identical explosions that all happened at the same time.

Everywhere in the mines, the trams exploded and tore apart the mine around them while fiery death spread through the tunnels. Miners and constables both were consumed—some of them not even getting the chance to scream. Caches of TNT that were being held for blasting only created more explosions and destruction when the initial fireballs reached them. The Copper Section mines were being utterly destroyed.

Crom felt it before he heard anything. A rumble and a shaking that went through the entire tunnel around him before a crack opened up in the ceiling and a pebble dropped onto his nose. A wave of hot air came gushing in from behind him and he turned around to watch as a bright light was pouring from the tunnel he had just traveled down.

Right before the fireball came bursting around the corner as well.

He had just enough time to close his eyes before he was burned away. The other miners that had been with him and at the nearby tunnels didn’t fare any better.

There was so much damage to the mines that the explosions and fierce fireballs were causing cave-ins and entire tunnels to collapse. That had one side-effect of at least snuffing out some of the fires but the sheer force of the collapses, the weight of all the rock crashing down, the lack of support now in so much of the mines, caused an even worse problem. The entire system of tunnels started to collapse in on itself. And that spelled a very, very, big problem for the city above. The foundation of bedrock above the mines was now with less support while still trying to carry the buildings and mountain above it. Fissures and cracks ran through the ground, threatening to make the entire city of Copper Section fall apart and sink. Streets wavered, pavement shattered as huge cracks and faults opened up, buildings wobbled, some shot up or depressed into the ground. A skyscraper had all of its windows shatter in an instant as the building shifted just an inch.

And meanwhile cracks climbed up and up the walls of the massive mountain cavern. Stalactites hanging in the ceiling shook while dust and small rocks fell from them. The lighting system flickered on and off and some lights as well fell loose and shattered on the streets below. The rumbling terror was spreading throughout all of the Copper Section and even into other parts of Oreville.

At last down below, one of the fireballs reached the mine’s staging area and spread its haunting flames all throughout. Burning and immolating every little building that had been set up by the miners of Oreville until it reached the huge stockpile of TNT that was kept there.

Once it did, an explosion that made all the others so far look like mere whimpers erupted in the mines. The entire staging area was obliterated, the roof of the cavern expanded upwards and created a bulge like a volcano trying to erupt in the ground above. But the flames had another way to go too… they shot through the tunnels towards the elevators and fired up the shafts before pouring out into the building and open air of the Copper Section’s street level, and devoured dozens of Silver Section guards, miners, and other ponies around the large office building and freight elevators that led down into the mines.

Now not contained in the narrow confines of a tunnel, the explosion flowered again as the flames blew apart the mine building as if a huge bomb had been placed inside it the whole time as well. Burning debris flew for hundreds of feet in every direction, damaging more buildings and putting dozens, hundreds, of other ponies in danger. The huge bonfire continued to burn in that spot that it emerged from the mines, visible to ponies across the entire city. Everything around it was just gone.

Rainbow Dash blinked in disbelief and horror at what she was witnessing even as a crack snaked through the pavement right by her hooves. Her radio was dead silent. Lord Copper gripped his mane in his hooves so tightly it looked like he was about to yank it all out. His eyes were wet with fresh tears.

And the other ponies screamed.

The groaning sound of a huge skyscraper twisting as a crack shot right through its midsection made Rainbow Dash look up at it and finally brought her back to reality.

Her sharp eyes turned to Lord Copper but before she could say anything she was interrupted. The emergency siren began to blare again and a voice once more spoke over the surprisingly still working system. But it wasn’t the same voice as before.

“Emergency. Emergency. This is a recorded message. Dangerous seismic activity detected. Please calmly evacuate the city to the surface. Go to designated exits across the city and take your elevators to your safe zones. Please remain calm. Please remain calm. Evacuate the city.”

After ten seconds the message started to repeat again. The crowd of ponies around her started to run, dispersing across the streets and city in a panic. There was nothing “calm” about any of this. Eleanor and Abernathy were both washed away by the crowd too.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen...” Lord Copper cried again.

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw as she reached down and tore off her radio, and her ID card along with it, throwing them to the ground. “Why? Why would you do any of this? Barnaby is… Crom… everypony else down there… and now...”

“I-It’s not my fault… the bombs were never supposed to go off!” Copper said.

“Not. Your. Fault?!” Rainbow roared and jumped on him, pushing him to the ground and slamming her front hooves beside his head. “Why did you even plant those bombs in the first place?! And look around you! The entire city is collapsing! How many ponies are… have already...” She quivered as tears started to fall from her eyes. “Dang it… just why?”

“I didn’t want anypony to get hurt… I didn’t want Oreville to get hurt! Everything I’ve done has been to make Oreville better,” Lord Copper whimpered. “This was supposed to bring everypony together. And to change things here...”

“By blowing things up?!”

Lord Copper swiftly shook his head. “I told you they weren’t supposed to go off. I-I was going to the mines to stop them and deactivate the bombs myself… that’s why I just wanted to get away from you and get down there.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide in realization. “You were going to play the hero. You were going to act like you had just discovered and prevented a huge disaster.” She backed up off of him and sat down, lifting a tired hoof to her forehead. “I don’t understand… you’re already Lord Copper. Oreville was already such a nice place and it was just growing even bigger. To make Oreville better?” She narrowed her eyes at him. “How?”

“T-This system is broken!” Lord Copper said as he stood back up, most of his guards were regaining consciousness as well and throngs of ponies were still running down the streets around the two of them. “A-All my life I’ll have nothing but being Lord Copper because of the way things work. But why? Lord Gold is senile and Gold Section doesn’t even contribute to anything anymore, neither does Silver Section or Lord Silver really. I’m the only pony who actually does anything important here! I’m the only one who ran and managed the section that gave life to Oreville! But I’d never be able to do anything more or improve things elsewhere because of this stupid three Lord system! If it was just me… if it was only me, I could rule over Oreville and bring out the best in it, expand us even more, make this city the shining example of pony greatness in the entire world!” He sniffed and looked past Rainbow Dash at the large smoking fire. “I-I needed something that would skyrocket my popularity, make me a true hero, something that everypony in Oreville—not just in Copper Section—would love and respect me for. Then I could lobby that popularity into convincing my ponies that one ruler would be better than three. One ruler who knew what he was doing and had their best interests in mind.”

“Their best interests,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically spat.

Lord Copper defensively cringed away. “I never wanted this. N-Nopony was ever supposed to be hurt… but the bombs needed to be real. The threat had to be real, ponies needed to know how much danger and destruction I had saved them from!”

Rainbow glared hard at him. “So you didn’t want to hurt anypony? Not even Dolph? Or his family? Or me and B-Barnaby when you tried to blow us up?”

“N-No—well, not really. I-I just needed Dolph and some of the ponies working under me to think I was ruthless and would hurt them. And the Chief Constable… y-you and him were dangerous. You suspected me. I-It was the only thing I could think of,” Lord Copper replied. “This is all so wrong… everything is over.”

“I was right about you,” Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her head. “You’re a stooge, not a real villain. An idiot with delusions of grandeur who tried to do something that was way too much for him. You’re not even really evil. You’re just a stupid, selfish, greedy, pony.” She blinked, feeling more defeated and depressed than anything. “Well look around you, Lord Copper, look where you’ve gotten yourself because of that selfishness and greed and pride. If you really cared about Oreville and the ponies here, you would’ve told me immediately where the bombs were when I confronted you. But you didn’t. You should’ve known it was over right then and there, with me here and Barnaby in the mines. But you just couldn’t face it.”

She looked around at the chaos in the Copper Section, one stalactite the size of a house broke off the cavern’s ceiling and crashed down to the street, obliterating a large part of it. Buildings continued to shift and the ground wobbled as the collapsing of the mines went on beneath them. More huge cracks crawled along the walls of the city, breaking huge chunks of rock free that crushed everything beneath them. And thousands and thousands of ponies still ran for safety. Rainbow knew she should be going out and trying to help them, in whatever meager way she could right now, but she couldn’t just leave Lord Copper either.

“Did you even really think about what you were doing and how dumb it was? I bet it didn’t even cross your mind,” Rainbow Dash said. “Barnaby and I were already suspicious of you, If you had oh so coincidentally found the bombs right before they went off we would’ve known it was you who planted them. Was your idea to just do a surprise inspection of the mines and act like what you were doing was normal?” Rainbow shook her head. “This is the kind of stupid plan I would come up with if I was a villain.”

“I-I wasn’t-”

“Some of your ponies who stole the TNT were even recognized. They didn’t even wear masks. How much of this did you actually think through? This was so short-sighted, and you said you wanted to be the rule of all of Oreville. That you’d be the best for the job,” Rainbow coldly scoffed and walked up to him, poking him in the chest with a blue hoof. “You’re scum.”

“I am not!” Copper yelled.

“You are!” Rainbow Dash shouted him down and made him shrink back. “You are, you are, you are!”

“I wanted things peaceful and better in Oreville for everypony!”

“Yeah, but you most of all,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“That’s not-”

“Shut up,” Rainbow cut him off. “I’m done talking with you. Now I’m going to talk to you.” She glared at him until she was sure he wasn’t going to interrupt her. “I don’t know if this whole place is going to collapse or not, but there are a lot of ponies in danger right now. I’m going to do what I can to help them and you’re coming with me. Even if it’s just a little bit, I’m going to have you make up for what you’ve done. Once this whole place is evacuated and the danger has passed we’re then going to go visit some important ponies.”

Lord Copper gulped as Rainbow continued. “That’s right, Lords Silver and Gold are going to be thrilled to see you again and hear about what you’ve done. You’re going to come clean about absolutely everything. Every. Last. Thing. You did this for Oreville? You want to make it a better place? Well congratulations, cause you’re going to get to do that for the rest of your miserable life.”

A skyscraper cracked near its foundation, almost threatening to fall over just a few streets away from them. Rainbow Dash grimaced and grabbed Lord Copper by the collar once more. His guards now didn’t seem to know what to do either but Rainbow doubted they’d attempt to stop her. After all they were in just as much danger as anypony else right now.

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked at the streams of ponies running past her to wherever the emergency exits were. “Alright, we’re gonna-”

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash froze as the light, chipper voice reached her ears. That happy and dreadfully familiar voice that shouldn’t be here. Suddenly the collapsing city and all the scared ponies around her didn’t seem so pressing. Suddenly she found herself accidentally letting go of Lord Copper in shock. Suddenly her blood turned cold and her face went as white as a ghost. Lord Copper and his guards were looking at her, and behind her at the source of the voice, in confusion. They didn’t know. They didn’t understand.

“No way,” Rainbow Dash said as she glacially turned around and looked at the pink pony that was standing in the middle of a mob rushing past her. She seemed totally apathetic to everything going on around her. “There’s just no way.”

Heartless smiled brightly at Rainbow Dash and clasped her hooves in front of her chest. “I’m so happy to see you again!”

Chase

“I don’t think it’s safe to be down here anymore,” Malthus said as he, his gang, Jarvis, and a number of other security ponies working under Lord Copper stood gathered in a secret part of the sewers close to the Copper Section administration building.

“Judging by those explosions we felt I doubt it’s safe to be anywhere right now. Especially for us,” Jarvis said as he exasperatedly rubbed at his forehead.

“So something happened to that moron boss of yours? There must have been something that kept him from the bombs. Or he screwed up on deactivating them,” Malthus snorted.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s dead, yeah,” Jarvis nodded. “Obviously things didn’t go as planned and now… I can’t even imagine the devastation.”

“Lucky this place didn’t cave-in or get destroyed...” Malthus said.

He was right about that, Jarvis thought as he looked around. When the explosions happened, this hideout was rocked heavily and all of them were tossed around. Pipes broke apart and cracks formed in the ceiling while the ponies caught their bearings. Jarvis immediately knew what had happened and ever since he had been internally debating exactly what they should do. His hope was they could just get out of here and nopony would ever know what they had done. But he didn’t want to be seen with Malthus and his gang. And if Lord Copper was still alive but Jarvis ditched him… that could cause even more problems. A lone radio sat in this sewer-hideout with them. Lord Copper was originally going to use it to communicate with them when things were over and done with. Now he was expecting to hear some very bad news from it if Lord Copper ever did contact them over it.

“I’d say we’re even luckier that this thing didn’t explode when all those quakes started,” one of Malthus’s gang members said as he pointed at a box on the floor.

Jarvis looked down at it too. An extra bomb. After all the bombs they made with the three crates worth of TNT and all the trams they had wired, they had this one left over. Jarvis was wary being around it, for obvious reasons, but he figured there might be some use in keeping it as well. Maybe if Lord Copper got brought down for this he could hoof this bomb over to the authorities as evidence? Maybe get himself off without prison time of his own. Unlikely, but he’d hold out hope.

“Either way I think we should just leave,” Malthus said. “Being underground is going to be a death sentence here soon. Forget about everything else, I just want to survive.”

Jarvis had to admit he had a point. If all those bombs went off then not just the mines but a lot of the Copper Section above them was going to collapse at some point too. That went double for these sewers they were in. “Yeah… yeah, alright. We should get out of here, maybe hide in the administration building instead, or try and get out of Copper Section. In fact, Lord Copper has something just for that purpose. If things went bad for him he might try using it now.”

“Using what?” Malthus raised an eyebrow at Jarvis.

Jarvis was about to answer when the radio buzzed on.

Rainbow Dash and Heartless stared at each other—one with their face a twisted grimace of fear and confusion, the other one with a happy smile.

“How?” Rainbow Dash broke the silence again. “Y-You should be-”

“Dead? At the bottom of a whirlpool?” Heartless shrugged. “I told you it wouldn’t stop me for long. Nothing will.” She took a step forward and Rainbow took a step back. “I had to walk so far to find you again but now here you are in front of me. It’s wonderful.”

“W-What’s going on?” Lord Copper asked, looking back and forth between the pink and blue ponies.

“Shut up,” Rainbow Dash said to him. She didn’t know what to do now. Fighting Heartless was out of the question for a multitude of reasons, but now she couldn’t just run either. She still needed to make sure Lord Copper didn’t get away. And yet meanwhile the city was still falling apart around them all. Lord Copper’s guards had also all recovered and were starting to form up again so that was another issue.

“You know, no matter how far away you were your life was like a shining beacon of light that I could always follow. Even now surrounded by so many others you still outshine them all,” Heartless said.

“Yeah. I know. You’ve told me that kind of stuff before,” Rainbow bit her lip.

Heartless took another confident step forward. “You can’t run this time, Rainbow Dash. I don’t think there’s anywhere for you to go.”

“T-This pony is an outsider too, isn’t she?” Lord Copper said. “The two of you are-”

“I said shut up, I’m trying to think!” Rainbow Dash barked back at him.

“Oreville is falling apart! My Oreville! A-And it’s because of you not letting me go! I won’t stand for you continuing to treat me like this. T-Things aren’t over for me, they’re over for you!” He looked over at his security force. “W-Well?! Are you going to help your Lord or just stand there?”

Rainbow Dash shot an angry glare at them. “Go ahead! Try it again!”

Lord Copper sneered at her. “I haven’t lost. Nopony important truly yet knows what’s happened. As long as you don’t get out of here...”

“Oh for the love of-” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “You should know when to give up! I’m not letting you get away with this!”

“643,117.”

All eyes turned to the smiling figure of Heartless. Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion at the pink pony who had just been nonchalantly standing there.

Heartless smiled wider. “That’s how many lights there are in this place. Bright lights, dim lights, young lights, old lights, warm lights, cool lights.” Her eyes drifted to the ponies still stampeding through the streets just a few feet away from her. “Lights right next to me. And lights far away.” She then looked dead straight at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash. I’m not letting you get away this time. You can either come to me and let me feel and take the overwhelming, powerful, entrancing warmth of your life. Or… I can take the life one by one from the 643,117 other lights in here instead.”

Rainbow Dash stared in open-mouthed horror at her. Even Lord Copper and his guards caught onto what she was saying, and whether they believed she could or would do anything like that, they too were clearly disturbed by the pink pony.

Heartless lifted her right hoof and stretched it towards the crowd of ponies at her side, running by her without any awareness of what she was, and then slowly brought it around to point and beckon at Rainbow Dash. “It’s you or them, Rainbow Dash. Come to me.”

While Rainbow Dash’s mind was a mess of horrified thoughts and bad ideas that she was trying to think of for dealing with Heartless, Lord Copper was being much more proactive. Seeing how distracted Rainbow Dash was, he steadily inched away from her until he could make a break from it. The Lord of Copper Section turned and ran through the crowds in the opposite direction of where they were going. He pushed his way through them and started running down the street back to his building.

“H-Hey!” Rainbow Dash did a double-take as he went.

“Out of my way! Make way for your Lord, you specks!” Copper shouted as he fought through the crowd. His guards then looked at each other and nodded, running after him.

“Stop!” Rainbow flapped her wings and got ready to take off after him-

“Oh Rainbow Dash~ I’m waiting~” Heartless’s singing voice came from behind her.

Rainbow Dash looked back to see Heartless motioning towards the ponies running by her. “No! Don’t!”

“You know what will make me stop,” Heartless giggled and started walking towards Rainbow Dash again, her light white mane, speckled with pink like glitter, framed her smiling face. The big red heart outlined in black on her flanks bounced with each step.

“Why couldn’t you just stay in that whirlpool?” Rainbow gulped.

Heartless shrugged. “As long as you’re alive I’ll come after you. Your life calls out to me, and nothing is the same anymore. Ever since that first day we met and I felt how warm and powerful your life is, how greater it is than every other creature’s, I’ve needed you. I can’t even tell what it is that compels me—I’ve always been like this—but I know that now I truly desire something in a way I never have before. It was just instinct and boringly taking the life of other creatures around me just because it was nature and I enjoyed it before you. Now I have a passion. And all the other lives in the world can’t fulfill that.”

Rainbow Dash paused at Heartless’s words, a dangerous idea forming in her head. It was a dumb, reckless, idea that had the potential to backfire horrifically. So it was a really Rainbow Dash idea. She just had to play off what she knew about Heartless’s simple and single-minded nature. So Rainbow Dash licked her lips, stopped herself from wavering, threw back her mane, and plastered her most confident and self-assured grin on her face. “Heh, sorry Heartless but that’s not going to work on me. You’re not getting me today.”

Heartless tilted her head as the smile momentarily left her face, blinking a few times in confusion. “Why?”

“Think about it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You said it yourself how many ponies are in here. How long would it take you to actually chase them all done and get them? How many months? Meanwhile I’ll have flown so far away you’d never catch up to me again. So come on, we both know you’re not going to do that.” Rainbow smirked even more condescendingly at the pony. “So what’s it gonna be? Me or them?”

Inside her head she was hoping that Heartless would be so focused on the bait—so focused on Rainbow Dash—that she wouldn’t stop and think.

Please, please, please, please. Rainbow Dash thought and tried not to sweat.

Heartless actually frowned a bit and brought a hoof up to her forehead as if she was having a migraine. “But that’s… you can’t...”

“You think I’d care about it if you killed these ponies? While you’re doing that I’ll be halfway around the world.” Rainbow tried to appear as casual and apathetic about it as possible so Heartless wouldn’t figure out she was bluffing.

The pink mare groaned and held her head in her hooves. “Nggg...”

“Geez, Heartless, you sounded like you were so miserable after not seeing me for so long, can you really go even longer without seeing me again?” Rainbow taunted. “And seriously—what if one day while I’m out adventuring I bite off more than I can chew? What if I die and you lose me forever?”

Heartless looked up at her in sheer horror.

That felt good. To scare her for a change. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Well, Heartless?”

“That isn’t fair!” Heartless slammed a hoof on the ground and pouted. She was acting like a child throwing a tantrum as she stomped her hooves a few more times. “This isn’t fair, Rainbow Dash!”

“Tough break,” Rainbow snorted in derision. “I’ve got stuff to do and I don’t feel like entertaining a crazy monster like you.”

Heartless stopped stomping her hooves and stared at the ground. “Fine.” She said as she raised her head and smiled again like normal at Rainbow Dash. “Well, then of course I’m choosing you. So ready or not, here I come!” And she took off running towards Rainbow Dash.

“Oh crud,” Rainbow’s face fell and she flapped her wings to take to the air. She started flying over the crowd of ponies on the trail of Lord Copper, staying low so maybe Heartless wouldn’t get the idea to fly too, and so she could get to her target faster.

“Where are you going, Rainbow Dash?~”

Rainbow ignored the voice for now, knowing she would have to deal with Heartless sooner or later but not letting the pony get to her.

Meanwhile Lord Copper was frantically yelling into his radio while running after turning it on and contacting the one that was set up for Jarvis and Malthus.

“Jarvis! Malthus! Are you there?! Answer me right now!”

The buzzing voice of Jarvis came back through; “Boss? Is that-”

“Shut up and let me speak!” Lord Copper instantly cut him off. “I don’t care what your situation is like, I need you to get to my secret escape tunnel and help me! That stupid pegasus is after me! We’ll leave through my tunnel and regroup, I can fix all of this, things will be fine, but she’s still chasing after me for now. If she catches up to me I’ll need you to take care of her!”

“Y-Yes sir...”

“I don’t need any hesitation! Just get to the tunnel and get to the exit! I won’t have the time to wait up for you, just follow on your own! Is that clear?!”

“Crystal, sir. We’re on our way.”

“Good, bring everypony with you. This pegasus is dangerous,” Lord Copper said and switched off his radio.

Just in time to get tackled to the ground by that very pegasus.

“Argh!” Lord Copper yelled as Rainbow Dash landed on top of him and knocked him to the street, almost getting him trampled by the horde of Oreville ponies. “Why you little-”

Rainbow Dash put a hoof on the top of his head and pressed down to keep him pinned. “There’s no way I’m letting you get away so you can lie and get off the hook for this! You’re not going to ruin Oreville anymore! Barnaby would’ve wanted that, even after everything that’s happened, there might still be a chance for this city as long as you’re not in power.”

“I-I’m the only chance Oreville has!” Lord Copper yelled.

Right as he said that another stalactite fell from the ceiling and obliterated an apartment block on the street next to them.

Rainbow Dash flatly stared down at him. “You were saying?”

“Grr!” Lord Copper growled and tried to wriggle out from under her.

“Seriously, just give up and let me take you to Lord Silver and Lord Gold. It’s over for you. And now I’ve got a way, way worse thing to somehow deal with too. You heard her back there. Honestly she’s probably the reason the whole section went into lockdown, I bet she did something really bad that Lord Silver found out about and then...” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Anyways, enough talk! I’ve got you again and-”

This time it was Rainbow Dash who was tackled to the ground, by one of Lord Copper’s guards. She grunted in annoyance as the guard struggled to hold down her wings while they rolled around the cracked pavement in the street. At the same time most of the other guards were coming at her too. She managed to shoot out her powerful wings and throw his hooves off of her before headbutting him and kneeing him in the stomach to get him off her. Rainbow took a breath of air and stood up just to find herself surrounded again by Copper’s guards.

“Excellent work! Keep her at bay!” Lord Copper said as he scrambled to his hooves and took off running again. “Just for long enough for me to get to my secret escape tunnel!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the moron yelling about his “secret” escape tunnel before focusing her attention back on the guards. “You guys really want to do this again? Don’t you even care about what he’s done to your city?”

“What’s an outsider’s opinion on Oreville worth?” A guard sporting a black eye said to her while glowering.

“After what’s happened we’re done for if Lord Copper is brought to justice,” another said.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and let out a disgusted huff. “So selfishness is just the name of the game for you ponies, is it? Guess I should’ve figured that anypony who sided with him in the first place would be thinking that way.” She cracked her hooves and got ready to fight.

“Excuse me, you’re in my way,” Heartless said to one of the guards on the outside of the circle and lightly touched his cheek.

“Hrk!” His body seized up and his eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed dead onto the street in an instant.

The other guards screamed in fright and backed away from her as Rainbow Dash paled. The two sides about to fight each other now practically formed a united front facing against Heartless.

“W-What did she just do to Carmichael?!” One guard shouted.

“He’s dead!” Another yelled, looking at the fallen guard’s face.

Heartless just smiled. “And the rest of you will be too if you don’t get out of my way.”

“Ahh!” One of the guards who had spoken to Rainbow Dash earlier ran away, melting into the crowd of ponies trying to get out of Copper Section.

“Run!” Another decided that was the right idea and the rest followed him.

So much for a united front.

“Are you going to try and fly away like back at that place over the whirlpool?” Heartless asked Rainbow Dash. “There doesn’t seem to be an easy way for you to escape from me here. Even if you do try, I’ll catch you at this point.”

Rainbow Dash backed away, her hoof nudged a rock that had fallen from the roof of the cavern. “I’m not the type to give up.”

She kicked up the rock and smacked it with her wing straight at Heartless’s head.

Most any other pony would’ve been knocked out, fallen down, their skull cracked and blood pouring down their face. Heartless took the blow like she took a weak punch or a tennis ball thrown at her. It was like she didn’t even feel the rock at all as her head slightly snapped back while the rock bounced off her onto the street. There was only the slightest discoloration on her forehead that quickly changed back to her normal pink as her body healed instantly.

Heartless kept on smiling. “I like that about you.”

“You don’t give up either...” Rainbow muttered. For every step Heartless took forward Rainbow Dash took one back. But she couldn’t just mirror the pony for long, time just wasn’t on her side.

“I think I could’ve just grabbed you from behind when I made it here but the moment I really saw you I was just overwhelmed with joy. I had to say hello,” Heartless said.

“Thanks for the courtesy.”

“That’s all though. You’re so strong I get the feeling that even if I did wrap you up in a big hug you’d still fight so much longer than any other pony even as I drained every little ounce of life and warmth from you,” Heartless smiled. “Maybe you’d even get away. So what’s the problem with saying hi before that happens?”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how messed up you are,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

A resounding crack shot through the mountain cavern—Heartless ignored it but Rainbow Dash briefly glanced up to see the tip of a great stalactite about to break off and fall to the street. Rainbow Dash bit her tongue and deftly started backing away and to the side. Heartless of course started to mimic her without a second thought.

“You wouldn’t be the first to try,” Heartless giggled. “I still don’t really get any of it, and I stop paying attention when anypony starts lecturing me, or just kill them.”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I wish I could lock you somewhere you’d never get out of so you could never hurt anypony again.”

“Hurt, hurt, hurt. Ponies are just warm lights and I take those warm lights for myself, I don’t understand what you mean by hurting or what’s so wrong when they stop shining. It makes me feel good, how can it be bad?” Heartless said.

“You know, everything you say makes me so mad I just want to fly at you and start pummeling you in the face, stupid as that would be.” Rainbow Dash said. “But unfortunately for you, I’ve got something else to do. I’ll see you later.”

“What do you mean?”

Rainbow didn’t answer as another crack thundered through the cavern and the end of the stalactite broke off, falling directly towards the two of them. Rainbow Dash jumped backwards and Heartless noticed the approaching shadow on the ground.

“Hm?” She said right as the massive chunk of rock landed on her with enough force to obliterate most of the pavement on the street and shatter the rock itself, sending bits and pieces everywhere and even knocking over a few other nearby ponies.

Rainbow coughed and stood up, looking at the devastated street and pile of rocks that was formerly a stalactite right where Heartless had been standing. And as much as she hated to think—she knew this wouldn’t keep Heartless down for long. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and turned around to fly off on the trail of Lord Copper. Secret escape tunnel? He had to have the entrance to it hidden somewhere back in his building.

As she left, the pile of rocks started moving and a pink hoof knocked some of the rubble away to free itself…

Lord Copper reached his administrative building only to see what a poor state it was in now. The front facade of the building was split in two and the glass doors had shattered completely, rubble sat everywhere while cracks spread from the bottom of the building to the top. To his dismay it looked like the entire top floor had even collapsed in on itself. But that didn’t matter now, as long as he was alive it was okay. This could all be fixed.

He ran inside the lobby—the front desk was completely buried under another pile of rubble as part of the second floor had also seemingly collapsed on top of it. He paid it no mind and ran down a lopsided corridor, the lights were flickering in it and cracks ran across the walls and ceilings. As he passed a dark doorway he heard a pony’s voice call out from it:

“H-Hey, help! Somepony help me!”

“Shut up! Help yourself!” Lord Copper yelled and ran right by.

Lord Copper knew exactly where he was going at least, drilling this escape route into his mind dozens of times just in case he ever actually needed it. He hated the fact that he did but it was sure paying dividends right now. A secret, fortified tunnel beneath his building that led to old abandoned mines and further tunnels that would take him south of the main Copper Section mountain and outside. It was a grave danger to use them right now, who knows if they were damaged or the tunnels still intact at all after the explosions and quakes, but if he could just lose that infernal pegasus and get to Gold Section it was okay. A problem though was that while he knew the route through the old mining tunnels in his head he had never actually gone all the way through them. That may cause issues in the future if something unexpected came up but Lord Copper wasn’t going to dwell on it for now.

He reached the back of his building and the purposefully out of the way door to the basement. The door had been damaged by all the movement so he had to strain to yank it open but he was eventually able to pass through. A quick, and fairly unsafe, trot down the stairs brought him to a basement that was on the books used as storage for old records. And sure enough there were loads of filing cabinets down here, many of which had fallen over and spilled their contents onto the ground, making it a pain for Lord Copper to travel over them.

“Stupid things!” He shouted, his voice echoing up out of the basement.

At the back of the basement though were three doors placed along an indent in the wall. Two were unlocked and led to dusty supply closets. One was locked and no janitor, guard, or any other worker in this building had the key to it.

Only Lord Copper did as he pulled the key from one of his pockets and opened up the door with a grin on his face. He flipped the light switch on on the other side and was rewarded with a steel-beam reinforced tunnel and staircase waiting for him. He was so exuberant and rushing that he didn’t even close the door behind him when he ran down the stairs.

Reaching the bottom he emerged into the rocky interior of a mine that had been abandoned more than a century ago. Totally forgotten about, partially thanks to him expunging most of the records on it. Dust was everywhere and cracks and broken off pieces of rock that probably weren’t there before today decorated the mine, but none of the tunnels leading out of it had caved in. The lights going down the tunnel still worked as well thanks to them being part of a far newer electrical system he had set up when he refurbished this place for his own uses. They were connected to that first switch he had flipped when he opened the door.

Lord Copper sighed in relief. “Finally things are looking up.”

This part of the mine was rather large and the reason for it was plain to see when one looked at the side of it opposite the tunnels: dozens of old minecarts lay on several rows of tracks that ended here. This place used to either be some sort of depot or station for minecarts to be stored in. Lots of them still had rusty shovels, buckets, and pickaxes lying inside them. They were an older style but still basically the same as any modern minecart, with a lever at the front that when pulled either right or left could slightly steer it or when pulled towards the minecart activated the brakes. Each cart on the tracks also had wooden blocks placed in front of their wheels to keep them from sliding down the tracks on their own.

“Time to get out of here,” Lord Copper said and looked at the four tunnels and tracks that left the depot. “Second to the left… that’s it.”

He ran over to the first minecart on the second line and removed the wooden blocks, the wheels creaked quite a bit but a slight push from Lord Copper and a full turn later and they were good to go. With a happy grin he hopped right in and started riding it down the tracks to freedom. As soon as his cart reached the tunnel the tracks dipped slightly and he sped up. He’d be out of here in no time.

Rainbow Dash flew like a rocket into Lord Copper’s building and hovered in the middle of his lobby. The place was wrecked and she seriously had no idea where he might’ve gone in here. If it was an escape tunnel then probably down somewhere but she didn’t know where the entry to the basement or whatever in this place was.

“Tch. Come on, come on,” she flew around the lobby a bit, looking for hoofprints or any other clues.

“Stupid things!”

Rainbow Dash’s ears shot up as she heard his voice echo from deeper in the building. She grinned and flew down the hallway she was sure his shout came from.

“H-Help!”

Rainbow Dash halted in midair and backed up a few spaces, sure she heard another pony calling from help from a dark room along the hall. “Yo, somepony in there? Are you in trouble?” She floated into the room and reached along the wall looking for a light switch.

When she finally managed to turn it on and illuminate the room she saw a destroyed office and a stallion lying underneath a fallen bookcase.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash flew down to him and started lifting the bookcase off of the unfortunate pony. “You’re gonna be alright!”

“T-Thank you,” the stallion said. “I-I thought nopony was going to come for me...”

“Nothing to worry about anymore, dude, just get to one of the emergency exits as fast as you can. You can still move, right?” She asked as she managed to lift the bookcase just enough for him to wriggle out from under it.

The stallion nodded and pulled himself free. “Y-Yes, I just didn’t have the strength to get the bookcase off me on my own...”

Rainbow Dash grunted and let the bookcase fall back down. “Whew… careful outside too okay?” She started to leave the room before pausing. “Oh! And if you see any creepy smiling pink mares, take my advice and go the other direction.”

“Um… I will. Thank you,” the stallion smiled.

Rainbow Dash grinned and saluted to him before zooming on out and following Lord Copper once more. She was pretty sure she could hear a noise like hooves clanging on metal, or something metal being moved, and she followed that far into the building until she reached a half open door. She had to drop down and squeeze past it but then got right back to flying down into the basement. Luckily now things were a lot easier for her, as she could spy a trail of pushed aside filing cabinets on the floor and an open door with a slight light emitting from it at the back of the large room.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash flew to the door and glided right down the small tunnel until she came out at the bottom, looking around at the mine and all the tunnels leading off to who knows where. She didn’t see her target just yet though. “Which one?”

Rainbow Dash walked towards the tunnels and closed her eyes, turning her head to the side and focusing her ears on them.

The small sound of a rolling minecart came back to her.

Rainbow Dash looked at the second tunnel from the left and nodded. She didn’t need any minecart, flying would be faster. With a powerful flap of her wings she shot into the tunnel with enough force to kick up a storm of dust behind her.

A few short minutes later and the exhausted group of Jarvis, Malthus, and the rest had all arrived at the minecart depot too after sprinting over here.

“Well he definitely didn’t wait for us...” Malthus panted. He then glared at Jarvis. “And what did you bring that thing for anyways?”

Jarvis moved the bomb on his back to make it a little more comfortable. “It could be useful and I’m not letting this thing out of my sight.”

Malthus shook his head. “Whatever. Which tunnel?”

Jarvis bit his lip.

“Well?” Malthus asked.

“I don’t know which one,” Jarvis answered.

“Oh you cannot be serious right now!”

“He never gave me any other details on this escape route of his, okay?!” Jarvis yelled back. “Forget it, let’s just choose one and go, everypony else can cover the other tunnels.”

“Fine!” Malthus angrily said and walked over to the far-right track of carts. “You and me in this first minecart then.”

Jarvis nodded and then looked at his subordinates and the few members of Malthus’s gang left. “The rest of you follow right behind us, make sure at least one of you covers each tunnel.”

“Yes, sir!” His subordinates saluted.

Jarvis and Malthus both got in their minecart together, with Jarvis carefully placing the bomb down and Malthus grabbing an old shovel just in case he needed it. Malthus knocked the wooden blocks away with the shovel and soon enough the two of them were on their way as well. The leftover guards then got into gear, preparing to separate into pairs and follow. Malthus’s gang ponies on the other hoof weren’t quite as enthusiastic.

“Geez… we really doing this too after everything?” One of them said, all three of them closer by the stairs leading back up to the basement.

A guard overheard him and glared over at the goons. “Yes, now—hey, who’s that behind you?”

The thug who had spoken started to looked over his shoulder before a hoof touched the back of his head. Without even a gasp he fell dead to the ground.

The other thugs backed away and the guards looked at the pink pony who had just appeared in shock.

Heartless smiled back at all of them. “More ponies getting in the way of me and Rainbow Dash? Seems everywhere I go it’s like that.”

Lucky Break

Lord Copper’s minecart sped through the tunnels like a bullet, going so fast he was actually a little bit scared. He really didn’t know how to properly use this thing and when to apply the brakes and when to just let the cart glide freely along the tracks. Thankfully so far he hadn’t hit any sharp turns but he was worried that if any part of the tracks were in poor condition he would be going too fast to stop in time.

“S-Stupid tunnel, I should’ve done more work on you,” Lord Copper said as he clung onto the edge of the minecart for dear life.

Though in reality he was just incredibly angry that he had to use his last resort escape tunnel at all. That pegasus, and Barnaby too, they had ruined everything. All of this was their fault, if they hadn’t stuck their noses in his business, if she hadn’t stopped him from getting to the mines, nopony would’ve been hurt and Copper Section wouldn’t be falling apart. All. Their. Fault. Not his, theirs. His jaw clenched in anger the more he thought about it, his wonderful city of Oreville, that he loved, that he should be on the fast-track to ruling and making even better, was now in this sorry state. And the poor ponies living there too, even if some had proven to be ungrateful trash, were suffering.

One day he’d fix all of this. He wasn’t a villain or a stooge or a selfish idiot, he just knew what was best for Oreville and didn’t want it to be held back by anything. That pegasus was wrong about him.

One day everypony in Oreville will love him just like they should.

The minecart came out of the narrow tunnel it was in and started speeding through an elaborate honeycomb of a mine, with lots of wide open spaces, treacherous holes, and other tracks that were now visible going through other areas. Bridges, both natural and pony made, arced around the open mine and had old tracks running over them. None of them were in use now though aside from his, but he wondered just how many times they criss-crossed and met each other like this. From the old plans of this mine he had studied there were lots of open caverns and parts where two or more tracks ran parallel to each other. A number of switches that would change your cart’s track if they were flipped also stood up between the tracks every now and then. He didn’t need to bother with those though, sticking on this track was all he needed.

His cart went once more into its own separate tunnel and Lord Copper temporarily relaxed. Nothing to worry about anymore, he was on his way out of here, the pegasus was gone, Jarvis would be meeting up with him later, things were okay. While he couldn’t exactly say he had won today his enemies hadn’t won either.

“HEY!” A shout echoed down the tunnel.

Lord Copper’s eyes went wide and he looked back to see an angry pegasus flying right at him. “Ahhhhh!”

Rainbow Dash crashed into him and the both of them sprawled to the floor of the cramped minecart. She had practically banged herself up just as much as him when she did that.

“Ngh! You have to be kidding me!” Lord Copper roared as he tried to sit up but found himself quickly receiving a kick in the stomach. “Oof!”

“Stay down! I’m bringing a stop to this!” Rainbow said and crawled over him, reaching up to the lever and pulling it back to activate the brakes.

A grinding noise came from below the cart and sparks flew as the brakes locked in, slowing down the minecart considerably. The rocky tunnel around them stopped being such a blur, but not for long as Rainbow Dash felt Copper’s hooves wrap around her waist and yank her backwards. She lost her grip on the lever and the brakes clicked off the wheels, letting the minecart resume its journey while Rainbow Dash was thrown against the back of the minecart, her head clanging off the metal. Despite the temporary stars in her eyes she jammed an elbow into Lord Copper’s ribs on reflex and made him release her and slide away to the other side of the minecart.

Rainbow Dash was tough, but her strength primarily came from the speed she could put behind her blows. The same type of speed she really couldn’t built up fighting inside a cramped space like this. And despite everything else, Lord Copper was still an earth pony and he was quite a bit sturdier than most pegasi.

Lord Copper reached out to punch her but Rainbow batted his hoof away with her wing and punched him in the face in return.

“Ow, my nose!” Lord Copper yelped and covered his face with his hooves.

Luckily he was also still just a pansy.

“Are you seriously going to keep trying to fight me?” Rainbow Dash asked as she stood up and kicked him in the stomach again. “Your guards didn’t have a very good time and you’re even less of a fighter than they were.”

She grasped the lever as he wheezed and put on the brakes again, the minecart slowing down some more. “You don’t know me very well at all. If you did you’d know I wouldn’t give up on getting you so easily.”

“This isn’t even your city, you shouldn’t even be meddling with us!” Copper yelled from his prone position on the minecart’s floor.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Barnaby said something similar, but for different reasons. Even if this isn’t my home, ponies in need are still ponies in need. I’m not going to turn a blind eye to that. If you didn’t want me to meddle with Oreville, you shouldn’t have been playing as a villain.”

“I’m not a villain!” Lord Copper screamed and jumped up at her with enough energy that it surprised Rainbow Dash and caught her off guard. He grabbed her and knocked her into the side of the cart, lever coming loose again, and tried to wrap his hooves around her neck and strangle her.

He had the physical strength to do it but he wasn’t thinking about what Rainbow Dash could do to get out of it. A punch across his face and a knee into his ribs made him collapse with a pained groan against the other side of the cart. Rainbow Dash panted slightly as their cart emerged into a large cavern with multiple different pathways, levels, and tracks running through it. She grasped the lever and started to apply the breaks again.

“I said playing the villain. You don’t even deserve to be called a real villain,” Rainbow said to him.

As the cart slowed down though, another familiar sound reached Rainbow’s ears. She looked down another tunnel just in time to see a second minecart with two ponies riding in it come shooting out of it. The one holding a shovel she recognized while the other she didn’t but she doubted he was friendly either.

“Lord Copper!” The pony she didn’t recognize shouted as soon as he saw the slumped over lord. “Are you alright?”

“W-What does it look like, Jarvis?! Just save me already!” Lord Copper shouted.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to have the opportunity to bash that pegasus’s skull in,” Malthus said as he glared at Rainbow Dash.

“Great, just what I need,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

Their minecart came by on the track that was running right next to Rainbow and Lord Copper’s. And thanks to them not pulling the brakes, they quickly caught up to them. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and let go of the lever while Malthus brought up his shovel. She was about to fly out of the minecart to get away for the moment when Lord Copper bit her wing.

“Ow!” Rainbow yelped right as Malthus swung at her.

Instead of going over it she ducked under the shovel instead and it swung right above the minecart, Jarvis and Malthus then sped past Rainbow and Copper. Rainbow Dash shoved Lord Copper off her and punched him in the face again to keep him down for at least another minute longer. Jarvis grabbed the lever of his minecart to slow them down so they could attack Rainbow again and once she put her head back up she had to dive under another quick swipe from the rusty shovel.

“Stupid bird! Stay still!” Malthus yelled.

“Make me!” Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at him.

Malthus tried swinging again but a sudden change in the tracks had them drift away from her and Lord Copper.

“Curses!” Jarvis growled, trying to look ahead to see if they would ever come back alongside each other.

Rainbow Dash saw her opportunity to fly over to them—when her minecart suddenly passed under a stone bridge that she would have accidentally smashed herself into. She took a much more careful look around the cavern and saw how messy and riddled with random stones it was. Not a good place to fly and chase ponies through. It might’ve been best for her to stick in her minecart until it hit the end of the tracks and then she could deal with them all.

“Jarvis, look up there!” Malthus pointed ahead at a switch in the tracks. The manual switch in-between the two tracks could be hit and their minecart would be switched right over to the same track as Rainbow and Copper’s.

The chief of security grinned. “Use that shovel!”

Malthus grinned right back at him and put his shovel out, smacking it into the switch and making them change tracks. Their minecart glided over the steel tracks and came to end up almost smashing into the side of Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper’s cart. A quick pull of the lever by Jarvis and the brakes slowed down his cart just enough where they came up sliding in right behind Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper instead.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash grunted in annoyance and got ready to fight.

Jarvis let go of the brakes until their minecarts were practically touching and Malthus had free reign to swing his shovel at Rainbow Dash all he wanted. He brought it down at her in a heavy over-hoofed strike but because they were so close together now Rainbow Dash was able to reach up and grabbed the neck of the shovel right beneath the blade. She and Malthus both fought over it as their minecarts sped along until Jarvis joined in, reaching across the gap between the carts and trying to punch Rainbow and dislodge her hooves from the shovel.

“Oh, two on one? You should’ve brought a whole squad!” Rainbow Dash bragged as she knocked his punches away and tried to hit him too.

“They’ll be here soon, diplomat! And then you’ll be finished,” Jarvis said.

“I can’t wait to prove you wrong,” Rainbow grinned.

Just as she said that the sound of more minecarts coming through the tunnels reached them, looks like they had caught up because of the slower speed Rainbow and the others were going right now. One minecart emerged from a tunnel on a level above theirs, carrying two frantic and terrified looking ponies in it. When they saw Rainbow and the others below, one of them applied the brakes to slow down a little.

“Boss! Lord Copper!” The other yelled.

Jarvis grinned up at them. “Alright, now we’re talking. Where are the others? We need all the help we can get.”

“They’re dead!” The guard responded.

“Huh?” Jarvis’s face fell and even Rainbow Dash and Malthus both glanced up at the two guards while Lord Copper slowly stirred.

“This p-pony—this mare came from nowhere and killed everypony else!” The guard shouted. “She’s-”

The sound of a speeding minecart from another tunnel grew louder and the two other guards paled and looked back up the tracks.

“Oh no...” The one holding the lever whispered, letting go of the brakes to try and make up for the lost speed.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and used the distraction to wrench the shovel out of Malthus’s grip and toss it behind her into the minecart next to Lord Copper. “Sorry, but I know who that is, and none of us can afford to be fighting like this now.”

“What in the hay are you talking about?!” Malthus growled at her and took a swinging punch at her head.

Rainbow ducked under it and punched him as hard as she could, making him fall down into his cart. “I just said—look! If you want to live then help me out right now, we need to speed out of here faster so she doesn’t catch us!”

“Who’s she?” Jarvis asked.

He had his answer as a minecart came shooting out onto the same tracks as the other one, going so fast it didn’t look like the mare riding it had ever even considered touching the brakes. The two guards screamed as she collided right into their minecart, knocking them down and almost bumping it off the tracks altogether. But the pink mare reached out a hoof to grab the edge of the minecart and hold it steady, connecting the both of them. She smiled as she turned her head and stared directly at Rainbow Dash.

Heartless waved at her and winked.

“That’s her,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“W-What’s going on?” Lord Copper said as he regained his senses.

The two dazed guards got back up only to practically freeze in fear as they saw the pink pony right there. Heartless turned her sweet face to them and started climbing over into their minecart.

One of the guards jumped out immediately, not caring about the deadly speed and the rocky ground he was jumping out onto. He just had to get away from her. Rainbow and the others watched as he landed with a sickening thud and rolled into a stalagmite before he disappeared behind them. The other guard just backed away, muttering to himself and crying until Heartless jumped into the cart beside him and touched him on the cheek to make him drop.

The others gaped up at her in shock but Rainbow only narrowed her eyes.

Heartless looked right down at the four ponies and placed her hooves on the edge of the minecart like a dog happy to see its owner coming home. “Alright, you’re next!”

“Oh forget this!” Malthus said and reached into his cart.

“What are you doing?” Jarvis asked him, a bead of sweat falling down the side of his head.

Malthus answered by picking up the bomb they had and holding it for all to see. “I swear if any of you try anything I’ll blow us all to piece with this! So you-” he pointed up at Heartless. “You crazy mare, whoever you are, you stay away! And you-” he glared at Rainbow Dash. “How about you just fly out of here and let us go?”

“Why do you have a bomb?!” Lord Copper yelled in shock.

“You can shut up too!” Malthus frothed. “I’m not letting things end here for me, so everypony just shut up and listen to me!”

“Malthus you idiot, you’re going to get us all blown up!” Rainbow said.

“Not if you don’t get-” Malthus’s sentence was interrupted as both his and Rainbow Dash’s minecarts hit a slight bump in the track.

The bomb flew out of his hooves and landed right between Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper in their minecart. Luckily it didn’t explode immediately but as it bounced back and forth before finally lying down, there was a distinct sound coming from it: tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

“Uh oh,” Jarvis gulped.

Rainbow and Lord Copper both shared a look before both lunged for the bomb, fighting for control over it.

“C-Copper! Let go!” Rainbow Dash said.

“You let go! Unlike you, I know how to disarm this whenever I want! I’ll keep you away with it you interloper!” He said.

“Would you both please get some sense and just disarm it right now?!” Jarvis yelled at them.

His and Malthus’s minecart then lurched once more as a pink pony jumped through the air between her cart and theirs and landed on the back of it, her hooves just barely gripping the back edge. For most ponies, jumping at that high speed and at that distance would’ve been a suicidal attempt. Most would’ve been too afraid to even attempt it. Heartless didn’t feel fear. And she wasn’t smiling now.

Jarvis and Malthus gasped and backed up against the front of the minecart as Heartless pulled herself in. Her blue eyes darted right to the gang leader.

“No one can harm Rainbow Dash,” she said and reached a hoof out towards him.

“W-Wait-” Malthus begged before Heartless’s pink hoof tapped his forehead and his eyes rolled back, the life sucked right out of him.

Jarvis slowly turned his head with tears forming in his eyes as he looked at Lord Copper. “B-Boss...”

Heartless tapped the back of his head and Jarvis’s body fell forward, draping itself over the front of the minecart. Her smile was now right back on her face as her eyes glanced up to Rainbow Dash. Their carts then both entered a new tunnel, separating from the multiple other tracks and larger cavern to once again travel at high speed with nowhere else to run or fly through.

“Your turn.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted to Lord Copper. “Five second truce?”

“T-Truce!” Lord Copper squealed and let go of the bomb.

“Smart,” Rainbow Dash grinned and tossed the bomb over Heartless’s head and back into the other cart while the pink pony was climbing over Jarvis and getting ready to jump into theirs. She then picked up the shovel and hit Heartless in the hoof with it, making her lose her purchase and fall against the front of the cart as well. Although naturally it didn’t hurt the pink pony one bit.

“Hey, Heartless?” Rainbow Dash said as she held up the shovel.

Heartless glanced up at her and tilted her head. “Yes?”

“Bye,” Rainbow Dash stabbed the shovel down at one of the front wheels of the cart. The blade of it caught under the wheel and dislodged it from the track, wrenching the shovel out of Rainbow’s grip as well.

Heartless’s cart screeched as it caught on the track and flipped over, dumping Heartless and the other contents along the track where they and it continued to bounce a few times, shooting up sparks and banging itself and the track up. Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper sped away, disappearing around a corner in the tunnel and leaving Heartless alone. What would’ve killed probably any other pony was nothing but a slight inconvenience to Heartless though and she calmly picked herself up while surrounded by the destroyed pieces of the minecart and dead bodies and prepared to resume her chase of Rainbow Dash.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

Heartless glanced down at the bomb sitting on the tracks right next to her. She sighed.

“This is going to take forever to dig my way out of...”

A huge explosion rocked the mine and completely caved in the tunnel, burying Heartless under tons of rock and cutting off Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper from the rest of the mines. A blast of hot air rushed from the explosion and buffeted the two of them while their minecart continued along. But otherwise the two were unharmed. Rainbow Dash wiped the sweat from her brow and even Lord Copper sighed in relief. The two then blinked as they remembered who the other pony with them was.

The five second truce was over.

Escape Route

“It’s back to just the two of us,” Rainbow Dash said to Lord Copper.

“S-Seems so,” Lord Copper gulped.

“Given any thought to letting me take you in or am I just going to have to beat you senseless?”

“I-If you beat me senseless you won’t know where to go, you’ll be lost down here.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “Alright. Then I’ll almost beat you senseless. It’s time for you to wake up and face reality. You’re not beating me in a fight, you’re not getting away from me, you’re not getting out of here clean, understand?”

“Y-You know it’s only going to be your word against mine again, t-there’s absolutely no proof to what you’re going to accuse me of.” Lord Copper said. His eyes darted about as he spoke, refusing to look directly at Rainbow Dash. Truly he just wanted to keep talking and try and stall for time until he came up with a new plan.

“There are ponies who heard and saw our confrontation up there earlier. And Lord Silver will believe me when I tell him what Barnaby was doing and believed in too,” Rainbow calmly said.

“You really think that?” Lord Copper scoffed. “That after he shut you down earlier that now he’s going to side with you? And you’re some nobody outsider, I am the Lord of Copper Section.”

“Then try and defend yourself,” Rainbow Dash replied.

Lord Copper raised an eyebrow at her.

“Seriously. Try and defend yourself when I accuse you. When I tell everypony what a sniveling, selfish, idiot you are. What are you going to say in your defense? What are you going to do? How angry are you going to get? Everypony is going to see exactly what you are. They’ll see a liar, a moron, and a jerk, clearly guilty with snot dripping out of his nose. And they’ll see me, cold and awesome as I tell them about every miserable and horrible thing you did,” Rainbow’s expression grew darker. “I’m not going to just tell Lord Silver what happened behind closed doors. I’m going to drag you out wherever the ponies are, in the middle of a huge crowd, and put you on display. If Lord Silver is a pushover and Lord Gold is senile, let the ponies of Oreville themselves who you’ve wronged judge you.”

Lord Copper paled the more she spoke until he was shivering. “B-But I… but you… I can still...”

“You’re. Not. Winning,” Rainbow said.

Lord Copper stared at her in disbelief as they exited their tunnel and came out into another cavern. It was still only their track around but there were another few tunnels to the right side of the tracks in an area of the mine that looked like it had once been the center of a decent amount of activity. To the left was a small underground pool of water that had probably been undisturbed for the past century or more. The tracks curved around side it sharply, and at the speed they were going they’d probably have to brake or shoot right off the rails and into the water.

Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper both noticed this and Rainbow reached towards the lever to slow them down a bit so they could take the turn. As soon as her hoof brushed the lever though, Lord Copper reached up and grabbed her, trying to keep her from using the brakes.

“No!” He shouted.

“Hey! Let go you idiot!” Rainbow said and tried pushing him away, she flapped her wings to try and just get out of the cart altogether but he pulled her down.

“No! I refuse to give up on my victory! You’re not getting the better of me!” He said as he kept pulling her hoof and keeping her from using the brakes.

“We’re both going to crash, do you seriously think you have a better chance of getting out of that than me?!” Rainbow yelled.

“I’m not just going to sit back and let you do what you want!” His eyes were alight with fury.

Rainbow Dash realized just how desperate he was then. She had maybe pushed him too hard and he had lost it, his fear and sense of danger had gone flying out the window. Now making sure she lost was just as big a goal for him. Revenge. Anger. They were overriding his self-preservation at the moment. He probably still wanted to get out of here safely but if he could at least take her down with him it wouldn’t be a bad consolation prize.

The minecart hit the turn and the weight and momentum started to do the rest, slightly lifting the wheels on the right side of the cart. Rainbow grit her teeth and tried to put her weight down, also pushing back against Copper and trying to force them to the other side of the minecart to balance it better. Copper unfortunately realized he could just do the exact opposite. The angry Lord pushed back against Rainbow Dash and used his superior weight to overpower her. Both ponies smacked into the left side of the minecart as it reached the apex of the turn.

The wheels left the track completely then and the minecart started to tip over, preparing to dump both Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper into the water.

It almost seemed like things were going in slow motion as the cart fell over completely and the two ponies fell right out of it. The minecart bounced once against the ground before rolling into the pool of water and kicking up a great fuss while Rainbow Dash and Lord Copper were thrown deeper and splashed into the pool. By sheer chance, Rainbow’s head hit a rock submerged just barely below the water line and she was temporarily stunned. Lord Copper was much more fortunate, getting a dunk but able to come right back up at once.

He realized Rainbow Dash wasn’t immediately on him for whatever reason so he quickly paddled towards dry ground and pulled himself up beside the tracks. Without sparing a glance in her direction or bothering to shake any water off, he started running down the tracks at full speed.

A dizzy and waterlogged Rainbow Dash shot up out of the pool a moment later, coughing up water and gasping for air. She was dizzy and her head hurt, but her instincts and reflexes had at least kept her from drowning. She flapped her wings to get out of the pool and took herself over to the tracks. Rainbow Dash rubbed her head and caught her breath before trying to move again.

“Stupid rocks,” she scowled and looked down the tunnel the tracks led into. “Did he keep going down there?”

She closed her eyes again and tried to listen in—sure enough, she heard the sound of a pony running with their hooves echoing off the ground coming from inside that tunnel.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You can’t seriously think you’re going to outrun me...”

She flapped her wings to get off the ground and zoomed into the tunnel.

Lord Copper panted as he sprinted down the tunnel, if he could just get to a point where his escape route changed, he might be able to lose her. She didn’t know the route like he did. If his memory was holding up, there was a side tunnel behind an old door coming up in here that he needed to take. All he had to do was stealthily slide into it and run, she’d be none the wiser and would keep heading down the wrong tunnel.

“Yes, yes, that can work,” Lord Copper said to himself. He was panicked but not exactly panicking or throwing a fit anymore. He would get out of here.

The deeper he went into the tunnel the more strained he got until his muscles and lungs were both burning. That stupid door had to be here soon!

Just as he was thinking that, he skidded to a stop in front of an old wooden door built into the right side of the tunnel. It must have been some sort of access in the past or took ponies into a part of the mines where tracks and minecarts were unfeasible. Whatever it was, right now it was the door that would take him one step closer to the exit. The thing was old, dusty, and covered in cobwebs but it was also unlocked. He threw it open and ran inside the next tunnel—but also still remembered to close it as he went.

Where he was now was a far more narrow cave system, with tunnels and pathways designed for a single pony to walk through at once. There had clearly been a lot less work done here than in most of the rest of this mine and it showed in roughly carved steps and lots of hanging stalactites and other rocks just sitting around. Lord Copper brought up the map in his head and started running through the tunnels and caves. There wasn’t much longer until he’d get to the true exit of this abandoned mine. And as long as Rainbow Dash wasn’t on his tail it was a win.

It was a win, it was a win, it was a win. He’d get back to Oreville first and make himself come off smelling like roses.

Rainbow Dash flew down the tunnel as a frown deepened on her face. She didn’t hear his running anymore and he shouldn’t be far enough ahead where she couldn’t see him. Where was he?

She shot right past something different in the tunnel that she only barely registered with her eyes, but she still noticed it. Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt in midair and floated back to the thing that had caught her attention: a door. She narrowed her eyes at it, there was no other way Lord Copper could’ve gone. On the ground in front of the door, some dirt was displaced due to a few skid marks.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Amateur...”

She opened up the door and flew inside but had to stop as she was faced with a narrow passage that had a bunch of different ways to go. Rainbow Dash growled and exasperatedly rubbed at her eyebrows. This was really getting on her nerves. And she couldn’t hear his hoofsteps anymore—he was either going slower or quieter somehow.

To fix that, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath of air and puffed out her chest as much as she could. “COPPER!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

The yell echoed throughout the entire cave system and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and brought a hoof up to her ear to listen to anything in response.

A stumbling sound and then the rushed scrambling of hooves came back to her. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and grinned.

“Gotcha.”

“COPPER!”

The loud yell startled him and practically shook the small tunnel he was in. Lord Copper accidentally tripped over his own hooves and squawked in surprise when he hit the ground, pulling himself back up and running towards the next part of the tunnels. At the end of this passage he was in there was a ladder he had to climb up to get out of here, and after that there was a bridge to cross and then he was practically home free.

“So why’s she still have to be coming after me?” He grimaced as he reached the ladder and started climbing up it. “Why does the world have to be so unfair?”

He was exhausted by the time he made it up the ladder but he knew he couldn’t stop to catch his breath. The chamber he was in now was quite a bit different from anything else in the mine before it. He was at a steep ledge that seemed to fall into a chasm that reached down hundreds of feet into darkness. One slip and that would be it. The chasm was both wide and long, cleanly dividing this part of the mine from the rest.

But his saving grace was still here, an old rope and plank bridge stretched across it. Didn’t exactly look like the safest thing but there was no other option.

Lord Copper threw out safety and caution altogether and ran across the bridge. He just didn’t have the time to do anything else. A wild smile was on his face as he made the journey, his hooves clicking and clacking against the wooden planks. He was almost there. He was almost safe.

The moment he reached the other side he practically kissed the ground. But first—he turned around and started untying the ropes that kept the bridge in place, removing them from the stakes driven into the stone here.

“Hah!” He laughed as the ropes came loose from his side of the chasm and the entire bridge fell away, swinging to the wall on the other side and smashing itself to pieces when it hit. “Now she can’t… oh wait.”

Right as he finished that thought, a blue pegasus flew up from the same tunnel he had come from earlier after not bothering with the ladder. She spotted him from the other side of the chasm and frowned, looking at the destroyed bridge and raising an unamused eyebrow at him. Obviously she had heard the bridge shatter while coming up and had put two and two together.

“Really?” She flatly asked him.

Lord Copper gulped and turned to run off again.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew after him.

Failure

The tunnels, passages, and caves Lord Copper navigated through now were dilapidated to a degree that no other ones probably in all of Copper Section were. Broken equipment sat around everywhere and partial cave-ins covered up a lot of what had once been a hive of mining activity. Abandoned really was the best word for this place.

But it was still close. The exit was still close. A forgotten doorway that led out of the mines and into the southern mountains, it could even be considered an entrance into the mines depending on where you were coming from. But it had been boarded up ages ago, that was what the records said. Not an issue though. Not truly. He could easily break some boards and get out.

That would be the case if it wasn’t for-

“Haaah!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she plowed into Lord Copper from behind, knocking the both of them down a slanted tunnel until they hit a pile of rocks together.

“You madmare!” Lord Copper shouted and pushed Rainbow Dash off of him.

She grabbed his tail and made him trip but as soon as she tried to jump on him and keep him down he grabbed one of the nearby rocks and hit her in the side of the head with it.

“Ngh!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she fell to the ground, that was twice she had taken a blow to the head now.

Lord Copper tried to use the opportunity to scamper away from her but ended up getting pegged in the back of the head with a rock himself. Instead of trying to run he should’ve made sure she was knocked out. He collapsed to the ground and groaned in pain, rubbing his injured skull.

“Get over it you baby, it wasn’t even a big rock and I didn’t throw it that hard,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked up to him.

Lord Copper glanced to the side and saw the rock in question, desperately he grabbed it and stood up, swinging it at her. “Hah!”

Rainbow Dash easily stepped away from it, and then kept moving and dodging out of the way as Lord Copper tried to hit her. She looked bored. The stallion was just tiring himself out the more he swung at her, trying to get rid of the pest that had been hounding him for far too long. On one swing though he lost his grip and the rock sailed out of his hoof, clattering against the wall of the mine.

“Y-You...” Lord Copper panted heavily and backed away from Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve told you enough times to shut up, so I’m not going to bother anymore,” Rainbow Dash said and pushed him.

Lord Copper felt the ground give way behind him and he gasped as he ended up falling down an old ramp that he hadn’t noticed in his wild flailing. He roughly bounced and slid off it before coming to a halt on the hard rock ground once more. Rainbow Dash lightly landed on her hooves right in front of his face.

“So that’s it, huh?” She said, looking past him.

Lord Copper looked over his shoulder and saw an old boarded up doorway that the barest sliver of light was shining through. It was wide enough to accommodate a minecart if necessary. At one point it looked like there might have been a sign or placard above it, but whatever it was had rotted away. The Lord of Copper Section groaned and stood up, walking over to the door despite Rainbow Dash being right there.

“It’s all boarded up though,” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you think the best way to get out is?” She said to him.

He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow just in time to see her fly forward and spear him right through the door. The old boards of wood exploded into splinters and the both of them careened down the side of a hill. Lord Copper coughed heavily as he came to a stop in a patch of grass before looking up at the blue sky and the clouds above him.

Rainbow Dash was floating there too, looking at the beautiful day.

“Been a little while since I’ve seen the sky,” Rainbow said before lowering herself to the ground. Pine trees sat all around them, flowers grew, birds chirped, from the outside the mountain looked totally healthy and normal. It really was a beautiful day.

She sighed and turned to Lord Copper the moment her hooves landed. Her eyes were completely cold and made of ruby ice. “Alright, it’s over.”

“W-Wait...” Lord Copper sputtered and tried to crawl away on his back.

Rainbow Dash stalked towards him and raised her hoof.

“Stop! Please!” He begged.

“Why should I?” Rainbow growled.

“B-Because...” He looked around, trying to think of something, anything. “Because we’re even!”

Rainbow Dash stopped. “What?”

“We’re even!”

She lowered her hoof and stared hard right at him. “Even?”

“Y-Yes! Even! Y-You have to know that the only reason you made it out of there is because of me. You wouldn’t have even known about my escape tunnel otherwise. T-That other pony, the pink one, you would’ve been stuck with her if it wasn’t for me! So… so I know that you hate me for what I did, a-and I may have caused this situation in the first place, b-but then you would’ve been lost or trapped in that old mine if I hadn’t shown you the way,” he told her, trying to make this work however he could. “I’m alive, you’re alive, and we’re out here safe and sound together because of each other. Y-You have a strong sense of fairness, right? So you know it’s true don’t you? That we’re even. I-I mean even the bomb we used together to stop that mare was only there because of me! Think about it, please! What’s Oreville to you anyways? Let’s just let bygones be bygones and go our separate ways now, come on, don’t you owe that to me?” He clasped his hooves in front of his face and pleaded.

Rainbow Dash calmly stared down at him the whole time, even for a minute after he had finished his ramblings. And then a smile slowly formed across her face.

“Even, huh?” She grinned and chuckled and eventually started to laugh all out. “Even?”

“Y-Yes...” Lord Copper whimpered.

Rainbow Dash reached a hoof up to her face to wipe away a tear. “Well you know… I guess you’re right, Lord Copper. We are even. Nice and square. You’ve got a real point there.” She smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Totally even, it’s true I might be dead or stuck if it wasn’t for you—so I guess I do owe you this one. We just went through a lot together so might as well let us both leave happy. Bygones and all that, no sense in keeping grudges.”

“T-That’s right, that’s exactly right!” Lord Copper nodded fervently, a happy smile on his face.

“So I guess I’ll be going,” Rainbow Dash shrugged with an easy grin on her face. “Bye, Lord Copper.” She extended her wings to take off—but then paused, blinking and folding her wings back in as a contemplative look came over her. “Oh. Wait. I just remembered something.”

Lord Copper’s smile froze and he tilted his head. “What?”

“Do you remember when we first met? When I first came into Oreville?” Rainbow asked him, holding a hoof beside her face as her eyes narrowed.

“V-Vaguely...”

“Well I was just thinking about it and I remembered something. Something you said, a favor you did for me,” she took a step forward and leaned down, looking him square in the eyes. “You said to make sure I got a “Warm welcome”, didn’t you?”

Lord Copper sputtered. “U-Um, I-I...”

“So we’re not even, are we? Cause I owe you for that, don’t I?” Rainbow Dash grabbed him by the collar so their faces were just about touching as she raised her blue hoof right beside their heads. “So let me give you a. Very. Fond. Farewell.”

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

“Everypony calm down, calm down! The danger has passed!” Lord Silver said to the huge crowd of ponies atop one of the Silver Section mountains. He, his direct subordinates, most workers in his administration buildings, and a host of civilians had all evacuated to this emergency muster zone. Much like over Copper Section, dozens upon dozens of safe zones existed in the mountains just in case something like this happened. While most damage from the explosions and collapsing mines was contained to Copper Section, there was still a risk to Silver and Gold as well. All of Oreville had evacuated.

“But what about Copper Section? I have family there, how bad is the damage?” A frantic mare shouted over the crowd.

“We have experts and rescue teams already on the way! The quakes have stopped and things are stabilized, I promise it will be okay,” Lord Silver answered.

“How did this even happen in the first place?!” Another stallion yelled.

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“We heard about a lockdown in Copper Section right before the explosions!”

“How many ponies were down in the mines?!”

“My ponies, please!” Lord Silver said. “This is getting us nowhere—please just trust me for now and I will have answers for you soon. We mustn’t panic-”

A shadow flew overhead and Lord Silver and many of the other ponies on top of the mountain looked up. Silhouetted by the sunlight, Rainbow Dash came down with Lord Copper draped over her back. Ponies standing under where she was moved around to give her space to land, but she had no intention to. Shrugging her shoulders, she tossed Lord Copper off her and threw him to the ground where he rolled to a stop right in front of Lord Silver. His face was a mess of bruises and welts, so puffy and swollen his features couldn’t even be properly made out. The slight rising and falling of his chest was the only sign he was still alive at all.

“He’s the one,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew above the ponies of Oreville. “He put the bombs in the mines. He’s why this has happened.”

“B-But...” Lord Silver stuttered.

“Barnaby is dead,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you had any faith in him as a pony and as your Chief Constable, believe what I’m saying right now. Both Barnaby and I knew Lord Copper was behind this, and when the bombs went off we were in the middle of proving it. Barnaby died trying to prove Lord Copper is guilty.” Rainbow Dash looked over the crowd of ponies and loudly projected her voice. “Lord Copper of Copper Section is the one who destroyed the mines of Copper Section and ruined the city. Hundreds of ponies died because of him.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, leaning her head back before opening them again and staring down at Lord Silver. “Oreville is your city, not mine. I’m leaving things to you now… and I hope you can do things the right way.”

Rainbow turned and got ready to fly away-

“Your fault...”

She stopped, her eyes, and the eyes of Lord Silver and the other ponies looking to Lord Copper.

He was glaring at her through puffy, swollen, eyelids with his one visible eye, immobile on the ground. “It’s your fault… you’re the one… it’s your fault the bombs went off… your fault all those ponies died… your fault the lockdown happened...” he put all his strength into lifting up a hoof and pointing at her. “Your… fault. If you had never come to Oreville… nopony would have died, nothing would have gone wrong… if only you never came here.”

Rainbow Dash dispassionately looked down at him and calmly exhaled. “You can keep blaming me all you want, but in the end there’s only you.”

She shot off into the sky without another word, breaking through the clouds, and started to fly south. Rainbow didn’t wait for any questions or for the ponies left there to speak again or see what they would say about Lord Copper or herself. Oreville, Lord Copper, Barnaby, all of it was left behind as a tear fell from her eye.

The Quiet Beauty of Nature

It was raining. The storm clouds had rolled in from the east and the downpour began. Rainbow Dash was pretty well sheltered at the bottom of the forest thanks to the trees but a consistent drizzle still got through. It wasn’t even as bad as some of the storms that had hit Ponyville to be honest. Even if she was flying up above, unprotected, it would just be an ordinary heavy rain. And down here it was almost sort of pleasant.

She was directly underneath the thickest part of the tree branches of one of the redwoods and as she looked up a few drops of rain peppered her face. Thanks to the dampening effect of the trees it wasn’t very loud of a downpour either.

Rainbow had no intention of sitting here just waiting for the storm to pass, a little water never hurt anybody. With how slow walking already was she didn’t need to waste around and do nothing while it rained. She’d rather get through this storm and forest. As soon as she walked a few steps and the branches above thinned out slightly, she felt more raindrops hit her back. At first just a few, then a few more, and then a constant pitter-patter along her back, the top of her head, and her wings. It was kind of refreshing though. At least it was a change.

Moving from tree to tree quickly got her soaked from mane to tail. Not something she cared about now but if she couldn’t dry herself off and spent another cold night out here she’d likely catch that cold she was worried about. As soon as the weather cleared she should probably take the opportunity to shake and squeeze the water off of her before attempting to start a fire. Which was going to be a pain with everything wet.

Or she could just start flying through the storm to get out quicker—or above the clouds to avoid it entirely.

She looked back at the wings folded by her side, they felt so much stiffer and heavier than normal. She used them when she needed to but… it’s like she was too depressed to fly freely through the sky right now. There was something she needed to do with herself or finally get past before she was ready to fly like normal again.

So for now she walked through the rain, through the trees, over the ground soaking all the water up. The plants here were certainly happy for the rain, as were most of the animals too probably, aside from the ones who were getting their burrows flooded right now. She didn’t envy them. But a rain like this would feed the trees and flowers for a good long time, Rainbow Dash knew that well enough from her time on the weather team. She had no idea how often rainfall like this came to this forest but she doubted it was usually as heavy as this. If there was a rainy season and a dry season up here though she could be wrong and it might storm like this every couple of days or more.

Rainbow Dash intentionally stepped out into a small clearing where the rain fell mostly unobstructed. She ended up completely soaked in seconds, holding open her wings and moving them around to get them soaked all the way through too. Her normally wild mane lay flat against her head and she looked up at the sky with her mouth open to get a big drink of fresh water.

Done with that, she walked through the puddles of water on the ground—the dirt already reduced to a sloppy mud beneath them—and shook like a dog once she got under the next tree. Sort of a pointless gesture but it still made her feel a little nicer.

Thanks to the rain, even most of the forest floor that had trees covering it was getting very muddy. As Rainbow Dash walked along her hooves sank an inch with each step at the minimum and she had to fight a couple of times to get them out. Applejack wouldn’t have a problem with this, she was used to it, Rarity though—a ghost of a smile came over Rainbow Dash’s face as she pictured that.

At any moment Rainbow could just fly off and avoid this mud altogether but things still didn’t feel right.

A roar of thunder rumbled overhead, shouting for several seconds before it died down. Not a single flash or bolt of lightning though.

Rainbow Dash kept walking through the rain for several more hours like that. The downpour started to let up over time, gently at first, and eventually it was nothing more than a light drizzling everywhere. More water seemed to be falling from the tree branches of the redwoods than directly from the sky now. It was still enough to keep her pretty drenched until she found someplace to really dry off and her hooves and underbelly were still covered in mud.

But as she walked the clouds overheard started to break too and sunlight once more shone down on the forest. The sky after a storm broke was always beautiful, Rainbow wouldn’t admit such mushy sentiments to her friends, but even she knew that. It was quite a bit more time before the clouds had completely cleared though and Rainbow Dash spent it sitting at the edge of a break in the trees that turned into a small meadow before the trees rose up again a little further away.

Her face was blank as she looked around the meadow and let out a breath of air through her nose. Flowers dripped with water, grass grew long and tall, she saw a few animals coming out now, and a fresh ray of sunlight was shining on it all. It may have just been raining, pouring so hard especially on a spot like this with no trees over it, but everything was so pretty now. Everything was continuing to go on and make the best of things.

When it rains it pours but after the rain comes the shine.

She was pretty sure either Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie had first said that to her about something a long time ago.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she took it all in. “Crom, Eleanor, Dolph… Barnaby. I can’t make anything up to you if I don’t get around to doing anything, now can I?” She took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I get it now. I won’t forget anything, but I won’t keep feeling down on myself either. I need to be better.” She smirked. “And I will be.”

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and extended her wings. With a single flap she shot off high into the sky, above where the clouds used to be, and spun in a vortex. She became a total blur thanks to the intense speeds and when she was done she was dry as a bone. “Wooh!” She combed a hoof through her mane and ruffled it up on purpose. “That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

The forest still stretched far into the distance, but Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be taking a slow walk through it anymore. Whatever was ahead, whether it be Pinetree Warren, some other town, a new adventure, or whatever else this side of the world held, she’d be flying to it like a star. Excitement and an eager desire to face her next adventure and not screw things up filled her. The way she could prove to herself and the world that she was still doing good and not just for selfish reasons. For a second she basked in the heat of the sun and took a look around at the world, the north, the south, the east, and the west—and then she was off.

Curiosity Killed the Pegasus

Rainbow Dash flew through the air while whistling a happy and fast tune to herself. For the first time in a couple of days she was actually feeling good. That didn’t mean she was forgetting or ignoring anything, it was because she acknowledged what had happened and what she needed to do now. Rainbow knew being all depressed and lethargic wasn’t going to help anyone or anything. Maybe it had to do with her pretty “straight as an arrow” way of thinking, but there was no reason in her mind why she should be moping or crying when she could be doing something good and helpful. She had mourned. She had contemplated. And now she was back in action.

She would not forget her friend Barnaby. She wouldn’t forget the broken promise to Eleanor. She wouldn’t forget the disastrous state Oreville had been left in. She wouldn’t forget how much she needed to make up for. So it was time to be awesome again. Cause actions spoke a lot louder than words and Rainbow Dash was prepared to show the whole world what she could do.

“Awesome as I wanna be~” she sang to herself as she went up and down through the sky, doing loops and corkscrews just for fun. It was a beautiful and warm day out, the perfect kind of weather to just fly any way you wanted to.

And Rainbow Dash was embracing that right now to a ridiculous degree. A few low-hanging clouds were poofed right out of existence as she plowed through them and looked around for anymore that she could have fun with. Her rainbow form became a zigzagging hummingbird as she darted around with the only goal being to live a little. Any creature looking up at her would think she had lost her marbles with how chaotically she was flying.

But Rainbow Dash didn’t care, cause right now she was having fun. Something she sorely needed.

Ahead of her was something else that had put her in a pretty good mood, small mountains that broke the endless forest. Nothing compared to the mountain range Oreville was built under, or many other such ranges she had seen, but it beat the same boring green hills and flat forest she had seen the past couple of days. Maybe they promised something new around or right beyond them too? Like finally a glimpse of Pinetree Warren. She’d be pretty darn happy to get that.

Since now that she was flying normally again she knew she could make it to those mountains in an instant—so first she was going to finish clearing this sky of clouds. Then she could zoom over there.

The sky clearing took only another minute or two before the sun shone down on this part of the forest with nary an object to block it. Reminded her of when she first met Twilight. Rainbow Dash took a big stretch in the air and let herself feel the sun’s warmth before she smirked and looked to the south. The rest of the world was calling out to her now and she wasn’t going to deny it.

“Oh please give me something to work with,” Rainbow Dash said as she flapped her wings and went straight south.

At her altitude she was already a bit above where the mountains peaked so she could see over and beyond them easily once she got a little closer, but she still decided to stay pretty close to their level to check them out better. The mountains were a rocky gray granite that didn’t have many trees growing on them, or much vegetation of any sort, they seemed to cut a line right through the forest. She tried spying any buildings or anything notable on them but after a minute she shrugged and gave up. Just some lonely mountains. If there were at least some fruit trees or something she could eat on them… but no. When she passed beyond the mountains though she saw something far more inviting.

The ground steeply sloped down and down into a wide valley, the basin of which was at a far lower level than the redwood forest on the other side of the mountains. The trees on this side still made an impressive forest of their own, a forest of green pines, but it wasn’t quite as grand as the more northern forest. Rolling hills existed to the east and west while a few noticeable rivers and lakes dotted the valley and as Rainbow Dash dove down the cliffs to come to a rest right above the pines on the valley floor she saw what looked like might have been a settlement a little ways into the valley. There was enough open space in the forest for that at least and she was pretty sure she had seen some things that might have been buildings among the trees.

“Pinetree Warren?” Rainbow guessed. Either way she wasn’t going to waste more time getting there. She flew at a decent pace directly to the possible village.

There seemed to be kind of a green haze in the air between her and her destination though.

“No, wait...” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes as she got closer. There were green clouds in the air. They were thin, almost transparent, green clouds that looked sort of more like clouds of green dust. They hung low, only barely above the trees—so much lower than most ordinary clouds did unless they were ones moved by pegasi for weather or something. Rainbow Dash honestly had no idea what to make of them. She didn’t think she had ever seen green clouds before. Pink ones, thanks to Discord, but those weren’t even really clouds at all.

She scratched her head as she flew closer to them. “Maybe these are broccoli clouds then?”

They stretched in a wide circle that she could see, and now even closer she could see the green vapors or whatever that made them seemed to come up from the forest itself like a fog. It was definitely an odd sight. But—she was also able to glimpse through those green clouds the telltale signs of buildings in the distance. Perfect, she was almost there now.

And since they were right in front of her, and since she had just done some previous cloud busting, why not do some more? These green clouds were making her curious after all, she wanted to see what they were like.

“Green clouds, pink clouds, what’s the difference?” Rainbow Dash grinned and shot towards the nearest one. Either she’d break it apart or see if maybe it had enough form that she could shape it into something, time to test these green clouds out. The first green cloud was right in front of her with plenty more around it, her hooves were extended before her and she flew right through the cloud-

And immediately started to violently cough.

“Haaack!” Rainbow Dash’s body heaved and she reflexively brought her hooves to her throat.

The green cloud had burst around her and scattered green motes of dust and other particles in every direction. She didn’t know what this green stuff was but she definitely, definitely, shouldn’t have flown through it. Rainbow had stopped in midair, her wings still beating just to keep her afloat, while she coughed up her lungs and an intense burning sensation came over her eyes. It was like someone had shattered a bottle of hot sauce over her face and let the sauce and the shards of glass drip down into her sensitive eyes. They were red and irritated in seconds and Rainbow’s vision went blurry. Her nostrils and mouth soon felt the same, burning heat filled her nasal cavity and Rainbow’s coughing became even worse. The next thing that happened was her throat closed up and her breathing became choked with her unable to draw in any air.

Can’t breathe! Rainbow Dash realized in a frightened panic. H-Have to get out of this!

She tried to suck in another breath but it was pointless, her diaphragm and lungs were both painfully fighting inside her body and a fuzzy heat built up inside her chest as well. Rainbow flew forward but with how pained and disoriented she was she could barely manage it at all, she accidentally dipped low and hit a tree, stumbling through the air and trying to get on the path out of here. But a dull pain was coming up through her extremities now too and Rainbow Dash looked through her red eyes to see blotchy green spots on her hooves and wings. And by the second they grew larger and began to crawl up her limbs like some kind of green mold had taken over her flesh.

The village! The buildings! Rainbow knew it was her only hope, she had to fly through the rest of this poison and make it to Pinetree Warren or she was going to die here.

But her body was starting to feel wrong, and not just because she was turning green like old mold, there was a stiffness in her limbs and joints. She could feel them but she couldn’t move them right. Paralysis. She was going numb. Whether this was truly poison or some kind of disease it had affected her muscles very quickly. Rainbow’s heart had even slowed down and she felt a coldness at odds with the painful burning spreading inside her.

Still, she was Rainbow Dash, and she wasn’t about to quit. Every last bit of strength and determination she had in her was put into flying out of the green clouds and the rest of the haze. She wobbled like a drunk pigeon and her hooves scraped against the trees, but she made progress. All the while the lack of oxygen was threatening to make her eyes roll back and send her off into a permanent sleep. She couldn’t even see herself anymore thanks to what the green dust had done to her eyes but she felt like the moldy rash had grown over most of her body. No matter how many times she tried to breath her throat kept tightly clenched shut.

“Hhhhhhh...” Rainbow could only let out the smallest of wordless wheezes as she glided to what was hopefully salvation. Her wings no longer responded to her no matter what she did so it was all she could manage.

She ended up clipping another tree and falling to the ground, barely conscious. Rainbow Dash crawled on her hooves as everything grew cold and dark, pulling herself forward as far as she could by sheer willpower, until even that ran out.

“Whoa there, sugarcube!” Applejack said as Rainbow Dash tossed down a big hoofful of recently scavenged mushrooms and fruits. “Let’s dun look over what you found to make sure we can eat it all, alright?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “If it isn’t Scootaloo it’s you...”

“Well I don’t think you wanna be making yourself sick or dead now do you?” Applejack smugly grinned at Rainbow Dash.

“Pff, no, guess not. So hurry up and tell me if I can eat any of this stuff or not,” Rainbow glared at her close friend. “And no lip either. We can’t all be outdoorsmares who know everything about camping and stuff.”

“Sure, sure,” Applejack said and looked down at the tree stump Rainbow Dash had poured all the stuff she had found on.

It was their usual camping trip, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity out here with their little sisters (and friend in Rainbow Dash’s case) and Rainbow had just gotten back from looking for food. They all had their own separate little chores, with Rarity setting up the tents and Applejack getting firewood and getting the fire pit ready. Of course with how many times Rainbow had gathered poisonous berries or whatever she wasn’t sure why they hadn’t switched jobs around already.

“Oh boy, yep, got a problem.” Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “What?”

“These berries?” Applejack pointed to a few dark red, almost maroon, berries. “These’ll make ya sick. You’ll be throwing up in under an hour.”

“Big whoop,” Rainbow snorted.

Applejack then frowned back at her and picked up a red and white mushroom. “Okay, well this mushroom you found will send you on a one-way ticket to the big hay bale in the sky.”

“Hay bale in the sky?”

“Don’t you be snarking about my expressions, missy.”

“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said, though she didn’t really sound so sorry about it.

“Doing this for your own good, sugarcube. And the good of everypony else camping out here. Understand?” Applejack raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and sheepishly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’m really sorry. So just what can we eat from the stuff I brought back? And what should I try and remind myself to never pick again?”

Applejack smiled at her and patted her on the shoulder. “Well let’s have a lookie.” She started pawing through the various “foods” again with her hoof. “Alright, these white and kind of brownish wild mushrooms are okay, we can eat those. And uh, those blue berries you found? Those are just blueberries so we can eat those too. Might wanna go back to where you found a blueberry bush and gather up as much of those as ya can.”

“Guess I can at least do something right,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Applejack chuckled. “Just don’t go eating nothing you aren’t absolutely sure about, okay?”

“Don’t worry, mom, I won’t.”

“Yeah, yeah, why not bring Scootaloo along with you this time? She’ll keep you safe.”

The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on Rainbow Dash. “Heh, sure. Where is the little squirt anyways?”

“Around with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle somewhere I imagine. Anyways by the time you’re back I’ll have a nice campfire up and running and we can eat. Rarity should be done with the rest of the campsite too unless she gets in a fuss about something.”

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash stretched and looked around, wherever the Crusaders were it wasn’t here. Rainbow Dash turned around and threw up a hoof to wave goodbye to Applejack. “See ya in a bit Applejack.”

“You just keep in mind that if something is brightly colored or a bit unusual looking, it’s a safer bet that it’s not safe to eat than it is,” the farmer’s words floated in from behind her.

“Pay attention, class. This is all very important for the trip we’ll be taking to the Everfree and for your general health and safety in the woods around Ponyville,” Fluttershy said to her class as she stood in front of her blackboard.

Rainbow Dash was sitting in the back of the classroom with a bored expression on her face as she tried to balance a pencil on her muzzle. She was between stuff right now and decided to drop in on her friend to see how she was doing. And now she was kind of regretting that decision. Maybe it was Twilight’s fault for not letting more of the classes here be awesome? Fluttershy probably wouldn’t like it if Rainbow Dash interrupted her or bothered her while she was teaching, so she sat back and let Fluttershy lecture for now. A lot of students she recognized were here too like Gallus, Smolder, and Sandbar.

“I’m going to go over poisonous creatures as well as the sorts of sicknesses and diseases you might catch or come in contact with. This is especially important for those of you not from Equestria, you might not have immunity to the same things that ponies do,” Fluttershy said. “It’s important that you maintain good hygiene as well.”

Rainbow Dash held back a snort. The world could end and she wouldn’t bother with showering regularly.

“There are a variety of diseases endemic to Equestria in general, this area of Equestria, and then to the Everfree itself. Now—some of what I’m going to go over may not apply to you at all. After all there are some illnesses that don’t even affect every tribe of pony, such as the feather flu which only affects pegasi, and others that also might not affect a dragon for instance. However there are some things not dangerous to ponies at all that are in fact dangerous to dragons. We all have to keep these things in mind.”

It was funny to Rainbow Dash how Fluttershy could say all this with that same little smile on her face. That was just Fluttershy.

“Now you may think that so long as nothing bites or stings you and you don’t touch anything weird you’ll be okay. And this is true for the most part. However, you must still be careful with what you breathe in and the air you walk through. Pollen can cause allergic reactions, itchiness, watery eyes, sneezing, fatigue, these are just some of the symptoms that can manifest from a pollen allergy. This is something the ponies of Ponyville always have to keep in mind, because it’s a town with a lot of naturally occurring flora around. Those who have allergies usually have minor problems in the spring,” Fluttershy said and looked out across the classroom. She spotted Rainbow Dash in the back and winked at her. “That’s not all you need to be conscious of.”

Fluttershy pointed to a drawing on her blackboard of something round and fuzzy. “This is a fungal spore. Obviously they’re much smaller than this—usually far too small to see with the naked eye. But they’re what fungi use to reproduce. And you wouldn’t want to be breathing them in either.”

“How would we even know we’re doing that?” Gallus asked, he looked almost as bored as Rainbow Dash.

“Well… for starters I would say just don’t walk or fly through any strange clouds of spores and other dusty particles,” Fluttershy answered.

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head.

“And now I’m going to show you various slides and pictures of the animals and plants you should avoid—not just in the Everfree but anywhere in Ponyville in case you have allergies. We wouldn’t want someone with an allergy to bees to get on the wrong side of a friendly little honeybee.”

“Uh, Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash asked from the back.

The entire class turned to face her along with Fluttershy.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy questioned with a smile.

“Can you go back to talking about fungus and spores and stuff like that? I dunno why but I’m getting some weird feeling like it’s important,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well okay, but you’re supposed to be a teacher too Rainbow Dash, why don’t you come down here and help out with the lesson?” Fluttershy fluttered her eyelids up at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash sighed but still lazily lifted herself out of her seat with her wings and floated on down to stand beside Fluttershy. “Yeah fine...”

“So what do you know about fungus?” Fluttershy asked her.

“Umm…”

“What do you know about mold?”

“It gets on bread after like a couple of days of leaving it out.”

Fluttershy wryly grinned at Rainbow Dash. “Well I’m not sure how much of a help you’ll be as a teacher. But have you ever had a fungal infection that you can tell the class about? Some first hoof experience is always useful.”

“You know I haven’t had anything like that,” Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “I barely get sick at all. I’m more the type to accidentally break something.”

“Like your head?” Gallus said and got a few laughs from the other students.

“Oh laugh it up!” Rainbow Dash glared at them. When that only got more laughs, Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked at Fluttershy. “Sorry, Fluttershy. I don’t even know what I’m doing here. Don’t know how I can help with your lesson.”

Fluttershy put a calming hoof on her shoulder. “You’re here to learn too. You slept through almost the entire lesson the first time.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She then did a double-take. “Wait, what?”

“Well when I tried to teach about fungi, poisonous animals and plants, you drifted off to sleep very quickly. It’s why things are so fuzzy and strange right now,” Fluttershy tapped her chin.

Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Fluttershy. What are you talking about?”

Fluttershy smiled. “It’s really not a surprise you don’t remember this day very well.”

“We also can’t rule out the possibility of a virus or bacterial infection,” Twilight Sparkle said as she levitated a pointer up in front of her chalkboard.

The two of them were in the library of Twilight’s castle, with one desk set up for Rainbow Dash as Twilight gave her some dumb lesson on infectious diseases and other stuff. Rainbow was only half paying attention to any of it. Twilight’s pointer glowed in her magical aura and it pointed at two very intricate and well drawn diagrams on the chalkboard of microscopic creatures.

“First of all, Rainbow Dash. I’m going to teach you the difference between a virus and a bacterium,” Twilight smiled as she went into full-on lecture mode.

“More than one having a cool sounding name and the other one having a nerdy name?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Twilight frowned. “Now pay attention, this is important. You see, bacteria are truly alive. They may be quite different than us, but they are living organisms made from cells the same way ponies are that can live inside or outside a body. A virus on the other hoof is not alive. They are merely a collection of molecules and DNA that need a host to survive. Do you understand?”

“Yeah I get it,” Rainbow Dash yawned. “Can’t both of them still make you sick just as bad as the other?”

“Indeed they can,” Twilight smiled. “While some may be afraid of germs, or give undue hate to viruses, there exists no true malice in any of them. The smallest bacteria and viruses are just surviving and propagating in the only ways they know how. A virus can not change what it is.”

“Uh huh, got it.” Rainbow said as she leaned back in her chair.

“It’s the same with diseases like cancer—a mere unfortunate and tragic occurrence. But cancer cells don’t choose to be cancer cells. Rainbow Dash, what’s the sickest you’ve ever been? Or have you ever had a friend or family member with a serious illness?”

Rainbow Dash though, but aside from a flu or fever occasionally, she didn’t really get “sick sick” that much at all. And the sickest she could remember a friend being was one time when Fluttershy was younger and she caught something from some fleas one of her animals had. Or maybe it was ticks? But she ended up being fine. “Not really? I don’t think so at least.”

“Well if you can name me any illnesses you or a friend has been through I can tell you if it was caused by a virus or bacteria.”

“Riiiight.”

“Rainbow Dash, please pay attention more,” Twilight chided her.

“Fine, but it’s like—why are you even telling me all this in the first place?” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned forward and propped her chin up on her hooves.

Twilight smiled and tilted her head at her. “Don’t you remember?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked around the library. She didn’t remember. “Uhh… no. I don’t. And… when did I even get here? Where was I? I don’t remember coming to your castle, Twilight. Where are Spike and Starlight? How come you’re not teaching anyone else this stuff?”

“You don’t remember because you never had this conversation. This didn’t happen. But you need to remember.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. “What do you mean?”

“Those other times were memories. Distorted, but real. Dreams from your subconscious.”

Rainbow Dash dumbly stared back at her, her brain and memories were all fuzzy right now.

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash. All you need to do is remember.”

“Remember… what?” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, the chalkboard, the walls of bookshelves, everything around her was beginning to shimmer and waver as a white fog came from the borders of her vision. Everything except for Twilight Sparkle.

“Remember who you are,” Twilight said to her as she stepped forward, still smiling pleasantly.

“I’m… Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said.

Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder. “Remember who you are.”

Rainbow Dash unconsciously reached up to rub at something invisible on her chest. She looked Twilight in the eyes. “We… I never had this conversation with Twilight. I remember the other two, but not this.”

“That’s right,” Twilight nodded as whiteness started consuming everything around them.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You’re not Twilight.”

“Remember.”

A sudden feeling of weightlessness overtook Rainbow Dash and she dropped away from “Twilight Sparkle” with the whole world becoming blank nothingness. Her thoughts fell away into the void as well, careening noises and words jumped back and forth in her mind, the only replacement. Spiraling down and down she went until she was finally lifted up and the surprising feeling of something soft beneath her captured her sensations. Movement. Words. All a blur.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth moved but nothing came out.

A hoof tenderly rubbed her shoulder.

Author's Note

Paging Doctor Anathema

An alarm clock rang and rang throughout a small cabin at the southwestern edge of the village as it had been doing for the past fifteen minutes. With absolutely no sign of convincing the cabin’s occupant to get out of bed. The cabin itself was absolutely cluttered with an assortment of papers, writing utensils, scattered journals, beakers, test tubes, broken lab equipment, medical tools and devices, plates of half eaten food, and other trash that turned what was probably at one time a cozy cabin into a garbage heap. The central table in the cabin was itself covered in charts and graphs, some kind of scientific or medical report that was written in nothing but complex jargon.

The one area that wasn’t a complete mess was the bed and a few surrounding shelves and cabinets that likely contained the occupants non-work related trinkets and clothes. Whoever was using the bed right now was completely under the covers, a quilt of wildflowers that moved about as the pony writhed underneath them. On a nightstand next to the bed opposite the alarm clock there sat a half-drunk mug of coffee. Ice cold by now, abandoned late last night. Along with it was a stained piece of paper showing some more test results with the word “negative” repeated over and over.

The alarm kept continuing to ring and ring some more while the bed’s occupant grumbled. They were awake, they just didn’t want to admit it yet.

A window above the bed was even shining light right onto it as if the whole world was saying “get up”. The drapes hadn’t been closed the night before—a horrible mistake that would not be made again. A banging sound then came from the bed as the pony in it accidentally clonked their head on the headboard in the middle of their shuffling. Surprisingly they didn’t so much as groan or grunt in pain, but it was enough for them to realize that they should get out of bed.

An indigo hoof rose out of the covers… and then smashed the alarm clock to pieces.

“Better. A waste, but better...” the groggy voice of a unicorn mare said as she sat up and tossed the flowery quilt off herself. Bleary eyes blinked from underneath a mane of vibrant orange and the mare took a big yawn before looking at the destroyed remains of her clock and sliding out of bed completely.

She was a relatively young mare, mid-20’s at the oldest, with heavy bags under her eyes that weren’t only caused by a single night’s exhaustion. She looked down at her destroyed alarm clock and rolled her eyes before walking around the bed and going towards a door in the cabin. Opening it up she walked into her bathroom and turned the faucet on the sink, splashing some water into her face before grabbing a towel and wiping it down.

There were red blotches on the towel when she pulled it away from her face. The mare frowned and looked at the mirror above the sink but there were no cuts on her face. Turning her hooves over she saw the culprit—a cut she had gained on her hoof she used to smack her alarm clock. She hadn’t noticed it until now. Looking down at the floor she noticed a trail of blood drops on the floor (and several things on the floor) leading all the way back to her bed.

“Perfect. Just perfect. What a way to start the day,” the mare sighed and reached into her medicine cabinet to pull out a package of band-aids, placing one over the cut on her hoof.

After that she grabbed a comb and a brush and started getting her mane in order, the errant locks were combed down and her frayed ends were pulled back into a tight ponytail. When she was done her emerald eyes were no longer obscured and a black hair-clip above her left eye made sure that nothing would fall out of place. Since that looked good enough to her she left the bathroom and walked back to one of the cabinets beside her bed, pulling out a white doctor’s coat from inside and putting it on in one swift motion. At the same time she levitated the mug of coffee with her red magic and carried it with her into the small kitchen of the cabin, dumping it and its contents into the sink.

She let out a slow breath of air and paused for a moment before grabbing some oats and a small bar of chocolate out of a cupboard. She would’ve liked to have some actual cooked oatmeal for breakfast but she didn’t want to waste anymore time this morning after struggling to get herself out of bed for so long. There was work to be done in town. The kind of work that didn’t wait for her.

“Not like there’s any point to it...” the cynical thought couldn’t help but slip out through her lips before she pushed it back down and shook her head. “Stop it, stop it. Don’t get like that.”

She ate her meager breakfast and stepped to her front door, once more stopping in front of it and trying to collect her thoughts before she finally managed to turn the knob with her magic and step outside. It was a bright and sunny day, a big contrast to the heavy storm that had happened just recently. But this beautiful day didn’t change anything else about what was going on in Pinetree Warren. The doctor stepped off her front porch and onto the grassy ground, her home away from the more crowded center of the village.

Idly she looked north, past the buildings and the trees, until she saw the same green haze that had been there for a while now. She didn’t know why she even bothered looking anymore, but one day she hoped she’d finally be able to look and it would be gone.

As she walked northwest to her place of work, she looked around at the various buildings and homes she passed. There used to be a time when ponies would be out to greet her every step of the way. When young fillies and colts would be out playing around. Nowadays pretty much everyone stayed indoors unless they had business. And thanks to several warning signs and roadblocks, they didn’t really have any visitors randomly coming in either.

Just about the only pony who was out was one of the village’s oldest residents, Ardent Elm, an old unicorn wizard who lived in a cabin also on the outskirts of the city. Pinetree Warren and many of the other towns and hamlets around it had a sizable unicorn population, but few ponies strove to really study or practice magic seriously. Ardent Elm was probably the only one who knew anything of the higher mysteries. She herself only used magic for mundane purposes, even though Ardent Elm had taught her and most other unicorns in the village a thing or two when they were younger. Ardent Elm was out right now watering an assortment of plants he kept in front of his cabin that he used for potions and magical ingredients—and which doctors like her also sometimes used for medicinal purposes.

“Hello, doctor,” the wizened old stallion nodded to her.

The lack of a good morning wasn’t lost on her. No one in town said that anymore.

“Hello, Ardent,” she nodded back, unable to muster a smile.

And that was it. No one had time or the energy to connect anymore, or make small talk. She walked past Ardent Elm like he was practically a stranger. The only other ponies she saw out were ones quickly walking back home with some groceries, or quickly walking from their home to get some groceries. And a stallion or two doing yard work or home repair. Hundreds of ponies lived here but it was practically a ghost town.

She glanced north at the green haze in the forest. No surprise why things were the way they were.

After walking on the outside of most of town to avoid the denser parts, she made it to her destination. At one point it had been the town’s auditorium, where meetings and events were held, but it had been requisitioned into a hospital due to their doctor’s office being far too small to deal with anything like this. Now the office was used purely to run tests and every patient, doctor, nurse, and volunteer came to this auditorium to do their work. Numerous tents were set up attached to and around it to make the triage center even larger, there were wooden roadblocks and ropes set up telling the other citizens of Pinetree Warren to not come any further as well.

Doctor Anathema walked right by all of that to the front door of the auditorium. The forest north of here had even more warning signs around it and the doctors normally didn’t go that far either. She opened up the already unlocked door without knocking and walked inside. The small lobby was occupied by the only other doctor in town, her older contemporary, Doctor Swab, and the two nurses who had the shift today, Heartwrench and Blue Rose. Doctor Swab was a unicorn like she was, the nurses were earth ponies. Several equipment lockers lined one side of the room while most of the rest was overflowing with discarded papers and notebooks not unlike Anathema’s own home.

“Ah, Doctor Anathema, did you sleep well?” Doctor Swab asked her. “I know you didn’t want to take a day off but-”

She quickly cut him off. “It’s fine, I ended up having trouble waking up this morning so I guess you were right. How are the patients?”

Doctor Swab grimaced and looked at the doors that led into the main auditorium. Heartwrench and Blue Rose despondently looked down as well. “No change.”

Anathema sighed. “So they’re not getting any worse for the moment but they haven’t responded to the latest treatment either.”

“I’m afraid so,” Doctor Swab nodded.

Anathema closed her eyes and let out a deep breath through her nose. She opened them again and looked at the lockers. “Well, let’s get in there. I’d like to do a routine check up to see how everyone is feeling myself, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. I did a visual check previously and took samples of the infected areas from some of the patients, but that was all,” Doctor Swab said.

“I see,” Anathema nodded. “I’ll do a more thorough examination and see if any of our patients are up for talking, you can get the samples back to the lab at our old office.” She looked at the nurses. “Heartwrench? Blue Rose? You’ll be helping me out.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Heartwrench said.

“Do you think any of them are going to be able to speak with you?” Blue Rose asked. “Yesterday they were...”

“I don’t expect much, but I hope I can get a few words from some of them at least,” Doctor Anathema replied. She went over to a locker and opened it up, revealing it to be full of thick rubber gloves, eye-guards, masks, and white jumpsuits. “Now get dressed, like always be sure to burn the disposable clothes when done, disinfect the rest, and take a thorough shower in the decontamination shower out back.”

“Yes, Doctor,” both nurses replied and together the three mares got ready for their necessary but distressing job.

In a minute they were bedecked in their protective gear and standing in front of the door that took them to the main room of the auditorium. The door had a plastic sheet over it that stretched from floor to ceiling and could be zipped open or closed. With her magic, Doctor Anathema pulled the zipper up and then pushed the double doors open.

Inside was what could only be called a nightmare of diseased origin.

The auditorium was kept almost deathly cold due to it seeming to slow down and weaken the symptoms of the disease. The doctor didn’t do so much as shiver as she walked into it. Rows upon rows of sick stallions, mares… and children filled the auditorium. All of them lying on their own bed in a wretched state. They were covered in growths and spots of green fungus that discolored their skin wherever it spread, whether you were red, yellow, or blue, it turned everything into an ugly sickly green. Only a few spots of the ponies’ original coats shone through at this point. The more green, the worse an infected got.

And so far nothing had worked to reverse any of this. Stopping and stalling had been the best they could do. Delaying the sad, painful, inevitable.

Most of the ponies in here didn’t have the strength to even moan in pain anymore, or had gotten used to it. Even the children barely whined for how much the disease sapped their strength.

Anathema walked to the nearest bed, the two nurses behind her, and came around to the pillow of the patient. A middle-aged stallion by the name of Steady Wheel, he was a carpenter in Pinetree Warren. Anathema checked his eyes, he was awake but staring off into nothingness, and she checked the rest of his body as well. The green hadn’t proceeded since her last inspection, but hadn’t receded either. His breathing was labored but steady, and his temperature stable.

“Steady Wheel? How are you feeling today? Can you talk to me?” Doctor Anathema asked him.

He continued to breath and stare off into the distance, practically comatose, and not even acknowledge her at all.

Anathema sighed and leaned away from him, moving onto the next bed.

The check-ups proceeded mostly like that for all of them. A few ponies moved a little more, or made more noise than just breathing, but almost none of them had the strength or will to actually speak. One of the ones that did was a filly who was one of the most recent patients, the green hadn’t spread over as much of her body as most others. She shook with pain that she still had trouble managing as Doctor Anathema approached her bedside.

“Hello, Turnip. Has there been any change or improvement in your condition since we last spoke?”

Turnip’s eyes turned to look at her, the most Anathema had gotten out of any patient so far.

“Turnip?” Anathema asked again.

“I want… to die,” the filly squeaked out.

Heartwrench stepped forward to the filly’s bedside on the opposite side of Anathema. She started lovingly rubbing her mane, even though she technically shouldn’t. “Please don’t say things like that, Turnip. We’re all working hard to cure you and the others.”

Turnip’s eyes slowly turned to look at her. “Mom died. Dad died. I’m going to die. We’re all… going… to die.”

Heartwrench and Blue Rose both looked pleading to Doctor Anathema, who merely shook her head.

“Get some rest, Turnip. Keep up your strength,” the doctor said.

The filly didn’t even look at her this time.

None of the other speaking ponies had anything good to say either. They felt as miserable as last time Anathema spoke to them. In a way, she wanted to consider that progress, since it meant they weren’t worse after two more days. But they weren’t close to being cured or healthy again either. With any luck, the samples Doctor Swab was analyzing right now would give them some clue if their latest treatment had any sort of effect. If it did they could work from there to try and keep improving it.

Doctor Anathema wasn’t holding out hope. Medical science had done next to nothing for them when it came to this plague.

After the rounds were done, the gloves and masks were disposed of in a bin that would itself be taken to the incinerator in the auditorium’s basement. The jumpsuits and eye-guards were removed to go through special cleaning later, and the three mares went out back where their normal clothes would be washed and a decontamination tent was strung up for them to go through. The shower was almost scalding hot but Anathema just stood in it like it was nothing. Longer than she needed to. Heartwrench and Blue Rose were out much faster.

Anathema merely stared at the shower knob until steam completely fogged her vision, then she turned it off and stepped out, her skin raw and blistered in places. She didn’t feel it and neither nurse said anything. With the shower over, the three of them took an anti-biotic and a drink of water before leaving the tent, now wearing temporary yellow gowns made of paper until their clothes were washed.

“Shouldn’t have even bothered getting ready this morning,” Anathema snorted. Though she knew why she did it—to set the patients at ease as best she could and look professional. If she came in as an apathetic, disheveled, mess, it didn’t speak well. Though judging by how the patients had been… she doubted any of them cared or noticed.

The three mares walked around the auditorium and entered another tent back near the front. This was probably the least messy of all the tents and places she worked now. A wooden picnic table sat in the middle of it, with a few boxes and a cooler filled with ice near the side of the tent, an airtight water barrel, and a single temporary bookcase full of journals and binders. Anathema used her magic to pull a journal from the bookcase and sat down with it, a cup of pens and pencils already sitting on the table. Heartwrench meanwhile went to the cooler and removed some ice while Blue Rose opened a box and retrieved three wooden flagons.

Together the nurses opened up the water barrel, dipping the flagons into it and then plunking some ice into them before bringing them over to the table. One for each mare.

While the nurses drank their water, Anathema wrote in her journal about the conditions of the patients and how the rounds had went. It was pretty much the same old thing she had written down the last few times but it was still important to keep a record. When she finished writing she pinched the bridge of her nose and grabbed her flagon to take a single cool sip.

“Do you think Doctor Swab will come back with good news?” Heartwrench asked her.

The question surprised Anathema and she almost dropped her flagon.

“Um, s-sorry for asking!” Heartwrench apologized.

“No, no, it’s okay...” Anathema shook her head. “But… I don’t think we should be getting our hopes up for anything at this point. We should just do what we can.”

“Right...” Heartwrench nodded, looking down into her flagon.

Blue Rose reached over to comfort her. “It’ll be alright. One day.”

Anathema was going to get back to her drink when the three of them all heard hooves running towards the tents from the direction of town. She frowned and stood up, the nurses following her, and opened up the tent to see Doctor Swab and a unicorn pony from town called Honey Sight running to the auditorium and tents. Doctor Swab saw her standing at the tent and waved a hoof, running to her with Honey Sight in tow.

“Doctor Anathema!” Doctor Swab yelled.

She and the nurses trotted out of the tent, her eyes looking at the beleaguered Honey Sight, He wasn’t a volunteer or part of the medical team at all, he was just some bird watcher from Pinetree Warren. “What’s going on? What is it?”

Doctor Swab glanced over at Honey Sight. “Tell her.”

Honey Sight caught his breath and walked up to Anathema. “I-I saw something just now, while I was bird watching!” He panted. “I was on my roof with my binoculars and looking out at the forest.”

Anathema nodded along, knowing Honey Sight’s home was close to the north edge of the village. “And?”

“There was a pony. A pegasus, she came flying towards Pinetree Warren just a moment ago but she… she flew into the green clouds north of the village,” Honey Sight said.

“Right through the epicenter,” Doctor Swab said.

Anathema’s eyes widened and Heartwrench and Blue Rose gasped in shock.

“She… she must’ve been a pegasus from the Weeping Mountain on a trip. She couldn’t have known about the plague,” Doctor Swab said.

“I-I didn’t think I should come through the barricades without permission, so I went to your office first and Doctor Swab was there,” Honey Sight said.

“What do we do?” Heartwrench asked.

“Did you notice if she did anything else?” Anathema asked Honey Sight.

He shook his head. “Not really. She flew through the clouds for a little bit and then I saw her fall and lost vision on her.”

“She has to be dead,” Blue Rose said. “Consistent direct exposure, and at that amount, is fatal in minutes, the green will completely consume and devour a pony’s body.”

“I concur,” Doctor Swab nodded. “It pains me to say but-”

“We’re going to get her,” Anathema said.

All eyes looked to her, including the disbelieving ones of Doctor Swab. “B-But Doctor Anathema, the danger of going so close to the epicenter, for a pony who’s surely dead-”

“We don’t know that she’s dead. What we do know for sure is that she’ll need our help,” she narrowed her eyes. “Why did you come here in such a hurry otherwise?”

Doctor Swab looked away in shame. “I… I’m sorry.”

“We became doctors for a reason, Swab,” she looked at Heartwrench and Blue Rose. “You became nurses for a reason. This pegasus, alive or dead, needs us. As long as we don’t get too close to the epicenter or come in contact with the spores directly it will be alright, we put on our protective gear and get out there. Bring a stretcher too. So let’s move, now.”

The two doctors and two nurses got into motion immediately, quickly running back to the auditorium lobby to get every bit of protective gear they needed on once again. Honey Sight was told to go back to his home and take a shower. Once they were ready, a stretcher was taken from another one of the tents around the building and unfolded. The group then made their way north around the building and towards the green haze that existed just beyond, further into the forest. They had to be very careful. A perimeter of markers still existed out here, but any further than that and they risked coming into contact with the spores. These jumpsuits would probably have to be burned too instead of just washed.

“How far out do you think the pegasus is?” Doctor Swab’s muffled voice asked.

“Hopefully not too far… if they, or their body, are still within the haze there’s nothing we can do,” Anathema replied.

Concentrated amounts of the spores and fungus would eat through their suits in a short amount of time. Anathema clenched her jaw shut—it was a lesson unfortunately learned too late by the late Doctor Jazz Dance. So they had to move a little slowly through the forest. Here the trees weren’t too thick just yet and they could get around easy. The further they moved from town the harder it would be to see any pegasus lying on the ground. But Anathema was going to make sure they didn’t leave before finding them.

Even if there was no point to it. She was still a doctor.

They had to keep moving deeper into the forest, deeper than any of them truly wanted to go. At least it was still the middle of the day and there wasn’t any clouds or bad weather out to make things worse. But the green haze and the clouds floating above the trees were starting to fill their vision more.

“We can’t go much further,” Doctor Swab said. “One more line of trees.”

Anathema frowned beneath her mask but didn’t say anything. She knew he was right, and he was just being safe, but she didn’t want to give up either. It just felt wrong.

“Hold on, I think I see something through the trees,” Blue Rose said and pointed ahead. “It’s colorful—but it might just be flowers.”

Anathema looked too to where Blue Rose was pointing and saw some dashes of red, yellow, and blue. She wasn’t sure if that was their pegasus but since it wasn’t just a bunch of green it was a decent sign.

“Let’s go,” she said and had the others painstakingly wheel the stretcher through the trees and over the forest floor. They had to go through more trees, avoid bushes, and stumble about to find the right spot, all while keeping aware of how close they were to the plague’s epicenter. At last they passed through a few close-knit pine trees and came out into a small clearing.

Where a blue pegasus mare lied on the ground, unmoving.

“Checking her vitals, get the stretcher ready,” Doctor Anathema said as she went over to the mare. There were green blotches all over her, but she wasn’t covered in them like Anathema and the others expected her to be after flying right through the epicenter. Anathema made sure that only the thick rubber gloves at the end of her hooves came directly in contact with the mare, and otherwise used her magic if she could.

“I don’t understand… shouldn’t she be decaying by now?” Doctor Swab said.

“Maybe Honey Sight was wrong about seeing her fly right into the clouds?” Heartwrench said.

“It doesn’t matter,” Anathema said and opened the pegasus’s eyelids, looking for any reaction and getting what she wanted when the pupils dilated. “She’s alive.” She checked her pulse—it was weak but there, and there was a small rising and falling of her chest. “But barely. We need to get her to the auditorium and get treatment started asap. Doctor Swab, help me put her on the stretcher.”

Together the two unicorns lifted the mare with their magic and put her onto the stretcher, Nurses Heartwrench and Blue Rose then buckled her in.

“She’s a rather colorful pony, isn’t she?” Doctor Swab remarked.

Anathema nodded in agreement and looked down at her spotty green body—for a second she thought she saw one of the green spots grow smaller but it must’ve been her eyes playing tricks on her. As they wheeled the mare out of the forest, she stirred slightly on the stretcher and moaned. Anathema reached down and tenderly rubbed her shoulder.

“You’re alright, you’re going to be alright.”

Strange Results

A white and feverish mess consumed her, she tried to reach out into the sky but no matter how far she reached, how far she flew, she always ended up falling away. What was happening? Was that the sun in the sky? It shined with all the colors of the rainbow and more.

Purple. Orange. Yellow. Pink. White. Blue. Stars in each color swarmed the sky and she—who was she anyways? What was she doing? What was going on here?

Something crawled along now from the edge of the whiteness. Something cold in nature but hot and painful in feeling. A murky green bubbling mass, it came forth to consume the lights and stars. One by one the stars succumbed to the green, things growing dimmer by the second as its onslaught continued. Like ravaging vines growing at the speed of fire it grew outwards trying to grasp and swallow up all. Soon there was no more purple, and all the other colors disappeared as well until only blue remained. The green tried to swallow it up too like all the rest but the blue fought against it, not giving an inch.

How long was it like that? Minutes? Hours? Days? Months? Years?

Time no longer existed in this chaotic light show where she didn’t feel or understand.

The green continued to persist in its goal of devouring all, but for every little wisp of it that attacked the blue, another part was beaten back. But the blue was painfully unable to make any progress either, it was a deadlock.

She wanted to help, she wanted to fight too, but she couldn’t move. She didn’t know how to do anything. Opening her mouth to scream only for nothing to come from it. Was she already consumed? Nothing more than a helpless watcher locked in agony and nothingness? She thought chaos was the word for her situation but things were too stable, too controlled, she was between chaos and harmony.

She kept trying to fly and speak but it was all pointless.

Voices. Words.

While she could do nothing she suddenly felt the sensations coming from others. Voices and sounds she didn’t recognize came from all over. What were they saying? What was going on? The blue light grew brighter and brighter as the voices continued, bright like the sun and more white light shined down with it against the green. The deadlock was broken and the vicious green started to fall away, disintegrating into nothingness.

The other lights and colors came back, joined by the pure white light that colored the entire world. Pain, fuzziness, confusion, green, all these things started to leave her—Rainbow Dash—and a calm serenity settled over the space of her mind.

A smile. She was smiling. On the inside if not the outside. There was no more pain or fear, she wasn’t alone and she remembered.

She remembered… what?

She was… something. Someone. A part of something. There was more, Rainbow Dash was sure of it, but the lights began to fade and Rainbow Dash fell again, her mind falling with her…

“I told you she was waking up,” the voice of a mare said.

“Miraculous. Simply miraculous,” a stallion said.

“This shouldn’t be happening at all, should it?” A different stallion said.

“No—she should be dead. Or at the very least still sick and infected. But as you can see...” the mare said.

“Is it because she’s a pegasus?” The first stallion wondered.

“Who knows?” The mare said. “Without any other pegasi for us to see their reaction to the spores it’s impossible to tell.”

“Could you all...” Rainbow Dash suddenly said, her eyes tightly shut as she shifted about in what felt like a bed to her. “Could you all be quiet for a second? I think I just got thrown into a tornado...” Her eyelids were heavy like metal and she was barely able to open them, the light from above making her wince. Everything was still a blur.

“If you’re awake and cognizant, could you tell us how you feel?” The mare asked, ignoring Rainbow Dash’s plea for the moment.

Rainbow Dash frowned and blinked a few more times, fully opening her eyes to get a look at where she was and who were the ponies talking to her. Three masked, white-coat wearing ponies looking down at her told her pretty much all she needed to know. Another hospital. She shifted about on her bed and sat up a little, feeling a twinge in her right front leg and looking down to see an IV drip connected to a vein, along with another bandage near it.

“Oh great, what happened to me now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well you seem alright at first glance,” the mare doctor said and held up a hoof. “How many hooves am I holding up?”

“One. What are you, a comedian?” Rainbow Dash snorted.

The mare rolled her eyes. “A healthy sense of humor at least.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” One of the stallions asked her, the first one that had spoken, a fairly older looking one judging by the wrinkles Rainbow Dash could see on his face.

“I...” Rainbow Dash held her head. “I was flying… and then. Green clouds. Yeah… I flew into this green cloud and I started coughing and I couldn’t breathe and then… nothing.”

“So you really did fly right through the epicenter,” the mare said.

“Epi-what?” Rainbow Dash frowned. “And where am I now anyways?”

“You’re in the village of Pinetree Warren,” the second stallion said, he was more around the mare’s age by the look of his eyes.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Oh. Good. I was looking for this place anyways.”

“You probably found more than what you were looking for though,” the mare said. “Obviously you didn’t know about the plague or you would’ve steered clear of here. Are you from the Weeping Mountain? What’s your name?”

This time Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Ugh, no, I’m not from the Weeping Mountain. I’m from a country called Equestria that’s way far away from here—and my name’s Rainbow Dash. Don’t wear it out.”

“A pleasure to meet you for real, Rainbow Dash,” the older stallion said. “I am Doctor Swab.” He gestured to the mare. “This is Doctor Anathema, and this-” he gestured to the other stallion. “Is a volunteer helping us by the name of Walnut Grove.”

“Nice to meet… you...” Rainbow Dash trailed off as she finally looked around her bed and noticed what else was around her. Other beds of ponies, but they all looked… wrong. They were covered in green blotches and all of them looked to either be writhing in pain or having trouble breathing. Rainbow Dash remembered some more of what happened to her before she passed out, the same kind of green mold had started to claim her body. Her eyes shot open and she looked down to double check her hooves, then threw the covers off herself to check the rest of her body.

Blue. Just like it should be.

“You don’t have to worry about that. We’ve been keeping an eye on you. Unlike the other ponies here you aren’t infected at all anymore,” Doctor Anathema said.

“Good...” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and laid her head back.

“You have however been asleep for the past three days.”

Rainbow’s head shot back up and she stared at the doctor. “Seriously?”

Anathema nodded. “Seriously.”

“Your symptoms died down fairly quickly by the time we had you in bed here, but your body still needed rest,” Doctor Swab said. “I apologize that we couldn’t put you anywhere else but we couldn’t take the risk of you potentially infecting others until we were absolutely sure you not only weren’t sick but also weren’t carrying any spores on you. And as long as you don’t have any direct contact there shouldn’t be a danger of you being here with the other patients.”

“Considering she’s already been infected and recovered isn’t she immune anyways?” Walnut Grove asked.

Doctor Swab and Anathema both shared uncertain looks.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions on that,” Doctor Swab said. “We would need to run more tests first.”

That word caught Rainbow Dash’s ears. “More tests?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Forgive us,” Doctor Anathema said, taking over. “But we had to draw some blood and take it back to our lab. Obviously we couldn’t ask for your permission first, but our intentions were only to help you. We needed to know your type among other things in case of a transfusion or any other complications. Aside from that we haven’t down anything untowards to your body. We’re doctors. We would not do something like that without your knowledge and consent… no matter the situation.” A twitch in Doctor Anathema’s voice betrayed some other feelings on the subject.

Rainbow Dash ignored that and shrugged as best she could from where she was. “No big deal. Honestly I’m kind of surprised I haven’t had more crazy tests run on me in my life, what with who my friend is. But uh, anyways, thanks for bringing me here and helping me out. You found me out in the forest or something?”

“A pony from our village called Honey Sight saw you fly into the epicenter of the spore field plaguing our village,” Doctor Anathema said. “We found you and brought you back here, thankfully you seemed to have been able to make it out of the actual field, you were no longer in direct contact with the spores and fungus so it wasn’t too dangerous for us to get you. Although by the time we had started to wheel you back here, you were already healing and fighting off the disease on your own.”

“Guess I’m just awesome like that, but thanks anyways,” Rainbow said.

“It’s not that simple,” Anathema narrowed her eyes, a touch of anger in her voice. “Look around you. All of these ponies here have been infected by the spores, and quite a few before them who… who have already passed away. None of them show any signs of recovery like you. And not one of them was exposed to such a concentrated amount and over so much time as you. So why are you magically okay when all of our medical knowledge has done nothing for these ponies!”

She finished with a yell, startling both herself and the others.

“Doctor...” Walnut Grove said.

Rainbow Dash grimaced slightly as well. “Sorry, but I don’t know why I’m okay and-” she looked around at the sick ponies, the sick foals. “And your villagers aren’t...”

Anathema sighed and turned away. “I’m sorry, I just need a moment.”

“Don’t let her current mood bother you,” Doctor Swab said to Rainbow Dash. “Doctor Anathema was the reason we found and brought you to safety in the first place, and she’s been the most involved with your recovery. It’s just that seeing you become healthy again when all her efforts to help her fellow villagers have failed...”

“I get it,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, the motion made slightly awkward by the IV. “Uhhh, can I get this thing taken out of me? I don’t like needles.”

“Well truthfully we do think you’re totally healthy but I’d like to run another checkup on you to be sure. After that I think all that would need to be done is disinfecting you to make sure there are no traces of the spores or fungus on your body. Then you can be out of here,” Doctor Swab said.

“I’m not entirely onboard with that,” Doctor Anathema said, turning back around. “She could potentially be carrying the disease, without some more tests I think it’s grossly negligent to let her go on her way. She could spread the disease to the rest of the village and beyond.”

“But Doctor we can tell just by-” Doctor Swab started.

“I’m not satisfied with that,” Anathema narrowed her eyes.

“Uhh,” Rainbow Dash raised her hoof and the others looked at her. “Look, I don’t like being stuck here but I also don’t want to put any ponies in danger. I couldn’t live with myself if I infected ponies with this stuff. So you guys… you just do what you need to do. Whatever tests you need to run, or whatever samples you need, whatever you need to know about me, let’s do it. Especially if it might help the other sick ponies here.”

Doctor Anathema looked at her appraisingly and after a moment gave her a small nod. “Thank you.”

“But can you at least tell me how this all started in the first place? Where did that plague come from? And why are you all still even here if it’s that dangerous?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It just showed up one day,” Doctor Anathema snorted and gestured to the north side of the building. “That green haze popped up in the forest, ponies went to investigate, and now we’ve got all this.” She shook her head and looked around at all the beds. “We still aren’t even sure what the epicenter totally looks like because no one can get close enough. At more concentrated levels the spores eat through our suits and rubber gloves and make just about as much short work of our bodies. So whatever’s truly causing this is unknown to us. Perhaps something emerged from underground or some plant mutated, who even knows.”

“Leaving did come up,” Doctor Swab interjected. “But there were a few reasons why we didn’t. For one we didn’t know just how serious and long lasting this plague would be, nor that we would be totally unable to cure it. Two is that this is an old, close-knit, village with a lot of stubborn folk in it who would never leave unless they were forced to. And three is that since we were unable to fully break the enigma of the disease, we couldn’t take the risk of potentially becoming carriers for it and allowing it to travel further. Although after more stringent tests and safety measures we’ve made sure that a lack of visual symptoms is proof enough for not carrying the virus, and it’s next to impossible to spread without direct contact with the spores in the first place, to do that-”

“She gets it, Swab. Look at her, she’s going cross-eyed,” Anathema said.

It was true, he was starting to go a bit textbooky for her tastes. “Sorry.”

“And while we can be 99% sure that you’re not carrying the disease with you, because of your unique case I don’t want to rule it out completely without more tests and observation,” Doctor Anathema said to Rainbow.

“Like I said, that’s cool with me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Unfortunately it involves needles,” Anathema narrowed her eyes.

Rainbow Dash paled and gulped. “A-Any way around that?”

“No.”

“Before any of those tests though we’d like to know your complete medical history,” Doctor Swab said. “Obviously without your records we’re working blind here, so anything and everything you know would be helpful. Every time you’ve been sick, every disease you’ve had, every broken bone. Everything. The more you can tell us, the easier and faster this will be.”

Doctor Anathema glanced at Walnut Grove. “You can attend to the other patients now, we won’t be needing you while we talk with Rainbow Dash, thank you.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Walnut Grove said. Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell for sure because of the mask but she thought he smiled at her as he left to check up on the other patients.

Anathema took a deep breath and walked up by Rainbow Dash’s pillow. “Now we have a lot to talk about, and—unfortunately—quite a lot of work to do.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Oh goody… so where should I start?”

For the next two days, Rainbow Dash was held up in the auditorium as a series of tests were run on her. More blood tests, analyses of tissue samples and mane hair, her reaction to medicine, and of course the usual routine checkups and physicals done to make sure a pony is fit and healthy. The tests served a dual purpose of making sure Rainbow Dash had completely eradicated the infection and wasn’t a danger for the carrying of spores, and for Anathema and Swab to see if maybe they could discover what it was about her body that allowed it to fight off the disease in the first place. All in all it was a pretty miserable time for Rainbow Dash.

There was how much she hated the needles and other medical tools that Doctor Anathema and Doctor Swab used to get what they needed for their tests.

There was how much she hated being stuck in bed, not able to do anything.

But worst of all, there was how she had to be around all these other ponies the whole time, and how awful she felt for them the more she watched and listened to their torment.

She tried to say hello and strike up conversation a few times but was left with stares at best and total disregard at worst. All there was was pain around her and she could barely stand it. The beds to her left and right were both taken up by mares who were more green than their natural colors, and they stared emptily at the ceiling all day when they weren’t asleep. A stallion behind her moaned and wheezed every hour on the hour as he shifted and turned in his bed. Rainbow Dash wished for earplugs right now. The worst was the dead-eyed filly a few beds away, Rainbow had seen her and tried to get her to open up but it was like she was a ghost.

This whole auditorium felt like a graveyard waiting for the ponies inside it to die. Rainbow couldn’t help but feel guilty for being healthy and somehow overcoming the disease on her own.

It was also kind of cold.

After those two days were done, Anathema and Swab came back. When Rainbow Dash saw them come in through the front door she sat up, and pretty much immediately grimaced. Even through the protective clothing they wore that nearly covered them completely, she could see the dismay and disappointment written on their features. Though what that pertained to could still be up in the air.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash, we’ve finished running every test and diagnostic we need to,” Doctor Swab said to her.

Rainbow Dash’s mouth twisted. “And?”

“You’re fine. Completely and totally fine. There’s no danger of you leaving here and you won’t be spreading the disease to any pony either so long as we decontaminate you once you leave,” he said.

“Oh, well that’s good news,” her eyes drifted over to Anathema. “For me at least...”

Doctor Anathema sighed. “You’ve already got the idea. We didn’t find any reason for why you’re alright, you seem like a totally ordinary pony. There was nothing we learned from you that we can use to help these ponies.”

“Sorry...” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked down at the bed.

“There’s no need for you to be sorry, we’re happy that you’re healthy,” Doctor Swab said.

“So does this mean I can leave this place?” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around the auditorium. “No offense but I kind of want to...”

“Yes, you can, we just need to go through that decontamination.” Doctor Swab nodded.

“And then I suppose we can officially welcome you to Pinetree Warren,” Doctor Anathema drawled, still in a negative mood herself.

“Yeah… well I’ll be happy to see your village and everything,” Rainbow Dash said.

“On that note, I think it’s pertinent to say that you shouldn’t bring up how you were infected by the spores. Most ponies here are very skittish—for good reason—about the plague. As of now only us, our nurses and assistants, and the pony who saw you flying, know about your bout with the disease. And I think we should keep it that way if you don’t want ponies running away in fear from you,” Doctor Swab said.

“We’ll just say you’re from the Weeping Mountain,” Anathema said. “Less questions.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah but-” She saw the glare in Anathema’s eyes. “Fine… alright.”

She wanted to be able to tell ponies about Equestria and what she was doing, but she figured she didn’t need to put anymore stress on this village and the doctors. It was kind of lame but it wasn’t always the time for awesome stories and making a big scene. She hated to admit that.

“Let’s get that IV disconnected and take you to the decontamination tent,” Doctor Swab said.

“Finally,” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief.

She winced slightly as the IV was taken out—still not good with that kind of thing—and happily stretched both her legs and her wings once she hopped out of bed. Anathema was still somewhat cold but Swab was smiling behind his mask. Rainbow was hoping she could get on the other doctor’s good side, especially since she was apparently only alive thanks to her in the first place. As they led her out of the auditorium, Rainbow Dash took a look back at the other patients. The feeling of guilt flashed through her once more, but she quashed it with the firm belief and promise that she’d do something to help these ponies. It may not have been a typical adventure but it was still all about helping ponies and those in need. Maybe it was fate that brought her here, but Rainbow Dash was sure she had flown to Pinetree Warren for a reason.

Pinetree Warren

Agonizingly hot water poured down on Rainbow Dash as she stood in the shower of the decontamination tent. After spending so much time in the cold auditorium the contrasting temperature almost made it unbearable. Normally such hot water probably would’ve just felt really, really good to her after being stuck in a bed for so long. Five days total? She needed the hot water. Hay, she needed way more than a shower to limber up and get back into shape. Hopefully later today she could go flying around a bit.

After the shower, Anathema had her take an anti-biotic and Rainbow Dash was pretty much good to go. She also for the first time got a good look at the two doctors. Doctor Swab was actually a bit older than she expected, his black mane was thinning and he tried to hide it with a comb over that didn’t help much and it was starting to turn white to match his chalky coat. Anathema’s indigo coat reminded Rainbow Dash of Twilight, even though their colors weren’t exactly the same, the two of them even frowned in that same “I’m so annoyed at this right now” way. Doctor Swab had a cotton swab Cutie Mark while Anathema’s was a syringe, something that made Rainbow shudder the moment she saw it.

“You didn’t have any clothes but that might have been because the spores disintegrated them. Do you normally wear anything?” Anathema asked her as they left the tent.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nope. Do ponies in Pinetree Warren normally wear clothes?”

“Half and half,” Anathema shrugged. “I always wear my coat when outside my home, but a lot of ponies don’t bother with anything. You won’t look out of place.”

“Yeah just gotta lie about being from the Weeping Mountain now,” Rainbow said.

“Deal with it. You don’t find pegasi in these parts except for there,” Anathema replied.

Rainbow Dash wanted to ask her what was making her so crabby, but even she realized how insensitive something like that would be right now. Instead she just put it behind her. “Uh huh. So no pegasi around all the other little towns and places in these forests and mountains?”

“None that we know of at least,” Doctor Swab shrugged. “I’m surprised that Oreville even kept any records of us, we only have vague stories and memories passed down from pony to pony here about them.”

“They were pretty closed off for a while...” Rainbow Dash grimaced. She hadn’t told the full story of what had gone on up there, they didn’t need the extra burden. “But you still know about the Weeping Mountain?”

“Pegasi come through these parts every year or two. It’s not especially uncommon but at the moment none are around,” Anathema said, now putting on her doctor’s coat.

“Oreville was all earth ponies but I guess there are plenty of unicorns here,” Rainbow said as she looked between both of the doctor’s horns.

“You are correct,” Anathema curtly answered.

Doctor Swab laughed nervously at her behavior and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “The town was founded by a group of earth pony and unicorn settlers from the east. It was a while ago but apparently the farmlands had gone bad and they needed to search for a new place to live.”

“Well normally I would say it looks like they found a nice place,” Rainbow Dash said as they walked through the tents and came to the front side of the auditorium where she could look out at most of the rest of the village. “Even reminds me of Ponyville a bit.”

It did. A quaint, small village surrounded by trees, not as much open space in the distance as Ponyville but it still had that lovely small town flavor. The kind of place that Applejack would appreciate and Rarity would wish was a big city, where Pinkie Pie would know everyone’s names and birthdays. Naturally the buildings all were made of wood, either boards or some of them just plain log cabins. They sat spread out through this whole open spot in the forest without anything to bother them. Chimneys gave off puffs of smoke, showing most ponies were inside, and a few dirt roads weaved in and out of the buildings. More paths than roads, really. The big difference between Pinetree Warren and Ponyville right now was the lack of ponies outside. Rainbow Dash only saw one or two. She could picture how this place normally was, with fillies and colts running through the grass and playing around, and happy mares and stallions greeting and talking with each other during the day.

Not quiet and still looking like this.

“It is a lovely place to live if I say so myself,” Doctor Swab said. “Our doctor’s office is over a bit on the east side of the village, my home is next to it. Doctor Anathema lives in her own cabin on the western edge.” He pointed out a home that had a door on the roof and a little balcony up there. “That’s Honey Sight’s home, he’s the one who spotted you earlier.”

“Guess I should thank him sometime,” Rainbow said.

“Do whatever you want, nobody is forcing you,” Anathema shrugged. “Aside from the whole Weeping Mountain business.”

“I get it,” Rainbow shot her a brief glare.

Doctor Swab meanwhile had a childlike enthusiasm as he continued pointing out houses and informing Rainbow Dash of their inhabitants or just dropping tidbits of information about Pinetree Warren. Maybe it was a combination of genuine love for the village, being able to explain and teach things to an outsider for the first time in a while, and wanting to latch onto anything positive he could. Either way not a single building went without some elaboration on his part as the three of them left the “quarantine zone” and its signs and barricades behind.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as they passed them and she looked back at the auditorium. “Is it really okay for the two of you to leave and come with me?”

“It’s fine. There’s very little to do and Walnut Grove and another nurse of ours named Cough Drop can handle the work for today. Hardly anything changes or happens in that building now,” Doctor Anathema said, her words temporarily bringing down the mood considerably.

“Sooo...” Rainbow Dash decided to change the subject. “You guys got a mayor I should see or something?”

“Mayor?” Doctor Swab raised an eyebrow at her, Anathema as well.

“Uh, yeah? You know, a leader, a governor, the pony who runs the town—a mayor,” Rainbow explained.

Swab rubbed his chin. “Can’t say there’s anyone like that here.”

“You don’t have a leader?” Rainbow was surprised.

“Not really any reason that I can see to have one pony who makes all the decisions or whatnot. We all work and live together here, if something comes up where one pony needs to take charge or is the best for it well sure, otherwise I can’t really think of why we’d need a pony like that. If a building catches fire we all work together to put it out. Gatherers go forage for fruit and vegetables, crafters build, we keep ponies healthy, it all works just fine,” Doctor Swab shrugged.

“Huh, pretty different from Equestria,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s probably something that only works in small, close-knit communities like this where everyone knows and trusts each other,” Doctor Anathema said. “And you mean the Weeping Mountain.” She added.

“Yeah, right,” Rainbow snorted. Her stomach then loudly growled and she brought a hoof up to it. “Um, I think I’ve only had water, IV fluid, and medicine for like five days. Before we look at anything else in the village is there anywhere I can get a bite to eat?”

Doctor Anathema blinked and glanced at Doctor Swab briefly before looking back at Rainbow Dash. “Do you like chocolate?”

Rainbow Dash paused. “...keep talking.”

The three ponies stepped inside a small shop (that doubled as a house if the loft on the second story was anything to go by) closer to the eastern side of town, a little bell on the door rang as they walked in to notify the owner. The ground floor of the shop was a chocolatier’s bakery, with a few small (and empty) tables in the front and a display case with chocolates in the back. A bored, middle-aged, stallion was sitting behind the case and he perked up immediately when Rainbow Dash and the doctors entered. He had a wide smile on his face and he waved them right over.

“Anathema! Swab! Great to see you!” He said, his mane and coat both different shades of chocolate brown with his mane being dark and his coat being milk. His eyes then caught sight of Rainbow Dash and he politely nodded to her as well. “And to you, Miss.”

“Still slow?” Doctor Swab asked him.

The owner sighed. “Yeah, ponies just don’t want anything to do with each other if they can avoid it. Doesn’t matter how safe you say it is, after Gauze Strip-”

“No need to bring up bad news again and again,” Anathema cut him off. “We’re here so I’d say this is turning out to be a good day for you. We even have a rare guest.” She said as she looked at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash waved at him. “Sup, I’m Rainbow Dash.”

He waved back. “Hello, I’m Cocoa Bean.” His eyes glanced to the wings at her sides. “Rare indeed, we don’t see too many pegasi around here.”

“So I’ve heard. The Weeping Mountain is soooo boring this time of year though I just felt like going somewhere else,” Rainbow said and smirked at Anathema.

She rolled her eyes while Cocoa Bean smiled.

“Never been there before but I always imagined what it must be like. Wouldn’t mind visiting one day and sharing my chocolate recipes with your friends and family,” he said.

Rainbow coughed. “Uh, yeah, well, they’d probably be super happy about that.”

“How about some food, Cocoa? Can you make something fresh for us?” Doctor Swab asked.

“Of course! I’ll be right back, just hold on one second,” he said and disappeared into the kitchen behind the display case and counter.

“Figured it would be best to end that line of conversation as fast as possible,” Doctor Swab said.

“Good idea,” Rainbow nodded and looked around at the chocolate shop some more. There were some shelves where prepared boxes of chocolates sat, along with pictures of times when the shop was full of ponies and Cocoa Bean was having a good time with them. She looked in the display case and saw chocolate hearts, truffles, bars, chocolate-covered wafers and more. “So I know you guys are the doctors but is chocolate really the best thing to have after all that time I spent in there?”

“Your body needs sugar,” Doctor Anathema said and led the three over to one of the empty tables. “You can have a real meal later, but you’ve gotten the vitamins and minerals you needed while in our care. Now some sugar to get you some fast energy will do you a lot of good.”

Cocoa Bean came out of the kitchen a minute later with three mugs of hot chocolate and a plate each of chocolate bars for them. “Here you go!”

As soon as the smell hit her nose, Rainbow Dash smiled. “Guess I shouldn’t be complaining.”

“Enjoy it and the hospitality while you can,” Doctor Anathema said as she took a sip of the hot chocolate before even waiting for it to cool down. “Most ponies in Pinetree Warren just aren’t very welcoming or sociable lately. Normally I’d like you to get to know more of us but I think a brief hello with just a few is all that you’re going to get.”

Rainbow Dash tried drinking some of the chocolate the same way she did and almost burnt. After wincing she set it back down for the moment. “Not gonna force anyone to come out and say hi to me. I just hope it gets better while I’m here.”

Doctor Anathema stared at her for a moment and Rainbow Dash gave her a confused look back.

“What?”

“Nothing,” the doctor shrugged and went back to her hot chocolate.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash ignored the weird way the doctor was acting and blew on her hot chocolate before taking a bite out of the bar. Milk, and tasty. She smiled up at Cocoa Bean. “This is some good stuff, dude.”

“Thank you!” He beamed. “I hardly get the opportunity to have someone new try my chocolate—and lately hardly have anyone eating it at all.”

“Well it’s good stuff,” Rainbow genuinely said.

“There are other places to eat, other ponies who even make similar desserts and snacks in Pinetree Warren, but we came here because Cocoa Bean always gives the best service,” Doctor Swab smiled at the proprietor.

Rainbow Dash knew how important that was. Half of what anyone went to Sugarcube Corner for was the atmosphere and Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. The Cakes would still be successful and making good food regardless of anything else, but she doubted as many ponies in Ponyville would love the place if it was drab and quiet inside.

Cocoa Bean left after they had finished their food and drinks, taking the mugs and plates back into the kitchen to clean. So Rainbow Dash looked over at the two doctors.

“So where am I gonna stay while I’m here?” She asked.

Anathema furrowed her brow. “Stay?”

“Yeah. Stay,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, forget it. I suppose you should just stay at my cabin. That’s probably the best way to do things,” Anathema said.

“Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“So long as you don’t mind the huge mess her cabin is,” Doctor Swab said, a slight grin on his face.

“I can make room,” Anathema frowned at him. She then glanced at Rainbow Dash. “It’ll be dusk in a few hours, we can stop somewhere on the way to my cabin and get some fruits and vegetables for you. Besides that I don’t see anything to go out of the ways for.”

Rainbow Dash wanted to respond with a snarky “Nice tour” or something to Doctor Anathema but she bit it down. The doctor was probably dealing with a constant, overbearing stress, and Doctor Swab had been nice at least and she didn’t want to be rude to him either. “Alright, not like I need another shower or anything else. How about showing me the way?”

“Then I suppose I will say farewell for today,” Doctor Swab said as he stood up from the table. “It was a pleasure showing you around, Rainbow Dash. If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask Doctor Anathema. She can get you in contact with me or show you around Pinetree Warren some more herself.”

“Yes, don’t hesitate,” Doctor Anathema droned in repeat.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” Swab said to her before bowing and walking out of the store.

The ring of the bell momentarily brought Cocoa Bean back out from the kitchen and he looked into the now one pony short store. “Did Swab leave?”

“Yes,” Anathema said. “Don’t worry about anything, he loved the chocolate, he’s probably just looking to get an early night’s sleep for tomorrow. You know how older stallions are.”

“Alright. Good day to you, Anathema, and you too, Rainbow Dash,” Cocoa Bean smiled a last time and went back into the kitchen.

“Thanks for the food!” Rainbow Dash smiled after him.

“Let’s get moving then. Most ponies won’t want someone else to come by asking for food, so we’ll make our next stop a quick one,” Anathema said and stood up.

“If you say so,” Rainbow Dash got up after her.

They left the shop and started to head through the middle of Pinetree Warren in the direction of Anathema’s cabin. On the way, Anathema had them stop at a place that grew and sold their own heads of lettuce and strawberries. She had Rainbow Dash wait outside while she went in and got the food. Saying something about not wanting to startle the ponies inside or overwhelm them with too many visitors at once. It sounded more like an excuse to temporarily get away from her to Rainbow Dash. At least she came out with a wrapped up head of lettuce and a carton of strawberries. She levitated them with her magic as she and Rainbow Dash resumed their walk to the cabin.

“You know I haven’t seen you actually use your magic that much,” Rainbow Dash said to her.

“This is about all I can do with it. Levitating things when I need the rest of my hooves free is the most practical thing about it,” Anathema replied.

“You can’t do any fancy spells? Or teleport? Or make shields or fire lasers?”

“No,” Anathema frowned at her. “What would I need to do any of that for anyways, I’m a doctor. And how many unicorns are capable of such things in the first place?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck. “Maybe more where I come from...”

“...there might be another pony out who will want to make your acquaintance.” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Who?”

“Hello,” the old wizard said as he politely bowed before Rainbow Dash. “I am Ardent Elm of Pinetree Warren.”

“What’s up, I’m Rainbow Dash from Equestria,” Rainbow grinned back at him while Anathema frowned.

He managed a smile back at her, though it was slightly forced. His very light-brown face was almost completely obscured by a flowing white beard and mustache. “It’s nice to see a new and friendly face here.” His eyes drifted to Anathema. “Not much for ponies to smile about lately.”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry to hear about all that,” Rainbow bit her lip.

“Pish-posh,” he waved her off. “What is it that brings you to my home?”

“This place she’s from, Equestria, has a far greater knowledge of magic than we do, and a lot of powerful unicorns supposedly,” Doctor Anathema explained. “I figured you’d like to meet her and talk about it together. Also—I know you don’t talk much with others but could you keep that she’s from Equestria a secret? We’re telling everyone else she’s from the Weeping Mountain.”

“Got a soft spot for ol’ me?” Ardent Elm asked her.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “You have even less contact with the rest of the village than I do. Call it doing you a favor. Maybe for old time’s sake back when you were trying to teach me about magic too.”

“Teach you more than just boring old levitation you mean?”

“Yes,” Anathema frowned. “We don’t have all day though for you two to talk, she should get some good sleep.”

“Well to be honest it’s not like I’m an expert on magic or could go into detail on any spells and stuff. I just know the big stuff,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s perfectly alright, I’d be happy to hear anything about the magic of another country and what unicorns there can do,” Ardent Elm said. “Just where might this Equestria be, by the way?”

“Far. Like super duper far and pretty much impossible to get to from here. We’re talking the total other side of the world,” Rainbow said, holding her hooves apart for emphasis.

“Seems you’ve been on quite the journey to get here, young lady. I wouldn’t mind hearing about that too at some point,” Ardent Elm said.

“Let’s just keep it to the magic for today,” Anathema said, her patience already wearing thin.

“Guess I should listen to my doctor,” Rainbow Dash smirked at her before cracking her neck and smiling at Ardent Elm. “Alright—so let me tell you about some of the stuff my friend Twilight Sparkle can do...”

By the end of just the brief infodump on Twilight Sparkle, Ardent Elm was staring at Rainbow Dash with his mouth wide open. The old wizard seemed in shock at some of the stuff Rainbow Dash was saying. To be fair, even Twilight would’ve been in shock hearing about what she could do when she was younger and all.

“That is… quite the capability your friend possesses,” Ardent Elm said after a while. “Such powerful raw magic and spells that can affect time and space… makes my work seem rather paltry in comparison.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves around. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that or anything. Twilight’s just plain special. Even in Equestria most unicorns don’t really do a whole lot with their magic. They’re like her-” she pointed at Anathema. “I bet you’re still an awesome wizard.”

Ardent Elm laughed. “Thank you for the kind words. Now in my old age I mostly just make semi-magic potions and read though. Hopefully the journal and knowledge I leave behind will be picked up by some enterprising young unicorn.”

“I’ll make sure of that,” Anathema said. “And it’s good to see you in a better mood today than normal.”

“Well, I would think the reason for that is obvious,” Ardent Elm smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Please come back whenever you would like to talk more.”

“You got it,” Rainbow Dash saluted.

“Alright, my cabin is just right nearby now,” Anathema said and pointed ahead. “Let’s hurry up and get over there, by now I’m kind of hungry for dinner too, and you still need something real in you too.”

“I know, I know,” Rainbow said and started walking beside the doctor. She looked over her shoulder and waved at the old wizard. “Bye!”

“Good bye!” Ardent Elm waved back.

When Rainbow Dash made it to Doctor Anathema’s small cabin, it looked like a nice and cozy place to live to her. If Fluttershy didn’t already have her cottage, Rainbow Dash could picture her living in a home like this too. Of course that all changed when they walked up the porch and Anathema opened up the front door. The gigantic mess that filled up her cabin made Rainbow Dash balk. She was often considered a fairly messy pony, but she didn’t let her home ever go to this. There wasn’t a spot on the floor where the actual floor showed through and the only furniture she saw besides the bed were also covered in papers and other stuff. A dragon’s hoard of junk.

So naturally the first thing Rainbow Dash said was: “Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Very funny,” Anathema rolled her eyes. “You may want to float around with your wings while you’re in here, don’t want you stepping on some glass beakers and test tubes that are scattered all around...”

As she said that she took a step forward and-

Crunch

Anathema and Rainbow Dash looked down at the shattered test tube the doctor had just stepped on, half of it concealed by a piece of paper.

“Oops,” the doctor nonchalantly said and lifted up her hoof, a little bit of blood dropping onto the paper as she turned it over and saw a sliver of glass lodged in the bottom of it.

Rainbow Dash winced. “Uh, doesn’t that hurt?”

Anathema just blinked and lit up her horn, pulling the piece of glass out and placing it on the paper, then wadding it all up with the rest of the broken test tube. “No. I have a nerve disorder, I don’t feel pain.”

“Huh. That’s pretty awesome,” Rainbow tilted her head.

“I can assure you it’s not,” Doctor Anathema frowned and started walking through the mess, carrying the paper and glass to a trash bin that was already overflowing. “It’s not exactly a good thing when you’re a six year old filly and you don’t realize that you just broke your leg.” She huffed. “Well—that experience is what got me my Cutie Mark though.”

“Sounds like you’ve got a few stories to tell about that. I got my Cutie Mark from a race I had as a filly, flying faster than I ever had before. Pretty awesome story too,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“You can tell it after I get a band-aid and we have dinner,” Anathema said.

“Right,” Rainbow rolled her eyes at the moody doctor. “So where am I going to be sleeping in this place anyways?”

Doctor Anathema sighed and lit her horn up once more, shoveling a great amount of junk off of a chair. “I’ll sleep here and you can use my bed. You’re my guest—and my patient—I won’t have it any other way.”

“Well it’s not like I’m going to complain about getting the bed...”

A grin almost tilted up the edges of Anathema’s mouth. “I figured you wouldn’t.”

When in Need

Rainbow Dash slept well that night. Much better than the previous few. It helped that instead of just an IV drip and some water she had some real food in her stomach when she finally conked out on Doctor Anathema’s bed. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how long she had been out for, or how loudly she might have snored while she was asleep, but she woke up sometime in the morning when she could hear birds chirping outside and feel the sun coming in from the window. She grumbled about on top of the bed and opened her eyes after a moment—spotting the destroyed remains of an alarm clock on the nightstand next to her.

“What time is it?” She asked, finally rubbing her eyes and sitting up before looking about the cabin.

She didn’t see Anathema anywhere. The chair was empty, the bathroom door was open and she wasn’t in there, or standing by the small kitchen. Rainbow Dash was alone in the cabin. She looked back at the nightstand to see if there was a note left there or anything but it was empty sans the pieces of alarm clock.

“She have to go to work in a hurry or something?” Rainbow wondered aloud. She wouldn’t exactly blame Anathema if that was the case, that auditorium of sick ponies wasn’t getting any better and it clearly weighed heavily on the doctor’s mind. As much as she said there wasn’t much for them to do with the ponies, Anathema obviously cared deeply for the infected.

Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed—her hooves hitting the myriad of papers and journals strewn about around it. She rolled her eyes and flapped her wings to instead start to gently float above it all. There wasn’t anything different about the cabin or anything she hadn’t noticed the previous day, but she wanted to wash her face in that bathroom sink this morning. It would help wake her up completely and make her feel less grimy. She remembered only talking to Anathema a bit last evening before the doctor said they should get to sleep, even when it was just about random stuff and Rainbow Dash trying to get more casual conversation out of her, Anathema didn’t seem to care much for it.

The stream of water from the faucet came out hot and Rainbow Dash splashed some into her face before grabbing a towel and drying herself off.

“Maybe I can still catch up to her before she gets to the auditorium? Dunno when she left,” Rainbow said as she rubbed the top of her head. Her stomach though was still asking for more food, even after what she had had yesterday, so first she flew over to the kitchen counter. Half of the lettuce and strawberries were still left so Rainbow Dash could at least have a good breakfast. They should’ve taken one of those packages of chocolates from Cocoa Bean though…

“Whatever,” she shrugged and plopped two strawberries right out of their carton and into her mouth.

They were still just as tasty as yesterday and she savored the sweetness before swallowing them down and tearing off a leaf of lettuce. Rainbow Dash nibbled on that for a second as she absent-mindedly floated. She felt for this whole village, for Anathema and especially the sick ponies, but even after being sick herself she still felt detached from everything and she didn’t know why. Maybe she was still feeling weird after her mistakes in Oreville, but normally she would’ve done something like try to rally or cheer up the ponies of Pinetree Warren by now, right? Or been way, way, more aggressive when it came to what the doctors were doing and trying to help them out.

Instead she had let herself just be a patient. She didn’t know how to act. Maybe it didn’t have to do with Oreville but how powerless she felt when the spores were attacking her after she flew through that cloud. How there wasn’t a villain here to face but a problem caused by a “thing” that she didn’t know how to face.

Rainbow Dash frowned and ignored that for now, she could talk to Anathema soon this morning after eating. The doctor probably hadn’t woken up that much earlier before her and Rainbow Dash could fly right on the path to the auditorium and find her. She scarfed down the rest of the lettuce and strawberries and washed it down with some water from the sink. Good enough to drink. She stretched her limbs and gave her body a little shake right after that and went for the front door.

“If you’re still out there I’m going to find you. You can’t just ditch me like that,” Rainbow Dash said and opened up the door, flying out over the ground. There weren’t many buildings out in this part of Pinetree Warren so she only needed to stay a little bit above roof level.

Going on the way to the auditorium she passed right above Ardent Elm’s home but she didn’t see him outside. Must’ve still been asleep or doing something indoors. She really wanted to talk with him again—this time she could tell him about the kinds of stuff Starlight could do. A glance to her right and she was able to look out across most of the rest of Pinetree Warren. Occasionally she saw a pony moving around outside, or a window get opened, or a pony watering their flowers on their balcony. But for the most part the village seemed more dead than alive. Ponyville at this hour would be practically bustling in comparison.

She knew why it was like this though as she looked straight north and saw the green haze in the distance. Just a little way into the forest that green smoke, or fog, or whatever you wanted to call it started to rise up, making those little clouds of death above the trees. Rainbow Dash shuddered as she looked at it. There was something just oppressive and sickening about it being right there, in full view, and yet the ponies were still right here in town.

Stubbornness? Bravery? Foolishness? Rainbow could call it, and respect, all three. It just made her worry for these ponies. Forget about her immunity, most ponies just weren’t made to handle the tough things she could. She knew that well enough from how many times she had seen the ponies of Ponyville screaming and running around in terror.

She just… didn’t want all the ponies here to die pointlessly.

Rainbow Dash blew a breath of air out her nose and took her eyes off the green haze in the forest, looking back down at the ground to try and spot Anathema. She ended up seeing her quickly, the doctor was close to the quarantine zone around the auditorium and about to start walking past the first few ropes and barricades. Rainbow Dash grinned and swooped down, preparing to surprise her. She intentionally flew directly over Anathema so her shadow went right over the doctor and caused her to glance up and then landed on the ground right in front of her.

“I woke up and you were missing, figured I’d come find you,” Rainbow Dash smirked at her.

“Well there’s only one other place I’d be,” Anathema blinked.

“Uh...yeah. So why didn’t you wake me up?” Rainbow asked.

“Why would I? You don’t have anything to be awake for, better to just let you get as much rest as possible,” Anathema replied and walked right around and past Rainbow Dash, towards the tents and front door of the auditorium.

“Could’ve left a note or something!” Rainbow Dash frowned as she went by.

“You figured things out without one, didn’t you?” Anathema didn’t look back.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and yelled at the doctor. “What’s your deal?! I know you’re stressed, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, and you’ve totally got the right to be upset. But why are you upset at me? You’re not just a little angry. You’re angry at me, I can tell. Or you’re angry about me. But it’s definitely something to do with me and not just this plague that’s bothering you.”

Doctor Anathema stood stalwartly halfway between Rainbow Dash and the auditorium. She took a deep breath and without turning to face Rainbow Dash, spoke: “Why are you still here?”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“Why are you still here?” Anathema finally looked over her shoulder at the pegasus. “You’re on an adventure, right? So why didn’t you leave Pinetree Warren the moment you could? Why didn’t you even act like you wanted to leave?”

“Well… I just… I-I don’t get what you mean! What’s the problem with me not leaving?” Rainbow Dash frowned in consternation.

“When I first saw you, I saw a pony in need. A pony who was on the brink of death who I needed to save. It didn’t take long before we saw that you were overcoming the disease on your own and things changed. I started to see a pony who could help us. Save us. I did the one thing I shouldn’t have done—the thing I tell my coworkers not to do. I got hopeful,” Anathema’s lip quivered and moisture gathered around her eyes. “I got hopeful that the key to stopping this disease—this plague, had finally come to us. And no one else would have to suffer, no one else would have to die. But in the end nothing has changed. We didn’t learn anything and those ponies in there are still just slowly dying and there’s NOTHING I CAN DO!” She shouted at Rainbow Dash. “And here you are, some carefree pony not even from around here, who healed all on her own while my friends and fellow villagers die. And because I’m a doctor and take care of all my patients, I’m obligated to do everything I can to make your stay comfortable. Like giving you my cabin and making sure you’re getting good food even if I can’t stand being around you. So why are you still here? This isn’t your village, you’re healthy, go fly off and find a new adventure or something.”

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash. The words of Barnaby cut right through Rainbow’s mind, just as Anathema’s were.

“I’m...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, sadly looking down at the ground. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking about that… I was thinking about how you were feeling, or trying to, but I guess I still missed it.”

Anathema shrugged and wiped her eyes. “None of it is your fault even. I only have myself to blame, that’s why I didn’t want to say any of this, I shouldn’t be so resentful to you. It’s wrong and it just makes me feel guilty because I should know better.”

The two of them stood silently there for a moment longer before Anathema spoke up again.

“Why are you still here though? Pinetree Warren is just a small village that would have nothing to see or do in it on a normal day. From what you told us I don’t understand why you haven’t left yet.”

“Because...” Rainbow Dash ground her teeth, trying to find the right words herself. “You need help. That’s… that’s it really. Not just you, but everyone here. It doesn’t matter if I can’t just punch the problem away like I normally like to. Pinetree Warren still needs my help. And… I don’t know why I beat the disease either, but there has to be some reason I did, right? Something that could help you. I had to have come here for a reason and not just because it was a stop on the road.”

“Helping ponies at the cost of yourself. Maybe in another world you became a doctor,” Anathema laughed slightly.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Hey… it was almost a smirk last night but now I got you to laugh too. Also, you might as well stamp that thought right out, I’m not enough of an egghead to be a doctor.”

“You’re too scared of needles as well,” Anathema grinned back at her.

“Well you can’t even feel pain so that’s totally not fair!” Rainbow folded her hooves in front of her chest and looked away.

“Don’t be such a big baby. I’m astonished that after some of the stories you told us that you’re still afraid of something like needles,” Anathema rolled her eyes. “When you saw my Cutie Mark, did it make you jump?”

Rainbow Dash flinched. “N-No...”

Anathema’s smirk widened. “Liar.”

“Look, whatever, let’s drop that subject. It’s true what you said though, I may be looking for fun and awesome adventurey stuff, but that doesn’t mean I won’t stop what I’m doing to help ponies in need. Cause that would be the exact opposite of awesome, get me?” Rainbow said.

“Yes, I get you,” Doctor Anathema nodded.

“Sooo… can we be friends now?” Rainbow asked, an eyebrow raised at the doctor. “I guarantee you it’s a lot more fun than being angry whenever you see me.”

Anathema snorted. “My mood isn’t going to swing so suddenly… I’m not going to suddenly be happy and full of smiles while all my patients are still sick and in pain. But that being said, yes, we can be friends. Or attempt to at least.”

“Good enough for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Right,” Anathema sighed and looked at the auditorium. “If you’ll excuse me though I do have work to do today. You can make yourself at home in my cabin, or talk to Ardent Elm, or eat at Cocoa Bean’s or do whatever else you want I suppose. Within reason. Obviously most ponies here won’t be too inviting, and I’d still like you to use the story of you coming from the Weeping Mountain.”

“I’m not going to be a freeloader,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’m here to help and I mean it. So let me come in there and help you take care of those ponies. You know it’s safe for me at least.”

Anathema paused and frowned, a worried expression came over her face. “I… do you really want to? For sure? You already spent two days awake just stuck in there, you know what it’s like. Do you really want to see all of the villagers like that? Get them water to drink? Try talking to them? There’s nothing glamorous about this, Rainbow Dash.”

“If that’s the only thing I can do to help, then yeah. Unless that green stuff turns into a monster that I can beat up—that’d be cool. But uh, that’s probably not happening. So whatever I can help with in there, or whatever errands you need me to run, I’m all for it!” She clapped a hoof to her chest. “And… if there are any other experiments or tests you can think of to run on me that might help you guys learn something, I’d be okay with letting you run them too. Within reason and all that.”

“Thank you...” Doctor Anathema smiled warmly at her. “Let’s head in to work then, I’ll have some things to go over with you.”

“You got it,” Rainbow grinned and hopped right beside her. The two mares walked up to the front doors of the auditorium and opened them together.

Hazmat Suits Are Itchy Anyways

“I still have to insist that you wear protective gear.”

“And I have to insist that you don’t need to waste any of that stuff with me.”

“It’s protocol. And it’s the smart thing to do. Haven’t you ever heard of ‘better safe than sorry’?”

“Yeah, and I ignore it all the time and things usually work out anyways.”

“You are impossible. I am not letting you inside without you wearing these clothes.”

“Calm down, mom. I know you mean well but just give it a rest. Won’t those ponies in there be happy to see someone who isn’t wrapped up like a mummy anyways?”

“I will calm down as soon as you get properly dressed. At least put on the jumpsuit and goggles if you don’t want anything wasted.”

“Hello, everyone,” Doctor Swab said as he entered through the front door. “Apologies for being late but—what’s going on?” He stopped as he saw Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema glaring at each other, with Heartwrench and Blue Rose nervously looking at them off from the side.

Heartwrench came over to him and whispered in his ear. “Rainbow Dash has decided to help us out with taking care of the patients, but the two of them have been arguing like this from the start.”

“Arguing about what?”

“Rainbow Dash doesn’t see the point of wearing the same protective gear we do,” Blue Rose answered.

“Well she’s not exactly wrong… as long as she showers and takes a pill after she’d probably be better off than the rest of us regardless of what she did or didn’t wear. Not like she’d be touching the green blotches on any pony directly,” Doctor Swab considered. “With her body she’s safer around the patients than the rest of us.”

“Try telling that to Doctor Anathema,” Heartwrench winced.

“You know what a stickler she can be...” Blue Rose said.

“Well she’s not wrong either,” Doctor Swab scratched his head.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the other mare. “Okay, fine, whatever. You’re lucky all my friends would probably agree with you and want to make me wear this stuff too.”

“Sounds like you have smart friends,” Anathema glared at her.

“Ugh, out-stubborned by a doctor...” Rainbow shook her head.

“I’m not going to back down when I’m right,” Anathema said and walked over to the lockers where the clothes were. “Now put these on. And you haven’t even been introduced properly to Nurse Heartwrench and Nurse Blue Rose yet.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said and looked over at the other three, her eyes widening when she saw Swab with the nurses. “Oh, hey dude, didn’t notice you come in.”

“I just got here. So apparently you’ve volunteered to help us out here?” Doctor Swab said.

“Yep!” Rainbow saluted. “Just doing my part while I’m here in Pinetree Warren. I dunno, just feel like I have a lot to offer. Helping ponies is kind of my thing, maybe not in the same way you doctors do, but still.” She looked over at the nurses. “So… Heartwrench and Blue Rose, right?”

“They were the two with us when we first found you in the forest,” Doctor Anathema said.

“Oh yeah? Gotta thank you for that then,” Rainbow smiled at the nurses.

“Just doing our job, it was still Doctor Anathema that had us go to you,” Heartwrench said and walked up to Rainbow Dash to shake her hoof. “I’m Heartwrench.”

“And I’m Blue Rose,” Blue Rose said and came to shake Rainbow’s hoof once Heartwrench was done.

“Nice to meet both of you for real,” Rainbow said.

“You look much better than when we first saw you, and we were there a couple of times when you were still asleep,” Blue Rose said.

“You really want to help us take care of the other patients?” Heartwrench asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean, even if it wasn’t just the right thing to do I kind of owe you all for helping me out. Consider it me paying you back for keeping me alive.”

“You really are quite the good soul,” Doctor Swab smiled to her.

“Enough talk,” Anathema interrupted. “Let’s hurry up and get dressed. Our patients might not be missing us but there’s no reason for us to be late and shirk our duties.”

“Getting right on it,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to the lockers and stared at the equipment. “How do you put one of these jumpsuits on?”

Anathema rolled her eyes. “I’ll show you...”

“Thanks, mom,” Rainbow grinned.

“Just shut up already,” Anathema growled.

It was really uncomfortable wearing this thing with her wings. The extra appendages didn’t fit right inside the tight jumpsuit. And even with the jumpsuit, Rainbow Dash shivered slightly when they went inside the main room where all the ponies were. It annoyed her that she had seemingly lost her cold resistance so quickly. After all that time in the True North and her body was back to acting like something like this was “cold”. As if she needed to be uncomfortable physically when she was already going to be a bit uncomfortable and awkward on the inside when it came to seeing and taking care of these ponies. There was a stab of guilt that she tried crushing down, Anathema would’ve told her she shouldn’t feel guilty and it wouldn’t help anybody anyways.

She still really wished all those tests Anathema and Swab ran would’ve found something though. If even some of these ponies could be helped it would be great.

For the first time now she was really looking over all of them, not just paying attention to the ponies closest to where her bed had been. So many faces twisted in pain. So many green spots covering up bodies. So many ponies just lying back and staring emptily up at the ceiling. It was horrible, she had never seen something like this before. Not one of her many trips into the hospitals back in Equestria had brought Rainbow Dash to such a scene of abject misery like this plague created. If Twilight was here maybe she could ask her if there was a history of diseases like this in Equestria. Without her walking encyclopedia of a friend, Rainbow Dash was left with nothing.

“We’ll start with another visual checkup on everyone,” Doctor Anathema said, holding a clipboard with some paper on it and a pencil in her magic. “Rainbow Dash, you’ll walk with me while the others take their own rows. Sorry but I can’t let you do this on your own without any experience. It’s important that everything is recorded correctly.”

“Hey, no need to explain things to me. I get it,” Rainbow shrugged.

They started at the first bed in the corner of the auditorium. In it lied a mare, probably a few years younger than Rainbow Dash, but it was difficult to make out with the condition she was in. Originally her coat might have been a cyan color, but it was almost impossible to tell with probably upwards of 90% of her body being covered in green splotches. The mare didn’t move or offer any sort of acknowledgment that she noticed Rainbow Dash and Anathema even though her eyes were wide open and she was breathing steadily. She was awake yet not awake, either the pain or paralyzing effect of the spores making her more of a husk than a living pony.

Anathema only briefly looked her over and made a checkmark on her clipboard. “Soap Bubble, no change.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced at how apathetic Anathema seemed as she did that. She knew why Anathema acted so detached but it just felt so cold. “Uh, d-do we try talking to her or anything?”

“She can’t speak,” Anathema shook her head.

“Well… but do you think she would like to hear a pony speak to her anyways? Tell her a story? Even if she can’t say anything back...” Rainbow persisted.

Anathema paused and looked down at Soap Bubble, the mare’s chest slowly rose and fell as her eyes vacantly stared off into the distance. She sighed. “If you want, after the rounds are over you can come back and talk to her. But wait until we’re done with the checkups until then.” Her eyes glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Try not to let yourself be affected so much by every pony here. Are you planning on talking to and telling bedtime stories to all of them?”

“If I think they’d like it, then maybe,” Rainbow answered.

“Not like I disagree with that sentiment… I’ve just become tired after so long,” Anathema said.

“Well I don’t blame you for that… I think if I had to see this everyday it would really get to me too. I don’t like feeling helpless and not knowing what to do. I hate it. I’m a mare of action. So if I was in your position and I just had to stand around doing the same stuff and not even knowing if it would make a difference—I’d probably lose it after not too long.” She blinked and looked at the doctor. “Uh, sorry if some of what I said hits too close to home.”

Doctor Anathema just chuckled slightly bitterly. “No, it’s alright. Come on for now though, we have more patients to look at.”

The first row of patients were all pretty much the same, with various amounts of green mold covering their coats. Some actually moved around or wheezed and moaned but most simply lay still. Anathema kept checking off all of them without any change in demeanor. It took only a few seconds for her to look over each one and be satisfied—the mark of a pony who had been doing this routine for a long time. Rainbow Dash watched what she was doing and made sure to take a good look at each pony as well to get familiar with them.

That went on until they came to the bed of a young colt no more than ten.

He was covered head to hoof in green and constantly breathing heavily, his hooves pawed at nothing as he stayed lying on his side. Rainbow Dash could barely make out a Cutie Mark that looked like some kind of flower on his flank. When she and Doctor Anathema approached his bed his eyes flickered up at them, the first real sort of recognition any patient had given them.

It tore Rainbow Dash up to look at him. What if it was Scootaloo lying there? It was bad enough seeing anyone like this already…

Doctor Anathema saw his eyes move too. “Thornfall? How are you feeling today? Can you speak?”

The colt breathed in and out, his mouth slightly moving. “Doctor...”

“Yes, I’m here Thornfall,” Anathema stood close to his bedside.

“Mom… dad… can I see them?” Thornfall asked.

Anathema frowned. “I’m sorry Thornfall but they can’t come in here. Would you like me to go talk to them later today? I can talk to them for you.”

“I want… to see them...” It looked like he would be crying if he had the ability to right now and Rainbow Dash grimaced at the sight.

“I’ll bring you a picture of them from your house and you can keep it beside your bed. Tomorrow I’ll tell you everything they want me to relay to you. Try to rest now, Thornfall,” Anathema said and made another check on her board. She then nodded her head at Rainbow Dash and gestured for the two of them to move on. While they were walking between beds she leaned in and whispered to the pegasus: “That’s not the worst you’re going to see either. Try not to let it get to you.”

She was right, shortly after they came across an even younger filly called Turnip. Her eyes were practically glazed over as Anathema and Rainbow Dash approached. The doctor made a simple mark on her clipboard and was going to keep moving, but Rainbow Dash paused as she caught the filly’s eyes.

“You’re… new,” Turnip said.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as Anathema turned to watch the two of them. “Is there anything you need? You want to talk for a bit, kid?”

Turnip breathed in and out and slowly, painfully, turned her head to look directly at Rainbow Dash. “Kill… me.”

“K-Kid-” Rainbow Dash started but found herself lost for words.

Anathema quickly walked over and put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Turnip, please, stay strong. You’ve done such a good job, we’re all working hard to help you.”

“I… don’t… care. Kill me,” the filly said to them.

Anathema closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m going to get you some water and a stronger sedative. Please try and sleep.”

Before Rainbow Dash could say or ask anything herself, Anathema pushed her along to the next bed and explained for her. “Her mother and father were infected by the spores too… they didn’t make it.”

“Oh, Celestia...” Rainbow Dash winced, looking over her shoulder somberly at the filly.

“She’s just lost the will to go on. Everyday she’s able to speak it’s the same thing from her,” Doctor Anathema shook her head. “But I haven’t given up on curing her… even though that would only be the first step in a long journey for her.”

“She must be in so much pain already...”

“Yes. Inside and out,” Anathema nodded. “That’s what this plague has done to our village.”

“This is so wrong,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“What I’ve been telling myself everyday.”

The rest of the rounds proceeded pretty much the same. Rainbow Dash had to watch as numerous ponies in agony writhed or stared blankly at nothing while Doctor Anathema inspected them. Rainbow Dash kept a mental note on which ones looked like she could talk to them, or might actually enjoy having some company around. And the ones who didn’t… maybe she could talk to them anyways, even if they didn’t give her any response. It was just the right thing to do. And these ponies needed all the kindness and generosity they could get. Still though, by the end of the visual inspection Rainbow Dash was feeling defeated and worn out. There was just so little she could do and these ponies were hurting in a way none of the other creatures she had encountered in her journey so far were. Even the ponies in the Metal Mountain weren’t in this sort of constant, brutal, agony. And even worse she didn’t have a direct plan or obvious way of getting them out of their misery.

“Why does this have to be so difficult?” Rainbow Dash growled under her breath.

“Welcome to the world of infectious diseases,” Anathema mumbled back.

Rainbow frowned. “Didn’t mean for you to hear that...” She looked at some more of the beds and at the nurses and Doctor Swab doing their own inspections. “I think I meant it a little differently than you too.”

Anathema shrugged. “Does it matter? We’re both having a tough time here. And even when you leave and go on your next adventure or whatever I’m sure we’ll both deal with difficult things too, even if they’re completely different. If we ever do find a cure to this disease it’s not like my work is going to stop. Ponies always get sick and injured and I have to always be there for them. It’ll be especially tough after how taxed the village has been because of the plague.”

“I don’t envy you,” Rainbow Dash said. “I respect you, I think you’re cool, but I definitely don’t envy you.”

“Same to you. Your life certainly sounds fun but I know what my path is. I’m happy to be a doctor, and just a doctor. Even in a time like this I don’t regret getting my Cutie Mark,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash glanced out across the beds again. “Yeah...”

Anathema raised an eyebrow at her. “Something else on your mind?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked back at Turnip’s bed. “You… you said Turnip’s parents died?”

“...yes,” Anathema slowly answered.

“They haven’t been the only ones who died from this, have they?” Rainbow asked her.

Anathema sighed and lowered the clipboard and pencil she was holding. “No. No they haven’t been. Not by a long shot unfortunately. I remember the names of each and every pony who has passed away from this disease.”

Rainbow’s face was solemn as she mulled over that in her head. “What happens to them?”

“I’ll show you,” Anathema answered.

No Answers

More scalding hot water from the shower poured down onto Rainbow Dash as Doctor Anathema stood under the shower head right next to her as the two of them underwent decontamination at the same time. The previous few hours were like a miserable blur in Rainbow Dash’s mind. After the visual inspections had finished (with the unsurprising result of there being no changes for better or for worse) they made sure all the patients had functioning IV’s and plenty of water. Rainbow tried talking with a few more ponies but none of them said anything to her. To be honest, her mind was preoccupied with Anathema’s promise. The doctor had said she would show Rainbow Dash what happened with ponies who died from the plague… why couldn’t she just tell her? Was it too complicated?

Or more likely, was it something you just needed to see for yourself?

Rainbow still had in mind some of the ponies she had seen back in the auditorium that she wanted to visit again. The ones who looked like they needed her the most. Later tonight she would come back after this business with Anathema was over and try her hardest to make things easier for them. Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy would be better suited for it, but Rainbow Dash would still try and bring smiles to these ponies’ faces.

As soon as the shower was over with, Doctor Anathema led Rainbow Dash out but not towards the front of the auditorium like usual.

“It’s tucked away in the northeastern part of the forest, away from the village,” Anathema said as she slipped on a new coat.

“What is?” Rainbow asked her.

“You’ll see.”

And that was the only answer she got as the two of them left the auditorium and the others behind, traveling into the forest. Directly to the north, Rainbow Dash knew the green clouds and everything were there, but she couldn’t see any of it through the trees from her point on the ground. Anathema wasn’t even glancing at it, instead making a beeline at an angle away from the auditorium. She had gotten completely quiet now too with her face just an impassive mask of stone. Whatever they were traveling to had the doctor in an even more sour mood than normal.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep breath and sighed, flapping her wings to start hovering alongside the doctor. She wanted to stretch them a bit after they had been kooked up in her jumpsuit for the rest of the day.

“So how far away is this thing?” Rainbow asked just to break the silence. The light fluttering of her wings not enough to occupy her.

“Not much further,” was the simple reply.

Rainbow rolled her eyes but didn’t press further. It was obvious Anathema wasn’t up for talking much. Ahead the forest started to thin a bit and in the distance she could see hills rolling and rolling further towards the east. She doubted they’d be traveling that far though, whatever was done with the dead ponies… Rainbow couldn’t imagine the villagers would want their fallen family members to be too far away. Regardless of the disease.

It was in another minute that she noticed something thanks to the slight height she had due to flying. But it looked like in the middle of a large clearing in the forest something had been dug out. The dirt was excavated in a rectangular shape, she was pretty sure. As she got closer she was able to see more, making out all the edges, and look down into it. A frown came to her face as she wondered what the hole was, it seemed about ten feet deep and there were a couple of piled up dirt ramps on the sides that you could walk down into it from.

As Anathema made it to the edge she stopped and Rainbow Dash stopped along with her and looked down into the large hole directly under this side. She hadn’t been able to see into this side of it yet because of the direction they came from. Now that she could she was able to plainly see several dozen long boxes stacked up inside it.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash dropped to the dirt next to Anathema and folded her wings in. Those weren’t boxes.

“We have to put them here, away from anything else. Their bodies are still covered in the green mold well after death,” Anathema said as she looked out across the coffins.

“Just in one big grave?” Rainbow Dash asked her, a melancholic frown on her face.

“It’s the most practical way to do things. We’ve been forced to be practical about things,” Anathema answered. “The coffins are all marked so we know who is who at least.”

“Oh, great,” Rainbow sarcastically said.

Anathema sighed. “I know. But there’s really not much better we can do right now. When… when a patient dies from the spores we wrap them in heavy, alcohol-disinfected sheets, and then seal them in one of these pine coffins to bring here. Eventually this will all be buried, but not before we find a cure. I may not know how these spores work completely but I’m not taking the risk of a new batch growing from here, even though there’s been no evidence something like that could happen, I don’t want to contaminate the forest and the land around Pinetree Warren further.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the coffins, not wanting to picture their insides. “So Turnip’s mom and dad are in there?”

“Yes,” Anathema nodded. “Initially we thought maybe we should cremate the corpses but there were too many variables and potential dangers involved. What if the smoke is toxic and spreads the disease? What if there’s some unknown chemical reaction with the green mold? It’s pretty much the same reason we haven’t just set fire to the whole part of the forest where the spores come from.”

“No one’s brought any flowers or anything, have they?” Rainbow asked, noticing the lack of, well, pretty much everything around the large mass grave.

Anathema bit her lip and momentarily shook her head. “N-No one has wanted to come out here, for obvious reasons. And getting close to the body before it’s boxed up is...”

“I know. Sorry,” Rainbow shrugged, just tired. “Maybe when this is all over ponies can come pay their respects.”

“I hope so too,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash glanced at her. “Thanks for bringing me here, er, sort of. It wouldn’t have really hit the same way if you just told me. And… I didn’t know this many ponies had died from it. I don’t blame anyone in your village for not being able to smile.”

“There’s going to be more too. I hate to admit that but I know it’s true,” Anathema said, staring at the coffins. “I’m trying my best, we all are, but it’s just delaying the inevitable at this point. Look at how much extra space is left in this grave—we dug it that big for a reason.”

The two of them silently looked at the grave for a little while longer. The pine boxes stacked up along the bottom of it a grim reminder of what the plague had done to Pinetree Warren. No matter how quickly a cure was found or what was done to help the ponies currently afflicted, nothing could undo this. A bird flying overheard briefly distracted Rainbow Dash, she saw its shadow flying over the pit as it went east—far away from the green clouds of death.

Her eyes ended up drawn back to that zone of disease and suffering. Where they were now she could only barely see a vague green fog above the trees in the distance. Rainbow Dash blinked and stared at it for a full minute before she found her voice again.

“Hey, Anathema?”

The doctor turned to look at her as she was still staring to the west. “Yes?”

“I want to see the spores and the green mold and everything up close. I want to see exactly what I’m dealing with and learn everything I can about it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m going to that epi-whatever you call it.”

“Rainbow Dash, that’s dangerous, and you’re not even a doctor or scientist to begin with so just what do you plan on learning?” Anathema asked her.

“Doesn’t matter,” Rainbow resolutely shook her head and faced the doctor. “I don’t know what I can do here yet, but just like with this grave I need to see it for myself. That’s just the kind of pony I am.”

Anathema grimaced, her eyes drifting in the direction of the green fog. “I can’t exactly support going close to it for anything less than an emergency… but I know I can’t stop you either.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and opened her mouth but was quickly silenced by the swift slicing gesture from Anathema’s hoof.

“However. We’re going to take the necessary precautions and you are going to listen to me. Understand?” Anathema raised an eyebrow at the truculent pegasus.

The grin never left Rainbow’s face. “Perfectly.”

She had thought just the jumpsuit was uncomfortable enough but now that she was bedecked in the full protective outfit she realized how wrong she was. The rubber boots over all her legs, the suffocating mask on her face, and the eyewear all made her wish she could tear them off right now. But she had promised to listen to Doctor Anathema and follow her safety protocols so she was just going to have to live with it for now. Even though she probably wasn’t in any danger.

She wasn’t planning on getting close enough to come in contact with the spores and she would heal from them on her own anyways. Or for all she knew she was completely immune to the plague after her first encounter. But Anathema refused to take any chances or do anything unsafe, which Rainbow Dash could understand. There wasn’t any reason for her to bother the doctor about it and stress her out anymore than she already was.

It took some time getting it all together, but now Rainbow Dash was standing in the northern forest with the green fog and particle clouds of spores directly ahead. It was so thick on the forest floor, not like the clouds and the vague smoke above the trees that she had seen when she first flew into it at all. It was dark looking into the heart of it and impossible to see completely through to the other side. The green and the spores was far too dense. Even just a few trees in it started to turn into total blackness while up above more of the haze continued to lift off into the sky and form the clouds that had almost ended Rainbow’s life.

Doctor Anathema was standing ten feet behind her, also wearing full protective gear and not coming any closer. “Well? Have you seen what you wanted to see?”

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer her yet. In part because she didn’t even know what she wanted to see in the first place. She had come here on a whim because she felt that it was important. That heart of the plague looked so unnatural, so wrong, because the particles and spores were so thick in the center it almost seemed alive with how it moved. Like something was animating the plague and had turned it into this freakish nightmare.

“You should know that even for you you can’t go in there more than a few feet. The spores will eat right through your protection and then your body in that kind of concentration. Your “immunity” won’t help you, Rainbow Dash. It wouldn’t be like getting sick, it would be like a bath of acid.” Anathema told her. “For me, I would become infected and near death just from breathing in or coming into skin contact with some on the outskirts of it. As would every other pony in Pinetree Warren.”

“What do you think it’s like in the middle of all that? What do you think the place where all the spores are coming from looks like?” Rainbow asked her, pretty much ignoring the warnings.

Anathema frowned. “The origin point? I would imagine a huge pile of mold or fungus, or perhaps some kind of flowering plant that’s spreading the spores everywhere. I’m not a botanist, no one in town was sure what to make of it. Why? You had best not be getting any dumb ideas.”

“I’m always getting dumb ideas,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But no, I’m not planning on flying into it or anything.”

If Twilight was here she could just put up a magical shield or something and walk on in, Rainbow Dash bet. But if Ardent Elm hadn’t done something like that already she doubted any of the unicorns here could. Rainbow wasn’t a botanist either, she just felt so dumb and useless not being able to offer anything right now. If only her stupid blood had actually shown Anathema the answer to curing this disease it would’ve been a happy meeting. She would’ve had a big party with Pinetree Warren, everyone would be healthy, and she’d be flying off south somewhere else right now.

There was no leaving yet though. It didn’t matter if this wasn’t her village, or if Anathema wanted her to go so she wouldn’t get sick again. She had to help. That was the only part that mattered.

“Have you tried like, catching any spores in a glass jar and taking them back to your lab to look at?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Anathema shook her head. “Too dangerous. Too risky to bring spores back to the village. I won’t take that risk and put the rest of the ponies in Pinetree Warren in danger.”

“Yeah, don’t blame you,” Rainbow said as she kept looking at the dark green epicenter.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash, let’s go. You’re not going to get anywhere just staring at that place,” Anathema said.

“You don’t know that. Maybe I’ll come to an epiphany or something. There’s gotta be something special up with this, this, thing!” Rainbow said to her.

“If there was anything special up with it I think it must also have something to do with you. But we couldn’t figure it out even with all the tests we ran on you,” Anathema said. “You’re the only pony who has shown a different reaction to the spores.” She sighed. “Not even a different reaction, you still got sick the same way, you just recovered on your own somehow.”

“I want to just say it’s cause I’m awesome but I know that doesn’t really help,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Unfortunately.”

“There’s gotta be something I’m missing—that you and everyone else is too,” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. “Seriously nothing you’ve tried has worked on curing the ponies that are sick?”

“We’ve only been able to delay and stall out the disease so far, but no pony except for you has actually shown an improvement and fought off the green,” Anathema told her. “We have treatments. Not a cure. And we’re nowhere close to finding one by the look of how things have been going.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and turned around to look at the doctor. “This bites.”

Anathema rolled her eyes in amusement. “Tell me about it. Let’s go back to my cabin, after today we both need a good night’s sleep.”

“Do I still get the bed?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, you still get the bed.”

Worsening Condition

Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema both retired to her cabin, making it back long after night had fallen due to Anathema’s steadfast refusal to allow Rainbow Dash to carry her. And because they had to change out of the jumpsuits and other safety gear they wore on their brief visit to the borders of the plague’s epicenter. Once they were back the two of them snacked on some leftover nutritional bars of food Anathema had and took turns washing up. It had been a looong day and tomorrow promised to be just as long.

The both of them were tired. The both of them couldn’t exactly say they were happy. But they were at least getting along better than before.

Elsewhere in the village, Honey Sight was once again on his roof. This time even though it was the middle of the night he was still bird watching. For it was around this time that owls from the surrounding forest would come combing through Pinetree Warren in search of mice and squirrels. His camera wouldn’t work well in this darkness so all he could do was watch silently with his eyes and take notes, but that was good enough for a passionate bird watcher like himself.

It was a warm night and he pleasantly sat still for a while before he saw the first owl. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, the light of the moon and stars being enough for him. It had flown in from the forest to the west and came to perch on the roof of a home just a few doors down from his. Honey Sight watched as the great avian predator stared at the ground below, its sharp eyes that could see far better than his right now looking for any sign of prey.

How he wished he had a night camera or something, at the very least the artistic tools and talent to draw the owl.

The bird’s head suddenly swiveled and its eyes locked on a target below. Honey Sight couldn’t see what it was looking at but he was still paying close attention to the owl. He wanted to see exactly how it moved, how it opened its wings and talons as it dove for its prey. The bird’s legs braced and it lowered its head as it prepared to shoot off from the roof—but then it froze.

Honey Sight frowned in confusion, wondering what it was doing.

A second later the owl took off, but not towards the ground in order to snag the prey it must have spotted earlier. Instead it flew above the roofs of Pinetree Warren and took off south in a flash. Soon becoming lost in the darkness and the trees in the forest beyond the limits of the village.

Honey Sight scratched his head. “Did something scare it?”

The sounds of flapping wings, cawing, and hooting reached his ears and he looked up to see not just owls but birds of all types flying overhead. They were coming from all parts of the forest around Pinetree Warren and were flying straight south. That wasn’t the only thing either, he heard scurrying from below and looked down to see mice, squirrels, chipmunks and other rodents running between the buildings, also going south. A stampede of animals was occurring in the dead of night.

“W-What’s going on?” Honey Sight asked as the animals continued to head away from Pinetree Warren, or perhaps away from what was north of the village.

Honey Sight gasped as he turned and tried to look into the northern forest, trying to see the green fog and clouds. But it was impossible at night like this to make anything out. He gulped and sat down, shakily moving a hoof through his mane.

Heavy pounding came to the door of Anathema’s cabin. Enough to wake up both mares inside after just a moment. Anathema fell off her chair and onto a pile of papers while Rainbow Dash sat up in bed and started to rub her eyes. The pegasus yawned and stared at the front door.

“Morning already?” She asked to nobody in particular.

“No,” Anathema said as she stood up, yawning as well and pointing to the window above the bed. “It’s still dark out.”

“Who’s coming here in the middle of the night?” Rainbow wondered and hopped out of bed.

Anathema frowned. “Whoever they are, I doubt they’re here for anything good.”

The two mares trotted through the mess and over to the front door where Anathema opened it up with her magic to reveal a frenzied and panting Walnut Grove. The moment he saw the doctor he grabbed her by the shoulder and gestured off to the north side of the village.

“D-Doctor! You have to come immediately!” Walnut Grove yelled.

“Why? What’s going on?” Anathema questioned while Rainbow Dash bit her lip and tried to see out into the dark as far as she could.

“The patients! It happened in the middle of the night shift, everyone started screaming in pain and writhing around in their beds. It’s like their infections just got worse all at once! Blue Rose and Heartwrench administered more medicine but it wasn’t doing anything! I came to get you and Heartwrench ran off to find Doctor Swab. W-We don’t know what to do!” Walnut Grove explained.

Anathema grit her teeth. “I don’t understand… why so suddenly? It shouldn’t be like this. What about their skin? Was the green getting worse on any of them?”

Walnut Grove nodded. “Y-Yes, we didn’t check all of them but the ones we saw had their green spots growing bigger.”

“How in the—ugh, forget it! We can talk about the how later, now we need to help them, let’s go!” Anathema said and bolted off her cabin’s porch, Walnut Grove running after her after he finished catching his breath, and Rainbow Dash flying alongside her.

“What do you think’s going on?” Rainbow asked her.

“I don’t know! This doesn’t make any sense! None of the other patients had such a rapid deterioration in their condition. Maybe it has to do with them being all stuck together like that—or a side effect of some of the medicine and treatments we’ve used, or anything! This is so infuriating! I-I just hope I can figure out some way to help them...” Anathema almost started to cry as she ran.

“Hey, don’t worry about that. We’ll do something,” Rainbow Dash resolutely said to try and reassure her.

“Y-Yeah...” Anathema stuttered as she nodded.

The two of them made it back to the auditorium in record time, with Walnut Grove pulling up the rear. Anathema and him had to put on their jumpsuits but for this time the doctor didn’t force Rainbow to wear one thanks to the rush they were in. As soon as Anathema and Walnut Grove were ready, Rainbow Dash opened the doors and they walked inside the auditorium. Where they were greeted with a wailing chorus of moans and pained crying. Compared to the zombie-like state most of the ponies were usually in, this was a madhouse.

Blue Rose went from bed to bed in a panic, trying to get as many of them to drink water as they could and swallow down some pills. She was the only one inside right now, Swab and Heartwrench hadn’t returned.

Anathema clicked her tongue and glanced at Walnut Grove. “Sorry to do this to you after you just got dressed, but I want you to leave and go notify every volunteer and nurse about what’s happening. We’ll need everyone.”

“I understand,” Walnut Grove said. “I’ll get everyone as quickly as I can.” He nodded to her and turned about, heading out of the auditorium.

“It’ll take a while for that, he’ll need to decontaminate again thanks to stepping hoof in here. So it’s just us for now,” Anathema said. She looked at Blue Rose and shouted over to her. “Blue Rose! How much medicine is left?”

“Plenty, but it’s not doing anything!” The nurse shouted back as she held the head of an elderly patient and practically forced water down his throat.

“Doesn’t matter. Give them a dose and then start loading up everyone with sedatives. Even if it doesn’t fix anything in the long run we need to keep ponies calm and still to work,” Anathema ordered. She turned to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, help out, try and calm ponies down and feed them their medicine and a sedative if they wont stop moving. Tell me if you see anyone whose green spots are getting much worse.”

“You got it,” Rainbow saluted.

“When Swab comes we can figure out a more lasting solution… if there is one. Now let’s move!” Anathema shouted and all three ponies went into double-time.

Rainbow Dash flew up a bit and used her sharp eyes and memory to pick out the ponies she thought would be most in danger: the very young and the very old. Those were going to be the first ones she made sure had what they needed. She dove down to the bed of a young colt and saw a green blotch practically crawling up his muzzle as it threatened to cover all the skin of his face. He was writhing around and sweating despite the cold, groans of pain wheezing up out of his lungs.

“Hey champ, you just sit tight okay? The doctor and I are gonna make you all better real soon,” Rainbow Dash told him, squeezing his hoof for comfort. She then flew off to where they kept the medicine, most of it she recognized from when it was used on her.

The sedatives were the only thing that actually did anything though. The green was unaffected by any medicine Rainbow and the others made them take but the sedatives at least calmed them down. Doctor Anathema was a mess as she went from bed to bed, checking each pony and seeing their green spots get worse. It was a horrific scene and they were running out of time.

“Where’s Swab?” Anathema moaned. She held a hoof to her chest and tried to calmly breathe in a few times. “If we had some ice, or could just make it colder in here...”

“Make it colder?” Rainbow repeated.

“Of course. You already know how cold it is in here, it slows down the disease’s progression—at least we think it does. Maybe if it was freezing it would stop it now too,” Anathema said.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Okay, I’ll take care of that.”

“Huh?” Anathema tilted her head at her. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it’s about to get really cold in here,” Rainbow said and flew up towards the ceiling.

“What are you doing?” Anathema yelled up at her.

“Just sit tight, okay!” Rainbow yelled back and started flying in a circle around the perimeter of the ceiling.

In just a few moments she had started to form a small tornado, the winds were making the sheets and anything else not held down whip about but it was indeed also spreading the cool air around and making the temperature drop further. Rainbow Dash was acting like a living air-conditioner and filling up the auditorium with freezing cold winds. To her it was like she was back flying around in the True North. To everyone else it was like they were sitting inside a freezer. It was chilly enough where Anathema and Blue Rose were shivering and even most of the sedated patients were reflexively curling up or looking for more sheets to cover themselves with. With that happening, Anathema walked towards a few of the nearest beds and checked on the status of their green blotches.

“It’s-It’s actually working!” She shouted, looking up at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, please keep that up as much as you can! We’ll find another way to get things colder in here soon.”

“No need to tell me twice!” Rainbow shouted back.

The auditorium was kept freezing even as Doctor Swab and a couple of nurses finally entered.

“W-What’s going on?!” Doctor Swab asked, his teeth chattering.

“Temporary measure to delay the disease!” Anathema said to him. “What took you so long to get here?”

“When I heard what was happening I knew we needed something different if the usual medicine wasn’t working,” Doctor Swab said as he swiftly walked over to her while levitating a box behind him. “I’ve strengthened the medicine, doubled the amount in one dose.”

“You can’t just do that!” Anathema roared at him. “The dosage for our medicine is carefully tested, this could lead to all sorts of adverse effects, if not just outright kill the patients!”

“Do you have a better idea? Or any idea at all? Nothing’s working, Anathema, let’s at least give them a fighting chance to survive for one more day. Sometimes we need to take risks as doctors too,” Swab countered.

Anathema bit her lip from behind her mask, looking at Rainbow Dash flying around, all the sick patents on their beds, and finally back into the eyes of Doctor Swab. “F-Fine, give them more of the medicine. Hopefully it’ll at least do something. Then we can work on keeping it freezing cold in here for as long as possible.”

The two doctors and the nurses worked as hard as they could to give dangerous double doses of medicine to every patient in the auditorium. Walnut Grove and the other volunteers came back in the middle of it and started to help out too. By the time they were done, it was morning in Pinetree Warren and Rainbow Dash was still flying to keep the temperature down as much as possible. She was only just starting to get a little bit tired. The good news was that all the ponies seemed to be in a stable condition, but at the same time the green blotches on their body had clearly gotten worse.

A tired Doctor Anathema leaned against the wall and looked up at Rainbow Dash, she shivered under her jumpsuit. “I think I have an idea on how to keep it colder in here at least.”

Doctor Swab—equally tired and standing right next to her—glanced over. “How?”

“Lots of fans and ice. We gather all the ice in the village, get a few fans in here and we’ve got an extra air-conditioning system going on. It’ll make things even colder and Rainbow Dash won’t have to fly around anymore,” Anathema explained. “All the nurses and volunteers should go clean up and get the stuff we need.”

She wiped her hoof over her brow, a pointless gesture. “Rainbow Dash, how long can you keep going?”

“Pff! I can keep this up for hours!” Rainbow answered.

“That’s good, because you’re going to have to,” Anathema said. She got off from the wall and stretched, looking out over the beds. “Come on, we should do another checkup to see how they’re doing and how much worse the green has gotten on each of them.” She said to Doctor Swab.

“Right,” Swab said and joined her.

More hours passed by, the hectic night had turned into a new busy day and most ponies that didn’t have the energy reserves of Rainbow Dash would probably be getting pretty tired. But there was no rest for them when it came to this sort of work and all the ponies relying on them. The entire village was pilfered of all its ice and every spare fan that could be found. Every last thing that could help was scrounged up over the next few hours, much to the concern and confusion of the villagers. By the time it was done, every single pony inside the auditorium was shivering as the temperatures were kept at a freezing level. Anything more than this and it would’ve been just as dangerous to the patients as the disease itself was.

“I-I think I’m really going to enjoy that hot shower out back after this,” Doctor Swab said.

“In truth it feels mostly the same for me,” Anathema frowned.

“I’ve felt colder than this but it still isn’t a lot of fun...” Rainbow Dash said.

Anathema nodded and turned to her. “Thank you for your quick thinking, you really helped us out.”

“Just doing my part,” Rainbow shrugged.

“I’m still wondering why this all happened in the first place,” Doctor Swab said. “Just in the middle of the night, completely out of the blue...”

“That’s what Walnut Grove said too. I don’t understand it,” Anathema said.

“If it was just one then maybe we could chalk it up to a pre-existing condition or something, but all of them?” Swab shook his head.

“There has to be a reason for it. This disease has been an enigma to us for too long, we have to figure out what’s going on,” Anathema sighed and held her head in her hooves. “There must be a key or trigger that we’re missing.”

While the three of them sat there, stuck in this quandary, Heartwrench walked over to them after receiving notice of something from outside the auditorium. She tapped Doctor Anathema on the shoulder to get her attention. “Doctor?”

Anathema looked up at her. “Nurse? What is it?”

“Um, apparently Honey Sight has something important to tell you and Doctor Swab. He says he’s seen something again,” Heartwrench told them, her eyes looking back and forth between the three ponies.

Anathema furrowed her brow. “What could it be now?”

“Not good news, likely,” Doctor Swab sighed.

“Hey, no need to be super pessimistic about everything,” Rainbow Dash said. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up and see what Honey Sight’s got to say.”

“It’s bigger,” Honey Sight said to the three ponies.

“What do you mean?” Doctor Swab said.

“I’m telling you, it’s gotten bigger,” the bird watcher repeated.

The four of them were standing outside the quarantine zone on the edge of the auditorium, the two doctors and Rainbow Dash having just gone through decontamination, and Honey Sight was reiterating to them something he had allegedly discovered. Ostensibly, the part of the forest that had been overtaken by the spores and green haze had grown last night.

“You’re saying there’s more green smoke and clouds? It’s expanded outward?” Anathema asked him.

Honey Sight nodded. “That’s right. Late last night, all the birds and animals in the forest and in the village suddenly ran away or flew away in a fright. I saw owls, and squirrels, and everything else just heading south. I-I knew it had to have something to do with that plagued part of the forest. But it was so dark out I couldn’t see anything until morning. Once the sun came up I checked from my roof and… it’s bigger. I’m telling you that it’s taken over even more of the forest.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and shared a look with Anathema. She then flew up into the sky and looked over the auditorium, towards the north and the green death in the forest. There were green clouds and the green fog rolling around it the same as always and… it might have expanded outwards a bit. She clicked her tongue and looked below at the other three.

“I think he’s right! The whole place might’ve grown a bit!”

Anathema and Doctor Swab now shared a worried look and the mare thought about all the patients on death’s door inside the auditorium. The sun continued to shine down from above, by all accounts it was a beautiful day.

Testing Your Limits

“I need to get sick again.”

“Rainbow Dash, that. Is. Insane.”

The two ponies fumed at each other as they stood in the forest north of Pinetree Warren, still at a safe distance from the plagued area. No more than an hour had passed since Honey Sight had come to them with the revelation that for some reason the green plague had spread even further and Rainbow Dash had gotten another signature dumb idea in her head. Naturally Doctor Anathema was there with her in an attempt to curb any dumb, suicidal, ideas. Which is what brought the two of them to an impasse.

“Is not,” Rainbow Dash stomped a hoof on the ground. “We know I’ll be okay. Maybe if you get a look at me from start to finish and see how my body fights off the disease you’ll learn something!”

“I will absolutely not allow a pony to willingly infect themselves with that plague! Especially when being okay is not a guarantee!” Anathema shouted back at her.

“It is!”

“The green has just now acted in an unusual way compared to how it’s acted before! There’s no telling whether you will be as immune as you believe yourself to be! Not to mention that you still almost died and could potentially harm yourself if you go through more of those spores again.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Why can’t you just put a little faith in me?”

“Because it’s illogical, unreasonable, unscientific, and negligent! I can’t, as a doctor and as a thinking pony, allow it!” Anathema nearly headbutted her in response, glaring right into Rainbow Dash’s determined eyes.

“Take a risk! I’m the one putting myself in danger here anyways, not you. We both know how bad things are now, if you’re not willing to take bigger risks to stop this plague then what are you going to do?” Rainbow countered.

Anathema bit her lip and looked down. “There’s… there’s no reason for you to hurt yourself over something pointless.”

“Anathema...” Rainbow sighed.

“I’ve been refusing to accept how pointless what we’re doing is. But I can’t anymore,” the doctor shook her head. “The patients in the auditorium are doomed—and soon we’ll have to abandon the village entirely. It’s hopeless, Rainbow Dash. Don’t hurt yourself chasing a pipe dream. Don’t make a pointless sacrifice for some village in the middle of nowhere that isn’t even your home.”

The words of Barnaby echoed in her head once more and Rainbow shook herself to ignore them. She grasped Doctor Anathema by the shoulders and stared intently into her eyes.

“Don’t ever give up hope. And especially don’t ever count out what I can do.”

Anathema sniffled. “This is too reckless...”

Rainbow Dash snorted and let go of her shoulders, flapping her wings and hovering above the ground. “Reckless is practically my middle name. It’s never done me wrong before now.”

“That’s not reassuring after the way I met you, you know?” Anathema said, but a smile still appeared on her face.

“Well it worked out, that was my luck kicking in too,” Rainbow Dash cockily shrugged and grinned down at the doctor. “Don’t worry about this at all, just a quick dash around the outsides so I can get some spores on me and then I’ll be right back out before I go unconscious. You can watch over me the whole time, I’ll be fine.” She grimaced. “Okay, well, maybe not at first because it’s going to be really painful and uncomfortable but that’s what you’re here for.”

Anathema sighed and nodded. “Yes, that’s what I’m here for. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”

“Okay then,” Rainbow Dash saluted her. “Time to do something awesome, dumb, heroic, and Rainbow Dash all at once.”

She zoomed off towards the green fog of spores, keeping low to the ground so if it made her seize up all at once she at least wouldn’t crash so hard. In the back of her mind her instincts were screaming “Stop!” but she ignored them. Still, she couldn’t help but sweat the closer she got, it was an unconscious reaction after what her body had been through the first time. It was like holding your hoof over an open flame.

Rainbow Dash breathed in to calm herself. She didn’t need her heart beating in her chest like crazy while she was doing this. She started to come in towards the fog at a curve so she could just skirt alongside it and get right out as she flew past. There was no need to throw her whole body into a cloud, she just needed to come in contact with the spores a little bit. And she didn’t want to breathe any in and choke either.

As soon as she hit the border of the green fog, she felt the tip of her wing start to burn once it dipped into the airborne spores. A quick glance showed her a green blotch growing over it, climbing up the rest of her wing. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and threw more of her body into the spores. All four of her hooves and her belly became covered in the green, it caused her to wobble in air and her body was screaming in pain and protest. Sensations of burning and numbness traded off across her body and her muscles started to seize up and disobey her orders. Rainbow Dash put all the strength she could into her wings and shot herself away from the spores.

Her wings gave out pretty much right after and she fell to the ground, rolling to a stop over the grass and dirt. Even though she hadn’t breathed any spores in this time she was having trouble breathing and all of her limbs felt like lead. It was impossible for her to stand up and she couldn’t see where Anathema was from where she was lying on the ground.

Rainbow Dash was wheezing and moaning, trying to shift around until she heard hoofsteps coming up to her.

“I swear, you’re going to get yourself killed one day doing something like this,” Anathema said to her.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head to look up at the doctor and grinned.

“She’s already fighting the disease off considerably even after just a few minutes,” Doctor Swab said as he looked over Rainbow Dash’s sleeping form while she lied on a bed in the auditorium again.

Compared to how much green had covered her when she was brought in, a large portion of it was already gone and back to its usual sky blue color. Anathema, Swab, and Nurse Cough Drop stood around her, checking her vitals and analyzing everything about her condition. Rainbow Dash shivered in her sleep at the cold while with every passing minute the green spots on her body got smaller. It seemed like she had been right about being fine. However, that also gave Anathema and the others less to work with.

Doctor Anathema levitated a syringe from a bedside stool and brought it towards one of Rainbow Dash’s legs. “Let’s take some blood samples and cultures while we can. I don’t expect finding much but it will be better than nothing.”

They worked tirelessly and relentlessly during the brief time they had to try and uncover both the mystery of the disease and Rainbow Dash’s unique resilience. Even more attention and care was paid this time than before, now with things in much more dire straits. And with the crunch of time bearing down even harder.

“If there was just another pegasus in Pinetree Warren who had gotten sick we could at least see if her immunity has to do with pegasus physiology or not,” Doctor Swab sighed in frustration.

“No sense crying about what we don’t have. Now even if another pegasus flew here from the Weeping Mountain we couldn’t ask them to get sick to find out,” Anathema said.

“I’m just trying to think,” Swab said.

“I know but… let’s just work. We haven’t found anything yet and we’re not going to unless we give this our utmost focus. This plague is like a medical lockbox, or puzzle, there’s never been something so difficult to understand and decipher,” Anathema said. “After all we still don’t even really know what it comes from.”

“If we were able to get to the origin point and harvest some direct samples...” Swab muttered.

“That’s another pointless line of thought. We just have to work with what we have. And what we have is Rainbow Dash,” Anathema said.

“Speaking of which-” Doctor Swab said and looked over at Cough Drop. “How are her vitals?”

“Stable, Doctor. And she’s breathing well,” the nurse replied.

“Good, get her some water too,” Swab said.

“No, hold off on that,” Anathema cut in. “I don’t want us to give her any water or medicine. I don’t want any sort of outside interference going on, let’s see exactly how her body and her body alone fights off the disease.”

Cough Drop and Doctor Swab both shared a look with each other but the other doctor still nodded right after.

“Believe me,” Anathema said to them. “Rainbow Dash would be more than confident in herself to stay fine.”

As the ponies continued to work, Anathema brought a magnifying glass up to her eye and focused on some of the remaining bits of green around Rainbow Dash’s hooves. A microscope would’ve shown her far more but she couldn’t fit a hoof under one. At least with the magnifying glass she could watch as millimeter by millimeter the green spots dissolved and disappeared as if they had been exposed to acid. It was so vexing to see, there wasn’t anything on Rainbow’s skin or anything wrong with her coat that would explain this behavior.

Doctor Anathema sighed and put down the magnifying glass. Was this just it? Another fruitless series of tests where they were no more closer to figuring things out than before?

Why is this happening to us? Anathema thought as she took another blood sample from Rainbow Dash.

Medicine was her special talent. But she couldn’t figure out how to cure this disease. She became a doctor because she wanted to help ponies. But so far she hadn’t been able to help anyone. Pinetree Warren was her home. By the rate things were going, they were all going to have to abandon it. Despite all her studying and effort it felt like her entire life was pointless just because of this plague.

Looking down at the blue pony she remembered how when she first saw her how she thought they had finally found salvation. She thought this pony would be the key, they could find something with her body that would help them cure the others. But it just never materialized. Rainbow Dash had certainly brought some much needed positive energy, but deep down Anathema still hated how she had allowed herself to get hopeful.

Where were the answers?

In another hour, Rainbow Dash was pretty much back to normal. Unlike the first time, Anathema expected her to wake up less than a day after falling unconscious.

“Do we have anything?” Anathema asked Swab.

“It’s just more of what we already knew,” he shook his head. “At best I could say that maybe a blood donation from her might do something, but not everyone has the same type of blood she does, nor does she have enough to give in the first place.”

“And we don’t even know if it will work, her blood has always appeared completely normal. It’s no more of an answer for her strength than anything else,” Anathema said. She turned to Cough Drop with a sigh. “Nurse, please clean up Rainbow Dash and have her ready when she wakes up. And you can get her some water now too.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Cough Drop nodded and walked away to get some.

As she did, Anathema took a deep breath—and kicked a nearby stool as hard as she could, sending it clattering down past bed after bed, startling the nurse and Doctor Swab. Nurse Cough Drop gulped and kept walking on her errand while Swab sighed and shook his head.

“You may have just broken your hoof, you know?” He said.

“I don’t care.”

Rainbow did wake up only a few hours later. The hopeful mood she had before reinfecting herself was unfortunately brought down by Swab’s silently shaking head and Anathema’s absence. Her latest bid of bravery had failed, and the doctors were still left with nothing.

The Plague's Truth

Rainbow Dash lied on top of Anathema’s bed as she stared absently at the ceiling of her small cabin. After the failure of yesterday, she had retired here to find Anathema and to try and cheer her up. The doctor wasn’t in much of a mood for it though. She sported a fresh bandage around her hoof that she explained was the result of “frustration”.

Now Anathema was poring over every medical book she had on hoof to try and learn anything helpful. Or perhaps just to keep her mind off the reality of the situation. After all, she had read through all of these books multiple times by now. Her eyes were bloodshot and heavy bags sat below them, she hadn’t slept in over a day.

Rainbow Dash turned over and looked at Anathema as she sat at her messy table, her face a hard frown as her eyes scanned through page after page. “You should go to sleep.”

“No, I can sleep later,” she swiftly replied.

“You can have the bed this time.”

“Be quiet, Rainbow Dash, I’m reading.”

Rainbow frowned and exhaled through her nose, rolling off the bed and walking over to the doctor. “When was the last time you ate anything either?”

Her eyes glanced up and glared at Rainbow Dash. “I can take care of myself, I’m your doctor, not the other way around.”

“True enough,” Rainbow nodded and jumped up to sit on top of the table. Anathema ignored her and kept on reading. “Know how much you mean well and everything, you’re doing this for the whole village. Who cares if you collapse or hurt yourself in the middle of reading some old book?”

Anathema huffed but didn’t respond otherwise.

Rainbow Dash sprawled out on the table and rolled over onto her back, staring upside down at Anathema. “You have any hobbies? Like before this all started what did you do for fun around Pinetree Warren?”

“Stop bothering me.”

“Cause you see, when I’m not out adventuring I like racing, stunt flying, reading awesome Daring Do books, and napping. Gotta remember to keep some time for yourself.”

“...”

“Like, I told you about most of my life and home before coming here, right? But there was this one time too where I was supposed to be doing something but I was taking a nap first—okay, that describes a lot of times actually, but I’m thinking about one in particular. I was supposed to clear the clouds around Ponyville but I knew I could do that in a flash so I really just wanted to relax and enjoy a good nap first. But someone came and egged me on to do my job, so I totally showed her what was up and did it. She was totally well-meaning, just being a busybody you know? I knew the importance of a good nap and not stressing out over what you need to do. Especially if you know you can do it easy,” Rainbow sighed and rolled over again to look at Anathema straight on. “And sometimes even when you don’t know if you can do something.”

Anathema finally looked back up at her and narrowed her eyes. “The point you’re trying to make is muddled and stupid, leave me alone.”

“Okaaay, I could leave you alone. Or I could take that book and throw it out the window. Or you could just go to bed right now. Even if you can’t feel it you’re hurting yourself and not helping anybody by doing this right now,” Rainbow said.

“The pony with nothing invested in any of this is going to give me advice on the matter, hm?” Anathema snorted.

Rainbow twitched and reached forward to grab Anathema by the shoulders. “Hey. Even if this isn’t my home, and I don’t know these ponies like you do, don’t you even think to say something like that.”

Anathema attempted to glare back at her… but shortly sighed and slumped down in defeat. “I-I’m sorry… I know I shouldn’t have said that.”

Rainbow Dash let her go and fluttered off the table, landing beside her. “I know. Now come on, go to bed, even if it’s just to nap for a couple hours.”

“Alright,” Anathema stood out of her chair and walked towards the bed, stumbling slightly after forgetting her hoof was injured so Rainbow had to come and steady her. She hopped into bed just fine and sprawled out on top of it. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“When I wake up… can you tell me some more things about your home? It’s always sounded like a nice place,” Anathema asked, her heavy eyelids already falling shut.

Rainbow Dash smiled at her. “Sure.”

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve still been thinking that maybe there’s something else about you that keeps you healthy,” Anathema said to Rainbow Dash as she lied on the bed and Rainbow Dash hovered above her eating a bar of chocolate. “Some unknown medical condition, something you caught before back in Equestria, something that makes you special.”

“There’s a lot of stuff that makes me special,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “I’m aware, you’ve gone on about how amazing you are. But what in particular is it that’s special about you? Are there any other ponies like you back home?”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help the smug grin that formed on her face. “Come on, there’s no other ponies like me. I’m one of a-”

Her eyes shot wide open as she paused in the middle of her sentence, causing Anathema to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Rainbow Dash hovered there and slowly frowned, lifting her hoof up towards her chest and rubbing at something that wasn’t there. “Or maybe six of a kind...” She quietly said.

“Rainbow Dash?” Anathema questioned.

“I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and scratched her head. “I just remembered something… and I think that maybe we’ve been looking at this thing the wrong way. Like you haven’t been taking something else about this plague into consideration.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well what if this isn’t just a normal disease?”

Anathema frowned. “We know it’s not some normal disease, it’s-”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, that’s not what I meant! What if it’s not like just a disease at all? What if it’s magic?”

“Magic?” Anathema shot up, her brow furrowed. “You think it’s some sort of spell?”

“I-I dunno… maybe part of it. Like, what if it didn’t just naturally start up? What if there was something magical involved, like either a spell, or a curse, or some other kind of crazy thing? And so no matter what you do as far as medicine goes you can’t cure it because there’s still the magical part of the disease?” Rainbow said.

“Why do you even think it’s magic in the first place? This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Well for one, none of this has made any sense, has it? Like you’re a doctor but has anything about this plague followed logic or your medical knowledge?” Rainbow asked.

Anathema had to admit it did not. “Not… especially.”

“And it’s also cause about something to do with me. You wanted to know about other ponies like me? There are five of them. Me and my friends are something called Elements of Harmony and it’s all kind of a long story, but I embody the Element of Loyalty and together the six of us have defeated all sorts of villains with the magic of friendship,” Rainbow told her.

“And you think the magic of friendship has something to do with this plague?” Anathema didn’t look convinced.

“No, not the magic of friendship, the kind of magic that the Elements of Harmony is all about fixing and getting rid of. Chaos magic. I know a thing or two about chaos magic, this is definitely way different from what I’ve seen it used for before but it can do practically anything. I’ve got experience, trust me.” Rainbow told her. “It also explains why I’m like, immune, or at the least why my body can heal after getting out of the spores. I’m a natural anti-chaos pony. I know you might think this is crazy, but me being an Element of Harmony is the only thing I can think of for why I’m able to do what I do when it comes to the plague.”

“I… I have no idea how to verify or figure out any of this,” Anathema said. Right before a smirk appeared on her face. “But we both know someone who might be able to.”

The two ponies knocked heavily on Ardent Elm’s door in the hope that he would answer immediately. That hope proved correct as the older, bearded stallion soon pulled open his door to see what the ruckus was about. His eyes roamed over the two and he tilted his head in confusion over what the two could possibly want.

“Yes?” He asked.

“Sorry to bother you,” Anathema said. “But do you know anything or have any books on sensing magic or analyzing certain magical signatures?”

“I… have a few books in that area or relating to it, I believe. Why?” Ardent Elm asked again.

“Do you think you can sense chaos magic?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Chaos magic?” Ardent Elm leaned back slightly. “That’s not something you see every day. It is quite distinct though so yes, with the proper spell, focus, and if this suspected magic was close enough I think I could. But what could you possibly think involves chaos magic here in Pinetree Warren?”

Rainbow Dash and Anathema both shared a look.

Ardent Elm’s eyes widened. “You can’t mean...”

“It’s exactly that. Rainbow Dash believes that the spores aren’t some simple natural phenomenon. She thinks chaos magic is involved and that’s why nothing we do is able to heal anyone infected by them either,” Anathema said.

“Which is why we want you to come see if there’s anything magical with the big area full of spores and green fog in the forest,” Rainbow Dash said. “If you need to look a spell up or bring a book with you then fine, but we gotta figure this out as quickly as possible. So come help us sense if that place is full of chaos magic.”

Ardent Elm stalwartly nodded, his mouth settling into a serious frown. “Of course, let’s go immediately.”

That “immediately” still turned out to be about five or ten minutes as Ardent Elm had to search through his home for the right spellbooks and tomes of magical lore. He carried it out with him in a vibrant yellow aura of magic and the three ponies raced to the northern limits of Pinetree Warren to get as close to the epicenter of the problem as possible. Adrenaline was running through their veins, especially Anathema’s. She had allowed herself to become hopeful again. She couldn’t help it—the certainty of Rainbow Dash was intoxicating. It was right. It would work. She could feel it.

It didn’t take long for them to get to where they needed to be. Close to where Rainbow Dash and Anathema had stood before Rainbow reinfected herself. A safe distance, but still close enough for Ardent Elm to work his magic.

He had his books on the ground in front of him and was looking through them for what he needed. Mumbling to himself as he read through each page to make sure he was getting things right and not missing anything. Rainbow Dash and Anathema both looked towards the green haze, the smoke rising up, the clouds over the trees. Both of them were hopeful that this place would soon no longer hold any power or create so much fear in Pinetree Warren.

“Okay,” Ardent Elm finally said. “I know what to do.”

“Do you need anything from us?” Anathema asked.

He shook his head. “Just quiet.”

The old wizard then sat down and closed his eyes, pointing his horn towards the spores. A yellow glow lit it up, followed by a powerful pulse before a circular ray of magic shot out to the green. It flashed as soon as it hit the spores and Ardent Elm squeezed his eyes shut even tighter as sweat gathered along the base of his horn. The flash of magic then suddenly turned black and Ardent gasped before deactivating his spell and falling backwards.

“Ardent!” Anathema shouted and knelt by his side. “Are you alright?”

“What was that?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked at the lingering black light in the green before it faded away completely.

“That was chaos magic,” Ardent Elm panted as he sat up with Anathema’s help. “You’re correct, Rainbow Dash. This is no ordinary plague.”

Solution

“Alright, now that we know the truth about this plague, how do we cure it?” Doctor Anathema asked the assorted ponies inside Ardent Elm’s home.

Rainbow Dash, Doctor Swab, and Heartwrench were there alongside the homeowner. All of them gathered at Ardent Elm’s kitchen table while the wizard had an assortment of magical books and potion ingredients gathered around.

“Ahem,” Ardent Elm coughed. “The very first thing that I need to do is analyze Rainbow Dash’s magic. When I can replicate her magical signature as part of a potion or spell it should give us what we need to cure the magical part of these infections.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Analyze my magic? I don’t have any magic.”

The wizard shook his head. “Every pony, pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony, has a unique magical signature. It’s part of why every Cutie Mark is different. I will use the special harmonic magic you possess, and then I believe we can mix what I come up with with the doctor’s medicine to create a true cure for the plague.” Ardent Elm took a deep breath and sighed. “There’s a problem with that though; time and ingredients.”

“Same here,” Doctor Swab said. “In truth we’re running low on medicine… we were going to be out completely soon enough.”

“I as well only have the magical power and ingredients here in the village to make a few doses. Not enough to cure everyone,” Ardent Elm said.

Anathema raised a hoof. “Look, let’s deal with that somehow when the time comes. For the moment we don’t know if this will actually work at all. We’ll need to test it on one of the patients.”

“I can work with Rainbow Dash then and make a single initial batch. Once I’m done we can see if it works,” Ardent Elm said.

Anathema nodded. “Agreed. Rainbow Dash? Any questions or concerns?”

“I mean I’ve already kind of let myself be a guinea pig for a while here haven’t I?” Rainbow shrugged. “Let’s just do this and cure some ponies.”

“Well said,” Anathema smiled.

“I’ll go back to our office then and see what I can do about the medicine,” Doctor Swab said. He then looked to Nurse Heartwrench. “You can head back to the auditorium, help out Doctor Anathema and the others with anything they need.”

“Of course, Doctor,” Heartwrench nodded.

“I don’t think there will be much for us to do today with the patients,” Anathema said. “And I already have one in mind for using the first cure we have on. Let’s just go and make sure everyone is as comfortable as possible and things haven’t gotten worse again.”

“See you later,” Rainbow Dash said to the other three as they got up from the table and went off to do their own business.

“Next time we see each other it will hopefully mean the two of you have a cure for us,” Anathema smiled at Rainbow and Ardent Elm.

“I promise we’ll be successful,” Ardent Elm said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Anathema waved goodbye to the two of them and left Ardent Elm’s home with the others, closing the door as they went and just leaving Rainbow Dash with the old wizard. Rainbow Dash turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “So how is this going to work then?”

Ardent Elm chuckled and closed some of the books in front of him. “Just sit still for a moment...”

“Can do!” Rainbow saluted and sat back in her chair while Ardent Elm’s horn lit up in its yellow aura again. There wasn’t a beam or anything that came out, but shortly afterwards a yellow aura appeared around Rainbow Dash’s body as well. It tickled slightly and some of her hair started to stand on end but otherwise she couldn’t really feel anything. She had to sit still like that for almost five minutes though as Ardent Elm silently worked his magic. It seemed to be causing him a bit of strain too, he had begun to sweat and he was panting fairly hard. It could’ve been the spell being intense to perform or his age taking a toll on his stamina.

In the middle of the spell, he pulled up an ornate glass bottle and put it on the table between himself and Rainbow Dash.

Ardent Elm’s horn, and the aura around Rainbow Dash, both glowed brighter and soon a matching light appeared inside the bottle as well. The aura around Rainbow Dash then detached from her and shrunk down, diving like a stream of water into the bottle and filling it up. It sparkled for a bit before the magic seemed to settle down and turn into a milky white liquid.

Ardent Elm let out a deep breath and the light from his horn faded. “There.”

“That’s it? That’s the magical cure?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“The base of it. I need to put more spells and ingredients into it before it’s finished,” Ardent Elm said.

“How long is that going to take?” Rainbow asked.

“Not very long,” Ardent Elm shook his head. “Once I’m done you can take it with you to the auditorium. I think Anathema will want it as quickly as possible.”

“Yeah I think you’re right about that,” Rainbow said as she got out of her chair and started pacing around the kitchen. She needed to stretch, and she was anxious as well. Anxious but still happy and excited. This was all really working now, they had some answers, they had a cure, things were really turning out good for them now.

A nagging reminder at the back of her mind temporarily soured her mood though. It was something she had been refusing to think about ever since the revelation.

How did this magical chaos plague start?

Who started it?

It’s not the kind of thing that could just occur on its own. Someone had to use chaos magic in the first place, either accidentally or on purpose. The only creature she knew of who could use chaos magic was Discord but he would never do something like this. And she was on the other side of the world right now, maybe there were other creatures who could use it?

Rainbow Dash shook her head and banished the thoughts from her mind for the moment. It didn’t have anything to do with what was going on in Pinetree Warren right now and it certainly wasn’t the result of any of the villagers’ actions. Anathema and everyone else didn’t need more stress piled on them. She couldn’t even think of a reason for why someone would create this plague anyways.

She paced and paced some more while Ardent Elm finished up his work. It was better to stay positive since now they could at least end the dumb thing. Rainbow Dash’s own infectious positivity had done a lot of good for Anathema, she could tell, and she wanted to keep it that way. Ardent Elm meanwhile had been working with the bottle of milky liquid and was close to being done. The liquid inside the glass bottle seemed to shimmer different colors depending on how you looked at it. He lifted it up in his yellow magic and gave it an approving nod.

“It’s done, thanks to your magic we have a cure,” he said.

“Awesome,” Rainbow said and took the bottle from him. “I’m going to take this to the auditorium right away.”

“Alright, you won’t need the whole bottle to cure your first patient either. A third of it should be enough,” he told her.

“Even better,” Rainbow nodded and grinned. She flapped her wings and started hovering in his kitchen. “I’ll come back when we need to make more or if there’s anything else going on. See ya!”

Before he could even respond she zipped right out of his home, front door opening and closing in a flash.

Ardent Elm sighed as he looked at the door. “Even better? It still means only three at a time can be cured, and a new batch can only be made...” he shook his head. “This plague isn’t beaten just yet.”

Rainbow Dash entered the freezing auditorium with the bottle of magical liquid in her hooves and saw that Swab was already back as well. “Yo!” She said and flew over to the group. Anathema, Heartwrench, Blue Rose, Swab, and Walnut Grove were all standing around one bed in particular. Rainbow Dash immediately recognized the young filly lying in it when she got there.

“Is that the magical potion?” Doctor Anathema asked her as Rainbow Dash came to a stop by Turnip’s bed.

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded and looked down at the filly. “She’s the one we’re making sure it works on?”

“I couldn’t think of a better patient to choose,” Anathema said.

Turnip’s eyes were open but if she was even aware of the other ponies here she didn’t show. Ever since the sudden advancement of the disease, no one had been up for talking and most seemed practically comatose the same way Turnip was now. Green covered almost her entire body and only the faintest of breaths came in and out of her lungs.

“Yeah… I think I agree with you on that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Did Ardent Elm give you any special instructions as to how this cure works?” Doctor Swab asked her.

“Not really instructions or anything, you just drink it, but he said only a third of this bottle is needed to cure a pony. I guess if we have Turnip drink it and take your medicine at the same time she’ll finally be back to normal,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That’s the hope,” Anathema said and then leaned down close to Turnip. “Turnip? If you can hear me right now, we’re going to be giving you some new medicine. Just relax, it’ll be fine and you should be feeling much better soon. Can you move right now? Do you think you can drink anything?”

The small filly didn’t move, she only slowly blinked.

“I think we’re going to have to help her drink it,” Doctor Swab said.

Anathema nodded. “Yes, we’ll have to keep her head tilted and hold her mouth open.”

They did their best to get the filly ready, being gentle with her as they moved her body into a sitting position on her bed, propped up by a pillow. The whole time she just stared ahead and Rainbow Dash watched. She set the bottle down and Doctor Swab got out a cup that he first put the strengthened medicine in before he carefully took the bottle of magical potion.

“Here goes...” he said and uncorked the lid.

A stream of shimmering white liquid poured into the cup where it fluctuated with every color of the rainbow. Doctor Swab carefully poured enough into the cup so only a third remained in the bottle.

“Did Ardent Elm say how it was going to taste?” Anathema asked Rainbow Dash.

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “What’s magic supposed to taste like?”

“I suppose Turnip will be able to tell us in a moment...”

Heartwrench’s gloved hooves opened up Turnip’s mouth and held her like that while Doctor Swab brought the full cup over and prepared to pour it down her throat.

“She may gag out of reflex, be careful when pouring,” Anathema told him.

“I’m aware,” he looked at Heartwrench. “Hold her as still as possible.”

“Yes, Doctor,” the nurse said and made sure she was holding the filly steady.

Doctor Swab took a deep breath and tilted the cup just slightly above Turnip’s open mouth. The liquid poured from it and into the filly’s mouth, steady, just a few drops at a time. She didn’t show any reaction at first so Swab poured more in. Once she had swallowed half the cup, Rainbow and the others could see her eyes begin to twitch and her body quiver. Her jaw wanted to reflexively close but Heartwrench kept it open. Coughing and sputtering sounds came up from Turnip’s throat but she hadn’t thrown up or spit up any of the brew yet. After Swab finished pouring it all in, Heartwrench closed Turnip’s mouth shut to force her to swallow it all. The filly writhed around a bit but eventually she had to just drink it all, gulping it down and lying back against her pillow.

Now everyone waited.

Turnip turned about and shifted in her bed, her hooves pawing at the sheets and her jaw clenching up. She shivered and started to groan before her body straightened up. All of the other ponies watched on as the green covering her body started to dissolve and fade away. It happened slowly at first, the green just barely flaking away, before soon it acted like it did with Rainbow Dash and it all started to completely wash away. The green covering her was reduced to tiny blotches and then to nothing as the filly’s body finally returned to normal.

She was shivering and her eyes flickered around for a while after it was over, Anathema and Swab waiting for her to recover enough to speak. Her breathing soon calmed down and Turnip sat up to look at the doctors and other ponies around her bed.

“Turnip? Do you feel better?” Anathema asked.

“...cold. It’s cold in here,” the filly said.

A smile lit up Anathema’s face under the mask she was wearing. “I’m going to see that as an improvement.”

“Unfortunately we’re just nowhere near out of the woods yet,” Anathema said to Rainbow Dash and Doctor Swab in one of the tents outside the auditorium. Heartwrench and Blue Rose were helping to treat and decontaminate Turnip so she could finally be released as healthy. Meanwhile there was still a lot to discuss when it came to the plague and cure.

She held the bottle of magic in her hooves. “This can cure two more ponies out of the dozens of sick patients we have. I have to assume there’s a limit to Ardent Elm’s magic and other means or he would have made more. Adding to that, we’re almost totally out of our normal medicine and supplies.”

“Yes, and we have no way of getting more in an easy or timely manner,” Doctor Swab said. “A trade caravan coming through could have helped us but...”

“We put up all those warning signs on the roads coming to Pinetree Warren,” Anathema sighed.

Doctor Swab nodded. “Correct. Now the best we could do is travel to… Wildflower Grove or Summerlight maybe and see if they have what we need. But going there and back would take a few days.” He glanced at Rainbow Dash. “Even if it was Rainbow Dash flying there it would take a full day and she might not be able to carry back all we need.”

“So we’re kind of in trouble?” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck.

“Potentially,” Anathema said. “We’re looking at who even knows how long before we’re actually able to cure everyone. Months?”

“It’s not just that either. Curing everyone of their infection now is only one step, it doesn’t protect them from becoming infected again, as Rainbow Dash has shown,” Doctor Swab said. “As long as those spores exist—Pinetree Warren will always be in danger. That green death out in the forest isn’t just going away.”

“It’s worse than just that...” Anathema coldly said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean?”

“You remember the night when everyone suddenly got sicker? When they all would’ve died if it wasn’t for your quick thinking?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“That happened right as the whole plague space grew bigger. I didn’t think much about it because it didn’t make any medical sense, but knowing this plague is magical it makes me think that every infected pony is connected to whatever the plague originates from. As it got stronger or grew bigger, the infections got worse. And if that happens one more time, everyone in that auditorium is going to die. In short… I think we might have been looking at this backwards. Instead of curing the individual ponies, we should’ve been looking for a way to annihilate the entire plague and forest of spores,” Anathema said.

“Even if that isn’t the case, Pinetree Warren would soon need to be abandoned if it kept growing bigger anyways,” Doctor Swab added.

“So then… what? What do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I think we have an answer,” Anathema said as she looked at the bottle. “If we can bring this magical potion to the origin point… I think if you poured it onto the thing creating the spores it would be killed. Like a pesticide or defoliator.”

“You want to use it for that?” Doctor Swab frowned. “That’s a precious cure and we don’t even-”

“We don’t have the time or resources to just sit around and slowly cure each patient one by one!” Anathema shouted. “At worst we lose a day or two by using the potion for this, at best we cure everyone and solve the whole problem at once. Got a better idea?”

Doctor Swab bit his lip and lowered his head. “No… No I don’t.”

Anathema took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. But after so long, after so many failures and so much suffering, it’s finally in sight. We’ll finally be able to save Pinetree Warren.”

“Um, I just have one question?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yes?” Anathema tilted her head to her.

“Sorry to burst the bubble but… how is anyone supposed to pour that where the spores are coming from? They eat right through protective clothing at higher concentrations, they cause immense pain and paralysis, deeper in the forest towards the center they’d probably melt a pony in seconds,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Even me who can recover from them in a day would still have died from them if I didn’t get away. I wouldn’t be able to survive going in there and pouring this potion, so how are we going to do it?”

Doctor Swab rubbed his chin in thought, but Anathema just looked right back at her.

“It’s okay. I already thought about that.”

Rainbow Dash felt a worrisome pit form itself in her stomach. “And?”

“I’m going to do it.”

At a Cost

“I’d like you all to meet one of my new friends,” Rainbow Dash said to everyone in Twilight’s Castle as she stepped aside and gestured to the pony behind her. “This is Doctor Anathema, I met her on the other side of the world while I was on my adventure! Told her to come visit when she finally could so she could meet all of you and see Equestria, took her long enough but she finally made it here.”

“Um, h-hi...” The doctor nervously said and waved to Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy as they all sat at their seats in the Cutie Map room. “Rainbow Dash told me a lot about you back when she met me for the first time in Pinetree Warren. It’s great to be here and meet you all.”

“I’m very excited to meet a new friend of Rainbow Dash’s as well,” Twilight said with a friendly smile on her face. “And one from so far away—you’ll have to tell me about your home in as much detail as possible when we have the time.”

“She can do the boring stuff after the fun stuff, Twilight. Right guys?” Rainbow said to the others.

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie said, suddenly shooting up out of nowhere right in between Rainbow and Anathema and making the doctor jump away in shock.

“Gah!” She grabbed her chest.

“Heehee, sorry!” Pinkie giggled. “But I’ve totally already got a bunch of ideas for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville Party’!”

Rainbow Dash wryly grinned and put a hoof on Anathema’s back. “That’s Pinkie Pie, she does that sometimes.”

“Pleased to meet you...” Anathema said.

“It’s very nice to meet a doctor,” Fluttershy now said to Anathema. “I have nothing but respect for ponies in your profession. My name is, um, Fluttershy.”

“Well it’s not always all it’s cracked up to be but thank you,” Anathema smiled to her.

“Miss Anathema, was it?” Rarity said as she got out of her chair and came over, eyeing Anathema up and down and walking around her in a circle. “Hm, yes, yes, I can certainly work with this...”

“Um, work with what?” Anathema asked.

“Oh, sorry dear, I was just thinking about what would look good on you. I’m a fashion designer and I’d love to make something for you before you left. Either something you can wear with your coat while you work or perhaps something for more casual occasions. Your indigo and orange coloring is quite striking,” Rarity narrowed her eyes as she inspected Anathema’s mane.

“Thank you...” Anathema said and tried stepping away from the white unicorn.

Rainbow Dash luckily stepped between them. “Okay there, Rarity. Personal space kind of still exists.”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “But I’m trying to get some inspiration here, darling.”

“Get some over there then,” Rainbow pointed back at Rarity’s seat.

The unicorn huffed but backed off and sat down, still looking at Anathema with her very appraising and discerning eye.

“Guess I oughta say hello now then too?” Applejack asked with a wide smile as she trotted out of her seat and right up to the doctor. She grabbed Anathema by the hoof and shook it vigorously. “Howdy! Name’s Applejack, you should be sure to visit my family farm sometime while you’re in town. I guarantee you you’ll find the best apples you’ve ever tasted and you’ll get a front row seat to Apple family hospitality.”

“That sounds nice,” Anathema said. She meant it too, but if she could feel pain her hoof would've felt like it had nearly been torn off.

“That’s everyone here right now, isn’t it?” Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow. “Now, boring as it may be to some ponies, I’d still like the doctor to tell us a little more about where she’s from.” She then grinned at Pinkie Pie. “And then we can have some cake and party.”

“Woohoo!” Confetti shot out of Pinkie Pie’s mane and she bounced back to her seat.

“I’ve got no problem with that either,” Doctor Anathema blushed. “As probably the first pony from that part of the world to come here it’s probably something I should be required to do anyways. And unlike Rainbow Dash I don’t find it to be boring. I’d love to tell you all about Pinetree Warren, but first I’d really like to thank Rainbow Dash for making this possible in the first place and making me welcome here. She spoke so highly of Equestria and her friends, I had to come and visit.”

“Aw geez...” Rainbow Dash blushed and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“You must tell us how the two of you met. What kind of adventure did Rainbow Dash get herself into where she came across you?” Rarity asked.

“I’m curious too,” Fluttershy said. “Normally Rainbow Dash wouldn’t stick around with a doctor any longer than she absolutely needed to.”

Anathema shot Rainbow Dash a knowing look and the two smiled at each other.

“Oh boy… now that’s a story,” Anathema said. “Why don’t I take it from the top?”

While Rainbow Dash listened (and chimed in when needed to make herself look better) Anathema retold the story of how she and Rainbow first met and how they tackled the problem of the spore plague together. The other girls gasped when appropriate, laughed when appropriate, even clapped their hooves together a little. It wasn’t exactly the happiest of stories but it was important for Anathema to tell it so the others could understand what she and Pinetree Warren had been through. By the time Anathema had gotten to the end of the story, the other girls were crying.

Rainbow Dash felt a drop of water hit her hoof and looked down. More drops were falling onto her hooves.

She lifted them up and started wiping at her cheeks, trying to clean away the tears that were streaming from her eyes.

“Why are you crying, Rainbow Dash?” Anathema asked.

“Because… because none of this is real, is it?” Rainbow Dash sniffled loudly and looked at her friend. “This is all a dream isn’t it?”

Anathema sadly smiled back at her and nodded her head. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Rainbow Dash reached forward and pulled Anathema into a hug, crying against her shoulder.

“Anathema!” Rainbow Dash shot up in bed, flinging the comforter off herself and looking around while a sweat broke out over her body. She was in the cabin. The sun was shining in from the window, it was the middle of the day. By her side was a table covered in small boxes, flowers, and baskets of fruit and other sweets.

Doctor Swab was sitting beside her bed, a strawberry held halfway to his mouth.

“S-Swab!” Rainbow said, rolling out of bed on shaky legs. “T-The plague, we have to go get Anathema, she… she’s going to...”

The doctor set the strawberry down and shook his head at Rainbow Dash, a morose expression on his face. “I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, but it’s already over.”

“Don’t… don’t say that,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“Anathema is gone.”

The strength left Rainbow’s body and her anger evaporated into despair as she collapsed onto the floor. “Don’t say that!”

Swab knelt down and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I’m so, so, sorry.”

“What… what’s happened?” She choked out.

“She succeeded. The spores are gone, the forest is back to normal, and all the patients have been cured. I was inside the auditorium when it happened. The green spots covering everyone just disappeared. Everyone is okay,” Doctor Swab sadly smiled. “Almost everyone. I-I went into the forest shortly after things ended to try and find her… and I did. There wasn’t much left.”

“Ohhh...” Rainbow moaned.

“We got a coffin for her, a nice pine box just like the less fortunate patients, and we were going to be burying her and the others soon. But I wanted for you to be able to say your goodbyes first,” Swab said.

“Thank you...” Rainbow Dash sniffled and stood up. She looked at the table of gifts next to the bed. “What’s all this?”

“That’s from my fellow villagers,” Doctor Swab proudly beamed. “Everyone has heard of your important part in saving the infected ponies and how much hard work you’ve been putting in despite not even being from here. They’ve sent gifts to you while you’ve been resting here. I, uh, took the liberty of eating one of your strawberries.”

Rainbow Dash looked through the various bags and boxes and found a plate of blueberry muffins. Her stomach was pretty empty so she grabbed one and started morosely eating it herself, just to try and overcome that sorrowful feeling. “Tasty… so Pinetree Warren is back to normal?”

“Yes. There’s been a lot of celebrating going on. And mourning as well, it hasn’t all been happiness and the villagers are getting ready for the burial as well. But for the first time in a while the village is truly alive again.”

“Anathema would be happy to hear that.”

“Yes, she would be. She’d be happy to know what she’s helped accomplish.”

Rainbow’s lip quivered. “Why couldn’t she just… why couldn’t she just hold out hope for a little longer?” She looked at Swab. “Why did you let her do that?”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. I know you weren’t going to like that, but to us there wasn’t another way and we all believed in the doctor. We did what we did for our patients. That was always the only thing on Anathema’s mind: how to save these ponies from the plague,” Swab told her.

“I could’ve done something...” Rainbow muttered. “Tch, I don’t deserve these gifts. I don’t deserve anything.”

“Yes you do. Not even just the cure, if it wasn’t for you we all would’ve lost hope already. The patients would’ve died the moment the disease got worse. Don’t sell yourself short, Rainbow Dash.”

“Not being able to save Anathema is just another failure. I should be better than this. I should be able to save everyone—anything less than that and I can’t even call myself awesome,” Rainbow Dash smacked over some flowers. “I just… I’m a hero. And a hero saves everyone, so why? Why did I fail again? The plague is gone but, but… I know I can do more and Anathema should still be alive. I’m not a pony who fails.”

“You didn’t fail,” Swab said.

“I did by my standards.”

Swab frowned and sighed, reaching to the table of gifts and finding something else that was left there. A small letter. “I have something else for you.”

“Yeah what?” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“A letter from Anathema. She left it for you.”

Rainbow Dash sucked in her breath and grabbed the letter from him. It was in an unsealed envelope that she still tore open anyways, once she saw the letter her eyes scanned back and forth to read Anathema’s last words:

Hello, Rainbow Dash. By the time you’re reading this I will be dead. Hopefully though, the plague will be gone and all of the sick ponies will have been cured. I’ve moved you to my bed so you can rest comfortably by the way. I’m sorry for sedating you but it had to be done and I think you’ll agree with me when it comes to the fact that you would never have let me go otherwise. I need to thank you for everything, and I know you’re going to be very angry at me right now too but still, thank you. And I’m sorry things couldn’t turn out better. You were right about hope. I couldn’t see it the same way you could. When that first bit of hope reached me, it drowned out everything else and there was nothing I could do but grab onto it and refuse to let go. I don’t regret what I’m about to do but I’m sorry that I’m just going to have to leave you behind with this letter. Without you none of this would be possible and I don’t just mean your magical resilience and how you helped us cure things that way. I mean how much you brightened things up in these last few days. Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Goodbye and take care out there.

You can use my bed and cabin for as long as you need to.

Rainbow Dash was crying heavily by the time she finished, holding onto the letter so tightly she was almost tearing it. “Crying… crying is so lame.”

She had been here before once with Anathema but now today there were many more ponies from Pinetree Warren around. The large mass grave that was made for everyone who had died from the plague was being filled in today. Ponies had come to say goodbye to their loved ones and also to pay respects to Anathema. Her coffin hadn’t been put down with the others yet, it rested on top where others could come by and say something before moving on.

Rainbow Dash saw quite a few ponies she recognized from the auditorium out here, and in turn she was recognized by many of the villagers thanks to her unique looks. It ended with her and Doctor Swab being on the receiving end of many thanks and him trying to get Rainbow Dash some space.

For once she wasn’t in the mood to be the center of attention and get heaps of praise thrown on her. Thankfully most of the villagers could tell she needed to speak to Anathema as well. The box was sitting by the edge of the grave, Rainbow Dash rested her hoof atop it once she had walked close.

“We wrapped her remains and put in some of her personal items,” Swab told her. “Anathema never cared to write any instructions for what to do after her death.”

“Sounds like her,” Rainbow said.

“Do you want to say anything? Should I give you some time alone?”

Rainbow Dash grimaced but nodded. “Y-Yeah, sorry but I’d like some time alone...”

“You don’t need to apologize for that,” Swab smiled and stepped away. “Take all the time you need, I’ll be talking with some of the families here.”

As soon as he left, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and stared down at the pine box that her friend was resting in. “I… I really don’t know what to say. Or if I should even really try saying anything. You’re right about me being angry, even though I’m happy for the village, and happy the danger’s gone. I know you’d be happy if you could see it all right now too. I know you’d say it was all worth it.” She shook her head and started scratching her mane. “Idiot. You big idiot… I’m going to miss you. I’ll make your bed before I leave.”

Rainbow sighed. “I’m not used to this. At least it’s not a real funeral, I’d be even more out of place.” She dragged her hoof across the top of the box and stepped away. “Goodbye, Anathema. You did a good job.”

Rainbow Dash walked along the edge of the grave for a bit, not going back to Swab yet. She saw a few other ponies standing by the edge as well and throwing things like flowers and other items down on the coffins. Despite most in the village having reason to be happy, it was still a fairly sad occasion right now. Her eyes drifted over in a different direction, towards where the spores and the green clouds used to be, where it was now just another empty and peaceful part of the forest. Anathema had done a good job. Rainbow just couldn’t accept the cost.

“Excuse me? Your name is Rainbow Dash, right?” A small voice called from behind Rainbow.

She turned around to see Turnip standing behind her.

“Yeah, it is,” Rainbow said, nodding to the young filly. “And you’re Turnip, right?”

“Mhm,” The filly nodded.

“What’s up?” Rainbow asked. She knew she had to be a little careful around this filly—remembering that she didn’t have any family left. That begged the question of what she was going to be doing now and who was going to take care of her, but Rainbow assumed someone in Pinetree Warren had already stepped up.

“Um… I just wanted to thank you. For not listening when I said I wanted to die,” Turnip kicked at the dirt.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “No duh I wouldn’t listen to something like that, kid.”

“I’m sorry about what happened to Doctor Anathema too. I saw you at her coffin. My parents are down in the grave already,” Turnip said.

“I’m really sorry about what you’ve been through too,” Rainbow Dash said to her.

Turnip sniffled slightly but shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time to just lie in bed and think about things. It’s tough telling how I feel sometimes. Everyone in the village is being really nice to me though.”

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and affectionately rubbed her back. “One day at a time.”

“Anyways, that’s just what I wanted to say. Thank you for everything you did for me and the other patients. I remember you being in there helping us,” Turnip said and hugged Rainbow Dash briefly before turning and going away.

“No problem, kid...” Rainbow Dash sighed and watched her go.

She sat down by the edge of the grave and had a few more ponies wave hello or give nods of acknowledgment, but for the most part she was left alone while the rest of the service continued. At some point, Doctor Swab sat beside her and put a hoof around her shoulders. Ardent Elm, Honey Sight, and Cocoa Bean showed up shortly after that. Cocoa Bean had a box of chocolates tied in a pink ribbon that he tossed into the large open grave. Honey Sight threw in a drawing of a bird, and Ardent Elm a picture of himself and Anathema.

“Almost time?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Almost,” Swab said.

“I saw it when it happened,” Honey Sight said. “All the green just disappeared and I ran right to the auditorium to tell everyone. Of course they already knew what had happened.”

Cocoa Bean looked over at Rainbow. “If you’d like to come by later, food will be on the house. I just figured you might want someplace warm.”

“That actually does sound pretty nice,” Rainbow smiled.

“I’ll join you if you don’t mind?” Ardent Elm asked. “If you just want someone to talk to. I could also use that.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Sure. I really don’t know how much longer I’m going to stay here, but I can make it at least one more night.”

Some extra chatter from the ponies around got Rainbow Dash’s attention and she looked over to see the villagers crowding around Anathema’s coffin. Along with another group that had shovels milling about on the other side of the large grave. It seemed like it was time to finally bury the victims of the plague. Rainbow Dash stood up with her acquaintances and joined the main crowd. She was quiet as she watched it all proceed, there just wasn’t anything else she had in her. It was a cold, depressing moment. Another good friend of hers was gone and she felt even more helpless this time.

The coffin was carried down into the ground.

Rainbow Dash spent the next few hours watching as the grave was slowly refilled. As soon as the dirt fully covered the last bit of Anathema’s box, she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Sorrow, and a Reunion

The inside of Cocoa Bean’s shop was a busy place tonight as quite a few ponies had gathered to eat, celebrate, and mourn at the same time. Much like the ceremony, it was being used as an opportunity for a lot of ponies to reconnect and get back together after so much time apart. Right now, Rainbow Dash was at a large table with most of the group from the burial service along with the nurses Heartwrench, Blue Rose, and Cough Drop, who had joined up with them later. The entire group was eating some of Cocoa’s best food and happily talking together. Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly feel left out but she didn’t have as much to talk about as the rest of them.

She listened as they talked about stories from the past—either about Anathema or some of the patients who hadn’t survived. Things Rainbow Dash just had to listen to and learn about for the first time. All the while she ate at a plate of delicious truffles that had been prepared for her. It ended up being Ardent Elm who saved her from her inability to join in.

“I’d like to propose a small toast to Anathema,” the old wizard said. “For saving us from the plague and letting things return to normal.”

“That sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash suddenly interjected.

“I’ll tell Cocoa Bean to get us some drinks to toast with,” Swab said and briefly got up from the table.

“If we’re toasting that then we should toast Rainbow Dash as well,” Heartwrench said and reached over to squeeze her hoof.

Rainbow Dash grimaced and shook her head. “Uh no, no, I didn’t really do anything-”

“Better just get over it,” Ardent Elm said. “You’re not talking your way out of this. And don’t try and play down your role either.”

“Ugh, fine...” Rainbow let him have his way, as much as it annoyed her.

Swab shortly after came back with a tray full of several steaming mugs of hot chocolate that he hoofed out to everyone else at the table. Rainbow Dash took hers but didn’t so much as take a sip yet, instead introspectively staring into it. She was fine with giving a toast to Anathema but besides that she was pretty much ready to go back to the cabin and sleep her way to next morning. Now there really was no reason for her to stay here. The day was saved, despite her displeasure at how some of it had turned out, and adventure called again.

“If no one has any objections, I would like to start the toast,” Swab said.

No one did so the doctor continued.

“As her coworker, I feel I probably knew Anathema best. Though she had become more bitter in recent months I still remember the smiling face of a young doctor who always looked out for her patients. Of course even at her best she was often quite the stubborn and difficult pony to work with, something I’m sure my nurses can also agree on,” he winked at Heartwrench and the others. “Anathema was always the one who let things get to her the most. Even though she liked to act detached, things hurt her on a level I can’t comprehend. I think that’s part of why she made the decision she did. Anathema… she was a wonderful, wonderful, doctor and I loved her very much. I’m going to miss her.”

Swab was silent for a moment—the others at the table remaining silent as well—until he smiled and looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Her sacrifice is not in vain, not so long as we all go on living our lives. And it was a sacrifice that would not have been possible were it not for Rainbow Dash here.” He clapped a hoof down on her shoulders and she fought back a wince. “Rainbow Dash is really the one who kept our heads above the clouds, I think we all would’ve lost hope without her. You were a breath of fresh air that Pinetree Warren sorely needed.” He sighed and raised up his mug. “And now I’d like to toast both Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema.”

“Hear, hear!” Honey Sight cheered, he and the others raising their mugs to join in.

Rainbow Dash chewed on her lip in discomfort but raised her mug as well.

“A toast, to the two mares who saved Pinetree Warren!” Doctor Swab said and everyone clunked their mugs together.

While the rest cheered and smiled at her, Rainbow brought the mug to her lips and took a big drink. That warm tasty liquid was just what she needed right now and it went a long way to lifting up her mood. It might’ve just been a placebo but Rainbow Dash didn’t care for the moment. She didn’t need to bring down the mood or act all sullen with these ponies right now. Especially since it was probably the last time she was going to be speaking to most of them.

“So what do you think of Pinetree Warren anyways? Not having to do with the plague or anything like that,” Blue Rose suddenly asked her. “Do you like it? Does it seem like a nice village?”

“Yeah, it does,” Rainbow said. “It reminds me of the town I come from, you know, a quiet, close-knit sort of place?” She didn’t mention all the insanity that occurs in Ponyville, or how she intentionally sought out adventure for fun, but she didn’t need to. It was the truth that Pinetree Warren was a nice place. The kind of place she would enjoy stopping at and making new friends in if the situation was normal.

The kind of thing she would’ve done if it wasn’t for the plague. She had only planned for Pinetree Warren to be a brief stop before she found another adventure. It turned out to be both more and less than she hoped. She had made and lost a good friend.

“I think… I think Pinetree Warren seems like a really great place,” Rainbow said after a pause. “I wish I could’ve seen you guys under better circumstances.”

“Well, same here,” Honey Sight said.

“I think we all wish that none of this happened,” Ardent Elm said. “We’re lucky we had such capable ponies taking care of us—and that a stranger from out of town had such a big heart.”

“And that you know your magic,” Rainbow snorted.

Ardent Elm shrugged. “I’ll let you young folk who actually figured things out and took charge get the credit. Anathema would’ve been just as annoyed and trying to refuse all this praise as you are right now.”

“That is very true,” Swab nodded.

“Fine, whatever, I’ll let you give me credit and do whatever… I’m probably going to be leaving here early tomorrow anyways,” Rainbow said.

“I had figured,” Ardent Elm said.

“Do you truly need to go so soon?” Honey Sight asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “The thing is, I’ve always been going from place to place and haven’t really stayed anywhere longer than I’ve needed to. There’s just more out there for me. With the plague gone I don’t have anything else to be here for. I’m on a journey around the whole world right now, and I’m searching for fun adventures while I’m doing that. Pinetree Warren, thankfully, doesn’t have what I’m looking for.”

“We get to have peace. At least now we do,” Ardent Elm said.

“That’s right,” Rainbow said.

“And I think I speak for all of us when I say how thankful we are for that,” Swab said and was joined by a chorus of agreements.

“Seriously...” Rainbow muttered and glanced up at the ceiling before looking over at Swab. “Hey, Swab? Early tomorrow morning do you wanna meet with me near the south edge of town? Got a few last things to talk about and then I’ll be on my way.

“Of course,” Swab shrugged.

“And that being said, I think I’m going to turn in for the evening,” Rainbow said and scooted her chair back, putting her now empty mug on the table. “I’ll remember you guys… and Anathema most of all. But it’s time for me to head out.” She looked over at Cocoa Bean, who was busy working behind the counter, and whistled to get his attention. “Yo! The food was great again.”

“Thank you!” He smiled widely back at her.

Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to him and looked at the others at the table. “Honey Sight, Ardent Elm, Cough Drop, Blue Rose, Heartwrench. Thanks for everything, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash,” Ardent Elm said.

“Farewell,” Honey Sight waved to her.

The three nurses stood up and each gave Rainbow Dash a hug and a goodbye in turn, thoroughly embarrassing Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough of that,” Rainbow said and backed away. Her eyes found Doctor Swab before she reached the door. “And I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“That you will,” Swab nodded.

Rainbow Dash gave him and the others one last smile before she opened the front door to Cocoa’s shop and went outside. A second later she was in the air and gliding over the rooftops on her way to Anathema’s cabin. There were pomies actually out now, kids and families having fun, voices that carried up from the ground. It was a real village again. It was a beautiful thing, Rainbow Dash only wished that Anathema could see it too. She shortly made it back to the cabin and went inside, smiling at the table of gifts by the bed before plunging herself below the covers. It was so different. All the attention, all the praise, this time it only filled her with regret and shame.

Rainbow Dash sat on the south side of town, past any houses, and stared at the forest and hills beyond. “So what am I going to see next? I hear there’s a desert just a little ways south from here.”

“That is correct,” Doctor Swab said from right beside her. “Just a short ways beyond those hills, especially by flight, and you’ll end up at the Great Camel Desert.”

“Oh, so it’s got a name and everything?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s a massive, massive, desert. I visited the edge of it once and Pinetree Warren gets quite a few traders and travelers coming from it,” he said.

“Gonna be a lot hotter than I’m used to on this trip...”

“Oh, guaranteed.”

“Anything between here and the desert? Like any last little settlements?” Rainbow asked.

“You’ll find a small river that goes into those hills and if nothing has changed on the other side since the last time I was there you’ll see a mill and a few other small buildings that act as an outpost for ponies and other creatures coming up from the desert, and speaking of that desert I do have some other minor knowledge.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“Well it’s called the Great Camel Desert because it’s populated primarily by camels. And from what I’ve heard they’re quite nasty—not violent but just mean to ponies and any other creatures that aren’t camels. I doubt you’ll get a warm welcome down in the desert,” Swab told her.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “That’s fine, I’ve gotten enough warm welcomes to last a lifetime.”

“I hope things turn out well for you...” Swab grimaced.

A grin came across Rainbow’s face and she patted the doctor on the back. “You don’t have to worry. Remember, I’m looking for adventure and pretty much asking for trouble. Even when bad things come up, I’m pretty good at handling myself.”

“I suppose that’s true,” he chuckled along.

“Yeah, so don’t sweat it.”

“So I suppose you’re going to be leaving soon then?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. I think I’m about to get on out of here.”

“I’m happy you came here, Rainbow Dash. I know you’re not in the best mood right now, but I’m glad to have met you,” Swab said as he got up and hugged her. He offered her another smile after breaking the hug before turning away and starting to walk back to town. “Well, if by some odd chance you ever find yourself back in this part of the world, just remember you’ve got friends you can come and see.”

Rainbow smiled and watched him go. “I will, Swab.”

Once he was gone she turned and looked back to the south and the hills that hid the desert beyond them. It’s true, she wasn’t as melancholic as when she departed Oreville, but she wasn’t great either. This wasn’t a failure in the same way that was, but it wasn’t the kind of success she had been looking for on this adventure. The death of Anathema would always hang over her. Just like Barnaby’s. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, then looked up at the sky overhead.

“Are you perhaps finally regretting coming to this side of the world?”

Rainbow’s jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed immediately. “I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh? So for once I’m bothering you instead of the other way around?” Harlequin Grey said as he walked in front of Rainbow Dash. His impeccable mane and sharp eyes peering at her. “I told you, didn’t I? And now you’re the cause of untold destruction and the deaths of hundreds. Do you want to know exactly how many died in Oreville? I know the number. Even here you couldn’t even save one pony from death. Congratulations, Rainbow Dash.” He started mockingly clapping his hooves together. “You’ve done an excellent job on this adventure so far.”

“I screwed up but I’m not a quitter,” Rainbow glared at him. “I-I’ll have regrets but I’m not going back on what I’ve said or set out to do.”

“You’re going to do worse and worse if you keep going,” Harlequin Grey huffed. “That pink thing is still coming after you as well, do you even care? Do you even know what will happen if she’s just allowed to do whatever she wants? What will she look for after killing you? You should just go now before you cause even more problems down the road.”

“No,” Rainbow stalwartly refused.

Harlequin Grey’s eye twitched. “I would think that after such a grand failure you might have changed a little. Seems I was too hopeful.”

“I… I have changed. At least in how I’ll take things more seriously, and stop being selfish and only thinking about my own fun. I’m not going to screw up like this again. But you know what hasn’t changed? And why I’m still going on this journey and not listening to a lying scumbag like you? It’s the fact that there are still ponies out there who need my help. Oreville showed me that. Pinetree Warren showed me it too. And so long as there are ponies who need me, I’ll be there. The rest of the world isn’t just sleeping and waiting for me to discover it. Things are probably happening right now and if I hesitate and start worrying about stuff it’s only going to make it worse. Mistakes pace the way for future success—I know Twilight told me that more than once. And if I just quit now, I’d never be able to make those mistakes up. I’d never be able to face Barnaby and Anathema. So here I go, going out looking for a new adventure, and looking for where in the world needs my help next, cause if Oreville and the plague here were any indication, this side of the world has plenty bad for me to deal with,” Rainbow Dash finished with a strong grin.

Harlequin Grey rolled his eyes in derision and shook his head. “Fine. Miserable pony. But you had best hope that we don’t see each other again.” He flapped his wings and started to take off into the sky before stopping. “And by the way, it’s “pave the way for future success”, moron.”

And he shot straight up into the clouds, disappearing from sight.

Rainbow Dash just glared up after him. “Yeah, yeah, cry about it. Heh.” She smirked and flew up into the air a little bit, looking back down south again before she took off towards the hills.

Harlequin Grey watched her go with a cold frown on his face. “Tch, I should’ve known a simple plague wouldn’t be enough to stop her. I can’t use my magic again unless it’s a last resort now.” His eyes drifted up slightly, looking south as well to the desert beyond where Rainbow Dash was. “Supernova, for your sake you had best not fail me.”

Moving South Again

Rainbow Dash followed above a winding creek as it went downhill and south from Pinetree Warren, just as Doctor Swab had said. It started a little northeast from the looks of things and made its way through the hills Rainbow was now currently traveling through, keeping her flight fairly low to the ground so she didn’t miss the small settlement that supposedly existed fairly close by. This forest was just as pleasant and full of life as the rest had been and it lifted Rainbow’s spirits for her to see such a nice little place. At one point she dove low and got herself a nice drink of cold water before she flew along the side of the creek and ate up some tasty wildflowers for breakfast.

It was nice to know that the rest of the world was still moving on. The horrors of the plague were behind her, the entire forest was safe, and hopefully it would all be normal like this for years to come. The ponies of Pinetree Warren and the animals living here deserved that.

She started whistling a tune to herself the further she went, just something light and fun. To her surprise she heard some of the birds she passed by join in. She thought that kind of thing only happened with Fluttershy.

Fluttershy… Rainbow honestly had to wonder how happy she and the rest of her friends would be with how Rainbow had handled Pinetree Warren and how she had left it. She figured they would reassure her, tell her she did her best, and not blame her for anything. They would know Rainbow was out of her element and didn’t have much to work with. Those words of praise and reassurance though would probably just bother her even more. She didn’t want to be told she had done all she could. The same with Oreville.

But either way, it was behind her now. Just like with Oreville, again, Rainbow wouldn’t forget or ignore it, but she would move on and grow.

Flying over the creek and through the hills, Rainbow soon came out to a break in the forest. The hills and thick forest of trees came to a stop and turned into rolling green and yellow plains just ahead. Before that was a small group of buildings built right at the foot of the hills on the east side of the creek. A mill sat with its wheel constantly moving from the water’s current and a small log bridge was built over the creek just a little downstream from it. Besides that a few other little buildings sat off to the side, built next to the declining edge of the forest.

Rainbow Dash smiled and started to fly right to the mill. A brief stop and hello was all she planned before she went further south.

Once she reached the mill she heard a striking sound and looked over at one of the other small cabins to see a pony chopping wood with an axe out behind it. He looked up and saw Rainbow Dash and a big smile appeared on his face. He rested his axe against the side of the building and waved at her.

“Howdy!”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved back. Good to see that the ponies here are nice.

“Well who might you be?” The stallion asked as he walked up to Rainbow Dash. “Oops, where are my manners? I’m Wood Chips.”

“I’m Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you, dude.”

“Dude?” The stallion tilted his head.

“Uh, it’s just a cool name for a stallion,” Rainbow awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“Oh! Well thanks!” He laughed.

The door to the mill was suddenly thrown open and a pony came out. “Wood Chips! What noise are you making now-” The pony, a mare, paused mid-sentence as she saw Rainbow Dash floating there in the air. “O-Oh! Hello!”

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash shot a quick wave her way.

“Introduce yourself,” Wood Chips said to her, holding back a laugh.

The mare glared at him before coughing into her hoof and smiling at Rainbow Dash. “Hello there, I’m Wheatie.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow said again.

“What brings you to such an out of the way little place like this?” Wheatie asked her. “You don’t look like a trader or merchant—no offense.”

“None taken,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m just traveling through. Came from up north and I heard about this place from Doctor Swab in Pinetree Warren.”

“Swab… Swab… I may have met a pony by that name once or twice,” Wood Chips mused.

“Yeah. Anyways, I’m just on a big trip and wanted to touch off here before I went into the desert to the south. Also kind of wanted to ask you guys about that, in case you knew anything. I’ve heard that it’s mostly camels in the desert? And they aren’t very nice to ponies?” Rainbow asked.

“Hah! That’s putting it lightly!” Wood Chips guffawed. “If you’re traveling into the desert I’d be careful, a camel innkeeper won’t rent a room to a pony. And believe me you do not want to be outside at night in the desert.”

Wheatie spat on the ground. “Innkeeper nothing. The average camel won’t sell nothing or do any sort of business with ponies and other creatures. They’re the rudest, nastiest, dirtiest bunch of creatures I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

“Great,” Rainbow sarcastically grumbled.

“Still it aint like it’s only camels out there,” Wood Chips continued. “In fact, you got a small… well, town might be the wrong word for it but there’s a place not to far into the desert called One Hump Oasis. Like the name implies, it’s a little tent town all built along an oasis in the north part of the desert, one of the last such places before the desert ends. So it gets a lot of traffic and a lot of creatures there besides just camels. If you’re traveling through the desert I’d look to make your first stop there.”

“I can’t really recommend flying on your own through the desert, just saying,” Wheatie said. “That desert’s a real big place. It puts these forests to shame in sheer size and the climate’s a pain if you’re flying without any protection.”

“Yeah I knew it was gonna be a little tough on me in that way, but believe me when I say I’m used to extreme stuff like that. I can handle a little heat,” Rainbow grinned.

Wheatie shrugged. “Suit yourself. I aint got no reason to doubt you, just wanted you to be careful.”

“Speaking of that, if you’re just stopping here for a moment would you care for some food or a drink?” Wood Chips offered.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Thanks but no thanks, I’m making my way as fast as I can.”

“Well good luck on your trip then,” Wood Chips smiled.

“Hope you have fun,” Wheatie nodded.

“Totally will! Thanks for putting up with my questions!” Rainbow said and waved goodbye to them, blasting off into the sky a second later.

“Huh, what a nice pony,” Wood Chips waved after her.

“Sure was,” Wheatie waved with him.

Not Used to the Heat Anymore

There was currently an issue Rainbow Dash was dealing with.

She had overestimated how well she would be able to handle the heat of the south.

It wasn’t even the desert yet and Rainbow Dash was already dying from the temperature of the arid plains and the hot sun overhead. She was flying over a dry, yellow grasslands that the green fields behind her to the north had turned into. Only small streams of water snaked through the low plains, barely enough to keep the grass alive. The earth below the grass was a dry brown, cracked, with pebbles strewn about and holes made by prairie dogs dotting it. She didn’t see any plants besides dried out shrubs that didn’t even reach shoulder height.

There wasn’t a breeze to be found and the sun was just baking her from above. She was sweating and panting like crazy and the worst part was she knew it wasn’t even that hot out compared to how the actual desert would be. This should feel normal to her but her tolerance for heat had been completely shot. She knew she had had hotter days back in Ponyville. The way this was going, despite her wanting to quickly get through here and reach the desert already, she’d have to find a place to stop and cool down.

Maybe there would be some more water up ahead. The empty sky told her that she certainly couldn’t hope for any rain. It was just so dry. The driest sort of heat imaginable. What she would’ve given to have a hat like Applejack’s right now. Or even something girlier that Rarity would wear.

It’s not like there was anything to take her mind off the heat either. Here she was, out flying, and there was nothing around but a boring featureless plain of tall yellow grass. Without a traveling companion, game to play, or anything to look at, the oppressive heat just got to her more and more. The only thing around her that she saw that was enjoying the heat was a lizard out basking on a rock. Rainbow was considering stopping flying and setting down to walk, but in the end she still wanted to travel as fast as she could. She just wouldn’t overexert herself and pass out from heat stroke.

So weird that she had struggled through the cold so much—worried about getting frozen—and now she had to deal with the exact opposite.

The air shimmered in the distance, she hoped that meant she was at least getting close to the actual desert. Her mouth was starting to become dry and dehydrated, with her tongue losing all of its moisture. The bottom of her hooves were becoming as dry and cracked as the dirt she was flying over as well. Somehow she didn’t think things were going to be changing anytime soon. Unless she was allowed to jump into one of the supposed oases that existed in the desert, she was probably going to have to deal with being dried out and burnt out.

If there was just a cloud or something to block the sun for a little while… but of course she couldn’t expect to be so lucky.

“Celestia please, please, can’t your turn down the temperature at least a little?” Rainbow Dash asked up to the sky.

Out of curiosity, she decided to ask Twilight if Celestia actually could do that the next time she saw her.

No matter what though, she clearly wasn’t getting any relief today. It was still the middle of the afternoon too so she had a lot of time left to fly today before it got dark and she would consider stopping. The arid plain around her probably became the exact opposite at night—extremely cold. Much like she knew the desert did. That at least she was definitely still going to be able to handle a bit better, not like it could get as cold as the True North anyways. It was just how this part of the world and environments like deserts worked, nastily hot during the day, and nastily cold during the night. Swinging from one extreme to the other. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how or why things worked like that, they just did.

Maybe by the end of this journey she’d be immune to any kind of extreme temperature. Would be helpful for other trips considering some of the crazy places the Cutie Map and her other adventures had taken her.

Rainbow Dash flapped her dried gums as she flew on and wiped the sweat away from her brow. That might’ve been the last bit of moisture left in her body. Now she felt more like a dried up old leaf than a pony. How did Applejack work in the hot sun all the time like this?

No, she knew that it still wasn’t that bad out. It was still mainly that her tolerance for hot weather was ruined. Once she got to the desert it would be the true test.

At least she wasn’t hungry and she wasn’t dying of thirst just yet. The water and wildflowers she had eaten earlier were helping her out there. No matter where she looked she didn’t see anything else that looked edible though. Not unless she wanted to suddenly become carnivorous. Water on the other hoof would surprisingly be a little easier for her to find thanks to all the little streams, but it might not be the best water to drink. She’d have to take what she could get whether she liked it or not at this point. She didn’t need to dry out anymore than she already was.

Rainbow wasn’t even in the mood to do any loops or anything fun while she was flying since the heat was being such a pain. Why exhaust herself even more? If there were clouds out she could’ve turned onto her back and cloud gazed as she flew south. But instead she had nothing. Nothing but a wide plain spreading out in every direction.

Wood Chips and Wheatie had said that the desert was colossal in size, totally dwarfing the forests to the north. Did that include this plain that existed between them? If it didn’t, Rainbow wouldn’t be surprised to spend well over a month flying through the desert, especially since it was going to be the type of place she couldn’t just recklessly push herself through. Even back in the north, she could at least eat snow. You couldn’t do that with sand.

Same with making a temporary shelter to protect herself from the elements.

Rainbow Dash frowned. The more she thought about it, traveling through a desert, alone, with no supplies and no local currency, might be a lot worse than traveling through the snowscape of the north had been. It was quite possibly even more desolate, empty, harsh, and unforgiving than the snowy lands of the north. And she was going into it woefully, and knowingly, unprepared. And she knew that the locals weren’t going to like her very much.

“Maybe I’m going to need to stop in One Hump Oasis or whatever for more than just a day or two...” Rainbow grimaced.

She’d have plenty of time to think about that as the sun continued to beat down on her, with no signs of civilization yet in sight.

Great Camel Desert

Sand.

Endless sand. It had started up maybe a mile or two back. The plains of yellow grass had started to bleed away, the dirt beneath them replaced by sand. Slowly the full plains became patches, then spindly fingers, then the grass fully disappeared and it was just sand and more sand. For a while the sandy ground was still flat but eventually that turned into the rolling dunes that Rainbow Dash was now flying over.

The Great Camel Desert. Rainbow Dash had reached it. It was early in a brand new day too after she had spent the previous night shivering in a hole back in the plains. Rainbow had made good progress so far with the only issue right now being that she was pretty thirsty. Of course that issue was one she was probably going to be struggling with for a good while. There wasn’t just “less” water around now. There was no water. An ocean of sand had replaced the world.

And of course the desert was hot.

Really, really hot. The sun sizzled down at her with an even greater intensity and Rainbow Dash knew if she set her hooves down on the sand that they’d come away burnt in seconds. Waves of heat just poured in from above and made the entire desert shimmer and waver as Rainbow Dash flew over it. Oh was she supremely thankful for her wings right now. Not having to touch the sand directly and not having to crawl and pull herself up and down the massive dunes over and over. How awful that would’ve been, Rainbow wouldn’t have made it half a mile before she collapsed in a pile in the sand. Some of these dunes were just huge and she really didn’t envy any camels or earth ponies that had to travel by hoof over them, maybe pulling wagons too.

Camels had hooves, right? Twilight would know…

And it sounded like it wasn’t just camels and ponies that lived in the desert, Rainbow would have to see for herself what other creatures made this place their home. She wouldn’t think anyone would want to choose to live in a place so hostile if they had a choice, but then again there were plenty living in the frozen lands of the True North. There were a lot of different creatures in Klugetown too and that was in the middle of a desert. But that was also the sort of place where it seemed like creatures went that had nowhere else to go in the first place. The trip through the desert to get there had been miserable too.

There were some clouds overhead where Rainbow Dash was now though. Not enough to provide cover or comfort but at least it was something new, something to break the monotony if she felt like looking up. They were just little tufts of cotton in the air that broke the sunlight and cast weak shadows over the dunes every now and then. Maybe if she needed to she could make some kind of shelter or bed with them if she didn’t find One Hump Oasis or anything else by night time.

What was missing completely now though besides just the water was any animals. Rainbow hadn’t seen any signs of life since leaving the plains.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t even really sure what animals actually lived in the desert. She couldn’t remember ever asking Fluttershy. There were lizards and prairie dogs back at the plains, and she probably figured the reptiles would like a warm place like this. But maybe it was too warm for them. Just another question to ask one of her friends when she got home.

For now Rainbow was going to focus more on overcoming the heat and not let it get to her, since it was progressively getting hotter and hotter as the day carried on. She imagined by the time it hit noon it would be at its hottest and she still had a few hours to go before that happened. So it would be best to make her body acclimate to the heat before that. The sand below her though reflected a good deal of the light and heat from the sun right back up at her underside, making it like she was being cooked on both sides as she flew.

That wasn’t a very good job she was doing on overcoming the heat...

Twilight would say mind over matter, right? Well Rainbow Dash had known from her adventures through the snow that that didn’t really work too well. At least not for her. She just wasn’t the type or was never in the right mood to deal with things that way, she had to do it physically. There still wasn’t a breeze or anything either but maybe she’d be able to acclimate to the heat in just a day or two. With luck, One Hump Oasis wasn’t even more than a day away. Wheatie and Wood Chips had said it was in the northern part of the desert and she was traveling by air so she had to be covering ground faster than they would expect a pony to. If that oasis was the last stop before the desert ended, it had to be fairly close by.

Looking ahead she still couldn’t see anything but sand and shimmering air though. Yet. Some of these dunes were just huge, like gigantic frozen waves of sand. The valleys between them dipped down fifty--a hundred--feet sometimes. The Great Camel Desert was no longer flat, it had become a monster of rolling sand waves. And it made it more difficult to see ahead unless she wanted to fly up a little higher. But honestly she didn’t have a whole lot of energy and wanted to stay closer to the surface, even if it meant not having clear vision. With the way the heat warped the air it’s not like she’d be able to see far anyways. She wasn’t sure how mirages worked but she had heard about them too.

The heat now as she flew over the dunes was just killing her. She almost wanted to set down on the sand just so the burning sensation on her hooves would give her something else to focus on. But that was probably a dumb idea. Maybe she could walk down the next dune she passed that had some shade on the other side. It had to feel better than flying through this murderously hot air. And if she waited too long the sun would get into a position that would erase all the shadows on the sand.

Hopping from tiny cloud to tiny cloud was also becoming more appealing, even though with how thin they were she’d probably accidentally dissipate them entirely once she came into contact. That was still an option. Or a way to kill time if she got bored enough.

The heat was going to fry her brain the longer she was out here so more stuff like that that would keep her mind active was probably good. If only she had a book to read or somebody else to talk to right now. But she was alone on her journey. Like usual it was just Rainbow Dash.

Usual, huh? More often than not she had a friend around. Just not while she was traveling, only when she stopped somewhere and had somebody showing her around. If she could travel with somebody or a group of ponies through this desert, it might be pretty nice. Better than dying of thirst or heat exhaustion all on her own at least, skeleton left for the vultures to pick at.

She glanced up at the sky--not that she had seen any vultures.

Rainbow Dash continued on like that for a while longer with the heat getting worse the whole time. She was dried out, thirsty, hungry, and weak. Her mind was foggy--the heat getting to it worse than the cold ever did. Something she was going to blame on the dehydration. She just couldn’t think straight in the same way she usually could.

Exhaustion. She didn’t want to admit it after her earlier boasting, but the heat was wrecking her worse than the cold. Except for her brief time in Raalzeron’s homeland. But it was certainly much worse on her than the rest of the True North had been.

It was still just the weather though. Just a hot climate. And Rainbow Dash absolutely wasn’t going to let something like that beat her.

She passed over a tall sand dune and descended a little bit down to its backside. There was some shade back there, covering the slope of sand. The moment her hooves hit, Rainbow Dash sighed in contentment. She couldn’t exactly say the sand was cool, but it wasn’t as hot as the air and it felt pretty nice to sink her hooves into it. She just folded her wings in and stood there for a moment, relaxing and looking south. The air shimmered. Golden-yellow sand spread in every direction.

Endless.

Except on the horizon.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. Was she seeing things? Were her eyes playing tricks on her? No, they weren’t. Through the shimmering air, far in the distance, she could make out shapes that broke the monotony of the sand. And more than that, but the colors of green and blue as well.

She was making progress.

Author's Note

One Hump Oasis

Having a goal in sight always made the trip much easier. It was true in the snow and it was true now as Rainbow Dash flew over the sand to One Hump Oasis. Her flying wasn’t exactly fast thanks to how out of energy she was, but she was able to pull enough from her reserves to keep going without trouble. That shimmering oasis in the distance was still far away and it was impossible to tell how far it actually was thanks to the warped nature of the air. It was almost like how something could look distorted if you were trying to look at it underwater. And there was still the possibility it was a mirage but Rainbow was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

That would be way too cruel.

“I already hate deserts. There is no way what I’m seeing is just some dumb mirage. I’m making it through this stupid heat and I’m getting a drink of some stupid water,” Rainbow Dash told herself. “I hate deserts. I can’t believe I’m wishing I was back in the snow.”

Sand that was clinging to her hooves from when she dropped down earlier was still steadily falling off as she flew over the dunes. A couple of times she thought of taking rest in the shade again but she kept deciding otherwise, just wanting to get to the oasis quickly even if she ended up very tired out. Rainbow was used to pushing herself anyways. She was probably going to look like a total mess to the camels and other creatures at the oasis, her mane and tail faded from the sun, her hooves and lips dry and cracked, her voice raspier than normal thanks to dehydration. Didn’t matter. She couldn’t bring herself to care much about her appearance.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and flew on, the sun overhead now practically dead center and making it as hot as it possibly could be. The one real benefit of heading south was that she was never flying directly into the sun. Of course it was never directly behind her either. She was still thankful to never have its rays pouring into her eyes. She didn’t need that. At the moment she wouldn’t be surprised right now if her back was red and burnt from the sun, her belly might actually be the same way too. Much as she hated thinking about it, she probably should stop to find some stuff at One Hump Oasis to make her trip through the desert easier.

Except she had no money.

And no friends there.

And no idea of how things in this desert worked or what she could do.

“Well... I’ve always managed just fine,” Rainbow shrugged to herself. “Something will come up.”

Planning ahead wasn’t really her thing. Once she got to the oasis she could figure things out, opportunity and fortune were always right around the corner. She liked to think she had a knack for making things work and coming out ahead. Or at the least being fortunate enough for someone to help her out. She had been pretty lucky on her journey when it came to finding the right ponies or other creatures who were willing to lend a hoof. Or foot. Or claw.

She squinted her eyes to see if she had gotten much closer to the oasis and she was happy to see that it seemed like it indeed was getting closer on the horizon. The patches of green around an island of blue in the middle were getting bigger and more distinct and she was fairly sure she could make out trees and some of the larger buildings. Maybe buildings wasn’t the right word as even the biggest ones seemed to just be big tents.

It all covered quite a large area though, sprawling out from the oasis and into the sands of the desert. She understood what Wood Chips meant when he said he couldn’t really call it a town, since despite the large area it certainly covered it was all just tents and canvas covered shacks. The definition of a stopover and the last place to get food, water, and other supplies before you either left the desert or journeyed deeper into it.

Closer as she was now, it invigorated Rainbow Dash with more energy and she shot faster towards One Hump Oasis while lowering herself closer to the sand. There were probably “streets” of some kind at least that navigated through the tents. Rainbow was planning on coming in low and arriving like any traveler from the desert. She could stop off at the end and walk on in to One Hump Oasis. So long as there wasn’t anybody who would try and bar her entrance. What with Rainbow had heard about the camels, she wasn’t expecting a friendly reception from them, but considering the nature of One Hump Oasis she doubted there was anyone keeping watch on who came and who left. It seemed like a place that anyone would be allowed to travel to without issue.

“And if it’s not, then I beat up some jerks and go take a swim anyways,” Rainbow nodded to herself.

Not exactly the most heroic proclamation, but she couldn’t find fault with it either.

Water was a life and death sort of thing. Especially in the desert. If camels tried to keep her from getting a drink, Rainbow figured she was allowed to get a little bit rough. But it was also possible she wasn’t entirely thinking clearly after traveling through the desert with the sun beating down on her. Her mind was a little bit frazzled. Fried, more accurately.

It only took another few minutes for her to actually get to the point where One Hump Oasis wasn’t hidden behind a shimmering veil of air. Now she could make it out more clearly and also see all of the creatures that were currently there as well. It seemed like a busy place, she could see dozens, maybe hundreds out walking through the tents.

Rainbow Dash came down and stopped right at the edge of the settlement. She then looked down at her hooves resting atop the burning sand. “Ow.”

She quickly shuffled along into One Hump Oasis where she could walk among the others and look for some water to drink. It was a pretty dirty and dusty place now that she was here and most of the creatures she could see were shawl and turban wearing camels who paid her no notice whatsoever. More than just tents and shacks set up, a lot of wagons sat at the edge of the oasis, with their backs open and camels bringing out what was inside them to show off and sell to others. Rainbow narrowed her eyes, this wasn’t just a stopover, it was a true trade outpost. The air was busy with hundreds of conversations between camels all bartering and trading with each other and the more she ventured in the busier it got right up until she entered a full on marketplace.

The largest tents she had seen at the oasis had numerous smaller tents and shacks set up outside and around them, every last one operated by a camel selling something. Camels pulling carts full of goods went from place to place, either buying or trading more. And still none seemed to notice the weirdly out of place pegasus dying of thirst walking through it all. Maybe she just came off as any other street urchin.

She didn’t even know where to begin or who to ask for something now. More than just camels were supposed to be here, right? Or had she only just assumed that?

She passed by a tent that was selling rugs, another selling pillows, another some kind of silky scarf. The closest any camel got to talking with her was when she got shooed away by the female camel selling scarves for coming to close to them.

“Well if you want me to go then how about telling me where I can get some water to drink, huh?” Rainbow Dash said to the camel.

The camel spat at her hooves and went back to ignoring her.

Rainbow’s eye twitched. “Oh, okay.”

At least her mind was off the heat now. Rainbow Dash did surprisingly manage to maintain her cool and just left the scarf-selling camel behind. She really just wanted some water to drink and to get her bearings around here. She didn’t know where to go from here, if she should just keep flying directly south, or if there was something else to look for in the desert. After all, she still wanted to find plenty of fun and adventure and this desert was a big place. She didn’t want to miss any possibilities. Of course she still needed water first of all and she wasn’t any closer to getting some.

Rainbow Dash walked through the streets of tents and crowds of camels, looking from side to side, hoping to see a place selling water or at least bump into some camel that would acknowledge her. She was getting a little wobbly and she didn’t even notice it yet.

A camel suddenly bumped into her, whether on accident or on purpose she couldn’t tell, either way it sent her falling to the sand. She went face first into it and collapsed, spitting up hot sand and struggling to get back up. It was so hot, she was so exhausted, and she just wanted some water. Unfortunately Rainbow Dash found she could no longer move with the sun pouring on her from above. It was too much.

“Here,” a voice said and put a moist pouch to her lips.

Rainbow Dash felt water streaming past her lips and into her throat. Lukewarm, but water nonetheless. She almost coughed but managed to keep drinking, blinking and trying to look up at her savior. The sun obscured their features and Rainbow quickly gave up to just go back to drinking.

“I don’t know what you’re doing in the bazaar all alone like this, but let’s get you cleaned up, come along with me.” The pony said and reached out a hoof to pull Rainbow Dash up.

In Short, Camels are Jerks

Rainbow Dash sat outside a tent with a pitched wagon behind it while a number of ponies carried boxes out and stacked them up on the side of the street. It was just one of many such tents at this part of One Hump Oasis, close to the center of the settlement where not even a hundred feet away grass, plants, and palm trees grew out of the fertile ground. A watering hole that fed it all reflected the sun on its perfect mirror-like surface while Rainbow Dash guzzled down water collected from a well elsewhere at the oasis.

Her benefactor eyed her with a raised eyebrow from his seat on a small bench brought out from the wagon.

“You sure are thirsty. Just how long were you alone out in the desert? And why’d you go to the camel’s bazaar if you were looking for water? Don’t you know anything?” He asked her.

Rainbow Dash finished her gulp and put the skin of water down. She looked over at him. “Nope.”

“Could figure that much. What’s your name?”

“Rainbow Dash. You?”

“Cart D’Evron,” the earth pony stallion said. He was wearing a brown robe to shield himself from the hot sun, as were the other ponies here, and he pulled back his hood to better speak with her. His face was wrinkled and beaten from years of living in the desert, with his rusty red mane and stubble of a beard looking like a ragged mess over his faded green coat. “I’m a merchant with the Aux-Lemm Corporation.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared back at him. “Ooookay?”

He frowned at her but there was an amused twinkle in his eyes. “You’re not from around here are you? The Aux-Lemm Corporation is the only merchant corporation in the desert not owned and operated by camels. We own this part of One Hump Oasis, it’s where traders and travelers who aren’t camels can come and do business or rest here until they’re ready to move on. Whether you’re from Great Camel Desert or not, I’m sure you noticed how unhelpful all those camels were to you?”

“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I had heard about them before coming here.”

“Yep, welcome to the desert,” Cart snorted. He walked over and picked up his water skin. “Might I ask what brings you out here? And what in the world you were thinking flying out into the desert alone? I can tell you came from up north. I’m not personally familiar with what’s up there but I know there’s a number of forests and mountains and towns scattered about them.”

“Well you’re half right. I came down from the north but I’m from a little farther away than any of those villages. That’s not super important right now though,” Rainbow said. “And really I’m kind of just... traveling through? I’m on an adventure, just looking for fun and now I’m here.” She shrugged.

He stared back at her. “And your idea of fun was flying through the desert without any food, water, or supplies of your own? Or even a map that shows you where to go next?”

“Uhhh... yes?”

“You an idiot?”

Rainbow Dash glared at him and folded her hooves over her chest. “No! Look, I do reckless things sometimes, but that’s part of what being on an adventure means! Sometimes you gotta do something tough and dangerous.”

He laughed. “Well I guess it turned out decently for you thanks to me anyways. So we can’t exactly say you’re unlucky.”

“That’s pretty much how it always goes,” Rainbow said, standing up and cracking her neck. “So you seem like you really know a lot about this desert, what’s the best way for me to travel through it? Cause I’m still going south.”

“First off I’d recommend you screw your head on straight and don’t try and just fly through on your own with nothing on your back but that blue coat of yours,” Cart said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Look I-”

“I’m serious, and I’m trying to help, so how about listening for a second?” Cart defiantly stared at her.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Fine. Go on then.”

“Alright,” Cart nodded. “Look, nobody goes through the desert alone unless they’ve traveled it extensively for years already. It aint a safe place to travel if you don’t know what you’re doing and where you’re going. If you were traveling alone you’d at least want some clothes to protect you from the sun and probably a wagon to pull behind you to carry a month or two worth of supplies that you can replenish at each new stop. I know how much faster flying would be for a pegasus like you, but you just can’t fly and carry what you need by yourself at the same time.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and thought about what he was saying. “Then what’s your suggestion? What’s the best way to travel through the desert?”

“By caravan. You should attach yourself to a group like mine or somebody else and ask for transport. You’ll have to pull your own weight and work for your keep, but there’s always caravans traveling through the desert that could use another capable pony working on them,” Cart said. He then raised a hoof and looked at her more seriously. “Just don’t get involved with any camels or waste time trying to work with them.”

“I’ve heard they won’t help a pony or do business with us,” Rainbow said.

“It’s worse than that,” Cart shook his head. “In short, camels are jerks. And swindlers. The only camels that will give you the time of day are criminals who will try and steal and squeeze everything of value out of you, they’ll get you into bad deals and throw you under the rug as soon as they can. Don’t trust a word a camel says. If any of them offer something to you, don’t give them money first, you make sure you get what you’re paying for.

“Well I don’t have any money to be swindled out of me anyways,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“That’s... good...” Cart sighed.

“I don’t mind working a little while to make some cash and get on out of here. I didn’t want to stop for long but I kind of figured I’d have to. Or at least take a day to relax and build up my strength again,” Rainbow said.

“I’d say you should find a traveler’s tent in the non-camel quarter then. Rest up there and ask around for some charity to get a meal and some supplies. Kind as I was to save you back there, I’m still a businesspony and it’s not exactly good business to hoof out too much free stuff,” Cart said.

“Couldn’t I just work for you?” Rainbow asked.

Cart shook his head. “Not if you’re going south. Aux-Lemm only has caravans going east to Dry Hole for the next two months. If you want to go south you’ll need to find a smaller family-owned business or a personal caravan. Lucky enough for you, there are lots like that here in One Hump Oasis. Just make sure you stick to the non-camel quarter.”

“You mentioned that, what is it?”

“It’s the part of One Hump Oasis owned by the Aux-Lemm Corporation, and we rent out space to other businesses and travelers that aren’t camels. Other ponies, griffons, foxes, antelope, what have you. Any creature that camels don’t work with,” Cart explained. He took a deep breath and looked in the direction of the bazaar he had found Rainbow Dash in. “You see, those camels aint just the most populous group of creatures out in this desert. They really own and control pretty much everything. It’s their home so I wouldn’t have much of a problem if they weren’t such jerks but... yeah.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You see, camels don’t just not do business or help other creatures. They have their own cities in the desert that only they’re allowed entrance into, and oases and wells that no other creatures can use either. Some camels have even let slip that they have their own special maps of the desert—maps far more detailed than any we have and that show hidden settlements and locations known only to camels. So there’s quite a lot of bad blood between camels and non-camels in this desert. Especially when it comes to merchants and those who make a living traveling and trading through the desert and beyond.”

Rainbow Dash sat back and whistled, looking up at the sky. “I guess traveling through here aint gonna be the most fun.” She blinked and looked back at Cart. “Beyond, huh? Do you know what’s south of the desert?”

“I know more than most I would say. I’ve traveled extensively over the years,” Cart nodded. “Of course when it comes to traveling south... I would have to tell you to just not do that. At least not directly.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Why not?”

“Strange things have been happening in the world lately,” Cart shrugged. “South of the Great Camel Desert there was a kingdom called Hoofica. A pony country in and past the bad lands and rocky plains beyond the desert, huge, with dozens of cities and towns forming it, big lakes and forests of its own in parts, and millions of ponies that lived there. I’d traveled to it many times myself, trading goods from the desert and other places.”

“What happened to it?” An unsettling feeling was forming in Rainbow’s stomach.

Cart wiped his hooves together. “Poof. It vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“Just like that. The cities, the ponies, it all vanished into thin air. Now you can stand at the edge of where the kingdom used to be and you’ll see nothing but empty mountains and wastes. Furthermore, anyone who tried traveling to where it used to be has never returned. They just up and vanished too. Hoofica and all the ponies in it are gone without a trace. That was less than a year ago, I haven’t been back anywhere near that south in a long time.”

“Well that sounds great. So what would you recommend I do?” Rainbow asked. In truth she was very curious about what had supposedly happened to this Hoofica place, but she didn’t want to worry Cart.

Cart rubbed his chin for a second. “Between the Great Camel Desert and Hoofica there’s a small savanna populated by giraffes. They’re decent company, just a little weird.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by weird?”

“Just... weird. It’s hard to describe really. You gotta meet them for yourself,” he shrugged. “Anyways, what I’d say you should do is get to that savanna, then take a big turn east or west. Eventually you’ll hit mountains regardless of which direction you choose. Mountains box in the whole dang continent, you’ll hit them if you travel to either side of the desert too.” He made a slicing gesture with his hoof. “But whatever, I’m getting off-topic again. Once you’ve gone far enough to reach those mountains, you’ll be past where the borders of Hoofica reached. Then I’d say go south and keep going until you hit the Green Divide. That’s a long but thin stretch of forest that goes east to west across the whole continent. Course at that point the continent’s a bit thinner, but anyways, beyond the Green Divide is Vissidia.”

“Vissidia?”

Cart smiled fondly. “Ah yes, Vissidia. Beautiful country. Nothing but green fields and farms as far as the eye can see. Just about the most peaceful and idyllic place anyone could dream of. Haven’t been there in a long while but I’d sure like to go back someday. Maybe even just retire there.” He coughed. “Uh, so anyways, the ponies of Vissidia say that to the south of their country is a big swamp, but I haven’t ever been that far south myself. So that’s about all I know of the world, hope it helps you out.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Dude, you’ve known more about the rest of the world than like, any pony or creature I’ve met in a long time. Thanks for telling me all that. I just wanted to know about the desert and stuff.”

“Heh, well it’s not often I get to tell all this stuff to a pony who doesn’t know nothing about this part of the world,” Cart rubbed the back of his neck. “And you know... if you’d be up for helping us out, manning the tent, moving supplies, just doing whatever, I’d be willing to give you enough coin for you to get yourself a meal and a bed for the night. How’s that sound?”

Rainbow smiled. “That sounds awesome.”

A Daring Meeting

All in all, things were going pretty well now for Rainbow Dash. She spent yesterday helping out Cart D’Evron and the rest of the ponies working for the Aux-Lemm Corporation and it earned her a cot in a tent and a meal of heavy cream and some kind of yeasty pancake whose proper name Rainbow couldn’t pronounce. She still didn’t really have anything to her name, and she’d need to find a caravan going south at some point, but for the moment things were going alright in One Hump Oasis. Cart had even offered to let her help out again today and try and find her some work with another group that might need some longer lasting help.

But at the moment this morning she was at his tent, helping him organize some of the goods and supplies that would be packed onto his wagon and taken to Dry Hole. Most of it was stuff that had been bought or traded for yesterday while Rainbow was helping out.

“You see-” Cart said as he heaved a heavy crate full of rock salt on top of another. “Dry Hole is the only real city in the northeast part of the desert. It was built around another oasis that dried up, but there are a number of deep deep wells that pull up ground water. The whole place is at the edge of the desert anyways, where things aint so harsh and it rains more, and you got more real dirt and soil under your hooves. The camels and other citizens there use the mud to craft unique clay sculptures, and they sell and trade those off to the rest of the desert.”

“And that’s what you’re going out to get and bring back here?” Rainbow surmised.

Cart nodded. “You got it.”

“Sorry I won’t be coming along with you to see,” Rainbow shrugged. “Sounds like a cool enough place but it’s too out of the way, and I’d have to travel at your pace too.”

“And with us pulling the wagons we’re talking about a month-long trip to get there. I don’t blame you for not wanting to come along,” Cart grinned.

“Yeah, thanks but no thanks. If I have to tie myself to a caravan to survive traveling through here, I at least want to find one that’s only going exactly where I want to go,” Rainbow said.

“Well after we finish up work here I’ll try helping you find one like that in the non-camel quarter,” Cart said.

Rainbow nodded. “Thanks.”

“Also you luckily won’t have to deal with any darn camels if you stick around here. They can smell a mark from a mile away. Not to say you’re easily tricked or anything, but you still don’t know the ways of the desert too well,” Cart said.

“No offense taken. One camel spitting at me was enough for me to want to avoid them anyways,” Rainbow said.

“Get used to that by the way,” Cart snorted. “Help me get these boxes into the wagon now, we’ve got a bunch left and a lot to finish getting together today.”

He wasn’t lying. The Aux-Lemm Corporation had numerous wagons at standby ready to make the trip to Dry Hole. As Rainbow Dash found, they were mostly carrying food related supplies but also plenty of generic tools and clothing. Dry Hole seemed to be getting stuff to survive while they’d be giving back art. Fair trade? Rainbow Dash had to admit that she didn’t understand much about art or see the value in it. Maybe if they were making practical things with that clay like bowls or something she’d get it. But hey, it seemed to work for everybody. If that was unique stuff that could only be found in Dry Hole she supposed it made sense. Stuff was always more valuable and more appreciated the rarer it was.

Like with her being an awesome one of a kind pony. She was totally appreciated for that.

As she finished helping move stuff into the wagon, Rainbow Dash was put on tent duty with another pony. Together they tried to sell some excess wares to anybody that passed by. It was kind of a nice experience since she got to see a lot of different creatures, including some called antelopes for the first time. They were small and lithe, slightly taller than the average pony but not as meaty, with big wavy horns on their heads. Most of them walked right by but a few that stopped and talked showed off their fairy-like voices.

It only took about five minutes of sitting here trying to sell stuff that Rainbow Dash got bored.

She looked out at some of the other tents that were set up on the same street, it wasn’t as big or busy as the camel bazaar but there was still a lot of stuff around. One tent was selling small ceramic figurines of animals. She wondered if those came all the way from Dry Hole. Considering the time of day she was probably going to have to spend a few more hours like this before Cart came to fetch her and tried to find another caravan for her. So it was going to take some effort not getting bored out of her mind and letting her brain melt from the heat.

At least she could say she had gotten better at dealing with the heat. Partially because she had other things to occupy her mind with, but it definitely wasn’t bothering her so much anymore. She just acclimated well to new climates apparently. After all, she didn’t think she had done too bad a job getting used to the cold in the True North after living all her life in a way more temperate area. A few more days in the desert and she’d be downright at home.

Rainbow glanced at the stallion next to her. Half Cart’s age at most, he was wrapped up in all manner of desert robes to block the sun. “So-” Rainbow started. “Do anything fun lately?”

He turned his head to look at her. “I carve horseshoes out of soap.”

“That’s uh… that’s swell...” Rainbow looked away.

She had a feeling that she wouldn’t really have anything to talk to this guy about. So Rainbow Dash whistled nonchalantly and went back to watching the market street. One Hump Oasis seemed just as busy today as it was yesterday, and her boredom and curiosity were starting to get to her. She wanted to check out the camel parts of this place too and see if they really were all bad or if there was anything interesting there that she couldn’t find here. While every pony and everything she had seen so far about camels seemed to confirm the worst, they couldn’t all be so bad, right? Even Diamond Dogs back home probably weren’t. Though Rainbow admittedly hadn’t met enough to tell.

A yawn found its way up from her lungs and Rainbow Dash rocked back and forth on the pillow she was sitting on. While yesterday had gone by faster, today seemed to have slowed down. She didn’t know what day it was or what the schedule was like here, but maybe today was a slow day? Would explain things.

She was about to get up and stretch and maybe go see what Cart was up to when surprised voices and yelps from down the “street” reached her ears. Rainbow Dash looked to her right to see a camel wearing a red fez hat running through the crowd of ponies and other creatures. That was odd enough in itself since she hadn’t seen any other camels here, she thought they weren’t allowed or something in the non-camel quarter, but odder still was the sight of a pony chasing the camel through the crowd.

It was a mare, with a scarlet red coat and an even deeper red mane and tail, wearing a black vest that covered her whole body and a black beret with sunglasses over her eyes. Rainbow Dash wondered how she didn’t die from overheating wearing something like that in this desert. She also had a determined scowl on her face while the camel she was chasing looked haggard and terrified.

“Stop that camel before he gets out of the quarter!” The scarlet mare shouted. “He’s a crook! A thief!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. The camel and the mare were almost in front of the Aux-Lemm tent.

She had a decision to make. Either way it looked like she was about to get involved in something exciting.

Her decision was made quick—Rainbow Dash darted out from the tent right as the camel passed by and stuck her back leg out. The much larger creature cried and tripped over it, rolling onto the sand in a heap. In an instant the scarlet mare was upon him, jumping right beside his head and grasping the nape of his neck menacingly.

“Well, well, well, Zargoz. You thought you could pull a fast one on me with that fake map?” The scarlet mare said before glancing at Rainbow Dash. “Thanks, honey, I owe you one~”

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash grinned. She was about to ask what was going on when two other ponies interrupted her, running from inside the crowd that had gathered to see what was going on.

“You caught him?” An orange earth pony stallion asked. He had a straw yellow mane and tail with a black scarf wrapped around his neck and a bag of seed as his Cutie Mark. There was a sharpness to his eyes that immediately set Rainbow Dash on edge.

“Hehe, nice work,” the other said. He was a greyish unicorn stallion with rotted teeth and a pot belly, complete with oily black mane and tail and a trio of fool’s gold for a Cutie Mark. The mean and stupid grin he had on his face also rubbed Rainbow the wrong way.

“You ponies! You can’t get away with treating me like this!” Zargoz, the camel, yelled. “Once the Brotherhood hears about this-”

He was silenced as the scarlet mare yanked back on his neck. “Shut it. You’re nothing more than a petty criminal. It was stupid of me to trust you but I honestly didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to try and pull one over on me of all ponies.”

Zargoz gulped. “I’m still a camel and-”

“And this ain’t your home, honey. You’re in the non-camel quarter and you don’t have any friends here,” the mare grinned.

Before the conversation could continue, a loud voice rang out down the street:

“What in blazes is going on here?!” Cart D’Evron yelled as he came out from behind the tent with a number of other employees of the Aux-Lemm Corporation. His eyes narrowed once he saw Zargoz. “What’s a camel-” He stopped as he saw the mare accosting the camel and his jaw dropped. “The Red Hornet… the Murkers have orders to kill you on sight.”

That set off a round of mumbling through the crowd and Cart and the other employees all looked worried and nervous.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile was just flat-out confused as to what was going on. Red Hornet? Murkers? What?

The Red Hornet grinned at Cart as soon as he said that and reached up to tilt down her sunglasses, revealing striking, deep-blue eyes. “That’s true, but most of them aren’t dumb enough to try acting on those orders, honey.”

Cart nervously sweated and took another look at the camel. Recognition flashed across his face and his expression softened. “Well I’ll be, Zargoz the Forger. Boy are you in the wrong place, I know a lot of antelope here who would love to see you right now.”

“I was merely passing through! I have done absolutely nothing to deserve being detained here, and need I remind you that I am a camel? You have no authority or any right to accuse me!” Zargoz yelled.

“Need I remind you that you’re in the non-camel quarter? The Aux-Lemm Corporation owns this part of One Hump Oasis. If you want to go on and on about camel authority, you’re in the wrong place for it. They might not punish your crimes but we will,” Cart’s eyes narrowed.

Zargoz bit his large lips and glanced between The Red Hornet and Cart. “F-Fine, then I formally request to be taken into the custody of the Aux-Lemm Corporation and tried for my crimes.”

“Oh no, no, no,” The Red Hornet suddenly glared at him and yanked his neck back again. “You’re not getting out of things so easily.”

“Hey!” Cart shouted. “Criminal he may be but I can’t support you hurting someone helpless like that. And this is Aux-Lemm territory, we have authority here and if he-”

“You think I care about your authority one bit?” The Red Hornet sharply said to him. Her two companions then nervously looked around the crowd.

The orange one came up beside her and whispered in her ear. “Look, we-”

“We can’t just let Zargoz get out of here with what he knows. If this becomes a formal issue he’ll be allowed to contact the Brotherhood and more is going to get out about us and it’ll be even harder to finish our work!” The Red Hornet cut him off.

“You’re just a criminal too, Red Hornet. A thorn in the camel’s side might make you a friend of mine but I’ve heard things about you,” Cart said to her. “I’m not letting any sort of funny business take place here. Not where the Aux-Lemm Corporation has responsibility.”

“You really want to go that direction?” The Red Hornet dangerously asked him.

And Rainbow Dash, after essentially causing this problem, felt she now had to step up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” She flew between the two groups. “Time-out here! I’m a little lost as to what’s going on, but I don’t think you should be at each other’s throats like this.”

“I appreciate your help, honey, but this doesn’t concern you,” The Red Hornet said to her.

Rainbow Dash folded her legs over her chest. “Sorry, but it does. Cart here really helped me out and I owe it to him to not let some other pony mess things up for him.” She glanced at the two stallions and then back at the Hornet. “Especially ones as suspicious looking as you three. My gut told me that I should help you out but it’s also telling me you and your friends could be bad news. So you might as well stop with the threats and stuff while I’m here.”

The Red Hornet’s eyebrow twitched. “And just who do you think you are to say anything like that? I don’t think you know who you’re messing with here.”

“Right back at you,” Rainbow Dash glared defiantly at the other mare.

“We aint letting this camel go. There’s business to deal with,” The Red Hornet said. “What are you going to do about it?”

Rainbow Dash grinned and leaned down at her. “Just watch me.”

The two ponies tensed up and got ready to pounce at the other-

“Hey, Valentine!” A new voice yelled as a pegasus swooped in and landed in the middle of the crowd next to the camel and scarlet mare. “You found him? What’s-” She stopped as she saw the rainbow-maned pony floating right in front of The Red Hornet.

Rainbow Dash herself blinked in pure disbelief at the khaki-colored pegasus mare who had just come in. That ultra-familiar outfit, voice, and greyscale mane and tail that Rainbow had seen numerous times in her life now. All of it belonging to an adventurer almost as awesome as she was. Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground along with her jaw.

“Daring Do?!”

“Rainbow Dash?!”

“What are you doing here?!”

Shining Diamond and the Crystal Sea

“What are you doing here?!” Both pegasi said at once.

“You know this pony?” The Red Hornet—or Valentine maybe—raised an eyebrow at Daring Do.

“Yeah,” Daring Do nodded. “She’s a friend of mine from Equestria. What happened here?”

The two stallions shot each other an uncertain look while The Red Hornet dumped Zargoz’s head onto the sand. She walked over to stand with Daring Do, still facing down Rainbow Dash and the employees of the Aux-Lemm Corporation.

“Well thanks to your friend I was able to catch Zargoz, but now our pals from Aux-Lemm over here want to take him into their custody,” The Hornet explained.

“Ugh,” Daring Do dragged a hoof down her face. “Of course… things just can’t be simple, can they?”

“Could I maybe get a clue on what’s going on?” Rainbow impatiently asked.

“I wouldn’t mind that either,” Cart said as he stared down Daring Do. “I don’t recognize you, but you’re working with The Red Hornet?”

The orange stallion coughed into his hoof and tried to walk up to Cart. “If everypony could calm down for one second we’d all see there’s no reason for conflict.”

Rainbows ears perked up as soon as he spoke. It had been a little while since she had actually heard the phrase “everypony”. This guy must not be from around here either. Rainbow Dash bit her lip but she decided to act on her gut feeling again. She could always trust Daring Do—that’s what she honestly believed. So Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew between the two groups, hooves outstretched.

“I think you’re right about that,” she said to the orange stallion before looking over at Cart. “Hey Cart, I know we’ve only known each other for like two days, but do you trust me?”

Cart eyed her. “I… think you’re of good character.”

Rainbow grinned. “Alright. Then believe me, I can’t speak for the other three, but I know that pegasus is a good pony.” She said, pointing at Daring Do. “And if she’s with them then I know they aren’t doing anything bad. So what do you say we all take a moment to relax, and maybe get off this street and talk someplace a little quieter?” She glanced back at The Red Hornet. “And no one will start any fights either.”

The Red Hornet snorted in bemusement but grinned right back. “I can agree to that, so long as the camel doesn’t leave my sight.”

Cart also looked over at Zargoz as he coughed up sand. “I’m fine with that.”

“Good,” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief. “Then let’s talk.”

Inside a large tent in the interior of the non-camel quarter of the oasis, the ponies all sat together while a bound and gagged Zargoz angrily tried to get out of his bindings behind them. It was an Aux-Lemm tent and one quite private per Cart’s words. The tension inside was palpable and Rainbow Dash still had about ten million questions to ask but at least she felt better with Daring Do here. That was a pony she could always count on.

“Well,” The Red Hornet said, breaking the silence. “I suppose some introductions are in order. You all know me so I’ll let that fall to the rest.”

Cart nodded. “I’m Cart D’Evron. I suppose you can consider me a representative of the Aux-Lemm Corporation for the moment.”

“My name is Birdseed,” the orange stallion said. “I am an… associate of The Red Hornet.”

“Same here!” The pot-bellied stallion said. “And uh, my name’s Coin Flip. Hehe.”

Now Daring Do got up. “My name is Daring Do. I’m not from around here, so I apologize in advance if I do or say anything against local customs. Miss Valentine and I are working together on a common couple of goals, to put a long story short, we ran into each other in the desert not too long ago while working independently. I don’t know what her reputation with you all may be but she’s proven herself a trustworthy and loyal comrade to me.” She looked over at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Just like Rainbow Dash here is.”

Rainbow Dash blushed and waved at the other ponies. “Yeah, that’s me. Daring Do and I know each other from way back.”

“Alright, and now with that out of the way, why don’t you all tell me why I shouldn’t do the lawful thing here and take Zargoz into my custody. And report the fact that a notorious criminal is clearly up to something to my superiors?” Cart asked, narrowing his eyes directly at The Red Hornet.

“Because we’re trying to stop disaster from befalling this entire desert, honey. That’s why,” she answered.

Cart and his other employees shared a few nervous looks and whispers before he opened his mouth again. “Care to explain?”

“I’d like to hear about that too,” Rainbow said.

Daring Do looked at The Red Hornet and raised an eyebrow. The Hornet scowled but eventually sighed and nodded.

“Have you heard of a pony by the name of Shining Diamond?”

Cart thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Can’t say that I have.”

“I’m not surprised,” The Hornet folded her legs over her chest. “He doesn’t come down to any oasis like this himself or show himself in public, he just uses his minions for errands.”

“And he’s a relative newcomer to this desert, like I am,” Daring Do said.

“So what’s his story?” Cart asked.

“He’s something called a crystal pony from a far-off country and-” Daring Do started before Rainbow interrupted.

“Wait, hold on!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “What’s a crystal pony doing out here?”

“I was just getting to that, Rainbow,” Daring Do rolled her eyes. “Anyways—crystal ponies are essentially just normal ponies, but they have a sort of crystalline and translucent look to them. That’s not really important though, what is important is he’s a dangerous criminal with a lot of resources at his disposal. And… and he’s traveling through the desert in search of the Crystal Sea.”

“What?!” Cart stood up in shock. “But even attempting to look for the Crystal Sea will get the camel’s entire Murker Corps to go after you if they find out!”

“Umm...” Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “I’m lost again.”

“I guess there’s kind of a lot to unpack here...” Daring Do said.

“I’ll try and explain things the best I can to you,” Cart said to Rainbow Dash, clearing his throat after his previous outburst. “Do you remember what the money I gave you yesterday was?”

“Yeah, little copper coins?”

“That’s right, but that’s not the currency camels use in the desert. You see, camels have their own currency of rare crystals that other creatures aren’t allowed to hold or trade with. It keeps their economy from being manipulated or threatened and protects the caste system of the desert. And this “Crystal Sea” is a semi-legendary place where a massive amount of these crystals supposedly form, right up out of the desert sands. The camels either forgot about or lost its location a long, long time ago. And of course if anybody else was able to find the Crystal Sea they’d be able to throw the entire economy of the desert into turmoil. The camels would go into a panic. That’s why it’s forbidden to look for it, or practically even ask about it.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Okay, starting to get a handle on things. So because you’re now also sort of looking for the Crystal Sea, this Zargoz guy is threatening to tell all the camels and send the Brotherhood of Murkers after you or something?”

“Little mixed up there, honey, but you’ve got the gist of things,” The Red Hornet said. “The Brotherhood is the ruling body of camels, and the Murkers are their military wing.”

Cart snorted. “Military wing? More like a band of roaming savages. The Murkers prey on anyone they can when they’re not being ordered to do anything specific. They’re hated and feared across the whole desert by anyone who isn’t a camel.”

“Considering your hatred of the camels I’m surprised you weren’t willing to just let me and my associates go on our way,” The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow.

“That’s because two wrongs don’t make a right. The Aux-Lemm Corporation has a reputation for honest work and keeping to the law. You don’t have such a reputation. I’ve heard enough stories from non-camels about you to make me think they’re telling the truth. And anybody getting to the Crystal Sea can’t be a good thing,” Cart scowled at her.

“Hold on, we really just want to stop Shining Diamond from getting to it!” Daring Do said. “Please, I want you to believe me when I say we don’t have any intentions to use the Crystal Sea for ourselves or even tell anybody else where it is. We’re just trying to find it and the clues that lead to it before Shining Diamond can. I’ve also heard a lot about Miss Valentine, and I’ve had to talk her out of some things myself.” Daring Do shot a sharp look at the scarlet mare. “But I’ve also gotten to know her on a personal level, and the Aux-Lemm Corporation can trust that she’s doing the right thing.”

“I can vouch for Daring Do. I don’t know this Hornet pony either, but I can at least trust Daring Do’s judgment,” Rainbow said.

“Also, if you’re so concerned about the well-being of this desert, then you’ll want to not give us any trouble either,” The Red Hornet said to Cart. “None of us like the camels, but Shining Diamond is hardly looking for the Crystal Sea to right their wrongs. It’s all about power to him. Maybe if someone did want to just overthrow the camels you’d support them, but that’s not the case here.”

Cart went to share a look with the other employees, they had to nod in agreement with what The Red Hornet was saying.

“So what’s Shining Diamond even going to do if he finds the Crystal Sea?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Cause turmoil and chaos. Camel currency will become worthless as thousands of crystals from nowhere flood the market. He can bribe or blackmail anybody, give the crystals to non-camels, or just threaten to do all of that and force the camels to give him anything he wants,” The Red Hornet said. “Once he’s gotten enough power for himself I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to overthrow the Brotherhood entirely. He’s an insane megalomaniac. And with all the flaws of camel rulership, they’re still better than a cruel dictator like him would be.”

“That’s why we can’t have anybody find out about what we’re doing. We can’t afford to have the Murkers or any other camels get in our way while we’re trying to stop Shining Diamond,” Daring Do said. “You can understand why we’re trying to be incognito about all this.”

“Obviously trying to convince the camels we’re the good guys wouldn’t work either,” The Red Hornet shook her head dismissively.

"That wouldn’t go very far,” Cart had to agree. “And it would probably be a bad thing if they found the Crystal Sea again too. Unlimited resources. As long as they controlled themselves they’d be even more untouchable than they are now. The Crystal Sea being found by benevolent creatures would be one of the only ways to fix this desert...”

“Let’s not go too far. While I’m not a fan of how this desert is, things are in a precarious spot, and having that kind of power can easily corrupt even a good pony,” Daring Do said.

Cart sighed. “Well, fair enough.” He suddenly frowned and looked over at Zargoz. “Wait—so then you’re saying that Zargoz here knows the location of the Crystal Sea?”

“He knew where we could go to potentially find the next clue or partial map to the Crystal Sea. He had a “friend” who found a map a long time ago, Zargoz secretly made a copy of half of that map before being interrupted and having to flee. Valentine got him to spill the beans about it but Zargoz tried to pull a fast one on us when we tried to get the real copy of the map from him. He gave us a fake he had made at some point along the way,” Daring Do said.

“I only just realized that in the nick of time,” The Red Hornet glared at the tied up camel.

“We were originally hoping that the partial map Zargoz had would be enough for us to find the Crystal Sea or another clue to its location on its own. But as we talked to him we learned that the original map only showed the way to another clue,” Birdseed said. “Not only did the half he copied only showed the starting point and not where the next clue was, he tried giving us that fake that would have us going in the wrong direction.”

“So where do you have to go next to find the real map?” Cart asked.

This time it was Daring Do and her allies who had to nervously share a few looks. They huddled up and started talking to each other—with Rainbow Dash able to hear a few angry growls from Hornet while Daring Do tried to reason with her. Eventually they came out of the huddle with The Hornet scowling, Birdseed blankfaced, Coin Flip licking his lips, and Daring Do offering a small smile.

“In the spirit of trust and working together, we’ve decided to tell you,” Daring Do said. “Right now we’re on the way to Two Hump Oasis.”

Cart instantly grimaced and reared back. “Two Hump Oasis? That den of scum and criminals?”

“Not really a surprise that a friend of this criminal would be there,” Daring Do shrugged and hooked a hoof over at Zargoz.

“I’m assuming that’s a bad place?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“The worst in the whole desert,” Cart spat. “It’s a lawless zone that the camels don’t bother policing and Aux-Lemm steers clear from. It originated as a thieves hideout built around a small oasis in the first place, before growing and becoming a refuge for all sorts of bad folk over the years. It has a thriving black market but I would never tell any honest merchant to go there, it’s just too dangerous.”

Naturally, everything he said made Rainbow Dash pretty excited. She almost couldn’t stop her tail from swishing about behind her.

“So you know we’re serious about what we’re doing,” Daring Do said. “Please, don’t let Zargoz get in our way. I’m sorry that I have to ask you to break some rules but this is incredibly important. Shining Diamond is a threat to everyone.”

Cart stared back at her and blew a breath of air out his nose. He glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who smiled back at him. “I believe you. And I suppose you have the right of it. We won’t interfere in your business.”

“Good,” The Red Hornet impatiently stood up the moment Cart finished speaking. “Then it’s time to silence a certain camel. For good.” She stalked across the tent to Zargoz, whose eyes widened in fright as he struggled even more frantically to free himself.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she quickly flew around the others, coming to a stop right in front of The Hornet and blocking her path. “Whoa, hold on! There’s no need for that!”

The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me? We can’t just let Zargoz live with what he knows.”

“Killing isn’t right,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Even if this guy is a criminal, he’s not dangerous to you anymore. I’m not letting you kill someone who’s defenseless like this. From what you’ve said he’s definitely a big jerk but I don’t think that makes him deserve to die.”

“I don’t take chances. So get out of my way,” The Hornet said to Dash.

“No,” Dash said right back.

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Daring Do suddenly cut in, putting a hoof on The Red Hornet’s shoulder. “I’ve told you this before, Valentine. You need to relax.”

The Red Hornet inhaled deeply, and then slowly let it all out. “Fine. But what are we going to do with him then?”

“Leave that to us,” Cart said. “We’ll take him with us on our trip to Dry Hole. He can be our honored guest. That way at least he’ll have no way of contacting anyone else for at least a month.”

“Mrph!” Zargoz let out a muffled yell.

“Shut up,” Cart said, rolling his eyes at the camel.

“I guess that’s it then?” Daring Do said. She smiled at Cart. “Thank you for your understanding.”

“Then let’s hurry up and go. We really don’t have any time to waste,” The Hornet said and turned to leave the tent.

“Hold on!” Rainbow Dash shouted again and lifted up a hoof to get her attention.

The Red Hornet, Daring Do, Birdseed and Coin Flip all looked at her. The Hornet in particular with an annoyed scowl on her face as she stared down Rainbow Dash.

“What?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “There’s no way you’re thinking I’m not coming with you is there?”

Not the Best Company Ever Kept

“You can’t possibly think that I’d-”

“I’d love to have you join up with us, Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do said and came up to give Dash a hoof bump. “Be just like old times.”

The Red Hornet’s jaw dropped as she glared at Daring Do. “Are you serious?!”

Daring Do sighed. “I know Rainbow Dash, she’s a more than capable pony. She’d be a huge help to us.”

“She seems like a cocky, arrogant, reckless, pest. We don’t need someone like her with us.”

Daring Do just stared at her.

The Red Hornet coughed. “Okay, that might be the pot calling the kettle black, but it doesn’t make it any less true, honey. We’re fine without her.”

“I’m flying right here you know, you can just talk to me about it,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.

“The answer is no,” The Red Hornet narrowed her eyes.

“We could use the extra help and you know it. Shining Diamond has a lot of lackeys under his control,” Daring Do tried reasoning with her.

Birdseed cleared his throat. “I think-”

“This aint a democracy!” The Hornet shut him up immediately.

Rainbow Dash growled and flew down to land right in front of The Red Hornet’s face. “Look, I’m offering to help. You get that, right? And from what you all said it sounds like something really serious is going on so why not take what help you can get? You obviously respect Daring Do so you should trust what she says about me too. I know we’ve had a few disagreements in the very brief time we’ve known each other but I think we’re at least on the same page of doing the right thing and stopping this Shining Diamond guy.”

“And why do you even care?” The Red Hornet raised an eyebrow at her.

“Because that’s just the kind of pony I am,” Rainbow shrugged. “No one needs to pay me or ask me to do the right thing. I’m just gonna do it.”

The two mares stared at each other long hard, the other ponies in the tent unsure of what was going to happen, before finally the scarlet mare backed off. She turned around and stared at the closed tent flap leading outside.

“Alright. I can see that I’m not going to out-stubborn you at least. And if Daring Do believes in you… then I guess I can too,” The Red Hornet said.

“Awesome,” Dash grinned and shot a wink at Daring Do.

The author/archaeologist grinned right back. “Welcome aboard, Rainbow Dash.”

“Kind of an unexpected turn of events but I suppose that means I won’t have to help you find a caravan today,” Cart said.

“Heh, guess not,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Seriously though, thanks for all the help you gave me here. I’d probably be dying of thirst in a ditch right now if it wasn’t for you.”

“Meeting you certainly made things exciting as well. Good luck out there, Rainbow Dash.” Cart smiled at her and then looked at Daring Do. “You have your own transport and supplies and everything for making it through the desert then?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Daring Do said. “We did come here all the way from Dry Hole on our own already.”

Cart nodded. “Then hopefully I have nothing to worry about.”

“I don’t know about the others but Daring Do has a ton of experience with deserts and traveling and stuff. We got this,” Rainbow Dash said.

“So it’s ‘We’ already is it...” The Red Hornet grumbled.

“Well, Rainbow Dash, it unfortunately sounds like we wont be seeing each other again, but I wish you well on your travels,” Cart said to her.

“Thanks, dude. And good luck on your trip to Dry Hole,” Rainbow said.

“Thank you,” Cart looked over at his coworkers. “Alright, we’ve still got work to do today so let’s make up for the lost time. And someone keep an eye on that camel.”

“I think that’s our cue to head on out too then,” Daring Do said. “Come on everyone.”

“Back to our tents then?” Birdseed asked.

Daring Do nodded. “Yeah, we need to gather up our supplies and head out of here to Two Hump Oasis as quickly as possible.”

“So we’re getting on the move immediately? Sounds good to me,” Rainbow Dash said.

“We won’t be traveling through the desert super fast but we’ll make good time with just the five of us,” Daring Do said to her. “And maybe while we’re going through the desert you and Miss Valentine can get to know each other better. And maybe even start to get along.”

“Let’s not be crazy here,” The Red Hornet said as she held open the tent’s flap so they all could leave. “Like you said there’s no more time to waste so let’s get our things and go. We can talk when we’re on the road.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes but her comrade did have a point. “Alright.” She nodded to Rainbow Dash and the others and the five of them left the tent together.

“I never thought I’d get to go on an adventure with you while I was out here,” Rainbow said to Daring Do as she flew alongside them. “This is so awesome!”

The former group of four had set up camp at the far edge of the non-camel quarter in One Hump Oasis in a spot that was out of the way from the main thoroughfares and markets. They had two small tents—one for the mares and one for the stallions—that were easily collapsible and placed in sacks, and a number of bags and backpacks. All in all it was enough for a couple of ponies to easily carry and travel lightly through the desert with. They only had the essentials for surviving and camping out in the ocean of sand between oases and other stops. No wagon or anything, they were walking or flying.

“Hmm,” Daring Do thought as she looked over their supplies. “We might want to get another skin of water and some more food before we leave One Hump Oasis. There was more than enough with four even if we rationed but I want us to be extra careful with another mouth to feed. We’ll all need to be in our best shape traveling through the desert, especially if we suddenly come across Shining Diamond or his cohorts.”

“I can carry whatever extra stuff you need me to. So long as I have a little water I can handle the heat of this desert no problem,” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“Not as well as I can,” The Red Hornet whispered just loudly enough for Rainbow to hear.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Oh yeah, you’re so awesome for wearing all that black in the desert. Totally not a showoff or anything.”

“And you’re going to tell me you’re not a big showoff either? With that swagger and smug way you carry yourself?” Hornet snorted.

“The difference is I earned this smugness and can back every last thing I say up,” Rainbow taunted.

A vein popped on The Red Hornet’s forehead. “And you’re saying I can’t, honey?”

“Oh for the love of—can you two just stop it already?” Daring Do said, pushing herself between the two other mares. “We’re on the same side so get along!” She glared at the two of them in turn. “Or can your egos not deal with that?”

Rainbow Dash sputtered but backed off. Wanting to indignantly say that the other mare had started it. “Yeah fine, no big deal.”

“I’m fine with it too. I’ll get along as long as we’re working together,” The Red Hornet said, turning away from the two others.

“Good,” Daring Do sighed in relief. “Let’s just finish up here, okay?”

“I’ll go buy us some more food and water,” The Red Hornet said and before Daring Do could say anything else she had already started to quickly trot to the markets.

“Forget her,” Rainbow Dash said and went over to try and get everything out of the tents and packed away.

“I was hoping the two of you would get along better,” Daring Do said.

“Dare to dream,” Rainbow shrugged. “I thought she was cool when I first saw her, but yeah, no.”

Daring Do rolled her eyes and shook her head but didn’t bother saying anything else. While the two of them worked on packing up the tent together, Rainbow Dash kept looking over at the two stallions working on their tent. She didn’t really know anything about the two other than their names and her suspicion that Birdseed wasn’t from around here. Frankly, the both of them just rubbed her the wrong way. Rainbow Dash had met a lot of bad ponies in her life, and these two gave off the same sort of vibe. Not like The Red Hornet who was obviously just very abrasive and maybe a little too indifferent when it came to other creatures. Birdseed and Coin Flip had the countenance of common thugs. The types of ponies Rainbow Dash thought their group was supposed to be fighting against. And definitely not the types that she would expect Daring Do to work with.

She was going to need to talk to them. Figure them out.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash whispered to Daring Do and then glanced over at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “What do you know about those two?”

Daring Do briefly looked over at them and frowned. “Not a whole lot, to be honest. They were already working with Miss Valentine when I met her. She says there’s nothing to worry about from them but I always thought they were pretty skeevy.”

“Hm,” Rainbow Dash nodded and stopped packing things up, instead walking over to the two stallions. “Yo, what’s up?” She waved and gave them a friendly smile.

Birdseed’s attention snapped to her, his eyes suspicious and his face a hard-set frown. Coin Flip on the other hoof looked positively delighted to have a mare willingly speak to him. He ran a hoof through his grimy mane and grinned at her through his own rotted teeth. But his eyes carried a devilish look to them that almost made Rainbow shudder.

“Well hello there,” Coin Flip said.

“Uh, hey...” Rainbow’s grin faltered.

“Birdseed and I were just finishing up with out tent and supplies. What’s on your mind?” The unicorn asked her.

Meanwhile the earth pony just stared at her silently.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I was just kind of curious, how do you two know The Red Hornet? What made you join up with her for this mission to stop Shining Diamond?”

Before Coin Flip could answer, Birdseed cut him off. “We’ve worked with Miss Valentine before.”

“Doing what?”

“Business.”

“Where?”

“Here and there.”

Rainbow Dash stared at him and he stared right back at her. Coin Flip meanwhile didn’t exactly seem to get what was going on.

“If you’re interested in some of our business let me tell you about the first time we met Valentine,” the unicorn grinned. “It was-”

Birdseed swiftly punched him in the shoulder to silence him. “Shut up. Can’t you see she’s not the type of pony who would enjoy hearing that story? Use your head, she’s just trying to size the two of us up.”

Now Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay, seriously, what’s the real deal with you two?”

Birdseed scowled. “It’s not really any of your business. We’re here because Valentine asked us to help her and that’s all that matters.”

Realization dawned on Rainbow Dash. “You’re only working with her right now because she’s paying you, isn’t she?”

“That’s right,” Birdseed replied. “Valentine isn’t happy about the arrangement either for your information, but she needed help and we were the only two she could find on short notice. Then we met the other pegasus later.”

“The two of you...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she looked at Birdseed and Coin Flip. “You’re the type of ponies that would gladly be working for Shining Diamond if he came to you with an offer first. Aren’t you?”

“If the offer was good enough,” Birdseed shrugged. “So long as something pays well I’ll do it. That’s why you shouldn’t worry about Coin Flip and I either. It’s bad business to break a deal and Valentine is lining our pockets well. There’s no reason for us to mess things up here. So you can just let us be, stop prying, and we’ll do the same. We don’t need to be friends to accomplish our goals together.”

“It normally helps,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But fine, I know I’m not exactly in Equestria right now. Twilight can be the one who tries to make friends with the jerks. But are you really not bothered by what Shining Diamond is planning to do here?”

“Ask me how little I care,” Birdseed said and went back to packing up the tent. The conversation was over.

“Well aren’t you nice,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter to me one bit either,” Coin Flip said and also started finishing up his work, an unfriendly frown had replaced his grin as he became aware of Rainbow’s reason for talking to them. “So long as I get paid.”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash said and turned around to go back and help Daring Do. “Sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun traveling with the two of you.”

It didn’t take much longer for Rainbow Dash and Daring Do to finish packing up their tent and supplies. Instead of either of them carrying it though, Daring Do said Coin Flip and Birdseed had been the ones made to carry most everything while they traveled. Part of The Hornet’s way of making them earn their keep. Well Rainbow Dash was fine with that. And shortly after that, The Red Hornet came back with some extra food and water.

She dumped it in front of Rainbow Dash. “You can carry your own.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Was already planning to. So where is Two Hump Oasis anyways? How far are we traveling?”

“It’s southwest of here and we’ll be out walking through the desert for several days at least. There are some wells and other stops I know about along the way. It wont be a problem,” The Red Hornet gruffly replied.

“Two Hump Oasis is closer to the middle area of the desert,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash hauled the bag of water and pack of food onto her back. “Let’s get going then, I’m looking forward to an adventure. And that doesn’t include the walking part.” She then stopped and looked at the scarlet mare for a moment. “Oh, right, I wanted to ask you something. So is Valentine your name and The Red Hornet is just a title or nickname?”

“To my friends I’m Miss Valentine, but to my enemies I’m The Red Hornet,” the other mare replied, narrowing her eyes behind her sunglasses.

“Okay, got it Hornet, let’s get out there,” Rainbow smirked and flew ahead of her.

“Ugh,” Daring Do sighed and facehooved.

The party of five left One Hump Oasis behind as they set out in a vague southwest direction for their new destination. It was already fairly late in the day, not past dusk yet but getting close, so they probably weren’t getting too far before they would have to set up camp. As Rainbow Dash looked out into the desert it was already nothing more than an empty ocean of sand and dunes. Civilization was barely behind them and it was like they had entered another world.

The Red Hornet took point, Rainbow Dash flying low behind her, Daring Do walking under and a bit to the side of Rainbow, and Birdseed and Coin Flip pulled up the rear.

Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to expect from this group, or from Shining Diamond who they were trying to stop, but she was excited nonetheless.

A Treasure Map of Course

In a small, grungy, town built around an oasis, there was a very popular bar called “The Watering Hole” that was frequented by all sorts. Ruffians, thugs, riff-raff, and even the occasional honest traveler came to this bar to get a drink. Right now was no different as it was filled with quite a few camels, ponies, antelopes, and griffons. When it came to a place like this, there was no “camels only” or “no camels” sort of place. Criminals were criminals.

Even then, there were some individuals who made the rest of the creatures at Two Hump Oasis uncomfortable.

One of which was currently seated at the bar of The Watering Hole, a mug of beer tightly gripped in her hooves as she stared at the bar in front of her and mumbled to herself. Everyone else in the bar gave her a wide berth, no one else was even sitting at the bar, only at the tables also in the building. It was difficult to see what was so scary about her to the other patrons. She looked like a fairly normal unicorn, aside from a horn that was a fair bit longer than average and a Cutie Mark that was a big explosion. Her reed thin yellow body even made her look kind of weak.

And still the usually loud and rowdy bar was quiet and no one else dared to talk.

The mare’s long, curly, fiery orange and red mane and tail were limp and unkempt, as if she hadn’t bathed or combed in weeks. Her teeth ground back and forth as she continued to mutter while the bartender was far too afraid to get near the taps to refill anyone’s drink.

“It’s been a while… is she coming… was he wrong… what if she doesn’t come here? I-Is that my fault? H-He can’t blame me if she never shows up… can he?” Supernova nervously babbled to herself. “C-Can’t fail, can’t screw up… please, please just let her show up soon so this can be over...”

Her hooves were shaking and her eyes were red as she lifted up the mug and took a deep drink.

Rainbow Dash woke up in the cramped tent after an uncomfortable night of trying to sleep in a tent really only made for two ponies to share at most. The first day of traveling with her new group of one friend and three other ponies had been fairly uneventful. After all, they really were just going through an almost entirely empty desert. There was nothing around for most of it but sand. One Hump Oasis had disappeared behind them entirely before they decided to make camp at night.

For the first time, Rainbow Dash had felt cold again in the desert. In a spot like this the temperature dropped drastically. Even inside their “cozy” tent she still felt cold. It was nothing like some of the snowy places she had been to but it annoyed her that things only switched from one extreme to the other.

The place they had decided to stop last night in the first place was one of the “secret” spots that Miss Valentine knew about. A small well, that drew up water from the ground, hidden in a shelf of rocks in the middle of the dunes. One of the few places Rainbow had seen in the desert that wasn’t just sand. Rocks weren’t much different but it was still something else to see so oh well. Apparently this was a place lone travelers, smugglers, and others who wanted to avoid major stops used.

When Rainbow Dash woke up she noticed it was still early in the day—before dawn even. The lack of light coming through the thin material of the tent told her so. Her body nudged up against the pony next to her and Rainbow Dash looked over to see a still sleeping Daring Do. The Red Hornet though was totally absent, her blanket empty. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow but shrugged, not tired enough to go back to sleep she got up and exited the tent without waking Daring Do.

With how dry it was out here she was pretty thirsty so she decided to head over to the well and fish out some water.

Rainbow Dash yawned as she closed the tent flap and looked over at the stallion’s tent. She couldn’t tell if they were awake or asleep and frankly she didn’t really care. She didn’t see The Hornet anywhere around so maybe she was getting some water too? That would be an uncomfortable early morning meeting. Rainbow hoped she wasn’t.

She walked through the rocks that obscured their tents from any travelers going by on her way to the well. Her eyes were still pretty heavy, and a yawn came out of her mouth every few steps. A little water sprayed in her face would probably help her too.

Passing another rock she came into the sandy clearing that the well sat in the middle of.

A scarlet mare was there by the well, using the bucket to pour water on her head and wash up. The Red Hornet wasn’t wearing her usual black clothes or sunglasses, they were in a pile by the well, and Rainbow could now see the tornado Cutie Mark on her flank as well as-

Rainbow Dash gasped, unintentionally notifying the other mare of her presence. Shocked blue eyes looked over at her as The Red Hornet froze and her wings shot open.

Her wings. Tiny, deformed, scarlet red stubs sitting on the sides of her body. Normally covered by the black vest she wore, no one would’ve been able to tell she was actually a pegasus and not an earth pony while wearing it, the wings weren’t noticeable at all under the vest. They had feathers, the same general shape and structure of a normal pegasi’s wings, but they would be useless for flight.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash was lost for words. She had thought The Hornet was an earth pony. And she certainly didn’t expect her to have wings like that. They were just like...

An angry, hateful, look twisted up The Red Hornet’s visage. She swiftly put on her clothes and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

“Look, I-” Rainbow tried to say right up until a hoof struck her in the face. She was knocked to the ground and winced, looking up at the other mare and holding her hooves up to try and get her to calm down. “Hold on, I don’t-”

“Shut up!” The Red Hornet said as she punched Rainbow in the face again. “You didn’t see anything!”

“It’s not a big deal, I didn’t say anything! It’s alright if your wings are-”

“Shut up!” She punched Rainbow again.

Rainbow grabbed her hoof before The Red Hornet could hit her again and stared up at the other mare. “There’s nothing... nothing to be ashamed of.”

The Red Hornet furiously glared at her but pulled her hooves away and stopped tying to punch Rainbow. “I’m not ashamed of them...”

Rainbow stood up and took a moment to catch her breath. “That was definitely a surprise. And sorry, it was an accident.”

“I don’t let others know usually,” The Red Hornet said, a frown still on her face as she walked past Rainbow. “Your reaction was different than most ponies. But I’d still prefer if you just ignored all of this.”

“But—look, there’s no reason for that. I wanted to tell you that it’s okay. Seriously. I know another pony with wings like yours, she lives back where I come from. She’s like a little sister to me, and yeah, not gonna lie that her wings being like that have gotten her down before, but she doesn’t let that stop her from being awesome,” Rainbow smiled and walked after her.

“Hah!” The Red Hornet snorted and shook her head. “So there’s another freak out there? Whatever.”

Rainbow Dash paused in mid-step. “What did you just say?”

The Red Hornet scowled and looked over her shoulder, ready to talk back to Rainbow Dash.

She never got the chance as a blue hoof collided with her face. The Red Hornet was thrown to the sandy ground and before she could get up, Rainbow Dash jumped on top of her and pushed her shoulders down to pin her to the ground. The blue pegasus had a furious look in her eyes that actually gave The Hornet pause.

“Don’t you ever, ever, say something like that in front of me again!” Rainbow yelled at her. “I don’t care if you make fun of yourself, I don’t care if you feel bad, or angry, or proud, or special. But don’t you ever say that again about my friend! Do you hear me? If you call Scootaloo a freak or anything like that one more time I’ll beat you so bad your ancestors will feel it!”

The Red Hornet tried pushing Rainbow off her but was only slammed back down.

“I said; do you hear me?!” Rainbow repeated.

“I... I hear you,” The Red Hornet finally answered.

“Alright,” Rainbow said and got off of her, helping the other pony back up to her hooves. “Now that we’ve had a friendly chat and gotten to know each other a little better, let’s try and get along.” Rainbow’s face was still cool and stony despite her words. “Sound good?”

Miss Valentine adjusted her sunglasses and stiffly nodded. “Sounds good.”

“And what happened to the two of you?” Daring Do asked as they returned to the small camp a short while later. Bruises were readily visible on both their faces.

“Nothing, we just had a talk. Right, honey?” Miss Valentine said.

“That’s right,” Rainbow said through gritted teeth.

Daring Do rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just get a move on early, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today. And tomorrow. And probably the next day too.”

“Agreed, I’d like to get through this desert as fast as possible too,” Valentine said.

“Same here. We’re the ones carrying most of the stuff after all,” Birdseed grumbled.

Valentine smugly grinned at him. “You’re stallions aren’t you? Act like it.”

“Well that aint really too fair...” Coin Flip also complained but in the end the two of them still carried most of the supplies on their backs and the party went on the move again.

By the time they started traveling to Two Hump Oasis again, the sun was out and it was already quite a hot morning. Rainbow Dash took a big drink of water and ate a bit of dried seeds for energy. She was gonna need it today for all the walking and flying over the hot sands they’d be doing. Ahead of her, Miss Valentine was radiating an aura of “Don’t talk to me”, and behind her the two stallions were just ponies Rainbow really didn’t want to talk to. So that really only left her with one pony to converse with, and it was someone she had a question to ask anyways.

“Hey, Daring Do?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flew down to walk side by side with the other pegasus. “I’ve got something to ask.”

“What is it?” Daring Do raised an eyebrow.

“Well I was wondering why you were here in the desert in the first place? You only met up with Valentine later on, right? So what brought you here?” Rainbow asked.

"I came looking for something that Shining Diamond is also looking for. Though it isn’t as big of a priority for him as the Crystal Sea, it’s still something dangerous that we need to keep out of his hooves,” Daring Do said.

Now Rainbow Dash was pretty curious. “So what’s the thing?”

Daring Do gathered her thoughts for a moment and rubbed her chin. “Do you remember back when we were talking with Cart about the Crystal Sea? How he said the camels lost its location ages ago?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well that didn’t just happen for any random reason. At the time the camels lost the location of the Crystal Sea, they were at war with a horrible despot called Cinnabaron,” Daring Do said.

“Cinnabun?”

“Cinnabaron,” Daring Do corrected. “She was a pony who challenged the camels in this desert a long time ago. The war she waged against them lasted for years, it was a chaotic mess and it was during that that the camels lost the Crystal Sea. However, they still won the war against her and drove her out of the desert. Legend goes that she traveled elsewhere and created a new temple and kingdom for herself. What I’m searching for to keep out of Shining Diamond’s hooves is a map leading to her lost temple.”

“What’s the big deal if it’s just a map going to her temple?” Rainbow tilted her head.

“Because Cinnabaron had a certain treasure that she took with her to that temple. Something very dangerous,” Daring Do narrowed her eyes. “Cinnabaron was a deranged monster, and she created a magical amulet that caused anyone around her to grow sick and eventually die if she wore it. Something like that needs to be kept out of the wrong hooves. Actually I plan to give the amulet to Twilight Sparkle when I get back to Equestria, she’s one of the few ponies I know who could keep something like that safe.”

“True enough,” Rainbow nodded.

“But stopping Shining Diamond from finding the Crystal Sea is far more pressing at the moment. I’m not sure who in this desert might have the map but I hope I can still find it while we’re on our journey,” Daring Do said.

“The war against Cinnabaron caused a lot of lasting problems for this desert too,” Miss Valentine suddenly said from ahead of them, after apparently listening to their conversation the whole time.

“Like what?” Rainbow asked.

“Well for one it’s partially why camels are such jerks to every other group of creatures here. Not to say they weren’t always, but it got worse after they defeated Cinnabaron. Because of that they got this sort of attitude in them about how everyone else should be so grateful to them for getting rid of a monster that they should put up with everything camel’s do. Hay, they should be happy and accepting of camels putting themselves above everyone else. Apparently the camels didn’t get it through their thick skulls that just because Cinnabaron was worse than them, it doesn’t make them good.” Valentine shook her head. “Stupid camels.”

“They used their victory as an excuse to do bad things themselves,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “This desert is all messed up...”

“Unfortunately, fixing it is out of my capabilities. There are way too mane deep-seeded issues. Too much history,” Daring Do said.

“Not to mention the fact that we really need to deal with Shining Diamond first before we’d even think of being a pair of goody two shoes and fixing the rest of this desert just like that,” Valentine said.

“Things could be a lot worse here at least. Nowhere’s perfect,” Daring Do shrugged.

Rainbow Dash knew the truth of that statement. Despite the problems here in this desert it was hardly as bad as a few other places she had been on her journey so far. She wouldn’t know where to begin when it came to dealing with this sort of problem so stopping Shining Diamond sounded like a way better adventure. And if something else happened after or along the way, then that was just a bonus.

“Well isn’t that what we’re doing now?” Miss Valentine grinned over her shoulder at the two other mares. “Stopping things from getting worse?”

Rainbow Dash had to smile in agreement. “Yep, that’s right.”

Two Hump Oasis

Traveling through the desert was boring. Sand, sandy sand sand and heat that was intense enough at times to fry an egg. Combined with nights where she still found herself accidentally kicking or being kicked by the other occupants of the tent. All the days just melted together into nothing and Rainbow Dash had pretty much run out of stories to tell to pass the time. Didn’t help that most of her audience was pretty unappreciative or outright disbelieving of what she had to say.

“You’re making that up,” Miss Valentine said.

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her.

“You did not meet a gigantic pegasus inside the middle of a hurricane above land. That’s insane.”

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Sure you are.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

“I don’t know what any of that is supposed to mean...” Valentine shook her head.

“Whatever, I’m still telling the truth!”

“The rest of your stories were pretty unbelievable too. How does one pony get up to so many extraordinary things?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked at Daring Do. “Can’t you back me up on this? You know about all the crazy stuff I’ve done even before I started this adventure.”

Daring Do chuckled briefly. “I have to admit that I’m inclined to believe Rainbow Dash. She boasts and exaggerates but I don’t think she’d outright lie about any of these adventures she’s had.”

“See?” Rainbow victoriously folded her legs over her chest and grinned.

“Fine, fine, I’ll drop it honey,” Valentine said, obviously still not fully believing it.

“Can we just go back to being quiet? I much prefer silence to these inane conversations,” Birdseed said.

“Actually no,” Miss Valentine said. “Since we’ll be coming up to Two Hump Oasis soon, I wanted to go over some things so we’re all prepared. That place isn’t safe the same way One Hump Oasis or most settlements are so I want to be sure you all know how to act and what to do. First off; nobody goes anywhere alone. We all stick together. I don’t need any of us getting pick-pocketed or mugged or worse. Got it?”

“I don’t think you need to worry that much, not with me at least,” Rainbow said.

Valentine narrowed her eyes. “Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it. Geez...”

“So secondly, it’s not just camels you can’t trust here, it’s dang near everyone. So let me do the talking and let me lead us around while we’re here. We’re looking for one camel in particular by the name of Harzeen. His name is unfortunately all we know and not everyone at Two Hump Oasis is going to want to talk and answer questions. Fortunately I do know a bar where a number of people like to hang out at, and I’m... friendly with the bartender there. So we might be able to find something,” Valentine grinned.

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “If you want to do the talking part that’s fine with me. I’ll just handle the action.”

“Hopefully there won’t actually be much action,” Daring Do said.

“Yeah. Hopefully,” Rainbow Dash monotoned.

“It’ll only take us another day to get there I’d say,” Valentine said. “So whatever happens let’s handle it intelligently.”

“Do you think it’ll actually be tough finding this camel?” Daring Do asked.

Valentine shrugged. “Not particularly. Two Hump Oasis is a seedy place but it’s not very big. I doubt it’ll take more than a day to find someone willing to point us in the right direction. Might take a bit of money though.”

“We can just take it back from Harzeen then afterwards,” Coin Flip grinned.

Valentine chuckled. “That might be one of the few things you’ve said that I agree with.”

Rainbow Dash only rolled her eyes.

It was noon on a hot (big surprise) day when the outskirts of Two Hump Oasis appeared on the horizon. It didn’t have the uniformity that One Hump Oasis did, there were patches of nothing in one place, and shacks and shanties of wood built up along another area. Even at this distance Rainbow Dash could tell it was a hole. There were naturally a lot of tents too, just like One Hump Oasis, but she didn’t see as many trees or really a green area at all here. The oasis must be smaller or something. Which made sense she figured. If there was a bigger oasis, a better reason for creatures to come here, the camels would’ve probably made it an actual city of theirs or something. Those “Murkers” would’ve come to clear the criminals out.

“So are we going to carry all this stuff through town or should Coin Flip and I set up somewhere on the outskirts?” Birdseed asked.

“Sorry pal but you’re going to have to keep carrying it,” Valentine said. “I meant it when I said we’re all sticking together.”

Birdseed sighed. “Fine then. What’s another day of being a mule?”

The group of five made it to the edge of Two Hump Oasis in barely another hour. As they approached, Rainbow could see a lot of suspicious folk eyeing them on their way into town. Miss Valentine ignored them and kept looking straight ahead, not showing any sort of fear or worry. She knew exactly where it was they needed to go and she wasn’t going to let any random thugs get in her way. Rainbow could appreciate that.

There wasn’t a marketplace or bazaar by the looks of it here either. Most of the creatures clearly kept to themselves. She did see some buildings and tents selling stuff but they were always on their own and she often saw creatures around those places that were obviously bodyguards. She did see some buildings that looked like inns and other legitimate establishments, but really she couldn’t be sure.

“It’s been a little while since I was last here but I don’t think The Watering Hole is too much further away,” Miss Valentine said.

“The Watering Hole?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“It’s the name of the bar I mentioned earlier. The four of you just watch my back when we get in there,” Valentine said.

“Sure,” Rainbow said and continued looking around at the squalor.

A group of three camels glared back at her when their eyes met but as soon as they noticed the scarlet mare Rainbow was with they broke contact and kept to themselves. Obviously Valentine was known here by quite a few as well. When it came to that, Rainbow was kind of torn. She didn’t like the idea that the only reason they weren’t being bothered or accosted by any thugs was because Valentine was here. Rainbow could easily handle anybody trying to cause trouble. She didn’t need someone else.

“This place is just sad,” Daring Do said.

“Reminds me of home,” Valentine said.

“Well that’s sad too,” Daring Do frowned at her.

Valentine only chuckled. “Relax. It’s not a big deal, I just grew up and have had to live around places like this my whole life. And I still turned out fine, didn’t I, honey?”

“Sure,” Daring Do rolled her eyes.

“I’ve seen worse places than this but it’s certainly still one of the more threatening of places I’ve been to. Every creature here is sizing us up and seeing if they can steal from us or worse. I can see them out of the corners of my eyes everywhere we go,” Birdseed said.

“Bunch of losers if you ask me. If they want to rob us they should have the guts to do more than glare,” Coin Flip said.

“And let the rest see how bad of an idea that is,” Birdseed glared at some shadowy figures watching them from behind a building.

“I’m not scared of anyone that might try and attack us but it’s better to not cause any trouble while we’re here. We don’t need to go making any noise. It could alert Harzeen or even Shining Diamond. We don’t know how many ponies he has working for him or where they might be and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some here in Two Hump Oasis,” Daring Do said.

Birdseed shrugged. “So be it. But making an example of some of the scum here might be useful too.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “No way. I know this place is supposed to be nothing but criminals, but there’s no way I’m going to let you rough up someone who hasn’t even done anything. If they attack us first then maybe—but there’s never a reason to beat someone up more than they deserve or more than what you need to. I’m not that kind of pony and while I’m around I’m not going to let any of you do something wrong like that either. Got it?”

“Goody two-wings,” Birdseed snorted.

“Deal with it,” Rainbow glared.

“Stop arguing. You’re just drawing attention to us, we don’t need to look like we aren’t getting along,” Valentine said from the front. She then looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at Birdseed. “And we’re not doing anything unnecessary.”

“As if you have a problem with-” Birdseed started but then stopped himself, just frowning instead. “Fine, it doesn’t matter.”

The group walked through the destitute oasis for a little while longer, the sun beating down overhead and the breeze only blowing sand and dust everywhere. Eventually, Valentine saw a large tent and pointed the group towards it. Rainbow looked and saw a tent close to two-stories high and about a hundred feet across, there was a big opening in the middle of it for creatures to walk through and a leaning wooden signboard overheard with a hastily painted title on it that read “The Watering Hole” in ugly black letters. A couple of ponies and antelopes sat outside it, mingling around, while inside it seemed like things were pretty full up.

“That’s it. Time to pay an old friend a visit,” Valentine grinned.

“And by friend you mean?” Daring Do asked.

“...Someone who may try and run away when he sees me.”

“Well he won’t outrun me so let him try,” Rainbow said and smacked her hooves together.

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Valentine said as she led the five of them inside the tent bar.

As Rainbow had suspected, it was full of all manner of creatures inside, even camels. Numerous tables were set up along the floor—well, floor was the wrong word, it was just sand and dirt on the ground—and all of them were occupied by at least one creature. It was dusty and dingy inside too, not the kind of place Rainbow would normally ever go to get a drink and she doubted the quality of what they had was very good. Most eyes of the patrons turned to them as soon as they entered but Miss Valentine again ignored it all and made a beeline to the bar. The bar was actually a big square of wood with some taps and a few vats of who knows what in the middle of it that fed them. Along with shelves of glasses and mugs and bottles of what was probably more expensive stuff. There were a few patrons at the bar, mostly ponies, and a grizzled old earth pony bartender standing behind it close to the taps, ready to refill the mug of anyone who wanted it.

Once Miss Valentine had gotten a little closer the bartender looked up at her for the first time and his eyes immediately widened.

“H-Hornet,” he gulped. “Look, I-I really don’t-”

“Oh be quiet,” Valentine cut him off. “I’m not here because of you, I’ve got something bigger going on. But I thought you might be able to help me out and then maybe you’ll never have to see me again. That sounds good, doesn’t it, honey?”

The bartender did his best not to sweat as he took a quick glance at the other ponies with Valentine before he nodded at her. “S-Sure thing.” He then narrowed his eyes and growled at the patrons at the bar. “Scram.”

The bar was quickly evacuated and the party of five took up a few seats at the front, aside from Rainbow Dash who decided to hover around. Once Miss Valentine sat down she threw a mocking smile at the bartender.

“Seems like business has at least been good for you, Barley Breath.”

“It’s been… decent,” Barley said, evidently still uncomfortable with The Red Hornet right in front of him but relieved that she apparently wasn’t interested in him. “What did you come here for that I could help you out with?”

“There’s a camel living here in Two Hump Oasis. Goes by the name of Harzeen. Considering how popular of a place this is I was thinking that maybe you’ve heard of him? Maybe you even know where he lives?” Valentine asked.

Barley Breath knitted his brow together as he mulled over her question. “The name aint familiar to me.”

Miss Valentine’s smile dropped. “Don’t tell me that’s all you have to say?”

He gulped, immediately taking on a supplicating look. “W-Wait, I still know someone who might be able to help. I-If it’s a camel you’re looking for, then go ask Shireva, the fortune-teller. She’s a camel that knows every single camel living and doing business here, they come to her for business advice, marriage advice, everything. Really superstitious bunch, camels. And so long as you pay her she’ll tell you anything.”

“We can’t trust a camel to give us information,” Birdseed said.

“This one you can,” Barley Breath said. “She doesn’t care who she’s dealing with, you give her money and she’ll tell you the truth. It’s part of the reason she was driven to come here by the Brotherhood. She did some business they really didn’t like.”

“Surprised nobody here has done anything about her if she’s spurned plenty of others before,” Valentine raised an eyebrow.

“Camels won’t touch her. They think she’s got some kind of dark magic and they’ll be cursed. The rest of the creatures here are fine with her staying around since she’s the only one who can give them reliable information on what the local camels are doing,” Barley Breath shrugged.

“This doesn’t sound like the kind of creature I’d normally want to get involved with...” Daring Do said.

“All we’re doing is asking her where this other guy lives though, right? We don’t want our fortunes told or anything crazy,” Rainbow said. “We’re practically using her as a tour guide, it’s not a big deal.”

“Alright—so where can this fortune-teller be found?” Valentine asked Barley.

“Middle of the oasis, right by the water. She’s got this black tent all to herself, no other tents around, you really can’t miss it.” Barley answered.

“And she’ll take coin as payment? Not just crystals?” Valentine asked.

“She will,” Barley nodded.

“Then thanks. If this pans out you can consider us nice and square,” Valentine winked at him and hopped off her seat at the bar. “Let’s go everyone.”

Barley watched them leave The Watering Hole and sighed in relief once the last one was gone. Shaking his head he went to pour himself a drink from the taps. “Two psycho-mares in the same week, I gotta move.”

As the five ponies left The Watering Hole to go search for Shireva the fortune-teller, they were discreetly watched by two robe wearing ponies. The ponies shared a glance with each other under their hoods before ducking behind another tent to stay out of sight.

“Well? That was them wasn’t it?” One asked, a stallion.

“Definitely,” the other, a mare, nodded. “The Red Hornet, and that pony called Daring Do that she met up with. I don’t recognize the other three though.”

“Doesn’t matter. Should we go back and tell Shining Diamond? Or break the locator crystal and bring him here?” The stallion asked.

The mare shook her head. “Not yet, they obviously know something we don’t. I say we watch them for a while longer. Something tells me they’re closer to finding the Crystal Sea than we are on our own.”

“Let them find it for Shining Diamond?”

The mare smirked under her hood. “Exactly.”

Encounter

Five ponies approached a black tent in the middle of Two Hump Oasis. It was rather ominous, built in the grass, practically right at the water’s edge, with absolutely nothing else around it. Rainbow could see what would make others suspicious about it. Or maybe camels were just weird when it came to stuff like this. The tent had a veil over the front entrance leading into it and Daring Do shot a glance at Miss Valentine before they entered.

The scarlet mare just shrugged and walked on in. “Aint nothing to worry about, honey. Just some fortune-teller.”

Rainbow Dash and the others followed her in, moving through the veil that obscured the insides from them. Instantly they had to keep from coughing as smoke drifted from deeper in the tent, it smelled funny and Rainbow Dash’s nose curled.

“Incense,” Daring Do said as she saw Rainbow’s reaction.

“Huh?”

“It’s something you burn for meditation, relaxation, spiritual reasons, anything.” Daring Do answered.

“Oh,” Rainbow blinked.

“Ponies, is it?” A deep and gravelly voice said from deeper in the tent, in the shadows that the incense smoke wafted out from. The voice was female but ancient sounding. “What brings you to my tent?”

The group tensed up and went on guard at the sound of the disembodied voice, with Miss Valentine stepping forward and staring into the darkness.

“You’re the fortune-teller, why don’t you tell me?”

“You’re looking for someone.”

Valentine frowned. “Lucky guess.”

“Of course. I can tell by the way you carry yourselves you are not here for my typical services. It is mere information you seek. Disappointing.”

“Tch,” Miss Valentine clicked her tongue. “Look, let’s just cut to the chase already. There’s a camel who lives in Two Hump Oasis by the name of Harzeen. Where does he live?”

“A request for such information will take payment.”

Valentine rolled her eyes and reached into a vest pouch, pulling out a surprisingly large bag of clinking coins. “How much?”

“All.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Valentine roared. “You think just telling us where some camel lives is worth all this?”

“It is to you. All. Or nothing. No other camel will aid you like I will.”

Valentine looked like she was about to blow a gasket but Daring Do came up and put a calming hoof on her shoulder. “It’s alright, money can be made up later, right now we need to find Harzeen as quickly as possible.”

“Violence could just as easily be the answer,” Birdseed said.

“No,” Daring Do and Rainbow Dash both said to him.

“Fine. Fine.” Valentine got out through gritted teeth and tossed the bag of coins towards the shadows. “Here, take it all, you greedy camel.”

The bag landed on the sand at the edge of the shadows and a low, amused, chuckle emerged from the unseen fortune-teller. “You won’t regret it, I assure you. The one you are seeking lives to the west of my tent, in a part of the oasis populated by camels. His home looks normal at a glance but it has a large hidden basement where he keeps his most important items. Walk now to the west, through the buildings, and the vulture will show you the way. Harzeen opens his door for no one, I would suggest breaking it down.” She laughed at the thought.

“Not the best directions,” Valentine grumbled.

“As long as you leave now you will find where you need to go.”

“Leave now? Sounds great to me,” Valentine said and turned around, ushering the rest out. Rainbow didn’t know what to make of this weird fortune-teller.

“However—if I could have a moment alone to speak with the rainbow one?”

Everyone else turned to look at the surprised and confused Rainbow Dash. Valentine frowned and looked back at the shadows. “About what?”

“Alone.”

Daring Do raised a questioning eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow shrugged. “I mean, alright. You guys go on ahead and I’ll meet back up with you real quick.”

“Whatever you say,” Daring Do said and nodded to Valentine to make sure she came alone. “Just… be careful.”

“Am I ever not?” Rainbow grinned, eliciting a smile and a shake of the head from Daring Do. Birdseed and Coin Flip exited the tent shortly after while Valentine grumbled and shot dirty looks at the shadows the whole time on her way out. Once they had passed the veil, Rainbow Dash frowned and looked back at the cloaked fortune-teller. “Okay, what’s up with you? What do you want to talk with me about?”

“You are peculiar. Interesting. I have never met a pony with such a blinding fate swirling around them.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I already know I’m awesome. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“When you came in here, your fortune opened up to me. Your past. Your present. And your future. Danger is all around you.”

Rainbow kept staring into the darkness but she was taking it a little bit more seriously now. “Go on. I’m used to danger, you still haven’t said anything special.”

Slowly out of the shadows, a graying, decrepit leg with thin wisps of hair falling from it and twisted toes at the end, came to point at Rainbow Dash. “Your past. A cold monster chases after you. Your present. A devilish specter watches your every move. Your future. Darkness. Beware, pony, this day could very well be your last.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and fought back a gulp. The fortune-teller spoke with such… certainty. “Thanks for the advice.” Rainbow said and turned to leave the tent.

Shireva the fortune-teller watched as Rainbow Dash passed through the veil and exited her domain. “The journey you are on… does it end in darkness or will you break through it? Even I could not see.”

“So what was that about?” Daring Do asked as soon as Rainbow Dash flew back to join them.

“Nothing really, just a creepy fortune-teller being creepy,” Rainbow said.

“You sure? You actually look sort of pale.”

“She… may have mentioned a certain pony I’m trying to forget about. Someone I didn’t tell you all about when I was telling my stories.”

Daring Do looked on at her in concern. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No. Let’s just focus on what we’re doing now. We’ve got a megalomaniac to stop.”

“Ugh,” Valentine suddenly let out a frustrated grunt from the front as the group entered a part of the oasis where camels mostly lived. Supposedly where Harzeen would be. “Knew it was dumb to trust another greedy camel. The vulture will lead the way? How are we supposed to find anything here?”

Rainbow Dash looked around and had to agree she had a point. This place was a sea of shanties and hovels that looked practically indistinguishable from one another. A lot of camels were out and looking at them weirdly. Suspicious, probably. Maybe even afraid if they recognized Miss Valentine. Rainbow had to imagine if their group was any smaller—especially if it was just the three mares—that they’d be finding a lot more trouble.

Valentine looked from building to building. “Vulture, vulture… alright I’m debating going back to that fortune-teller and getting a little rough.”

“Don’t give up so easily,” Daring Do said to her.

“Do you see any vultures out?” Valentine asked.

Right as she asked that, a vulture flew down from overhead and landed on the roof of a building, right above the door. The group blinked at it.

Coin Flip lifted up a hoof and pointed. “I see one now.”

“Yes, thank you,” Valentine growled at him.

“So if that’s Harzeen’s place what should we do? Take the fortune-teller’s advice again?” Birdseed asked.

“It could be a good way to take him by surprise,” Daring Do said. “Busting down a door could look a little strange, especially if we have the wrong one, but I doubt any camels here are going to come help him either.”

“Then let’s get on with it!” Rainbow said and swiftly flew forward before anybody else could say anything. Her hooves were outstretched in front of her and one last strong flap of her wings propelled her at high-speed right into the door with enough force to pulverize it. She landed on the floor and quickly looked around, already on alert and ready to take on anyone that might try and attack her after she just busted down their door.

All she saw inside the small hovel was a very surprised camel with a long grey beard sitting at a table cluttered with drawing implements.

“Harzeen?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

He coughed. “Um… no?”

Rainbow grinned. “You have a map we’re looking for.”

Right as she said that the others came in through the destroyed door and Harzeen paled.

“T-The Red Hornet...” He glanced between her and Rainbow Dash. “I-I don’t understand, what do you want with me? I’m just an old collector of trinkets and things...”

“If that was true you wouldn’t be living here,” Valentine said. “And we already know from Zargoz what you’ve really got here. And from Shireva the fortune-teller that this-” she glanced around at the cramped insides of the small home. “Isn’t all there is to your home.”

Harzeen’s face darkened and he grit his teeth in anger. “That scumbag and fortune-teller...”

“Unfortunately you’ve had bad luck with other camels. Now I’m going to cut to the chase here since I really, really, am out of patience today. Where is the original map that Zargoz was trying to copy?” Valentine pulled down her sunglasses and narrowed her deep blue eyes at the camel.

“I-I have no idea what you’re-”

In a flash, Valentine had leaped towards him and kicked him off his chair, the camel falling to the ground. Just as quickly she grabbed his beard and held a knife up to it she had pulled from somewhere and looked him dead in the eye. “I haven’t shaved a camel in a long time, so I might accidentally cut a little too close. Unless you tell me where that map is right now.”

Harzeen’s eyes—for the briefest of moments—glanced at the floor beneath his table. But it was all the time Valentine needed to see it. She grinned and let him go, sliding the knife back into her vest and then turned around to flip over the table. It clattered to the floor and everything on it went spilling around, making even more of a mess. Beneath the table was a small trapdoor built into the floor. The door to the basement.

“Just like the fortune-teller said,” Daring Do said.

“T-That map is one of my most prized possessions, I-I can’t let you-” Harzeen started before Valentine shut him up with a glare.

“Your most prized possession? But you were never willing to go look for more were you? Too afraid of the Brotherhood or Murkers catching you looking for the Crystal Sea?”

Harzeen’s eyes turned downcast. “The map doesn’t show you the full way anyways… the camel I got it from only said that there was something out in the sand that showed the rest of the way. I-I never...”

“Never had the courage. So you were just going to let it collect dust in here, honey,” Valentine mocked.

“What do you know about it?” Harzeen grew angry. “The Crystal Sea is our legacy! It’s-”

“Coin Flip, shut him up,” Valentine said.

A sickly green aura of magic appeared around Harzeen’s head—and then it was smashed face first into the ground with enough force to knock him out.

“Done!” Coin Flip laughed.

Daring Do and Rainbow Dash frowned, the archaeologist approaching Miss Valentine. “That was a little bit excessive, and you also could’ve waited until after he told us where the map is down there.”

Valentine bit her lip and glanced at the door. “Fair enough… let’s get down there then.”

“Great, looking around some dusty old basement full of a bunch of boring history stuff,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“Boring to you, maybe,” Daring Do said as she looked at some of the stuff that had fallen off Harzeen’s table. The “drawing” tools and implements seemed to be mostly used by the camel for map-making and upkeep. “Maps seem to be Harzeen’s specialty, I wonder if maybe he has any information on the map to Cinnabaron’s lost temple? Not enough time to really look around for it or question him though...”

“He certainly won’t be waking up for a while,” Birdseed said. “That kind of thing is about all Coin Flip is good for.”

The unicorn snorted. “Shut it.”

Valentine pulled open the door to the basement and the five of them headed down the steps to see what they’d now be working with. It was dark but enough light came from the door above that they could see a gas lamp sitting on a table at the bottom of the stairs. Valentine switched it on and the rest of the basement was illuminated to them. And the fortune-teller wasn’t lying when she said it was a large basement. Bookcases and bookcases filled up the basement, with it clearly having a floor space easily double that of the home above. A few cluttered desks, tables, and chairs sat around as well. It was practically like someone’s combination of a personal library and storage closet.

Miss Valentine groaned in annoyance. “Ugh… let’s get started.”

“Guess we’ll just have to look everywhere,” Daring Do said as she checked the nearest bookcase.

“He said it was one of his most prized possessions, maybe he has it hidden someplace special?” Birdseed suggested.

“We can check for any hiding spots while we search,” Valentine said, for some reason still wearing her sunglasses.

“Booooring,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around the bookcases, only half-heartedly looking around at them. Papers, books, rolled up maps, binders, and small boxes littered every shelf. She really had no idea where to start. It didn’t help that aside from being a map they had no idea what it looked like or how big it was. She found herself pulling out every errant piece of paper and checking them before dropping them on the floor.

Being an earth pony, Birdseed kept to the bottom shelves and some of the desks and tables while Coin Flip searched with even less effort than Rainbow Dash.

“Considering Zargoz almost copied the map maybe he has a safe or lockbox down here that he put it in...” Miss Valentine said.

“That would just bring us some new problems,” Daring Do sighed.

“If we can just find what system he uses to organize things, or where his newest or oldest stuff is put we could work from there,” Valentine said, mostly speaking to herself at this point cause at least two of the other ponies weren’t paying any attention.

Birdseed had continued his wanderings and made it to a desk at the back of the basement. Unlike most of the others down here, this one wasn’t as messy and it caught his eye because of that. A quick glance at the desktop showed him nothing of value, but there were several closed drawers to inspect. Most of them opened up without a problem, revealing either nothing or crumpled up pieces of paper, but there was one drawer at the top that had a lock on it. Obviously there was no key around but there was a paperclip on the desk. And this was something Birdseed had a lot of experience with.

He straightened the paperclip and fiddled around with the lock, listening carefully for the tell-tale click. His experienced hooves soon proved fortuitous as the lock clicked open and he could pull out the drawer. Inside was a single piece of folded paper that he carefully took out. Unfolding and examining it, his eyes widened.

“Well I’ll be...” He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the others were still just looking around before folding the paper back up and hiding it in his scarf.

No sooner had he finished than-

“Found it! I think I found it!” Daring Do said as she held an open map in her hooves over a table tucked away between two bookcases. “This looks exactly like Zargoz’s copy, the same route at the beginning, the same details, but it goes further!”

The other ponies crowded around her, looking upon a faded map that had a black line leading east across the desert before stopping in a spot kind of at the edge of the middle of the desert. Miss Valentine looked at it to see if she could figure out a location since no other settlements were marked on the map. She was just going by her memory of the desert and what was out there.

“Camelback,” Valentine said. “This spot marked at the end is in the desert just a little north of Camelback. We should go there and then travel up through the desert ourselves to this point. Hopefully we’ll find what we need to make it further. Only problem is, the deserts around Camelback are notorious for sandstorms and being difficult to travel through.”

“Maybe that’s why no one’s been able to find this place just snooping around yet?” Rainbow said.

“Maybe,” Valentine nodded. “Either way we need to get there and get there quickly. Of course we don’t have any money to buy any food or supplies, not to mention the chance at a ride on a sand ship. Ugh!” She kicked the table.

And a false bottom broke off it and hundreds of hidden coins clattered to the floor.

The five ponies stared at the small treasure.

“Uhhh… do you think the fortune-teller saw this?” Rainbow asked.

Valentine sighed. “Who cares? Let’s gather this up and get out of here.”

“We can use this money to get a ride on a sand ship. That’ll be the fastest way to get to Camelback from here,” Miss Valentine said as the group left Harzeen’s home. Nobody bothered to do anything about the door. Quickly they began walking to the east side of Two Hump Oasis and away from this camel-heavy area.

“Uh, what’s a sand ship?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Pretty much just what it sounds like, it’s like a boat that travels over the sand, propelled by unicorn magic and a team of rowers. There should be a few here right now. They used to be used by bandits who would swiftly attack and retreat from caravans, then the bandits realized it would be far more profitable, and safer, to go legitimate and become a transport service for creatures traveling through the desert. If you can’t fly yourself it’s the fastest way to travel, only two days from here to Camelback on one of those ships,” Valentine explained.

“Huh, that’s pretty cool,” Rainbow said.

“Of course though the ones in charge of the ships aren’t exactly the most savory, former bandits and all, so we’ll need to keep quiet as to why we’re going to Camelback and also not let them find out just how much money we have,” Valentine said.

“Then let’s just keep on our wingtips around them,” Daring Do said. “Either way I’m happy that now we’ve really got something to go on.”

Valentine smirked. “We’ll beat Shining Diamond to the Crystal Sea easily. And then take care of him too.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash agreed with a smile.

“E-Excuse me?” A light and somewhat trembling voice interrupted the group. “Is your name Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash and the others looked to see a thin, yellow unicorn mare that had come up behind them. She looked disheveled with wide, bloodshot, eyes and her hooves were trembling in the sand.

“Yeah? I’m Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow answered while behind her Miss Valentine sharply sucked in a breath.

Relief poured over the mare’s face and she smiled while her body steadied. “Thank heavens.”

Her horn then sparked with magical power and an explosion erupted in Rainbow Dash’s face.

The forest just south outside the limits of Pinetree Warren was especially quiet today. Perfect for Honey Sight, it meant there were no distractions as he bird-watched. And he had the perfect specimen he was watching today: a blue jay. A beautiful bird, so vibrant, with such a recognizable head shape. While he was close enough to easily see it with his naked eyes, he still used binoculars to get as much of an up-close look as he could. The bird was resting on a tree branch at the moment while Honey Sight watched it from below.

Beautiful. He thought.

The blue jay suddenly stiffened before flying off the branch altogether and Honey Sight’s jaw dropped in surprise and disappointment. He put down his binoculars and sighed.

“Did something spook it?”

Snap

The sound of a twig being snapped underhoof made him turn to see another pony walking through the forest. Honey Sight had been so focused on the blue jay that he hadn’t even noticed her. He could tell immediately that she wasn’t from Pinetree Warren, he knew everyone from the village and she was definitely a stranger. He wondered why she wasn’t traveling down the road? She was certainly a vibrant pink too and her blue eyes were rather pretty, along with that kind and innocent little smile on her face.

“Miss?” Honey Sight said to her as she got closer to the trees he was standing by. “Where might you be from?”

She didn’t answer. She didn’t even look at him.

Honey Sight rubbed his head. “Um… Miss? What brings you into the forest today?”

She walked right past him without a glance or even any notice that she heard him.

He watched her go, walking further south through the forest. “Okay…?” He shrugged and shortly after returned to bird-watching. The unusual mare would be forgotten by the time he went to bed.

The Explosion Mare

A powerful explosion tore apart the relative quiet of Two Hump Oasis. Ponies, camels, and all sorts of other creatures turned their heads to see a fireball erupting near the middle of the oasis and a great plume of smoke already rising to the sky. Many were confused and frightened over what had just happened. But many more knew exactly who was responsible. Quickly, most creatures started running away from the burning explosion, with only the most foolish staying to watch.

Rainbow Dash lied on the ground with her mouth wide open in shock and black soot covering her face. Wrapped around her midsection were the legs of Miss Valentine, who had only managed to pull her away at the very last millisecond. Around her, Coin Flip, Birdseed, and Daring Do were all picking themselves up and trying to figure out what had just happened.

In front of her, a smoking crater sat right where she had been standing, the sand still on fire with enough heat to make Rainbow sweat.

Cough! Valentine coughed and helped Rainbow Dash up. “W-We need to get out of here...”

“Who—what?” Rainbow Dash muttered, her ears still ringing from the force of the explosion.

“Rainbow! We have to-”

“You’re still alive?” A voice came from past the smoking crater and shortly after the mare responsible for it stepped through it. Right through the heavy smoke, right over the burning flames as if they weren’t there. Her shadow appeared at first before she fully emerged, the tip of her horn crackling with barely contained energy. “I can’t have that. You have to die. I have to kill you.”

She tilted her horn down at Rainbow Dash but before another explosion could erupt, Miss Valentine flung a hoofful of sand at her face. The mare couldn’t close her eyes in time to avoid all of it getting in them and she began trying to rub her eyes to clear them. Her horn sparked and she shot off a random explosion right in front of her for safety that blew sand everywhere but otherwise didn’t hurt anyone. Valentine took the moment to grab Rainbow by the hoof and lead the two of them away.

“Everyone, come with me!” Valentine yelled while everyone gathered their wits.

It was the only rallying cry they needed. The other three soon joined up with the running Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine and they quickly hid behind a small, nearby, building.

“Who the hay was that?!” Birdseed yelled.

“Be quiet!” Daring Do shushed him.

“Her name is Supernova,” Valentine answered as they all caught their breath. “She’s a mercenary, she kills for money.” She raised a scarlet eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “You must have made someone very mad for them to send her after you.”

Rainbow Dash—finally back to her senses—cleaned off her face. “But I haven’t done anything! Nobody in this desert even knows who I am!”

Valentine shrugged. “Someone still wants you dead.”

A sudden explosion blew apart a building just a few feet away from them, sending debris all over.

Coin Flip gulped. “Umm...”

“She doesn’t seem to care about collateral damage either...” Daring Do said.

“Then I can’t just stay here!” Rainbow said and flew up. “I’m taking her out before she can blow up a building that actually has someone inside!”

“Rainbow, don’t!” Valentine tried to stop her but to no avail.

Rainbow Dash flew up over the roof of the building and looked down to find Supernova. The yellow unicorn was standing in an open area, her horn still sparking and crackling with ready to use magic. Once she saw her target pop up into sight, her eyes narrowed and the magic around her horn grew more intense. Rainbow Dash was undaunted. If this mare was after her, and she didn’t care who got in the way, then Rainbow Dash had to stop her. With a powerful flap of her wings she flew directly at the unicorn.

Supernova unleashed her magic the second Rainbow Dash did so, and now that Rainbow Dash was focused and alert, she saw the sparking flames that signaled a new explosion was an instant from erupting right in her face. So as fast as she could she darted to the right, trying to avoid the explosion, confident that she was fast enough to dodge and wind her way through anything this mare could throw at her. The blast came just a split second later, a huge fireball erupting in midair.

It was more powerful and faster than Rainbow Dash had anticipated. Heat and pressure washed over her and the shockwave from the blast sent her careening out of control to the sand below. Rainbow Dash tried to right herself in time but still ended up crashing into the sand.

“Ugh!” She spat some sand out and sat up… just in time to see Supernova powering up her horn and getting ready to blow her to smithereens. Rainbow’s eyes went wide-

A throwing knife came whizzing through the air to Supernova’s right, going right for her head. The unicorn turned her horn and fired a smaller explosion at the knife, completely blowing it up before it reached her.

From the direction the knife was thrown, Miss Valentine stood, staring down Supernova through her sunglasses.

“The Red Hornet?” Supernova raised an eyebrow. “Why are you with this pony?”

“I’d rather ask you why you’re trying to kill her,” Miss Valentine asked back.

“Yeah!” Rainbow said as she stood up fully. “Who the hay asked you to kill me? I don’t even know anyone in this desert!”

Supernova’s pupils shrank down to pinpricks and she stared at Rainbow Dash. There wasn’t any anger there. It was an expression of total fear and abject terror. “I-It doesn’t concern you! Just die! You just have to die!”

Her horn sparked and Rainbow Dash flew to the side right as a column of explosions erupted right where she had just been standing. For dozens of feet behind her the sand was torn apart by fiery explosions and it only ended when the column impacted a building and completely blew it to pieces as well.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she flew from the blasts and zigzagged through the air to try and keep Supernova from getting a lock on her. Fireballs kept erupting everywhere around her, knocking her around and leaving her surrounded by smoke. The fires hardly perished either after the explosion finished—the air continued to burn and smoke for some time after.

At the same time, another throwing knife came right for Supernova’s head. She saw it coming though and hopped out of its way, turning her sparking horn towards the scarlet pony that had thrown it.

“Bad idea...” Valentine winced.

Before Supernova could fire a spell though, a different pegasus smacked into her from behind and tackled her to the ground. Daring Do landed atop the mare and raised a hoof to try and knock her out with a solid punch—but she soon found herself encased in an aura of yellow magic and thrown directly at Valentine. The two mares smacked into each other as Supernova got out and blasted another explosion at them. Right before it erupted, a green barrier of magic went up to shield them.

The hastily made shield was blown up completely by Supernova’s magical explosion but it dampened the blast enough where the ponies behind it were only thrown away and not blown apart.

Birdseed grabbed Valentine while Coin Flip picked up Daring Do and the four stood together behind the smoke, getting a brief reprieve.

“Not getting paid if you die...” Coin Flip grumbled.

“But fighting that mare is still a terrible idea,” Birdseed said.

Valentine glanced up at the sky. “Tell that to Rainbow Dash.”

The others looked up to see their rainbow pegasus friend recklessly flying right at Supernova once again. Supernova saw her coming and unleashed a crackling explosion at her target—putting extra power into it this time. Rainbow Dash was more aware of how her powers worked now and she managed to dodge better, flying to the left well before the explosion actually erupted, but she still hadn’t taken into account that her opponent could change what she was doing too. The massive fireball erupted in the air right behind Rainbow Dash, flames licked at her tail and wings as the force of the blast rattled her brain and sent her colliding into a tent, collapsing the whole thing on top of her.

“Hah!” Supernova grinned and got ready to blow away the tent and Rainbow Dash together.

Right as she was about to fire off her spell, a rope lassoed her tail and yanked her backwards, making her accidentally fire her spell into the air. Looking back she saw Daring Do holding onto the end of the rope and Coin Flip standing by her. From her sides came Birdseed and Miss Valentine, all of them attacking her together so she couldn’t just focus on one at a time. An explosion sent at one of them would give the others enough time to attack.

Of course, Supernova didn’t have to play by their rules.

Her horn sparked as she tilted it down and an explosion erupted on the ground right in front of her. Birdseed and Miss Valentine were completely blown away while Daring Do fell backwards thanks to the rope snapping. A smoking crater was left where Supernova had been standing but as Valentine picked herself up she knew that the mercenary mare was hardly finished. In fact she probably hadn’t hurt herself at all.

Valentine grit her teeth and yelled. “Everyone! Forget this! We have to grab Rainbow Dash and get away from her somehow!”

“Easier said than done!” Birdseed coughed as he walked around the other side of the crater.

“That’s right,” Supernova said as she stepped out of the smoke. Her coat was a little black in spots but otherwise she seemed considerably resistant to her own magic. Her bloodshot eyes flickered to Valentine. “Red Hornet. You can die first.”

An extremely violent series of sparks and crackling magic flared up on Supernova’s horn as she pointed it at Valentine.

“Well this could’ve gone better...” Valentine muttered.

Right as Supernova was going to unleash it, a green sphere of magic appeared around her horn. The crackling magic erupted in the sphere—breaking it easily—and accidentally shot out in every direction. Explosions tore apart the sand and buildings all around them, including another one right in Supernova’s face. Gashes of fire burned in Two Hump Oasis and practically everything nearby had either been leveled or was burning down.

Valentine looked over at Coin Flip and saw the pot-bellied stallion sweating after performing that feat of magic. It still gave them a better opportunity than they would probably ever get. A lot more smoking craters now covered the area they were in and the smoke was starting to get thick on the ground, it would be tougher for Supernova to find them if they could just get away from her for a moment.

“Come on!” Valentine yelled and waved the others over as she ran towards the tent Rainbow Dash had crashed into.

The other three ran after her, Supernova still not emerging from the inferno yet.

“I don’t know if Rainbow Dash is okay,” Daring Do said as she hustled alongside Valentine.

“Whether she is or isn’t doesn’t change anything, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Valentine said.

“We could just ditch her. That exploding psycho only wants her after all,” Birdseed suggested.

“No!” Both other mares snapped at him immediately.

Valentine growled. “Look, we grab her, make our way through Two Hump Oasis as stealthily as possible, and get onto a sand ship and get out of here.”

“If any have stayed around after all these explosions started,” Birdseed rolled his eyes.

“Believe me, it’s not the first time something like this has happened here,” Valentine said. “We’ll be able to get a ship.”

“Even if she’s chasing us and blowing stuff up along the way?” Coin Flip asked.

Valentine bit her lip. “Maybe.”

The four of them reached the tent Rainbow Dash had crashed into and found the pegasus throwing a bunch of debris off herself and shaking her head. Her eyes were spinning around and she didn’t look like she was entirely ready to start flying again.

“Rainbow Dash, are you alright?!” Daring Do asked.

“I am… not upside-down,” Rainbow blinked and stood up, clumsily stumbling to the side a couple of times before steadying herself. “I’m going to say that’s all I need right now.”

Daring Do sighed in relief. “Come on, we need to go before-”

A gigantic explosion came from behind them, followed by another, and another as Supernova blasted everything in the sand around her into nothingness. Huge balls of fire and columns of smoke rose into the sky while burning sand and debris from buildings rained everywhere. Supernova’s prior apathy towards collateral damage paled in comparison to what she was doing now.

“She’s going to blow up the entire oasis like this,” Birdseed said.

Rainbow bit her lip and glared past all the smoke and craters to where the unseen Supernova was. “We’re not leaving. Not before stopping her.”

Meet Up Later

“WHERE ARE YOU?!” Supernova roared as she fired explosions at every tent and building in the vicinity. And sometimes at some random piles of sand. Smoke choked the air and she had to charge over craters and through walls of it just to see, she had no idea where her quarry had gotten off to. It didn’t matter though. She’d obliterate all of Two Hump Oasis if she had to.

She couldn’t fail.

She couldn’t fail.

She couldn’t fail.

“Arrrrghhhhh!” Supernova yelled and blew up another building, sending burning chunks of wood all over. “Show yourself!”

Meanwhile, the party of five were hiding in a small ditch between a few tents. Every now and then they heard and felt another explosion rock the oasis. Rainbow Dash had a very annoyed look on her face… in fact, all of them did. Nobody was happy about the current situation.

“Rainbow Dash, I really understand that you want to help and stop that mare from hurting anybody—I do too—but I’m not sure that’s a smart idea. She’s dangerous, and she’s trying to kill you,” Daring Do said.

“Not the first time I’ve had a pony try and do that to me,” Rainbow said. “Just let me go out there and deal with her right now.”

“You mean let you go out there and get blown out of the sky again?” Valentine raised an eyebrow.

“I can go faster,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the scarlet mare. “I can outrun her explosions and stay ahead of her, now that I’ve seen what she can do.”

“We should really just run and get to a sand ship...” Birdseed said.

“I’m not leaving this place to just get blown up by some crazy mare cause she’s looking for me!” Rainbow yelled at him.

“Why do you even care about these creatures?” Birdseed asked.

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash. The words of Barnaby flashed through her mind again and Rainbow Dash had to shake her head. “B-Because it’s the right thing to do. I know that maybe you don’t get that, but it’s the truth.”

“Oh please,” Birdseed angrily scoffed. “This whole dump of a town is made of nothing but thieves and criminals! The desert might even be better off with what that nutjob is doing.”

“No,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I-I know that most of the creatures here probably aren’t that nice, and they probably wouldn’t do the same for me, but I refuse to believe that. I refuse to be that cynical. And being a good pony means doing something even if you won’t get paid back for it. So what if they’re bad? So what if they wouldn’t stick their necks out for me? They don’t deserve to die because of me either.”

All of them could see the resolve in her eyes and hear it in her voice. This matter was settled one way or the other.

Another explosion went off and all of them covered their heads as sand and dirt fell into the ditch.

Valentine sighed deeply. “So you’re going to fight her?”

Rainbow nodded. “That’s right.”

“Then we’re doing this thing right,” Valentine took a deep breath and looked at Daring Do. “We can’t afford to waste anymore time with Shining Diamond still out there. I want you, Birdseed, and Coin Flip to take our money and go to a sand ship. Get on the way to Camelback as fast as possible. Supernova wont bother chasing you if she’s so fixated on Rainbow Dash. With luck she wont even see the three of you.” She turned to Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Since the two of us are going to be distracting her.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves in front of her. “This is my fight, you don’t need to stay here with me.”

“If you’re so dead set on doing this then at the very least I’m not going to let you do it alone. We’re a group, a team, and Supernova is dangerous. If you’re going to fight her then I’m giving you a hoof to do it, honey,” Valentine said.

Birdseed and Coin Flip shared a look.

“I think I’m fine with that plan,” Birdseed said.

Valentine rolled her eyes. “I bet.”

“I don’t like splitting up like this...” Daring Do said.

“It’ll be alright, the two of us will manage,” Valentine said and smiled at Daring Do. “You just need to get safely to Camelback.”

“And once I clobber this crazy mare we’ll meet back up with you,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Daring Do sighed. “I know. I trust you, I just want the both of you to be careful.”

“We will. It would be too dangerous for all of us to go out there with how wild she’s being and try to fight her, and Rainbow Dash and I are the quickest. We’ll take her out somehow,” Valentine said.

“Usually I do that by punching,” Rainbow winked.

“Yes, this is definitely the time for jokes,” Valentine scowled. Rainbow Dash snorted but Valentine just ignored her. “Either way, the two of us will go out first. Give us a moment to engage her and then you all run for the sand ships.”

Daring Do nodded. “Good luck.”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “Don’t worry, I’m awesome.”

Daring Do grinned and bumped her hoof. “I know.”

“Alright, let’s go,” Valentine said and jumped out of the ditch.

Rainbow saluted to Daring Do (and Birdseed and Coin Flip to a lesser degree) and flew out after her. The ponies left behind waited, taking a few deep breaths—and then a new series of explosions erupted that rocked Two Hump Oasis. That was their cue. The other three ran out the other side of the ditch and sprinted together as fast as they could towards the east end of Two Hump Oasis. All of them were really, really hoping that a sand ship was still there and they hadn’t all fled when the explosions started going off.

Meanwhile, a hooded pony watched Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine start round two with Supernova. And a second hooded pony discreetly followed the other three.

“There you are!” Supernova yelled and blasted at the swiftly flying Rainbow Dash.

But Rainbow Dash was like a hummingbird now, a small, ever juking, target that flittered through the sky and had so far proven impossible to hit for Supernova. The sky was full of flak and fireballs generated by her powerful explosion magic, practically creating a canopy over Two Hump Oasis that now could be seen for miles away. Dozens of fires and craters still burned around her, the seedy den of criminals had turned into a living Tartarus.

The chaos was hardly going to end anytime soon if Supernova had anything to say about it either. The deranged mare was laser-focused on taking out Rainbow Dash for reasons the blue pegasus could only imagine. While that battle of explosions and dodging went on, Miss Valentine tried to sneak through the fiery sands and get behind their adversary.

“Raaarrrgh!” Supernova roared like an animal and sent out her most powerful explosion so far into the sky. It wasn’t even directly aimed at Rainbow Dash, she just blasted the middle of the sky to clear it and maybe hit her target out of chance.

A positively massive fireball that dwarfed the others appeared in the center of all the havoc, the shockwave from it blowing away all the other smoke and fires in the air. The pressure buffeted Rainbow Dash but this time at least she managed to keep control of herself and not crash into anything. Instead she got to watch as the flames from the explosion fell and turned the ground below into a sea of death. It was only for the briefest of moments that she allowed herself to stop and take her eyes off Supernova, but she saw creatures running for their lives as the fires consumed everything else.

Rainbow Dash’s face twisted in rage as she flew at Supernova. “You monster!”

Supernova fired at her but a strong flap of Rainbow Dash’s wings gave her the last bit of acceleration she needed to dodge to the side completely. Now she was in fairly close range and still barreling right towards the unicorn. Supernova grit her teeth and forced more power into her horn, while a shower of sparks came out of it she flung her head in an arc and created a series of small explosions in the sky in-between her and Rainbow Dash. It was like a protective wall of fireballs that Rainbow had to fly away from lest she burn herself.

“Ugh, come on!” Rainbow yelled in frustration as she flew up to get some more distance between herself and the unicorn again.

“Stop flying around! Just let me blow you up so I can end this!” Supernova shouted at her.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah, like I’m totally going to do that! Seriously, lady, why do you want to kill me anyways?”

“Shut up! I-I can’t… I just can’t!” Supernova’s Cutie Mark pulsed red. She shook her head as another expression of terror gripped her features and she started throwing more explosions at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash weaved in between them, the heat and shockwaves making it a pain to fly. “Does she just never run out of magic? This is crazy!”

Supernova’s jaw was clenched so tightly her gums were almost starting to bleed. Behind her, a throwing knife came whizzing through the air right at the back of her head. It harmlessly bounced off a sudden shell of yellow magic that protected Supernova. The unicorn then looked over her shoulder at a sweating Valentine and glared.

“I knew at least one of you would try something again,” her horn sparked. “Die, Hornet.”

Valentine jumped to the side at the last second, hiding behind a column of smoke coming from a previous explosion right as Supernova tried to blow her up. The new explosion erupted and tossed her across the sand like a rag doll, where she groaned in pain.

Supernova would’ve finished the job if Rainbow Dash wasn’t attempting to dive-bomb her from directly above right at that moment. She ignited an explosion directly above her head to dissuade Rainbow Dash and knock her away. She didn’t expect Rainbow Dash to anticipate that and recover so quickly. But the pegasus flipped over in the air and landed safely on all fours behind Supernova, then shot at her with a quick burst of speed.

Supernova’s eyes widened in surprise as she turned to face Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was too close for her to get an explosion off so her horn lit up and she erected another magical barrier around herself. Rainbow Dash’s hooves impacted it and sent cracks throughout the entire barrier.

Rainbow grinned. “So your defense aint as good as your offense?”

“Tch,” Supernova’s horn sparked, her shield about to fail didn’t matter, it bought her enough time for another explosion. She dropped the shield completely and put as much power as she could into the tip of her horn.

But right as she was going to set it off in both of their faces, Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and sent a gust of wind and a kicked up cloud of sand at her. Supernova squeezed her eyes shut and reflexively dropped her head—the explosion erupted inside the sand and both ponies went flying backwards. Immune to her own magic and fire she might have been, it still hurt Supernova to be tossed around and roughly roll over the hot sand. Rainbow Dash was worse off, crashing into a pile of sand and ending up half-buried with light burns and black marks all over her coat and wings. She coughed out a lung full of smoke and struggled to get out of the sand.

“Hnnn...” Supernova groaned as she stood up and looked for her prey, but a huge smoking crater in front of her obscured Rainbow Dash’s location.

A knife came at her out of the smoke and she jumped away from it, randomly throwing a series of small explosions in the direction it came from. The landscape was so smoky and warped now though she couldn’t tell if she had actually hit anything or not. Supernova stayed on her hooves and concentrated, ready to light up anything that moved.

“Where are you, Hornet? I wasn’t going to bother with you after I killed Rainbow Dash but if you really want to die then so be it,” Supernova called out to the unseen attacker.

“I don’t plan on dying anytime soon,” a voice said from Supernova’s left.

She immediately wheeled towards the sound of the voice and fired an explosion at a preexisting column of smoke.

“Missed me, honey,” The Hornet’s voice came from the right now. There were too many smoking craters to hide behind.

“Why are you willing to die for her?! You don’t understand! You don’t understand what’s on the line for me if I fail!” Supernova screamed and blasted at the voice again.

Burning sand rained all around and Supernova huffed and puffed, eyes darting back and forth. Just waiting for that voice to come again.

“I can’t let you kill a comrade of mine. It’s just how I am. I’ll put myself on the line for her,” Miss Valentine said once more from the smoke to Supernova’s right.

Supernova turned with her horn already sparking and saw a shadow flying through the smoke at her. She grinned and created another explosion right on the shadow, intending to blow The Red Hornet into smoldering pieces. The smoke was consumed by a new conflagration and from out of it came the tattered and destroyed remnants of a black vest, flames burning the last few pieces of it.

Just a vest? Supernova panicked.

Miss Valentine—now with only her black beret and sunglasses—shot from out of the fiery smoke low to the ground and to Supernova’s left. She ran at her and threw a scarlet hoof towards her jaw in a powerful hook. It was just inches away from impacting the slim chin of Supernova… when a yellow barrier stopped it short. Valentine’s hoof cracked the magical shield but didn’t get through it.

From inside, Supernova grinned and her horn sparked.

Valentine grinned right back at her.

A high-speed blue pegasus slammed into the already damaged shield and shattered it to pieces, Rainbow Dash’s left hoof impacted Supernova’s face with tremendous force and shot her to the sand where she slid along for a dozen feet before finally coming to a stop. Both pegasi watched for any sign of movement, but there was none. Rainbow Dash tentatively flew forward and checked the unicorn out. Her eyes were half-shut and her chest slightly rose and fell at slow intervals.

“She’s out,” Rainbow Dash said, grinning back at Valentine and dropping to her hooves.

“At least that’s one problem taken care of then,” Valentine sighed in relief and started to walk over. “If you can carry me I think we can catch up with the others before they get to Camelback.”

“Uhh… about that,” Rainbow Dash flexed her somewhat burnt wings and winced. “My wings, really, really, hurt right now. I was kind of running on adrenaline for that last hit.”

“So you can’t fly right now?” Valentine raised an eyebrow and frowned.

“I can still fly, just not very well. And I don’t think I could carry you. Half a day of rest at most, then I’ll be a-okay,” Rainbow said.

“Well we can’t rest for that long… we’re already behind. We’ll just have to get our own sand ship,” Valentine said.

“Uh, we gave them all the money,” Rainbow said.

Valentine grimaced. “That’s right...”

“And they were carrying all our supplies.”

“I can call in a few favors around here… or threaten some ponies for money,” Valentine said. “I don’t think we can get enough for travel on a sand ship but if we can get a day of food and water and a small tent we can at least start traveling through the desert on our own until your wing gets better.”

“Alright,” Rainbow nodded. “Guess we’ll be seeing Daring Do and those other two a little later.”

“Yeah, gotta finish something here first though before we get ready to leave,” Valentine said and walked up to Supernova.

“Huh?” Rainbow said as she watched Valentine approach the unconscious unicorn. Her eyes went wide as the mare took a switchblade out from under her beret and flicked the blade open. She flipped it around and got ready to stab it down into Supernova’s unconscious chest. Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat and she ran over to grab Valentine’s hoof just in time before the knife plunged into Supernova. “Stop!”

Valentine looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Have you lost your mind?! Why are you stopping me?!”

“You can’t kill her!”

“What?”

“She’s out cold, she’s not a danger anymore.”

“So what? She tried to kill us, look at what she did to this place, and when she wakes up she’s probably going to come after us—after you, again.”

“That doesn’t matter. She’s totally defenseless and helpless right now. I told you this before that it isn’t right, a-and it’s just wrong to kill, okay?”

Valentine grabbed her sunglasses and threw them on the sand to glare at Rainbow Dash with her blue eyes. “Again with this nonsense? At least Zargoz didn’t just try to kill you like this one did! Are you saying in all that adventuring and journeying you’ve done, you’ve really never killed anyone? Not even anyone who was trying to kill you?”

Rainbow took a steadying breath and slowly blinked. “I… I don’t know. There are some times when I’ve been just that angry—and I’ve wanted to, maybe. And there are some ponies and other creatures I’ve fought and beaten so hard that maybe they did die. Or I was at least so pumped up that I wasn’t even thinking that I might kill them in the heat of the moment. And… there was one monster where yeah, I was trying to kill her so she couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. But.” Rainbow pointed at Supernova. “She’s still a pony. She’s not some mindless, evil, monster. And we’re not in danger anymore. So let me repeat this. You’re. Not. Killing. Her.”

“You’re insane,” Valentine growled, tearing her hoof out of Rainbow’s grip and putting the knife away.

“It’s not the kind of thing we do.”

“We?” Valentine looked at her with a questioning gaze.

“Good ponies.”

Valentine laughed. “Since when am I a-”

“It’s what you’re trying to be. Deep down.”

Valentine paused, staring back at Rainbow’s calm eyes. “You’re… whatever.” She clicked her tongue and started walking away after picking her sunglasses back up. “Forget this. Let’s just get on the way to Camelback.” She glanced down at her wing stubs. “I need some tent canvas or something to cover up...”

“You don’t need to...” Rainbow sighed and trotted after her.

“What I don’t need is for anyone looking down on me or spreading rumors about me being a weak cripple. Not in my profession,” Valentine said, putting her sunglasses back on.

Rainbow Dash silently trotted up alongside her, no more words were shared between them as they looked to leave Two Hump Oasis.

A panting hooded mare came sprinting to her partner who just finished watching the explosive fight end from behind a rock that he had hoped would prove safe during the fight. He was luckily right. The mare pulled back her hood to reveal a pearly white grin on a purple face with a short, feathery black mane. The stallion pulled back his hood, revealing a tan face and a dirt brown mane.

“You learn anything important?” He asked her.

“Very,” she replied. “The three others went off to Camelback by sand ship. And they definitely have a big clue to the Crystal Sea’s location.”

“Then we need to contact Shining Diamond as quickly as possible,” the stallion said and looked over at the still unconscious Supernova. “We might have another ally we can add to our ranks as well. The Red Hornet and that blue pegasus are clearly dangerous adversaries, someone just as dangerous might be useful.”

The mare shrugged. “Might as well introduce her to the boss. Should I break the locator crystal now?”

“Yes,” the stallion nodded.

She grinned and pulled a yellow spherical crystal out of her robes. It was small, the size of a marble, and perfectly smooth. It looked strangely translucent or hollow for a crystal. The mare brought it between her hooves and with only a slight amount of force, crushed it. The little bits and shards of it fell like dust down to the sand.

The stallion looked up at the sky to the south of Two Hump Oasis. “Won’t be long now.”

One Destination

A brief rewinding of the clock…

Daring Do, Coin Flip, and Birdseed all ran at full speed through the clustered tents and buildings of Two Hump Oasis to escape the fiery battle between their friends and Supernova. They weren’t alone, a lot of ponies and antelope were running around this part of the oasis too. Everyone was just trying to get away from the destruction. They weren’t just running randomly though, Daring Do was leading them to hopefully a sand ship that was still docked and ready to go at the eastern edge of the oasis.

Practically every second they could hear and feel more explosions going off behind them. Daring Do was worried, but she put her trust in her two friends. It was good for them now that Two Hump Oasis was not especially big, they were able to get away from the danger zone and reach the outskirts in good time. Because Two Hump Oasis was such a random place made without any planning, where creatures put up their tents and buildings wherever, it didn’t get any more organized but things at least thinned out well enough to where they could see better.

“I am not going to miss this place,” Birdseed said as he searched along with Daring Do for signs of a sand ship at the oasis’ edge.

“You and me both,” Daring Do mumbled.

A sail. A mast. Anything that stuck out beyond the tents and shoddy buildings. Daring Do clicked her tongue and briefly flew up to get a vantage point, putting a hoof over her eyes to block the sun she peered out along the edge of the oasis. It was kind of comical, looking for a boat in the middle of the desert, and yet here she was.

“Do you see anything?” Birdseed asked her.

“Not ye-” she stopped in the middle of her sentence. “Wait. I think I do see one now… yeah, I’m sure of it!” She pointed a little southeast. “I’m sure there’s a sand ship sitting there still, come on, let’s go! It might be the only one still here.”

“No need to tell us twice,” Birdseed said and started running in the direction Daring Do was pointing.

“I hate running...” A sweating Coin Flip groaned and followed along.

Daring Do kept in the air above them but didn’t fly ahead since she wanted to make sure they stuck together. With all the panic going on, and with the type of place this was, she didn’t want them to get separated or run into any trouble. Thankfully things were clearly too chaotic here for the average criminal to even think of doing anything. While they had to avoid some crowds and some creatures packing up all their things and trying to get someplace safe, nobody truly paid them any mind. And the closer they got to the edge of Two Hump Oasis the more relaxed things were, with creatures mostly just watching as new fireballs erupted near the middle of town.

“It’s just past these tents!” Daring Do said.

The trio made it through the last few structures of Two Hump Oasis and came out onto a wide boardwalk of wood that was built directly over the sand. “Moored” to a post on the boardwalk was a large wooden ship, actually fairly similar in design and construction to normal boats you would see on water, just with a couple of extras. Not only did it have a large sail but also a paddle on the back and a dozen oars on each side that would also help push it along the sand.

It was almost surreal to think about.

“I can’t believe these things actually work,” Birdseed said as he raised an eyebrow at the sand ship.

“Well apparently they do, so let’s get on and get out of here,” Daring Do said and landed on the boardwalk. There was a ramp leading up into the ship that a unicorn pony with a scarred face and brick red coat was standing in front of. Daring Do walked up to him and pulled out a bag that had some, but not all, of their money in it. She stiffly looked the “sailor” in the eyes. “Passage for three to Camelback, and we’d like to leave immediately.”

The stallion didn’t seem to share their lack of patience. He slowly looked over the three of them, probably sizing them up and making sure they wouldn’t be trouble for the ship, before answering Daring Do. “First time in Two Hump Oasis? Supernova blows stuff up all the time. We aren’t scheduled to go for another few hours.”

“We’ll pay you 50% extra if you’ll take us now,” Daring Do narrowed her eyes.

Birdseed scowled and threw her a look but she ignored him.

The sailor raised an eyebrow and glanced at Daring’s bag. “Double.”

“75%.” Daring returned.

The sailor exhaled through his nose and turned around, leading them up the ramp. “Come on then.”

As the trio walked up the ramp, Birdseed leaned in to whisper to Daring Do. “Excellent work letting them know we have money to spare.”

“We need to get on the way to Camelback as quickly as possible,” she shot back. “It was always going to take extra money.”

“You think they got food onboard while we make the trip?” Coin Flip asked, rubbing his stomach.

“Shut up,” Birdseed said.

The three of them were led into the interior of the ship where a large cabin spanned its length. Rows of benches and tables were set up for the passengers to sit at, but besides the trio there were only a few other groups. It was hardly a full trip at all.

“Sit anywhere you like, but first-” the scarred unicorn said and held out a hoof. “Thirty coins each.”

Daring Do’s brow furrowed. “Thirty? How does-”

“You want us to go now don’t you? I still need to tell the boss and everything, and we have to make up for potential lost business,” he said.

Daring Do grit her teeth but eventually hoofed over a bag with the required amount of coin. “Fine. Just hurry up and set sail or whatever.”

“Gladly,” the sailor said and left the passenger cabin with the coinbag in hoof.

As soon as he was gone, Birdseed snorted. “See? And now that they know you could pay that amount, they’re going to try bilking us for the rest of this trip too.”

“Then we just wont use our money for anything else while we’re here,” Daring Do looked over at Coin Flip. “And if you’re so hungry we still have some food of our own. Eat that. We’re not letting them charge us some crazy price for whatever they have.”

She then went to the nearest table that had two benches facing it and sat down. Birdseed and Coin Flip both took the bench opposite her. Portholes lined the side of the cabin and Daring Do looked out hers even though there wasn’t anything to see but sand dunes. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to these two. Or in much of a mood for anything at all really, in agitation she was tapping her hoof on the table and waiting for this sand ship to start moving.

She was starting to wonder if they had been had and a bunch of thugs were going to suddenly appear and shake them down for whatever other money they had, but a sudden lurch of the ship told her they had only been getting ready to leave. Daring Do sighed in relief, though she was still worried about Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine. At the very least it was looking like she, Birdseed, and Coin Flip would be able to get to Camelback safely.

Birdseed took a look out the porthole as well, but his eyes were looking at the oars below them. They had just started moving in rhythmic fashion, at first only slightly pushing against the sand but gaining more and more speed and power. “This is likely the strangest method of transportation I’ve used in my life.”

“Ditto,” Daring absently said and glanced towards the stern of the ship. “I guess the unicorn crew moves the big paddle at the back?”

“Who knows?” Birdseed shrugged. “Ask Valentine when we see her next.”

“If we see her,” Coin Flip snickered.

Daring Do glared at him. “We will. Her and Rainbow Dash.”

“That unicorn seemed especially dangerous...” Birdseed said.

The archaeologist didn’t say anything to that and the three of them sat silently, none of them much up for conversation with the others, as the sand ship continued to gain speed and move east to Camelback. Daring Do returned to looking out the window as the dunes passed by and Two Hump Oasis was left behind completely. She wished she could relax a little bit but that was proving to be impossible. The trip was probably going to take some time so it would really be smart to rest. Especially with the fact that things probably weren’t going to settle down at all once they actually reached Camelback. They needed to follow the map the rest of the way and to do that they’d have to go through some violent sandstorms by the sound of things.

Nope. Things weren’t going to get any easier. And it was still a race against the clock, who knew what Shining Diamond was up to or what his minions were planning. Hopefully that Supernova pony didn’t waylay Valentine and Rainbow for too long.

Birdseed meanwhile was leaning back in his seat and tugging at his scarf. The slight crumpling sound coming from inside it made him narrow his eyes in thought. He looked at Daring Do and saw that she was still absentmindedly staring out the porthole, watching the desert go by. A glance to his side showed him Coin Flip rooting through their bags for some dried fruit. He strummed his hooves on the table in front of him and looked down the aisle of the cabin they were in, seeing a door on each end that led elsewhere into the sand ship.

“I think I’m going to take a walk,” Birdseed said, standing up.

Daring Do looked up and raised an eyebrow at him. “A walk?”

“We’re going to be on this ship for a while. I don’t want to spend the whole time sitting around here. Figured I’d take a look around the ship, maybe go up topside and get some fresh air,” he shrugged.

“They might not let you up there,” Daring Do said.

“Then I’ll walk around the interior of the ship. No big deal, I just don’t feel like sitting down right now,” Birdseed answered. He looked over at Coin Flip. “Hey, you come and take a walk with me too.”

He looked at Birdseed with a disgruntled expression, a strip of dried mango dangling from his mouth. “What do I gotta do that for?”

“One. You could use the exercise, you fat slob. And two, I want someone to watch my back while I walk around this ship. I don’t exactly trust the ponies operating it. Daring at least has other passengers in here in case someone tries something,” Birdseed angrily said to him.

Coin Flip slurped down the mango and stood up with a frown. “Alright, fine.”

“Enjoy your trip,” Daring Do shrugged and went back to looking out the window.

Birdseed led Coin Flip down the aisle of the passenger cabin, all the way to the door at the end. He didn’t look at any of the other passengers and, as naturally and calmly as he could, opened up the door and stepped into the room on the other side with Coin Flip. There was another door leading into a room near the bow of the ship, and stairs going both up to the deck and down below into the sand ship’s stomach and probably to the oaring room. Birdseed however didn’t make any motions to move anywhere. He let the door to the passenger cabin closed behind them and turned to Coin Flip with a serious expression on his face.

“Uhh...” Coin Flip said. “Weren’t we taking a walk?”

“No, and be quiet. There’s something important to discuss,” Birdseed said and reached into his scarf, pulling out the folded up piece of paper he hid there earlier.

“What’s that?”

“Something very valuable,” Birdseed said and opened the paper up, showing it to Coin Flip.

He only had to look at it for a second before he realized what it was. “Another map?”

“Not just any map,” Birdseed grinned and started pointing out some markings and what was drawn on the map. “The map. At least as far as our partner in the other cabin is concerned. This is the map to the lost temple of Cinnabaron.”

“That’s that place she’s looking for,” Coin Flip said.

Birdseed rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s right, and that temple supposedly has a valuable treasure inside it.”

“Where’d you even find that map?” Coin Flap asked him, scratching his greasy head.

“I found it locked away back at that camel’s place. He really did have a thing for maps. Figured I’d keep it to myself for now, since that mare would probably be willing to pay a hefty price for it. But honestly after everything else that’s happened today… I was thinking of doing something else,” Birdseed said.

“What do you mean?”

“Valentine is paying us quite a bit for helping her on this job. But no job is worth dying for. I think you’ll agree with me that after running into that psycho back there that things have gotten more dangerous than we were expecting. So what I’m suggesting we do is-” Birdseed smirked and shrugged. “We ditch Daring Do in Camelback and head out to find Cinnabaron’s treasure all for ourselves. They’ll be too busy dealing with the Crystal Sea and Shining Diamond to come after us for a long while. And we’ve already got a fair bit of money on our hooves too to tide us over.”

Coin Flip bit his lip. “You want to betray The Red Hornet?”

“I know it doesn’t exactly sound smart but does dying here in the desert sound any better?” Birdseed asked him.

“Sure doesn’t,” Coin Flip shook his head.

“So are you in? We just act normal until we arrive in Camelback. We get a room at an inn saying we’re waiting up for Valentine and Rainbow Dash, and then in the middle of the night we tie her up, take all the rest of the money, and get out of there,” Birdseed said.

A serpent’s grin split Coin Flip’s face. “Sounds good to me. I was getting tired of this place anyways.”

“Good,” Birdseed said and folded the map back up to tuck it into his scarf. “Now let’s take a bit of a walk for real, so she doesn’t get suspicious. It still is going to be some time before we get to Camelback.”

Camelback

Rainbow Dash and Miss Valentine stared at one another.

They had been stuck like this for the past five minutes.

“Are you really going to keep being so stubborn like this?” Rainbow Dash asked Valentine.

“You know, I could say the very same thing to you,” Valentine said back to her.

The two of them were standing in the desert, a day’s travel by hoof away from Camelback. Rainbow Dash’s wings had now healed and Valentine was wearing a tightly wrapped green robe over her midsection to hide her wings. The sun was beating down mercilessly on the both of them. They had just woken up not too long ago and a blisteringly hot day traveling through the desert was promised to them. Despite this, and the hurry they were in, the two were still at something of an impasse.

“I am not letting you carry me like I’m some sort of package for you to deliver,” Valentine narrowed her eyes behind her sunglasses.

“And I’m not letting you ride on my back like I’m some kind of mule,” Rainbow crossed her hooves.

Valentine’s eye twitched. “Do you really have to be so difficult, honey?”

Rainbow popped a vein. “Are you seriously saying that right now?”

The two stared each other down some more. Rainbow had let Anathema win a war of stubbornness before because she at least knew the doctor was coming from the right place. But Valentine was not so noble. There was no way Rainbow Dash was letting her get her way here, not over something so petty. Not when she was the one who had to do the hard work in the first place and it was easier to do things the way Rainbow wanted to.

“You know I could just ditch you and fly to Camelback on my own,” Rainbow said.

“Oh yeah? And please tell me exactly where it is and how to find it?” Valentine asked, a smug grin tugging up her lips.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash looked to the east and frowned. It was just all sand dunes as far as the eye could see. “I know it’s in that direction. Generally.”

“Well good luck finding it before you run out of food and water,” Valentine clapped her hooves together.

“Oh yeah and I’m sure you’d have a great time all alone out here too,” Rainbow Dash snorted. She looked at Valentine’s robe-clad body and raised an eyebrow. “Do you just not want me to carry you cause you don’t want me touching your wings?”

Valentine’s body froze up in shock and her jaw dropped. “A-Absolutely not! I’m not like some damaged filly about them!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Just saying, if I carried you I’d have to wrap my hooves around your midsection, and so I’d be touching your wings. That’s the only thing I could think of for why you’d be so bothered by me carrying you. I’ve already told you your wings aren’t a big deal to me. Seriously, just relax about them.”

“It’s not about my wings...” Valentine blushed in embarrassment.

“Liar.”

Valentine glared angrily at her. “Well what if it is then?! So what if I don’t like to have them touched? So what if I don’t care about what you say about them or it not mattering to you? It matters to me! I don’t want you touching my wings, even if you’re only doing it because you have to. I don’t want you feeling those deformed “things” against your legs.” She finished and looked down at the sand, sadder than Rainbow could remember seeing her before. “It’s bad enough that you’ve seen them at all.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her for a moment longer, frowning and trying to see how genuine the other mare was being. Eventually she sighed and walked over to Valentine. “You could’ve just told me that in the first place.”

“It’s humiliating,” Valentine ground out.

“Everyone’s got their issues,” Rainbow Dash said.

She put a lot of effort into not saying “Except for me” right after that.

“Well don’t think you can get all sentimental and touchy-feely with me all of a sudden now, okay?” Valentine said. “I don’t need any comforting hoof on my shoulder or anything like that, honey.”

Rainbow Dash wryly grinned. “I didn’t think you did.”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go, we’ve wasted enough time. You can… you can carry me. But don’t say a word or bring up anything about it. Okay?”

“Okay,” Rainbow nodded. “And whose fault is it that we’ve wasted time?”

“Shut up.”

The sand ship carrying Daring Do, Coin Flip, and Birdseed arrived in Camelback late in the evening. The air here was too dry for clouds and it allowed the starry sky and bright moon to shine down unmolested. None of the trio cared much for such pretty sights though. Not right now. All of them had a lot on their mind. Two of them were thinking things quite a bit more nefarious than the third though.

It sure was cold too as they stepped out of the sand ship. Cold and windy. It wasn’t a surprise that sandstorms were common to the desert around Camelback if this is how it normally was.

Daring Do looked back into the ship as they stood at the ramp leading to the sand below. A few passengers had gotten off with them, but not all. All of them had veils and other sorts of coverings for their faces to protect them from the sand being blown around by the wind. Seems they had come here better prepared than Daring’s group.

The “sailor” who had let them onboard in the first place noticed their lack of proper headgear as he ushered them off. A grin came to his scarred face. “You know for the right amount we have some turbans and veils lying around you can buy from us.”

“No thank you,” Daring stalwartly replied and tipped her hat down, walking down the ramp and doing her best to ignore the sand.

Birdseed wrapped his scarf more around his face and Coin Flip had the best solution of a simple magic shield.

No trumped up, outrageously unfair, sales would be made here.

There wasn’t a dock here for the ship, the three of them walked off the ramp and right onto sand with the town of Camelback before them. Even though it was dark out, the town was lit up well enough by torches and lamps that they could see what it was like. For one, it wasn’t a bunch of tents or shoddily constructed buildings. This was a real town. Actual sandstone buildings made up the majority here, a lot of them stacked on top of each other or built up in ascending tiers and levels against the large rock formations around. It was a sprawling but also very clustered town at the same time. Very dense. It was still built with an actual plan and care to it though so even with as maze-like and imposing as it was, there were still real streets to follow. The very outskirts of the town had tents and stands surrounding the perimeter of the stone building, but with this wind raging right now they were all closed or boarded up.

“I don’t think it will be too tough for us to find an inn from here,” Daring Do said. “There are probably a few built close to where the sand ships drop creatures off.”

“But we’ll have to find one not owned by camels,” Birdseed grumbled.

“Ugh, good point.”

The three quickly made their way into the narrow streets of Camelback where sandy orange and red buildings crowded them at every turn. Everywhere they looked it seemed to mostly be camels around, unfortunately. Every window they could see into, every creature walking down the streets, every sort of business. It was camels, camels, and more camels.

“We’re going to need to find another area of town.” Birdseed said.

“Dumb humpbacks,” Coin Flip snorted.

The wind and sand blowing everywhere wasn’t helping their moods either. And even though Camelback didn’t have a bad reputation, they couldn’t help but be a little worried blindly wandering the streets at night while in camel central. Daring Do noticed a lot of glares and looks being sent their way from the camels who noticed them. She really hoped they didn’t overhear what Birdseed and Coin Flip were saying.

“There’s gotta be a non-camel inn here somewhere, or at least someplace we can wait for the two of them to show up,” Daring Do said. “Let’s just keep quiet, keep our heads low, and do this without causing anymore trouble.”

Birdseed and Coin Flip shared a secretive glance with each other. The orange pony then nodded. “Whatever you say.”

And while the trio searched through the streets of Camelback, a duo followed close behind, quietly and out of sight. They had been watching and following since Daring Do and the others had first stepped off the sand ship. As their targets rounded a corner going down a long alleyway, the two pursuers took the time to talk. Both of them were wearing heavy robes and shawls over their faces that they pulled down so they could discuss things.

One of them was a unicorn stallion with a deep blue mane on an ebony black body. “Can’t they hurry up and find a place to stay so we can stop tailing them?”

“We’re just going to have to wait around staking them out anyways,” the other one, an earth pony mare with a butter yellow coat and a poofy brown mane said.

“I know that, Popcorn. The boss’s letter said there were still two more coming. No matter what we’re going to be sitting around here until The Red Hornet and that “Rainbow Dash” pony come here,” Astral Comet said.

“Would’ve been easier if they all came here at the same time,” Popcorn said.

“As long as we keep an eye out we’re not going to miss anything,” Astral said. “Of course that doesn’t matter until these three stop and find a place to stay.” He sighed.

“There’s an inn owned by some antelopes not far from where they’re going. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll see it?” Popcorn said.

“Hopefully.”

Daring Do opened up the door to the first of two rooms she had booked at the “Curvy Horn” inn. An establishment luckily owned by an elderly antelope couple who were more than happy to have their business. It was sparse, with only two small beds, but Daring Do didn’t plan on staying here for the night after Valentine and Dash got here anyways. The room for Birdseed and Coin Flip was probably the same. For their purposes, this would more than do.

Once they were all together Valentine could lead them to the spot north of Camelback where supposedly another clue to the Crystal Sea’s location was—if not the final direction needed to find it. She just hoped the two of them got here soon.

“And you guys are next door,” Daring Do said as she looked over her shoulder at Birdseed and Coin Flip. Coin Flip was grinning dumbly, pretty normal, but Birdseed wasn’t paying attention at all, instead looking back in the direction of the stairs. “Birdseed? Something the matter?”

His head slowly drifted back to look at her. “No, just thinking about Valentine and Rainbow Dash.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh huh, anyways since we’re here now and there’s nothing else we can really do, we should probably get some rest. If I know Rainbow Dash she’s not going to take long getting here.”

“Alright,” Birdseed nodded. “The two of us will get some sleep too then. We’ll knock first thing in the morning.”

Daring Do turned away from him to go walk over to the nearest bed—she never saw the attack coming.

Birdseed smacked her in the back of her skull with his heavy forelimbs as hard as he could. She was out before she hit the floor, her vision instantly going black. The two stallions looked down at the sprawled form of the unconscious pegasus, there was no turning back now with what had just been done. Birdseed frowned and looked at Coin Flip.

“Get some rope from her bag and tie her up,” he said.

“My pleasure, nice not having to listen to her talk anymore,” Coin Flip said and went ruffling through her bag. He didn’t just take out rope but all the stolen money left as well. “Now that’ll tide us over for however long we’re still in this desert.”

Birdseed grinned. “Which won’t be much longer at all. We’ll be getting a move on again very soon.”

“Need to stay ahead of The Hornet,” Coin Flip said as he started tying Daring Do up. Once he was finished knotting all the ropes he stepped away to admire his hoofiwork and trotted over to the door. “We going?”

“Yeah,” Birdseed nodded and turned to join him, prepared to leave the room and the inn behind.

“Unggg...” A groan escaped Daring Do’s lips.

Both stallions paused and looked back at her, she was already blinking her way awake and it didn’t take long before she started struggling at her bonds and moving about on the floor—her dazed mind still not fully aware of what had happened or what was going on. Daring Do groaned again and her one wing that wasn’t pinned down flapped open, she tried lifting a hoof to rub the back of her head and only then seemed to notice the rope binding her limbs in place. Her eyes slowly came into focus and another pained groan left her lips.

“W-What happened? What’s going on?” She managed to look over in the direction of Birdseed and Coin Flip, though she was still seeing double.

“I’ll make sure her lights are out until morning...” Coin Flip said and started walking towards her.

Birdseed however held up a hoof to stop him. “No.” He closed the door to the room behind them and walked up to Daring Do with a stony expression on his face.

She meanwhile finally grasped what had happened to her and was glaring right up at him. “Why?”

“Cause I don’t feel like dying for something I don’t even care about,” Birdseed said and reached into his scarf. “Also—since you’re awake anyways—I figure I might as well do something nice for you. After all you haven’t been nearly as much of a pest as Valentine.” He pulled out the map and showed it to her. “This is what you’ve been looking for, the map to Cinnabaron’s temple.”

Daring Do’s eyes widened and she shifted in an attempt to try and get up and grab it from him. “How long have you had that?! Where did you-” She suddenly sucked in a breath.

Birdseed snorted in amusement. “Realized that quick? I found it at the same place we found the other map.”

“And you were always going to betray us since you found it?” Daring Do asked, her angry eyes glaring between him and Coin Flip.

“Actually, no,” he looked up as he thought for a bit. “To be totally honest? I didn’t know what I was going to do with this map when I first found it. Give it to you, sell it to you, both seemed like pretty good options. I only made my decision to betray you after that crazy mare tried blowing us all up. Whether she killed Valentine or not, I don’t really care, this job isn’t worth the trouble anymore.”

“Isn’t worth it? The entire desert will be flung into chaos if Shining Diamond gets his way!” Daring yelled.

“Oh no, what a horrible tragedy,” Birdseed rolled his eyes.

“It is! Can’t you—the both of you—not be selfish for even just a few more days!” Daring tried to break free of the ropes as she struggled back and forth on the ground.

“Valentine got the wrong ponies to help her,” Coin Flip shrugged. “We’re scared of dying more than we’re scared of her.”

“And since another, even greater, reward showed its face there wasn’t really any reason for us to stick with you anymore,” Birdseed shrugged.

“You two are going to regret this,” Daring Do glared at him.

Coin Flip frowned and came up to her with a lit horn. “Valentine and that rainbow brat might not even learn what happened if we shut you up for good.”

Again, Birdseed stopped him, slapping him in the back of the head. “No. We don’t need to go that far, that could get the authorities here sent after us faster too.” He grinned at Daring Do. “But you won’t waste the time chasing us or going through all the trouble with camels to do that now, not with Shining Diamond and the Crystal Sea to worry about.”

“Grrr,” Daring Do grit her teeth.

Birdseed laughed and turned around, heading back to the door. “Goodbye. Tell that to Valentine too.” His hoof stopped just before he opened the door, and he instead reached over to Coin Flip and grabbed the bag of money he had pilfered from Daring Do. He withdrew a few coins and threw them at Daring’s hooves. “That’ll be enough for a meal for you tomorrow, don’t say I never did anything for you.”

And after that the two stallions left. And Daring Do could do nothing.

A Betrayal That Isn't A Big Deal

It actually was only an hour until an antelope maid who cleans and takes care of the rooms came upon the tied up Daring Do. One scream and a very beleaguered explanation later and the archaeologist was free. Although it didn’t really change her situation that much. What could she do? Birdseed and Coin Flip had a good head start, she had no idea where they might be going, and she couldn’t leave Camelback while Miss Valentine and Rainbow Dash were expecting her to be here and they still had Shining Diamond to take care of. It left her in a miserable mood. And her head hurt. The pain and exhaustion more than anything else led to her still being able to fall asleep that night.

When she woke up the following morning, there was really only one thing she could do now: wait for Rainbow Dash and Valentine. They couldn’t afford to miss each other so Daring Do left the inn and walked to the western edge of Camelback where she had originally entered from the sand ship. The good news was, the sandstorm from last night had subsided, so she could stand outside without much trouble. A glance to the north still showed storms raging in the desert out there, huge clouds of sand and dust obscured everything. It made sense that if the last clue and the Crystal Sea itself were out there that was why they hadn’t been found yet.

Daring Do sat at the outskirts of town, by the shops and tents operated by camels selling things, and watched the skies to the west. As long as Rainbow and Valentine were coming here, she wouldn’t miss them. Unsurprisingly she was getting a lot of suspicious and dirty looks from the camels around her but she paid them no mind. So long as nobody tried messing with her, she’d just sit here and watch for her friends.

“I hope the two of you get here soon...” Daring Do sighed.

“Could you stop moving around so much back there?” Rainbow complained to her passenger.

“You’re too thin, I keep slipping around,” Valentine frowned.

“Well you’re the one who wanted to ride on my back. Sorry I’m not a first-class flight,” Rainbow snorted.

“You need to eat more, honey.”

“Well I’ll tell you what, next ice cream shop I find I’ll clean out the whole place, and then the next time you ride on my back it’ll be better for you.”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Oh, you’re funny.”

“Whatever, we’re not that far from Camelback now, are we?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“No,” Valentine shook her head. “Honestly we should be seeing it on the horizon any minute now.”

“Good. No offense but I kind of want you off my back. And I’d really like to get back to taking care of this Crystal Sea and Shining Diamond business. Not like we haven’t been sidetracked enough.”

“Due to a certain crazy mare who’s obsessed with you for some reason.”

“Hey, that aint my fault. Really. I have no idea why she’s after me,” Rainbow said.

“Well obviously someone in this desert has it out for you. Someone who can even scare her. She was positively mad trying to get you,” Valentine said.

Rainbow Dash scowled and bit her lip. “I don’t need you to remind me.”

They flew on over the desert for a while after that, it was still very early in the morning and it hadn’t gotten as horrifically hot yet as it probably would in a few hours. As long as they got to Camelback soon it wouldn’t really be an issue. Of course then the both of them were going to have to search for where Daring Do, Birdseed and Coin Flip were. At least Valentine knew where some of the closest inns (that weren’t run by camels) were in town.

Rainbow Dash yawned after a few more minutes and squinted ahead to see if there was anything besides more sand dunes coming up. To her joy, there was. At first she saw the orange sandstone rock formations rising from the sand, and then the buildings all built around and on them. Camelback came more and more into focus, the dense town sticking out from the sands like an orange hoof.

“Please tell me that’s it?” Rainbow asked Valentine.

“That’s it,” Valentine nodded and then pointed to the north. “And that’s where we need to go next.”

Rainbow Dash glanced north to see an intense raging sandstorm in the distance. “Great.”

“We’ll deal with that when the time comes,” Valentine said.

“Hey, I’m not complaining, I’ve been through worse things than a little sandstorm,” Rainbow shrugged—inadvertently almost knocking Valentine off her.

“Watch it!” Valentine yelped and grabbed on tighter.

“Sorry! Geez!” Rainbow grumbled.

Rainbow Dash started descending closer to the sand as they got closer to Camelback, since Valentine would probably appreciate getting to walk again. And since she definitely wanted the scarlet mare off her back already. It was a crowded looking place but once there they could begin looking for Daring Do and the others together.

Or so Rainbow Dash thought.

As soon as they had gotten a little closer, a dot rose up from the sand around all the little tents and stalls set up on the western edge of Camelback. Both Rainbow Dash and Valentine noticed it and saw that it was coming in their direction. The two of them tensed up and got ready for trouble—when Rainbow Dash got a clear look at who it was and a smile broke out across her face.

“Well I guess we don’t have to waste our time looking around,” she said.

Valentine raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow pointed. “Just look who it is.”

Valentine squinted through her sunglasses and took a better look, a grin soon after appearing on her face as well. “Well that at least makes this day a whole lot better.”

The two of them flew towards Daring Do as she came up from Camelback to meet them. Rainbow Dash waved right to her, while Valentine would have if she still didn’t have her hooves in what was practically a death grip around Rainbow Dash. However, as they got closer, the smiles on their faces slowly disappeared as they took note of the expression on Daring Do’s face. She looked very upset.

Rainbow came to a pause in the sky in front of her good friend. “Yo! Glad you got here okay.”

Daring’s expression lightened up a little bit. “And I’m glad to see that you two are okay. I was worried for a bit.”

“Pff! You never need to worry about me,” Rainbow said.

“We handled it decently enough,” Valentine said before getting more serious. “Is something the matter, honey? You look like you have some bad news to deliver.”

Daring Do sighed and nodded her head a few times. “Unfortunately, yeah, I do.”

Valentine looked down to the ground and then back up at Daring, narrowing her eyes. “Where are Birdseed and Coin Flip?”

“Are you kidding me?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she slammed her hooves down on the cafe table she was sitting at. “They really did that?!”

After Daring Do had met them in the skies outside of Camelback, she had told them that they should relax and get a meal first. The trio made their way down into Camelback and Miss Valentine directed them to a pony cafe she knew about. All the coins that Daring had left were used to get bread and water for the three of them. Not much, but it would have to do. The cafe itself was pretty quiet, aside from Rainbow Dash, and since it was a pony cafe there weren’t any camels around. That was the most important part.

“Yep,” Daring Do said. “Ran off last night.”

Valentine meanwhile was glaring down at the table. “Should’ve never trusted them... I thought they would’ve at least had the sense not to cross me. It’s the same mistake I made with Zargoz.”

“They took all of our money too so we’re in an even worse spot,” Daring sighed.

“Well then let’s go find them and-” Rainbow started.

“We can’t,” Valentine interrupted. “We don’t have the time or any clues right now as to where they’ve gone and finding out will take too long. The Crystal Sea comes first and they know it.” Valentine took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. “At least I still know where we need to go for that.”

“I’m just a little worried now that there’s only three of us and we still have no idea what Shining Diamond might be able to throw at us,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves quaked and she exploded, her wings shooting out. “Oh whatever! Who cares about him and who cares about them?” She pointed at herself. “I’m awesome.” She pointed at Daring Do. “You’re awesome.” She pointed at Miss Valentine. “You’re a jerk but you’re awesome too. And together the three of us can still handle anything! Alright?”

Valentine looked up at her and much to her own surprise a smile wormed itself onto her face. “Yeah, alright. It’s not like we can back down now. Those two pack animals weren’t worth all that much anyways.”

“I was never going to say we should give up either,” Daring Do grinned. “I know what we’re all capable of here. You’re right, Rainbow Dash, we can still do this.”

"That’s right!” Rainbow Dash smugly crossed her hooves and sat down.

“We should leave Camelback as soon as possible then,” Daring Do said.

“Since we don’t have any money to buy more food and water though, we should finish up with what we have here before we travel into the desert again,” Valentine said.

“Right. And hope we can find where we need to go by the end of the day,” Daring said.

“The map showed us exactly where we need to go out in the desert north of Camelback. And according to Harzeen there should be something to find out there. I think we’ve got this in the bag, well before Shining Diamond is going to figure out what’s happening,” Valentine said.

“Sounds good to me, now I’m hungry so let’s eat,” Rainbow said and took a big bite out of her bread. She chewed like an animal. “S’Better eat up quick...”

Valentine rolled her eyes. “Good thing we’re not eating anywhere fancy. You always eat like that when you’re hungry, honey?”

Rainbow Dash swallowed down the bread she was eating. “When I’ve got a place to go, yeah.”

“Try not to choke,” Valentine said and started eating much more manageable pieces.

The mood at the table had picked up considerably thanks to Rainbow’s positive attitude and reassurances. The three mares sitting and eating together at the very least could say they were friends and that they believed in each other. Nothing else really mattered after that. It wasn’t even midday so they had plenty of time to get out into the desert. Rainbow grabbed her glass of water and held it up towards the others, Valentine and Daring Do both grinned and grabbed theirs as well.

A quick clink of their glasses together and the three downed their water all in one gulp.

“Ahhh...” A refreshed Rainbow Dash sighed in relief after the toast. “I wish I had a huge cake or something to eat right now but whatever, that water still hit the spot. Let’s get out of here.”

Daring Do tossed her last piece of bread in her mouth and started munching. “So long to Camelback, one day was too long to be here.”

“It’s never a bad time to leave a camel town,” Valentine chuckled. Her smile then grew slightly more vicious. “And once we’re done with Shining Diamond, the two of us can come back here and get on the trail of our good friends.”

“And I’ll be off to... who knows where at this point honestly,” Rainbow shrugged. “But good luck to the both of you, especially you Daring, I hope you find that temple.”

“Me too, thanks Rainbow,” Daring Do smiled. “But we’re getting pretty ahead of ourselves, let’s get out to that sandstorm.”

“Yes,” Valentine said and stood up from the table.

“Right on!” Rainbow said and hopped out of her chair, already walking towards the entryway with a big grin on her face.

The moment she did, another pony passing by accidentally bumped into her.

“Sorry,” he said, tilting his head in apology and walking past her to another table.

“No problem,” Rainbow grinned and waved at him while Miss Valentine and Daring Do came up beside her. Together the three of them left the cafe and walked out into the bright streets of Camelback. A quick walk through those winding streets would take them to the desert to the north and then--the Crystal Sea.

“You did it?” Popcorn asked Astral Comet as he came back to sit down at their table.

“I did it,” he grinned from ear to ear. “The tracking spell on that blue pegasus will last for three whole days and since none of them are unicorns they’ll never detect it.”

Popcorn clapped her hooves together excitedly. “Hooray! Things are working out even better than expected, Shining Diamond’s going to be so happy to hear!”

“He should be here to pick us up in... a couple of hours at most too I’d say. We’re definitely getting rewarded for this,” Astral said.

“We’re all going to be rich!” Popcorn cheered.

“Rich and powerful. It’s like a dream,” Astral smiled.

"Now how about we go someplace a bit nicer than this to celebrate while we wait?” Popcorn raised an eyebrow.

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Astral winked.

The Crystal Sea

Three pegasus mares stood at the northern edge of Camelback and stared out at the desert. A sandstorm raged in the distance, obscuring anything further away than a few miles. That didn’t concern them though, what the sandstorm hid was too important to ignore or be cowed by. No storm or disaster of any sort could stop or dissuade them now. Nothing short of the world ending could curb their determination.

“You know it hasn’t been so long since I met up with you,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But it feels like we’ve forged ourselves a decent relationship,” Miss Valentine grinned.

“Either way, I’m glad the two of you are getting along much better now. And all three of us are going to have a great memory and story to share after the day is done,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and flapped her wings, levitating above the sand. “Let’s do this.”

Daring Do joined her and Valentine tensed up, getting ready to run.

“Yes, let’s,” the scarlet mare said and all three took off towards the sandstorm at a quick pace.

It may have not been the smartest way to do things with their lack of water and the sun beating down on them, but they were too excited to take things slow. The desert didn’t wait. In only a few minutes they would reach that sandstorm and barrel into it. The next clue, the next step, was right there, and maybe the Crystal Sea too.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Rainbow said and sped up her flying.

“That aint fair, honey!” Valentine yelled and ran after her.

Daring Do only grinned and kept flying along.

Less than an hour later, Astral Comet and Popcorn were standing on the roof of a building while a massive blimp hovered overhead, casting a huge shadow across the town of Camelback and making most of its citizens gaze up in surprise and wonder. The two ponies looked down at the narrow streets to see crowds of camels talking with each other about what was going on. Probably not the best thing for their group but it was obvious that Shining Diamond didn’t care. They definitely didn’t want to stay here for long though, lest some griffons or local pegasi got curious and tried to fly up to the blimp. At least camels couldn’t fly.

“Not exactly the most inconspicuous right now, are we?” Popcorn said as she looked at the hovering blimp, the large propellers keeping it afloat.

Astral Comet snorted in agreement. “How long until the Brotherhood and the Murkers hear about this? Well, not like anyone knows what’s going on at least.”

A hatch opened up on the side of the large gondola and two flying figures came out of it, coming down to where Astral and Popcorn were.

“There’s our ride,” Popcorn said.

“Took them long enough to see us,” Astral nodded.

In another couple of minutes, the entire group was assembled on the flight deck of the Ziz. Shining Diamond proudly stood by the wheel of his gigantic blimp, staring out ahead through the window at the sandstorms to the north. Whitesheet, Sand, Velvet, Astral, and Popcorn all stiffly stood at attention behind him. And meanwhile another pony who the two from Camelback didn’t know stood behind them, her hoof impatiently tapping on the metal floor.

“Oh Astral and Popcorn,” Shining Diamond smiled as he spoke, his crisp and magnificent voice projecting through the whole room. “The news you’ve given me is even better than what I was expecting. Truly you’ve outdone yourselves. I believe fortune is smiling down on all of us right now.”

“Thank you, sir,” Astral Comet said, his chest puffing out.

“Our enemies are down to three, they have no idea we’re tracking them, and the Crystal Sea is right there in front of us. Ah, truly a day for celebration,” Shining Diamond beamed.

“Can we finish with the theatrics already?” Supernova said with a growl in her voice.

Astral Comet and the other lackeys turned to look at her and saw the smoldering anger bubbling just under her surface.

“I need to get that pony, you know where she is, so let’s go already,” Supernova said. “There’s no reason to keep floating around above this town now that you’ve recovered your minions. You might have everything you need now, but I can’t stop until Rainbow Dash is dead.”

“Umm... who is this?” Astral Comet asked. To his left, he saw a nervous Velvet Hooves repeatedly shake her head.

“A new business partner, Astral. Don’t mind her impatience, she has something supposedly very important to do,” Shining Diamond shrugged, still not even bothering to turn around and look at the others. “And I suppose you do make a good point, Supernova. Best not to waste anymore time here.”

“We don’t want the Brotherhood or Murkers coming after us after all,” Whitesheet said.

Shining Diamond laughed in derision. “Hah! I’m not worried about them, I just don’t want anybody touching those crystals before me. What would the stupid camels do anyways? They can’t fly, they don’t even have any weapons or magic to try shooting us down with. Well, who cares, time to get a move on. To the Crystal Sea!”

He pressed a lever forward and the great blimp thrummed and slowly started to leave the airspace of Camelback. Now on the move, a spark danced from the horn of Supernova while a deranged grin spread across her face. The minions of Shining Diamond gathered by the viewport to watch as they went directly towards the raging sandstorms, and overhead a dragon stuck in a cage groaned in pain and exhaustion.

“We’re going to be rich beyond belief now,” Whitesheet said with a happy smile on her face.

“I’m thinking as soon as we’ve ousted the camels from power we can start renaming some of the places around this desert too. From Camelback to Ponyback. Would be a fitting change,” Astral Comet said. “Cement it as a place of importance, where our victory was assured.”

“I’m merely going to be happy living like a king with a bunch of beautiful mares attending to my every need,” Sand said.

“I suppose that’s the only way you could get a beautiful mare to attend to you,” Velvet laughed. “But truly, that sounds good to me too, just switch the mares with stallions.”

“And I’ll never have to eat subpar food or drink dirty water again. I don’t care if an entire village has to go hungry, it’ll be nothing but the best, most gourmet meals for me from now on!” Popcorn grinned.

“We’re all going to get exactly what we want. As soon as this desert is mine,” Shining Diamond said. He looked at Whitesheet. “Whitesheet? Tell me, with all the cargo nets and carrying ropes we have, how much crystal can we harvest and take with us?”

“Several hundred tons, sir,” Whitesheet answered.

“Excellent, most excellent. It will surely take some time to collect it all, but it will be well worth it,” he laughed as the Ziz continued on towards the sandstorms.

The sandstorm raged all around the three mares, wind and sand blowing against them and into their faces unceasingly. It was a miserable experience that reminded Rainbow Dash of some of her worst times in the True North. She didn’t think anything could compare to the pain and annoyance of some of the places she flew through up there, but this darn sandstorm was proving her wrong.

“Ugh! At least the two of you have some clothes you’re wearing!” Rainbow Dash yelled to her two companions. Even at full volume they could barely hear her.

“It aint any better, honey!” Valentine yelled back at her as she struggled to resist the wind.

“Come on! We have to press on harder!” Daring Do said. “The map showed a spot further north from Camelback than where we are now, we’ve gotta keep going!”

“How big are these sandstorms anyways? How long do they last?” Rainbow asked.

“Out here? They last forever,” Valentine answered. “The storms north of Camelback never stop. That’s probably why the Crystal Sea was never found again after the camels lost its location generations ago. As for size, who knows? No one’s ever been dumb enough to try and go through one and map it out.”

“Good to know I’m still being as dumb as usual then!” Rainbow yelled.

“There has to be a dead zone at some point though, or like an eye of the storm, otherwise the camels wouldn’t be able to get in and out of where the Crystal Sea is in the first place,” Daring Do said.

“I think we’ll find that, or at least get an idea of where to go, as soon as we get to the spot marked on the map,” Valentine said.

“Well you’re the one who said she knew exactly where that spot was or whatever, so hurry up and take us to it!” Rainbow said.

“That’s what I’m trying to do! But if you haven’t noticed, we can barely see more than a few feet in front of us. It’s not going to be easy!” Valentine yelled.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked out at the near impenetrable walls of flying sand all around them. “I’ve got the best eyes so I’ll try and keep a look out for anything unusual.”

“Be my guest,” Valentine said.

It was hardly any better even with all three of them working together. The sand was almost bad enough to start cutting into them and honestly was coming close to hurting them the more they tried to go through the storm. And if they looked or turned the wrong direction they got a face full of it right into their eyes, nose, and mouth. Even flying for Rainbow and Daring was tough as the winds wanted to take them away. Maybe the Crystal Sea didn’t want to be found again. From what little the three knew about it, it sounded like it had some sort of magical aspect to it. Maybe the sandstorm was the Sea protecting itself? None of them had the magical ability to tell. Rainbow did have weather experience but this sandstorm wasn’t the kind of thing she could really do anything about.

The three stuck pretty close together after that, with Rainbow Dash hovering somewhat above the other two and using her sharp eyes to find anything. Anything at all. But so far it was just rocks and ground that the sand was blasting over. It just seemed like any other piece of desert. If there was a landmark or something special hidden here, they weren’t close to finding it.

“Maybe Harzeen was messing with us when he said that something was supposed to be here?” Daring Do said.

“It sounded genuine when he mentioned it...” Valentine muttered.

“It could’ve easily been totally buried by the sand after all these years,” Daring Do said.

“Well we don’t exactly have a metal detector on our hooves now, do we?” Valentine sighed.

“If we still had a certain unicorn around I feel like he might have been able to help us out,” Daring Do clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“No use thinking of those two morons,” Valentine shook her head. A grin then opened up her face. “Not until we have the opportunity to pay them back at least.”

Daring Do smiled at Valentine still being able to think to the future. Since at the moment things weren’t going so great. They had to charge up a rocky hill together that had been weathered by years of unceasing winds and sands, going down the backside of it and simply being met by more sand and rocks. An unfortunate wasteland.

Rainbow Dash frowned down at Valentine. “How close are we to the spot on the map?”

“It should be practically right here!” Valentine said. “Just right around here somewhere!”

“I’ll find it then... someway, somehow, whatever’s out here I’ll get my hooves on it,” Rainbow said and flew with all her strength down to the sands.

All three of them spent the next hour combing through this part of the sandstorm in perfect unison. Thanks to Rainbow Dash directing them from overhead even while the winds and sands threatened to blow her miles away. It was because of Rainbow that they at least knew they weren’t missing any spots, no stone or grain of sand was going uncovered.

And it was then that through squinted eyes, Daring Do saw something wedged between two small sand dunes.

“Wait! I see something!” She shouted and pointed towards it.

The others followed her gaze and Rainbow’s eyes were able to make out what looked like a black stone coming out of the sand. It was smoother than a stone stuck in this kind of maelstrom would be, and it’s color didn’t fit anything else either. Quickly she zoomed in its direction while the other two followed her.

Rainbow Dash paused above the black stone and looked down at it, tilting her head. It looked like a mound or something sticking out of the sand.

Her eyes widened. Not a mound, a hump.

“It’s buried here, help me dig it out!” Rainbow said as Valentine and Daring Do arrived. She beat her wings hard to clear away some of the sand around it, then moved to try and block the wind and sand being blown at it by the storm.

“What a pain...” Valentine bit her lip as she used her hooves to excavate the rest of the black stone.

It wasn’t easy, the sand kept on falling back and the thing was fairly big in the first place. Once more a certain other couple of ponies would’ve been a big help here. But working together the three of them did slowly make progress. It was two steps forward and one step back the whole time but they were still slowly getting there. More and more of the black stone was being revealed to them and it became apparent this wasn’t some random stone but a carved statue. And they were all pretty sure what it was a statue of.

Finally they had more than half of it uncovered and all three of them stopped to catch their breath. From the looks of it they wouldn’t need to do anymore digging anyways.

A camel. A black statue of polished stone in the shape of a camel, it looked like its legs were probably on some sort of stand that was still under the sand. Except for one leg. One leg was raised and pointing just ever so slightly northwest.

Miss Valentine turned her head to look in the direction the camel was pointing. “The Crystal Sea...”

Some Villains Are Simple

“They stopped in one place for a while but started moving again, sir. We’re almost on top of them,” Astral Comet said as he stood in front of the Ziz’s viewpoint with his horn slightly glowing.

The sandstorm obscured everything that could be seen by eyes, but magic sensing was a different matter altogether. While most of his subordinates had been a little worried about flying directly into the sandstorm, Shining Diamond knew there was no danger. He was correct too as the Ziz’s engine and propellers were powerful enough to make the large blimp easily slice through the storm. It only slightly had any effect on the blimp’s flightpath and Shining Diamond was easily able to adjust.

“Good! I bet they’ll be surprised when they see us. Let’s hope they’ve gotten to the Crystal Sea already,” Shining Diamond grinned as he manned the wheel.

“If they haven’t we’ll have a good enough idea of its location anyways,” Whitesheet smiled.

“Yes, yes, our victory is close at hoof. I can almost taste it!” Shining Diamond cheered.

And at the back of the bridge, Supernova paced back and forth. Small sparks continued to dance around her horn.

“Okay, so we’re going in the right direction, but this storm still hasn’t let up at all. Is that a problem?” Rainbow Dash asked Miss Valentine.

“I have no idea. I’m not an expert on this, I just know more than you,” Valentine replied.

“Oh, that’s reassuring,” Rainbow sarcastically rolled her eyes.

“Just stay positive, okay? I have a good feeling about this,” Daring Do said.

Unfortunately they were still in the middle of a sandstorm with dust and sand being blown constantly at them. And now at the slightly changed angle they were walking it was closer to just blowing right into their faces. If anything the winds seemed to get more intense too and neither Rainbow Dash nor Daring Do were flying at the moment. They knew there had to be a break in the storm somewhere but it hadn’t been found yet and now the storm was slowing them down even more.

“That stupid camel statue better not be wrong, or fake or something,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I doubt it was. Did you see how it wasn’t even damaged after all these years in the sand? There must be something special about it,” Daring Do said.

Rainbow frowned and tried to squint through the veil of sand. She couldn’t even really see any shadows or shapes beyond it, in fact it was a miracle that light was even able to reach them at all down here. She clicked her tongue, it was a pain but she had been through worse. That was the pure and absolute truth. She could get through this too.

“Come on! We’re not letting this stupid sand beat us!” Rainbow tried to pump up her friends.

As they pushed on it was kind of like someone was right above them pouring buckets of sand on them. Or perhaps into fans blowing into them. Rainbow Dash had enough of snow to last her a lifetime, she had now had enough of deserts and sand as well. The only real positive to traveling through this storm was that it blocked most of the oppressive heat coming from above. If it didn’t, the three of them would probably be cooking on some rocks already. Rainbow Dash still had no idea how Valentine lived while wearing all that black. At least she had switched her black vest for green canvas. Crazy pony.

“There can’t be much further to go, it just isn’t possible!” Daring Do said over the howling winds.

Rainbow squinted ahead again and though it may have been her eyes playing tricks on her it looked like things got brighter up ahead. “I think you might be right!”

“I hope,” Valentine grumbled. “I’m pretty tired of this!”

“Yeah you and me both!” Rainbow Dash called right after her. “Forget it though, we just need to keep going dead ahead. I think I can see past the veil!”

It wasn’t just her now either, both Daring Do and Miss Valentine were able to notice the change. It filled them with renewed hope and vigor as they joined Rainbow Dash, all of them practically leaning on and supporting each other, and pushed towards the light beyond the storm. The sand was still smacking into them with the pinpricks of pain that accompanied it, but it didn’t dissuade them. Now they were almost there.

To Rainbow Dash, it almost felt like pushing your hoof past a waterfall. You felt all that water cascading around you but then it parted and there was nothing but empty air on the other side. That was how it was now, except it was a wall of sand being blown through the air that she was moving through.

With a final push the three practically jumped out of the storm... and fell right onto the hot sand in front of them since the wind was no longer blowing into them.

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Well that’s a perfect finish...” Valentine said as she spat out some sand.

“You guys... look,” Daring Do said.

The others looked at her and saw her staring straight ahead, Rainbow and Valentine then followed her gaze and saw that they were no longer in the middle of a raging sandstorm. Instead it really was like they were inside the eye of a hurricane or something. It was a calm spot with clear skies and the walls of the storm were miles away in the distance.

That wasn’t even all. Beyond the dunes, obscured by one particularly tall sand dune, part of the desert was glowing. White light that steadily pulsed from the surface of the sand blanketed what looked like a massive portion of the inside of the storm. If the light was any indication, the Crystal Sea was aptly named.

“Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash said, she grabbed Miss Valentine and tossed her on her back (much to the startled surprise of the scarlet mare) and pulled up Daring Do before flying off to the top of the large sand dune in front of them.

“Wait for me!” Daring Do shouted and flew after her.

They came to a stop at the crest of the large sand dune and Valentine quickly hopped off of Rainbow Dash.

“You didn’t need to... woah,” Valentine said as she looked out at the desert past the dune.

“Yeah. Woah,” Daring Do agreed and Rainbow Dash just nodded wordlessly.

Softly glowing white crystals spread out before them across the entire desert. The crystal formations just grew up out of nowhere and were so dense you wouldn’t have been able to walk in-between them at all. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of crystals growing from the sand, many of the formations were the size of a wagon or more. It was truly spectacular and it was right there in front of them.

They had found it. The Crystal Sea.

“Wow. This thing’s actually here. I was always kind of wondering to be honest,” Rainbow Dash said as she scratched her head.

“I didn’t think it would be so... huge. “Sea” really wasn’t an exaggeration,” Miss Valentine said.

“It’s pretty incredible. A great find,” Daring Do said.

“Yeah, I-” Rainbow Dash started but then paused, her ears twitching. “You guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Valentine asked.

Rainbow Dash frowned. Now that they were out of the sandstorm she could hear other sounds better, and the raging winds of the storm were being interrupted by something. She turned around and looked at the huge wall of sand and dust that they had just emerged from. “Uhhh, why is there a giant zeppelin coming out of the sandstorm?”

The others looked up and saw it too. A huge airship was pushing through the last barrier of sand and wind that kept the Crystal Sea secluded. The massive vessel soon cleared it entirely and cast its shadow down at the sand while continuing to move forward, on a beeline for the center of the Sea.

Miss Valentine growled and narrowed her eyes in anger. “It’s him. It’s Shining Diamond.”

“How’d he get here?!” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“He must have been following us,” Daring Do suggested. “Somehow, some way, he’s probably been following us for a while.”

“Fine then,” Valentine said. “We were going to have to deal with him at one point or another. I hate to say this, but I want you to carry me up there again, Rainbow Dash, the three of us can-”

“Hold on!” Rainbow Dash said and pointed at the blimp. “I think a door just opened up on it... someone’s coming out.”

“Beautiful! Simply beautiful!” Shining Diamond said as he looked out at the Crystal Sea.

“It’s even more amazing than I imagined...” Whitesheet said from beside him.

“Uh, sir?” Astral Comet said, pointing at something else down on the ground. “The Red Hornet and the other two are there.”

Popcorn, Sand, and Velvet Hooves came up to take a look beside him. Sand looked back at their leader. “It’s true, sir! They’re all down there!”

“Well we knew that was coming,” Shining Diamond shrugged. “It’s why we brought dear Supernova along for the ride.” He grinned. “And this is your moment isn’t it? You were waiting for the opportunity to take care of that rainbow pegasus, so go fulfill your job with me and do it!”

There was no answer.

“Supernova?” He looked over his shoulder and saw nothing but an empty bridge behind him.

Whitesheet blinked. “I believe she already left, sir.”

“Did she remember to take a parachute?”

Supernova stood on the small steps leading up to the hatch she had just opened on the side of the Ziz. Her narrow face peered down at the sands of the desert. Crystal Sea? She couldn’t possibly care less. The only thing that mattered to her was that blue, rainbow-maned pegasus sitting down there. Supernova saw her. She saw her target and a breath of relief left her lungs. It wasn’t over yet. Failure wasn’t an option, she had to finish things this time. With a single step she jumped from the blimp.

Falling at high speed towards the sands she lit up her sparking horn and fired an explosion directly in front of her. The shockwave from the blast buffeted her and slowed her decent slightly. Again and again she fired explosion after explosion to slow herself down and briefly push herself up to avoid smashing into the sand like a boulder.

Hundreds of feet she fell through the sky like this until the sand was right in front of her. A final, extra large explosion, blew up her landing zone and she dropped down into the fire and smoke, landing without a problem on the burning and melted sand. Taking less than a second to stand up straight and get her bearings, Supernova walked out of the smoke and confronted Rainbow Dash and the other two. They were a mere twenty feet apart and the trio of pegasi were standing together against her. Supernova’s horn sparked, but she didn’t attack just yet.

And meanwhile, Miss Valentine’s head slowly turned to Rainbow Dash and she leveled her with a withering glare.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and chuckled nervously, shrugging at the scarlet mare. “M-My bad?”

“We can’t fly off and attack Shining Diamond with her here,” Daring Do said, tensing up and getting ready to take off as soon as Supernova looked like she was going to attack them.

“Actually you can,” Supernova suddenly said, spooking the other three.

Valentine narrowed her eyes at the deadly mercenary. “I beg your pardon?”

“I don’t care about you other two. I don’t care about Shining Diamond or whatever any of this is. If the two of you want to go fly up there and leave Rainbow Dash with me? I’m not going to stop you. I’d welcome it,” Supernova said, her eyes burning a hole into Rainbow Dash the entire time.

“We’re not going to just leave Rainbow Dash alone to fight some crazy mare trying to kill her!” Daring Do shouted.

“Yes you are,” Rainbow Dash plainly said while staring right back at Supernova

Daring Do looked at her like she was crazy. “What?!”

“This is my problem. I don’t know why she wants to kill me in the first place, but this is something that’s never involved the two of you. I’ll deal with Supernova. You two go up and stop Shining Diamond,” Rainbow told her.

“No way, Rainbow Dash. We all saw what she can do, I’m not leaving you to fight her alone,” Daring Do shook her head.

“Someone needs to carry Valentine,” Rainbow said and pointed at their scarlet friend. “Or are you just going to let that guy who you’ve been trying to stop this entire time get his way?” She grinned at Daring. “Trust me. I’ve handled worse than this crazy mare.”

Valentine put a hoof on Daring Do’s shoulder before she could challenge further. “Let’s do it, Daring. We have a job to do, and Rainbow has hers.”

“But...” Daring looked at the determined faces of her friends, at the evil glower of Supernova, and at the flying blimp above them. Finally, she sighed in defeat. “You better be okay. I can’t believe I’m running out on you again.”

“Heh, don’t sweat it,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “I know how this pest works, I’ll be fine.”

Supernova’s eye twitched and a spark shot off her horn. “Don’t count on it.”

Daring Do bent her legs and Miss Valentine climbed on her back, the latter giving Rainbow Dash a grin. “Have fun down here.”

“I will. Try not to finish Shining Diamond off too quickly,” Rainbow said to her.

“You two...” Daring Do shook her head and flew up, giving Rainbow Dash one last look of dismay before she flew up towards the blimp.

Rainbow Dash watched them go for a second before turning her attention to the yellow unicorn staring her down. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and she extended her wings, ready to blast off at full speed. Supernova stood her ground while sparks and crackling energy gathered about her horn, waiting to be unleashed. Both were waiting for the other to make the first move here under the hot sun.

Two On One

“Before we do this, I wanted to ask you something. If you’re in the mood to answer a question this time,” Rainbow Dash said to Supernova.

Supernova raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“What do you think?” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

Supernova’s lip twitched and she seemed to be thinking about what to say, if she should even give any sort of answer at all. “I was told to.”

“You were told to? Not paid?” Rainbow asked in confusion. “I thought Valentine said you were a mercenary who killed ponies for money.”

“It doesn’t concern you,” Supernova bit out, her attitude worsening and her patience wearing thin.

“Doesn’t concern me? It One-Billion percent concerns me! You’re trying to kill me and you won’t even tell me why!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Well all you need to know is that someone wants you dead, that’s it!” Supernova yelled back.

Rainbow glared at her. “And you have no problem with that, do you? You don’t even know why you’re doing this but you’re still going to try killing me.”

That set Supernova off. “Yes I do.” She ground her teeth and furiously scowled at Rainbow Dash. “I know why I’m doing this!” Her Cutie Mark glowed red. “To survive!”

She aimed her sparking horn at Rainbow Dash and fired.

Daring Do and Miss Valentine both heard the explosion but neither of them turned back to look. Daring still continued to carry Valentine towards the blimp, aiming for that still open hatch that Supernova had come out of. The both of them couldn’t afford to think of Dash right now. They needed to take down this blimp even if it meant popping a big hole in it. Thankfully it didn’t seem like anyone noticed their approach, they were probably far too focused on the Crystal Sea, the blimp was still flying right to it without a pause.

“This thing is huge, how many ponies do you think are in there?” Daring Do asked.

“Not enough to stop me. Shining Diamond is about to get what’s coming to him,” Valentine said.

“How do we take it down in the first place?” Daring asked as they reached the steps leading into the aircraft. Because the vessel was moving, the wind was whipping at them and Valentine had to brace herself when she got off Daring Do and stood before the open hatch. “You okay?”

“I’m fine, honey,” Valentine nodded.

Daring Do went to land on the stairs as well but Valentine held up a hoof to stop her.

“What are you doing?” Valentine asked with a wide grin on her face. “Don’t you have someone else to help?”

Daring Do’s mouth opened in surprise and she looked down, seeing a series of explosions and smoking craters already dotting the sands. “B-But you both said...”

“I just needed to get up here, honey. Rainbow Dash is going to need your help a lot more than I will. So go and help her, let me deal with this,” Miss Valentine tilted down her sunglasses and winked.

“T-Thank you, and good luck!” Daring said before darting around and shooting back towards the ground, right where Rainbow Dash and Supernova were fighting.

“Like I’ll need it,” Valentine chuckled to herself as she walked into the blimp. A quick look showed a button next to the door that she pressed, closing the hatch back up. “Now… where to next?” She looked left towards what was certainly the “bow” and bridge of the great blimp, seeing a narrow walkway between walls of pipes, gears, and other metalworks. Looking right towards the stern she saw mostly the same. She had seen the great propeller on the back of the blimp that was responsible for moving this thing, the engines for powering it and the other propellers had to be at the back, right? Valentine nodded with a grin and ran to the right, towards the back of the blimp.

“If you care so much about why I’m trying to kill you, you can just mull it over when you’re already dead! Now stand still!” Supernova yelled as she fired an explosion into the sky at the quick and evasive Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash saw it coming and immediately banked out of the way of the explosion, avoiding it completely and not even really being affected by the shockwave either. “Missed me!” She blew a raspberry at Supernova and kept flying around erratically with no pattern to her movements, just to make it harder for Supernova to track her and keep up. “After seeing you fight before and how your magic works, I’ve got the hang of you. Unless you’ve got something else up your sleeve you’re never going to hit me! Blow up the sky all you want, cause I’ve got this and I’ve got you pegged!”

“Arrrghh!” Supernova screamed and fired manic explosion after manic explosion at Rainbow Dash. She was taking that “blow up the sky” part literally it seemed. Small explosions burst out everywhere all across the blue sky as the unicorn tried to take down the pegasus.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t scared by it at all this time.

“You know-”

Boom!

“-we can still-”

Boom!

“-talk this out!”

Boom!

“We don’t have to fight like this!” Rainbow Dash tried saying over the cacophony of the multiple explosions. “I can tell how terrified you are of whoever, or whatever, made you come after me! You don’t really want to do this! Remember, you’re a pony just like me, and you shouldn’t be going around killing others! Just turn that horn off or whatever and let’s talk things out. Peacefully!”

“Shut up! Even if I wasn’t being forced to do this I’d want to kill you anyways now just because of how blasted annoying you are!” Supernova yelled and shot an explosion at Rainbow Dash that blossomed into a dozen other smaller explosions.

Rainbow grit her teeth as she was rocked by the blasts, doing her best to avoid them all. It was pretty much the only kind of attack Supernova could use that came close to hitting Rainbow Dash: sheer overwhelming quantity.

“Well now I’m thinking that maybe Valentine was right about you!” Rainbow yelled down at her. “I want to give everyone a chance you know, but maybe you are just a bad pony! Or maybe you do have some sad story and reason you’re doing this, and you’re just as much of a victim as anyone, but I’ll never know that if you don’t say anything! So tell me, Supernova! Let me help you!”

The unicorn bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, dangerous energy crackling around her horn. “I don’t-” Her sentence was cut off as her Cutie Mark pulsed red and she unleashed a fresh wave of explosions at Rainbow Dash. The sky was blanketed in row after row of contiguous balls of fire. Supernova was frantically shaking her head back and forth as a painful sensation came from her flank. “I don’t have anything to say to you! Just die, die, die!”

Any other thoughts were burned out of her mind and she quickly zeroed in on Rainbow Dash again. Her horn sparked and another, massive, explosion erupted in the sky.

It was bigger than any of the others Rainbow had seen from her, bigger than Rainbow thought she could make, and she was only barely able to escape the blast radius because of that. Even then she could feel the intense heat wash over her, much hotter than the desert sun, and the wind trying to smack her out of the sky. It sent her into a tailspin but Rainbow Dash was able to recover from it in time, pulling up at the last second and gliding over the sand while Supernova tried to blast her again and again, only succeeding in making smoking craters in the sand.

“Okay, I think talking might be off the table for good,” Rainbow Dash grimaced as she flew on.

Luckily for her, the landscape wasn’t totally flat and even, there were large sand dunes and even a scant few boulders to hide behind. Supernova could probably easily blow them up, but it would still provide Rainbow a brief reprieve. Which she might need considering that unicorn never seemed to run out of juice.

Rainbow knew what she needed to do; she had to go on offense. A single punch would lay Supernova out. Just trying to dodge and evade wouldn’t work forever, she had to get in close. The problem was she was being kept at bay far too well. Supernova also knew her own weaknesses and the steady stream of explosions so far made it impossible for Rainbow Dash to get directly at her.

So with a new idea in mind, Rainbow Dash flew behind a nearby sand dune.

Naturally Supernova blew it up immediately, but Rainbow Dash didn’t fly out from behind the smoke and fire. Instead she flapped her wings hard against the smoke and sand, sending a gust of wind in Supernova’s direction along with the smoke and a cloud of sand and dust with it. Not just to obscure her vision but to block her from sending any explosions. If she tried firing through that cloud it would just blow up inside it.

Supernova knew this and instead of turning away and closing her eyes she immediately created a yellow shield around herself again. The smoke and sand harmlessly passed by her and when it was gone—Rainbow Dash wasn’t there flying directly at her.

Supernova blinked. She was sure that the pegasus was using that as a cover to attack her directly. But instead her opponent had disappeared completely.

“Where did you go?!” She yelled at the desert, dropping the shield and keeping the horn lit up to blast Rainbow Dash as soon as she appeared again.

She heard something coming from above her just in the nick of time. Supernova looked up at the sky—and squinted as she was temporarily blinded by the sunlight. That’s what Rainbow Dash had done. She had flown up high into the sky, directly at the sun, until the light completely obscured her. Now she was coming back down right on top of Supernova. The unicorn raised a hoof and blinked as she tried to remove the spots from her vision. At practically the last second she was able to see again and the flying form of Rainbow Dash filled her vision.

“Die!” Supernova unleashed an explosion at her.

“Gotcha!” Rainbow said and flung her hooves out—a large bucket’s worth of sand that she had been carrying went right into Supernova’s face.

“Agh!” Supernova squeezed her eyes shut as the sand got into them and the explosion backfired, erupting right at the tip of her horn.

Both pegasus and unicorn were blown away by the fiery explosion and Rainbow Dash thumped and skidded to a stop in the sand a fair distance away. She slowly got up on shaking hooves and coughed, sand falling from her mane and wings.

“Okay… that’s not how that was supposed to go,” Rainbow muttered.

“I would imagine not,” Supernova said as she walked around the freshly burning crater in the sand. Slightly singed in places but really looking no worse for wear. Her horn still arced and sparkled with violent energy and she tilted it directly at Rainbow Dash. “Now die and let me be free.” A harsh red glow came from her Cutie Mark-

And right before she could fire an explosion, a rope came from the sky and lassoed around her horn, tugging it to the right and making her accidentally miss completely. The explosion blasted apart the sand next to Rainbow Dash and she confusedly looked up to see Daring Do on the other end of the rope, pulling it and throwing Supernova to the sand.

“You—argh!” Supernova cried out as she fell, using her magic to burn the rope around her horn and scramble back to her hooves.

As soon as Daring Do saw the rope break she dropped it and flew down to Rainbow Dash. “Guess I got back here just in time.”

“What are you doing?” Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “You should be helping Valentine.”

Daring Do grinned. “The both of us agreed that you needed more help than she did. So now you are just going to have to deal with my decision.” She looked over at Supernova and saw the mare angrily getting ready to attack the both of them. “Well?”

Rainbow Dash barked out a small laugh and squared off against Supernova. “Alright, alright. We’ll do this together.”

“Burn!” Supernova yelled an unleashed a powerful explosion at them.

Miss Valentine reached a heavy door at the back of the large blimp, a large metal wheel set in the middle of it for turning and opening it up. She smirked in front of it, this had to lead to the engines. She didn’t know exactly how this blimp worked but there had to be something sensitive in there for her to break or turn off. And that would lead to her bringing down Shining Diamond for good.

She turned the wheel and opened up the heavy metal door—immediately hearing a lot of noise on the other side as steam blew, pistons and gears moved back and forth, containers boiled, and electronics buzzed. Stepping inside and closing the door back, she saw a large but cramped engine room that was the same mess of metal pipes and devices as the rest of the blimp, but with two large turbines at the back and a few even larger vats lined alongside them.

And she wasn’t alone. Several grease and grime covered ponies in overalls were moving between the machines and making sure everything ran smoothly and properly. Once she closed the door, they all noticed her arrival and turned to look at the intruder.

One of them, with a heavy wrench in hoof, came walking up to her. “Who are you? I don’t recognize you, are you a new hire by the boss cause you shouldn’t be in here. What do you think you’re doing?”

Valentine punched him hard across the face and knocked him out cold. As he fell to the metal floor she glared at the other engineers. “That is what I’m doing.”

Can't Lose

Rainbow Dash flew right and Daring Do flew left as an explosion erupted between them. Burning sand and embers of flame rained past the both of them as Supernova turned, following Rainbow Dash of course, and fired another explosion from her horn. It wasn’t aimed directly at Rainbow Dash though—Supernova knew she couldn’t hit her like that—it was aimed at the sand in front of her simply to create another large blast of smoke and sand that would distract and slow Rainbow momentarily. Because Supernova then had to instantly turn around and fire an explosion at Daring Do, who had been attempting to fly at her from the other direction.

Daring Do flew upwards to avoid the blast directly hitting her, and still got rocked by the shockwave and sent flying backwards. But it was still two fast pegasi against one unicorn, and Supernova couldn’t look two directions at once. Rainbow Dash was already flying at her from the cloud of smoke and Supernova barely had the time to put up her shield.

The blue hooves of Rainbow Dash crashed into it and the flying pegasus bounced off—but not before sending cracks throughout the entire shield and almost shattering it in one hit.

Supernova growled and lowered the shield to fire a quick blast at Rainbow Dash but Dash had enough time to recover and jetted away as the explosion instead erupted behind her. Supernova then backstepped to get some distance between herself and the two pegasi, trying to keep them both in front of her and not let them pincer her again.

“You both… you both!” The unicorn shouted and ground her teeth, horn furiously sparking.

“Cry about it!” Rainbow said as she corkscrewed through the air, winding back and forth and diving all around.

At the same time, Daring Do was flying around a bit off to Supernova’s left. She wasn’t as fast or agile as Rainbow Dash, but if Supernova mistakenly focused on her for too long and missed she was giving a big opening to Rainbow Dash. And her shields probably couldn’t withstand a hit from the other pegasus either. So Supernova did what she did best and wildly shot out a flurry of random explosions everywhere in front of her. The massive barrage caused both Rainbow and Daring Do to fly further away for safety as fireballs filled the air.

“I can’t lose! I can’t fail again!” Supernova yelled. “You’re both going to die here!”

Rainbow Dash and Daring weathered the storm, dodging and running from dozens of explosions, and looked for any possible opening they had to attack.

“I don’t know if you all knew what Shining Diamond’s plans were and frankly I don’t care. You had the misfortune of being in my way,” Miss Valentine said as the last engineer collapsed in a crumpled heap, the lot of them now unconscious and leaving her the last pony standing in the engine room.

They were all still alive though. Valentine sighed and shook her head, thinking that maybe Rainbow Dash’s influence was making her go soft.

“Whatever… no time to think about that,” the scarlet mare said and looked around.

The engine room was still a mess of noise and moving machinery, with time the lack of engineers would probably cause some problems on its own, but Valentine couldn’t just wait around for that. She needed to find something important that could cause some direct and immediate harm. Something that could make this darn oversized balloon fall from the sky right now. She didn’t have much knowledge of technical or mechanical systems, the camels and their desert domain in general were very low-tech, but she could tell what was a big deal in here and what wasn’t.

A certain panel with many levers and glass-concealed dials on it attached to several of the vats looked quite promising.

Miss Valentine grinned as she quickly trotted towards it and took a look at what it read on top of the panel:

MASTER FUEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

“Oh no, I wonder what could possibly happen if I turned this off?” Valentine laughed and swiftly yanked down each lever.

Immediately the needles on the dials all flipped to zero and Valentine heard a sharp whine emerge from the panel and machinery around her. It took less than a second for the effects of Valentines sabotage to become apparent as the whole engine room shook and alarms buzzed on. Steam vented from pipes and clattering pistons and the turbines slowed and slowed down before eventually stopping. Valentine smiled at her hoofiwork and walked back towards the door.

“Almost done here.”

On the bridge, Shining Diamond and the rest of the crew were alerted of the problem when the Ziz suddenly lurched and slowed down slightly. A beeping noise came from one of the stations on the wall and Whitesheet hurried over towards it. Her jaw swiftly dropped and somehow she even paled upon seeing what the problem was.

“S-Sir! We’ve lost power to the propellers! Fuel levels are at zero!” She announced.

“What?! That’s impossible! What’s going on in engineering?!” Shining Diamond demanded. He angrily looked over at his other four minions. “You four! Go down to the engine room right now and get to the bottom of this! Do you hear me?!”

“Yes, sir!” Sand Flash replied and with a curt nod to the others he led the four of them out of the bridge. They all knew they were in big danger if the propellers weren’t working, and worse danger if they disobeyed Shining Diamond.

Shining Diamond grit his teeth as he held onto the wheel of the Ziz in an attempt to steer it as best he could with the minimal power remaining. “I will not have victory snatched from my hooves, not when my goal is right here before my eyes...”

Whitesheet nervously watched the stations and readouts as he worked, not liking one bit of what she was seeing.

Sand Flash took point as the party of four marched down the narrow corridor in the middle of the Ziz with Velvet Hooves, Astral Comet, and Popcorn all behind him. The primary emotions of the party were confusion and fear as something like this had never happened before to their great vessel. With every step they could feel it slowing down and the machinery around them grew quieter.

Because that was distracting them they practically walked right into Miss Valentine in the middle of the blimp.

Sand Flash’s eyebrows shot into his mane as he and the others came to a screeching halt. “The Red Hornet!”

“Supernova was supposed to stop you!” Velvet Hooves objected.

“Oh, more flunkies of Shining Diamond?” Valentine said. “Well let me tell you you made a big mistake trusting that mare.” She cracked her neck and took a step towards them. “But not nearly as big of a mistake as joining up with Shining Diamond in the first place.”

Astral Comet’s eyes narrowed and he fired a beam of magic at her, the first of the group to gather his wits and realize they needed to fight.

Valentine easily backflipped over the beam and it impacted harmlessly against the floor, barely leaving a burn mark. Astral just wasn’t much of a combat mage.

“So you want to be the first one who gets it, huh?” Valentine said to him. She tilted down her sunglasses and glared at him with her deep blue eyes.

Astral’s jaw clenched. “J-Just get her!"

Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves both ran at Valentine, there wasn’t enough room in this interior corridor for them to extend their wings and fly, with the stallion reaching her first and throwing out a high punch at her face. Valentine easily dodged under it and gave him an uppercut to the chin, making him stumble back while Velvet reached her and simply tried tackling Valentine to the ground. Valentine merely jumped up and slammed her hooves into Velvet’s back to make her collapse with a whumph. A second later she tilted her head to the side to avoid another beam of magic fired by Astral. Valentine mockingly raised an eyebrow at him this time.

“The four of you really aren’t fighters are you? Talk about uncoordinated,” she snorted.

“G-Get off of me!” Velvet shouted, struggling to toss the other mare off her back.

Meanwhile Popcorn was just frozen in fear and Sand was groaning in pain, grasping his jaw.

“Maybe you all should’ve taken some lessons in how to fight rather than hire some unreliable psycho to do the job for you,” Valentine said and stamped hard on Velvet’s back.

“Ngh!” The pegasus mare whined.

Valentine shrugged. “Well, it wouldn’t really help you anyways.”

In a flash she jumped off Velvet and got up close to Astral. He was too startled to react in time and a scarlet hoof roughly grasped his horn and yanked him around towards the wall of the corridor. Valentine smashed his face directly into the cold metal and released his horn, letting the unconscious unicorn slide to the floor. At the same time, Popcorn had finally found her courage (or perhaps only acted out of fear) and came behind Valentine with her hooves raised high above her head in attack.

A swift kick from Valentine into the stomach of the yellow mare knocked the wind out of her and made her double over. Where another hoof met the back of her skull and made her go nighty night.

Now it was only the three pegasi. Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves both got up again to face her, but neither were looking favorably at their chances.

“Well don’t keep me waiting,” Valentine said to them.

This time they came at her together—or at the very least as close to together as they could thanks to the confines of the corridor making it tough for that. But they did at least intend to attack her at the same time so she couldn’t dodge and retaliate to easily. Unfortunately for them the difference in skill was simply too great. They probably knew this, and were probably terrified of The Red Hornet, but to their credit they were still trying to complete their mission for their boss and they weren’t going to go down without a fight.

Sand Flash threw a hook at the left side of Valentine’s head while Velvet Hooves aimed lower, trying to sweep out her legs as she ran into the other mare. Like this, Valentine couldn’t simply jump over them. Of course there were things to do besides dodging. Valentine’s left hoof came up and before Sand’s punch connected she hit his leg right in the knee joint, bending his limb and almost breaking it and making his punch go off-course. On reflex he even screeched in pain and stepped back.

As Velvet tried to tackle into her, all Valentine did was swiftly tilt her head down and smash the crown of her head directly in-between Velvet’s eyes. The mare twitched and went limp, eyes rolling back into her head as she fell to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Sand Flash didn’t even notice that though, it had happened too fast and his leg was in too much pain.

So he also didn’t notice the scarlet hoof until it knocked him into next week.

The last of her opponents now out and on the floor, Valentine took a moment to smile before looking at the way to the bridge. Only one thing left to do.

Rainbow Dash flew low to the ground at top speed, a huge trail of dust and sand being carried and knocked up by the wind behind her. She wasn’t flying directly at Supernova but instead a bit off to the side of her. Daring Do meanwhile flew directly above the unicorn and threw small stones gathered from the desert down at her, trying to nail the unicorn in the head or at the very least force her to stop sending explosions or get her to move around. The attack was working as Supernova found it difficult to concentrate enough to fire an explosion that would actually go anywhere near Daring Do.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Supernova roared as her horn shot sparks everywhere while she dodged another rock. The second she tried to use a spell she had to break it off at the last moment to dodge again. Out of the corner of her eye she was forced to pay attention to the speeding form of Rainbow Dash too.

Another rock was thrown at Supernova but this time she swatted it out of the air with her hoof and managed to fire a powerful explosion at Daring Do. The khaki-colored pegasus avoided being hit directly but still got singed and was sent spiraling down and into the sands by the force of the explosion. Supernova didn’t have any time to celebrate this small brief win though. Rainbow Dash had just reached her. Supernova put up her shield to block a direct attack but that wasn’t what Rainbow Dash was up to in the first place.

The rainbow pony shot right past Supernova at supersonic speeds like a missile, all the sand and dust around her shot up like a fountain and created a huge cloud that engulfed the unicorn. The sheer air pressure from Rainbow’s pass practically almost knocked Supernova to the ground as well. Stuck in this cloud of sand she couldn’t use any explosions or see where her opponents were now.

“But you can’t see me either so just what are you planning? What do you think you stupid ponies can do!” Supernova yelled. She dropped her shield and kept her horn lit and ready to blow up anything that moved.

Suddenly two powerful gusts of wind came at her from the sides, blowing harshly against her and not letting up for a second. The sand and dust was blown away completely, revealing Rainbow Dash and Daring Do floating outside it and throwing all the wind they could at Supernova. The yellow unicorn’s mane and tail whipped about and she had to close her eyes thanks to the fierce wind, it was flinging sand everywhere and she was starting to struggle to even breathe.

With each flap, both Rainbow Dash and Daring Do got slightly closer, inching ever so slowly towards the dangerous unicorn so they could eventually get within striking distance of her.

“Haaaah!” Supernova shouted and detonated an explosion right on her hooves that sent the entire plan up in smoke. All three ponies were blown in different directions and landed on their backs in the sand.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and groaned as she sat up, looking around for where the other two were. “Come on! This is getting ridiculous!”

“I hear that!” Daring Do called from about a hundred feet away in front of her, waving a hoof around to get Dash’s attention.

Meanwhile a coughing Supernova walked around on wobbling hooves to Dash’s left and Daring Do’s right respectively. “S-Shut up… just stop talking. J-Just stop all of this.”

“Tell that to yourself,” Rainbow glared at her.

“Can’t lose...” Supernova shook her head, sweat dripping down her face. Her breath was ragged and she looked wretched and disheveled. “Can’t lose!” She shouted and raised her head, horn sparking, and looked directly at Rainbow Dash.

The explosive spark in Rainbow’s face came a second later, but she was already flying up and back into the sky. The column of flame that sprouted up in an attempt to consume her came up short. Supernova didn’t plan on letting up, already she was following Rainbow Dash and looking to blow her to pieces—when a rock hit her in the side of the head and knocked her to the sand.

“You’re losing it,” Daring Do said, juggling another rock. “Back in Two Hump Oasis you were way more aware. We couldn’t do anything to you when you were focused.”

“Ngh!” Supernova whined and swung her horn in Daring Do’s direction—but had to instantly switch to shielding herself as Rainbow Dash came down on top of her. The shield shattered completely but Rainbow Dash was still bounced away by its rupturing.

Rainbow fell and rolled over the sand while Supernova scrambled to her hooves and got ready to blow her up.

Only to be felled by another rock that hit her in the back of the head after Daring Do had flown behind her during the confusion.

“YOU!” Supernova screamed in rage, her horn sparking like crazy, and turned around to finish Daring Do off for good. As she did though, she realized her rage was about to be her downfall. Just before she could fully turn back around to defend herself, attempt to dodge, or try and blow Rainbow Dash out of the sky, a blue hoof collided with the side of her head. Her vision went black for a brief instant and the next thing she knew she was lying on the hot sand and her head was spinning. The sparks and magic from her horn had all gone out.

“That does it, you’re finished,” Rainbow Dash said, floating above her. A steely frown graced her face. “I don’t want to see you following me again, got that?”

Daring Do walked up to her and winced down at the out of commission Supernova. “Is that really good enough?”

“I’m not killing her,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “There’s something wrong with her, even with whatever else she might have done in her life, I’m still not going to kill her when I’ve already beaten her. If she gets out of this desert alive or doesn’t… we’ll see what happens.”

“I won’t… you won’t get away,” Supernova sputtered, a spittle of blood coughed out of her mouth. “I can’t lose. I can’t lose.” Her eyes weren’t even focused on Rainbow Dash anymore—she was just blankly staring ahead at the sand.

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked up at the blimp still flying towards the Crystal Sea. “Let’s go help Valentine.”

A sudden wave of heat and magical power erupted out of Supernova and pushed Rainbow Dash and Daring Do away. The two slid across the sand and looked back at the unicorn to figure out what had just happened.

“Can’t lose… can’t lose….” Supernova repeated as heat and steam hissed from her Cutie Mark, the explosion on her flank glowing red at first before becoming a blinding white.

“What the hay is going on?!” Daring Do yelled.

“I-I dunno!” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose...” Supernova’s eyes had gone white as well and red cracks started to spread all over her flank from her Cutie Mark, leaking violent energy into the air. Her horn sizzled and bolts of magical energy lanced out from it at random intervals. Magic gathered at its tip and continued to grow brighter until it was like a miniature sun. “Can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… can’t lose… CAN’T LOSE!”

The miniature sun sparked and Rainbow Dash just barely had time to grab Daring Do and start to fly away before it exploded.

The blast was deafening—worse than anything Supernova had done before. Rainbow and Daring Do were both carried away by the powerful explosion as heat washed over them. They tumbled into the sand over a hundred feet away, burnt and with their skulls rattling. As they struggled to rise, the pair of pegasi looked at where Supernova had been standing and saw a huge fire with a column of smoke already rising high into the sky.

“She… I think she blew herself up,” Daring Do said. She gulped and wiped away the sweat on her brow. “I guess it’s over then.”

“No.”

Daring Do looked at Rainbow Dash and saw her friend staring deeply into the fire.

Rainbow Dash’s sharp eyes picked out a shadow in the middle of the flames, beginning to emerge from the inferno. “It’s not over yet.”

“We’re still not getting any power back, sir!” Whitesheet fearfully said to Shining Diamond as she looked over the control panels on the bridge. She was beginning to become a nervous wreck and sweat poured down her face.

“Blasted idiots!” Shining Diamond yelled as he used the wheel to keep the blimp as steady as possible even as it continued to descend. “Go find them and fix the darned problem yourself!”

“Y-Yes sir,” Whitesheet nodded and went over to the door.

“Incompetent buffoons all around me...” Shining Diamond grumbled.

Behind him he heard Whitesheet turn open the door-

Whack!

He turned around to see Whitesheet knocked to the floor by a grinning scarlet mare who walked onto the bridge. Whitesheet’s head hit the hard metal floor and she was out just like that. Shining Diamond narrowed his eyes and stepped away from the wheel, glaring at the intruder.

“The Red Hornet.”

“Shining Diamond,” Valentine said back to him.

“Well then,” Shining Diamond reached up to take off his hat and tossed it to the floor. “I suppose if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

What stepped through the flames was not Supernova.

The unicorn had transformed, she had grown taller and thinner than she already was. So ghastly thin she looked more like a skeleton with yellow skin stretched over it than a pony, her grotesque bones visible everywhere. Her mane and tail, formerly only reminiscent of flames, had become actual burning fire that embers fell from. On her flank, the Cutie Mark that used to be a violent explosion had warped into a black question mark with glowing red lines like veins radiating out from all over her flank and her upper back legs. Her horn had changed it’s shape, becoming more curved and changing color as well, from yellow at the base, to orange, to red, and then a bright white at the tip. While her face had become a warped, serpentine mockery of a pony’s, her jaw and muzzle both thinner and longer while her teeth inside her mouth had turned to needles. Saliva dripped from her mouth and onto the sand, where it burned and melted the grains it hit, sending up small puffs of smoke. Her forked tongue flickered out of her mouth and her eyes—her eyes. Her sclera had become roiling yellow flames, the irises a burning red, and the pupils a slitted black.

Those flaming eyes rolled about in her head before stopping and locking onto Rainbow Dash.

The monster hissed as an inferno of sparks shot from her horn.

Good Luck Out There

“Wha-What is she?” Daring Do looked on in horror at the monster that used to be Supernova.

The deranged, mutated unicorn screeched like a banshee when she saw Rainbow Dash. The sparks from her horn raged with far greater intensity than they had before and even lit random fires in the air around her. She dug her thin, nearly knife-like, hooves into the sand and lowered her horn at Rainbow Dash. The flames making up her mane and tail grew twice as big and a massive stream of fire billowed from her horn towards Rainbow Dash, the flames being ushered forth were so hot that the sand they traveled over was reduced to bubbling, melted glass.

“Dangerous,” Rainbow Dash gulped.

Miss Valentine was slammed into the floor by Shining Diamond’s telekinetic magic. He raised her up to slam her down again but although he was decently powerful and skilled with magic he still wasn’t a heavyweight, Valentine struggled and fought his control and shortly popped the aura of magic around her. She gracefully dropped to the floor and started running at him, no worse for wear after the single slam.

“Tch,” Shining Diamond clicked his tongue and ran to meet her. He wasn’t a coward.

Valentine moved very fast though and as soon as she was in striking distance a hoof was already coming up to his face before he could move one of his to block or attack her too. She went right for his chin—but it was blocked not by his hoof, but the tiniest possible shield of magic. Valentine’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and Shining Diamond punched her in the gut, making her slide away. She glared at his glowing horn and rubbed the spot he hit her.

“So you’re pretty decent with that horn of yours, huh?” She said.

“Oh, I manage with it,” he chuckled.

“But every unicorn has a limit to what they can do before they get tired,” Valentine said. “So let’s see how well you can keep up.”

Like a cat she jumped forward and started darting from right to left, feinting to one side and then the other. If he wanted to try and shield himself from her blows she’d make it as difficult as possible for him to predict where she was going to hit. Once she got up close and personal with him she threw a barrage of punches at his body, not single powerful strikes like the one earlier, but a flurry of smaller blows just to try and overwhelm him with numbers. Her scarlet hooves were like a storm, four, eight, ten of them flying at Shining Diamond at once.

He constantly backed up away from her and dodge and weaved between her blows as much as he could, smartly reserving his magic for when he absolutely needed it. A shield here, a shield there, as much as Valentine attacked him his defense stayed solid.

Right up until he noticed a small smirk on Valentine’s face and he backed into the bridge’s wheel. He suddenly had less room to maneuver and was momentarily surprised by accidentally hitting it, a scarlet hoof came up at his chin that he blocked with a shield—only for it to be instantly withdrawn as another hoof came at his left shoulder and punched him hard. Shining Diamond grunted in pain and stumbled away from the wheel, but Valentine followed and came after him for another round of attacks.

Shining Diamond shot a beam of magic at her head that she ducked under and ended up destroying a panel on the wall behind her.

Can’t let that hit me by the sound of it. Valentine frowned and ran at Shining Diamond, again criss-crossing as she ran so he didn’t have a straight shot at her.

He got off two more beams at her that she both hopped around before she got close enough to hit him again. His horn flared with powerful magic to make as many shields as he could but to his surprise, Valentine didn’t strike at him directly. She pivoted on her hooves and slid across the slick metal floor, making a semi-circle around him to get behind him while he was still confused by her movement. Valentine then went low and kicked out his back legs, making him fall to the floor with a startled yelp.

“Ack!” He propped himself up on his front hooves and turned his head to aim his horn at her. Instead of a pinpoint attack that could potentially take her out permanently, he went for the low-risk, low-reward option instead. A single large wave of magic lashed out from his horn and slammed into Valentine, knocking her back and into the wall behind her.

“Mrph!” Valentine grunted as her back slammed into the cold metal and she fell to her hooves, she took in a deep breath and glared at her opponent. “Oh come on, is that seriously the best you can do?”

“No!” Shining Diamond answered and fired a concentrated laser at Valentine. It wasn’t just a one-shot beam that hit something and stopped, the laser continued burning across the floor right towards Valentine.

Knowing it would probably slice right through her flesh if it touched her, Valentine dove to the side to dodge it. The laser bisected a chair behind her and Shining Diamond turned his head and horn to follow Valentine, aiming to dice her to pieces. He was carving a red line through the bridge and leaving melted metal behind in his chase. The swift laser soon reached Valentine and she barely jumped over it in time, the ends of her tail being cut off.

Valentine frowned as she landed and reached inside the canvas she had wrapped around her body while Shining Diamond brought his deadly laser back towards her. She ran straight at him and Shining Diamond grinned, seeing an easy target. Valentine pulled her hoof from the canvas and threw something at him. Something so small and narrow that Shining Diamond didn’t even properly see it until it hit him right in the eye.

“Ow!” The crystal pony yipped and automatically canceled his magic, the laser disappearing, and brought his hoof up to cover his now watering eye.

That was all the opportunity Valentine needed to close the distance and wallop him in the face. Once to make him stagger, and then a second time to spin him around and send him to the floor out cold. Valentine huffed and took a second to calm down and get her heartbeat back to normal. She looked at the floor and saw the tiny red feather she had plucked from one of her wings, thrown quill first right into Shining Diamond’s eye.

“Dumb wings...” Valentine muttered and glanced at the unconscious Shining Diamond before looking out the window. The blimp was still going down. Valentine stood by the blimp’s wheel and grinned, reaching up into her beret and retrieving her switchblade. She flipped it open and held it up before the crumpled Shining Diamond… then turned around and stabbed it into the groove of the wheel, popping it off and making it clatter to the floor. “Heh. Time to get out of here.”

She started walking to the door-

“Help...”

Valentine’s ears perked up and she looked at the ceiling to see a chained dragon inside of a cage. He looked burnt and beaten up and barely conscious. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well it looks like Shining Diamond did a real number on you, honey.”

“Please, help me...” the dragon repeated, staring imploringly into her sunglasses.

Valentine frowned, she looked down at the unconscious Whitesheet and then back up at the dragon. “I’ll help you get out of there, but you’re going to have to help me with something too.”

The desert below had become a nightmare land of fire and melting sand that bubbled like lava. No longer restrained to just making explosions, the monster of Supernova set fire to everything around her in her pursuit of Rainbow Dash. Each fireball and tornado of flames that was summoned chased the blue pegasus relentlessly. Daring Do could hardly get in or do anything, the heat itself and the multitude of fires keeping her at bay.

As Rainbow Dash flew to avoid another column of flames, an explosion erupted right in front of her that she had to fly to the side to avoid completely. Burn and scorch marks dotted her coat, wings, and tail, and she was feeling the effects of the intense heat.

“What do we do?!” Daring Do shouted to her flying companion on the outskirts of the fire.

“I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash answered. “I don’t think we can fight her or get close anymore—we have to wait her out somehow.”

Daring Do looked at “Supernova” and realized that for better or worse, Rainbow was right. The air shimmered and wavered around the monster and wherever she stepped the sand left behind caught fire and melted. They couldn’t touch her. Not directly at least. Her body had become a fiery explosion, an unparalleled inferno, in pony form.

The one thing Daring Do had to her advantage was that the monster was paying even less attention to her than Supernova had originally, and she used that to try thinking of some kind of plan for them while Rainbow Dash flew for her life. She wracked that author and archaeologist brain of hers and watched, examining their enemy for anything they could use. The monster was very thin and weak looking physically, a rock to the head might be all they needed. But Daring Do wasn’t sure if that could be risked or if she could get close enough to throw it with enough force to do the job. What else?

The Cutie Mark. That might’ve been the strangest thing about all of this. It used to be a big explosion but now it had turned into a question mark. How? That went against everything everypony in the whole world knew about Cutie Marks. And why? Daring Do looked harder at it. She might not have had eyes as sharp as Rainbow Dash, but she could still make out that black question mark.

Each time Supernova cast a spell, whether it was summoning more flames or creating an explosion, the cracks around the Cutie Mark glowed red and the Cutie Mark itself pulsed before going back to normal. But if her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her, she was certain that the cracks had grown wider and more numerous. Just ever so slightly.

“R-Rainbow!” Daring Do shouted to get her attention. “I think you’re right! We can outlast her! I don’t think her body can handle all that magical power, her Cutie Mark’s getting all weird!”

“Good! How long do you think it’ll take before she stops?” Rainbow asked.

“Umm… I have no idea!”

“Awesome!” Rainbow said and dodged another explosion while twin twisters of fire closed in on her from the sides. She rolled out from between them as they smashed into each other and created a larger twister that exploded outwards and reached far enough to light Rainbow’s tail on fire. “Oh great!” Rainbow yelled as she tried smacking the fire out.

Daring bit her lip. This was getting really hairy for Rainbow Dash. She had to do something more direct now rather than just hoping they could keep avoiding the monster’s attacks until they broke down, or ran out, or whatever might happen.

Her original idea of a rock was unfortunately the best thing she could come up with. Daring Do flew down to the sands to look for one, most everything around them was on fire or melted away though. She had to look for a boulder that had been blown up earlier in the fight before Supernova’s meltdown. She ended up flying to between two fires still burning in the sands, a pile of rocks lying by them. The rocks were burning hot and she juggled the one she picked up between her hooves a few times before flying in closer to where the monster unicorn was.

The monster still wasn’t paying any attention to her at all, even as Daring Do flew well within vision of her. Daring for her part struggled with the intense heat of the flames around her, it was like being roasted over a camp fire or inside an oven. Despite the sweat coming off her in buckets and the worry that her clothes were about to ignite she still managed to get within decent range of the monster.

“Take this!” Daring yelled and chucked the rock as hard as she could at the monster’s head.

As soon as it got within two feet, a pinpoint explosion shot from its horn and blew the rock to pieces. Without the monster even looking at it. Even so, the cracks around the Cutie Mark got worse and even the question mark itself looked like it was becoming cracked.

Not about to let up, Daring Do went for a different approach and flapped her wings hard in the direction of the monster, kicking up a huge cloud of sand to try and give Rainbow a moment where she wasn’t being attacked. The sand cloud rushed towards the monster—and melted and burned away into nothingness. Particles and shards of glass at best were all that was left over.

The question mark Cutie Mark pulsed again but this time there was another effect. The monster howled in pain and grasped her head while jets of flame and steam shot from the Cutie Mark.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do shouted up to her. “I think we just need a little more, her magic is going completely out of her control, she’s starting to get overloaded!”

“I’ll try and do something about that!” Rainbow Dash said as she was still busy avoiding fires.

The monster recovered from her pain and—with flames still leaking out from her—snarled up at Rainbow Dash. Her horn sparked with enough energy to set the air on fire again and a volley of flaming missiles were shot up into the sky. As soon as they reached around where Rainbow Dash was flying they were joined by a series of brand new explosions. The sky was blanketed in fire and balls of death streaming through it to try and take down the rainbow pegasus.

It was impossible for Rainbow Dash to avoid this completely and she was rocked around by explosions, doing her best to avoid the deadly fireballs from hitting her directly, but she still ended up clipped in the wing by one. Only a few outer feathers were burnt and scraped off but it was enough to momentarily send her down.

“No!” Daring Do yelled. She looked at the monster and saw blinding white light shooting out from its flank, the question mark Cutie Mark had almost completely melted away by the look of things.

And still the monster pressed forward. The sparks flying from its horn became a permanent shower and bits of its curved horn were peeling and crumbling off. The monster fired out a stream of fire but it went off to the side and fizzled out in the air while Rainbow Dash fell straight to the sand, unable to right herself in time.

“Not good, not good...” she panicked and covered her face with her hooves, crashing down and leaving a gash in the hot sand.

“Rainbow, I’m coming!” Daring Do flew over to try and help her. “You have to get away right now!”

Rainbow Dash groaned and stood up, shaking the sand off of her and coughing. “Where’s—oh.”

The incredible heat washing over her told her everything and Rainbow Dash glacially turned her head to see the fire monster slowly walking towards her. Ten feet away. Nine feet away. Eight feet away. Fire and bolts of magic shot from her horn in every direction, out of the monster’s control, and her flank burned a bright white while red cracks had grown to cover her entire body.

Somewhat ironically, Rainbow Dash found herself frozen in place. The inferno eyes of what was once Supernova looked deep into her own and the monster’s mouth of needlesharp teeth hung open. It was pure instinct and animalistic hunger that was driving the monster forth.

“Rainbow Dash!” Daring Do yelled to try and get her to move. The other pegasus was still too far away and not fast enough to get to her.

Five feet away and burning saliva dripped from the monster’s mouth to set fire to the sand under her.

Rainbow Dash stood up and opened her wings-

And the monster’s hoof paused in midstep. The glowing white light faded from its flanks completely.

Rainbow Dash blinked and Daring Do came to a stop a few feet away from the monster. The question mark had vanished and the growing red cracks had spread and widened even further. While the two pegasi looked on, what was left of the monster’s horn caught fire, and other flames erupted from its legs, body, head and neck, all crawling over and consuming it. A viscous lava dripped down onto the sand and melted it away, turning it into a bubbling pit while the flames reduced the figure of the monster to less than a skeleton and finally just a raging bonfire.

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do silently stood and watched the fire, breathing heavily and sweating. Eventually the flames burned themselves out, far quicker than they normally would, and all that was left behind was a hole of glass and ash.

“Nghh, my head...” Shining Diamond said as he woke up on the cold floor. He rubbed his temples and reached a hoof up towards the wheel station, pulling himself up and trying to get a grasp on the situation. His eyes were still closed with a dull throbbing pain like a headache right behind the shut lids. “Whitesheet? Anyone? Why does everything feel so… slanted?”

There was no answer and he awkwardly fumbled at the wheel next to him, only to find nothing but air.

“Huh?” He finally managed to open his eyes and saw that the wheel had been snapped off.

And that the bridge was tilting downwards.

Because the Ziz was tilting downwards.

Shining Diamond blinked and looked at the large viewport at the front of the bridge. A massive sea of crystals filled the screen and he could see the nose of his great blimp about to impact them.

“Oh dear.”

Another massive explosion tore through the desert but this wasn’t the product of Supernova or any magic. Rainbow Dash and Daring Do were shocked by the blast and looked behind them at the Crystal Sea, where a larger fireball than any was already billowing up into the sky. The damage to the crystals was spectacular and it seemed most of the Sea would soon be consumed by fire and debris.

“Welp, kind of wasn’t paying attention to that but I think the blimp just crashed,” Rainbow Dash said.

Daring Do hissed as her heart stopped. “Valentine, did she-”

“Hey! Hey you two!”

Rainbow Dash and Daring Do looked up to see a parachuting Miss Valentine coming down towards them—along with a dragon carrying something, or a bunch of somethings, in his arms.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

Miss Valentine and the dragon landed right beside them and the two pegasi saw that the dragon was carrying almost a dozen other ponies, who he unceremoniously dropped onto the sands. Most of them were unconscious but a few groaned in discomfort.

“Who are they?” Daring Do asked.

“Shining Diamond’s lackeys,” Valentine grinned. “And our dragon friend here was a prisoner of his.”

“You rescued them from the blimp before it crashed?” Rainbow sounded surprised.

Valentine’s grin widened. “The whole lot of them. Aside from Shining Diamond himself. Figured that was an acceptable loss.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “It’s better than nothing I guess...”

“Can I go now?” The dragon asked. He looked tired and pretty unhappy that he had to essentially rescue his tormentors. “My job’s done.”

“Thanks for the help, honey,” Valentine said. “But first I’ll need you to carry them back to Camelback too. Where are you going to go after that?”

“Anywhere but here,” the dragon sighed and sat down, resting until it was time to go again.

Valentine looked at Rainbow and Daring Do. “So you took care of Supernova?”

“In a manner of speaking...” Daring Do rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s over with her. That’s what’s important,” Rainbow said. She took a deep breath and looked back at the burning and devastated Crystal Sea. “Uhhh… is this what we wanted? I don’t know what you two really wanted to do with the Crystal Sea, but was this it?”

“As long as Shining Diamond didn’t get to do as he pleased with it, that was the important part,” Valentine said. She looked up at the sky, the column of smoke from the blimp’s explosion was reaching miles up. “I don’t think this place is going to stay hidden forever now either. Whether it’s camels, or anybody else in the desert who gets here first, I think there are going to be some changes here.” She smiled and lowered her sunglasses to look directly at Rainbow Dash. “And I think I’ve become optimistic enough to believe they’ll be good ones.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled slightly in amusement before sitting down and closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and felt a wave of exhaustion, but also relief, roll over her.

“Something wrong?” Daring Do asked her.

Rainbow blinked and looked up at her longtime friend. “No, it’s just… it feels really good to win.” She exhaled and looked between Daring and Valentine. “Well what are you two going to do now?”

“I think it’s back to Camelback for a day or two and then-” Daring Do smiled at Valentine.

Valentine nodded. “And then it’s off to find those two idiots who betrayed us… but before that I need a new vest.”

Daring Do snorted and looked at Rainbow. “What about you, Rainbow? You’re welcome to come with us.”

“Oh is she now?” Valentine said, all in good humor.

Rainbow Dash laughed and stood up, dusting herself off. “Thanks but no thanks. I bet it would be a lot of fun, but I’m flying south still. I’ve got my own goal after all.” She grinned at Daring Do. “Next time you see me I’ll be known as the only pony who’s flown around the entire world.”

“Good luck out there,” Daring Do said and hugged her.

“Thanks, good luck to you too,” Rainbow said.

“Good luck,” Valentine said to her. “No hug from me though, honey.”

“Figured,” Rainbow shrugged.

Savanna Grass and Baobab Trees

Rainbow Dash flew over the last dredges of the Great Camel Desert on her journey south. A journey finally renewed after helping Daring Do and Miss Valentine stop Shining Diamond. She was happy for it though, those adventures were once again practically the reason she was doing this in the first place. But now she was back on her way, traveling south without distraction.

Three days ago it had been that Lorg the dragon carried her on his back away from Camelback and to the southern oasis of Broken Hoof. He had been slightly more agreeable to helping Rainbow Dash than Shining Diamond’s minions since she was part of the group that rescued him. After that it was a day of recuperation and she was off to the skies again.

She was not going to miss the desert. The sand. The heat. None of it.

“I can’t believe I miss snow,” Rainbow Dash blinked as the sudden realization dawned on her. “I really can’t.”

Her mood had improved considerably though compared to when she had first entered the Great Camel Desert. While the fight with Supernova had perturbed her, the success and survival of her friends filled her with hope and satisfaction. That was proof. Proof that she wasn’t wrong to come here, proof that she was needed and could help while traveling on her journey.

And it was because of that that she just felt so… relaxed. And happy. For the first time in a long time she could just happily fly over the world.

A smile broke out on her face as she looked at the horizon. “Sometimes, life is really awesome.”

The hot desert sand that covered an entire country eventually gave way to a yellow, dry, grassland. It was still hot and desolate but at least different from rolling sand dunes stretching everywhere. Rainbow Dash would take it. It showed she was making good progress and since it was fairly early in the day she could travel across a great deal more of these grasses before stopping. Squinting her eyes she was fairly sure she saw trees in the distance, so this place wasn’t just a complete wasteland of dry grass and heat. Maybe. Maybe there was water somewhere too? At least she had moderately gotten used to the desert heat after all that time, so the harsh sun above her now wasn’t so terrible.

Clouds were still an uncommon feature of the sky here, there wasn’t much to look at above or below where she was flying yet. No animals that she could see so far. Not much color aside from yellow. It would probably remain like that until she actually got to those trees.

For not the first time, Rainbow wished she was the kind of pony who could really appreciate quiet landscapes and pure nature like this. If she had a poet’s heart maybe she could really find some beauty here or come up with something special to say about it all. But while she didn’t hate the quiet world of nature or anything, it didn’t really do anything for her either. She knew that if she spent a whole day just flying over stuff like this she’d get bored.

Flips, dips, dives, corkscrews, she took the opportunity to do them all just to shake off the monotony of flying straight ahead. She was in a good enough mood to goof around anyways. It’s not like there was anything specifically for her to fly towards either.

What was south of the desert? Cart D’Evron had told her some things. Giraffes, a huge kingdom that had vanished or something, and then some really nice place with lots of farms and flowers or whatever. She’d have to see it for herself. At least one of those things sounded like it could give her another big adventure.

He had really warned her to not keep going directly south after the giraffe’s homes. Saying to go east or west instead.

Rainbow was definitely thankful for his kindness, but the warnings just made her more excited.

She wondered how he and his company were doing? Seemed like he was leading a pretty steady life, maybe he would even reap the rewards of the Crystal Sea. She hoped so, he helped her out back there when he really had no reason to. Well, if he did suddenly find himself wealthier, she could consider that as paying him and his company back.

After less than an hour, the grasses beneath her started to gain a little more color. It wasn’t a spectacular change but it was something. Things were more green now and small amounts of water were visible, dotting the land. Just simple watering holes. What really caught her attention were the large trees that she could now see and fly around directly. Hugely thick trunks, possibly thicker than any other tree she had seen, with flowering branches and green canopies only at the very top. They stood out in the grasslands like sentinels, far taller than anything else.

“Wow,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards a nearby one and checked it out. She searched around its leaves and—aha! Found fruit nestled inside. Safe to eat? She’d take her chances.

Pulling one of the fruits off the tree was easy. Opening the dry outer shell was not. She flew down to the ground and found a rock, pounding the fruit on it until it finally opened up and she could get at the good stuff inside. Rainbow took a hoofful of the seeds and pulp from inside it and ate it with nary a second thought.

She chewed for a while and swallowed it down, shrugging. “Decent.”

After that she flew back up to the top of the tree, it was probably close to a hundred feet tall, and took a big look south. Things got greener and greener the further she could see, with more trees not just like these huge monsters in the distance. Hills too to the east and west, and she was certain she saw some birds flying around as well.

“Somewhere new, huh?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I’d say I’m making pretty good progress.”

She flapped her wings and took off south at faster speed. Traveling around the world didn’t stop.

Giraffe Glade I

Things had actually become nice out. It wasn’t so hot and dry anymore, the lands she was now traveling over were temperate and hospitable. When so much of her journey had been from one extreme to another, these places were extra nice. Green grass, small streams, lots of trees and bushes, all covered the land below her. There was even a pleasant breeze to accompany it all.

More than just nature, there were roads down there too. Dirt paths through the grass and the trees that were big enough for wagons to use. She had to be going the right way to her next destination. Whatever it would turn out to be, the roads had to go somewhere.

Rainbow Dash started whistling to herself as she flew lower, just above the trees. The trees here were more normal looking than those giant ones from earlier, more numerous as well, but they didn’t completely cover the lands like a dense forest or jungle. There were plenty of small animals and birds running or flying between them as well. No signs of civilization that the roads might lead to just yet, but she was sure she’d get there in time. It was the middle of the day and she had a lot of time to fly before it started to get dark.

Hunger and thirst weren’t an issue, she had seen plenty of fruits and flowers to eat, and even the grass if she had to eat that too. The flowing streams and watering holes in this grasslands, or plains, or whatever a place like this was supposed to be called provided her with plenty to drink as well. Not having to worry about that stuff, unlike when she was in the desert or True North, really lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.

She did a flew loops as she whistled and slowly flew her way south in carefree fashion. For a moment she thought to maybe go down to the ground and start walking down the road, but she still wanted to travel faster until she actually saw something.

Rainbow Dash passed over another line of trees and paused for a second as ahead she was certain she could see a wide open valley between a couple of small hills further on without many trees obscuring the rest of the land. If she was right though… she thought she saw what might be buildings. It was hard to tell since they looked a little unusual. But it was a good sign to her. Time to fly over there and check things out.

The closer she got the more sure of things she was. Those were definitely buildings, and there were definitely creatures out and about walking between them and in that open valley.

Things looked slightly off to her pony sensibilities though. The shapes and sizes seemed wrong, like her perspective was warped in some way or the dimensions were off.

It was only when she got close enough to really make out the details of the small village did she realize what it was.

She was thinking about things and looking at the buildings and creatures from a pony’s point of view. Naturally things would look odd, considering the buildings were built for much taller creatures, and the ones walking around were giraffes.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash said as she noticed the giraffes for the first time as more than just shapes in the distance. No wonder the buildings looked big, it was just like when she found the mammoth city back in the True North. It seemed to be a fairly busy little village, Rainbow saw dozens of buildings and lots of giraffes out and about. The road she had pretty much been following led right into the center of it all.

The buildings now that she could see them up pretty close weren’t especially impressive though. Mud and grass huts, domes, and long rectangular ones. The giraffes obviously didn’t have much in the way of construction or modern mechanics and such. Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly want to knock them for that though, if it worked for them then it worked for them. It was just pretty obvious she wasn’t going to see anything like she would in Manehattan, Las Pegasus, or Oreville here. They didn’t even have any buildings made out of stone or wooden plank.

Since it was such a quiet and peaceful looking place, she also seriously doubted that there would be any fun adventuring to be found here.

Rainbow Dash dropped down from the sky and onto the road just right outside the town. Her arrival gained the attention of a number of giraffes but most only looked over for a moment before going back to their business. She wasn’t surprised, they were probably used to ponies and other creatures coming through here if what Cart said was anything to go by.

That made things a little awkward for her though. Did she just try walking up and talking to one of them? Boy they sure were tall…

Most of them seemed pretty uninviting to talk to as well. Not unfriendly, they weren’t sneering at her, or frowning, but they weren’t smiling either. They just looked really calm, stoic, disinterested. Not just in regards to her either, no matter where she looked, she didn’t see a single giraffe smiling or showing any sort of emotion. Maybe they were just a really quiet group of creatures?

It was also funny looking around and seeing giraffe children that were already many times bigger than she was.

“Oh well,” Rainbow Dash said and flew back up again, she saw a giraffe that she was pretty sure was a cow… oh geez, she hoped that was the right term for female giraffes, who was walking alone and didn’t look too busy. Since that was as good a bet as any, Rainbow Dash decided to talk to her.

“Yo!” Rainbow said as she quickly flitted over to the giraffe, waving to get her attention.

The giraffe blinked and turned her head to the pony interrupting her walk. She didn’t look angry, or surprised, or anything at all really. “Yes?”

“Umm, hey. I’m from like, far away, do you giraffes have anybody here who I can talk to? Or like, do you know anything I can do?” Rainbow asked.

“This one is unsure what you mean,” the giraffe replied.

“Uhhh...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “I mean, well, who deals with merchants and travelers coming through this place?” She quickly changed tunes.

“That would be He Whose Neck Is Long,” the giraffe answered.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Alright then. And where can I find him?”

“He is standing and conversing with She Whose Legs Are Short over there,” the giraffe pointed at two other giraffes standing outside a large dome.

“Oh, um, thank you,” Rainbow Dash said and started to fly away before stopping and raising an eyebrow at the cow. “And what’s your name by the way?”

“This one is known as She With Neck That Is Long,” She With Neck That Is Long answered.

Rainbow Dash took a moment to look. She did have a pretty long neck.

Author's Note

Giraffe Glade II

“Uh, hi. Are you “He Whose Neck Is long”?” Rainbow Dash asked the male giraffe standing outside the entrance to one of the village’s large domes.

“That is what this one is called, yes,” the giraffe nodded. His eyes were half-lidded in a tired expression, but he was giving Rainbow Dash his full attention. The other giraffe; “She Whose Legs Are Short”, was politely and quietly standing by after Rainbow Dash had come up to speak with her conversation partner.

“Great, my name is Rainbow Dash, I was told you’re the one who deals with outsiders and merchants?” She raised an eyebrow.

“This one is indeed the liaison for such things,” He Whose Neck Is Long replied. “Are you a merchant, or just an outsider?”

“Just an outsider,” Rainbow smiled. “I came here from really far away, I’ve been flying for the past couple of days and I found your village. So, uh, was just kind of wondering if I could learn about it and stuff. Maybe find a place to eat and sleep for the day? I’ve never actually met any giraffes before and I guarantee you’ve never met any ponies from where I’m from.”

He Whose Neck Is Long blinked and he looked over at his companion. “Would you please excuse us for now? It seems this one has business.”

“Of course, this one will return later,” She Whose Legs Are Short said and walked away.

“Sorry about interrupting,” Rainbow said.

“It is no matter, this one and that one will meet again later tonight,” he said. “May this one ask where exactly you are from, pony Rainbow Dash?”

“Big country called Equestria, aaaaalll the way on the other side of the world,” Rainbow said. “What’s your village called?”

“This place is known as Dacty. Welcome,” He Whose Neck Is Long bowed ever so slightly.

“Cool. You get a lot of travelers and merchants through here?” Rainbow asked.

“Many through, yes. Not many stop for trade and sale, most do business elsewhere,” he answered.

“Yeah I can see why...” Rainbow said as she looked around at the grass and mud huts.

“Is there any specific reason you stopped here?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean not really, I’m kind of just traveling all over the world, and I’ve got friends back home who would be super curious to learn anything about a new group of creatures and their home. If I see a village like yours I kind of just automatically stop now.” She glanced up at the sky. “And I have no idea how things south of here are like, so even though it’s only the middle of the day I was thinking of stopping here for the night. If that’s okay with you giraffes?”

“You staying here is no issue for us. However, we do not have lodgings for a creature of your stature. But if you would like you can take a tent to the outskirts of Dacty,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered. “Is there anything else you’d like to know about Dacty? We are a small giraffe enclave in the north-center edge of giraffe territory. The camels don’t like us moving any closer to their desert.”

“Yeah that aint really a surprise,” Rainbow Dash sorted. “So you’re just a small town and there are other places giraffes live around here?”

He Whose Neck Is Long nodded. “Yes. This one is from another village. This one moved here for work. The Long Neck of Dacty is He Whose Neck Is Longer Still, if you would care to meet him while you are here.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and tilted her head. “That’s your leader or something?”

“Yes. This one has been told that a similar term would be “mayor” or “chief”. This one apologizes if he is not making things clear for you,” the giraffe said.

Rainbow Dash awkwardly waved her hooves in front of her. “No, no, no, it’s totally cool. I get it. I don’t know if I’ll like really be doing anything here or staying for longer than a day though, if you have questions about where I come from, or if there’s something special about you giraffes you want to share with a super awesome outsider who will tell others about you then we can do that. Otherwise I’m gonna be flying south fast before the sun’s even up tomorrow.”

“This one would be happy to hear about your home. Though there are better giraffes in the village for that, such as She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long, an older giraffe and our storyteller,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

“Umm… cool, like maybe tonight I can go see her then,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. The way giraffes talked was already starting to strain her brain.

“Very well. And as for something special about us giraffes that we would like travelers and visitors to know about—this one can think of nothing more fitting than our poetry,” he said.

Rainbow Dash blinked, her face blank. “What?”

“Our poetry. We giraffes take great pride in our way with words,” he said with the same lack of emotion and expression as always. “In fact, a large poetry recital is happening this afternoon in our Poetry Hall.”

Rainbow Dash blinked again. “What?”

He Whose Neck Is Long gestured to one of the long rectangular mud and grass buildings in the village. “There, our hall. Quite a few giraffes are going to be reciting poetry just a short time from now. Would you care to come with this one and watch the recital? This one can think of no better way to quickly attune an outsider with our culture and way of life.”

“I, um. Maybe if... I gotta...” Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “Aw geez, I literally don’t have anything better to do. Alright, let’s go to the poetry recital.” She almost shuddered as those words left her mouth.

He Whose Neck Is Long didn’t seem to pick up on her reservations at all. “I am sure you will find it most enjoyable, there will be some great poems read today.”

“Y-Yeah...” Rainbow winced.

Cart had said that giraffes were kind of weird. Now she was getting to learn that first hoof.

Giraffe Glade III

The ceiling of the Poetry Hall was high for her standards but for the giraffes it was only a couple of feet over their heads. Rainbow Dash hovered beside the head of He Whose Neck Is Long as he sat near the back. Probably because he knew Rainbow might be distracting to the other giraffes here. The hall had a small stage at the very front and nothing more than very simple wooden benches running down the rest of its length. It was a good thing her wings weren’t tired, sitting down and trying to see anything would be a pain.

“The poetry reciting will start soon,” He Whose Neck Is Long told her. “It should carry on well into the night.”

“Well… into… the night?” Rainbow Dash paled.

He nodded. “Yes. We speak slowly and deliberately so the full weight of every word can be pronounced and felt when it comes to our poetry recitations. And with the large number of giraffes here today, the entire recital will take quite a few hours.”

If I could switch places with… literally any of my friends right now, I would. Rainbow thought to herself. Extra funny if it was Applejack.

She looked around at the other giraffes and saw that most of them hadn’t so much as been glancing or stealing looks at her. She supposed a pegasus wasn’t too uncommon of a sight for them if they had plenty of travelers and traders come through here. And like always, they were all stony and blank-faced, not really looking excited at all for the upcoming poetry.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “So are your poetry recitals always quiet like this? Should I not applaud or anything?”

“You may applaud if you so wish,” he answered. Although he didn’t say if he would be applauding.

“Alright then,” Rainbow said and then waited while floating around his head for the actual poetry stuff to start. Not that she was especially looking forward to that.

Still, these giraffes were pretty polite and “friendly” enough. It definitely wouldn’t sit right with her or her friends if she was rude to them. It was pretty clear they were willing to be helpful to her, and they were very open. At the very least, Twilight would enjoy hearing all about giraffe culture. That egghead was so going to owe her for all the new stuff Rainbow Dash was going to be able to tell her about once she got back home.

“The first poet is getting ready,” He Whose Neck Is Long suddenly said.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw a giraffe on stage, everyone else in the hall had gotten even quieter in the meantime. She herself was not quite excited or full of anticipation, but perhaps wondering how exactly this would go. The giraffe took center stage and cleared his throat before slowly looking out across the entire hall of giraffes.

“Thank you for coming here today. This one hopes you enjoy this one’s poetry,” the giraffe said and took a deep breath.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck long. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and she gaped at the performance in pure disbelief.

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the grass. Giraffe, giraffe, her neck close. Giraffe, giraffe, two walking together.”

“Giraffe, giraffe, walking through the trees. Giraffe, giraffe, his neck short. Leaves, leaves, acacia leaves. Tasty, tasty, on the tree.”

The poet then bowed his head slightly. “Thank you for listening.”

Rainbow Dash blinked.

No one applauded.

“A somber poem. Did you enjoy it?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

“I… um… it was interesting?” She responded.

He nodded. “Yes. There will be many more coming. This one is sure you will enjoy quite a few more.”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared up at the stage as the first giraffe poet left and the next one came up. It was going to be a very long afternoon.

Giraffe Glade VI

“And so the giraffe stretches. He reaches high. Higher and higher. Reaching for the leaves. But his neck is still too short.”

“A giraffe with neck longer comes. His neck is not too short. He reaches high, reaches and reaches, the branch comes lower.”

“The first giraffe now reaches again. He reaches and reaches. The leaves are now close enough. He eats.”

“Two giraffes eat leaves together.”

“As it should always be. Giraffe, giraffe, together. Giraffe, giraffe, community.”

“Later another giraffe. His neck too short.’

“And another giraffe. His neck long enough.”

“Two more giraffes eat leaves together.”

“As it should always be.”

Rainbow Dash’s glazed over eyes watched as the latest poet left the stage. Then surprisingly there wasn’t another giraffe to come up and the crowd in the Poetry Hall started talking amongst themselves. She blinked and wiped the drool from her mouth. “I-Is it over?”

“Yes. He was the last. The poetry recital for today is over,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered.

Rainbow Dash held back the urge to cheer and scream out in joy.

“It was quite an excellent night of poetry if this one says so. You are quite lucky to have arrived today,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

“I-I am?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

He nodded. “Yes. Truly a great showing. Many exemplary poets were in Dacty today. Would you care to meet any of them? This one is sure they’d love to discuss their poetry with an outsider.”

“No please!” Rainbow Dash quickly held up her hooves and shook her head. “I-I mean… I’m sure they’re tired after reciting their poetry. And they wouldn’t want some doofus who doesn’t know anything about poetry bothering them.”

“This one sees. Then perhaps you would like a tent now. Or to talk to our storyteller?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked.

“I… uh,” Rainbow Dash looked outside the small “windows” of the hall (really just holes in the mud and grass) and saw that while it was almost night it was still way too early for her to sleep. She sighed in defeat. “Yeah, let’s go talk to your storyteller.” She glanced back at him. “Didn’t you have a date with that other giraffe to keep?”

“That one will understand. Duty comes first. The village will remain,” he said. “You wouldn’t have much of an idea of what to do if this one wasn’t here to help you navigate Dacty and our ways. That one will see what this one is doing as a good and necessary thing.”

“Well thanks for helping me out,” Rainbow Dash said. And she did mean it. Even if her brain was fried from the poetry. The giraffes were indeed not an unfriendly folk, just weird. Exactly as Cart had put it.

Other giraffes started walking part the two of them, leaving the long hall since the poetry was done with. She saw a few at the front of the building by the stage talking with some of the poets—something she was thankful to have been able to talk her way out of. Most of the giraffes that walked by again either only vaguely acknowledged her presence with a slight nod or glance or just ignored her completely. Stoic was the word of the day. He Whose Neck Is long waited for the aisle to clear up and he started to leave the hall, with Rainbow buzzing right by his head.

Giraffe Glade VII

With it now being dark out in the village, Rainbow Dash had expected to see less giraffes around than earlier. That turned out to not be remotely the case however. If anything there were even more giraffes out walking around the small village of Dacty. Maybe they just preferred the night time to daytime. It was possible that the coolness in the air was more inviting after how hot it was during the day.

There were even more couples out too. Male and female giraffes speaking alone together outside of the huts, behind the huts, in places just slightly more private than the rest of the village. She quietly looked to her side at He Whose Neck Is Long. Was it really okay that she took over his whole day and dragged him away from that girl giraffe he was talking to?

He said it was perfectly good but she had the suspicion that giraffes were too reserved and polite to say anything directly negative or refusing to her.

“So where’s this, She’s Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long live?” Rainbow asked him, fairly certain that’s what he said the storyteller’s name was. The quicker they got to her and Rainbow Dash could then get a tent, the quicker this guy could get back to his own life.

“Only a little further. That one has her own hut. As is fitting of a storyteller,” He Whose Neck Is Long answered.

Rainbow didn’t know what being a storyteller had to do with that but she really didn’t think she wanted to get in a long, drawn out conversation about it either. Her giraffe pal continued to slowly walk through the dark village while she flew close to his head, always at eye level. After not too much longer they came to a “small” hut. It didn’t look like it was wide enough to be more than one room on the inside but it was very tall for some reason, the mud tapering off until it become cone-shaped on the top half. A curtain made of long grass also functioned as its only door. He Whose Neck Is Long lifted up a hoof and parted it for Rainbow Dash to enter.

“Thanks,” Dash said and flew on in with him coming in behind her.

It being night out it wasn’t a surprise the hut was mostly dark aside from a few grass—candles? Torches? Rainbow couldn’t decide what the best term for them was. Either way they only barely lit up the interior and revealed an elderly female giraffe sitting on a wide mat. Her fur was graying all over but her eyes were still sharp and her head snapped over to He Whose Neck Is Long as soon as she saw him enter.

It was one of the fastest movements she had seen any giraffe make.

“He Whose Neck Is Long. And an outsider pony. Why have you come to the storyteller?” She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long asked.

He Whose Neck Is Long blinked and looked towards Rainbow Dash. “This pony is known as Rainbow Dash. She comes from very far away. She would like to tell you about her home and her journeys. And also hear about us giraffes. Our history and our ways.”

“This one sees,” the storyteller stood up and gently exhaled, looking at Rainbow Dash deeply. “Then first allow this one to make you feel at home by regaling you with our giraffe history so you understand us.”

“Okay,” Rainbow shrugged.

“First—in the old days—there were giraffes. Some with necks long, others with necks short...”

Oh no. Rainbow Dash grimaced.

Giraffe Glade VIII

Giraffes.

Giraffes.

GIRAFFES.

Rainbow Dash had heard enough about giraffes to last a lifetime. It all kind of turned into a whirling mush inside her head and the only thing left over was a bunch of giraffes and descriptions about necks. It had been a long day and her brain needed some rest. From hearing about giraffes. From looking at giraffes. From spending a whole day in a giraffe village. By the time the storyteller had finished her story about the giraffe’s history and why they were the way they were—Rainbow Dash had completely zoned out and everything was just white noise.

“Do you now understand us giraffes?” She Whose Neck Was Not Quite So Long asked.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash answered automatically, stiffly nodding her head.

“Good. This one is happy to hear,” the storyteller said.

“As is this one,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

In reality, they could’ve been talking about how to juice lemons for the past hour and Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have known any better.

“Would you like to now tell us about your home and the ways of your ponies?” The storyteller asked her.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash stiffly nodded again. And after a moment of silence realized she was supposed to be talking. “Oh, right—uh.” Where to even begin? There was a ton to talk about when it came to Equestria and just as much to talk about if she started retelling her own journey up to this point. And by this point she really wanted to go to sleep and then wake up and fly her way far away from any giraffes. “I’ll, uh, keep to the big stuff. The important stuff about Equestria. Looks like it’s getting kind of late and I totally don’t want to keep you up all night. And that’s the only reason.”

“Very well,” the storyteller nodded. “This one eagerly awaits what you have to teach us about your home.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and started rubbing her eyes. “Okay...”

For over an hour she told the storyteller—and by extension He Whose Neck Is Long—everything about Equestria that she deemed was important enough to tell. The Princesses, the Elements of Harmony, some of their biggest adventures, the school, how awesome the Wonderbolts were, things like that. While neither giraffe did anything other than stoically blink, Rainbow Dash was pretty sure they were doing a much better job at listening than she did. She would’ve like more of a reaction to some of her awesome exploits but considering the situation she was fine settling with quiet appreciation.

“Your home sounds like a wondrous and friendly place. This one can understand why you love it so,” the storyteller said. “Though this one believes it would be too loud and busy for the tastes of us giraffes. We prefer the quiet and modest lives of dignity we live here. As you now know well.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Just saying though, if any of you ever wanted to come or whatever, you’d be more than welcome.”

Surprisingly, She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long offered a very small smile. “Yes. This one knows. Thank you for your sharing of stories and history with us, Rainbow Dash.”

“You’re welcome,” Dash nodded, a bit awkward with the formality of the situation.

“Would you like to get a tent now?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

Rainbow Dash vigorously nodded. “Yes. Please.”

“Very well, follow this one and shortly you can have your own domicile for sleeping. Then get back on your way tomorrow morning,” he said.

“Cool,” Rainbow grinned and started flying out the mud hut.

“This one gives you her best wishes on your journey, wherever it may take you, Rainbow Dash.” She Whose Neck Is Not Quite So Long said. “Goodbye.”

Rainbow Dash waved back to her as she passed through the grass curtain. “Bye.”

Giraffe Glade IX

The small tent Rainbow Dash got to sleep in that night was made out of bound together strands of grass and twigs. It was not exactly comfortable to use. She would’ve figured anything coming from the giraffes would’ve been a little bigger. But she made it work and she was exhausted enough after listening to all that poetry and just plain dealing with the giraffes that she fell asleep really quick. However the thing was pretty itchy inside so she kept shifting about and waking up briefly through the night, all the way until just right before dawn when she wanted to wake up and get back to flying south.

The itchiness and her internal clock proved a good combination for her to wake up exactly when she planned. A few yawns and blinks were all she needed before looking around the cramped confines of her tent reminded her of where she was and how the previous day had gone. Rainbow Dash let out a long, exasperated sigh and shook her head.

“Well… least I’ll be gone soon,” she said and stuck her head outside the tent. A single flap of tightly woven grass being the only thing keeping the outside from the in.

She immediately came face to face with a giraffe.

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash cried out in surprise and fell back.

“This one apologizes. He did not mean to frighten you.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and looked at He Whose Neck Is Long as he stood outside her tent and leaned over, his neck stretching down low and low to almost ground level, all so he could be at eye-level with her. “What are you doing here, dude?”

“This one knew you were leaving early in the morning. You seem a very restless pony. This one came to offer you something before you left,” he said.

Rainbow Dash blinked and saw that beneath him sat a small loaf of bread on a wrapping of leaves. “Bread?”

“Food specifically kept for travelers who visit Dacty,” He Whose Neck Is Long explained. “It should be filling for you. If you plan on flying for the entire day you will want a full stomach. This one believes so at least, from what other travelers have said about traveling.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow said and stood up, stretching and getting all the kinks out of her body, before going over to the bread. “Thanks for this by the way. I was probably just going to eat some grass or something.”

“It is nothing that requires a thank you. This one is happy to help,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

Rainbow Dash laughed briefly. “Heh, you giraffes. You guys are funny, that’s for sure.”

“This one is happy that you have enjoyed your visit here and find us amusing.”

“Yeaaahhh...” Rainbow Dash’s eyes glanced away, she quickly grabbed the bread and started stuffing her mouth with it as to change the subject. It wasn’t exactly the freshest or warmest bread she had ever had, but it was still a treat to eat right now. She tore into it fairly fervently and chewed it up with gusto before swallowing the bites of it, not leaving a crumb behind.

“Was it good?”

“Yep!” Rainbow nodded. She took a deep breath and flapped her wings, now flying up to his normal eye-level. “Well, it’s still a little dark out, but that’s no problem for me, I’m gonna get flying out of here. Thanks for all your help and everything, He Whose Neck Is Long.”

He Whose Neck Is Long blinked. “You’re welcome, Rainbow Dash. This one thanks you as well for an entertaining time.”

“It’ll be kind of unlikely, but nobody knows what the future holds, so maybe I’ll see you again someday? Who knows? But bye for now!” Rainbow Dash said and zoomed off over the trees, heading south of Dacty immediately. A glance over her shoulder showed He Whose Neck Is Long very slowly waving goodbye to her.

The rest of the day was spent blazing over giraffe territory at high-speed without a single stop.

Caravan

Green grasslands criss-crossed by small rivers and dirt roads made up the landscape below Rainbow Dash as she continued to fly south. It was another healthy part of this side of the world, with plenty of wildlife down there to enjoy it. The sun was coming in nice and warm from the east, the absolute perfect temperature for just flying out on a good day. If the rest of the places she was traveling through were as pleasant like this she could probably relax and fly on her back the whole way. It was like flying out around Ponyville in the spring. Perfect, just perfect.

She knew that it couldn’t be far now until she reached “Hoofica”. Or at least whatever was left behind after the country supposedly vanished.

Cart had said it was just south of where the giraffe’s lived and Rainbow Dash had shot through that piece of land like lightning.

There wasn’t a single bit of apprehension or worry in her mind. Only pure excitement. Everything he had said, everything he warned her about, and how he tried to convince her to go around Hoofica, it just made her more enthusiastic about making a beeline south. That place, whatever was up with it, was screaming “Adventure” to her. She could feel it in her bones. A brand new grand adventure had to be right around the corner.

And it was another opportunity to not screw things up.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, her mind momentarily flashing to thoughts of Barnaby and Anathema. She had done a good job in the desert, as best she could at least, but she knew she could still help more ponies out there. She knew there was good for her to do. Supernova had been stopped, Shining Diamond had been stopped, two fewer menaces in the world. Even then it wasn’t enough, not to satisfy her desire for adventure and excitement and not to make up for her past failures in her mind. Not yet. There was definitely more out there and she was going to do it all while being awesome too.

Her eyes caught something that stuck out down below on one of the dirt roads. A few somethings. Rainbow Dash looked closer from her position high in the sky and noticed it was a wagon train moving from southeast to north. Not expecting to see anyone or anything else out here, she got pretty curious about who they were and why they were here. And maybe they knew a little more about what was coming up ahead for her.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and figured she’d bite the bullet, probably not in danger of losing any real time if she just went down to talk to them. So off she flew in a steep dive straight towards the unsuspecting wagon train.

She stopped down right in front of the first wagon, being pulled by two earth ponies while a griffon sat on the driver’s seat right behind them, and waved. “Yo.”

The startled ponies came to a screeching halt and the griffon rocked back on his seat while all the other wagons slowed down and stopped behind the first one. Rainbow Dash heard some confused and annoyed mumbling coming from back there and winced.

“W-Who are you, a bandit?” The griffon on the wagon asked while the two earth ponies uncertainly glared up at her.

“What? No!” Rainbow Dash swiftly shook her head. “I’m just traveling through the area and saw your wagons. I didn’t think anybody else would be out here after what I heard about what was going on just south of here, so I was curious. And a little bored.”

“Really?” The suspicious griffon narrowed his eyes and looked left and right as if trying to see if there was anybody else around. He scoffed after not seeing anyone. “Well either way you’re interrupting business of the Aux-Lemm Corporation, we need to get these wagons back to Red Sand Pass. So out of our way already!”

“You guys are from the Aux-Lemm corporation? You know a pony named Cart D’Evron?” Rainbow asked.

The two earth ponies looked surprised and the griffon’s features softened as well.

“Cart is an old companion of mine,” the griffon said, still mildly suspicious. “You’ve met him?”

“Sure have,” Rainbow said.

The griffon rubbed his chin in consideration before bringing a couple of claws up to his beak and whistling sharply. “We’re stopping for five minutes!” He yelled back at the wagons behind him and patted the seat next to him on the wagon. “Come up here, we can talk.”

“Sweet!” Rainbow grinned and came up to sit by him.

“So you’re coming north from the Great Camel Desert then? My name is Lucas by the way,” the griffon said and offered her a talon.

“Rainbow Dash,” she told him and shook it. “And yep, I’m on a looong trip, met Cart back up at One Hump Oasis. Cool dude. I’m just flying south now and when I saw you guys kind of coming from the south I wanted to ask if you really knew anything about what was coming up ahead for me.”

“Flying… south? Not directly south are you? I’m sure Cart and any others you’ve talked to have told you about what’s happened,” Lucas said, a concerned frown on his face.

“Yeah, Hoofica vanishing and all that,” Rainbow shrugged. “Don’t worry, I’m kind of an adventurer, I can handle myself. Do you know how far away it is, or if there’s anything else out here?”

Lucas sighed. “I would like to try and convince you not to go there at all… we aren’t coming back from anywhere near Hoofica. We took the eastern pass down all the way to Vissidia and are coming back from there. Our wagons are full of fruits and vegetables from their country, enchanted by unicorns to not spoil before we get back to the desert. Seriously, if you want to travel south you should go back down the route we took. Don’t go to Hoofica.”

Rainbow Dash just laughed. “Dude, every single time someone tells me not to do something it just makes me want to do it more. I know I can’t prove it to you or anything, but believe me, I’ve been through a lot of stuff and have been to a ton of dangerous places. I’ll be okay.”

“Well alright,” the griffon shrugged. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you or anything. Let me at least give you some extra advice though.”

“Yeah?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, or directly south of this point personally, in a long while but I doubt it’s actually changed. The lands are going to start getting a lot drier and rocky, so you’ll want to have something to eat and drink before you travel any further. Though since you can fly you’ll be able to make the trip pretty fast anyways. And then if you keep going south you’ll hit a small hole in the wall town in the mountains south of here. Some pony pioneers went and settled there years and years ago, practically right outside the borders of Hoofica. They were the ones who first alerted everybody else about the country up and vanishing. Just keep your eyes open while you’re flying and I’m sure you’ll see them,” Lucas reclined in his seat and looked south. “After that… it’s Hoofica.”

Rainbow Dash looked south too and felt the excited smile grow on her face. “Thanks, dude. You’ve been a big help.

“Yeah...” Lucas sighed and reached into the wagon behind him, pulling out a small canteen and tossing it to her. “Here, have a sip.

She grinned at him. “Thanks again.”

Lucas watched as she took a big sip and wiped a few drops of water from her mouth before hoofing the canteen back to him and flying off the wagon. A few flaps of her wings and she was floating right above him.

“Good luck selling your fruit and stuff! Bye!” Rainbow smiled and flew off, going true south.

One of the earth ponies pulling the wagon watched her go and looked back at Lucas. “Is she going to be okay?”

“I really hope so,” Lucas said, the blue body of Rainbow Dash already disappearing into the distance.

A Big Swath of Nothing

She went from a place that was pretty green and lively to now being back over a fairly dry looking and rather uninviting stretch of land. It sure wasn’t as bad as the desert but it was mostly just dirt and rocks on the ground all over with the sun being unfortunately strong here. She was following another winding dirt road from above that went over the most level parts of the land. Further south it led into some much larger rock formations and beyond that she’d have to see when she got there. Clouds of dust almost like a fog obscured whatever was beyond them.

“Can’t say I’m surprised that nobody lives out here,” Rainbow Dash said. The only sort of vegetation she saw down there was tumbleweed and sagebrush. The sun probably baked everything else into oblivion. A dry wind also blew from west to east, parching her lips and blowing dust into her.

Even if it wasn’t for the rumors about Hoofica, Rainbow wouldn’t be surprised if most travelers didn’t like taking this road to get south. There were east and west passages after all, they must be pretty well maintained and have plenty of stops along the way to “Vissidia” or however far south they went. If Hoofica was such a big country though she was surprised there weren’t more roads or it wasn’t easier to get to. Maybe they just kept to themselves or they were bordered by mountains that were hard to get by? Not everywhere could be like Equestria either she supposed.

She unconsciously licked her already drying lips. That drink of water from Lucas was actually a big help, she’d be thirsty otherwise flying through this place. Now she could tolerate it.

The dry air didn’t quite shimmer on the horizon like it did in the desert but she wouldn’t have been able to see that far anyways as she approached the dust bowl. The ground below her became more jagged around the road, rockier, with even less brush down there, as it led to the larger rock formations. You couldn’t call them mountains or anything like that. More like piles of boulders. Ugh, Rainbow Dash wished she knew a little more about geography. Geology. Whatever.

Well, she didn’t really care that much. More like she wished Twilight or Applejack could momentarily shed some light on how to properly address all this stuff.

The dirt road however still found a way through it all, the pioneers or whoever else it was that made it in the first place must’ve had a tough time, but they still completed the task. Probably earth ponies. She could probably just ditch it entirely soon, after she got through the dust cloud, but she really didn’t want to miss that last little settlement Lucas had mentioned. If there was nothing else between it and Hoofica she probably should get some water and food from it.

If the locals were generous that is.

Rainbow Dash had found in her journeys though that most places like that were pretty kind. It was the bigger places that she almost always ended up having to watch out for. And if these guys had started warning others about what happened in Hoofica in the first place, that was a good sign.

When she reached the cloud of dust that covered the southern horizon, she sighed and lifted up her hooves to try and block it from getting in her eyes as much as she could. It didn’t help a whole lot but it was better than nothing. The act of flying through it was easy too since there was only a slight breeze in the first place. She’d be through it in no time and then she could fly up a little more to get a real look at what this part of the world had in store for her.

That thought made her heart start pounding again. There was an excitement in her that kept growing the further south she went. She knew something was coming, she could feel it deeper than her bones, inside her soul.

A smile came to her face despite the dust blowing into it. She remembered this feeling, it was the same one she had when she left Ponyville, and again when she first made it into the True North and then beyond the north pole to this side of the world. With luck, she’d feel it many more times on her journey.

Rainbow Dash started flying up higher even before she fully left the dust cloud. When she popped out of it she was high in the sky, over a thousand feet up, with a commanding view of everything before her.

A sprawling landscape of dry red clay, buttes, mesas, and canyons greeted her. A worn out and wide open space with only a few clouds in the blue sky above it. The sagebrush that scored the ground was joined by cacti, proving that as uncivilized as the place was it certainly wasn’t a wasteland. Just a big, empty place, a monument to nature.

And no sign of any kingdom. She wasn’t sure how big Hoofica was or what its outer borders looked like. But she didn’t see anything that made it look remotely like the kingdom was close by. It was either different than she was expecting… or it really had vanished.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked down at the ground right below her. It was further away now but she could still see the dirt road wandering south, towards a canyon not far from the cloud of dust. It looked like the canyon eventually opened up further south, where the ground level dropped. Rainbow Dash smiled and curtly nodded to herself before taking off towards the canyon. She didn’t know a ton about geography, but she did know that canyons and stuff were carved by water. And any pioneers would definitely make their home around water.

The wind whipped around her as she picked up speed. “Okay pioneers, okay Hoofica. Today’s the day. I hope you’re ready for Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash Keeps Moving

Rainbow Dash flew down into the canyon but stayed near the top of its walls instead of gliding down closer to the road. Since it was impossible to get lost or go the wrong direction she might as well stay up where she had a better view over everything. Following the canyon didn’t last particularly long though as it widened up while the road dipped down steeper until the canyon ended completely and opened up into the wider valley Rainbow had seen from above. Now tall cliff faces stretched east and west, the canyon like a wound that stabbed into them and the road continuing on south.

The road now paralleled a small river as well that must’ve come from a reservoir or something to the west. It first hugged the cliff face and then turned south with the road built right beside it. Whatever stream once came from or into the canyon had to have dried up ages ago. Rainbow Dash took a quick dive to the river and swallowed a few mouthfuls of water before zooming back up into the sky. Much better.

Now Rainbow flew along both road and river towards the huge buttes in the distance that shot out of the ground like unhammered nails. By the looks of it, the road and river led directly to one while just a little further south was a wide mesa and then a bunch of rocky hills beyond that.

Still no civilization or anything she suspected was Hoofica.

That little pioneer settlement came first anyways, and it had to be close by.

Rainbow Dash swiftly flew towards the one large orange butte that the road went to, the huge landmark swiftly getting bigger in her vision. She noticed that the road straightened out and started directly going towards the butte while the river started curving and flowing around to the south side of it. Rainbow stuck with the road and still stayed at a height where she could see them both.

Once the road hit the steep, steep hills that made up the bottom of the butte, it curved around it to the south as well. And shortly after following it to the south side of the butte, she found what she was looking for.

Something too small to be even called a village. It was built right by the steep hills and rock walls of the butte, a settlement made up of tee-pees, one or two wooden cabins, and then a smattering of clay abodes and hovels. There were a few small farms, more like gardens, built around and between the buildings, probably providing just enough sustenance for these ponies to get by. A few ponies were out tilling the soil of their gardens, while she saw a mare carrying a basket of sheets or something back from the river. The road eventually went back south, where a small bridge was built over the river, while the river now flowed east.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and flew down to the cabin she saw a stallion in the garden outside of, breaking the ground and fixing things up with a plow. “Hey!” She called out to announce her arrival.

The stallion looked up at her, stubble on his face, he had a hard-set frown and a rough look. Probably the norm for any ponies that chose to live the hard life out here. Still, he didn’t exactly look mean or annoyed to see some pegasus come down and interrupt him. A few other ponies in the small settlement noticed Rainbow Dash and watched her, wondering what was up.

“Can I help you, miss?” The stallion asked her, resting up against his plow while they talked.

Rainbow Dash stopped right in front of his face and gave as much of a friendly smile as she could. “Dunno, maybe. Name’s Rainbow Dash by the way.” She stuck out her hoof.

He took it and gave her a shake. “Big Red. Came from up north?”

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded. “I heard from a griffon who works for the Aux-Lemm corporation about your place here and wanted to stop by.”

“Aux-Lemm huh? Haven’t had a caravan from them come through here in near a year. Even before the business… so why’d you want to stop by? There aint nothing around here or anything,” he asked her.

“I heard that this was the last stop before Hoofica,” Rainbow said.

He raised an eyebrow at her and his frown became more worried. “Hoofica? Don’t tell me you’re actually trying to go there? You know what’s happened to it, right?

“I am and I do. I heard about it a while ago,” Rainbow said, briefly looking south.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, I really have to recommend not doing that. We had a front row seat to everything, one day we woke up, and it was all gone,” he pointed out to the mesa and the hills beyond. “You used to be able to stand up on that mesa and see into the northern reaches of the kingdom. Forests, lakes, rivers, farms, small villages, you could see it all. Then it vanished. Gone without a trace. All that’s there now is a rocky wasteland. And worse… any pony that tried to go there to see what happened has disappeared and never come back. Ponies from our home. Friends and family, all of them gone. It’s a no pony’s land now, Rainbow Dash. Please, just don’t go there, I’m telling you. I don’t want anymore ponies to up and vanish.”

The whole time he was trying to convince her and scare her off, her smile grew wider. “Sorry, pal, but you just gave me even more reason to go there. Now I can find and save your friends too.” She winked.

Big Red’s jaw dropped. “Miss, you don’t know what you’re getting into out there...”

“Believe me,” Rainbow said and looked deep into his eyes, her ruby eyes sparkling with determination and excitement. “You don’t know how awesome I am. Don’t lose hope, I promise those ponies will be back some day. First though, I need to get to Hoofica.”

She flapped her wings and went up, ready to blast off to the south and to Hoofica again. Before stopping and blinking.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash looked down at Big Red. “So uh, do you have a snack or any spare food you can lend me? I haven’t eaten all day.”

Big Red blinked, still partially in shock, before reaching down to his garden and yanking a turnip out of the soil. “Here.” He tossed it to Rainbow Dash.

“Thanks! You’re pretty awesome too, dude!” Rainbow said before shooting off with turnip in hoof, leaving nothing more than an after-imge behind that slowly blurred away.

A second later, the mare carrying a basket of sheets on her back came up to Big Red after getting back from the river. “Red? Who was that? Why’s she going south?”

“She’s going to Hoofica,” Big Red answered simply.

“What?!” The mare shouted. “Why didn’t you stop her?!”

Big Red shook his head. “You didn’t see the look in her eyes. Nothing was going to stop her.”

“B-But...” the mare stammered.

“I know. I’m worried for her,” Big Red said, leaning on his plow and looking south.

Rainbow Dash flew above the wide mesa and looked south, seeing nothing but the dry and rocky wasteland Big Red had mentioned. The turnip was already devoured in three quick bites and she dropped the stem to the ground below her. In a minute she’d be at the hills, the last sentry. And then—Hoofica.

She couldn’t stop smiling if she tried.

Ten minutes later, back in the Great Camel Desert...

Pink hooves walking over the sand suddenly stopped and Heartless’s head snapped up, looking stiffly to the south. The small smile that normally adorned her face slowly vanished and her eyes showed a reflection of confusion and even… fear?

“What just happened?” Heartless whispered. This was wrong, something was missing. The light. The brilliant light that always called out to her. “Gone. Where? Rainbow Dash… where did you go?”

Author's Note

The Happiest Pony in the World

Under the starry night sky a pair of ponies sat in the garden out behind their home. An older unicorn stallion and a young earth pony filly who didn’t even have her Cutie Mark yet. With only the light of the stars and moon above them they sat together side by side and looked at something in the middle of their small garden. The garden itself was ringed by a white picket fence, and the cottage it came from was built right up against a deep forest. A cozy home for the two ponies. The nearby town was only a short walk down the road in front of their cottage.

It was a warm night as well, with nary a breeze, making it comfortable as the two of them quietly sat outside. Despite the pleasant night though, both ponies had a somber look on their faces as they stared down at the small stone in the grass with the name of a mare carved into it. Flowers had been planted around it. Lilies mostly, with some yellow daisies to accompany them.

The stallion lifted up a foreleg and draped it over the filly, hugging her closer to him and affectionately rubbing her shoulder.

“I miss her,” the filly said, barely above a whisper.

“I know. So do I,” the stallion said.

A few tears gathered at the filly’s eyes and she brought up a small hoof to wipe them away. She sniffled and rested her head against the stallion’s body. “I just wish… I just wish she could’ve at least seen me get my Cutie Mark.”

“She will see it.”

The filly looked up to see her father smiling down at her.

“She’s watching over you right now. Of course she’ll see it.”

The filly sadly looked down at the grass and absently ran a hoof over the blank spot on her flank. “Really?”

“Yes,” her father rubbed her head. “I promise.”

She looked back at the small grave marker. “I wanted to get it so bad… I wanted her to see, I know she’d have been so proud.” More tears gathered at her eyes that she didn’t bother wiping away. “I hate this. I want her back. I want her to be there when I get my Cutie Mark. I want her to be here for everything. I-I miss her so much and all I have now is this stupid blank f-flank and...”

“Shh...” Her father calmed her down. “Look.”

The filly looked at him and saw him pointing to the sky. She followed his hoof and stared up at the countless stars overhead, all of them twinkling and shining down at her.

“You may not have a Cutie Mark, but that means your life is still full of infinite possibilities. As many as there are stars in the sky. Your whole life is ahead of you and your mother will always, always be watching over you. And so will I, of course,” he chuckled and smiled at her.

The filly sniffled and nodded her head, not finding it in her to speak anymore.

“I have something important to tell you too,” her father said. “It’s why I wanted us to pay our respects tonight. Something truly wonderful has happened, things will be different starting tomorrow, and I’m going to make sure you become the happiest pony in the world.”

Darkness covered every direction and the skies most of all were a screaming and chaotic mass of impenetrable black clouds. Behind bars, a small ghostly pony figure watched the unceasing and all consuming darkness. There was nothing else. Not a single ray of sunlight could be seen, no ponies inside the darkness smiled or were able to brighten up the day. There was no joy, no hope, just overwhelming and oppressive despair raining down from the dark clouds.

The ponies far below the ghostly figure were themselves no better than phantoms. Their heads were hung low as they marched and marched at the commands of … of…

Their faces were blank as if they were completely wiped away and yet the ghostly figure knew they were filled with sorrow inside. But there was nothing she could do. Her hooves pounded on the bars but they refused to give way. Her mouth opened in a scream but no sound came out.

From behind her another ghostly figure drew up tall. White appendages, whiter than a ghost, wrapped around the small figure. Dragging her kicking and screaming in silence away from the bars. The small one looked up into the face of the nightmare monster and saw only glowing red eyes and a smiling red mouth mockingly laughing at her.

She cried but still nothing more than silence emerged from her mouth. And more mocking laughter came from the nightmare grasping her and refusing to let her free.

Over the monster’s head, something was coming from the ceiling.

Something coming down and down towards the small pony. She struggled and struggled to free herself from the monster the moment she saw what it was, but the monster was too strong. Evil, sadistic laughter overwhelmed her senses as the needle from the ceiling came close to the little pony’s neck. It led up and up and up into the sky itself where a black ooze gathered and seeped into the needle.

She noiselessly screamed as the tip of the needle reached closer and closer towards her neck. The nightmare monster brought a hoof towards her forehead and pulled her head back, holding her in place so the needle would go right where it was supposed to.

The small ghostly pony had her eyes wide open as tears poured from them—out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw another figure there. She thought she recognized it.

She knew she recognized it.

Why weren’t they helping her?

The malicious red grin over her head widened further and further as the tip of the needle, now leaking out black ooze already, was right about to enter the small pony’s neck. The pony had given up, stopped moving entirely, resigning herself to her fate. Her eyes were left half open in terrible despair as she waited for the needle.

A light flashed past the bars. A dizzying light with every color of the rainbow.

The nightmare monster hissed in pain and rage, the needle and other figure in the dark room disappeared and the little pony felt herself dropped free. The white apparition that had been holding her flew through the bars towards the source of the light, leaving the pony on her own again. Her tears gathered into a black pool that slowly became more and more translucent as the rainbow light shined in through the bars. The little pony picked herself up and walked back to the bars.

There was still so much darkness. There were still the ponies consumed by despair.

But there was a light now. A blue comet flying through the sky and leaving a rainbow trail behind it, pursued by the monster that had been tormenting her just seconds ago.

The comet lit up the sky everywhere it went, filling the little pony watching with hope and warmth. But the nightmare monster was joined by others. More white apparitions flew into the sky to join its pursuit of the comet. They crowded the sky but the comet was faster than all of them—and the brightness and light from it so intense that it made the apparitions whimper in fear and some even burn away. The first monster howled after the comet, not dissuaded at all, spectral tendrils came from it as it tried to grasp and take down the blue comet.

Turning, the blue comet flew towards the monster. Through the bars the small pony watched as they clashed in the air. Thunder and lightning rained down from the sky. Rays of light attempted to pierce the darkness but pools of black ooze gurgled up from the ground and swallowed any pony who dared raise their head to watch what was happening. The rainbow light eventually was overwhelmed by the black clouds and it grew fainter and fainter even as the comet flew on.

She banged her hooves against the bars again. She banged them again and again in a futile effort to free herself and join the comet.

Needles fell from the sky. The glowing red eyes of her nightmare monster grew bigger, the red mouth grew wider. The blue comet was swallowed by red and disappeared.

Light was gone once more and the darkness seemed to only be stronger, the black clouds closed in on everything. The little pony, trapped in her cage, reached a hoof up to her neck as she felt it burn with pain. Her reflection was there. A ghostly shimmer of a pony with a black band around its neck. Red eyes and a red smile stood outside the bars. Darkness closed in, she was falling, the phantom image of the blue comet flew through her mind, but it couldn’t help her anymore.

When she screamed this time, she finally heard it.

Wish woke up with a start and threw her covers off her, sitting up in bed and panting heavily while a cold sweat poured down her face. Another nightmare. Similar to the ones she had had many times now, but always a little different. Already it was becoming vague in her mind, the memories of what she had seen in that dream world slipping away. She had to take a minute to catch her breath and calm herself down, listening to the ticks of the clock on her bedroom wall to remind herself where she was.

Safe in bed inside her chambers of Hoofica Castle. It was dark with the curtains on her four-poster bed closed but she was sure it was morning by now. Wish took a deep breath and sat back against her velvety pillow, staring up at the canopy above her. It was the same bed and same room she had been sleeping in for months now. There was nothing to worry about. It was just a recurring nightmare. Nothing more.

The sweat subsided and she crawled along her bed to one side of it so she could pull open the curtain that faced the wall with the clock. Such a huge and luxurious bed, more fit for royalty than anypony else, it took a while to get used to and to be honest she still felt weird in it sometimes. But it was certainly fluffy and comfortable. The sheets were made from the best white silk, patterned with flowers, while her pillows were a purple velvet and filled with the softest of down. Wish got to the side of the bed and reached up for the cord to pull the curtain back, she really had to stretch for it though, something that made her frown in annoyance. She chose to blame it on the bed being too big rather than her being a short filly.

As soon as she pulled the curtain back she was greeted with a murky, almost twilight, illumination of her bed chambers. And yet the ornate clock on the wall with its swinging pendulums showed it to be 8:00 in the morning. Wish sighed, that was just another thing that had taken a little trouble to get used to over the past several months. It never looked any brighter than this now. Even with the tall paned-glass windows on the other side of her bed chamber. The world outside didn’t allow for more light than this.

Wish ignored that for now, at least she was right about what time it was. Her maid would be here soon to start the day so why bother with anything else? She crawled back over to the middle of the bed and rested, staring blankly up at the canopy and listening for her maid’s arrival. Her face was cold and expressionless as she tried to think more about the nightmare she had just woken up from. But she didn’t mind. She’d be smiling soon anyways. The times where she could go without smiling were almost a pleasant reprieve.

As much as she tried, more and more of the nightmare slipped away like water down a drain.

The sound of her bedroom door handle being turned made her ears twitch and Wish took in a deep breath. She closed her eyes—and when she opened them back up she had a bright and cheerful smile on her face, with eyes full of life and joy.

“Wish? It’s time to wake up,” her maid said as she opened up the door.

Upon seeing the open curtain and the young filly lying in bed on top of the covers, the maid smiled. “Oh, you’re already awake. Good morning, young lady.”

Wish sat up with a smile and moved towards the open edge of the bed while her maid closed the door and walked over. Sweet Candy had been her maid the entire time Wish had been here and she always made sure to be punctual. She was about middle-aged, a green earth pony with a golden mane and golden eyes. Wish had never once seen her without the black dress and white apron of the castle maids.

“Good morning,” Wish politely said to her.

Sweet Candy looked her over, noticing a few stray hairs in her mane. “Hm, I’ll draw your bath for you and then we can fix up your mane and tail before breakfast. Is that alright?”

Wish didn’t know why she asked. It was the same thing they did every morning. Which is why she knew what was coming next too.

“Yep!” Wish answered brightly.

“Great!” Sweet Candy smiled. “Oh, and just so your father can know, on a scale of one to ten, how happy are you?”

Wish’s smile grew as wide as it possibly could, her white teeth shining and her eyes sparkling. “Ten out of ten!”

It was the only answer she ever gave.

She was happy though. Truly. She had just gotten tired of the question. And she knew that-

“Wonderful! Your father will be so happy to hear that. You know it’s his whole world to make sure you’re as happy as possible,” Sweet Candy said, she giggled to herself and then brought a little stepping stool over to the bed so Wish could safely hop off it.

It took some effort for Wish to not roll her eyes. She hated that stepping stool. But in the end she just smiled and walked right down it onto the opulent carpet floor. She wasn’t sure what the carpeting was made out of but it felt different from any carpet she had walked on before coming here. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. Obviously the best stuff would be in the royal castle, and she had never so much been inside a mansion before here.

Sweet Candy smiled before walking to the far wall of the bedroom, that the head of her bed sat against, and opened up another door that led into Wish’s own private bathroom. It was a more luxurious bathroom than Wish could’ve ever dreamed of, bigger than the living room in her old house. A huge marble bathtub sat in it, with gold faucet sinks and perfectly polished mirrors along with the best possible beauty products any mare could want. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy having it. The only downside was how long it took to draw a bath because of how big the tub was. Wish found herself waiting around with nothing but her thoughts for company as Sweet Candy got it ready. The loud sound of water pouring into the tub filled up her bed chambers for a good couple of minutes.

“It’s ready!” Sweet Candy called out from the bathroom.

Wish sighed in relief and walked into the bathroom, her hooves gliding over the cool tile floor. Unfortunately because of the size of the tub she needed to use a stepping stool to get into and out of it as well. It really made her want to drop her smile and frown. She almost would’ve preferred Sweet Candy just picking her up. It’s not like she couldn’t have gotten in the tub by herself, but she would’ve had to pull herself up and over the side of it. And that would’ve been “unrefined”.

She dipped down into the warm water and dunked her head in. It felt great. Naturally it wasn’t just water either, Sweet Candy had mixed in special bath powders and a bubble bath mixture. Only the best for Wish. Sweet Candy had the sleeves of her dress rolled up and stood by the side of the bath with a bucket full of soaps, shampoos, brushes, and a loofah. She helped scrub Wish clean and give her the professional treatment every morning, making sure Wish didn’t skip or forget anything.

It was annoying, but Wish didn’t complain. She smiled through it all like always.

“Thank you, Sweet Candy,” Wish said as her maid rubbed shampoo into her mane.

“You’re welcome, dear,” Sweet Candy smiled back.

Five minutes later she was out of the bath and getting dried off with a fluffy towel, then Sweet Candy brought her over to the sink so she could sit in front of the mirror and watch Sweet Candy do her mane and tail. She hated looking at her reflection in the mirror like this. Normally she wouldn’t, but the big smile she had to keep on at all times when somepony else was around bothered her. Sweet Candy brought out a hairbrush and went to work while Wish stared into the mirror.

A young filly of just eight years old looked back at her. A chestnut earth pony, with rose red mane and tail and simple brown eyes. Her flank as blank as a sheet of paper. The only thing of note about her was the solid black band around her neck, almost like a tattoo. She brought a hoof up to rub at it while Sweet Candy did her mane. No matter how much she washed it never faded or came off, it had been there for months now after suddenly appearing one morning when she woke up. Everypony except her father and the King and Queen had one as far as she knew. Sweet Candy did too, you just couldn’t see it because of the collar of her dress.

Her father had told her the black bands were to keep everypony in the kingdom safe. And neither he nor anypony else would say anything else about them. Wish still wasn’t used to seeing it there every time she looked in a mirror.

“There we go,” Sweet Candy said, finishing up with her mane and tail.

Perfectly straight, her bangs fell just above her eyes. “Thank you.”

Sweet Candy smiled and brushed her off, making sure she was clean and looked perfect. “Alright, let’s get you some breakfast now and then it’ll be off to class.”

Wish knew the routine. She really didn’t understand why Sweet Candy had to keep repeating everything. It made her come off like an actress just going through the motions.

Regardless, she was hungry enough to be looking forward to breakfast anyways. They left the bathroom together and then Sweet Candy opened up the door from her bedroom into the boudoir. Candlesticks were lit around the room for extra illumination and a team of maids and butlers were setting up a table of delicious breakfast foods for Wish to eat. Like every morning, they started when she was in the bath so things were just ready the moment she came out.

The boudoir overall had more floor space than her old home did, it was filled with lavish couches and chairs, a large cabinet, windows with velvet red curtains that looked far out from the castle, paintings that covered the walls, potted flowers, a dining table, artistic statues of ponies, and a golden chandelier that hung from the ceiling. Some of her stuffed animals were lying about on the couches, along with an old music box and some coloring books and art supplies that she played with. As soon as she and Sweet Candy entered the room, the other maids and butlers bowed and stepped away from the table, one of them pulling out a chair for Wish to sit at.

She hopped up and looked at what had been prepared for her. As always it was far too much for a single filly to eat, but nopony seemed to care. Her father said it was more about her getting to choose whatever she wanted. Oatmeal, hay cereal of the finest quality hay, pancakes, toast, waffles, crepes, fresh strawberries, soup, salad, carrots, a slice of pie and cake each, all of it prepared and set up in a way to make it look more luxurious than normal. Strawberry syrup was drizzled on the strawberries as they sat in a silver bowl, the pie and cake had edible flowers placed on top of them, there was a cinnamon stick sticking out of the oatmeal. Just stuff like that that honestly just made Wish uncomfortable. It was too luxurious.

But it was delicious. The best food she had ever eaten by far. Sweet Candy tied a napkin around her neck and then Wish was allowed to eat whatever she wanted while the servants quietly stood around the table. She would’ve appreciated a little privacy.

This morning she went for the pancakes and strawberries. There was also a cool glass jug of grape juice and a goblet for her to drink out of. Sometimes it was apple juice, or orange juice, always freshly squeezed from fruit taken from the royal orchard. She also really wanted to eat that slice of cake, but she felt bad if she had something like that every morning.

Using a knife and fork she carved up and started eating the pancakes. While she was eating she found herself glancing out the window and trying to see the world outside the castle. It didn’t show much back to her though. Even if she went right up to it she’d only see the twilight world out there, with dark skies, the perpetual black storm clouds that covered everything and made it so things never got any brighter than this without something like a fire or the strikes of lightning that crashed down every now and then. The ground was dark and cold and it just stretched like that far into the distance, across the entire kingdom from the capitol to the smallest towns at the borders of Hoofica. A world that even when it wasn’t pitch black in the dead of night was still dusky and felt like it was always dark out.

It happened the same day the black bands had appeared around her neck and everypony else’s. The entire kingdom of Hoofica changed overnight. She hadn’t seen the sun or the stars in months. A sudden flash of lightning briefly lit up the windows just as Wish was thinking about it. She was used to that by now too, there was always a lot of lightning. So she went back to her meal and had her fill before Sweet Candy would take her off to class.

In the end she was only able to eat about half the stack of pancakes and a few strawberries, along with half a goblet’s worth of grape juice.

She asked Sweet Candy one day what happened with the food she didn’t eat.

“It gets thrown out”, Sweet Candy had told her.

It seemed like such a waste. So much food, so much utterly delicious food that the castle chefs must’ve put so much effort into making, and it just gets thrown out. Wish didn’t understand why, but Sweet Candy said to pay it no mind. It only mattered that she got to eat whatever she wanted.

“I’m full,” Wish said as she swallowed one last strawberry and pushed her plate away from her.

Sweet Candy clapped her hooves together and the other maids and butlers immediately got to work cleaning the table. Wish didn’t know how long it took them, but the room, and her other rooms, were always spotless when she got back from class. Wish then got off her chair and walked towards the front door leading into and out of her personal chambers with Sweet Candy by her side. Her maid opened up the door for them and led them into the hallway just outside the door.

Hoofica Castle had always looked weird to Wish. It wasn’t just because of the lighting now thanks to the dark sky and the world outside either. The whole way it was built was strange. She remembered when she saw it for the first time, on a trip to the capitol with her mother and father back when she was five years old, and how it stuck out to her. The black stone it was made out of, that all the interiors and walls were made of, was just plain uninviting and things were even darker now with only a few torches to light things up. The color wasn’t even the half of it though. There was a large lower section of the castle, going up two or three stories high and branching off into several directions. A large concert hall shot off to the south. Servant quarters, kitchens, and a barracks for guards and soldiers to the west. The front entrance to the castle was to the north. And to the east lied the throne room and the royal chambers of the King and Queen. The middle of the castle was built around a large circular courtyard and garden, while five towers of increasing size were built going up around the courtyard. They went counter-clockwise in size, with the first and smallest built at the east, directly in front of the throne room, and the next biggest built closer to the north entrance, and so forth until the fifth and tallest tower sat on the southeast side of the courtyard at over six-hundred feet tall. A long, enclosed, stairway spiraled around and through each tower to connect them, supported by heavy columns the entire length.

Wish’s personal chambers resided in the third tower. She remembered learning her history of the castle back when she was younger. Each tower had been used for something different in the old days, and the third one she was in now was for important guests of the royal family. The fourth tower used to be used by Hoofica’s soldiers for something, but there had been peace in the kingdom for hundreds of years at this point and now it was converted into a library. The fifth tower…

Wish looked to her right, down the hallway towards the stairs that led up and up to the fourth and fifth towers.

The use of the fifth tower had been gifted to her father by the Queen. It was a conservatory. Now it was her father’s personal laboratory and office. Wish had never once been up to it, her father said it had dangerous equipment and stuff inside it. She was curious about it though. The problem was there were always guards posted at every entrance into the connecting hallway. And Wish was never allowed to go off on her own anywhere in the castle outside of her own chambers anyways. She was always accompanied by either Sweet Candy, another maid, guards, or even an Inquisitor sometimes. And they all knew not to let her go to anywhere she didn’t need to go.

Sweet Candy shut the door to her chambers and smiled at Wish. “Let’s get on our way then.”

“Alright,” Wish nodded and walked with Sweet Candy to the left, heading down the hallway towards the stairs that would eventually take them to the second tower, then the first, and then the bottom portion of the castle where her classroom was.

Once they got close to the entrance to the stairs, Wish noticed the two guards standing by attention on either side of it. Two earth pony stallions holding spears and wearing black armor that seemed to melt into the walls. They might as well have been statues. The Inquisitors were just the opposite, wearing white suits that stood out everywhere. But they weren’t as common—Wish hardly ever saw one of them in the castle more than once a week. Something she was grateful for, the Head Inquisitor scared her.

Wish fought a shudder so as not to alarm Sweet Candy. It was probably better that she shouldn’t be thinking about this stuff at all.

Neither of them acknowledged the guards as they started walking down the stairs and the guards only kept looking straight ahead as well. It was a long walk down the stairs that wound around the towers and most every morning it was completely silent. Sweet Candy wouldn’t speak up until they arrived at the classroom and most of the time Wish was happy to just think by herself. Walking behind her maid she could momentarily drop her smile as well and relax her face.

Though… the foggy nightmare she had had last night made the silence around her unnerving. She now could hardly remember any details of the nightmare at all, other than that she had it in the first place. It still filled her with dread when she dwelled on it for too long. And that was all she could do in this silence. Torches lined the wall to cast an eerie glow on the black stone and it became a reprieve when they left the first set of stairs and emerged into the second tower.

The second tower was used as living quarters for the most important servants of the castle. Ones who got special privileges unlike the others in the western wing down below. Sweet Candy lived here. Though again, Wish had never seen her personal chambers or really much of anything else in the tower.

After that they went down more steps into the first tower, which had been converted into storage ages ago. She didn’t know what else it might’ve been used for or if any other ponies stopped by in it for anything. More statuesque guards stood everywhere they went right up until she and Sweet Candy left the stairs and towers behind entirely.

The top floor of the large, main section of the castle sprawled ahead of her. So many doors and hallways led elsewhere, along with stairs to the second floor and ground floor. To her right there were windows along the curved wall that peeked out into the large central courtyard. They were practically right in the middle of the castle and you could get to essentially anywhere from here. The classroom Wish was going to was closer to the western wing, actually nestled on the same floor they were on now but right above the wing. Sweet Candy now led the way again, walking across the red carpet that lined the floors of this part of the castle.

And something that always crossed Wish’s mind everyday when she came down here—there never seemed to be that many ponies here for a castle so big. She knew that the King and Queen used to hold parties, events, and the castle (part of it at least) used to be open to the public for them to come in and see it. But there was nothing like that anymore. The castle was too big for this reduced number of ponies and it just made it seem quiet and empty. It was almost just guards and servants now.

The halls they traveled down now were fairly decorative, with more large paintings on the walls while stone statues and suits of armor lined the nooks and recesses.

She looked up at one of the paintings, a huge landscape painting that showed a sunny sky, green hills, and a beautiful blue lake. It was a portrait of some place in the southwest of Hoofica that Wish had never remotely gone close to. And unfortunately it wouldn’t look the same as that painting anymore even if she did. But Wish didn’t mind so much, she loved the painting, she loved to paint in general, and she appreciated getting to walk by this every morning.

After a few more minutes they had traveled down the hallway far enough to reach the class that Wish attended. It was just one of many doors that lined the wall. But unlike the others, there were two guards standing in front of this one. It was sort of intimidating for them to stand like that right outside of a classroom but Wish knew there was no way anypony would make them leave. Not when they were supposed to be watching over and protecting her. At least that was the official way of saying it.

She didn’t even used to have class or come here at all when she first started living in the castle. Her father didn’t see any point. It was only when Wish said she was lonely and wanted to be around more fillies and colts her age did he set this up.

He even brought some former classmates and families from her old village to the castle to join her.

Sweet Candy stopped just outside the door, she didn’t stay in the classroom with Wish, though Wish didn’t know what she did while Wish was in class. “Have fun today.”

“I will,” Wish smiled up at her and waited as Sweet Candy pulled open the door for her.

Wish walked inside the classroom as the door was closed behind her. Unlike the natural black color that came from the castle stone, the classroom was painted a slightly less oppressive (but still not very pleasant) brown. Lanterns hanging from the ceiling lit it up well, making it brighter than near anywhere else in the castle. Five desks for five ponies sat in a single row near the front of the room, in front of a large chalkboard and another desk for the teacher. Naturally the middle desk was Wish’s

The other students were already there. All of them old acquaintances from her home village. Wish couldn’t say they were friends. Then or now.

But they still smiled at her. All four of them smiled widely at her like seeing her was the highlight of their day. She didn’t like it. She didn’t know much, but she knew how fake and forced those smiles were.

Because they were just like the one she was wearing right now.

“Hello, Wish!” The four of them said at once.

“Hi!” Wish said and waved at them and the teacher.

“Good morning, Wish! Are you excited for class today?” The teacher asked her. Another middle-aged mare by the name of Star Eyes, a unicorn with thick square glasses and a braided silver mane and yellow coat. She had that same pleasant countenance as Sweet Candy.

“I sure am!” Wish said and walked up to take her seat. Her desk already had some books along with pencils and paper for her to use on it.

“Great! Today we’re going to be learning about something in math called division. I know it’s nopony’s favorite subject, but it’s important to get a well-rounded education,” Star Eyes said and used her magic to lift up a piece of chalk, getting ready to start writing on the chalkboard.

Wish sat there silently with a smile on her face. Just ready to watch and listen to the teacher as she went over the lesson. No reason to say anything unless the teacher called on her. Which always happened at least once.

Since Star Eyes was writing on the board and not looking directly at her for the moment, Wish took an opportunity to steal a glance at the ponies next to her. Two fillies and two colts. The colts were seated to her right and the fillies to her left. No one ever traded seats. They were all smiling and looking dead ahead at the chalkboard, just like she was supposed to be doing.

The colt right next to her was an earth pony named Little Note. A smoky gray colt with a black mane and tail, he already had his Cutie Mark, unlike her. It was a page of sheet music, unfortunately though they never sang or learned anything about music in class. She was pretty sure that besides music his favorite subject was history. Back home they never really talked, and here they never really talked about anything other than him asking how nice her day was and how happy she was. Always through that forced smile that said he didn’t really care or see her as a friend.

The other colt was a unicorn named Comet Burst. He wore glasses too, but round ones. He also had his Cutie Mark. They all did. Wish spoke to him even less because he didn’t sit right next to her, but she knew he liked learning about science stuff. At least he used to before coming here, now he just smiled no matter what they were studying. He had a blue coat and a darker blue mane done into a bowl cut.

Both of the fillies to her left were pegasi. The girl next to her was named Bright Dawn, a bright orange pony with yellow-white mane and tail and orange eyes. Her Cutie Mark was a sun and it kind of made Wish feel bad for her. She didn’t seem to care about anything having to do with school one way or the other from what Wish remembered. But she still paid attention here, and she talked with Wish more than the others. Even if it was only out of obligation. Wish still didn’t exactly get why they acted the way they did and they were never left on their own for her to ask.

The last of her classmates was Aqua Jewel. She really liked swimming and the rain. It barely rained anymore though even with the perpetual dark clouds. Just lots of lightning. She talked to Wish quite a bit too, mostly about animals when class learned about them. It felt a little more natural than when the others talked to her but Wish could tell she’d still prefer being quite if she wasn’t forced. She had a very light blue coat and a pink mane and tail that were grown out very long.

This was her classroom. No friends. Just classmates.

It usually went the same way, first Star Eyes would explain the lesson, write some stuff on the board, then some problems or reading would be given out. From there Star Eyes usually asked Wish, and one or two of her classmates, to answer some of the questions. They also got some time to talk with each other and help each other out with the day’s work.

The same thing. Every day.

And she and everypony else in the room always smiled and acted happy through it all. It was only at the very end of class did they do something she actually enjoyed; free time. She got to paint or mess around with the art supplies currently stored at the back of the classroom along a wide shelf. The other kids here got to do whatever they wanted too. Once that was over with, Sweet Candy would arrive and take Wish back to her chambers. Right now that was still a few hours away though.

“Okay, class, pay attention now and I’ll show you how to solve these problems,” Star Eyes said from the chalkboard. “This will be your first real lesson at division.”

Wish blinked. She hadn’t really been paying attention, too lost in her thoughts. On the board was a bunch of math stuff, boring numbers and equations and a few new symbols she didn’t recognize but could infer their purposes.

“You see, division is essentially the opposite of multiplication...” Star Eyes started to explain and Wish did her best to focus.

It wasn’t easy. Not only was class—and math especially—boring, but she was still thinking about the nightmare she could no longer remember. Still thinking about everything else wrong in her life. How much she just wanted to march up the towers and see her father. And tell her maids, and the guards, and anypony else to just leave her alone and stop watching her for once.

Wish frowned, she didn’t usually feel so annoyed. She had thought she had gotten used to things by now. Maybe the nightmares were getting to her? She just really, really wanted to see her father so bad. It had been days since the last time she had gotten to see him.

Star Eyes had written down some simple problems on the chalkboard, like “Twenty-five divided by five” or “Ten divided by two” just to familiarize them with division. This was the kind of stuff Wish could already just answer on her own, cause obviously to do multiplication she knew how many times five went into twenty-five or two went into ten or four into sixteen. Which meant that what was going to happen next was-

“Wish? Can you answer these problems?” Star Eyes asked her.

She smiled up at her teacher. “Yep!”

A quick hop out of her desk seat and Wish walked over to the chalkboard. Star Eyes floated the piece of chalk to her and Wish reached up to write her answers down. Five, five, four, ten. Easy-peasy. Star Eyes smiled and nodded as she correctly answered everything before Wish hoofed the chalk back to her and stood in front of the board.

So what was coming now was-

“Excellent job, Wish! You’re so smart! Isn’t she smart, class?” Star Eyes congratulated and asked the others while lightly clapping her hooves together.

“Super smart!”

“Yep!”

“She’s the best!”

“Good job, Wish!”

Wish fought back a sigh and instead smiled proudly at the teacher and other students. “Thank you!”

She took her seat again and Star Eyes now brought out some workbooks from under her desk. Levitating them to each individual student and letting them look at them. They were just a few pages each, with the front page explaining some rules of division and how to divide big numbers, and more boring math stuff that Wish still had to read with a big smile on her face. Some of the problems inside were a little harder too. Now at least was the time when she and the others could talk with each other. Maybe Little Note or Bright Dawn would want to work together? She knew they couldn’t refuse if she asked them but she hoped they wanted to for real.

Wish looked to her right at Smoky and tried to put on a more genuine smile. “Little Note? Do you want to work together to complete the workbook?”

It was only for a fraction of a second, but he flinched when she talked to him.

Still, he turned towards her with the same wide smile on his face. “Sure!”

“Okay, that’s good...” Wish said as normally as she could. But she knew something was wrong. She knew he didn’t want to. She didn’t have it in her to ask why he felt like that and what scared him. It was just a question you couldn’t ask, she felt that deep inside.

But she wanted to at least try to be friendlier with him. Maybe start something genuine?

“Do you know how to do this one?” She asked him, pointing to some problem with a triple-digit number.

“Umm… yes, I think so,” Little Note said and started working on it with her.

Wish was pretty sure she could see Star Eyes happily nodding out of the corner of her eyes. She didn’t pay that any mind and just tried to do the problems and figure out the tougher division with Little Note as best she could. “If there are any problems you need help with you can just ask me too.”

“Mhm,” Little Note gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded.

“I don’t think I’m that great at math but I bet we can figure this whole thing out together.”

“Yep. I think so too.”

He was smiling but he didn’t sound very happy. Still though, he worked hard with her and Wish thought it was better than nothing. When they had gotten more than halfway through the workbook, Wish decided she could try chatting a little more normally with him too.

“Your favorite subject is history, right?”

“Yep.”

Wish’s smile became slightly strained as she realized that not only was he not going to say anything else about history or why he liked it unless she prodded him, he wasn’t going to ask her what her favorite subject was either. “That’s cool, how come? I’m not even sure what my favorite subject is. Art if that counts.”

“U-Umm, I-” Little Note stiffened slightly. “I think because my grandparents liked to collect old books from across Hoofica. And so did my parents.”

Wish thought she briefly saw Star Eyes frown out of the corner of her eyes again. “Oh yeah? That’s really nice. Did your parents teach you about history and old books and stuff?”

“I...” The colt froze up, staring down at his workbook.

Wish cocked her head at him. “Um, is something wrong?”

As Wish watched, tears started to pool in his eyes. The other three were now staring at him with mouths agape in fear and concern too. Mainly fear.

“L-Little Note, calm down. What’s the matter?” Star Eyes asked, walking over from her desk. She was still smiling but her eyes were screaming and she had gone pale in the face.

Tears poured down Little Notes face and dripped onto his workbook. “I can’t… I can’t anymore. I can’t do this with her...”

“W-What’s wrong?” Wish asked him.

“Little Note, please...” Star Eyes tried to calm him down.

“I miss mom and dad… I wanna go back to mom and dad...” Little Note started to cry openly.

Before Wish or anypony could say anything else, the classroom door opened up and in walked two white-suited Inquisitors. She and the others watched as the two stallion Inquisitors, a unicorn and an earth pony, swiftly walked up to Little Note and carried him out of his desk chair. Star Eyes, Comet Burst, Bright Dawn, and Aqua Jewel were completely silent, frozen even, as the Inquisitors started carrying the crying pony out of the classroom.

“H-Hey!” Wish said, the only one that could say anything. “What’s going on? Why’s he crying? Where are you taking him?”

The unicorn looked back at her and smiled. “Don’t worry, he’s just a little emotional, we’re making sure your class isn’t interrupted.”

Little Note continued to cry and hang limply between the two Inquisitors as they took him out. “I wanna go home...” He whimpered before they took him out the door and it closed shut again.

“T-Teacher!...” Wish said and turned to look at Star Eyes.

She was smiling at her. “What’s the matter, Wish? You heard what the Inquisitors said. There’s no problem.”

Wish blinked and looked up at her like she almost couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She turned to look at her other classmates and saw they were all smiling and staring down at their workbooks, trying to complete them. “But what happened with Little Note?”

“Well since he said he missed seeing his parents I’m sure the Inquisitors are just taking him to see them. It’s nothing bad, right class?” Star Eyes asked the others.

“Right!”

“Yes, teacher.”

“Uh-huh!”

“See? So you shouldn’t be upset or worried at all, Wish. The others can promise you that Little Note is going to be fine. I know, let’s go straight to free time and you can go get any art supplies you want and play with them until your maid comes to pick you up,” Star Eyes said. She was still smiling through it all but Wish could see the horrified pleading in her eyes. “That will keep you happy, right?”

Wish looked from left to right, her other classmates were now looking at her with wide, forced, smiles again. She pushed a small smile onto her own face. “Yes.”

“Wonderful,” Star Eyes clapped. “Your classmates know Little Note is okay, more than that, he’s happy. So let’s just have fun!”

“Okay,” Wish said and glanced over at Bright Dawn who was eagerly nodding back at her,

It was the same thing again. She wanted to say more and ask more questions but she knew she shouldn’t. Wish knew the others were all silently pleading for her to just drop it and have fun in class, go back to acting happy. But she didn’t know why.

Even with the extra free time she wasn’t exactly in the mood to paint anymore. She still did it of course, happily smiling as she gathered up the supplies she wanted and brought them back to her desk. She decided she would make a painting of her with her father, just about the only thing she could think of right now that might improve her mood. The others also got their own stuff to mess around with once she had chosen what she wanted. Things were quiet in the classroom as all four kids painted or drew alone. Sometimes Wish would talk to the others about their or her art. That wouldn’t be happening today though. Still, as she finished the simple painting of her and her father standing on a grassy hill, she managed a real smile. Just a small one, but still real.

Wish almost sighed in relief when the time came for class to end and Sweet Candy arrived to pick her up. She rolled up the painting she had made and decided she’d take it back to her chambers.

Sweet Candy stood right outside the door to the classroom, meanwhile her fellow students stayed in their seats, and Star Eyes sat at her desk as well. Wish always left first. She assumed either the students’ parents came to get them after Sweet Candy picked her up. Or maybe the soldiers took them back to their own quarters in the castle? It was just another one of those things Wish figured she probably shouldn’t ask about.

Now Wish and her maid left the class behind (after Wish gave Sweet Candy the painting to stick in one of her pockets) and made the slow walk back to the stairs and then eventually back to her chambers.

Sweet Candy smiled down at her. “Did you enjoy your day in class?”

“Y-Yes,” Wish couldn’t help but accidentally stutter, but she still managed to keep her smile up.

“What did you do today?”

“We learned about division… and I got to paint.”

“That sounds very fun!”

“Mhm… it was.”

When they got around most of the lower part of the castle and back to the stairs leading up to the towers, Wish glanced up at Sweet Candy. But she waited until they passed the first guards and were in the narrow corridor going up to the first tower that she decided to open her mouth. She could go without asking questions back in class, or asking some other uncomfortable things, but too much had piled up. It was too much to silently deal with.

“Um, Sweet Candy?” Wish said to her maid. “There was something else that happened during class.”

“Hm? What?” Her maid asked her with an unassuming smile.

“One of my classmates started to cry. I don’t know why. He said he wanted to go home and see his mom and dad again. And then two Inquisitors came in and took him out of the classroom.”

Sweet Candy stopped smiling.

“O-Oh, well I’m sure he’s okay. Obviously the Inquisitors just wanted to make sure you weren’t upset by one of your classmates crying and being unhappy. I don’t think you need to worry about it.”

It was similar to what Star Eyes and the Inquisitors had said. Almost like they were all instructed in the same thing.

“But… he was so sad. Everypony keeps saying the same thing but I think he was really upset. Did something bad happen to him? Is he really okay?” She stared into Sweet Candy’s eyes as hard as she could.

Sweet Candy began to sweat and she came to a stop on the steps, ushering Wish to stop with her as well. “Wish… you should just believe me and the Inquisitors. But if you can’t, and you think he, or anypony else is feeling sad or upset over something, you shouldn’t care about that either. In fact, it should make you happy.”

Wish’s jaw opened and closed a few times. “I-I don’t understand...”

“If what happened to your classmate still upsets you, if you can’t stop thinking that something bad or sad has happened, then you need to look at things from a different perspective. Instead of thinking “How sad”, you should be thinking about how fortunate you are. When somepony cries about their parents, think about how much your father loves you and how you get to see him. When somepony else is miserable, think about how lucky you are to not be miserable. Think about how you get a huge bed, servants to attend to you, better food than anypony else in this kingdom gets. Think about all those things. Soon enough, every time somepony is sad, maybe it’ll just make you happier because it shows you how fortunate you are to not be sad,” Sweet Candy told her.

“That… that just feels so wrong. I don’t… is that right?” Wish sadly asked Sweet Candy.

Sweet Candy kneeled down and put her hooves on her shoulders. “It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not. The only thing that matters is if it makes you happy. Whatever makes you happy. That’s all you need to be concerned about. Always.” She suddenly stiffened and got back up, putting a smile on her face. “W-Wish, how happy are you right now? Tell me so I can tell your father. I’m sure you’re just as happy as when you woke up.”

Wish looked up at her and bit her lip, she rubbed her head before managing to force another smile onto her face. “Ten out of ten.”

“Good. That’s very, very good. Your father will be happy to hear that,” Sweet Candy smiled. “Now let’s hurry up back to your chambers.”

Wish merely nodded. She had never seen Sweet Candy like this before. Nor had she ever heard her say such things. What she had tried to convince Wish to do… it felt so wrong. It made Wish’s chest hurt just thinking about it.

Because of that, the rest of the trip back up the towers was one made in total silence. Just like the trip down from them earlier this morning. They passed guards, other maids and butlers, walking through the torch lit hallways and stairs with big smiles on their faces. Wish had so much to think about today, it had started so normal too, the nightmare, being woken up by Sweet Candy, breakfast, etc. But then it all shattered. Things had been piling up for a while anyways, Wish normally didn’t dwell on the nightmares so much. A day like this where she just couldn’t help herself was probably inevitable irregardless of everything else that happened.

Would she be able to look at Sweet Candy the same way? Or keep going to class and acting like normal?

Her eyes glanced at the rolled up painting partially sticking out of Sweet Candy’s pocket. If she could just see her father…

They passed by a window where she could see out at the sky and the sprawling city below that existed around the castle. The capitol of Hoofica. It was dark out like always but she could tell the streets weren’t very lively despite the large population and it technically being the middle of the day. A few flashes of lightning illuminated the town briefly, showing the stone buildings and tight streets, the crowded insides of the walls, the destitute look of it all. She was sure the capitol didn’t always look so depressing. From what she had heard of it from others back in her hometown and what she had briefly seen on that visit a few years ago, it was completely different. Just another change along with the sky and the black bands and her and her father’s arrival at the castle.

It all started changing so quickly after that.

Once they got back to her chambers, Wish saw that lunch was already prepared for her. Like it always was. There was soup, sandwiches, and salads for lunch today. A wide variety of each. After being seated down she proceeded to go right for the beet salad while trying to act as normal as always in front of the other maids and butlers. Sweet Candy stood at attention right behind her the whole time.

Normal. This was normal.

After she finished eating lunch she got her painting from Sweet Candy and took it to her bedroom to put on top of one of her dressers. The next time her father was here she’d show it to him.

The day passed by in a vague blur after that. She was back in her chambers now and allowed to pretty much do whatever she wanted. Aside from leave. As long as it was a happy and fun experience for her, she got to do whatever she wanted until dinner and then bedtime. At which point Sweet Candy would leave until next morning and then things would start all over again. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so on and so forth. Today was a Sunday but it didn’t really matter. They were all the same for her now.

When dinner came, Wish decided to forego the normal dishes entirely and went straight for the cake. She just wanted to eat something tasty and comforting. After today she needed it, even with her earlier reservations about just stuffing her face with stuff like this. Crystal clear water was used to wash it down, the chocolate goodness and rich warm fudge on the inside made her feel better, even just temporarily. She ended up eating a slice of the cake that was far too big for her, but nopony said anything or discouraged her or even asked her to mind her manners as she used her hoof to wipe a smear of chocolate off her lips. Wish decided to finish things by taking a small bowl of porridge and eating a couple spoonfuls of that just so she could at least say she ate something real before bed. So she could tell herself she wasn’t just a pig eating fancy desserts while others ate… she didn’t even know what. Probably the average, meager, foods she ate back before she and her father came to the castle.

Now as the other maids and butlers cleaned off the table and swiftly departed, it was just Wish and Sweet Candy. Her personal maid started cleaning the boudoir and then Wish’s bedchambers. After that would come a quick wash and Wish would be taken to bed.

Evenings were never exciting.

And she had been coming to dread them more and more thanks to her nightmares.

Part of her wanted to start a conversation with Sweet Candy again, ask her more about what they had talked about earlier. But those feelings were quashed quickly. Sweet Candy wouldn’t talk with her about it anymore either. Probably.

Wish had been fooling around with her stuffed animals when she heard Sweet Candy call from the bathroom. “Wish? It’s time for bed now.”

“Coming!” Wish said in as chipper a tone as she could manage. Sighing under her breath at the same time.

At least this day was finally ending. She was tired. She hated the thought of going through another nightmare. But she just wanted to wake up in bed and hope that maybe that day she’d get to see her father.

A lone candle was lit in her room for light, barely doing anything to the dark. The bathroom had a few more lights at least. The bath itself didn’t last half as long as the one she took in the mornings, it was just to get her clean enough to hop into bed and get off any dust and dirt from the castle. And she didn’t need to go through a lengthy manestyling afterwards. In, out, dry off, go to bed.

Sweet Candy was even rushing things. Wish could tell after all the other nights they had done this.

But she still ended it with a smile as she had Wish walk up the step-stool and then tightly pulled up the covers and made sure Wish was safe and secure under them. A fluff of Wish’s pillows and the both of them were just about done. Sweet Candy grabbed the cord for the curtains along the four-poster bed and started to pull them closed, but stopped when just the last little bit was left open. She looked at Wish as the filly lied on her bed.

“Good night. Sleep well.”

Wish blinked and leaned back against her pillow. “Good night.”

Sweet Candy closed the curtains and left her bedside, using a snuffer to put out the candle, and then walked out of the bedchambers and closed the door shut behind her. In the darkness, the pitch black darkness of her room, Wish listened. She heard her maid’s hoofsteps as they walked over to the front door to Wish’s quarters. She heard the slight creak as the door was opened and Sweet Candy shuffled out. She heard the slight thump as the door was closed and-

Click

There it was. She heard Sweet Candy lock the door. It was just barely perceptible to Wish as she lied down in her bed, behind another closed door. But it was the same every night. The door was always locked from the outside. Locking her in. She didn’t understand why but there was nothing she could do about it.

Wish let out a deep breath and looked up at the canopy of her bed. She could feel sleep coming to take her.

It wasn’t long after she had fallen asleep that the nightmares came too.

Author's Note

Five day break.

Life in Hoofica Castle

Wish wandered the dark and claustrophobic halls of the castle. A torch every fifty feet was her only source of light. The walls seemed so long and the ceiling so high up that she couldn’t see the top. Alcoves around her were filled with suits of armor that looked down at her as she walked by them. She couldn’t remember why she was here or what she was doing. Why did she come here? In fact, where in the castle was this?

Passing another torch she came to a set of stairs. Tall and narrow, each step was just slightly thinner and taller than a step should be, making them slightly dangerous to actually walk up or down if you weren’t being careful. Wish looked up them to see where they went but they just disappeared into darkness a short ways up.

She opened her mouth to call out for her father but all that emerged was a long whimper. The words wouldn’t come, it was like she was being strangled.

She brought her small hooves up to her throat… why did they feel smaller? Why did her whole body feel smaller? Wish coughed and pawed at her throat, wheezing the entire time as she fought to try and get some words out.

A step behind her.

A hoofstep that reverberated throughout the entire hall.

Wish didn’t turn around to look. Even the wheezing in her throat stopped as she paled and the blood running through her veins turned to ice.

She didn’t know when she started to run, but soon she was galloping up the stairs with wild abandon. The hoofsteps behind her came, slowly, but they came. The stairs she was running up seemed to stretch on for infinity. Help! She wanted to yell out. Would anypony even hear her? Would they come even if they did?

Suddenly her hooves fell out beneath her as she shot up past the last step and came to a rolling stop along the floor. Torches lit up the room she was in and a tired and panting Wish pushed herself to stand up. Everything was quiet and still aside from the flickering torches.

A large door was the only thing here.

Wish futilely tried to shout again but only managed a cough and weak cry. When she took a step towards the door, the sound of her hoof striking the stone floor echoed across the entire room. She didn’t hear the hoofsteps coming from behind her anymore but the more she tried to get to the door the slower she felt. Sluggish. As if she was trying to run through molasses. When she finally made it and pressed her tiny hooves to the door she didn’t bother with another scream. First trying to push the door open and then repeatedly banging her hooves and body against it.

Something cold was running past her back hooves.

Wish looked down to see a black slime oozing out from underneath the door. She panicked in fright and accidentally put her front hooves down into it as well.

So cold. It just kept coming out and out.

As she backed away from the door she felt herself hit something.

Wish looked up to see a white phantom standing over her. Its glowing red eyes and mouth smiling down at her. Wish tried to scream again but white tendrils lashed around her throat and body. She was caught. At the mercy of the phantom. Wish struggled and fought but the tendrils wouldn’t budge, a cruel laughter came from the white phantom as it looked up at the ceiling.

Wish followed its gaze.

Needles. Hundreds of needles were coming down from the ceiling.

“Young lady? It’s time to wake up!”

Wish curled up and groaned under the sheets, not ready to face the morning. She was so tired. Had she just had another nightmare? She probably did but she honestly couldn’t remember anything about it after just waking up.

“Just five more minutes...” Wish muttered from under the covers. Truly a filly who didn’t feel like getting out of bed.

“Now, now, we can’t be having that. You need to get up and take your bath, breakfast will be ready soon.”

Wish grumbled some more but still threw the covers off of her head and sat up, rubbing her eyes and yawning. At last she blinked a couple of times and looked over at her maid. “Fine. Just a second and I’ll—who are you?”

An unfamiliar maid was smiling back at Wish. She was a cream colored pegasus with a salt and pepper mane done in pigtails and freckles on her face. She wore the usual maid attire with slits for her wings to peek out, but Wish couldn’t recall ever seeing this particular maid before. And Sweet Candy always woke her up. Always. Every. Single. Morning.

The maid grinned wider and giggled. “My name’s Dotted Easel! Starting today I’m your new personal maid!”

Wish stared at her dumbfounded. “B-But what about Sweet Candy?”

Dotted Easel smiled sadly at Wish and let out an unsure chuckle. “Well… she was caught crying in one of the castle bathrooms last night. The Head Inquisitor felt that you didn’t need such a negative influence in your life, so I was moved into her position.”

“But—huh?!” Wish couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She threw the rest of the covers off her and stood up on the bed. “Crying? And where’d she go if she’s not my maid anymore? I-I want to see her!”

“I’m sorry, young lady, but I really don’t know. All I was told is she’s already been let go and isn’t in the castle anymore,” Dotted Easel shook her head. “The Head Inquisitor didn’t tell me anything else.”

Wish’s lip quivered. What had happened last night after she went to bed? What had happened to Sweet Candy that had made her so upset? Crying? And this new maid was selected for her by the Head Inquisitor without Wish even knowing? Was Sweet Candy okay?

“C-Can I talk to my father? I want to ask him about Sweet Candy. H-He always said she was doing a good job—and t-they should’ve talked just last night too!” Wish asked.

Dotted Easel gave her that same sad—pitying—smile. “He already knows. He was the one who chose me to replace her after a recommendation from the Head Inquisitor. And then earlier the Head Inquisitor was just the one who informed me of it all.”

Wish blinked. So it was her father who picked this maid for her? Not just the Head Inquisitor? “But… I don’t...” She held her head, a sudden headache overtaking her. “Mmm...”

“Oh, you poor dear. I know this must be very upsetting for you,” Dotted Easel reached over and affectionately rubbed her head. A second later she happily giggled again and smiled. “But here, let me show you why your father chose me to be your new maid! I promise you’ll be happy to see it!” She pulled a folded up piece of paper out of her dress and quickly unfolded it, holding it out in front of her face for Wish to see. “Ta-da!”

It was a beautiful painting of Hoofica Castle. All the details were just right, and it wasn’t with the sky being dark and dreary overhead either, but with the sun out and the sky a friendly blue. Wish didn’t like Hoofica Castle that much, but she had to admit it was a good painting.

“You see, your father told me you loved to paint, and that’s what I got my Cutie Mark in!” Dotted Easel cheerfully said. “After class we can paint together if you want! I can even teach you, your father thought we would get along really well.”

Wish looked from the painting into the bright eyes of Dotted Easel, then back to the painting. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell and ask where Sweet Candy was and what was going on.

She knew she couldn’t do any of those things.

“Umm… okay,” Wish nodded.

After all, if her father had been the one to decide this, it had to be alright. Didn’t it?

“Great!” Dotted Easel folded up and put away the painting and then picked her up, carrying her off the bed and putting her on the floor. It actually made Wish more miffed than having to use the stepping stairs. “You just wait one second and I’ll have your bath ready in a jiffy! Leave it to Dotty!” A spark lit up Dotted Easel’s eyes. “I know—that’s what you should call me! A nice nickname to help break the ice between the two of us. We’ll be best friends really quick like that, hm?”

“Okay… Dotty,” Wish smiled at her. It was an awkward, forced, smile more akin to a grimace and Dotted Easel had to know that but she just smiled back at Wish anyways.

“Then it’s time to get your bath ready,” Dotty winked at her and started walking to the bathroom before she stopped herself. “Oh! Almost forgot!” She looked over her shoulder at Wish and smiled. “On a scale of one to ten, how happy are you today?”

Wish stood up straight and tried to smile as naturally as possible. “Ten out of ten!”

It became apparent very quickly that Dotty wasn’t going to be doing things the same way Sweet Candy did. Or more accurately, she couldn’t or didn’t know how to. The bath water wasn’t at the right temperature, she didn’t put in any powders at all, she used the shampoos and conditioner in the wrong order, and most of the time she just sat beside the tub humming to herself as Wish did everything on her own. Lastly, when Wish finally got out of the tub, she roughly scrubbed her down with a towel until Wish was totally dry, and then it was time for her mane and tail.

“Ow!” Wish winced as Dotty accidentally tugged too hard on a knot in her mane.

“Sorry! Still getting used to your mane, young lady,” Dotty giggled.

So I don’t get a nickname? Wish frowned in the mirror.

The styling of her mane and tail took way longer than it should have. Dotty didn’t seem to have experience or any practice with this sort of thing at all. Was she even actually a maid before she was chosen to replace Sweet Candy? If she wasn’t, then what was she? Who was she? Wish probably shouldn’t think about it. Like a lot of other things in Hoofica Castle.

Eventually Dotty was able to get things right and Wish’s mane and tail finally looked okay. Decent, not perfect like if it was Sweet Candy. Which meant that breakfast had probably been sitting out there in the other room for longer than normal. Not that Wish really minded, it was probably Dotty who had to worry more about the schedule slipping.

The two of them left the bathroom together, and then Wish’s bedchamber, and emerged into the boudoir. Where everything looked just as it did on a normal day for Wish. It seems besides Sweet Candy’s replacement nothing else had changed and the other maids and butlers were just carrying on like normal. The sky outside was still dark, her stuff was still lying around, and she was willing to bet that as soon as breakfast finished she would be heading off to class.

She didn’t have much of an appetite this morning. A bowl of oats with some milk was all she could stomach.

As Dotty stood smiling beside her she couldn’t stop thinking of Sweet Candy. Wish didn’t even think she and Sweet Candy were that close, and some of the things Sweet Candy had said last night made her… uncomfortable. But the maid had always been with her and now she was just suddenly gone. Gone in a way that made Wish feel afraid for her.

Wish didn’t know why things were suddenly building up like this but it was all becoming too much. And she just had to smile through it. The strangeness, the nightmares, and now the disappearances. She wanted to see her father so bad. Unless she was lucky though, this was just looking like one more day without him. So Wish would have to go through the motions once more, she hopped off her chair after finishing her breakfast and looked out one of the room’s windows as the maids and butlers cleaned up. In a second, Dotty would tell her that it was time to go to class but Wish for some reason wanted to take a look at the world outside the castle. Dreary as it was.

There were still birds out there, she saw a few crows flying. And there were still some ponies below in the streets. As strange as things had gotten the kingdom was still here. Wish sighed inwardly, making sure Dotty couldn’t see, and turned around with a smile on her face.

“I’m ready for class!” Wish beamed.

Dotty clapped her hooves together. “You’re being a wonderful young lady today! I didn’t have to remind you or anything, your father did say you were such a good girl.”

Wish awkwardly blushed at the words of praise, happy to hear that her father had said something like that about her. “Thank you.”

“Shall we then?” Dotty said as she tilted her head towards the door.

“Yes, coming,” Wish nodded and quickly trotted over to join her.

As they made their way out of her personal chambers and towards the stairs that would take them down into the rest of the castle, Wish couldn’t help but again glance back in the direction the other stairs would be. The ones going up to the fourth and fifth tower. She just blankly stared at them—hoping to suddenly see a stallion walking down them at the last second—before looking away.

Once she and Dotty passed through the threshold leading down the stairs, Wish thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. For a second she could’ve sworn that one of the stallions guarding the stairs was frowning at her. But as soon as she looked up all he seemed to be doing was staring dead ahead at nothing like normal. Dotty meanwhile was pleasantly humming to herself and hadn’t seemed to notice anything, so Wish brushed it off as well.

Completely unlike the morning walks through the castle with Sweet Candy, Dotty was talkative as soon as they were alone. Asking Wish seemingly any question that came to mind.

“What’s your favorite food?”

“Umm… chocolate cake, maybe?”

“What about your favorite drink?”

“Apple juice.”

“Where’d you live before coming here anyways?”

“My father and I lived in Ashen Birch Thicket my whole life before we came to the castle.”

“Ooh, from the sound of that name you lived real far to the northwest then?”

“Yeah… all the towns there have tree names and stuff like that.”

Wish wondered if Dotty actually didn’t know this stuff or if she was just trying to make Wish talk and warm up to her. She could try and be optimistic and think that Dotty was just talkative and there wasn’t any deeper meaning behind the questions. But her mind really kept going to the more pessimistic answer.

“How long have you enjoyed painting?”

“Since before I even started school.”

Dotty hummed to herself and nodded a few times. “Well maybe one day we’ll both have Cutie Marks in painting!”

Wish inwardly cringed.

Inane chatter followed the rest of the way down the winding stairs, through the towers, and then into the lower section of the castle. All the way to the classroom itself. Wish couldn’t believe she missed the eerie and unnatural silence of the previous few months. Dotty had all by herself livened up Wish’s experience in Hoofica Castle, but she was just as unnerving in her own way. And furthermore annoying.

At least once they got to the classroom Dotty let her go inside by herself and waved goodbye until class was over.

“I’ll see you soon!” Dotty smiled.

“Yeah,” Wish smiled and nodded back at her.

Wish stepped inside the usual classroom as the door closed shut behind her. She looked to the front of the room and saw that like usual, her classmates were already there.

Except for Little Note. His desk was empty.

“Good morning, Wish!” Star Eyes called out and waved from the front of the class, a bright smile on her face. If she was bothered by the empty desk in front of her she didn’t let it show on her face. “Take your seat whenever you’re ready!”

She opened her mouth but not a single syllable popped out before she closed it again. Asking about Little Note wasn’t going to help anything. What would happen if she accidentally made the other three get upset and cry? Instead Wish just silently took her seat. When she looked to her right and left, her classmates appeared even stiffer than normal. Big smiles were etched onto their faces as they stared ahead. It was bad enough before and now it had gotten even worse.

And she had to sit here with Little Note’s empty desk next to her the whole time.

Wish wanted to trust the Inquisitors and also think that he would be back tomorrow, or soon at least, but she found that she couldn’t. She just couldn’t at all.

Like so much of her life, she simply ended up zoning out of class today. Unable to focus on anything being said or what Star Eyes was trying to teach. She usually didn’t do that for class, often instead finding herself blankly staring out the windows of her boudoir in the evening, but today she didn’t have the energy to care. Sheer muscle memory and habits forced into her allowed her to keep smiling and at least give a yes or no answer when Star Eyes called on her. Otherwise she felt like she was in some sort of fugue.

Nothing sounded right. Nothing looked right. Nothing felt right.

She couldn’t even remember when class ended and Dotty had arrived to pick her up.

“Goodbye,” Wish said to Comet Burst, Bright Dawn, and Aqua Jewel.

“Goodbye!” The three kids all said in unison.

Smiling.

As the door to the classroom closed shut behind her, Wish looked up into the happy face of Dotty.

“How was class?”

Wish’s smile stretched wider, straining her muscles. “It was great!”

And there was still so much of the day left. Walking back up to her chambers. Lunch. Painting with Dotty. Dinner. Bathing. And then finally sleep. She wanted the day to end. Why had the last two days been like this? She had never felt so drained before. So many questions were rolling around in her head. So many concerns. She didn’t even care that going to sleep meant another nightmare, she just wanted the day to be over.

A flash of lightning occurred as she and Dotty passed a window, and looking outside she knew the day was still far from over.

The royal kitchens of Hoofica Castle were busy. Not because of the amount of ponies that needed to be fed—in fact that number was far smaller in recent months—but because of the removal of so many ponies who had previously been working in them and the certain extravagant meals prepared three times a day. Not even counting what the King and Queen were served.

It was a madhouse in here, three separate areas were used for the young lady’s daily meals, the King and Queen’s, and then the food for every other pony in the castle. One of those groups didn’t get a fair share. The castle was hardly short on food or needed to ration, but with the lower staff and the very important orders to focus on the young lady, everypony else had to make do with the most simple of meals.

A teenage colt by the name of Fresh Delivery was currently ferrying plates, utensils, ingredients, and so forth from oven to oven and chef to chef. Tirelessly working in the young lady’s section of the large kitchens to help make everything run smoothly. He had grown up in the castle and been working in the kitchens all his life as a helper, hoping one day to learn the trade and become a real chef. The past few months had made that dream a bit more difficult to see.

Currently dinner was being prepared, with about half the dishes ready and waiting on a large table. Fresh Delivery frowned as he set down a freshly baked tray of biscuits on the table, his eyes roaming over the delicious food. So, so much of it. It was already a feast for an entire family.

“All this for one pony every single day. It’s such a waste… no single pony could eat all of this,” he muttered.

A chef placed a finished pie right on the table beside him and looked over with a frown. “I’d keep thoughts like that to yourself if I was you.”

“But sir-” Fresh Delivery said.

“But nothing,” the chef shushed him. “Just make the food for the young lady and get it ready.”

Fresh Delivery bit his lip to keep himself from talking back. It disgusted him to see food be treated so disrespectfully, to see all their hard work be taken so lightly. The King and Queen didn’t used to let things be like this. It was only when that pony and her father arrived at the castle and the entire kingdom changed. The sky went dark, the black band appeared around his neck, and now these glorious meals were being made and wasted for no reason.

His own stomach grumbled slightly.

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. He quickly had to go back to working, checking the timers on the ovens, taking trays out, keeping things going. Nopony wanted to be seen as responsible for slowing the young lady’s meal down. A short while later some ponies came to deliver fresh batches of fruits and vegetables from the orchards and gardens. A couple of other helpers washed them and put them in the right bowls after preparation was done.

Fresh Delivery spotted a bowl of perfectly red strawberries. His favorite food.

His heartbeat quickened in his chest.

“Here, take this to the table,” a chef said, handing him a large bowl of pasta.

“Yes sir,” Fresh Delivery replied and swiftly walked over. His eyes were on the bowl of strawberries the entire time. They were so tasty and juicy looking. His mouth almost started to water. When he reached the table he acted as naturally as possible and placed the bowl of pasta down—then as quickly and discreetly as possible he swiped a strawberry from the bowl.

He didn’t look around suspiciously, instead walking over to an alcove beside one of the large ovens as if it was exactly what he was supposed to do. The big red strawberry was in his hoof and he brought it up to his mouth, sniffing it first and taking in its delicious smell. He opened his mouth to bite into it-

“Child.”

Fresh Delivery stopped in mid-bite, his eyes turned in their sockets and he looked over to see a unicorn stallion wearing a white suit standing over him. The stallion’s eyes were cold as he stared at the red strawberry.

“Did you steal that from the young lady’s meal?”

Fresh Delivery paled and his lip quivered, he tried shaking his head. “N-No, I...”

“Come with me,” the Inquisitor said and lit up his horn, an aura of magic appearing around Fresh Delivery and dragging him through the kitchen.

“No! Please! Somepony help!” Fresh Delivery yelled out to the rest of the kitchen, his tear-stained eyes pleading to the other helpers and chefs in the kitchens.

They just ignored him, continuing on with their work and trying to not even look in his direction. Wide eyes and frightened grimaces were carved onto their faces as they silently worked through Fresh Delivery being dragged off.

The uneaten strawberry dropped from his hoof and fell to the floor.

Hefty Hoof sighed as he finally got back to his small personal quarters around midnight after a long shift of guard duty. It was just the pits, he was so tired of standing around for no reason. Watching the stairs pointlessly even when that filly wasn’t even around. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be in Hoofica Castle. Or the entire kingdom. This wasn’t why he became a Royal Guard. It was all so wrong and yet most of his fellow guards were too afraid to speak up or even act like there was a problem.

After Captain Red Wing disappeared and that psychopath took over and made the Inquisitors…

“Tch,” he clicked his tongue and pulled open the door to his room. He still wondered what happened to the old Captain.

He put his spear up on a rack along the wall and took off his helmet, wiping his sweat away and looking forward to finally getting some sleep. The bed wasn’t much but he never had trouble with conking out on it.

As soon as he put his helmet down, a hoof came from behind his head and pressed a wet rag against his muzzle.

“Mmph?!” Hefty Hoof let out a muffled cry but before he could even fight back the smell of what was on the rag invaded his brain and sent him into a deep sleep.

Dotted Easel the maid closed the door to her room behind her. A wide smile on her face—quickly fell down into a depressed frown, lines appearing all over her face that made her look twenty years older than she actually was. She brought up a cream colored hoof to her face and took a deep, shuddering, breath.

“Okay, Dotty. You did a good job today. You did a very good job. There’s no reason for anypony to be upset,” she told herself.

The maid walked over to her closet after calming herself down and took off her uniform. On her flank was the Cutie Mark of a palette marked with red, yellow, green, blue, and orange dots of paint.

She had loved her Cutie Mark before today. No, before the kingdom had changed and she got dragged into this mess because she had been restoring a painting in the castle at the time. The King had hired her for the job and right in the middle of it the sky went dark and the band on her neck appeared…

If it only wasn’t for her Cutie Mark she could’ve avoided all of this horror.

Opening up the closet, Dotty hung up the uniform on one of the coat hangers. Right next to it hung the pure white Inquisitor uniform she had been wearing right up until last night. She paused as she stared at it. Her life was so much simpler before she was forced into this for the Head Inquisitor’s own amusement. And while it might not have been much better, her life was probably simpler still before she was chosen to be the young lady’s new maid. The Head Inquisitor and Wish’s father decided she needed somepony that could be trusted more and could be more fun for her. It didn’t matter apparently that Dotty didn’t know how to be a maid.

She closed the closet and walked over to her dresser beside the bed.

Dotty opened up the top drawer of it and pulled out something that was resting on top of her spare clothes. A glass bottle full of a murky brown liquid. She pulled out the cork and was assaulted by the sharp stench of the liquid. Without hesitation she brought the bottle to her lips and drank deeply, ignoring the burn of the liquid inside.

“Haaah...” Dotty sighed as she stopped drinking and wiped away a bit of the brown liquid on her lips. She corked the bottle back up and put it away.

“Just keep smiling. Just keep smiling, stay happy, make friends with the kid. That’s all you need to do, Dotty. She’s a sweet little kid, just try and be honest friends with her.” Dotty repeated to herself. She brought up her hooves and rubbed her tired eyes before sinking down to her bed. “Just keep smiling, just keep smiling, just keep smiling.”

She had to be awake very early tomorrow morning. Every morning from now on.

Her hoof wormed over to the small stool beside her bed, reaching for the alarm clock sitting on it. If she had forgotten to set it—if heaven forbid that she was late one morning—she didn’t want to think about what would happen. The Head Inquisitor was scary enough even when there wasn’t a reason for her to be angry with Dotty.

“Just keep smiling...” Dotty muttered and closed her eyes.

She drifted off into a quiet, nightmare-free, sleep.

Hefty Hoof felt strange. There was something wrong, he could tell even before he managed to open up his eyes.

When he did, black stone met his vision, moving back and forth in front of him. No—he was the one moving. Swinging. His legs were hanging down in front of his face as he was suspended upside down in the air. Fighting gravity, he managed to bend and lift his head up to look at what he was hanging from.

A chain came down from the dark ceiling that was attached to shackles around his back hooves.

“W-Wha-?” Hefty Hoof groaned, his memory still spotty.

“Good, you’re awake,” a voice from in front of him said.

Hefty Hoof looked forward as best he could—at what must be the front of the room—and saw a pair of white-suited ponies looking at him. From behind bars. Hefty’s eyes widened as he fully realized his situation. This was no room, but a cell.

“Y-You!” He yelled at them, far more angry than scared. “What do you think you’re doing?! I’m a Royal Guard of Hoofica Castle!”

“We saw you. You frowned at the young lady,” one of the Inquisitors said.

Hefty gawked at them in disbelief. “You saw that? What are you doing, spying on me all day or something?”

“We’re always watching when it comes to things that concern her,” the other Inquisitor said.

“And a Royal Guard you say? What would the Queen think if she knew you did something like that? Frowning at an esteemed guest of hers,” the first said.

Hefty Hoof grit his teeth, his eyes red with anger. “T-The Queen?! The Queen’s lost her mind! What about the King? What about him, huh? I don’t know who you two were before all of this happened but you can’t think any of this is right! You can’t! Where are your families? Where are your friends? You think the sky should look like that?! You think it’s okay that these black… things! Whatever they are, are around our necks?!” He struggled against the chains, wildly flailing around. “Why are you listening to them?! This isn’t how Hoofica is supposed to be!”

The two Inquisitors quietly stared back at him before sharing a glance with each other. A look of resignation and… disgust? Pity? At themselves briefly flashed across their features.

The first Inquisitor sighed. “Even if you say such things-”

Suddenly, the sound of a door being opened interrupted them. Hefty Hoof couldn’t see the door or who had opened it up from inside his cell, but the two Inquisitors both looked to their left and immediately snapped to attention.

“H-Head Inquisitor!” They said, saluting.

And Hefty Hoof’s breath caught in his throat.

“I had heard that somepony did something very, very, bad~” A cheerful, mocking, mare’s voice came from down the hallway. “Would you mind if I take charge of this inquisition?”

“Not at all,” the second Inquisitor immediately said, fear was screaming forth from his eyes and the eyes of the other Inquisitor.

“No...” Hefty Hoof whispered.

Light hoofsteps came closer and closer to his cell.

“No… please. Keep her away from me!” Hefty Hoof cried as he struggled harder against the chains. She was right there, only a few steps away. “Stay away from me!”

Author's Note

For the near future, chapters will come out every other day instead of every day.

Father

When Wish went to class today, Little Note’s desk was missing entirely. It looked like he was never coming back. That already sent her mood down the drain and it’s not like it had been a great mood to begin with. It was becoming more and more difficult to actually keep a smile on her face and act happy.

Maybe Star Eyes, or whoever it was that decided what went on in this classroom, knew that because what they were doing today was reading and checking the grammar and writing of some classic Hoofica children’s stories. At least those were fun to read. Reading a story about a family of mice building a raft out of discarded popsicle sticks to journey down a creek was certainly a good way to escape from the current dreary world around her. So the one good thing she could think about right now was how it was going to be an easy and relaxed day in class.

Every time she read the word “father” or “dad” in the story though it sent a sharp pang through her chest.

She tried to ignore that too and just enjoy the story. There were others to read that came after, others that wouldn’t have such a painful reminder for her. Not when she was trying to escape reality.

The next story was about a pony building a hot-air balloon and traveling across Hoofica in it, after that was a story about a unicorn going to a new school that only had pegasi, and then a story about a pony being shrunken down to the size of an ant and trying to find her way back home. Each little story had its own little moral. Wish was familiar with them all, her mother and father had read some of them to her when she was younger. Or she had read them for class back in Ashen Birch Thicket.

She glanced at Comet Burst—he was taking diligent notes while reading. She glanced at Bright Dawn and Aqua Jewel—they were taking notes as well. Wish, in her desire to escape reality around her, had pretty much forgotten about the actual assignment.

If she flat out told Star Eyes she didn’t feel like working, what would Star Eyes say?

Probably that that was a-okay and whatever made Wish happy went. Wish almost snorted as she realized how likely that was. How she could just do nothing, or blatantly copy what the others were doing, or mess around, and Star Eyes and her fellow classmates would just smile and cheer. All that mattered was her being happy, right?

Wish clenched her hooves as she read. No way. I’m not that kind of pony. Just no way.

It would take a little extra work, but she’d make up for her lack of note taking now.

Together the class read the classic tales and took notes for the better part of two hours. It was only a dent in what one could call the library of Hoofica’s children stories but they had gotten through most of the more popular ones. A better day than learning about some dumb new math stuff. It was also something that her classmates probably needed, not just her. Whether that was Star Eyes choice or somepony elses, Wish again didn’t know.

“I think that was certainly a fun day of class,” Star Eyes said as everypony finished the last story. “What was everypony’s favorite story? Comet Burst?”

“Gobbler and the Great Balloon,” Comet Burst smiled. “That was always my favorite one.”

“I love that one too,” Star Eyes nodded. “What about you, Bright Dawn.”

“Um… that one’s also my favorite. I remember reading it when I was little,” the pegasus filly said.

“Nothing wrong with both of you having the same favorite. And you, Aqua Jewel?” Star Eyes asked the other little pegasus.

“My favorite is the one with the pony who lives in the lake. Princess Lilypad,” Aqua Jewel answered.

“A very sweet story. And what about you, Wish? Which one is your favorite?” Star Eyes finally asked her.

“I-” Wish thought for a second. Which one did she like the most? While it had been pleasant enough to read them all she couldn’t say that she had any real opinions or feelings on them. They were nice. That was it. Was she just having trouble really getting attached to anything? She felt like her heart shouldn’t feel as dull as it did. “I think my favorite was The Traveling Mice Family.”

It was as good an answer as any.

“That’s a very cute story,” Star Eyes beamed at her before looking down at her desk at a piece of paper. “And I think that just about wraps things up for today. Wish, I believe your maid is already waiting for you.”

The only way Star Eyes could actually know that is by habit and knowing the schedule, but Wish didn’t call her out on it. Instead she smile and stood up from her desk, waving goodbye to the teacher and her classmates. “Goodbye, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow, Wish!” Everypony replied together.

Once she left the classroom she found Dotty there waiting for her. Just like usual. What was unusual though was that Dotty seemed happier than normal. And since she was normally already all smiles and giggles it was especially strange. Her eyes had an extra brightness to them and her smile seemed a bit wider and more peppy.

Wish raised an eyebrow at her. “Is something up, Dotty?”

“I have a surprise for you!” The ecstatic maid yelled.

Wish stepped back, startled by the volume. “W-What?”

“I can’t tell you, that would spoil it. Just come on and come back to your chambers with me!” Dotty giggled.

“Okay...” Wish shrugged and followed Dotty along as they made the return trip up to the third tower. She couldn’t imagine any surprise Dotty had for her would be anything Wish cared about, but she could feign interest in it and at least act happy when it came. And meanwhile of course Dotty was teasing her about the great surprise the whole time they walked.

“You’re gonna love it~” Dotty sang as they walked up the stairs to the towers.

“You’re really making it sound like a great surprise.”

“I’m just trying to get you excited!”

“Well, I’m excited,” Wish lied.

They passed through the second tower and went up the stairs that would now take the both of them right to the third tower. Dotty knew what her favorite food was now, maybe she had something prepared for lunch? Or maybe they were going to do something with painting? Wish probably shouldn’t be so pessimistic about it, Dotty was clearly trying her best.

“Heehee~” the maid giggled right on schedule as they emerged from the stairs.

“The surprise is for me but you’re more excited than I-” Wish’s words stopped dead in her throat as she looked towards the front doors leading to her chambers.

There was a pony standing right outside of them.

An older brown unicorn stallion with a short orange mane and tail and the friendliest pair of green eyes a pony could have. He wore a black and white pin-striped suit with a red tie and a white undershirt beneath it. Upon seeing Wish, the stallion lifted up a hoof to smile and wave at her.

Wish’s jaw dropped.

The stallion raised an amused eyebrow at her and chuckled briefly. “Well aren’t you going to say hello, my darling?”

“Dad!” Wish shouted and ran at full speed at him, galloping over the stone floor and practically propelling herself into him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“Hahahaha,” her father laughed in his fairly deep voice and quickly put his hooves around her. “So “Dad”, huh? Not father?”

Wish blushed. “Sorry! I was just so excited to see you and-”

“Relax, darling,” he patted her head. “I’m only teasing. You can call me dad if you want, it’s far less formal and stuffy than saying father all the time, isn’t it? And so excited? It’s only been about a week since we last saw each other.”

“I-I know, I just missed you,” Wish said.

“I missed you too, my work here is just very important. At least we’re getting to see each other now. In fact I have the whole rest of the day free. I made sure of it just for you,” he said.

Wish smiled and her eyes sparkled up at him. “Really?”

He nodded. “Really.”

Dotty then finished walking up to them with a big grin on her face, and bowed. “I’ll be leaving her in your care then until tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, Dotted Easel. You’ve done a wonderful job as Wish’s maid so far,” her father said. “Enjoy the rest of your day however you see fit.”

“Thank you, Master Dreamweaver,” Dotty said.

Dreamweaver looked back down at his daughter and smiled. “Now then, how’s lunch sound?”

None of the other maids and butlers stood around the table in Wish’s room this time as she and her father ate together. It was just time for them and that was exactly how Wish wanted it. She wasn’t sitting at the head of the table this time but right next to it so her father could sit across from her. The typical lunch meal was placed in front of her and she and her father were eating cheese and hay sandwiches together.

“Aren’t these fantastic?” Dreamweaver said. “Hay and cheese is hardly a rare treat but the castle certainly has access to the best.”

“Mhm!” Wish smiled and swallowed down what she was eating, her cheeks rosy. “Way better than any sandwich I had before coming here.”

Dreamweaver reached over and ruffled her mane. “That’s my good little filly. I know it was a tough adjustment coming here at first, but everything is so much better now for the both of us, you especially. Your maids and teacher tell me how happy you’ve been, always a good ten out of ten.”

“Y-Yeah,” Wish nodded. She couldn’t disappoint him. She didn’t want to ruin this day by speaking about how she really felt.

If they could only see each other once a week, Wish wanted those to be the moments when she could be truly happy.

“If anything isn’t ever completely perfect you only need to tell me or your maid. Everything will be done to make you happy.”

“I know, dad.”

Dreamweaver smiled. “Which is why I have something extra special planned for us right after lunch. You know the opera hall in the south wing of course?”

“Uh-huh,” Wish nodded.

“I’ve asked the King and Queen if they can arrange a performance of “The Farmer and the Noble Lady”. They’ve gotten the best thespians together from across Hoofica just for tonight! Not only that but we’ll be seated in the best box in the hall to watch it. Doesn’t that sound fun?” Dreamweaver told her.

“Yeah! I’ve never seen an opera before,” Wish said.

Dreamweaver chuckled. “Some of them are quite stuffy, I chose one more comedic and fun. Figured that would suit your tastes better.”

Wish giggled. “Yeah, maybe just a bit.”

“Well let’s finish up eating here and then the two of us can head over to the opera hall. Although they won’t start until we arrive, so I suppose we can take our time if you want to eat more,” Dreamweaver said.

“Um… actually,” Wish twiddled her hooves as she looked down at her plate with a blush. “I have something I want to show you.”

“Hm? What?” Her father raised an eyebrow at her.

Wish grinned and hopped off her chair. “Just one second!” She ran towards her bedchamber and opened up the door, heading inside and reaching up to her dresser to grab something. With pure glee she rushed back out into the boudoir and over to his chair, unrolling her painting and showing it to him. “Ta-da!”

Did she just unconsciously do the same thing Dotty did?

“I painted this in class!” Wish proudly said. “It’s me and you!”

“Thank you, Wish, I could tell,” her father chuckled as he looked the painting over. “It’s quite a nice painting you have there. I wouldn’t be surprised one day to see a paint brush on that flank of yours.”

“Hehe...” Wish blushed and rolled the painting back up. “I-It’s not that good.”

“I beg to disagree, sweetheart,” he patted her head again. “And I’m sure Dotted Easel can help you out with any pointers now if you think you need them.”

Wish nodded. “Mm, we painted a little together last night. She draws really good landscapes and buildings and I mostly draw ponies. I thought we could probably make something really good together.”

“I’d love to see it when you do.”

“Thank you...” Wish blushed.

Dreamweaver got a contemplative look on his face. “Hmm… actually, do you mind if I keep that painting of yours? I’d love to hang it up in my lab.”

Wish gasped in surprise. “T-This one? This one I just made in class during free time?”

“Of course, what else?” He grinned.

“W-Well, um...”

“Wish, don’t be embarrassed for a second. It’s a lovely painting,” he lit up his horn and levitated it out of her hooves, unfolding it and taking another look at it. “Just you and me. I couldn’t ask for anything better.” He folded it up and stuck it into one of the pockets of his suit. “There we go, safe and sound.”

Wish almost wanted to cry, she was so happy. “I’m really glad you like it...”

“Of course I do,” he patted her head again and straightened up, getting out of his chair. “Well, I suppose we should get off to the opera. Even if it’s for our benefit, it would be somewhat improper if we kept them waiting for too long. The others in the hall are probably looking forward to seeing it too.”

“Others?” Wish blinked.

“Well it’s such a large hall, there may not be other guests like normal in the castle anymore, but I still felt the seats needed to be filled. A number of guards and other servants are getting a lucky break today. The King and Queen will be there as well,” Dreamweaver explained.

Wish didn’t exactly like the Queen that much from the few times she had met her, but they wouldn’t be sitting in the same box anyways so it wasn’t a big deal. The royal family had their own special place to sit in the opera hall. It was a little funny to think about, normally the operas held there would only be watched by the richest and most famous ponies of Hoofica, personal guests of the King and Queen. Now it was going to be filled up with guards and servants because practically nopony else was allowed in the castle anymore.

“Ready to go?” Dreamweaver asked her.

“Yep!” Wish answered. “I can’t wait to see it!”

In truth, she would’ve enjoyed doing anything as long as she was with her father. He could’ve said they were going to go throw tomatoes against a wall and she would’ve been ecstatic just because it was something for the two of them to do together. An opera certainly sounded more fun than that but it was getting to spend time with her father that was the main attraction. Also, she hadn’t ever been in the south wing of the castle before. She learned about it, she knew it was there, but she’d never actually been inside and certainly had never been inside the opera hall itself. She wondered what it was like. Probably quite grand.

As they left her chambers together, Wish noticed something else—there weren’t any guards standing around anymore. Not by the stairs or anywhere. She wondered if maybe all the ones normally on duty were in the opera hall or if perhaps her father saw no reason for there to be guards around when he was with her. She knew the Queen had given him a lot of favor but she didn’t know exactly how much influence her father had over the guards. It must’ve been something either he or the Head Inquisitor decided.

Wish still almost shuddered thinking about her.

But a quick look up at the happy face of her father quashed any such negative emotions. This was a great day. And a time to have fun.

It was a long walk to the opera hall but Wish enjoyed it more than most of her walks through the castle thanks mostly to her father being with her but also because she got to see new art and stuff she hadn’t seen before. By the time they arrived at the large foyer that led into the opera hall her hooves were a little bit tired. Down, up, and then back down and to the opposite side of the castle. The foyer leading into the hall was located at the ground floor of the castle as well, the opera hall itself was three stories but you could only get into it from down here. Wish wondered where exactly the box she and her father were going to be sitting in was.

“Just a few more stairs, darling,” her father said.

Well that answered that question.

Dreamweaver led the two of them into the hall’s lobby. It was painted gold with red velvet curtains on the wall, giving it a prettier look than the typical harsh black stone of the castle. The ceiling also had a large decorative panoramic painting of pegasi flying through the sky while earth ponies and unicorns galloped through a beautiful meadow. While Wish gawked up at it, her father took her to the spiral stairwell on the left side of the opera hall while the big doors to the floor seats remained closed. The other “guests” were probably all inside and seated already. They went up the golden steps all the way to the third floor and then traveled down a well-lit corridor to the very back.

A door was open to the right and she and her father stepped through to emerge into a private box that had two luxurious and extremely comfortable looking chairs placed in it. The box gave them an excellent view of both the stage and most of the ponies seated below them. It wasn’t a full house but at least the closest half of the floor seats to the stage were filled up. No other boxes were in use though.

Aside from one.

Directly across the way, on the right side of the opera hall, sat a larger than average box. There were two chairs just like this side but there were also several armored guards standing behind them. A purple and gold trim also lined the box—denoting its royal nature. The seats were of course occupied by the King and Queen of Hoofica, it was difficult to really see them from the distance across the hall, but Wish recognized them. The Queen also seemed to notice their arrival, it looked like she was waving at them.

“Them”. Wish almost rolled her eyes, she was waving at her father and nopony else.

The King meanwhile seemed to be gazing intently down at the stage, waiting for the opera to start.

Her father gave the Queen a small wave and smiled as he sat down while Wish sat in the other chair. Much to her annoyance—it had a booster seat in it so she could see over the railing of the box without trouble. She wanted to knock the dumb thing off but that wouldn’t get her anywhere. She made do with a discreet glare and sat down as well.

“The opera should start in just a few moments now,” Dreamweaver said to her, keeping his voice low so it wouldn’t carry down to the other ponies in attendance.

Wish nodded and smiled at her father. “Thank you for bringing me here to see it. I-I’m really happy to get to see it with you.”

“I’ll try and find some more time for us to do things like this together. Or even just poke my head in every now and then to say hi, you deserve it.” Dreamweaver smiled sadly at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think you’d miss me so much. But it proves how special and wonderful of a pony you are that you could keep your chin up and stay happy. Just remember to stay happy, always give me those perfect, ten out of ten days.”

“I will, dad,” Wish said. She could do it for him. Forget everything weird going on, forget all the nightmares, at least her father was still here and he loved her. That was all she needed.

Maybe some days it would be tough if she hadn’t seen him in a while, but just being reminded about stuff like this was enough to help her.

“Oh, the curtain’s rising.”

Wish looked down and saw the large stage curtain being lifted to reveal the sets and ponies acting in the opera behind it. There was a lengthy backdrop placed at the back of the stage, painted as a wide open farmland with a fancy mansion on top of a hill in the background while the foreground was taken up by a simple dirt road and a farmhouse on one side. On the stage itself there was only one pony standing at the moment—a stallion dressed up as a farmer. Ratty overalls, a stick of hay in his mouth, a dirty straw hat on his head, and a hoe held over his back.

She’d find it an over the top portrayal of a farmer if it wasn’t so accurate to all the farmers she knew back where she came from.

From stage left another pony emerged—a mare dressed up in puffy, frilly, white and purple clothes. She walked with charm and grace and held a fan in front of her lower face while heavy eye shadow was visible on her eyelids. Wish didn’t know much about this opera, but she was pretty sure the two of them must be the titular farmer and noble lady.

Music started coming from somewhere, she wondered if maybe there was an orchestra behind or under the stage or perhaps a record player placed somewhere. It was a light melody of strings—setting the scene of a pleasant morning.

“And yet another gorgeous morning, here I walk my lands again~”

The mare started singing, shortly joined by the farmer.

“And yet another hot morning, here I work the lands again~”

Wish leaned in intently, the way they sang they were able to project their voices through the entire hall. The mare had an impressive contralto voice while the stallion was a surprising tenor. Just the sound of their singing was drawing her in before she even really knew what the story of the opera was.

“One of my farmers is it? What a crude and ugly pony~” The noble lady sang, folding her fan and showing off a smile that belied her true thoughts.

“Is that my lady that I see? What a lovely and sweet pony~” The farmer sang, far more generous and upfront with his feelings.

Romance was, in a word, icky to Wish. From the way her father had described the opera she expected there to be some comedy or other entertaining stuff coming soon. She hoped at least. She briefly looked down at the audience and saw all of them smiling at the stage and the performance. It had to be more enjoyable than standing around guarding hallways or cleaning them, no surprise they were liking the time off.

Wish glanced back at them a second time—there was something about the audience that seemed a little off to her. Everypony was being too perfect. Just smiling widely and not taking their eyes off the stage for a second. Wish had been to some plays as a kid, and had been in one or two at her old school, and she knew no audience behaved that well. Some of them should be talking in hushed tones with each other, or disinterested, or at least have a more neutral expression on their faces. But they didn’t. Were they even actually paying attention to or enjoying the opera at all?

It reminded her of her class.

That thought brought her attention back to the stage. Sure, the mare and stallion were smiling and looked all happy. But they were actors. They were performing an opera right now. How did they really feel? What would they say and look like when the curtain fell back down? Where did they come from and what would they go back to? The sky outside was dark everywhere.

She looked up at her father. He was happily watching the opera go on.

Good. That was all she needed. Don’t think about the other stuff.

Don’t think about the other stuff.

As she endlessly repeated that mantra and tried to keep a smile on her face, she forgot to pay attention to the opera. Once more everything around her became a vague shadow. The world was all dark and fuzzy, she was on an island with nopony else around-

The sound of clapping hooves snapped her back to reality.

“A marvelous act one, but acts two and three are where the story really picks up,” Dreamweaver happily said as he clapped in appreciation of the performance.

Wish was sweating without realizing it but she quickly regained control of herself and acted normal. “Yeah… I really like the farmer.”

“Hah, I knew you would. Reminds you of quite a few old ponies from back home, doesn’t he?” Her father smiled at her.

“Yep,” Wish nodded.

“Well his best moments are yet to come. I know this is going to be another ten out of ten day for you. This opera should be a delightful memory.”

Wish felt warmth fill up her chest, her momentary dark thoughts discarded temporarily. “Any day where I can spend time with the best dad in the world is automatically a ten out of ten!” She smiled and puffed out her chest.

Dreamweaver had a sparkle in his eyes as he gazed down at her. “My darling, I’m more happy than you could know to hear you say that. And this “Best dad in the world” still promises to make you the happiest pony in the world.”

Wish came close to crying tears of joy as she sat up straight and positively glowed. The rest of the opera was a lot easier to watch after that. Wish could pay attention to it and the darker thoughts at the edge of her mind were kept at bay by the warmth and love from the parent sitting next to her.

And it turned out her father was right; it really did pick up in acts two and three.

“That was the best! Way better than any play I saw back home!” Wish said as she and her father walked out of the opera hall. “It was so funny in act three when, snort, when—the farmer came out in the lady’s dress a-and had to pretend that he was the lady to convince the Prince not marry her. And then the lady threw that bucket of water on him!” Wish’s sentences devolved into a fit of giggles.

Dreamweaver chuckled along. “Perhaps we can see it again someday, or even another opera maybe.”

“As long as we go together,” Wish smiled and pressed against him as they walked.

“Of course,” Dreamweaver smiled.

Now they had a ways to walk before they made it back up to the towers. They were still on the ground floor of the castle after all, in the central area right underneath the spiraling towers. They had to make about a quarter turn and then go up three flights before they reached the tower stairs. At least getting to sit down for so long allowed Wish to rest her hooves. And with her father and the happy mood she was in, she just had boundless energy.

“We’re eating dinner together too, right?” She asked her father.

“Of course!” He repeated with another chuckle. “I bet you’d love a slice of chocolate cake right now.”

“Mhm, definitely.”

Wish trotted on giddily through the castle. Once they got closer to the stairwell that they needed to go up, she noticed something that she hadn’t before when they first came down. It was another open entryway situated in the wall right behind the stairwell, and through it was a staircase that went down. Down below ground level. Wish hadn’t seen it earlier because it was slightly sunken back in the corner and her father had ushered her in the opposite direction towards the opera hall when they came out onto the ground floor. Surprisingly there were also guards standing outside of it. She had thought that pretty much every guard had gotten to go to the opera, or had stopped watching over things because she was with her father. But not these ones.

There was no sign or any indication of what might be down those stairs and yet… as Wish looked at them, for some reason they felt familiar.

Why? She had just noticed them for the first time, hadn’t she? She didn’t see them just a few hours ago, she knew that for sure.

They must just go to some kind of underground storage. There was probably a big basement in the castle for holding stuff like food and other supplies. That had to be it. What else could be down there, after all?

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

A scream shot through Wish’s head and she almost stumbled as a sudden headache assaulted her. She reached up and grabbed her head in pain, squinting her eyes and looking at the stairs. Her vision was blurry but for a moment—a moment that might not have even been real—she saw the shadows of phantoms at the stairs. An indistinct, fuzzy, tangled, mess of phantoms. A few white ones, and one in the middle that was an eye-shattering rainbow. Wish’s breath caught in her throat as her head pounded.

“Wish? What’s wrong?” Her father asked her, having come to a stop in front of her. He had a concerned frown on his face.

She panted and blinked a few times, the phantoms at the stairs were gone. Did she even actually see that? “S-Sorry, dad. I just got a headache all of a sudden...”

“Aww, my poor darling,” he softly rubbed her head, trying to do his best to lessen the pain. “Must be all the excitement. Let’s get you back up to your chambers.”

“Y-Yeah...” Wish swallowed and smiled for her father as the two of them entered the stairwell. “Thanks, dad.”

She tried to take one last look at the other stairs as they trotted on up to the third floor, but they were already out of sight.

Sounds in the Dark

Screaming. Struggling. Thrashing around.

Carried and forced across the black stone floor.

Dragged in. Angrily. Screaming.

Phantoms.

White phantoms. Angry and victorious. One of them large and fearsome, glowing red eyes, cavernous red mouth. Crawling and swarming over each other.

Another phantom, beaten down, weak and angry. Chained.

Its colors bright blue, but getting weaker. Its colors that of a rainbow, but getting weaker. Dragged by the white phantoms towards the darkness. Dragged across the black stone floor to the gaping maw of darkness.

Stairs? Down?

The phantoms were all traveling down and down together. Screams of rage erupting all over. Shouts. Promises. Laughter. Mocking, sadistic, cruel, echoing everywhere.

Watched.

A lone ghostly pony, watching from a distance.

What? What? What was going on? Something strange. Something wrong. The phantoms didn’t see her, the phantom with glowing red eyes… familiar. The blue and rainbow phantom… what was it? Why was this happening?

Scary. The ghostly pony wanted to run forward and ask what was going on. Wanted to stop the white phantoms. The maw of darkness was about to gobble all of them up. Vanished, taken away, gone forever. She needed to know. She needed to see what was happening.

Her hoof stepped forward.

A pinprick—drawing her hoof back.

The floor had become needles. Poking. Stabbing. Needles that made her head spin. The ceiling and walls came down at her. Darkness closed in.

She screamed.

Wish woke up in a cold sweat, her lip quivering and her body shaking under the covers of her bed. That nightmare was so much different than the others she had had. She was more lucid during it, and she remembered it better after just waking up now. It was almost like it wasn’t really a nightmare at all but a—memory? Is that why those stairs leading deeper below the castle looked familiar to her? Because she had seen them at some point but forgotten?

But how? When? And just what was even happening to begin with?

“My head hurts...” Wish said as she sat up in bed and held her head. She sat like that for a while, breathing deeply and waiting for the throbbing pain to go away. It was pitch black all around her, far darker than it normally was when she woke up. The nightmare must’ve caused her to wake up in the middle of the night. A brief bolt of lightning caused some light to come in through the window, briefly silhouetting Wish against the drawn curtains of her bed.

She wasn’t going back to sleep. That much was certain. And she didn’t want to just lie around in her bed until morning either. Dotty might not like knowing Wish was up and about and doing all sorts of things in her chambers without her knowledge, but Wish didn’t care. She wiggled out of the covers and pulled open the curtains before hopping to the floor. Not the proper way to get out of bed, but that just made her happy.

It was so dark though that she literally couldn’t see anything. Only her memories of where everything was in the room could help her right now. Thunder also rumbled outside her window, but no lightning yet to help her. She could potentially try to light one of the candles in the room but decided against that for now. Wish didn’t even know what she was doing. She just didn’t want to sleep.

Her eyes looked up to where the clock on the wall was, wondering what time it would tell her if she could see its face. Midnight? Past midnight? It seemed like it would still be pure darkness for hours more at least.

“Stupid dark sky,” Wish mumbled.

She didn’t want to just stay in this room for much longer either. It was boring. Even if she wasn’t going to be able to do anything because of the dark she at least wanted to be able to move around more. Wish walked over to the door leading to the boudoir and opened it up, stepping out into the larger room. Still pitch black but at least she could pace around in a circle if she really wanted to now. And she also got an idea.

An idea that maybe, just maybe, Dotty wasn’t doing something that Sweet Candy did.

Wish walked carefully through the boudoir, remembering to her best where everything was, as she made her way to the front door. She only accidentally bumped into a stool once.

When she made it to the closed doors she found her heart was beating faster than normal. “Please, oh please, oh please.” Wish said as she reached her hoof up to the crystal knob.

She grasped it and tried to open the door up. But unfortunately it only barely wiggled and didn’t turn at all. Locked—just as always.

“Darn it,” Wish groaned and sat down in front of the floor, an annoyed pout on her face.

What was she even hoping to do anyways if it was unlocked? There were probably guards out there. She didn’t know where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do. It was all pointless. Did she just want to feel like she wasn’t trapped in here? Was there something she wanted to see and find? It felt like there was something in the back of her mind that she was trying to remember. Something that might have had to do with that nightmare.

That nightmare… Wish was beginning to feel like it was more important than she realized.

In fact, she couldn’t remember how long she’d been having these nightmares. What triggered them in the first place? Those stairs she saw yesterday, those stairs she saw in her dream, the phantoms all going down them. There was something else about all of this that was gnawing at her mind—she knew she had the answer but for some reason she just couldn’t pull it up from her mind.

AHHHHHHHHHHH!

The scream went through her head again and Wish grasped her temples in pain. Where was it coming from? How could she hear it?

What was it trying to tell her?

Wish blinked as the deafening scream subsided and she found herself staring at the dark floor. Her heavy breathing was the only sound in the room. It was always the only sound in the room. But she now knew where that screaming was coming from as she stared at the floor. Below. Down there, in a place she didn’t know existed. No, that was wrong. It was a place she had forgotten about.

“I remember...” Wish whispered as she sat up and rested against the door.

It was three years ago. On a trip to the capitol with her father and mother, the same trip where she had seen Hoofica Castle for the first (and only until they moved in a few months back) time. It didn’t have anything to do with business, or studying, or nothing. They had just made the trip for fun. A vacation to get out and see a different part of the country from the forests and farms that made up most of the area they lived.

Wish had never seen such a city, so many buildings and so many ponies in one place. It was just crazy to her. Hoofica Castle towered over everything else—in an almost frightening way. Even though she knew the King and Queen were good ponies, and Hoofica had been peaceful and prosperous for decades, it was still an intimidating and large structure.

She and her parents were staying in a cheap inn in the middle of the capitol city. It was a busy part of the city, very crowded, very loud. Again totally different from the much more quiet countryside she came from.

From where their room was, Wish could look out the window and see the towers of the castle rising into the sky. The lowest two however weren’t visible from their location, other buildings in the city cutting off the view a little bit.

Her father was standing beside her and pointed at the tallest tower. “Up at the top of that tower is an observatory. Astronomers study and map the stars up there.”

“It’s so big...” Wish said as she looked at the towers.

Dreamweaver chuckled. “Yes, Hoofica Castle is quite large. A far cry from anything you’d see back home. From the tips of its towers all down to the dungeon in the basement.”

Wish blinked at the unfamiliar word and looked up at her father in confusion. “Dungeon? What’s a dungeon?”

“Err...” Her father grimaced and seemed a bit uncertain if he should answer that question or not. “Well, Wish, you see...” He sighed and scratched his head. “You know how we have the Hoofica Guard? The ponies who live throughout the country and stop crimes from happening, and imprison bad ponies in the local jails?”

“Uh huh,” Wish nodded.

“Well a dungeon is… somewhat like a jail. It’s an older term for it, basically. And you only find a dungeon in castles like Hoofica Castle or some of the larger manses in the country. It was where bad ponies or enemies of the royal family were kept in the old days.”

“It sounds scary,” Wish frowned and looked down sadly. “I feel bad for those ponies that had to be in there...”

“It’s all in the past now though,” Dreamweaver smiled and ruffled her mane. “Those dungeons haven’t been used in ages. Things are far more peaceful in Hoofica than in the old days, we don’t even really have an army anymore after all, there simply isn’t any use for them. If you took a tour of the castle you’re even allowed to go see the dungeons yourself.”

“Really?”

He chuckled. “Yes, my darling, really. Nothing to worry about anymore. Hoofica Castle is just a place for the royal family to live in. I can understand why you’d be a little apprehensive about it after seeing it for the first time but just think about it like a big house. Just a big house that has a large basement underneath it. The first floor of the basement is all for storage, and then right below that is the old dungeon.”

Wish went back to looking out the window and staring up at the tall towers. “Okay...”

“One of these days perhaps I can take you to the castle and show you everything myself. I think you’d have a lot of fun on a tour of it,” Dreamweaver smiled.

That at least made Wish a bit happier.

“The dungeon,” Wish softly said to herself as she sat by the locked door to her chambers. “I forgot about it. That’s what must be down those stairs… that’s where the phantoms in my dreams were going. That’s w-where the screams I’ve been hearing are coming from.”

Wish sat in total darkness and wrapped her hooves around her body. The cause of her nightmares had a partial answer now. But still no way for her to stop them. Having such a fun day with her father, she hoped that she wouldn’t have any nightmares for at least one night. Unfortunately she just had to see those stairs which reminded her of everything. She still didn’t fully know what those nightmares and memories meant and when she would’ve seen the stairs leading down to the dungeon in the first place. Somehow it was like she had forgotten a bunch of things but she had no idea how or why.

Amnesia? She was pretty sure she had read about that or heard about it before.

Everything was just wrong. Everything was so scary and so confusing.

She thought all she needed was knowing that her father was here and that he loved her. Knowing that he would be there for her, that they would do things together, that she could see his face every few days. She thought his warmth and love would get her through this strange life and even banish those nightmares. But now she knew they would keep plaguing her until she had an answer for them.

So there was only one thing she could do. Wish knew how to find that answer, and discover the source of her nightmares and problems. She had to get down to that dungeon.

The thought scared her—terrified her even. So many things about Hoofica Castle made her uncomfortable, from the way ponies acted to the Inquisitors, it worried her. And the dungeon sounded scary enough on its own. Perhaps worst of all was the fact her father wouldn’t want her to do anything like this. There was the dark thought that she didn’t want to think about when it came to how much he knew about what was going on here and how involved he was. But she just felt like she’d never be at peace if she didn’t do this.

Of course the big problem was she had absolutely no idea how to accomplish any of this.

“I can’t even get out of this dumb room...” Wish lamented.

She clicked her tongue and stood up, looking at where the door was and imagining right beyond it. There would be guards right out by the hallways leading to the second and fourth towers. Getting out of here would just end in her being thrown back in.

Except… Wish was beginning to think that maybe those guards weren’t actually there anymore. She obviously couldn’t prove it yet, but she was pretty certain they weren’t here to protect her or anything or stop any ponies from getting in. They were there to watch her and make sure she didn’t go anywhere she wasn’t supposed to. That’s really what it seemed like to her after she had walked through the castle with her father yesterday. And now that she was “asleep” and locked away—why would they bother with keeping up their posts?

But she couldn’t know that for sure until she got this door opened up.

Wish started to walk around in small circles, thinking about what she could do to get out of here and go explore the castle. It probably couldn’t be tonight even if she came up with something, she still didn’t know what the hour was or when Dotty would first get here. She hated having to put things off and go through more nights of nightmares but it was becoming apparent that she’d have to wait at least one more day before she was ready to get out of her chambers.

“How do you open a locked door from the inside anyways?” Wish asked nopony in particular. “Can’t even see the stupid thing.”

Well that might be the first thing to figure out: getting some light. If she could keep a candle and some matches hidden away she could take them out tomorrow night after Dotty leaves. But the only opportunity she’d even have to do something like that would be really early in the morning before Dotty arrives. The moment Dotty came into her bedchambers, Wish was on constant watch in one way or the other until Dotty put her to bed.

“Okay,” Wish furrowed her brow and started walking back to her bedchamber. “Once it gets a little brighter, I can look around for stuff and prepare for tonight.” She nodded to herself. “Yeah, I’m doing this.”

Wish wandered through the pitch black chambers, feeling around until she made it to her bedroom and closing the door back up. She didn’t need Dotty knowing she had been wandering around in the middle of the night. And unfortunately she still had to sit in total darkness for a while longer. Bolts of lightning from outside were the only sort of reprieve and the flashes of light they offered simply didn’t last long enough.

It was funny. Being in a dark room like this, in this castle, should’ve been a scary enough thing on its own. And yet Wish would take it every single time over going through another nightmare.

She leaned against the side of her large four-poster bed and fought against the exhaustion now running through her body. Her eyes wanted to close shut but Wish was worried if she let herself rest too long she’d fall asleep. The night slowly passed along after that, glacially until the darkness ever so lightened up just a bit. It never got “bright” in here but it at least changed to a level where she could start to see things as her eyes adjusted.

Like the clock on the wall saying it was four in the morning.

So she could look now. Look for something, anything, that could help her get through that door tonight.

Candles, paintings, statues, potted plants, all of these things and more were scattered about her room and the boudoir. None of them seemed useful right now. She had to look for something else, maybe inside her cabinets and dressers. Even though most of them had been completely emptied when she moved in. The only other stuff she could really think about being here were her toys and some of the painting supplies Dotty brought and left.

“How’s paint supposed to get through a locked door?” Wish snorted.

She began pacing around in annoyance once more. She doubted anypony really went through here to make it impossible for her to get out, they probably just thought a locked door and her father’s word would be all that’s needed. Wish just needed to think, or improvise, find a tool or something that could be used as a tool.

Her impatient hooves stopped in front of the large dresser in the bedchamber. Formerly used to hold several elegant dresses for guests, those were removed when Wish moved in since none of them would fit her. But now she wondered if…

Wish pulled open the doors to the large dresser and looked inside. A clever grin spread across her face. “Got it.”

“Did you have fun today, Wish?” Dotty asked her as she pulled up the covers on the bed and started to tuck Wish in.

“You bet!” Wish smiled up at her. “Class was a ton of fun, and I really liked painting with you.”

“I was surprised that you asked to do a still life with me,” Dotty beamed. “You did a very good job painting the glasses and the fruits in three dimensions. With some practice you’ll get even better.”

Wish giggled. “Well, it wasn’t close to as good as yours.”

“I just have a few more years of experience. You’ll get there too,” Dotty blushed and happily smiled down at Wish. “Besides, some artists can be very good at drawing one thing but not so good at something else. You know how much I like landscapes, and architecture, and still life, but I’m not very good at painting ponies or capturing things like movement in my paintings. You might be better at that than me, we’ve got plenty of time to practice your art more and figure things out.”

The honest and kind words of Dotty genuinely warmed Wish up. “Thank you, Dotty.”

Dotty winked at her. “We’ll paint more tomorrow. Whatever you want. Sleep well now, okay?”

“I will,” Wish said.

Dotty giggled once more before pulling close the curtains on the bed. She left Wish’s bedside and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Wish immediately sat up straight and listened intently, waiting and waiting until she heard the tell-tale click of the door being locked, signifying Dotty would be gone for good for the night.

Click

And there it was.

Wish threw off the covers and let out a sigh of relief. She thought she had done a pretty good job acting like normal and being extra kind to Dotty. Her maid didn’t suspect a thing.

Wish then pulled open the curtain on her bed again and jumped down to the carpeted floor, wasting absolutely no time in moving over towards her dresser. It was going to be pitch black soon so she needed something to help her see for the rest of the night. She opened up the bottom drawer and pulled out a candlestick and match that she had stashed there earlier after taking it from a cabinet in the boudoir. With a single strike she lit the match and then the candle, blowing the match out and throwing the remains in one of the potted plants by the dresser. Now came the wardrobe.

Carefully placing the candle on the dresser for the moment to give herself a little light, Wish walked over to the wardrobe and opened it up.

At the top of it, along the rack, were half a dozen spare wire clothes hangers that she had seen much earlier today. All of the dresses had been taken away, but not all of the hangers. Wish had to use the step-stairs to reach them but she was able to pull one down and get to work.

She had gotten the idea from one of the stories she read as a kid, “Rosy’s Riveting Rescue”. It was a popular children’s book about a young earth pony filly named Rosy whose friends were kidnapped and who went off to save them. At one point in the story, Rosy got locked in a basement but managed to escape by picking the lock with a coat hanger that she bent into a wire.

And that’s exactly what Wish was going to do. She smirked as she carried the hanger and the candle out into the boudoir and over to the front door. There was a small coffee table right by the door that she put the candlestick on so she could see the doorknob with the keyhole in it perfectly well. She didn’t have any real idea on how to pick a lock, but at least she could try. There was plenty of time to spare anyways, she could fiddle with that keyhole for hours. First off though, she needed to actually bend and straighten out a good portion of the hanger.

Which was proving more difficult than she anticipated.

“Grr!” Wish growled in frustration as she struggled to bend it the right way with her tiny hooves. She just didn’t have a whole lot of strength in her body, earth pony or not. “Really wish I could’ve been born a unicorn like my mom and dad right now...”

Her parents never said anything about her being an earth pony, but it was still something that always hanged at the back of her mind. She knew her father would always be supportive but she couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted—or at the least expected—to have a unicorn for a daughter. And as Wish bit her lip in consternation, the ability to use magic to just bend the darn thing was a very alluring thought. She was lucky that she did in fact have hours to waste.

“Ugh!” Wish angrily threw the hanger to the floor, the hook only slightly bent a little bit.

She probably didn’t need the whole thing to be straight, only a little bit, and with maybe a curve at the end to reach into things? How did a door lock work anyways?

Wish flatly stared down at the hanger. “I don’t know if I planned this out well enough...”

The candlelight flickered beside her, the fact that it had barely melted at all told her time was still on her side.

Wish brought her hooves up to her head and started to rub her temples. “Okay, okay, okay. I can still do this.”

She looked around the room as much as she could with the low light and her eyes zeroed in on one of the cabinets nearby that had the bust of some old pony placed atop it. Wish smirked as an idea popped into her head and she picked up the hanger to take over to it. She slightly opened up one of the cabinet drawers and placed the hook of the hanger in it, then closed the drawer on it and pushed her weight against it. Next with her hooves she grabbed the other end of the hanger and pushed it upwards. The drawer and her body weight did all the real work, the relatively thin wire of the hanger easily bent into a straight line, giving way far before the cabinet drawer ever would.

“Perfect!” Wish exclaimed as she took out the now straightened hanger. There was even still a slight curve left to it at the very end.

Excitedly, she ran back to the door and got ready to start picking the lock. The candle was giving her enough light to perfectly see what she was doing and all Wish had to do was stand up on her hind legs a little bit to reach in with her improvised tool. One hoof was used to brace herself against the door while she held the hanger with the other and managed to put a confident grin on her face. She slid the small, slightly hooked end, of the wire into the keyhole and started fiddling around with it.

Pretty much randomly at first, just trying to get a feel for it or see if it would catch on anything.

She had no idea if she was doing it right but she had hours to learn. She could hear and feel it scraping along inside the lock and she tried to push and pull at anything that felt like an obstruction. Rosy didn’t have near as much trouble getting her door open as Wish was. That was fiction for you. Wish kept on stabbing at the thing, not caring if she damaged the lock or made any noticeable marks, she just wanted to get it open and get out of here.

“Come on… this has to work!” Wish set her lips into a tight frown as she kept working on her lock-picking skills.

Her father and Dotty would be so upset if they could see her right now. Wish actually felt slightly exhilarated at the thought, she never wanted to displease or disobey her father but she couldn’t deny there was something heart-pounding about it all. And after being locked up, perpetually watched, forced to listen to everypony else, and do the same thing every day, it was empowering to do something on her own like this. To break the rules.

She wasn’t going to stay as some locked up doll getting treated like a princess for reasons she didn’t understand. Not when she knew there were bad things going on in this castle, and when it came at the cost of others. Wish still hoped it was just the Inquisitors or the King and Queen responsible for it and her father didn’t have anything to do with it. Maybe he was protecting her or trying to keep her ignorant of some things for her own sake. But right now she still needed to disobey him.

Wish knew her father loved her very much but that love didn’t explain everything going on in this castle or her nightmares.

Her eyes narrowed in both concentration and impatience as she worked in the darkness to open the troublesome lock. She was sweating, and hardly from the meager heat of the candle. If this didn’t work out she’d have to hide everything away again and come up with something new tomorrow night. She sincerely hoped it didn’t come to that. Wish still had hours to work with here and she wasn’t going to give up until morning arrived if it came to that.

She fidgeted with the wire and felt it catch on something. Twisting it a bit, the lock turned slightly and Wish heard a tell-tale click come from inside it.

Her mouth opened slightly and her eyebrows rose into her hair. “Wow, for real? I-I mean—yes! I knew I could do it!”

Wish hopped up and down and giggled, happy as a clam that she had actually managed to unlock the door. She calmed herself down after a minute and took out the wire, placing it next to the candlestick on the table. The filly took a deep breath and reached her hoof up to the glass knob. She was trembling as she turned it and started to open up the grand door.

“Moment of truth...” Wish licked her lips in anticipation and pushed open the door enough to see outside it and into the hallway.

It seemed her hunch was correct.

A few torches along the wall were lit (though with much weaker flames than normal) but besides that the entire hall right outsider her chambers was totally empty. As still and quiet as the grave. No guards stood in either direction to watch the stairs or any other doors. Wish quietly realized that if they had been there to begin with they would’ve certainly heard her messing around with the lock anyways. Apparently though, nopony thought there was a reason to keep guarding stuff when she was locked up and supposed to be sleeping.

Wish was hoping that held true for the stairs that went down into the dungeon as well. She remembered that there had still been guards outside it when she was at the opera but perhaps even they still went away when she was “sleeping”.

She stepped out from her chambers and allowed the door to close shut behind her, the torches casting an orange glow across the black stone. It wasn’t an inviting place to wander through all alone in the middle of the night, but then again, Hoofica Castle wasn’t a very nice place to wander through at all. Wish shook her head and refused to be scared. She briefly looked in the direction of the stairs that would go up to the fourth tower, thinking of potentially seeing her father’s lab, but she quickly put a stop to that idea. He’d most certainly have it locked and she didn’t know if she’d be able to get into it in the first place. Especially without making a big racket. No, as curious as she was about the high tower, she was going to be going down to the dungeon tonight.

Her heart was beating hard despite her resolution to not be scared as she walked over to the stairs. It was going to be a long night.

Broken Memories

Wish slowly creeped down the long flight of stairs from tower to tower in near total darkness. There were less torches lit along the walls so she had to be extra careful with the steps. Thankfully she hadn’t even heard so much as a hoofstep from another pony so far. At this time of night most everypony in the castle had to be asleep. Her father, Dotty, most guards and Inquisitors. Wish figured there was probably just a skeleton crew left to do things and patrol the castle. She was basing that assumption on absolutely nothing but she wanted to be as positive as possible. Especially since there was a nagging feeling that she’d soon be seeing nothing good once she got into the dungeon.

So be positive, hopeful, and optimistic for now. Since it wasn’t going to last.

Wish frowned at the blatant contradiction in her thoughts.

I shouldn’t be thinking about any of this stuff right now… I need to just get back down to the bottom floor of the castle and find those stairs. She thought. There might still be guards there even… can I distract them if there are?

Sneaking in would be impossible since there was literally only one way down that she knew about. If guards were at the stairs she’d have to come up with an all new plan. And right now her brain was having trouble coming up with one. Most of all she was still hoping that she was right and there wouldn’t be guards at all. All her brain power was being used to try and bring that thought to reality.

When she reached the bottom of the spiraling tower stairs she stopped just before walking out onto the third floor of the castle. Taking a deep breath she peaked her head out and took a look around. It was much the same as what she had seen at the towers. A few weak torches and lanterns gave the bare minimum of illumination, and there wasn’t a guard in sight.

Wish let out the breath she had been holding in and wiped a hoof across her brow. “Okay, looking good so far.”

She needed to walk a little bit to the south side of the central part of the castle, not quite at the southern wing and opera hall, but along the part of the castle between it and the east wing. That’s where the stairs she and her father took down to get to the opera hall were. And it was at the bottom of those stairs that she knew where to look to find the dungeon’s stairs. Otherwise she’d have to go searching around a bit to find another way close to them.

There was a lot of open space to cover but the good thing was that with how small she was and the dim lighting, it would be pretty tough for anypony to see her if they were also around. Wish hated having to thank her small stature for anything.

She deftly walked across the stone floor of the castle, doing her very best to not make a sound. It was both thrilling and scary as she made the long trip to the other stairs in darkness. She hugged the wall when she could and went from dim light to dim light. Every now and then she would take a look around to make sure nopony was following her or walking around elsewhere. It seemed that perhaps the whole castle was as still as the grave though.

When Wish made it to the stairwell that would take her to the castle’s ground floor she paused briefly and stared down into it. She could still turn back now if she wanted to. Be a good little filly and obey her father and keep on smiling.

“No. I can’t. Not until these nightmares are gone,” Wish said and started her descent down the stairs.

Each step was soft and careful as Wish walked down the first flight, then the next, and the next. All the way until she finally stopped off at the ground floor of the castle. She briefly stopped again while her heart pounded in her chest, it was the moment of truth now. She needed to walk out a bit and look over to where those dungeon stairs were and hopefully she’d find that there weren’t any guards. Very, very carefully, Wish inched forward and got ready to peek her head out so she could spy on those stairs.

There was the edge of a wall still obscuring her view that Wish was getting closer and closer to. Sliding along it and sweating in nervous excitement, she was only barely going to peek just one eye around it to check out the stairs. Torches still lit up the walls down here, she was sure she’d have enough light to see them. Wish was breathing deeply and slowly to try and stay calm but each movement made her hooves tremble just a little bit more.

Finally she reached the moment when her chestnut face, and rose red bangs, managed to poke out from behind the wall.

Through the darkness of what she once thought was the bottom floor of Hoofica Castle—Wish looked towards the stairs that led down into the dungeon. Those stairs where the phantoms of her nightmares had gone. Where hopefully she could find some answers to the strange foreboding that filled her. Where hopefully there wasn’t a single guard standing guard right outside of.

Wish blinked. Torches were lit besides the stairs.

That was it. The orange glow cast by the flames revealed black steps going down into the ground, and that was all that was there. No guards, no Inquisitors, no other ponies or anything at all.

Wish practically passed out from the sheer relief that washed over her. It wasn’t a pointless trip. She still broke out in a flop sweat that made her earlier sweating pale in comparison but that was it. Her heart was beating so hard and she was practically feeling giddy enough to skip over to the stairs with a big smile on her face.

Common sense won out though and once she had gotten her nerves back in order she slowly slunk on over to the dungeon stairs from her wall. It was a pretty open space to travel through, no walls or statues to hide behind, so she simply kept low to the ground and hoped once more that no random guards would come by. The stairs leading down to the lower levels took on an ominous form to Wish, looking like a black hole or the gullet of some monster. She knew it was all in her head but it was difficult to separate the nightmares from reality.

In the end she came to a short pause right in front of the stairs. There weren’t any torches lining them on the way down that she could see, only a single light at the very bottom that barely illuminated anything. She was going to have to be very careful with the steps. Remembering her father’s words, she knew the first level was just a huge storage area too, and below that was the actual dungeon. So hoping the lighting was going to get better was probably a little foolish.

“I can do this,” Wish said and lifted her hoof to plant it on the first step.

Hard part over. Time to get moving.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Her small legs carried her down the stairs towards the light.

She was doing something wrong. Against the rules. But there was absolutely no turning back at this point. It was scary to proceed and despite her best efforts she couldn’t help the echo that came from her hooves with each step. The resounding click bounced off the stone walls of this stairway down.

Wish felt herself shaking as she got closer to the light at the bottom of the stairs, she was so focused on it that she almost didn’t notice when she reached the final step. A yelp died in her throat as she caught herself and managed to not fall flat on her face, her stumbling form coming to a stop on a new level. Wish caught her breath and looked around her, finding herself at a small landing right at the bottom of the stairs with the faint torch providing the light situated on the wall in front of her. To her left and right were a pair of hallways and she wasn’t sure which one she needed to go down.

A look to her left showed a wide hallway that had door after door on either side of it and an even larger double door at the very end. Since there weren’t any stairs going down, Wish found it likely that that direction was for all of the storage rooms.

And to her right?

An exceedingly long hallway stretched down to the right, punctuated by a single torch in the middle of it and another one at the very end. Wish could tell it was the end because she could see the outline of another doorway.

She gulped. It was an intimidating hallway and going by how shadowy that doorway at the end was, it went down with stairs to a level below this one. Down to the dungeon she was looking for. Her heart quickened in her chest and she had to bring a hoof up to it and take a few slow breaths to calm herself down. The dark and silent hallway seemed to get even longer every time she blinked. But at least she now had her final destination in sight. Wish forced herself to lift her hooves once again and she slowly started walking towards the end of the hallway.

Her breathing now echoed off the walls too thanks to her being unable to properly close her mouth. She was too nervous, too excited, she had forgotten to attempt to be stealthy on her trip down the hallway towards the dungeon.

A glance over her shoulder showed her there wasn’t anypony following her. There weren’t any other doors either. She was alone. Alone and almost halfway there already.

A sudden draft of cold air came wafting on from the stairs ahead and Wish shivered.

Still shaking, she defiantly stared ahead. “I’m not scared.”

Wish went back to walking, at the halfway mark and walking right beneath the torch now. Its orange glow flickered overhead from the cold breeze and made her shadow jump. Wish ignored it. All she needed to do was keep walking and make it down to the dungeon, then-

“Well now, silly filly. You’re really someplace you shouldn’t be.”

Before Wish could turn around she felt a pinprick of pain at the back of her neck and she let out a startled yelp. “Ah!”

She stumbled forward as her eyes swam and a fuzzy feeling spread throughout her entire body--the walls and floor all started to merge together while the light of the flame disappeared. Dizzy, tumbling, she lost the feeling in her legs and darkness crowded her vision—the phantoms crowded around her, a white monster grinning down at her and a scream erupted through her skull-

Wish shot up in bed and screamed at the top of her lungs.

“AHHHHHH!”

Immediately the door to her bedchambers was thrown open and Wish heard a pony running from past her closed curtain, the curtain was then yanked away with enough haste to almost tear it and a terrified Dotty stood right beside Wish’s bed.

“What--Wish?! What is it?!” Dotty asked her, reaching up and putting her hooves on Wish’s shoulders to try and calm her down.

Wish was panting hard, sweating and hyperventilating as the memories of last night replayed in her head. “I-I...” She looked up at the fearful Dotty. What could she say? And... how did she get back here? Wish didn’t remember coming back to her room, she was down almost at the dungeon and then...

A cold shiver overtook her.

That voice. She knew that voice from her nightmares.

“I don’t know,” she lied to Dotty, not even sure why, Dotty likely knew what had happened. “I had a nightmare.”

“Oh you poor baby!” Dotty cried and wrapped Wish in a warm hug. “I’m so sorry, that must have been terrifying!”

“Yeah...” Wish blankly responded. “It was.”

“It’s okay now. You’re safe here with Dotty,” Dotty started rubbing her back.

Wish felt her lip quiver, surprisingly finding herself returning the hug. “Thank you...”

“If you don’t want to go to class today I’m sure your father and everypony else will understand.”

Wish looked past her at the clock on the wall and saw that it was slightly earlier than she normally woke up. “No... I think I want to go to class.”

Dotty let Wish go and gave her a smile. “Okay, if you’re up for it. Just don’t force yourself.” She then let out a relieved breath and went to get the step stairs for Wish to get out of bed. “Well I guess I shouldn’t say “good morning” right now, but how about happy Thursday instead?”

“Huh?” Wish blinked as she felt her body slowly calming down and getting back to normal. “Don’t you mean Wednesday?”

Dotty just raised an eyebrow at her with that wide and happy smile still on her face. “Nope. It’s Thursday.”

Wish sat there on the bed.

Thursday? But it was Tuesday night when she went out. What happened to Wednesday? After what happened down in the dungeon... had she been asleep for an entire day?

“B-But Dotty-”

“It’s Thursday, Wish. I’m supposed to keep track of your schedule, so I definitely know what day it is,” Dotty said.

The tone in Dotty’s voice was slightly different. Wish hadn’t heard Dotty speak like that before. She looked into her maid’s eyes and saw something there, not a threat, not malice, or any sort of warning. But worry. Fear. Pleading. The smile on her face was happy, but her eyes were begging for Wish to drop the topic.

“Okay... Thursday. I-I must’ve gotten my days mixed up... hehe,” Wish said, giggling weakly.

“It’s okay, that happened to me plenty of times when I was your age. Those were the days, just getting to be a carefree kid,” Dotty wistfully sighed.

Wish wasn’t sure if Dotty was talking to her or herself right there.

“Anyways-” Dotty continued. “Let’s have a nice and normal day now. I’m sure that now that you’ve woken up and you know that whatever you were dreaming about was just a nightmare and not real, that it’s already another ten out of ten day for you. Right?”

Wish hesitantly nodded. “R-Right. Ten out of ten.”

Dotty smiled. “Time for your bath then.”

It was difficult, but Wish did her best to not freak out as she went through the usual morning routine with Dotty. Maybe it was because what she had been through was most definitely not a simple nightmare, but Wish had no problem remembering it now after waking up. Which brought up some strange nagging feelings in her head. Like it was unusual and there was something else she should be thinking about, or something she should have realized. Unfortunately at the moment she just couldn’t figure out what.

Wish only managed a small smile as she took her bath and then had Dotty do her mane and tail (something Dotty had slightly improved at by now) but at least she didn’t look completely miserable. It was clear that everypony was going to be wanting her to keep smiling like normal. Something that might be tough today. She hoped she could see her father again soon, there were things she wanted to ask him. Things that maybe she was afraid to ask but knew she had to now anyways.

Once Wish and Dotty finished up with her beauty treatments, they went out so Wish could have breakfast like normal. The first thing she noticed—besides all the maids and butlers looking extra tense—was that when she glanced over to the small table where she had put her candlestick and wire last night, nothing was there. She wondered if the wardrobe where she had gotten the coat hanger from had been emptied as well, she’d have to check later. Either way it seemed like somepony or some group of ponies was trying to pretend like nothing had happened.

And Wish knew who.

That voice.

But why could she remember stuff now? She... was certain that this had happened before now. Previously it only resulted in phantoms and broken memories inside her head, fuzziness and nightmares. Did she not sleep for en entire day the other times this happened? What was it that knocked her out in the first place?

There were things in her head she was slowly starting to remember again, to piece back together. It was like a fog thinning in her mind and revealing to her the truth of Hoofica Castle. Wish could feel it. It frightened her, what she might remember, but she needed it.

What were those times when she had lost her memories like this? She could remember almost certainly now that it happened once when she saw the phantoms from her dreams carrying the blue phantom down into the dungeon. But Wish felt like there was another time too, an earlier time, where she had seen something and then... nothing. It was no good. She needed to jog her memory somehow, or force her way through the fog. Forget whatever she was supposed to be doing in class today, Wish knew what she was going to be focusing on.

I am not just going to be some smiling doll in this castle while everypony lies to me. I’m not. Wish resolutely told herself. I don’t care if I have to go searching through the castle at night again, or find a different way into the dungeon, or even l-leave the castle. This is all wrong, I’m not just going to keep doing this.

First thing was first though, it was time for breakfast. And possibly a day or two of her acting normal and pretending she didn’t remember anything. Pretending she believed Dotty about it just being a nightmare and not realizing she lost an entire day. Wish fought to not sigh and reached for a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of grape juice.

The food was still great—something she could be happy about. A full stomach would probably do her a lot of favors today. She even made herself eat a little more than normal to show Dotty that she was in a good mood. And truthfully she was just kind of feeling like a slice of pie anyways. It wasn’t as good as chocolate cake but Wish would apparently have to wait until dinner tonight for that.

Unless she confronted her father first or something else happened. Wish couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding, that something was going to happen soon. It was just a sense. A tenseness that existed in her and the entirety of Hoofica Castle.

She put her fork down after she was finished with the piece of pie and daintily wiped her lips clean. “Dotty? I’m ready for us to go to my classroom now.”

“Fantastic!” Dotty smiled and pulled out her chair so Wish could jump down.

Dotty sure was good at being as happy as normal. Wish figured it was a combination of a naturally bubbly personality and just being used to things. Or she was just a really good actress.

When she walked over to the front door with Dotty, Wish made sure to look up at the keyhole in the doorknob. Scuff marks. She saw the ones she had made from messing around with it last—two nights ago. It didn’t matter if other things were changed or moved and everypony tried to lie to her, Wish had all the proof she needed. No matter how messed up her memories were, that was something physical she could look to.

“Let’s have some fun and paint together again when you get back from class today, hm?” Dotty said as she opened the door.

Wish smiled up at her. “Okay, that sounds like a lot of fun.”

“If you want to work on still life’s again we can do that. Or maybe focus on drawing ponies? Whatever you wish,” Dotty giggled at her own joke.

“Hmm...” Wish thought for a second. The images of phantoms and ghostly ponies went through her mind, the colors of white, blue, glowing red, and rainbows. “I... I think I’d like to try painting more ponies.”

“Perfect! You’re already good at it, now you can become great,” Dotty winked.

"Thanks, Dotty,” Wish grinned.

“Hm, maybe I’ll paint up a good landscape while you work on your ponies. Then you can see how I do things. I can take you through every step for when it comes to landscape paintings,” Dotty proudly said.

“Do you think you can draw something with a lot of color in it? It would be nice to look at something, well, bright around here,” Wish said.

“Of course!” Dotty smiled. “Mountains, a bright sun in the sky, green forests, blue rivers and lakes. If it turns out well then maybe I can even put it in your bedchambers. That’ll give you something nice to look at in it.”

The fact that Wish couldn’t just look out the window for something nice silently passed between them.

After that the usual trip down to the classroom was taken in silence as well. Which made it unusual as far as Dotty went. She for some reason wasn’t as talkative right now, only holding a blithe little smile on her face. As they traveled around, Wish made sure to see how many guards were out and if there were any more than usual. It seemed like they were just being made to guard things like normal as well though. Wish saw the same armored ponies standing around, all of them not paying any attention to her.

When she and Dotty got to the third floor of the main part of the castle, Wish looked across the way towards the stairs she had walked down to get to the ground floor. Guards stood there like normal. She wondered if they were going to be there during the night now too. It was dizzying to think about what else she could do, or what options she had now for unlocking the puzzle of the castle. She needed to remember more.

If she could somehow find a way to get out from under Dotty’s nose during the day...

That probably wasn’t going to happen. Even if she could randomly try to run someplace it would be too easy for Dotty or any guard to find her. She’d have to find a way to totally sneak off without Dotty having any idea where she went.

Either way, Wish wasn’t sure she had the energy for that right now. Today she’d just go to class and see what happened.

And of course as soon as they got to the classroom, Dotty dropped her off like normal and went out to do whatever it was she did during their times apart. Wish then entered the room where she saw that a large math assignment had been written on the chalkboard. If that was something that was supposed to occupy all her brain power for the day it wasn’t going to work. What was Star Eyes going to do? Punish her?

“Good morning, Wish!” Star Eyes greeted her.

“Good morning!” The other students all greeted her as well.

“Hi, everypony!” Wish smiled and waved to them.

She was glad at least that Comet Burst, Bright Dawn, and Aqua Jewel all seemed to be doing okay. Their smiles and happiness were still faked, but nothing had happened to them.

Wish took her seat and turned to the colt. “Did you have a good day?”

His eyes twitched briefly and he sent a not so hidden glance to Star Eyes before answering. “Uh-huh, sure did.”

“Good to hear,” Wish smiled and turned towards Aqua Jewel and Bright Dawn, raising an eyebrow at her fellow fillies. “What about you two?”

“It was great! And I bet today will be even better!” Bright Dawn said.

“Yeah, yeah!” Aqua Jewel nodded along.

“Mine was really good too,” Wish said and sat back in her chair. “Ms. Star Eyes, are we learning more math stuff today?”

“That we are. You see, now we’re all going to learn about something called geometry together!” Star Eyes said, trying to be as enthusiastic as possible.

“Soooounds fun!” Wish saluted.

She’d play the happy student if she had to. The carefree filly who lived a life of luxury and had no reason to be sad about anything. All the while she’d be wracking her brain for answers and trying to pull out the memories she knew were buried inside somewhere.

This classroom was just an illusion, a falsity. A fake created to give her something that resembled the normal life of a young filly. She wouldn’t stand it for much longer.

Also it was easy to zone out from math and think about her nightmares because as it turned out; geometry was insanely boring.

The hours of class passed with her trying to figure out her memories and blatantly ignoring the lesson plan from Star Eyes. Her pencil tap, tap, tapped against her paper in an obnoxious rhythm while Star Eyes pretended to teach like normal. Wish knew there was a way through this mental block, there had to be or she wouldn’t have remembered what happened two nights ago so clearly. As much as she tried to focus on her nightmares and the things she could remember seeing in them, it was still tough to visualize things and get a clear picture. The memories were still a mess. She needed to find a better way to turn the phantoms in her mind into real ponies and things. Otherwise her mind would perpetually be stuck in a fog.

Wish suddenly blinked and looked down at her paper. In her malaise, she had unconsciously scribbled a bunch of circles on the paper.

“Painting...” Wish whispered under her breath.

She needed to paint. She needed to bring those phantoms into reality. There had to be something physical for her, just like the scuff marks on the keyhole.

“Wish? Did you say something?” Star Eyes asked her.

“Um... no,” Wish shook her head. “I was just talking to myself about geometry.”

“Alright, well I have some more to teach on the subject...” Star Eyes trailed off and went to write some more on the chalkboard. She likely knew Wish was just lying to her but of course she didn’t say anything.

It was easy now for Wish to wait through the rest of this pointless class as she had something to look forward to tonight. There was excitement building in her chest once more. She didn’t have to go out searching again tonight, or any other night, she could figure things out with her paintings.

She’d have to thank Dotty again.

Wish could hardly contain herself on the way back up to the third tower and it was something Dotty noticed immediately.

Her maid smiled widely as she looked down at her. “Wow, Wish, I’ve never seen you so excited after class. Do you want to paint that badly?”

“Yes I do,” Wish beamed back up at her. “I’m just really in the mood to paint, I’ve got a lot of stuff I want to get down on my canvas. And I want to see your landscape too.”

“Aww, thank you,” Dotty giggled.

Dotty spent the rest of the trip back to the room talking about different kinds of paints and brushes and how you were supposed to use them, but truthfully Wish wasn’t really paying attention to that either. Once the door was opened to her chambers, Wish almost went right to her painting supplies before remembering she needed to eat lunch first. She discreetly clicked her teeth and hopped up into her chair, digging into the feast splayed out in front of her with gusto while Dotty hummed nonchalantly behind her.

In the end she finished her lunch even faster than she had finished breakfast. She didn’t need to eat as much either.

As soon as she pushed a plate of salad away from her she looked over at Dotty with a smile. “Alright, how about we get to some painting?”

Dotty clapped her hooves together and went to get her own things as well. Her easel and paint supplies were put in the corner of the boudoir when she wasn’t using them. She put them up on one side of the coffee table in the center of them while Wish grabbed her things and placed her own easel with its blank canvas on the other side. Like this they couldn’t see what the other was doing, Dotty said it was to make sure they could both paint in peace and go at their own pace. Unless they were painting the same thing and Dotty wanted to give her tips she usually didn’t watch Wish when they were just free painting like this.

The first color Wish picked up was black.

The palette beside her was dabbed with a generous amount of the paint and Wish dipped her brush in it and quickly got to work covering the white canvas in black. The background came first, smaller details could be put in later. Black for the walls of Hoofica Castle, for the floors, for the gaping maw that led down to the dungeon. She could get a small amount of white paint to draw thin lines to make out the individual bricks, but even that wasn’t really necessary. She knew what she needed to make from her nightmares.

Soon a cold black canvas for her to paint the rest of her dream images on sat in front of her. Wish’s breath almost caught in her throat as she realized she was sweating again. Thankfully Dotty couldn’t see it, she was just humming along while she presumably painted her own landscape.

Now Wish hesitantly dabbed some white and red onto her palette. These colors... she needed them for the phantoms that scared her. The ones that surrounded the ghostly blue figure. Wish didn’t draw them as formless phantoms though. Not what she saw in her nightmares. She painted them as what she knew they actually had to be—white-suited Inquisitors. With the Head Inquisitor and her red eyes somewhere in there with them.

One, two, three, four, she ended up drawing ten of them, leaving enough space in the middle for the pony that they had chained between them.

Yes. Wish could remember just a little better. She could see the nightmare more clearly. It wasn’t just blue she grabbed now but every color of the rainbow. Another pony started to take form on her canvas.

She drew their outline and everything but once she thought she was finished she realized there was still something missing. What? What was it about the blue pony she had drawn that was wrong or incomplete? Wish bit her lip and gazed at the blue pony on her canvas. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she peeked out from behind her easel and looked at Dotty. And at the folded wings at Dotty’s sides.

That’s what it was. Wish brought up her brush and added wings to the blue pony. Now it was right. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail being taken down into the dungeon. That was the painting she had created.

Wish stared at the painting, and slowly she felt something start to drip from her nose. She brought a hoof up and wiped away blood—she had a nosebleed. As she reached to grab a rag to clean it away a lancing pain far worse than any migraine erupted in her head. Wish clutched her skull in pain as memories and images flooded through her mind. She clenched her teeth and hissed, sucking in a sharp breath while Dotty obliviously kept painting right across from her.

A pegasus.

Inquisitors.

Nightmares.

The dungeon.

Fog.

Laughter.

Darkness.

“I remember...” Wish whispered. The gate had been unlocked. The frenzied nightmares morphed into true memories and Wish was left sitting there in cold realization. There were some details that were still fuzzy, but she finally remembered what had happened and why these nightmares first started. It hadn’t been for long. A relatively short amount of time compared to when she and her father had first moved into Hoofica Castle.

Back before guards and Inquisitors watched her every move. Wish remembered now, it wasn’t always like that, it only started after the pegasus arrived.

She remembered seeing her for the first time. It wasn’t when she was being taken down to the dungeon, but earlier. Wish watched from the window in her chambers as the pegasus flew around the castle, being chased by Inquisitors and guards. She didn’t know what the pegasus was doing but she looked angry, scary even, as she fought the guards and Inquisitors before being overwhelmed. Brought down somewhere out of view.

Wish ran down as fast as she could and arrived just as the pegasus was being chained up and taken down and then-

What happened next? She couldn’t remember it all, there were still blank spots.

There was another time too now.

Another time she remembered where her memories lapsed and nightmares emerged from. Wish could recall that it had happened before the time she saw the pegasus. She had walked up to the tallest tower, she wanted to see her father, she could recall that much. And... she had seen something. She knew she did. But she couldn’t remember what now, only that it was something wrong and uncomfortable. Something else had happened... another pony was there... and... that was it. Wish still couldn’t piece it all together.

But she would. The next time she saw her father.

With trembling hooves she got her rag and wiped her nose clean before getting some more white paint and covering up most of what she had painted. She didn’t want Dotty to see it.

Wish had to take another big, deep breath to calm herself down, but now she tried to paint something more normal. All the while her mind was racing with the memories she had uncovered and she could hardly process it all. She needed to figure out what was going on but right now in front of Dotty wasn’t the time to do it.

“How’s your painting coming along?” Dotty suddenly asked her.

Wish nearly yelled in fright but she caught herself before it happened. “I-It’s going pretty well...”

“Great! I can’t wait to see it!”

Wish forced a shaky smile that was more like a grimace onto her face. “I can’t wait to-”

She never finished her sentence as the door to her chambers was opened up and a pony stepped inside. Wish’s eyes shot wide open and Dotty matched her.

“Master Dreamweaver!” Dotty said in surprise and snapped to attention like a soldier, dropping her paintbrush.

“D-Dad...” Wish said, just as confused. It was the only word she could get out. Despite knowing she needed to talk to him, having so many questions, so many worries, her mouth just opened and closed a few more times with no words managing to form. She was helpless again. A porcelain doll too afraid to ask what needed to be asked.

Say it.

Say it.

Say it.

Say it.

Say it.

“Hello, Wish,” her father said as he smiled happily at her. “I’ve got some rather nice news. We’re going to be dining with the King and Queen for dinner tonight.”

King and Queen

Dotty worked hard finishing up the landscape painting that Wish wanted to see after she and her father left only moments ago to prepare for the dinner with the King and Queen. A happy smile was still etched on her face as she resumed the careful strokes that had been forming her painting before she had to suddenly stop. It was a surprise, to be sure, to see Master Dreamweaver. She had no idea that the King and Queen were going to invite him and Wish to dinner. It must have been a spur of the moment kind of thing. Either way it felt a little good to be on her own right now and able to paint, she usually didn’t get the opportunity, and with Wish she still had to always watch over her and wait on her commands.

Her smile wavered.

Which of course that kind of thing didn’t bother Dotty. Wish was a wonderful little filly who never imposed on her, and honestly felt awkward with how much Dotty fawned on her, she could tell. But peaceful alone times like this were something Dotty could sorely use. They were something she knew just about every pony in this castle could use. At least she had her brandy squirreled away in her room.

It wasn’t that much longer before she had finished her painting and regarded it with a proud smile on her face. While she had used the eastern mountains of Hoofica for inspiration it still mostly ended up as a product of her imagination. She could get some pins and put it up in Wish’s bedchambers now.

At first though she decided to check on Wish’s painting, the dear probably wasn’t able to finish it before her father came in, so she wondered if Wish would appreciate it if Dotty just left it where it was for later. Dotty walked around the table and trotted over to Wish’s easel with a big smile. But when she saw it she had to pause.

“Wish?” Dotty tilted her head as she looked at the painting. It looked like a bunch of big streaks of white and white blotches on a black background. She rubbed her head, wondering what had happened with the painting. “Did you not like what you were painting and tried to start over? You usually paint such nice and happy ponies...”

“It’ll be a bit of a long walk, as you know. How long has it been since you’ve seen the throne room and the royal chambers?” Dreamweaver asked Wish as the two traveled down the towers, a group of both guards and Inquisitors walking in front of and behind them.

“Umm… since pretty much we first started living in the castle, I think,” Wish answered.

“Hm,” Dreamweaver stroked his chin. “You may be right. Being so busy I feel like I’ve forgotten some things. The days all seem to merge together.”

“Yeah...” Wish said.

She knew that well. And she wanted to tell him as such. She just didn’t know how to broach the subject, especially not around all these guards and Inquisitors. And she didn’t know how much her father knew about all of it in the first place. There was that blank spot in her memories when she went up to his lab but… she knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. That was an absolute certainty. She didn’t even know how what exactly was the cause of her broken memories to begin with. A spell, maybe? He did have to know about the pegasus though. And she knew he was the one who made sure she always had guards and her maid watching her. Wish had to talk to him about it at some point or the nightmares wouldn’t go away, the terrible, scared, feelings in her wouldn’t rest.

“We’re sure to have a great meal tonight, though that’s quite normal for you now,” Dreamweaver chuckled.

Wish blinked and looked up at her father. “I don’t know if I ever asked you, dad, but what do you usually eat? Do you have big feasts like I do?”

“No, no,” Dreamweaver shook his head. “I have much smaller meals, usually just sandwiches and water. The simple things are fine for me. I just wanted to make sure you always have the best possible food to eat, and your fill of it at that. Your comfort is far more important than my own after all. Your happiness is always at the forefront of my mind.”

His words made Wish smile even with the tumultuous worries and feelings inside her right now. She could always count on him to brighten up her day, that was another fact. No matter what else was going on she knew her father loved her.

“Thanks, dad. But you know you could totally have some of the great stuff you have the chefs make for me too. Not like I can eat it all.”

He smirked as he kept looking ahead. “Well I’m about to have something great tonight, aren’t I.”

Wish snorted and bumped against his side. “Not the same thing.”

A giggle actually emerged from her lips but immediately afterwards her thoughts went back to her memories and all the other dark things in her mind. Was this a time for laughter? To be acting so carefree? It felt wrong—and like she was ignoring or trying to push away what she had just uncovered. There was some pony down in that dungeon for some unknown reason to Wish. And she was part of why things had become even stranger in the castle. Wish was being lied to in some way, she lost an entire day, and it took great pains to get her brain and memories back in order. How could she be some jolly filly right now? She was even slightly scared and worried when her father showed up just earlier.

No. Wish stalwartly told herself. I have a right to be happy. I-I can deal with everything else when the time comes. I don’t know why things are happening like this, but I’m just a kid. I want things to be normal. Forget about the Inquisitors and nightmares for now. Dad will always be looking out for me, I don’t have to be miserable all the time. The tough stuff can wait.

She looked up at her father and smiled. While the things she had gone through confused her, she knew there was nothing to be afraid of.

The two of them and their entourage made it to the top floor of the central part of the castle and proceeded to walk towards the east wing that contained the throne room and past that the personal living chambers of the royal family. The only way to get into the throne room was from the third story, Wish didn’t know the layout of it and the rest of the east wing very well, a lot of it was kept secret for obvious reasons. She was sure there were other ways in and out of the east wing but she didn’t know them. It wasn’t really a concern of hers though since she had only been in that part of the castle once before this. She had seen the Queen a few other times but the royal had never really paid any mind to Wish.

She was always more interested in talking to Wish’s father, something that made Wish supremely uncomfortable. Just the way she spoke and acted…

Wish shook her head and shuddered. She didn’t want to think about that either. Some of the things she said Wish didn’t really understand, but the way she looked at her father, and her body language, just really made Wish awkward. What did the King think about all that anyways? Wish couldn’t remember him talking or anything, and the Queen never mentioned him either when the two were apart. He never came to visit her father and she didn’t hear about him doing… much of anything at all. Back in the countryside she remembered adults where she lived not really having anything bad to say about him, it was always same old same old. Now she wondered what the average pony out there thought about the King and Queen ever since the sky turned dark and the kingdom became like this.

It was unusual for a dinner like this to happen too. Wish was guessing that it was just because the Queen wanted to see her father again. At least she’d have something different to look at while they walked through the throne room, it was much prettier than the boring black walls of most of the rest of the castle. And anything out of the norm was probably something she should savor.

As they moved on, Wish saw the pair of grand doors that led from the central area of the castle to the east wing and the long throne room that took up much of it. A red carpet was laid out in front of it with two guards in black armor standing to the sides along with heavily burning torches on black stands. The nearly twenty foot high doors were of a rich oak with golden rings at the middle the guards needed to pull to open it up.

Once they did so, the party was able to walk into the illustrious throne room of Hoofica Castle.

It stretched down for nearly three hundred feet, with a wide floor and a gilded red carpet going from the doors all the way to the thrones at the end. Great pillars of black stone held up the vaulted ceilings along the sides of the carpet while stained glass windows covered the northern wall and a single flowing grand painting covered the southern wall from end to end. Statues of ponies and previous leaders of the kingdom were built alongside the pillars and in-between the stained glass windows for a while until you got closer to the thrones. At the far third of the throne room, triple-tiered rows of wooden seats with plush cushions sat for those to attend court to use. Though they were all empty now. And beyond them the glorious thrones sat on a higher level up several stone steps. They glittered with gold and inlaid jewels even from a distance.

Wish however paid the most attention to the magnificent painting as she and her father walked through the throne room. It had everything. Beautiful landscapes, portraits of rulers, massive historical battles, and a detailed recreation of the capitol and castle in the middle. Wish wanted to be able to paint something like that one day. Or at least be able to paint on that level, it was just incredible how the entire wall was one giant painting.

She had to take her eyes off it once they got to the rows of seats though. But their trip didn’t stop here. Behind the thrones existed another door that led directly into the royal chambers, or at least what could be called a personal castle inside the castle. More guards stood beside it and the entourage of guards and Inquisitors that had come with Wish and her father stopped and formed ranks beside them once they stepped up and past the thrones. It seemed they weren’t going to be coming inside the private residence of Hoofica royalty.

However as soon as those doors opened up and she and her father passed the threshold, a new pair of armored guards were there to meet them in a brightly lit hallway. They escorted Wish and Dreamweaver down the short hallway to its end, passing a few doors on the way that must’ve led to other rooms. At the end of the hallway they emerged onto a marble balcony that overlooked a large room brightly lit up by multiple chandeliers hanging overhead. To their left and right a staircase led down from the balcony on either side while across from them on the other side of the room a single large staircase went up and up towards another ornate door painted in gold. This room they were now in was decorated with royal Hoofica tapestries and banners that hung across the wall, catching Wish’s attention and making her look on in awe at them.

While the guards then guided them down the stairs, Wish was also able to take note of a number of other doors and hallways going off from the ground floor to other parts of this inner castle. It was a large place for just the royal family. Even more so since the King and Queen had no children. They weren’t going to any of those places though, Wish and her father were being led right up to the gold-painted door.

Wish briefly glanced up at her father as they walked up the stairs, seeing the same confident smile on his face as always. She still didn’t exactly look forward to eating with the King and Queen but with her father there things couldn’t be too bad.

Once they reached the top of the stairs the guards opened up the golden door and Wish and her father finally arrived at their destination for the rest of the evening while the guards closed the door behind and left them. A great dining room was opened up to them, gold, orange, and yellow paints coloring everything from the floors to the ceiling. The middle of the ceiling held a large chandelier as well with hundreds of small candles placed in it. Directly below it sat a long dining table with an elaborate centerpiece of flowers. Already food was placed on it, an amount and variety that even dwarfed Wish’s normal dinners.

And at the head of the table the King and Queen sat, waiting.

“Your majesties,” Dreamweaver said and politely bowed.

Wish straightened up and copied him, trying to look as formal and well-mannered as possible.

“Welcome, Dreamweaver and young Wish,” the King said, briefly standing up to greet them. He was a robust pegasus in his fifties with a blue-green color and a white mane and bushy white beard that covered most of his face, making him look older than he really was. Atop his head sat a golden crown with a golden horseshoe at its tip and he wore a regal purple cape that flowed down his backside.

Despite the polite words of his greeting, he still made Wish feel weird. There was no emotion in his voice or on his face of any sort. He blankly stared at them like a statue.

The Queen however-

“Oh welcome, welcome, Dreamweaver!” She smiled widely and clasped her hooves in front of her chest, looking at Wish’s father with a great deal of fondness and not showing any attention to Wish whatsoever. A salmon-pink unicorn with a wavy blue mane, she wore far too much red lipstick and other makeup. Slightly younger than her husband but still almost fifty herself, you could easily see the wrinkles in her face when she smiled. Like the King she also had her own, smaller, crown and a similar cape that was a shade lighter than the King’s.

Wish didn’t like the way she acted around her father. That way she spoke and looked at him while ignoring (at best) her. And ignoring the King for that matter too. It creeped Wish out. If she had any shame when it came to the way she acted around a stallion that wasn’t her husband, she didn’t show it. Weirdly, the King didn’t show any problem or voice any complaints about it either.

“Please, sit down, and let us eat!” The Queen said, patting the seat next to her on the right side of the table.

Wish was annoyed but not surprised that the Queen was clearly going to have her father sit right next to her. As they walked around the table to sit down at the designated spots, she noticed how there weren’t any other settings or silverware out. It was just going to be the four of them. Eating at least, there were a number of guards standing around in the luxurious dining room, but they seemed to just be watching over things. Another door at the back left corner of the room also led to what Wish believed was the royal suite and bedchambers of the King and Queen.

“It looks like a wonderful meal,” Dreamweaver said as he sat down. “Thank you for inviting the two of us here tonight.”

The Queen smiled longingly at him and fluttered her eyelashes. “Well it’s just been so long since the last time we could… eat together, now hasn’t it been?”

“Ehehe… yes,” her father awkwardly smiled back at the Queen.

Wish meanwhile fought to not retch. She looked at the King as he sat beside his wife and saw that he was merely staring down at his so far empty plate.

The Queen giggled and levitated an apple from a bowl and placed it on Dreamweaver’s plate. “Well please, help yourself and the two of us can catch up during dinner.” Her eyes darted at Wish, acknowledging her for the first time. “You can eat whatever you want to.”

Her tone was so abrupt and dismissive, and the look in her eyes was almost disdainful. It was the exact opposite of how everypony else in the castle treated her.

Wish didn’t know whether to be grateful for that or just annoyed.

“Now my Queen, I’m sure you and my daughter can get along swimmingly too. You wouldn’t want to only talk to boring old me all evening, would you?” Dreamweaver said, reaching over and patting Wish on the head. “With how busy I am I hardly get to see her either, I wouldn’t want her to feel left out on such a rare occasion.”

“My, you’re always so conscientious when it comes to your daughter. Such a good father,” the Queen giggled, sighing as she stared into her father’s eyes. “Just another good thing about you. I’m surprised you only have one child, I’m certain you’d be an excellent father to more.”

Dreamweaver coughed. “Yes, well...”

The Queen now looked over at Wish with a playful smirk on her face. “I know how much your father cares about your happiness, I do so hope you’re enjoying your time in our castle. I’ve allowed him the uses of our facilities and the guards just for your sake after all.”

“Ahem, my Queen, please. Let us keep the conversation light,” Dreamweaver interrupted, an uncomfortable smile and a telling look on his face. “My little darling is well aware of the generosity you have shown us. And I know she’s having a wonderful time here, right?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Wish could feel the uneasiness radiating from her father, for both their sake’s she nodded and smiled. “Yep, every day is great!”

“Good,” the Queen smiled. “Well, I have your father to thank for so many things after all. It’s only natural that I pay the two of you back.” She reached a hoof over and lightly ran it through his mane.

Wish cringed—and she noticed that some of the guards in the dining room did as well. Flashes of dismay, confusion, and even a bit of anger marked their features before they controlled themselves and returned to their previous stoic appearances.

“And you’ve paid me back in more ways than one, things wouldn’t be progressing at all if it wasn’t for you, my Queen. The whole kingdom of Hoofica and everypony in it is here to aid me thanks to you,” Dreamweaver said.

“Oh how I’m excited to see the finished product of your work. Why must you be so secretive up in that tower? You know I’m so busy running the rest of the kingdom as well,” the Queen batted her eyelids at him.

“It’s delicate work that’s taking a long time to finish. And please, let’s not talk about it here.”

The Queen pouted and glanced at Wish, who was completely confused. “Well then let’s talk somewhere more private after dinner. Just us two.”

“Very well,” Dreamweaver placatingly smiled at her before turning to Wish. “My darling I’m afraid I won’t be walking back with you tonight, I’ll have the guards and Inquisitors escort you back to the tower when we’re done.”

“Oh… okay,” Wish said, looking down at her plate.

“Now, now, chin up. I owe the Queen my time too, darling. The two of us just went to that opera a bit ago, didn’t we?” Dreamweaver said to her.

“Mhm,” Wish nodded.

“Well it’s only fair that I spend some personal time with the Queen too then,” Dreamweaver smiled. “She’s very interested in my work—and your happiness as well.”

Wish was pretty sure that wasn’t true. Or only true in the sense that she was interested in it because her father also was. She really didn’t like the sound of “personal time” in general. She may have only been eight but she knew flirting when she saw it. It was like the Queen was trying to replace her mom. Wish knew her father would never let that happen but it still really bothered her. Meanwhile the King just kept staring at nothing, not a part of the conversation at all.

“Your work—and the work of your newly formed Inquisitors as well—I’ve heard so many stories. So many guards and others have tried bringing the issue up,” the Queen chuckled. “But I’m more than happy to sanction it all, my wonderful professor. You’ve brightened up my life so much.”

Wish rolled her eyes. Her father wasn’t even a professor really, he was a therapist.

And what did Inquisitors even actually do?

“Thank you, my Queen,” Dreamweaver smiled at her. “Now I do think we should start our dinner before the food starts to get cold. Isn’t that right, Wish?”

“Yes,” Wish nodded a few times, trying to not appear too enthusiastic to end the conversation with the Queen.

“Alright, eat whatever you wish, as you can see we have quite the feast arranged for us,” the Queen said. She brought a plate with several balls of falafel over to her and dropped one on her and the King’s plates.

Almost automatically the King grabbed his fork and stuck it into the ball, bringing it up to his mouth and eating it. He chewed a few times before swallowing it down, not looking like he paid much attention to the taste or whether or not he even liked it. Wish decided it was best to follow his way of doing things and just eat silently in peace. She could let the Queen and her father keep up the conversation if they wanted. All Wish wanted to do was hurry up and finish eating dinner and then get out of here. If she couldn’t spend more time with her father she at least wanted to get back to painting or avoid as much of the flirting from the Queen as possible.

The food was great though, no surprise there. She was eating some kind of tofu steak with some stringy red thing called saffron on top of it. Her usual meals didn’t have anything like that included and Wish had to admit that it was really, really good. There was some kind of bubbly beverage too that her father identified as sparkling cider. Wish had thought it was champagne at first but if that was the case she wouldn’t have been allowed to drink it. It was funny to think that despite how extravagantly Wish viewed the feasts she was given every day, the royal family could still get even better stuff if they wanted to.

At least that was one normal thing about Hoofica Castle.

A large towering dessert also caught her eye, something called a “croquembouche”. It wasn’t chocolate but it made her mouth water just looking at it all the same.

Maybe she didn’t need to hurry up that much.

In-between bites of food she got to watch as her father and the Queen traded hushed words with each other. He had his usual polite smile on his face and she had the same flirtatious look she always looked at him with. It was gross. With practically every word he spoke she gave a small giggle like she was a little filly. Wish loved her father but she couldn’t imagine everything he was saying was that funny.

Trying to take her mind off that, Wish looked at the King. He was slowing eating some kind of mushroom sandwich. Slowly. She wanted to talk to him or ask her father or the Queen if there was something wrong… but the thought of that also made her nervous for some reason.

She looked around the dining room and judging by the expressions on the guards’ faces they pretty much felt the same way. Why didn’t they do anything if this was bothering them so much? Loyalty to the Queen? Because the King didn’t seem bothered? Wish didn’t really get it. She didn’t even know what was up with the King in the first place. Another odd thing about Hoofica Castle. Another thing that truly made her wish for some fresh air.

Like she didn’t have enough questions that needed answers, she really didn’t need to add to that. Although it might have been best to put the issue of the King and Queen out of her mind, her curiosity just couldn’t let her.

Her hoof trembled as she brought a spoonful of soup to her mouth. She was starting to get anxious and panicky again. This castle was doing this to her. Everything that had happened lately was building up and now she couldn’t even have a night with just her and her father. He was her safety net, he was the reason she was able to get through this stuff and keep smiling. This wasn’t right. None of it was right.

Her heart pounded in her chest, the sudden panic getting to her.

Wish felt like she did when she first woke up after a nightmare, or right after she had regained her memories. Fuzziness was crawling at her vision and the sounds of the world around her became muffled.

“Well I’m just about famished, that was a lovely dinner, wasn’t it?” The Queen’s loud voice broke Wish out of her panic attack.

Wish blinked a couple of times and set her spoon down, looking up at her father and the Queen and trying to calm her beating heart down. Dinner was over?

“Yes, it certainly was,” Dreamweaver said, dabbing his mouth with his napkin.

“Now the two of us can move to someplace a little more private, can’t we?” The Queen wiggled her eyebrows at Dreamweaver.

Her father blanched and gave a weak laugh. “Ehaha… yes, yes we can.”

Wish raised an eyebrow and looked at the King but he was back to blankly staring at nothing.

The Queen also took notice of him and grinned over at her husband. “Dear? Don’t you think it’s about time you get off to bed? You know you need to get plenty of sleep.”

“Yes, dear,” the King nodded and stood up from his seat.

“Guards?” The Queen clapped her hooves together. “Please escort the King to his bedchambers, I will be spending the rest of the evening with Master Dreamweaver.”

Two of the guards shared an uncertain look before one of them spoke up. “My Queen, I-”

“I will not need any escort,” she said. “You have your orders, now go and attend to your King.”

“Y-Yes, my Queen,” the same guard said with dismay evident on his face and in his voice. He motioned to the other guards in the dining room and they gathered around the King, who stiffly began walking towards the door at the back left corner of the room.

The Queen waited for them all to shuffle out and close the door behind them before she turned back to Dreamweaver with a smile. “And now that that’s done with~”

“I suppose I should spoil you,” Dreamweaver said to her, a playful tone now in his voice, different from how he had been previously acting.

“I have done a wonderful job for you after all. That crystal you entrusted me with that makes all this possible is still safely in my room as well,” the Queen said.

“Shh,” Dreamweaver shushed her and looked at Wish. “Wish? I’m afraid that it’s time for us to part ways tonight. Go back out the way we came in and tell the guards to escort you back to the Inquisitors in the throne room. They’ll be waiting to take you up to your tower.”

“Yes, father,” Wish glumly said to him. Her uncomfortable gaze lingering on the Queen.

“Don’t be so sad, remember to always stay perfectly happy, I promise we’ll see each other again soon,” Dreamweaver said. “Now you can go back and paint some more with your maid, I’m sure that will make this a ten out of ten day for you, right?”

“Right,” Wish put a smile on her face that she didn’t feel in her heart. “Ten out of ten.”

“Good girl, now I’ll see you again soon,” Dreamweaver smiled.

Wish took that as her cue and hopped out of her seat. “Goodbye, father.”

The Queen was already running another hoof through his mane. It made Wish shudder and she quickly walked back to the doors leading out into the large atrium. She had mixed feelings about leaving her father behind to be sure. It led to more anxiety and a trouble with breathing and thinking clearly for her. Even as she walked back with the guards, made it to the throne room, and started going back to her chambers with the Inquisitors, her mind was going a million miles an hour in every direction. Wish knew she had to get away, get a moment to herself, and preferably just get out of this crazy castle even for a day or possibly just a single hour. Else she was liable to go completely insane.

A breath of fresh air, being able to look at something else and not have guards everywhere. Wish needed that so badly.

But how? How did she accomplish that? And there was the issue of her nightmares and the dungeon—the pegasus taken by the Inquisitors the possible cause of all of this that she still needed to figure out. She had to put that off for now. Getting to the dungeon was a whole nother problem. Not like it was going anywhere anyways.

Wish had to think of something, go through her memories to try and remember a way out of this castle. She just wished she didn’t have to do something that would upset her father.

Without Permission

Wish had a plan. The morning after the awkward dinner she had woken up from another nightmare. And it was then that she decided that things couldn’t keep proceeding like normal in Hoofica Castle. Today was the day she did something. Today was the day she went outside for the first time in months. Not even just on some balcony or in the courtyard, or standing by an open window. She was going out of the castle. It didn’t matter what her father would think or how worried everypony would be if she suddenly went missing. She had to do this. The monotony, the routine, the craziness, the upsetting truths, she just couldn’t quietly abide it all. However, the fear of voicing any of this to her father kept her from taking any direct action—as well as the fear of the Head Inquisitor who Wish knew was responsible in large part for her nightmares and anxiety. All she could do right now was help herself, just a little bit.

And her returned memories were going to aid her. This morning she had drunk a lot of water, way more than she usually had to drink of anything at breakfast. She made a big show of it to Dotty and her maid even commented on it. All because she needed an excuse that seemed natural.

There were places and things about the castle that she had remembered, things only forgotten thanks to the dark haze that obscured her memories of certain events and ponies. That darkness that signaled the moment things truly became an insane nightmare for her in this castle. She still wasn’t sure if that amnesia was due to a magical spell or something else, but she had at least gotten over most of it. So she knew how she could potentially get away from Dotty and maybe avoid other guards as she made her way out of the castle.

That opportunity came as the two of them walked to her classroom on the third floor of the castle. Taking the same route they always took. But instead of Wish just paying attention to the paintings and suits of armor until they got to the classroom, she was looking along the walls at other doors and hallways that went elsewhere into the castle. Until they got right up to one in particular.

“Um, Dotty?” Wish said, coming to a stop in the corridor.

“Hm? What is it, Wish?” Dotty asked with her usual cheerful smile on her face.

“I… um...” Wish put a fake blush on her face and pointed to a door on the interior side of the castle. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Ohhhh,” Dotty smirked and brought a hoof up to her mouth, giggling into it.. “You really drank too much water at breakfast. Hm, I don’t think your teacher and classmates will mind if you’re a minute late. Go right ahead, I’ll be waiting outside!”

“Thanks, Dotty,” Wish smiled at her and walked over to the lavatory door.

She did her best to not shake and make Dotty suspicious.

Opening up the door she walked inside and let it swing shut behind her. The lavatory was pretty standard, sinks on the right side and stalls on the left side. As expected for something primarily for visitors and servants there was nothing extravagant about it. If Wish’s memory served correct there were identical ones right below it on the first and second floors. It would’ve been easier for Wish’s plans if she could’ve gone in one of them but there was nothing she could do about that. What she was looking for here was a certain something up high on the far wall of the lavatory.

A window. A small window with a pop-out mechanism that opened up right into the central courtyard of Hoofica Castle. That was her ticket out of here and out from under the eyes of Dotty. She didn’t know what was under that window, if anything, but she had to at least see if she could use it to escape and get elsewhere in the castle. It was pretty high up on the wall, she wished she was a pegasus right now, but for once she was also a bit grateful for her small size. Any bigger and she never would’ve been able to fit through it.

She was certain she could still hop up on the sink and jump up to the small recess where the window was, pushing it out and then climbing through. Or at least taking a look to make sure she wasn’t going to fall down three stories to the ground and break her neck.

Wish looked behind her at the door leading back into the corridor. Dotty might get suspicious in just a minute or two if Wish didn’t come back out, she needed to act fast. And quietly as well unfortunately. If she slipped and fell, Dotty was sure to hear it. So Wish quickly but softly trotted her way over the floor, towards the end of the sink under the window. With annoyance, she realized she was going to have to jump to pull herself up on top of it.

She was no longer that grateful for her small size.

“Hup!” Wish grunted and jumped, grasping the top of the sink counter and pulling herself up while her legs wiggled about beneath her. Crawling on top of the counter she frowned and looked up at the window now only half as high over her head as it had been. She was only going to have one shot of jumping up to it and getting out of here.

Wish took a deep breath and steadied herself at the edge of the marble counter. She hunkered down and bent her legs, getting ready to spring up like a cat.

“I can do this,” she said and vaulted off the counter towards the window.

Her small body sailed through the air as her outstretched hooves reached for the window and the small amount of space to hold onto in front of it. Wish grunted as she hit the window’s spot and almost slid down the wall before digging her back hooves into it and holding on to the tiny ledge with her front hooves.

“M-Made it...” she muttered and pulled her upper body up further, reaching her left hoof forward and popping out the window. It lifted up on a pair of hinges and she was able to stick her head out and take a look around.

The large interior courtyard with its gardens, ponds, trees, and pathways sprawled out below her. It was actually a pretty sight even with the dark sky and the fresh air also felt really good, Wish sucked in a breath of it and allowed the breeze to blow against her face. Unfortunately there was nothing directly below her for her to safely jump down to, and no way for her to safely scale the wall. But there was a balcony poking out into the courtyard just slightly to the left. Wish could try jumping to it and making her way down from there. It overlooked a few trees she could possibly jump into.

“Okay, let’s do it,” Wish nodded to herself and pulled her way further through the window. “This is definitely not a dumb idea.” She said as she carefully perched on the window’s ledge and got ready to jump.

She bit her lip and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, it was a more exhilarating jump to make than the one up to the window. Still, she wasn’t giving up on getting out of here. Wish gathered her nerves and decided she need to do it right now before common sense caught up to here. No time for second thoughts—Wish jumped to the balcony.

Her little body sailed through the air and right over the railing of the balcony. The brief moment of joy at knowing she had made it turned immediately to pain as she landed on the hard stone floor of the balcony and rolled across it before smacking into the banister at the other end.

“Oof!” The wind was knocked out of her a little bit and she shakily rose to her hooves while groaning. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...”

She looked down and saw her knees were scraped and hissed in pain. It had been a long time since she had taken a tumble like that. Not since back home when playing around out by the forest. Looked like she was just going to have to get over it though, not like she could ask anypony for a band-aid. There was still a lot more to do as well and she might have to take another tumble or make some more reckless jumps. With how much she had been coddled and kept from doing anything like this over the past few months the pain was even a little bit refreshing. A happy reminder of the fun she used to have.

Since she had now safely made it to the balcony it was about time she should look around too. There was a door on it leading back into the castle but Wish didn’t want to use it for a couple of reasons. It could be locked in the first place, she wanted to put some more distance between herself and Dotty and not just be in the same area of the castle, and she wanted to get down to the courtyard so for the first time in a while she could feel dirt beneath her hooves. Those trees that the balcony overlooked were going to be her path to take to accomplish that.

Wish hopped up onto the balcony’s railing and looked down at the nearest. Leafy and full of strong branches. Just what she needed.

It was definitely dumb to just jump into it and try to grab a tree branch and then climb her way down it that way… but she couldn’t really think of a better idea right now.

Acting before her fear caught up with her once again, Wish leaped off of the balcony and into the tree.

Whump!

Whack!

Thump!

Thwack!

Plop!

Wish bounced and fell off numerous tree branches as she fell through the leafy canopy of the tree until she landed right on her stomach over a thick branch. It stopped her fall and she laid like a towel out to dry over it, groaning in pain and discomfort. “Owww...”

She hung there limply for a little while longer, catching her breath and waiting for the branch to stop shaking. Wish then looked down and saw she was still ten feet above the ground with only a few more branches to go and then the bushes beneath her. She sighed and let herself fall off the branch slightly until she was only hanging onto it with her hooves, then began to swing back and forth to build up momentum before throwing herself to a branch below and in front of her. Wish caught it with a grin, she was used to climbing trees. Sometimes it helped growing up in the countryside.

Of course now there was only one thing left to do. The trunk of the tree didn’t have anymore branches going down it soooo…

“Here we go,” Wish gulped and let go of the branch, falling the remaining distance down into the bushes.

The green bushes were hardly a cushion and the hard ground greeted her flank painfully. But she was still down. Wish crawled out of the bush she was in, brushing away leaves and twigs and getting herself out of the tangled vines, and briefly stood by the roots of the tree she had just “climbed” down. Her body was scraped and dirty with her mane and tail looking like a complete mess. And she just couldn’t be happier about any of it.

Wish smiled and walked out from underneath the tree, taking a look up at the towers encircling the courtyard and the dark sky above them. Outside. Walking around on dirt and through grass. Boy it sure felt good. She was still technically inside the castle, but it was already a big improvement. There were a lot of ways in and out of this courtyard as well, she could get to pretty much any part of the castle’s first floor from here easily.

Did she attempt to go straight for the front gates? Or would it be better to try and sneak around some more and look for a different way out of the castle? Dotty and everypony else would surely be looking for her soon but they probably didn’t know what she was doing or where she was going. Either way she was still going to have to be really careful about sneaking through the castle. She couldn’t let a single pony see her. Much as she would’ve liked to spend more time in this courtyard she was probably going to have to leave it soon.

Wish sighed. “I’m at least going to go smell some flowers first though.”

The young filly walked over to a nearby patch of dandelions, growing by a dirt path. Above her the dark sky roiled about unceasingly.

Dotty knocked on the lavatory door a few times. “Wish? You’re taking a while, is everything alright in there?” She waited a second and when she heard no answer she opened the door up and walked in. “Wish?”

The filly was nowhere in sight, not by the sinks, and every stall was unoccupied. Dotty felt a breeze blow past her and looked up to see the open window. Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open in shock.

“Oh… I’m going to be in so much trouble.”

Wish walked up the steps towards a gateway leading out of the courtyard and back into the castle. It actually had a portcullis right overhead that could be lowered if need be, but Wish doubted that thing had ever been lowered once in centuries. She had to be very careful where she walked, Dotty had to have alerted the rest of the castle by now. Her hooves were quiet over the stone floor and she never just walked out right into a new hallway, she always took a careful peek first. And she kept her ears open. Guards would be easy to hear thanks to their armor, Inquisitors less so.

The memories she had back made things a little easier for her too. Wish wasn’t an expert on the castle or its layout, but now she could recall parts of it and how to get from one major place to another better. She had left the courtyard and was now wandering through the west wing of the castle, where most of the servants called home and a large amount of extra rooms existed. It would normally be the busiest part of the castle with the most ponies in it.

Which is why she was here.

If Wish had snuck out, why would she go to the place she’d most likely end up getting caught? They’d never suspect it.

A confident smirk came to her face as she stealthily walked through the first floor hallways of the west wing. Up above her somewhere was her classroom. She wondered what her classmates and Star Eyes were thinking right about now? Maybe they hadn’t even been alerted at all and they were still waiting for her? Or more likely, class had simply been canceled for the day.

There were a lot of places she could visit here in the west wing like kitchens, guest rooms, the guards’ barracks, but in the end she was still going to be making her way to the front gate of the castle. Wish could remember it in her memories—the massive pair of doors that rose high up in the great entrance hall of the castle. If the guards were all scrambling around for her then perhaps they weren’t guarding it anymore either. Secretly getting to it though was still going to take some time.

Wish took a small break in an alcove by an old suit of armor and used the time to catch her breath. I wonder what dad is thinking right now…

It made her feel a little bad, and worried, but she wasn’t turning back just yet. Besides, all she really wanted was a little freedom and a change of scenery. She’d be back later. And then of course she could explore the dungeon too, which might get her in more trouble but… oh well. It had to be done or she’d go mad in this castle.

Wish poked her head out of the alcove and saw that it was all clear down the hallway for now. She slowly and quietly made her way down it, the guards probably didn’t have any idea where she had gotten off to. Dotty probably didn’t even know if she had actually gone all the way down to the courtyard or not.

“A disguise would be really useful right now,” Wish muttered to herself as she secretly went down the hallway. “I should’ve worn one when I went down to the dungeon too...”

Easier said than done though, what could she even disguise herself with that she could find in her size?

She turned another corner to arrive at a three-way intersection of hallways and heard the thunderous rattling of armored ponies coming towards her. Wish sucked in a breath and turned back around the corner, crouching down low and pressing herself right up against the dark wall. Moments later two guards came running by with haggard and worried looks on their faces, they ran right past the hallway Wish was hiding in without bothering to look down in her direction.

Wish waited for the sound of their running to disappear before she stood up and wiped some sweat from her brow. “Whew… that was a close one.”

She was not grateful for being small enough to easily hide out of sight like that. It was true though that because of her height she was basically out of view of any guards unless they actually bothered to look down. She probably didn’t even need to duck down there to not be seen. And the poor lighting and dark walls worked well for her right now too.

The opposite helped her as well—the white suits of the Inquisitors would be really easy for her to see if they were wandering the dark castle and looking for her. Wish liked her chestnut color and her rosy red mane, but if she was black right now she would’ve been practically invisible, camouflaged. She still had quite a bit of space to travel through in the castle and every corner and turn was just one more opportunity for her to be suddenly face to face with guards and Inquisitors. And then her little trip would be over.

If there were any guards standing guard at certain intersections and halls in the castle she may also have to backtrack and go a different way as she made her way to the front gate. Wish hoped nopony was smart enough to actually stay in the same location. Running around wildly looking for her would be way better for her right now.

Her scraped knees still ached a little bit though and it got worse the longer she went on. She might’ve actually hurt herself a bit when she jumped onto the balcony. With how dirty and disheveled she was, a stop at the lavatory to wash herself off and clean up her scrapes sounded nice, but she didn’t want to risk going into a room and getting boxed in. She also didn’t know the location of every single lavatory, sink, or cistern in Hoofica Castle. She mainly just knew about the one she had jumped out of because of how many times she had passed by it on the way to class. It was good though that she had had enough to eat and drink this morning to keep up her energy, this was way more activity than she was used to. It was making her quite excited and her quick pulse was telling her she was burning through a lot of that energy even as she moved about slowly and carefully.

Calm down. I need to calm down. Wish told herself.

Wish poked her head down another hallway and sighed in relief as it appeared empty. There were a number of doors lining it that led to random rooms Wish didn’t really know anything about, and she couldn’t really waste her time opening them up and learning. She tried to walk along the shadows near the corners of the hallway, still keeping low and as out of sight as possible, just in case. A maid or Inquisitor or some other servant could suddenly round the corner ahead or come out of one of these doors and she wouldn’t hear that coming like with the armored guards.

As soon as she passed by one of the rooms-

-the door was thrown open and Wish fought back a squeak as the door flipped on its hinges directly towards her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for it to crush her against the wall when… nothing happened.

Frightfully, she opened up one eye a sliver and saw that the door had come to a stop just an inch before sandwiching her between it and the hard stone well. Her hooves covered her mouth as she did her best to keep still and not even let out a whimper.

“Well she’s not in any of these rooms either,” a stallion on the other side of the door said.

“This is insane, she has to still be somewhere in the castle,” a mare said.

“We have to keep looking, we can’t let the Head Inquisitor down,” a second stallion said.

A heavy snort came from the first stallion. “That’s the last thing I plan on doing.”

“We should split up the next time we reach any stairs or an intersection,” the mare said. “Cover as much ground as possible. We’ve just gotta keep our eyes peeled for anything.”

“Right. Leave no stone unturned and all that,” the first stallion said.

“Yes, let’s go,” the mare said.

Wish heard the shuffling of hooves as the three ponies quickly walked down the hallway in the direction Wish had just come from. The door slowly crept back close until it shut completely and Wish looked to see three white-suited Inquisitors walking together. Her eyes were wide and she stayed still as a statue.

“How could Dotted Easel be so stupid?” She heard the second stallion growl in annoyance.

Wish stayed silent and still until they had disappeared from both sight and sound. Then she sucked in a deep breath of air and collapsed to the cold floor.

“That was a close one...” she whispered to herself.

When she tried to stand back up she found her legs were like jelly, she wobbled and shook before falling to her knees and panting as sweat gathered at her brow. It was nerves. It was only psychological, she just needed to get over it and get moving again. She knew that this kind of thing would happen and there might be close calls. Just stop being afraid. Stop being afraid and get moving again. You had made it past guards and Inquisitors now, you just heard they had no idea where you were. Get up and get out of this castle.

The young filly nodded to herself a few times and pushed herself back to her hooves. She was trembling, and scared, but she could walk.

With courage, she made it down the rest of the door-laden hallway and came out into a circular chamber that had a few more branching corridors going off from it. One looked like it went towards the central courtyard and another went to a spiral staircase that went up to the next floor of the castle. Straight ahead looked like it would take her towards the “front” of the castle where the gate was, so that’s where she was going.

There wasn’t any “north wing” or anything like that to Hoofica Castle. There was just a single large entrance made in the northern side of the central part of the castle. Directly outside it, if she recalled correctly, was a large open grounds and another defensive exterior wall built around it, with a gatehouse for that that led directly into the capitol city. She didn’t know what the situation at that gatehouse would be but truly Wish didn’t care. Getting out to the castle grounds would constitute a win in her book. Getting farther than that was a dream.

Wish quietly walked along the walls again to reach her destination, she moved from shadows between torches to shadows between torches, alcove to alcove, staying down and out of sight as much as she could. She would be relatively close to the front gate now. After journeying through the courtyard and the west wing of the castle she was almost there.

What she would do after getting out of the castle was irrelevant. She already knew she probably couldn’t make it out of the grounds. She just wanted to go as far as she could.

The pounding of metal clad hooves on the stone floor alerted Wish to the fact that another guard or group of guards was coming through. She shut her mouth and zipped underneath an ornamental suit of armor that stood next to a large painting on the wall. Like a statue underneath the armor’s belly, Wish stood there and watched as half a dozen guards came down the hallway. They were looking straight ahead and at the back of their group was another Inquisitor, his face set in a tight frown. Wish’s eyes were the only part of her that moved as she followed them until they were out of sight. As soon as they were a safe distance away she exhaled and stepped out from underneath the armor.

Okay, this is going pretty well now. Wish thought.

She probably shouldn’t say things like that or karma was going to bite her, but Wish kept walking for now.

When she came to another intersection she actually wasn’t entirely sure which way to go and she spent some time walking around in a circle trying to figure it out. Had she gotten turned around? Was there not actually a good way from where she was to getting out of the castle? Wish ground her teeth together as she tried to come to a decision. If only she knew the castle better instead of her just vaguely going in the right direction.

In the end, Wish stood in the middle of the branching corridors and decided there was only one way to do this: she lifted a hoof and pointed forward before closing her eyes and spinning around.

When she came to a dizzy stop she opened her eyes and walked down the closest hallway she was pointing towards.

“Just as good a way of doing this as any...” Wish muttered.

Her decision hadn’t come soon enough either. Almost the moment she had started walking down this new hallway, the sounds of running ponies came from behind her. Wish’s eyes widened as she looked around, but there wasn’t anywhere for her to hide in here. If some ponies suddenly turned the corner and came in here they’d see her for sure. The end of the hallway stretched far ahead—all Wish could do now was run for it.

“Great,” she said and took off sprinting.

Luckily thanks to her light weight and lack of shoes or boots she didn’t really make any noise on the stone floor even as she galloped over it. Not compared to the other ponies that would be running around in here at least. She was still smart and kept her ears open to listen for any guards that might be ahead, but even if they were there she couldn’t really stop right now. She had to just hope for the best. If she turned a corner and guards or Inquisitors were there it was just going to become a different kind of chase. Now she couldn’t waste any time deciding which way to go either, she had to just run and hope she was going the right way.

Maybe it was luck but as she sprinted down the hallways she didn’t see hide nor hair of any other ponies. It filled her with excitement and the belief that she really could make it. She wasn’t sure how long she had been running now after giving up stealth but she had certainly gone quite a ways. The twists and turns of the castle were becoming less frequent and shortly she found herself in a much wider and better lit hallway than normal.

Wish could see the end ahead, the hallway opened up into a much larger and even better lit room.

That was it. The grand entrance to Hoofica Castle was practically right in front of her.

Wish picked up her speed and practically came shooting out of her hallway and into the huge atrium of Hoofica Castle, looking towards the doors to the outside. The ceiling of this room was incredibly high as it took up pretty much all three stories that made up the central part of the castle. Torches on the walls and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling provided plenty of light and illuminated grand marble statues and long tapestries that decorated the entrance to the castle. The large double doors themselves were made of massive pieces of wood taken from the large redwood trees one could find in Hoofica. Bands of black steel bound them together while large circular knockers near the bottom were placed for ponies to either pull them open or closed. There were slots for where other beams of wood could be placed horizontally on the door to barricade it shut, but there weren’t any placed there now.

It was right there. It might as well have already been open for her.

A great smile stretched across Wish’s face as she walked across the floor. “Finally.”

“Wish.”

Her hoof stopped mid-step. The smile disappeared from her face and Wish slowly turned around to see her father standing there with a blank, unreadable, expression on his face. It was like the entire world had stopped and gone quiet. He blinked. Wish blinked back. The door remained shut behind her.

Outing

The steady clip-clop of hooves echoed off the steps as Wish and her father traveled up the stairs leading to the towers.

“Come with me.”

His voice was so devoid of emotion when he said that to her back in the great entrance to the castle. He wasn’t like his usual self, always smiling at her and always filling her up with warmth. She knew why. She understood why. But it still made her worried and upset. What was he going to do? What was she going to do? Wish knew it was going to upset him, the fact that she was running off and trying to leave the castle, but she figured she’d have more time to come up with something to say to him when she came back. Instead her mind was empty. If he asked her anything right now she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get a single word out.

Did she just say sorry? Did she tell him the truth about why she tried leaving in the first place? Did she lie? Did he already know everything?

He must’ve been waiting for her near the front gates of the castle. That’s how he was right there just in time for her. Secretly watching until she came and then he could collect her all on his own.

Wish wondered what the Inquisitors and guards were doing right now. He hadn’t told anypony yet that he had found her, they were still probably searching for her. Wish felt guilty now. Guilty about the trouble she caused. Guilty about letting her father down. Guilty about probably getting Dotty in trouble.

Guilty.

Guilty.

Guilty.

She almost wanted to cry. It was becoming too much to bear again. What was supposed to help her was now turning into a waking nightmare. There had been so much hope inside her and it was all suddenly dashed—taken away at the very last moment. Now all she had was a disappointed father. Wish was on the verge of another panic attack, she could feel her heart pounding harder in her chest and her breathing was starting to come out in short pants. The aches and pains in her knees were totally forgotten now as this new agonizing anxiety tore through her.

Looking up at her father, she saw he was still blankly looking ahead and not paying her any mind.

Please. Please. She wanted him to look at her, to show her he cared and that he still loved her even after what she had done.

They arrived at the first tower before Wish even noticed, coming up out of the curving stairs there were a number of maids, guards, and Inquisitors scattered about talking with one another. The tension in the air was palpable. However, the moment Wish and her father appeared in the entryway to the stairs that all changed. The maids gasped and all silently gathered along the walls while the guards stiffly stood at attention and saluted her father. The Inquisitors on the other hoof looked a mixture of surprised and frightened and they swiftly came trotting over.

“Master Dreamweaver, and the young lady!” The one taking point said. He stopped and bowed down in front of her father. “It’s so good that you found her, sir.”

“Yes,” her father replied evenly. “I want you to go down through the rest of the castle and tell the other Inquisitors and guards that my daughter is alright, they can stop searching. Quickly.”

“Y-Yes sir,” the Inquisitor said and nodded to his brethren. They quickly walked around Wish and her father to travel down her stairs, the guards that had been in the tower followed them as well. Meanwhile the maids simply stood off to the side and pretended they didn’t hear or see anything. Dreamweaver ignored them as well as he now took Wish past them and up to the next tower.

As soon as they got to the stairs he opened his mouth and spoke to her for the first time since they had started walking up the towers. “When they told me you had gone missing I knew that if you hadn’t already come up to my lab in the tower that there was only one other place you would go.”

“I… I...” Wish tried to speak but just as she thought, she was unable to.

“You don’t need to say anything now. I want us to get somewhere personal first, then we can talk.”

The cold words, the dread that came from “we can talk” that truly made her feel like a little filly. It was almost too much for Wish to deal with. She tried to focus on anything else. Counting the steps as they went up the stairs, thinking about the pain in her knees to avoid the pain in her chest, thinking about that brief moment in the courtyard where she got a taste of fresh air. Regret tinged her body and pulled at every fiber of her being. How could she have been so stupid and careless?

When they got to the second tower there was nopony there. Wish took a glance out the nearest window and looked to the north, the dark sky stretched as far as she could see and a few bolts of lightning in the distance struck down to the ground. So close. She was so close to being out there. But it was wrong, wasn’t it? It was wrong for her to want that. Her father was so upset now because of what she had done.

...was that right?

Should she not feel differently?

Was it wrong for her to want to get out of this place and try to be happy again? She just wanted to be able to say goodbye to the nightmares and have her life return to normal. Not being watched, and guarded, and forced onto the same routine every day. She felt horrible for upsetting her father… but she wanted to be happy too.

The third tower was different. Once they had gotten up to it, Wish noticed a certain pony pacing back and forth in front of the door to her personal chambers.

Dotty’s breath caught in her throat the moment she saw Wish and her father. Her face shifted between relief and fear, as if she didn’t know if this was a good situation or not. But finally she at least seemed to remember her duty and she ran over to the two of them.

“W-Wish! Are you alright?!” Dotty asked in a panic, she gulped and looked over to her father. “Did you find her, Master Dreamweaver?”

“I did. And don’t worry, she’s fine,” Dreamweaver answered.

Dotty glanced down at Wish’s scraped knees. “Oh dear… we can clean those up in a jiffy, it’ll be alright. I-I’m so sorry for losing track of you, Wish. It’s all my fault.”

Wish tilted her head back and frowned at her maid. Dotty’s fault? Wish was the one who ditched her.

“Let’s come back inside and I can clean you up and then-”

“No need for that at the moment, Dotted Easel,” her father interrupted. “My daughter will be coming up with me to my lab for a private conversation. You as well will come along, but you’ll wait outside my door. When Wish is ready to leave I’ll have you escort her back to her chambers.”

Dotty and Wish both looked up at her father in surprise.

“Um… yes sir,” Dotty finally nodded.

Wish just blinked at her father. She was going up to his lab? His lab that she wasn’t supposed to enter? That she could remember now trying to go up to once in the past before another fog of amnesia clouded her memories? It was serious. He must have realized this was a big deal and wanted her to know how seriously he was taking her little jaunt. She had had nightmares about going up to his lab, nightmares that were caused by her warped memories. It made her wonder what she was going to see. What would happen.

Now it was three ponies traveling up the long winding stairs that led from tower to tower. Dotty held back behind Wish and Dreamweaver with a nervous expression on her face, she looked like she had been miserable ever since Wish disappeared. Everypony was completely quiet as they went up, neither Wish nor Dotty daring to make a sound. Wish hardly ever came up here, on most any other occasion she’d probably be happy. Not today.

They passed through the fourth tower without stopping as well. Not like there were even any ponies here. Wish was pretty sure the library or whatever it was didn’t get any visitors lately.

Then it was the final flight of stairs up to her father’s tower.

Wish found herself shaking all the way up it. There were fewer torches lining the enclosed stairway than normal, making their passage darker. It was such a long walk all the way up the stairs too, she was getting tired by the end of it thanks to how much activity she had been through today. It was getting later by now as well. She couldn’t believe it but she was wishing for her bedchambers right now. That was preferable to having to face her father’s disappointment.

Finally they reached the very top of the stairs—the tallest tower, the highest point of the castle and any other building in Hoofica. The layout was a little different from other towers since there was no other stairway on the other side going anywhere else. The stairs simply ended at a small circular room with a south facing door that led into what used to be the tower’s observatory but was now Dreamweaver’s lab. A single torch against the wall opposite the stairs lit it up. Dreamweaver walked towards the door and put his hoof on it before glancing back at Dotty.

“Wait here, understand?”

Dotty nodded. “Yes, sir.”

He then looked down at Wish. “Come along, my darling.”

Her father opened up the door and calmly stepped inside without waiting for any sort of response from her. Wish took one look back at the pale Dotty before following her father on in. The heavy door was left to shut behind her and for the very first time that she could remember, Wish was able to look upon her father’s lab.

It was a large single room from what she could tell, with stained glass windows that stretched almost the entire length of the walls on either side of it. One overlooked the castle courtyard down far below while the other looked out over the exterior of the castle. It was crowded with tables that themselves were overflowing with all kinds of glass tubes, bottles, beakers, and assorted paraphernalia that Wish was used to seeing in science textbooks. Some of the various bottles and tubes had weird liquids of all colors flowing about within them. Other mechanical equipment and tools she didn’t recognize sat around on the floor and pushed into the corners.

Most noticeable of all though was a large curtain raised over the back half of the room. It was hoisted up to cover some kind of large device that took up the other side of the lab. Wish could just barely make out some large electrodes and wires peeking out over the top and the sides of the curtain. She wondered what was behind it?

A sudden pain flashed through her forehead as she looked at it and she winced but it was gone in just a second.

There was also a divider set up around the window over the courtyard that had a small bed on the other side of it, and a bunch of stacks of books and crumpled up paper. Her father seemingly didn’t see any use in getting a maid of his own.

While Wish stood around in front of the door and looked around, her father walked to the center of the room before turning around and gazing at her. His expression was still completely blank.

Wish flinched when their eyes met and she had to look away.

Dreamweaver sighed when he saw her reaction. “I’m not angry at you, I’m just disappointed.”

Wish could feel tears coming close to spilling out. But she wanted to be strong. She wanted to find that courage from earlier again. Wish bit her lip and faced her father again, it was tough to find words but she would try to speak up to him. “P-Please don’t punish Dotty!” Wish managed to get out first. “It wasn’t her fault, I lied to her and ran off on my own!”

Genuine surprise spread to her father’s face and he raised an eyebrow at her. “Punish Dotted Easel? I never had any intention of doing so. Now please, Wish. Would you tell me why you’ve done this?”

“I...” Temporary relief for Dotty’s sake washed over her but she still struggled with how to answer him and what else she should say. She was still afraid.

But now… now she knew she had to talk, or it would just be madness.

“I’ve been having nightmares lately.”

“Nightmares?” Her father sounded surprised and even a little worried. “Why? About what?”

She took in a deep breath and answered him.

“W-Who… who was that pegasus that the Inquisitors took down to the dungeon?” Wish strongly looked her father in the eyes as she asked.

Dreamweaver blinked and his eyes widened by a fraction of an inch. “You remember that?”

Wish’s lip trembled. “W-Why wouldn’t I?”

A heavy sigh escaped her father’s lips and he glanced over at one of the many tables in the room. Using his magic, he pulled over a pair of stools from it and set them down in front of him. Sitting on one, he patted the other. “Come. Sit with me, my darling.”

Wish was slightly apprehensive. She was confused and scared at the lack of a direct or immediate answer. But he was still her father. She loved him and he loved her. After a tentative second she walked across the floor of his laboratory to him and hopped up on the stool. Parking herself there she looked up imploringly at him with her big brown eyes.

“So then. Can you tell me what you remember and for how long?” Her father asked her. His expression was stoic, but not cold or angry.

“I… It’s been a couple of days now. I remember that pegasus, she was blue and she had a rainbow mane I think, I remember her flying around the castle and fighting with the guards and Inquisitors. I saw it from my window in my chambers I think. And then, um, I saw the Inquisitors taking her into the dungeon. She was chained up and yelling and… and then I can’t remember anything else,” Wish told him.

Her father nodded along as she explained things to him. “I see.” He sighed again and a sad smile formed on his lips, with one hoof he reached over to pat her head. “I didn’t intend for anything like this. Your happiness has always, always, been my chief concern. I wish you had told me about the nightmares sooner, my darling.”

Wish frowned in a mixture of shame and worry. “But why can’t I remember it all? Why’d I forget in the first place?”

“You see, Wish. That pegasus attacked Hoofica Castle. We don’t know the exact reasons why, but she violently assaulted the guards and Inquisitors, trying to get inside to do who knows what. You witnessed all of this, I doubt you remember just how fierce the attack really was. And when you had ran down to see her being taken into the dungeon you were in a very excited and agitated state. You were upset, scared, and I was worried for you. For your happiness and livelihood.” He frowned and put his hooves on her shoulders, comforting her. “So I had the Head Inquisitor give you a sedative to calm you down. Unfortunately it had amnesic side-effects to it. You were out for a while and your memories were a jumbled mess afterwards.”

Wish’s jaw hung open as her father told her all this, too shocked to respond. She was trying to process it and everything she knew.

“I didn’t want something like that to ever happen to you again… so after you woke up I made sure that you’d always have somepony by your side, watching. And more guards everywhere so you couldn’t get anywhere unsafe. I just wanted you to be happy and safe, Wish.” Dreamweaver imploringly looked into her eyes. “You’re the only thing in the world to me.”

So that’s why things had been different. That’s where her time in here as a prisoner began. She had always been treated well and her happiness kept track of. But now she knew exactly why and when that had changed to smothering.

Wish felt a few tears spilling down her cheeks and she sniffled. “I-I’m sorry for running off on my own… b-but-”

“I understand. You must’ve been very stressed out,” her father pulled her into a quick hug. “I’m sorry for not noticing. Would you please tell me everything that’s on your mind? Was it just the nightmares that drove you to it? If there’s anything I can do to make you happy...”

Wish was trembling but she managed to nod and still find the courage to say what she needed to. “I still want to go outside. S-Stuck in here for so long, with all of this, it’s been too much. I want to do something different, I want to go see something new, go somewhere else in Hoofica.”

“The castle probably feels stifling to you now, overwhelming,” Dreamweaver nodded. “Wish, my darling daughter, if you were so bothered then you only needed to tell me. You could’ve just said you needed to leave the castle.”

Could I have? Could I really?

Those thoughts flashed through Wish’s mind. What if she had mentioned how she knew she had been sedated at least two other times? What would her father say about that? What if she asked about what was behind the curtain in here?

“Thank you, dad.” Was all she could end up saying on the matter.

He smiled down at her. “Now… you leaving the castle still isn’t exactly my first choice, but I can still arrange something. Especially if it might help cure your nightmares.”

There was something else. Something more she wanted to say.

“D-Dad?”

“Yes, darling?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“I also… I want things to go back to how they were before. I-I’m not some little kid who needs to be coddled. I don’t need guards and Inquisitors watching me and stopping me from going places. I want to be able to go around the castle and not be locked in at night and everything like that,” she told him.

He sighed but then a smile came across his face and he chuckled. “Well, that’s certainly understandable. I only wanted to keep you safe but now I see that it isn’t worth everything else. You’ve been distressed for some time thanks to the strangling schedule and restrictions placed on you, it’s apparent to me now. Oh, Wish, I love you so much.”

She quivered and sniffled up at him. “I love you too, dad.”

“Is there anything else? I’m sure you’d like to spend more time with me, go to another opera, eat with the King and Queen again, that sort of thing,” he smiled. “Are you at least still enjoying your classes as well? Have you made friends with the other fillies and colts?”

“I… yes. I want to spend more time with you if we can, if you’re not busy. And class is fine, my teacher, Star Eyes is very nice. All the others are friendly too but… um, I don’t know if they really want to be here. One of them cried and said he missed his mom and dad and he hasn’t been back to class since. I think the others are lonely too. Are their families in the castle?” Wish asked.

Dreameaver tilted his chin up and thought. “Yes, their families are here. I don’t know why your classmates would be upset about anything but I can look into it. Same with the one who hasn’t returned. But don’t worry, I know for certain your classmates want for nothing. They live in lavish rooms and get better food than they ever did back home.” He chuckled and rubbed her head. “Not quite as lavish as what you get though.”

“Um… about that too...”

Dreamweaver looked down at her. “Hm?”

“I don’t need so much food. I-I know you’re trying to provide for me, but it just seems like a waste. I want things to be more normal for me, I feel bad wasting so much food,” Wish wrung her hooves together as she opened up more to her father.

“My humble daughter,” Dreamweaver chuckled a bit more. “I wanted to give you the opportunity to feel like royalty, but I suppose I can understand why you might find it awkward. I’m sure you still enjoy your chocolate cake though?”

Wish blushed. “Y-Yeah...” She sighed in relief and smiled. “And thanks, dad. You’re all I really need.”

“We’ll get everything figured out, I promise. Anything to make you happy,” he patted her head.

She leaned forward on her stool and he got the idea, picking her up in his hooves and embracing her in a tight hug again. Wish could feel the warmth coming from him as she nestled into his chest. He rubbed a comforting hoof down her back and she could already feel her negative feelings evaporating. They comfortably hugged like that for a straight minute.

“Now then—if you don’t want to be forced to only do the same thing and be blocked from going where you want in the castle, I can happily grant that,” her father said. “However I do still worry for your well-being and happiness, especially if you keep having these nightmares. So I’m still going to have Dotted Easel attend to you and keep you company. You seem to like her as well anyways.”

Wish wiggled her head out and looked up at him and the beseeching expression he had on his face. After everything else he was allowing, she couldn’t really complain. And she did like Dotty. So Wish merely nodded. “Okay.”

“She’ll be there for you if you wake up from any nasty nightmares,” Dreamweaver smiled.

“Heh, yeah,” Wish giggled.

“And about leaving the castle as well,” her father started up again. “I have an idea for an outing. But. It’s going to be under my terms, do you understand? This is different than simply allowing you to wander about the castle on your own. I trust you, but that’s not to say I trust the entire world.”

In truth, Wish didn’t exactly get it. Or why he would be so afraid of her going out into the capitol or anywhere else. Hoofica was a peaceful country with barely any crime or problems. At least she thought it was. Maybe things had changed more than she knew in the months since they came to the castle and the sky went dark. If her father just wanted to look out for her though, Wish could accept that. She knew he meant the best.

“I understand,” Wish nodded.

He smiled. “Good. I’m going to find a nice village close to the capitol for you to travel to. Somewhere with fresh air, green grass, ponies your age for you to meet and have fun with, it’ll be just like you were back home. But here is the caveat to that. You’re going to have an escort of Inquisitors with you as well. After all you can’t make any such trips on your own anyways, Dotted Easel can’t do everything, and I-” he glanced at the large curtain. “I’m a bit too busy to leave the castle. So the Inquisitors will take and watch over you.”

Wish wasn’t especially fond of the Inquisitors but if going with them was what she needed to do to get out of this castle then so be it. “Okay.”

“And I know just who I’ll have escort you. After all I’ll need the most trustworthy pony I can think of to watch over you, and who’s more trustworthy and capable than the Head Inquisitor herself?” Dreamweaver smiled.

Wish paled. “T-The Head Inquisitor?”

“Of course!” Her father beamed, seemingly oblivious to her dismay. “She’ll keep a close eye on you and make sure things go swimmingly. I’ll have her come up and tell her of the outing later today.”

Her. Wish shuddered internally. That mare scared her.

“Alright then,” her father lifted her up and got off his stool, setting her back on the floor. “I’m glad we had this conversation, Wish. Never be afraid to tell me the truth, I’ll always be here to listen. My happiness is your happiness. Just remember that.”

“I will, dad,” Wish said, gulping down an uncertain breath at the thought of the Head Inquisitor. Overall though, she supposed she should be happy.

“Excellent. Now scurry on out of here and get cleaned up, I’m sure Dotted Easel will be more than happy to help you. And then tomorrow the Head Inquisitor will come by for you,” he said.

“R-Right,” she hugged him one last time before turning to walk out of his lab, taking one last look around at all the random stuff before she left. Once she reached the door and opened it up, she glanced over her shoulder and saw him smiling and waving goodbye at her. Wish smiled and waved back before closing the door—and pretty much immediately came face to face with Dotty, who had been patiently waiting the whole time.

“Y-You’re done talking with your father? And everything is totally okay, right? Did he say anything? Am I still your maid?” Dotty asked in a whirlwind.

“Yes to all of that, Dotty,” Wish frowned and pushed the neurotic maid back a step. “We’re done talking and everything is alright and… I-I’m sorry for tricking you and running off. But you’re still my maid.”

“It’s okay,” Dotty sighed in relief, she seemed to have been sweating pretty intensely before Wish came back out. “I’m just glad you’re alright. So what now?”

Wish looked down at her scraped knees and felt her dirty and unkempt mane. “Now I go take a bath.”

Dotty smiled, grateful of the normalcy in what was going to happen next. “I’ll have you all clean and those little scrapes taken care of in no time!”

“Thanks, Dotty,” Wish smiled.

Together the two of them traveled back down the winding stairs to the third tower. Wish could tell how stressed Dotty was, but it was nothing compared to Wish’s own stress. All the things she had learned, the promise of leaving the castle, having to go with the Head Inquisitor. It was all so much. It was so overwhelming that she was completely mentally exhausted. The bath coming up was going to be perfect and Wish planned to relax extra long in it. Bed afterwards… she hoped there weren’t any nightmares tonight. She really, really hoped.

Head Inquisitor Vox

All throughout the kingdom, in the capitol city, small towns in the heartland, and villages near the border, posters could be found plastered on buildings. They were new additions only put up in the last few months and they did not care if they were on homes or businesses or if one was placed right next to another. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, however many were necessary to make sure you could never go anywhere you lived without seeing one around.

Every poster was identical—the portrait of a mare’s face staring at you. Staring deep into your very soul. She was a murky white unicorn mare with red eyes and a pink mane. The mane was styled in an unusual way, with the left side of her head being shaved away completely until it was bald and the pink mane hanging down the right side of her face long and straight.

Ponies that passed by these posters tried not to look at them or at the very least tried to not meet the eyes of the mare.

A lot of the ponies in Hoofica probably wanted to take them down and tear them to pieces but most were too afraid to do so. Officially they were put up by order of the King and Queen, but the common citizen had trouble believing such a thing. Or they would if it hadn’t also been for the black sky and the black bands around their necks that had suddenly appeared around the same time. The posters, the bands, the sky, all were ominous proof of how things had changed in Hoofica. What could the average pony even do? None wanted to take the risk of bringing the Inquisitors to them by tampering with the posters.

So in the end, everypony sadly abided their presence and simply went along with the words written beneath the portrait of the mare on the poster:

NO HAPPINESS

NO SMILES

BE QUIET

OBEY

WE’RE WATCHING

Hoofica had become a darker place in more ways than one. Foals were told to follow along with the posters, or the Head Inquisitor would come and get them. Friends whispered about the Head Inquisitor as they drank away their sorrows together. Families huddled in fear of any pony wearing white, hoping it wasn’t the Head Inquisitor.

Inquisitors and royal guards kept their mouths shut, lest the Head Inquisitor pay them a visit.

All of this fear had been accomplished in mere months. The once bustling capitol city was a quiet den of fear and sorrow, shadowed by the dark castle that lorded above it all. Roads were less traveled, small villages became fearful of travelers and outsiders, friends and families were afraid to do anything besides work. Even the far reaches of Hoofica could not escape the foreboding atmosphere stretching from the castle and were reduced to destitute outposts where ponies lived in fear that maybe one day the Inquisitors would show up there too.

It was something beautiful to the Head Inquisitor as she walked up the long stairway of Hoofica Castle to its tallest tower.

Dreamweaver stood alone in his lab, staring at the large curtain that concealed the back half of the room, until he heard a soft knock on his door. His visage briefly transformed into a small frown before a more neutral expression took over again and he turned around.

“Come in,” he said.

The door was pushed open and in walked a lone unicorn mare. She wore the standard pure white Inquisitor suit that made the off-white color of her coat even more noticeable, a pink mane, red eyes, and a shackle Cutie Mark completed her semblance. She was slender and attractive—beautiful even to some—with a narrow face and a charming smile beneath lips adorned with a pale pink lipstick.

But my oh my, underneath it all those dazzling red eyes were empty.

“Hello, Vox.”

Head Inquisitor Vox grinned widely and gave an exaggerated bow, dipping her head low to the floor before coming back up. “Hello, boss.”

Dreamweaver rolled his eyes. “Enough of that. I’m in no mood for any of your foolishness.”

“I can guess why. I heard about what happened with your daughter. What could ever possess her to do something like that?” Vox sarcastically said before bringing a hoof up to her mouth and failing to hold back a series of amused cackles.

"This is your fault you know?” Dreamweaver glared at her.

“My fault? It wasn’t my memory serum that suddenly stopped working,” Vox shrugged. “If it did what it was supposed to do, Wish wouldn’t have remembered anything from that night—or the other times.”

“I’m not a chemist nor a doctor, it was an experimental serum, it was bound to have defects.” Dreamweaver sighed and turned to look at one of his tables of liquid-filled beakers and tubes. “But I didn’t think she’d become outright immune to it after just a few doses.”

“Perhaps in the future you could just not have your daughter drugged at all?” Vox suggested with a snicker.

“It was for her own benefit. She needs to be kept happy and calm, I didn’t want such excitement bothering her or for there to be anything for her to be afraid of or worried about,” Dreamweaver frowned. “Which is why, again, this is your fault. If you had dealt with the pegasus better, or earlier, this could have been avoided.”

Vox snorted in annoyance. “I’m aware I messed up at Gentle Creek, but you only met her for the first time after she was already caught. You don’t know how tenacious of a pony she is. And speaking of which-” Vox got a crazy look in her eye as they twitched and a disturbed grin stretched over her face. “Just let me kill her already. Why are we keeping her around?”

“I’ve told you no,” Dreamweaver narrowed his eyes. “That pony is special. I saw it in her, she’s the key to all of this. She and my daughter, together they can...” He trailed off.

“So your little experiment is still stalled out then?” Vox frowned, looking at the curtain.

Dreamweaver also glanced at the curtain. “Yes. No matter what it just doesn’t improve or grow anymore. It’s a matter of quality, not quantity, now. That rainbow pony down in the dungeon—we have to get it from her. The fire, the hope, the will in her eyes was unlike anything I’ve seen from a pony in Hoofica.”

“Well that’s going to be tough since she still refuses to break,” Vox punctuated with a sharp stomp of her hoof.

“I have good news about that,” Dreamweaver said.

Vox raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I’m working on something that should help with her mental state. It should make it easier for you to… break her down so to speak,” he said as he looked at a table of glass and liquids. “But it’s not ready yet. These serums are all just a hobby for me after all. So in the meantime I have something else for you to do.”

“What?” Vox asked, a measure between annoyed and intrigued.

“My daughter wants a change of scenery. She asked if she could leave the castle and I agreed. So she’s going to take a short vacation out to a nearby town of my choosing and then come back. Of course I can’t have her go alone...”

“So I’m going with her. Heh,” Vox laughed.

“Precisely. It’s not just to watch over my daughter though, although you will most certainly be doing that to the best of your ability,” Dreamwaver adamantly stated. “You’re also going to be taking care of your usual Inquisitor duties.” He glanced at the curtain. “I want to see if maybe we can get any sort of improvement in the experiment, any increase at all. The usuals down in the dungeon may not be providing me with what I need now but perhaps a new subject can. So you’re going to take the device with you, find somepony in the town I send you to that seems like a good subject for it, and then do your usual thing. This thing I’m working on is my dream, Vox. It, my daughter’s happiness, they are my happiness. You understand? I refuse to have things stall out and end here after they were going so well for so long.”

“It’s been pretty fun for me too so I wouldn’t want that happening either,” Vox chuckled.

Dreamweaver glared at her. “Yes, if it wasn’t for me you’d be rotting away in the dungeon or some other cell somewhere. Remember that.”

Vox’s expression darkened and her lip twitched. “I will.”

“And don’t let such a nasty expression come across your face either. I want you to watch over Wish, listen to her, talk to her, try and become friends even if that’s possible for you. And also of course you must shield her from anything upsetting. This must be a nice, happy, outing for her. Is that clear?” Dreamweaver asked her.

“Yeah, yeah...” Vox muttered, looking away.

A touch of golden magic appeared around her chin and pulled her face so she was looking directly at Dreamweaver again.

“Is. That. Clear?” He asked.

“Yes. Sir,” Vox answered.

Dreamweaver released her and immediately smiled. “Good! I knew you wouldn’t have a problem. You’ve truly done an excellent job helping me, Vox. Let’s keep that healthy relationship going.”

“Should I thank the Queen too then?” Vox managed a snarky grin. “You’ve given me a new lease on life but the only reason you’ve managed that is because of how you’ve cozied up to her. Perfect Master Dreamweaver, buttering up the lonely Queen of Hoofica. Convincing her to give you anything and everything you want. How did you manage to get her to melt in your hooves so easily?”

“Being a therapist I’ve worked with many ponies who were living in rocky marriages. It was easy to see the Queen and King’s problems,” Dreamweaver half-answered, keeping away from the bigger details.

“Yes, yes, and I still remember you arriving here at the perfect time. So perfect it was almost suspicious to the former royal guard captain. The Queen’s own beloved physician passing away, and—oh look! Dreamweaver heard about the unfortunate passing and wants to assist the Queen! And you managed to oh so quickly ingratiate yourself with her despite not even really being the right type of doctor to fill in her former physician’s horseshoes,” Vox held a hoof up to her mouth and laughed. “My, what a strange series of events that took place in this castle shortly before the sky went dark and all the fun began.”

Dreamweaver merely huffed. “Believe it or not there was nothing especially strange about what happened, you can keep your suspicions to yourself. All I did was make the Queen happy. And she’s decided to reward me.”

A twinkle in Vox’s eye and an amused grin on her face said she didn’t believe a word of that, but she said nothing.

“Anyways, enough of that subject, I’ve already decided on where you’re going to go with my daughter,” Dreamweaver said.

“Oh yeah?”

Dreamweaver nodded. “New Pasture. A small town southwest of the capitol. Close, but out of the way. It’s a normal little place without anything particularly noteworthy about it. The perfect place for my darling’s trip.”

“I’ll make sure she has lots and lots of fun on her trip,” Vox smiled, batting her eyelashes obnoxiously. “Just oodles of it.”

“You had better. I’d like it if she’s even happier than normal when she comes back.”

“Why not just drug her with some happy juice then?” Vox smirked.

“Because it doesn’t exist and also I would very much like it if my daughter’s happiness was genuine,” Dreamweaver glared at her.

“Fair enough,” Vox shrugged. “When are we heading out anyways?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. Just arrange the transport and every other Inquisitor and servant that needs to come with you on your own. I’m sure you’re capable enough to do that,” Dreamweaver told her.

“Well if we’re leaving that early I should pop in and say hi to her first thing tomorrow morning. Tell her all about the trip and get us some time together to really get to know each other better before we’re stuck riding in a carriage together for the next couple of days,” Vox said.

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Dreamweaver nodded, the partial sarcasm of Vox’s words flying over his head.

Vox’s lip twitched in amusement as she looked past him and up at the large curtain. “And tonight… I suppose I should pay another visit to my favorite prisoner down in the dungeon. Let her know I’ll be gone for a few days. She’s going to miss me so much. I should probably make tonight a little… memorable for her.”

Dreamweaver frowned. “Vox-”

“Nothing major, I know, I know,” she laughed. “But you can’t take away all of a girl’s fun.”

White tentacles wrapped around Wish’s body and suffocated her. They felt rough like sandpaper as they dragged across her flesh, only leaving her eyes uncovered so Wish could stare up at the ceiling and watch the needles descending towards her. Black droplets like oil fell from the tips of the needles. Onto the white tentacles, into her eyes, but her eyelids were peeled back so she couldn’t even close them. Wish tried to scream but her muffled mouth couldn’t as the needles inched closer and closer.

Cackling. Horrible cackling laughter came from behind Wish.

She tilted her head back as best she could and saw the face of a white monster leaning over her, its red eyes and mouth a portrait of sadistic amusement. The red mouth stretched wide, wider than any mouth should be able to open, and sharp pointy teeth ringed all the way around it and even deep down into its gullet.

Wish tried to scream again. She struggled and struggled against the tentacles to the amusement of the white monster. More malicious, mocking, cackling erupted from its throat as Wish fought to escape it.

She managed to get a hoof free but that was it. It didn’t do anything, all she could do was wave it about frantically, try to hit the tentacles binding her. Try to push and knock away the falling needles before they reached her. Before they dug themselves into her skin and eyes. Before the black liquid that filled her with fear was injected into her.

Wish let out a muffled scream as the first needle pierced into her hoof-

She was chained up on a litter, being carried by more phantom white shapes down a dark staircase. The chains were wrapped around her so tightly that she couldn’t move a muscle. Wish opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out again—a wordless rasp. Ahead of her the white monster walked, the phantoms heads were bowed low as they followed behind. Around her the black walls slowly melted and oozed down together into perpetually running slime.

From out of the slime, glinting metal emerged. Needles popped in from the floor, the walls, and the ceiling, surrounding Wish in a tunnel of needles and black slime. She tried to scream and struggle all over the thing she was being carried on but it didn’t help. None of the phantoms seemed bothered, the needles passed through them harmlessly while they carried Wish.

Down. She kept going further down and into darkness. Her eyes could just barely see ahead at a gaping maw ringed by needles, waiting to swallow her up. It was the mouth of a monster, ready to eat her. The phantoms were parading her to it and getting ready to throw her in.

The white monster at the front only laughed harder at the noiseless screaming from Wish. The terror and despair was feeding her.

Ahead—the maw convulsed, its needle teeth chomping at air, waiting for Wish. Despite the filly’s pleading she ended up thrown into it by the white phantoms. The litter and chains were torn apart as needles punctured everything around her and Wish fell into an endless pool of black goo. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see, she couldn’t call for help.

She was helpless.

Always helpless.

With a thud she hit the cold hard ground and the darkness started to crawl away, allowing her to see again. Iron bars above and around her. The cell of a dungeon. Wish went to stand up but found she couldn’t—a chain was wrapped around her back hooves and kept her tied to the floor. She opened her mouth and screamed.

An ear-shattering wail filled the dark dungeon but it did not come from Wish. The horrified filly looked around her to see cell after cell lighting up, each one crowded with other chained up ponies. They tore through their bars trying to get at her, pleading with her, yelling at her, asking her why.

Wish reached down and tried to tear the shackles binding her off. She had to get away.

She had to get away. It was too much. Laughter filled the world around her as she futilely tried to free herself and-

“Rise and shine!” A loud voice yelled as the curtain to Wish’s four-poster bed was pulled open.

“Mmrrph...” Wish grumbled beneath her sheets, the exhaustion of another nightmare taking its toll on her. She shifted about a bit and pulled away at the sheets covering her until she could wiggle out of them and sit up in bed. Taking a big yawn she rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times before looking over at Dotty. “I’m awa-”

She paused mid-sentence at the grinning pony standing right beside her bed.

“Good morning, silly filly,” Head Inquisitor Vox said to her.

Wish paled and a fresh sheen of sweat started forming all over her body. Behind Vox, a nervous and distraught Dotty stood by Wish’s dresser. She was shaking and seemed outright terrified to be standing in the same room of the white-suited Head Inquisitor. All the while Vox’s red eyes happily glinted down at Wish and her grin kept growing wider.

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” Vox asked.

“I… um… uh...” Wish sputtered.

Vox snorted in amusement and stepped back from the bed. “Didn’t your father tell you that I was going to be accompanying you on your trip outside the castle? I came here this morning to say hi before we left. Is there a problem?”

Wish slowly shook her head, stuttering only just a bit. “No. No problem.”

“Good,” Vox chuckled. “So you’re excited for our trip aren’t you? It seemed like you were really looking forward to it from what your father told me. And the reasons behind that naughty little escapade of yours yesterday.”

“Y-Yeah… I’m looking forward to it,” Wish finally managed something of a normal sentence. “When are we going?”

“Later this afternoon. But before that I’m going to spend aaaallll day with you. Since we’re going to be spending so much time on the road we should really get to know each other better. Isn’t it a shame that despite me and your father working so closely together the two of us have barely had any time to talk or have any heart to heart conversations?” Vox tilted her head and fluttered her eyelashes. “Your father is always talking about you, Wish. You’re the apple of his eye. I truly and dearly want to become good friends with you now, I owe it your father who I’m such good friends with. He’s been very supportive of me so now I was thinking I should be more supportive of you.”

Vox’s pink lips parted as she giggled. “I’m thinking that even after we come back from our trip I should start spending a whole lot more time with you.”

Wish’s body twitched and her breath caught in her throat. “T-That sounds fun...”

“I bet,” Vox giggled some more. “Anyways, we’re going to the town of New Pasture later today. Oh… I’d say four or five hours from now. A number of other Inquisitors are coming with me, along with some servants, and we have to get the wagons packed, not to mention all of your things packed.”

“Okay,” Wish said, tentatively moving to get out of bed. She had woken up from one nightmare and been launched face first into a new one.

Dotty actually stepped forward, probably preparing to help her-

A swift hoof came up and blocked Dotty off. Vox turned to look the startled maid dead in the eye. “I’ll be helping the young lady with her things today. You won’t be needed.”

“B-But I-” Dotty stammered.

“Get lost,” Vox ordered. The smile remained on her face but her eyes narrowed sharply.

Dotty straightened up in fear and nodded, turning away and exiting Wish’s bedchambers in a flash. Wish reached up a hoof and tried to tell her to not go but she found she just couldn’t get the words out. She thought she had seen the shimmering of tears in Dotty’s eyes as the Head Inquisitor ordered her away. Whether that was sadness or pure fear, Wish had no idea.

“Heh,” Vox turned her red eyes back to Wish. She reached her hoof forward and much to Wish’s fright, began to softly brush the locks of her mane. They were frazzled and unkempt due to Wish only just waking up. Vox flicked an errand strand of hair and hummed thoughtfully. “Sooo, just how do you like your mane to be styled?”

Wish made no sounds over the course of the next hour as she now found herself sitting in front of her bathroom mirror with brushes, combs, and scissors levitating in a faint red glow of magic all around her. Wish knew Vox wasn’t really going to use those scissors. She was just messing with her, right? Even Vox wouldn’t do something like that to her. Cutting her mane without her permission? But even though Wish was sure of that, it still scared her to see those sharp blades floating around beside her head.

Snap!

The sudden loud sound of the scissors snapping shut right next to Wish’s ear caused her to jolt in fright.

“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Vox said from beside her, leaning her chin practically right onto Wish’s shoulder and smiling so Wish could easily see her in the mirror. “Just thinking what would look good on you.”

Wish was shivering, the closed blades of the scissors almost poking against her temple. “I-I just want to look how I always do. I like my mane the way it is now.”

Vox almost seemed amused by Wish actually speaking up.

“Is that so?” The Head Inquisitor giggled as she lifted her chin away from Wish’s shoulder and stood directly behind her. “How boring. I was hoping to give you an all new look to signify our new, budding, friendship. But oh well. If the little lady just wants her straight mane and tail then so be it.”

Vox used her magic to gently guide the combs and brushes through Wish’s mane and tail. She was being surprisingly soft with her touch, better than Dotty was the first time even, but it only put Wish more on edge. The filly was constantly waiting to hear another snip or snap from the scissors, or feel a brush get stuck on a split end and suddenly yank her scalp back, or for Vox to do something else creepy and painful.

It never came. Vox just hummed happily the entire time as she styled Wish’s mane and tail for her. Wish could watch as the scissors twirled around in Vox’s red magic, but that was it.

“Well don’t you look precious. No wonder everypony in the castle fawns over you,” Vox said as she finished and put her hooves on Wish’s shoulders. Together they looked at their reflections in the mirror and Wish did her best not to frown or appear frightened in any way.

What Vox just said cut into her in a way though. She knew ponies were ordered by the Queen and her own father, and intimidated by Vox, to act that way towards her. Vox surely knew Wish realized that as well. She was just saying it to hurt her.

Vox patted her back and had her get off the little stool she had been sitting on. “Breakfast time I think. Then we can get to packing.”

“Okay,” Wish said in reply. She wanted to keep things as curt as possible.

The giggle that came from Vox behind her told Wish that the Head Inquisitor had clearly caught on to her intentions.

At least one thing that did put a real smile on Wish’s face this morning was the much smaller breakfast than usual. There was still a wide variety of foods to eat and Wish could finish it all but it wasn’t a gluttonous feast or anything. A bowl of piping hot oatmeal, a few fresh strawberries, some hay cereal, a puff pastry, and orange juice to wash it all down with. That was a good breakfast and she really didn’t feel as bad leaving the rest behind.

Only downside was the Head Inquisitor standing behind her the whole time. Vox smiled through the whole meal and it unnerved all the maids and butlers standing around the table. So much that they were extra swift in getting everything cleaned up and taken away once Wish was done.

“You sure do get a delicious breakfast every morning,” Vox said.

“Mhm...” Wish muttered.

“Now then… anything you want to pack for your trip? I can bring a bag back here later,” Vox said as she looked around the boudoir. “Art supplies? Stuffed animals? Any pillow you need to sleep better?”

Wish thought about it while she fought a cold shudder at being alone with Vox. She didn’t want to have to spend anymore time with her. And truthfully if she was going on this trip she didn’t think she actually did need to bring anything personal. The wagons would have provisions and comfortable beddings, and Wish didn’t want to take a stuffed animal with her and look like a little kid. Not to Vox. There was no great chest of clothes she needed to pack either.

“I don’t think I need anything special,” Wish said quietly.

Vox nodded with a smirk on her face. “That so? Well I suppose in a little bit we can visit the other Inquisitors and see the wagons we’ll be taking. No class for you today obviously. Then we can just get out of here in a few hours and you’ll be on your fun little trip. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Y-Yes,” Wish nodded.

Vox came over to Wish’s chair and patted her on the head, making Wish flinch. The Head Inquisitor smiled down at the filly and winked. “I just know the two of us are going to have a great time.”

The Roads of Hoofica

In the early afternoon of the day, Wish found herself outside in the south yard of the castle. It alone was already a pretty great thing for her. To be able to stand in the dirt of the yard and look up at the sky without any towers clawing around her, to feel the breeze, to get some fresh air. If it wasn’t for the Head Inquisitor standing right beside her she probably wouldn’t have anything to complain about at all. It was still enchanting though, to finally be outside the castle for real. She may have been inside the walls and on its grounds still but Wish was going to chalk this up as an accomplishment. The thing she had been wanting to do for quite a while now.

Where Wish was right now happened to be somewhere she hadn’t really known about before. This south yard lied right between the west and south wings of the castle. Attached to the southern face of the west wing was a prodigiously large stable and staging area meant for the vast personal fleet of luxury carriages and wagons owned by the King and Queen. Obviously her father had gotten permission to use it and any carriages that Wish needed for her little trip from the Queen. And so now the other Inquisitors and servants were getting it all ready.

Despite what Vox had said, apparently she had no intention of actually having Wish get to know any of the others that would be accompanying them on this trip. She had Wish stand with her, alone, and just watched as things were prepared. Wish was supposed to learn their faces but not talk with any of them. Vox’s reasoning was that Wish shouldn’t mingle with anypony or simple servants who were lower than her.

Then what did that make the Head Inquisitor?

What would her father say about Vox’s position and how she was supposed to be acting around these Inquisitors and servants? Wish had said she wanted things to be more normal. But at the same time she was a little too afraid of Vox to directly contradict or disobey her. The Head Inquisitor was just plain scary. Pure and simple.

In the end, they were using three carriages and two supply wagons in total. Wish and Vox alone were going to be using and staying in the central carriage that was the largest and most luxurious one available (which Wish suspected meant it was actually supposed to be the King and Queen’s personal carriage). Other Inquisitors and the mare servants would be using the other two carriages, and anypony left over would be using tents carried in the wagons.

Again, this was the opposite of what Wish wanted. She realized that in dismay.

And was even more dismayed to realize that she simply couldn’t speak up around Vox about it at all.

Both of the supply wagons and the other two carriages had teams of six strong stallions each to pull them but the royal carriage that Wish and Vox would be traveling in was so big it needed ten stallions all roped and tied to it. The carriage was just plain huge. Going by the windows and size it looked like it had more than just one central compartment built in it for sitting in as well, and not only that, it was a beauty to look at. Painted a pristine white, with purple drapes in the windows, golden wheels, and a mixture of red, yellow, and purple roses painted across its exterior. To complete its luxuriousness, the bench the driver sat at was covered in a soft red velvet cushion.

“How’s our ride look to you?” Vox suddenly asked her.

Wish jolted in fright at the sound of her voice, she hoped Vox hadn’t noticed. “It looks comfortable.”

Vox, a little too roughly, reached over and patted her head a few times. “Always the best for you. They’ll be finished stocking things up soon and then we can get out of here. You’ll enjoy driving down the road, right?”

“Yeah,” Wish nodded, trying to move her head away.

“Know any good songs we can sing to pass the time with together? Or do you want to talk and get to know each other better? Or perhaps you’re just going to want to look out the window at everything we pass by?” Vox asked.

“Um, the last one...” Wish said.

Vox couldn’t help but chuckle. “My, what a surprise.”

Only about twenty minutes later and everything was ready to go. The wagons were packed, the carriages were cleaned and ready for use, and every Inquisitor and servant heading out on the trip was here. The very last thing being done was a pair of Inquisitors carrying a large box to the back of the royal carriage and tying it down to a luggage rack. Wish raised her eyebrow at it and glanced up at Vox.

“What’s that?” She asked the Head Inquisitor.

“Just something that has to do with me and my Inquisitor duty. Nothing you need to bother yourself with,” Vox smiled down at her.

There was another sort of disconcerting glint in Vox’s eyes as she said that. Something malicious that made Wish feel cold. Vox was always unpleasant to be around, and gave off an uncomfortable aura, but sometimes it was even worse. She took one last look at the box. Whatever was inside it, she was pretty sure she didn’t want to find out.

“Now come along then!” Vox gleefully said and smacked Wish’s backside, pushing her forwards towards the royal carriage. “Let’s see how nice the inside of our ride for this trip is going to be.”

She definitely did that harder than she needed to on purpose. Wish frowned at the ground and moved along with the Head Inquisitor.

The Inquisitor that was also going to be their driver stood in front of the cabin door and moved aside to open it up for them when they got close. He bowed low to Wish and Vox as a little step popped out from inside the carriage for the two of them to use to walk up inside. Wish wanted to smile at or thank him but he kept his eyes trained on the ground. She sighed internally and followed Vox right into the central seating compartment of the carriage.

Immediately her eyes were assaulted and overwhelmed by the color pink.

Pink cushions, pink sheets, pink carpeting, a pink marble table in the middle. Wish had to wonder if this wasn’t the King and Queen’s carriage but actually just the Queen’s. The carpet was soft beneath her hooves and when she went over to feel one of the small throw pillows on one of the carriage’s couches she found it was even softer. The only things not garishly pink were the royal purple curtains and a brown cabinet under a window on the opposite side of the compartment from the door.

“Wow,” Wish said as she looked around.

“It’s like a cotton candy nightmare, isn’t it?” Vox said with a laugh as she walked over to the table.

Wish chose not to point out how it was pretty much the same color as her mane.

Behind the both of them, the other Inquisitor folded up the steps and closed the door, now leaving Wish alone with the Head Inquisitor. The start of this unfortunate way of traveling was here. Wish also noticed she had been right about something else; there was a small door next to the back couch leading to another compartment in the carriage. She guessed it had to be for sleeping since Vox said that’s what they were using this carriage for. Of course that brought another unfortunate thought to Wish’s mind as she looked over at the Head Inquisitor…

Vox caught on quickly the moment she saw Wish’s look. “No worries, we won’t be sharing the same room for sleeping. I’m just going to take this couch out here.” She said and patted the couch on the front side of the compartment. “You can have the bed back there.”

“Thanks...” Wish said.

“It’s covered in pink too,” Vox snickered and hopped up on her couch, motioning for Wish to get on the one across from her. “And now we have allll this time together, just us two.”

“Yeah...” Wish grimaced.

“You’re so enthusiastic. Well, no bother, you can just look out the window or get lost in your own thoughts if you want. I’m fine with that too. We’re going to start moving in a moment,” Vox shrugged.

Wish decided to take Vox’s advice and basically ignored her. She slid across the pink couch to the other end and looked out the window above the cabinet. Right now she only saw the castle’s yard and its exterior wall but she hoped to soon get a good look at the capitol city and then the countryside. Glancing up she saw the dark sky and its endless black clouds. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to change anywhere.

The sudden lurch of the carriage alerted Wish to the fact her trip had begun. She could hear the heavy wheels move and watched as things slowly passed by the window outside. Nopony said they would be traveling fast, that was for sure. She was still excited though. Very, very excited. A different town she had never been to, new ponies to see, just being away from Hoofica Castle in general, it was all so great. She sincerely wished it was Dotty sitting across from her instead of… yeah… but Wish would accept what she could get right now. It would’ve been nice to go on this trip with her father too but oh well. Maybe she could bring a gift back for him?

In a short minute, their carriage started passing through a gatehouse on the south side of the castle wall. It wasn’t as big as the main one on the north side that eventually led up to the main entrance of the castle and Wish hadn’t even really known about it until today. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a relieved shudder pass through her body as they went through the gatehouse and came out the other side. She was now officially and completely out of the castle.

For a short while there was nothing to see except for another wall that closed off the path in and out of the castle from outside view. But once they were past that they emerged onto a street and Wish got her first look at the city from an even level instead of looking down at it from her window for the first time in months.

In truth, it didn’t look so great down here either. Despite being the middle of the day hardly any ponies were out and the ones that were seemed downtrodden or outright huddled in fear when they saw the carriages. The dark sky was reflected in the dark mood and appearance of the buildings and ponies down here. Instead of a bustling city like it should have been, with all sorts of ponies going up and down the streets, it was closer to a ghost town and the only thing Wish heard was the sound of her carriage’s wheels as they rolled over the cobblestones.

“Nice and quiet, isn’t it?” Vox said as she also looked out the window. “It was always sooo busy and loud before the sky went dark and we all got these pretty black bands around our necks. Don’t you think this is better?”

Wish bit her lip and didn’t answer. She also noticed a lot of posters plastered up on the buildings out there, but she couldn’t make out what the posters were of.

“Heh, you’re a good kid. Your father’s always saying that,” Vox said and leaned back on her couch.

This time Wish looked over at her. “Does he talk about me a lot.”

“Sometimes you’re all he talks about,” Vox snorted.

The thought made Wish happy, she had to admit that.

“And now that we’re well on our way...” Vox said and turned to the cabinet with a grin on her face. Her horn lit up with red magic and several drawers on the cabinet popped open.

Wish looked on to see just what Vox was doing and taking out of there. She got the answer quickly as the front drawers opened up and several racks full of wine and liquor bottles was revealed. That wasn’t a cabinet, it was a bar. Drawers on the sides of it contained crystal glasses and even a refrigerated metal tin that had ice cubes in it. Vox levitated on out a bottle of red wine and a single glass for herself before fixing Wish with a mischievous gaze.

“Would you like a glass as well?”

“Uhh… I don’t think my dad would like that,” Wish said, an uncomfortable look on her face.

Vox chuckled. “I know he wouldn’t. I was only joking anyways.”

Were you? Wish wondered as Vox popped the cork on the bottle. And would he like it if he knew you were drinking alcohol right now?

While Vox started taking a sip of her wine, Wish went back to looking outside. The street they were on was mostly straight and she assumed it was because it was one of the main streets through the city that led right to the castle. There were certainly plenty of side-streets, alleys, and other paths she could see from the carriage and most of it ended up making the capitol look rather complex and messy. The city was pretty ancient so it probably hadn’t been built to any sort of specific plan, ponies just put streets and buildings where they needed to go for centuries and it ended up creating this sprawling labyrinth. The average building was two or three stories high, she didn’t see any that went higher than five, and all were made of dark stone. The city would already have an unfortunate look to it on most days just thanks to its architectural style, the perpetually black sky above only enhanced that.

It was funny since she knew before this all happened that the city wasn’t that bad at all. “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, was that the phrase? The capitol was a nice and friendly place with barely any more crime than anywhere else in Hoofica. And yet now the inside reflected the outside. Cold, dark, unfriendly, hopeless. Those were the words that sprang to Wish’s mind as she looked out at the city.

It ended up looking so repetitive and oppressive to her that eventually Wish decided to stop looking out the window until they left the city limits. She had never been south of the capitol at all before, coming from the northwest of the country like she did, and she wanted to see if things looked any different. For now she sighed and relaxed on the pink cushions, hoping Vox wouldn’t try and start up another conversation with her.

“So then-” the Head Inquisitor said.

Darn it. Wish grimaced.

“-you seem to have gotten enough of a look at the city. You wouldn’t want to travel through it and visit anywhere special in it at a later date? I could show you around for that. I was born right in the capitol, you know?” Vox smiled.

Wish didn’t know. And she didn’t care, looking down at the floor of the carriage. “No, that’s alright.”

Vox giggled a bit and took another sip of wine. “You’re better at saying no to me than I expected.”

Wish twitched but did her best to not look at Vox.

“Heh, and here I thought you were a little scared of me. Even though I don’t know what I could have possibly ever done to make you so scared,” Vox said, the sarcasm dripping from her. “There’s really no reason to be scared though. I’m here to take care of you, and I’d never, ever, do anything to harm you. Your father wouldn’t like that.”

“I’m not scared of you...” Wish said, finally looking up into Vox’s eyes.

Vox swirled around the wine in her glass before setting it down on the table. The smile left her face and was replaced with a piercing gaze. “Silly filly… you’re a bad liar.”

Wish gulped as she started to pale and her hooves shook against the cushions of the couch.

Possibly out of amusement, Vox smiled again. “Hehe… but like I said. There’s no reason to be scared right now. Just enjoy your trip and enjoy our time together. Your father wants you to be happy. And I want you to be happy. That’s all there is to it.”

Wish wasn’t sure about that but she didn’t have the nerve to speak up yet. There wasn’t much for her to really think about right now, she was just waiting for them to finally get out of the city so she could at least ignore Vox and look outside. The city was too depressing to look at. She wondered how many ponies were watching the carriages as they passed from inside those buildings. Did they know or have any idea about who was in them? Did they recognize the Inquisitors? Maybe that was why she was seeing even less ponies than she had already expected.

The good thing was, Vox apparently didn’t feel like speaking up anymore. At least not for the moment. She just sipped away at her wine and looked outside at the city as they passed it by. She seemed to be surprisingly deep in thought about something going by her body language and the look in her eyes, but Wish had no idea what.

Thanks to the size of the capitol city and how slowly their carriage traveled it took almost an entire hour before they actually reached the edge of the city. The buildings and streets started to get less crowded and smaller until the street they were on opened up into a large half-circle plaza that had a number of closed up shops lining it. The cobblestone street they were on turned into a dirt road the moment it left the city. Wish could hear and feel the difference as soon as the wheels changed from rolling over stone to dirt.

Because of that, Wish went back to looking outside full time. To her countryside-experienced eyes it looked like most of the land directly outside the capitol was going to be farmland. Made sense, had to feed that city somehow. It was interesting to her how quickly things changed from a big city to looking like they were almost in the middle of nowhere. The few buildings and houses she saw in the distance now were usually made of wood instead of stone as well. A few windmills and barns dotted the lands out there beyond the road too.

It seemed to stretch on and on. She could see an artificial creek not too far from the road that fed water to the crops that covered the ground. Unsurprisingly she still didn’t really see many ponies out there working the fields.

How well were crops doing with the sky perpetually dark? Didn’t they need sunlight?

A lightning strike hit the ground in the distance and its flash silhouetted both Wish and Vox inside the carriage.

“I always loved stormy weather,” Vox suddenly said. “Dark clouds, rain, lightning. It always put me in a good mood. That’s why I like the sky the way it is now. It’s just a little thing but it really does have a big impact. Every single day I wake up and look out my window and a big smile stretches on my face.”

Wish blinked at her before looking back out the window, they were passing by a dilapidated farmhouse that may not have even been occupied anymore. “How um… how long are we going to travel?”

Vox refilled her glass of wine for… either the third or fourth time, before answering. “We’ll be on the road until late this evening today and then we’ll be traveling again all day tomorrow. We won’t be arriving at New Pasture until early the day after that.”

“Oh...” Wish said.

“Not looking forward to all that time with me?” Vox snickered.

Wish didn’t answer so Vox just huffed in amusement.

“Heh, you know I didn’t really want to come on this trip either. I didn’t want to spend so much time away from the castle. There are ponies who I miss already,” her lips curved up in a sinister, almost hungry, grin.

Despite herself, Wish couldn’t help but ask this time: “Who?”

Vox merely lifted a hoof and wagged it back and forth in front of Wish’s face. “Not telling~”

Wish could take a guess as she thought about her recovered memories and how much time Vox spent in the dungeon…

“Nothing to see out there right now, is there?” Vox said as she glanced out the window and looked at the farms. “There’s one other smaller town on the way to New Pasture, but it’s all farmhouses really. Your father wanted you to go someplace that was more like your old town, something, something thicket or whatever. A place that would have some other ponies your age and some stuff to do.” Vox shrugged. “At least the fresh air might be nice, but it sure is a boring trip.”

“Maybe you should get out and walk then,” Wish said and then immediately clamped her hooves over her mouth. Trembling, she looked up at Vox’s face.

The Head Inquisitor was smiling at her. But her eyes were wrong. They looked different than Wish had ever seen them before.

“You know-” Vox said. “I find that sometimes I’m genuinely amused by you. That feisty attitude of yours that peeks through every now and then, even though you’re terrified of me, is really a joy to see. I know you lie about being happy in the castle, and only your love of your father keeps you from speaking the truth about it every day. And your fear that maybe there are some very bad things going on and you don’t want to rock the boat. So for you to say something so honest to me, something that you can’t help but say even when you know who you’re saying it to and that your father wouldn’t approve of that attitude. Oh yes, that is amusing. But I also happen to have a limit to my patience, and there’s a fine line between cute little sass from a filly, and insulting defiance. Not only that, but I don’t have anything or anypony around right now to, oh, relieve my stress. So here’s what’s going to happen.”

Vox’s horn lit up and Wish found herself pulled forward, levitated off the couch and caught in a vice-grip of magic, and stopped in front of Vox’s face. “You’re going to listen to me. You’re going to respond to me. You’re going to be a good filly. And we’re going to have a lovely trip and become great friends and then I can go back to the castle and have a whole lot of fun. So just think before you speak next time, alright? Because you never know when what you say can go right from amusement, to annoyance, to anger with me. Your father wants us to be friends and for you to be happy and he would be very angry with me if he knew I was doing this right now. So everything that happened before right now? It didn’t happen. We’re getting off on a brand new hoof the moment I set you back down on the couch. Give me a big and bright smile and I’ll give you one in return. Clear?”

Wish vehemently nodded, tears pooling at the corner of her eyes.

“None of that,” Vox grinned and grabbed a small throw pillow, using it to wipe Wish’s eyes clear. “Good. Now it’s time to get along.”

She calmly and gently put Wish down on the pink couch and Wish—automatically—smiled at her. Just like she wanted.

“How’s the trip so far, young lady?” Vox asked her, a harsh twitch in her left eye.

“I-It’s great,” Wish’s voice wavered slightly but she responded loud and clear. “A ten out of ten trip so far.”

Vox smiled and reached forward to pat her head. “I thought so.”

Later that night, Wish had trouble sleeping. It wasn’t that the compartment was cramped. Or that the bed was smaller than what she was used to. She stayed wide awake for hours with her eyes glued to the ceiling because the Head Inquisitor was sleeping right outside in the main compartment of the carriage. And there was nothing Wish could do to calm her beating heart as it pounded away inside her rib-cage. The sheer terror she felt throughout her entire body kept her awake. Her face was a blank mask but beneath that her mind was replaying the horror she had felt earlier. Despite the pitch black insides of the bed compartment, Wish could see the red eyes of Vox as bright as day.

In the Town of New Pasture

Slow didn’t even begin to describe how the trip to New Pasture felt to Wish. Mentally draining was a very good word to use though. Despite the welcome change of scenery, having to spend the entire time with the Head Inquisitor was incredibly stressful. Even though Vox “acted” pleasant enough and only talked every now and then to start up random conversations, Wish couldn’t get over her fear of her. She tried to simply look out the window most of the time. Or eat the snacks and food other Inquisitors brought to their carriage when it was time to eat.

At the moment their procession was passing through a forest and Wish was busy looking to identify every different animal she saw. There weren’t as many as she knew should normally be in a forest like this. Maybe they hid from the large carriage? Or perhaps the dark sky messed with them quite a bit as well. She still saw a few birds, mostly hawks, woodpeckers, and owls. And a few squirrels ran up and down the trees while rabbits hopped from burrow to burrow. But all in all it was a quiet forest.

While Wish was looking at it she noticed their carriage start to slow down and come to a stop.

Another break. Despite Vox’s rough schedule for the working stallions, even she knew she couldn’t just have them pulling the carriages the entire trip without stopping. They had taken a number of breaks so far and usually that meant Wish and Vox would eat something but this time-

“Come on,” Vox said as she stood up and walked over to the carriages door. “Let’s go stretch our hooves together.”

“Okay,” Wish said and stepped out with her. And of course, she was smiling while she did so.

Getting out and walking around the forest a little was actually nice, and Wish enjoyed the opportunity. She just would’ve enjoyed it even more without Vox around. She wouldn’t even have to force a smile. The pleasant smells and fresh air of the forest was something the dark sky couldn’t take away, and Wish basked in it. Letting a cool breeze wash over her as she stepped through wet grass and went to smell some flowers. It was like home. Her real home.

“Figured you would like this. I never cared much for nature though. The stone forest of the capitol was always where things were best to me,” Vox said as she leaned up against a tree.

“It just reminds me of home, I missed it,” Wish said.

Vox grinned. “Savor the fun while you can. We’ll be back in that carriage in no time. Though who knows, maybe one day you’ll be able to go back to your old home. You’d like that, right?”

Wish frowned briefly but nodded. “Yes.”

For some reason that made Vox laugh. “Heh… well, I’m sure if you ask your father nicely enough that as soon as he’s finished with his work in the castle you can move back home and everything will be normal again. Nice and quiet just the way you like it.”

“Yeah...” Wish answered. She didn’t know why that all sounded so funny to Vox. Why… why wouldn’t things go back to normal as soon as her father was finished with his work at the castle? Whatever his work actually was.

“Well once we’re back in the carriage you can have a snack. Early tomorrow we’ll be at New Pasture,” Vox smiled. “If you want I can give you a little something to help you sleep better tonight too.”

Wish flinched. “N-No thanks, I’m okay.”

How did she know Wish hadn’t slept well last night? And she most definitely did not want any sort of “sedative” from Vox.

“Suit yourself,” Vox shrugged. She looked across at the other two carriages and the supply wagons and the stallions who were pulling them. “I think these slouches have gotten enough rest. Time to get moving again.”

Wish glanced at some of the ponies and saw how haggard and exhausted they all were. She definitely didn’t think they deserved to be called slouches. Vox and the other Inquisitors were clearly running them too hard, but she seemed to enjoy the pain she was putting them through. It was another moment where Wish could speak up, should speak up, but she remembered those red eyes from yesterday and she couldn’t. Instead she followed Vox back to the royal carriage, and the procession picked back up and got on its way.

“We’re close now. Take a look,” Vox said and telekinetically opened up the carriage’s window so Wish could pop her head out and look ahead.

It was early the next day, just past morning, and they had arrived on the outskirts of the town of New Pasture. Wish looked out the window and saw a small town of huddled together white buildings, wood and stucco houses and family businesses all painted white with shingled-roofs. It was a similar place to her home of Ashen Birch Thicket, Wish could tell that at a glance. It was all centered around this one main dirt road though. Which made sense since it was probably a busier road than any back home. At least it probably used to be. To the west there were also visible farmlands and barns, along with a few mills, including one that had an impressively large water wheel. To the east of the town there was a forested area and then a grassland that stretched on into the distance.

A small town where everypony knew each other. Mostly of farmers and some ponies who probably worked carpentry and construction. Lots of happy families with lots of children.

Wish actually started to smile for real. It was the type of place she could call home.

“It looks nice,” she said.

“Well I would hope you think that. We’re going to be here for two whole days,” Vox said, a bored tone in her voice.

The carriages and wagons pulled into the city before stopping dead center in the road. They were kind of blocking things off but Wish figured that meant that nopony was expecting anypony else to come down or up the road.

Now that they were here too, Wish looked out the window again and saw a lot of ponies tentatively walking up to them. Most seemed surprised and confused. Did they not know Wish and the others were coming? And of course as soon as they recognized the Inquisitors a look of fear flashed across their faces briefly. There were at least more ponies out than there had been in the city, but that may have been due more to ignorance than anything.

Vox grinned from beside her and patted Wish on the back. “Let’s get out there, I have an announcement to make to the town.”

The Inquisitor driving their carriage had hopped off and opened up the door for them just in time. Wish and Vox stepped out and walked around to the other side of the carriage, where most of the ponies from New Pasture had gathered. Immediately the atmosphere changed as soon as Vox made herself known. Gasps of shock, fearful whispers, and concerned murmurs traveled through the crowd of ponies. Wish saw many of them pale and the few foals her age she saw ended up being pushed behind their parents to keep them hidden from sight.

Wish knew Vox was scary but she didn’t know ponies outside the castle and the capitol knew her well enough. She was recognized even out here? It was definitely the appropriate reaction to the Head Inquisitor but Wish was still surprised to see it.

That was right up until she looked past the crowd and saw a certain poster hanging up on the side of one of the buildings. Wish’s jaw dropped as she recognized Vox’s likeness staring out from the poster. Her eyes looked over at another building, and another, seeing copies of the same poster on all of them. What was going on? Where they everywhere in Hoofica?

Her eyes narrowed as she looked harder and tried to read what was beneath Vox’s picture: NO SMILES, NO HAPPINESS, BE QUIET, OBEY, WE’RE WATCHING

Wish shuddered. Who made those posters?

“Hello, ponies of New Pasture!” Head Inquisitor Vox loudly said to the crowd, projecting her voice as best she could. The other Inquisitors came over to stand beside her and Wish. “As you know, I am Head Inquisitor Vox, direct subordinate to the King and Queen of Hoofica. Today I—we—have graced your town for a very special reason!” She announced with a very happy smile on her face. “There’s no need for any of you to be worried about us Inquisitors suddenly showing up, we’re sure you’re following the new protocols of Hoofica perfectly, but can your mayor please make him or herself known to me right now?”

The crowd of ponies uncomfortably looked between each other before parting as a stallion stepped forward. He was younger than Wish would’ve expected for the mayor, maybe even younger than her father, with a beige coat and a brown mane and tail and blue eyes under a straw hat.

“H-Hello, Miss Head Inquisitor,” the mayor said and bowed his head to her. “My name happens to be Onyx Justice, and I’m the mayor of New Pasture. What um, w-what’s the occasion for your visit?”

Vox smiled at him and walked right over to Wish. “This little filly here is a valued guest of the Queen. She’s the daughter of the Queen’s most favored, Dreamweaver. Her name is Wish, and she got a little tired of living the life of luxury in Hoofica Castle, so she decided she wanted to go on a little trip and get some fresh air. And luckily for you, the town of New Pasture was chosen as her destination! You get to host the Queen’s own beloved Wish and make sure she has the happiest time here possible!”

Wish blushed heavily in embarrassment and horror as most of the ponies in the crowd looked over at her. She could only nervously look down at the dirt after Vox’s proclamation. What was with that anyways? The Queen sure as hay didn’t love her. And why would she bring up Wish living in luxury? That was the exact wrong way to get her on the good side of these townsponies she’d be around for the next two days.

It was on purpose. Vox definitely did that on purpose.

Onyx Justice looked at Wish with an unsure look on his face but he dared not say anything disagreeable to Vox. “A-Alright, w-welcome to New Pasture. I hope you all enjoy your stay.”

“Oh we will,” Vox giggled. “I mean, you had better make sure we do at least.”

“Y-Yes...” Onyx Justice blanched.

“Fantastic!” Vox clapped her hooves together and looked at the other Inquisitors. “You all watch over Wish now and help her with anything she needs. I’m going to be having a personal talk with the mayor in the meantime.”

Onyx Justice quivered. “Y-You are?”

Vox snickered some more, ignoring him for now as she continued to talk to the Inquisitors. “Have Wish make some friends with the locals.” She then looked back across the crowd of New Pasture ponies. “Parents! It’s a lucky opportunity for all of you! If you have any young foals around Wish’s age here, she’d love to make friends with them and hang out for the rest of the day. Bring your kids forward now, chop chop! My friendly Inquisitors will make sure everypony has fun, don’t worry about a thing!”

Wish grimaced up at Vox. Saying stuff like that was probably just getting parents to worry even more.

The Head Inquisitor then walked up to the mayor and put a hoof on his shoulder, leaning in and gazing into his eyes. “Now how about you show me to your home?”

“Um, V-Vox-” Wish said, concerned and confused about what the Head Inquisitor was doing.

Vox merely swung her hoof around and held it up in front of Wish’s face without even looking back at her. “Just personal business of mine, young lady. Go have fun now. Don’t hesitate to ask the other Inquisitors or the ponies around town for anything. You’re here to be as happy as possible.”

“Um, m-my home is on the other side of town from here...” Onyx Justice said.

“Then let’s go, I’ve got a few things to fill you in on,” Vox chuckled and practically pushed the stallion forward.

Wish watched them go for a bit, the crowd giving them a large berth, until one of the other Inquisitors cleared his throat.

“Young lady, please come with us and we’ll have the parents around here introduce their children to you just like the Head Inquisitor said,” he told her.

Wish felt awkward doing something like that but she just nodded and the whole group together walked away from the carriages and roads and into a more open part of the town between some of the buildings. She looked at some of the ponies nearby, mares and stallions standing with their children, most looked like they didn’t want to be here and she couldn’t blame them. Some of the other ponies of New Pasture, who didn’t have kids with them, actually did start to walk away. They seemed wary of the Inquisitors at first but as soon as they realized nopony was going to say anything they went back to doing whatever they were before Wish and Vox arrived.

So soon it was Wish being flanked by the Inquisitors and a group of scared parents with scared children standing across from her. Wish didn’t know what to do next and she was having trouble finding her words.

“U-Um...” her jaw quivered and she looked up at the Inquisitor that had spoken to her earlier.

Seeing her plight, the Inquisitor spoke up again to the parents. “Okay, you all heard what the Head Inquisitor said earlier, so introduce your children to the young lady here so they can become friends and have fun.”

The nearest family seemed apprehensive about having their children meet and get to know Wish, but they were even more apprehensive about disobeying the Inquisitors. So it was that an earth pony couple with a young earth pony colt and filly came up to Wish. The mother leaned down and whispered at her kids before patting them on the back and pushing them forward.

Wish gulped down her nervousness and raised a hoof to tenderly wave at them. “H-Hi.”

“Um, hey...” the colt said while the filly uncertainly looked back at her parents.

“M-Mind your manners now, kids. Introduce yourselves to the other filly,” their father said.

The colt still looked just as nervous as Wish but he managed to lift a hoof up towards her in greeting. “My name is Red Berry, um, p-pleased to meet you. Welcome to our town.”

“Welcome to New Pasture… hi,” the filly shyly said, not really able to look Wish in the eyes just yet. “My name is L-Lucky Berry.”

“I guess you already heard earlier but um, my name’s Wish. Nice to meet you,” she smiled as best she could at the two of them and shook Red Berry’s hoof.

Red Berry was maybe older than her by about two years. He was robust for his age, a deep red colt with a deep blue mane and coal-like eyes. Lucky Berry on the other hoof was probably the same age as Wish but even smaller than Wish was, she had a shy and uncertain countenance to her, the type of filly to hide behind her mane. It was a light-red color that complemented her lime-green coat and pink eyes. Both of the siblings didn’t look unfriendly but it was clear that they weren’t sure how to act with Wish. It seemed like they were confused over the whole situation and were afraid to act in any way that might draw the ire of the Inquisitors. Wish thought about the posters of Vox that were all over town and wondered if those were responsible.

“Good, good,” the Inquisitor by Wish’s side nodded before looking at the other families. “Well? I can see plenty of other children out there, hurry up.”

After that it was a parade of eight more fillies and colts coming up to say hi to Wish and shake hooves. All of them guided and pushed on by their wary parents. Despite Wish smiling for them and being polite and happy, none of the other children smiled back at her.

Something the Inquisitors noticed.

A mare Inquisitor stepped up and looked over the fillies and colts that had introduced themselves to Wish. “What’s this? Why aren’t any of you smiling. It’s a happy occasion, you’re very fortunate to make the acquaintance of the young lady.”

“B-But aren’t we all-” One of the parents in the back nervously spoke up before looking to a nearby poster of Vox.

“Ignore those for now,” the female Inquisitor said. “The young lady wants you to be happy and have fun. Right?” She asked, glancing down at Wish. “That will make you happier too, won’t it? And your happiness is the biggest priority.”

“Um, yeah...” Wish said as she looked across the faces of the other fillies and colts. “I-If everypony was allowed to smile and be happy, that would make things a lot better.”

The female Inquisitor smiled. “Excellent! Well you all heard her, so don’t be afraid, smile away and do something fun together! What did you kids used to do for fun around here?”

One of the colts who went by the name Brisk Hooves was hesitantly hopeful, he looked from the Inquisitor back to his mom. “C-Can we really?”

“I-I um… I think so, sweetheart?” The mother said, looking at the Inquisitors and receiving affirmative nods from them.

“Then um...” Brisk Hooves bashfully rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Wish. “D-Do you want to play soccer with us? We have a f-field out past the houses. Right before the farms start up and all. It’s kind of overgrown right now but we should still be able to play on it… i-if you want.”

Wish’s whole face lit up and a genuine smile appeared on her. “I-I’d love to! That sounds really fun!”

Out of the corner of her eye she just barely saw an Inquisitor wipe his forehead in relief.

“G-Great! We’ve got enough ponies for two teams, j-just let me get my ball from home and then we can run to the field!” Brisk Hooves said.

“Okay!” Wish nodded.

The happy mood was infectious and it spread quickly through the other fillies and colts, even some of the parents seemed pretty happy. Wish followed on the heels of Brisk Hooves, Red Berry, Lucky Berry, and the others as they ran down one of the dirt streets of New Pasture, heading first to Brisk’s home and then to the soccer field close by. There were more posters along the walls of the buildings she passed by, but they were already forgotten in Wish’s mind. She was letting herself feel happy for real again.

Head Inquisitor Vox shut the door to the mayor’s house behind her as the two of them entered his residence alone. It was a small place, and plain didn’t even begin to describe it—it was outright bare. There were even spots on the walls where it looked like pictures had once hung that were now empty, and marks on the carpet that showed where furniture used to sit. Now there was hardly more than what was absolutely necessary to call a home functional and furnished.

“Nice place ya got here,” Vox said with a smile as she sat down at one of the few chairs.

If Onyx Justice wanted to frown, he was too scared to.

Vox noticed the tenseness in her host’s body and she raised an amused eyebrow at him. “What? You can talk or ask questions you know? Obviously we aren’t here today on normal Inquisitor duty. You’re honestly lucky in more ways than one.”

“W-We-” Onyx Justice managed before his breath caught in his throat.

“Hm?” Vox snickered at his trouble.

“We’ve been good… e-ever since the changes, we’ve followed along with e-everything,” Onyx told her.

“I know,” Vox rolled her eyes. “Did you listen to a word I said? Is my reputation so bad that you seriously can’t think about anything else? Heh—well, you don’t have to answer that actually. But anyways, this is going to be different from the last time Inquisitors visited your town. This time it’s all about that little filly you saw out there.”

“The Queen’s guest?” Onyx asked.

“Oh yes. Her very, very, important guest.” Vox nodded. “So I’m now going to inform you of what’s going to happen in this town for the next two days while we’re here. Do you understand?”

Onyx Justice hesitated for a second but nodded.

Vox smiled. “That’s good. So you see, my job right now is to make sure that silly filly has a great time here. A happy time. And to do that, she needs to have fun and not be bothered by a bunch of scared and depressed townsponies. Got that? She needs to run around with fillies and colts her age and see some honest smiles on their faces. She needs everypony else here to be a happy host. So those posters all around here? Forget them. Forget what you’ve heard about me. Forget everything else. The only thing that matters is that filly having a good time.”

“And. I think you know what would happen if she didn’t. After all you do seem very familiar with my reputation.”

“Y-Yes,” Onyx Justice nodded much more fervently this time.

“Heh. Well, things will be pretty easy on you to be honest. All you need to do now is spread the word throughout the rest of town. It’s happy fun time for New Pasture. If things go well you’ll even be rewarded nicely for giving the young lady a good time,” Vox said.

“Thank you...” Onyx Justice said, though he didn’t exactly sound like he believed her.

“Glad this talk went so well. You’re an excellent host, Mayor Justice,” Vox winked at him as she stood up from her chair. “You go take care of your business now and I’ll, well, I’ll be watching. Ta ta~”

She swiftly walked across the living room and went out the front door. Onyx Justice listened for a while until her hooves had completely disappeared down the street. Only then did he reach up and clutch his straw hat in terror, doing his very best not to cry.

A ball came soaring towards Wish and she expertly stopped it with her front hooves before turning around with it and running towards the opposing team’s goal. A few ponies stood in her way and they started to run at her to take or kick the ball away. She faked out the first one coming at her, feinting that she would take the ball right and then immediately juking to the left instead. But the next pony she didn’t think she could get past so she pivoted with the ball and kicked it away to another pony on her team before running to open space to get into position to retrieve it again.

This was great. It was great, it was great, it was great. She was getting to have real fun, real kid kind of fun, while running around outside and hanging out with ponies who were genuinely happy to be doing this with her right now. These other fillies and colts didn’t have fake smiles when they played soccer with her, they weren’t hiding anything. Sure, they may have had some other worries, Wish could tell that when she first arrived, but right now everypony was just playing soccer and forgetting about that kind of stuff.

It was a little annoying having the Inquisitors here watching over things, but Wish did her best to ignore them. They were just standing around anyways. For some reason none of the parents or other adults in New Pasture were around to watch though. Wish wondered if they were busy doing other stuff.

It didn’t matter, it didn’t stop this from being fun. Even though the soccer field was overgrown with weeds and the “goals” were just two sticks jammed into the ground a few feet apart from each other. You didn’t need more than that to have a good time.

The ball came back to Wish from another pony as they passed it to her and she dribbled it towards the goal with a big smirk on her face. The goalie was a pegasus filly a year older than her named Fluffy Cloud. She had a wild mane of light blue locks that looked like a pile of snakes plopped on her head. Wish was well in the clear to try scoring a goal on her and she kicked the soccer ball with all the strength she could muster, sending it right between Fluffy Cloud and one of the goalposts.

But Fluffy Cloud was quick enough to jump in the way, the soccer ball bouncing off her outstretched hooves.

“Shoot!” Wish stamped a hoof to the ground.

One of the defenders raced forward and brought the ball under his control, swiftly kicking it out past Wish and towards some of his teammates. There weren’t really any set positions, aside from goalie, and pretty much every pony who wanted to ran after the ball. There ended up being a struggle for the ball as a bunch of excited little ponies all tried to kick it at once or bring it under heel, but it was all in good fun. Wish was tired and breathing heavily after about thirty minutes of play but she didn’t want to stop at all. It was still just the middle of the day too.

A colt on the other team kicked the ball hard in an attempt to pass it along but Wish practically dove in front of it to steal it and started dribbling back to the other side of the field. It was like she had boundless energy as she darted past the other ponies trying to block her or steal the ball away. She was never really that big into sports or doing stuff like this with other ponies back home, but sometimes you just don’t know what you’re missing.

All that cake she had eaten at the castle hadn’t slowed her down one bit either.

This time she made it all the way back to the goal again but Red Berry was there standing guard in front of it with Fluffy Cloud still behind him. No way could she kick the ball past the both of them. Instead Wish bit her lip and faked like she was going for a goal but then kicked a pass to her left towards a colt on her team. Both Red Berry and Fluffy Cloud were surprised and couldn’t react in time as Wish’s teammate kicked the ball as hard as he could at the goal.

The shot was good and it sailed right past Fluffy and right between the two stick goalposts.

“Yeah! Nice shot!” Wish cheered for him.

The other kids celebrated and even the ones on the other team had smiles on their faces, just happy to be playing a fun game of soccer again. Fluffy Cloud ran back to get the ball and brought it to right in front of her goal.

“Here we go again!” The pegasus filly shouted and drop kicked the soccer ball high into the air.

Wish watched it arc and ran to try and be the first pony to recover it. A bunch of others were there all waiting for it to drop too.

“Got it, got it!” Wish called out as she tried to push her way to the right spot and get the others out of her way. As soon as the ball fell near she jumped up and headbutted it—directly out of bounds and into the heavy grass just off the field. “Oops… sorry! I’ll go get it!”

Wish waved to the others and ran off the field and into the thick grass to retrieve the ball. They were just right off the farmlands she had seen around New Pasture and the ground was pretty wild and unkempt here. It looked like not a lot of groundskeeping had been done lately, which was weird for a farming town.

The Inquisitors were watching her go and a few other helpful fillies and colts followed her too. Wish had to push through a thicket of weeds but she came out and saw the soccer ball resting on the ground.

But that wasn’t all she saw.

“Huh? What… what’s this?” Wish said.

Before her was a farm—or at least what used to be a farm. The crops that had once been planted on it were all burned and nothing but ash and scraps remained. She looked out further and saw that a number of other fields and farms had been burned as well, almost half of what she could see right outside of New Pasture.

She heard the sound of a pony walking over the brush and turned to see Red Berry. “What happened to your farms?” She asked him.

Red Berry shrugged. “We did it ourselves. The farmers and families who worked out here and all. Don’t know why, but it happened almost right after the sky went dark.”

“Oh...” Wish frowned and looked up at the dark sky. Just one more wrong thing that had happened when Hoofica became like this. She shook her head, she didn’t want to have to think about that stuff right now. With a smile, she grabbed the ball and started running back to the field with Red Berry and the others. “Come on, let’s play some more!”

Inquisitor Duty

The rest of the day was a happy adventure for Wish and the ponies of New Pasture. After soccer had finished, she and all the fillies and colts she had been playing with got together for a surprise picnic held in the middle of town. Lots of parents and other adults brought out sandwiches, and a number of the servants that had come along with Wish and the Inquisitors took food from the supply wagons and added to it. Wish spent the whole time talking with the friends she had made while the adults used the opportunity to have their own party.

And at the edge of it all, leaning up against the royal carriage, Vox watched everything.

Wish couldn’t help but glance over at the Head Inquisitor a few times. Seeing her smiling face as she observed the picnic was unnerving to Wish, but at least she wasn’t saying or doing anything.

It was just really nice in general to be eating the same food as everypony else too. She wasn’t getting an excessive, wasteful, feast all to herself. Everypony was just eating sandwiches, or chewing apples, or snacking on something else. She didn’t feel out of place or above any of them. Just like she wanted. This was normal—close to normal at least.

“So um, what do you guys want to do next?” Wish asked the other kids. “I’ve still got tonight and most of tomorrow before I go. Do you do anything else for fun around here?”

“Uhh… we can play hide-and-seek tag in the forest? We used to do that. And we had an old secret clubhouse built there too,” a unicorn filly named Lunar Song said.

“Let’s do it!” Wish grinned, her tail practically wagging like an excited dog’s behind her. “Right after we finish eating here.”

“Young lady, if you’re playing hide-and-seek we might not be able to watch over you well...” a stallion Inquisitor said.

Wish rolled her eyes and frowned at him, at all of them. “Then just like, make a big circle around where we’re playing, okay?”

The Inquisitors still looked nervous and some of them looked back at Vox—who gave a silent nod and a smile.

“Very well, young lady,” the Inquisitor said.

Wish swallowed down the rest of her sandwich with glee as she anticipated what they were all going to do next. It was fun here in New Pasture and it felt great to genuinely get along with these other kids. She asked them about school, their homes, which of them worked on the farms and what their families did. And on the flipside, she really hoped none of them started to try asking about her.

The filly from Hoofica Castle hunched down low behind a tree, low enough where the tall grass of the forest crept over her eyes. As the special guest of the Queen—daughter of Master Dreamweaver—she was out of place. But as her old self who used to live in Ashen Birch Thicket, she was right at home again. She was quiet, still, and she kept her ears open to listen in on any approaching ponies. After all, just finding her wasn’t good enough, they’d have to tag her out too and then she’d join in on finding all the rest that were still hiding.

Her heart was racing right now but it was from the good kind of excitement. The way an afternoon spent running around with friends after school should feel. Wish had almost forgotten. She wouldn’t even normally do this too much back at home, but after being deprived of normalcy for so long it was like she was over-indulging to make up for it.

The Inquisitors had done as she said too. They were far, far, out of view right now, all of them standing around the forest.

Good. They just made the other kids in town feel uncomfortable anyways. Wish could tell. Wish didn’t want them to always be right there next to her. She didn’t want them to be like that at all, it was one of the things she talked about with her father. But she knew he’d still at least have them watch over her when she’s out of the castle like this. She couldn’t really complain about that. Much.

It wasn’t as bad as Vox being around but thankfully the Head Inquisitor seemed to just be staying back at the royal carriage. She wasn’t anywhere near the forest they were playing hide-and-seek tag in. Only the regular Inquisitors seemed to be doing the job she had been asked to do on this short vacation.

That was fine with Wish too. That was better than good. Even if she and Vox had something of an understanding now about how they were supposed to interact with each other, that didn’t exactly quell Wish’s fear of the mare. Nothing short of her father kicking the Head Inquisitor out of the castle entirely would.

A twig snapped underneath a hoof and Wish’s ears perked up while she tried to crouch down even lower to the ground. The pony who was It—Lucky Berry—or some other pony who she had already caught was here. While Wish was confident enough in her speed to run off in-case she was found, getting found was already kind of like losing the first half of the game. And if there were already others that were caught it was super easy for them to cut off and catch a single pony.

Wish could hear the grass and leaves on the ground behind her tree being stepped on. Had she left a trail for Lucky Berry to find? Wish hadn’t thought of that. It was possible that some of the grass and bushes she had gone through left a big gap that anypony could see.

Stay still? Or peek her head out and see if she was about to be found?

Wish bit her lip and as quietly as possible she lifted her head and pressed herself back against the trunk of the tree—then slowly looked out from behind it.

She came face to face with a pair of pink eyes on a lime-green face.

“Um, hi...” Wish said.

“Hi… I think I found you,” a small but still happy smile formed on Lucky Berry’s face.

Wish nervously grinned back at her. “Yeah.”

The two fillies stood looking at each other for a second longer before Wish dashed away as fast as she could. Lucky Berry giggled and followed right on her heels. Both of them ran and ran through the forest, Wish darting through trees and over flowers as she tried to shake the pursuer. Lucky Berry was very persistent though and she managed to keep up for now. Proof of her being a farm-raised pony who got up to a lot of activity in the countryside. Wish at one point jumped onto and over a hollowed out log and heard an indignant squeak from inside it.

She looked back over her shoulder and saw Fluffy Cloud stick her head out—right as Lucky Berry was coming by.

“Aw geez,” Fluffy said as Lucky stopped to tag her.

Wish wiped some sweat from her brow as she kept running, aiming for some bushes that she could hide or lose her pursuers in. She just got a brief reprieve thanks to Fluffy Cloud, it would take a second or two for them to come back after her. Of course that meant there was indeed now at least two ponies looking for her. But Wish still planned to last as long as she could, maybe until she was even the last pony who hadn’t been tagged out.

She jumped into the bushes and crawled around to find a spot big enough for her to hide in, and ended up meeting another pony already inside.

Wish nearly gasped but Brisk Hooves shushed her and the two of them sat still inside the bushes, listening to Lucky Berry and Fluffy Cloud come closer. They could just barely look out from some gaps in the leaves and twigs to see the two other fillies get closer in their search for Wish. With any luck they wouldn’t come through this part of the bushes and they’d head on through, thinking Wish went to the trees on the other side. It was even more fun waiting and hiding out like this with Brisk Hooves rather than just sitting on her own.

Lucky and Fluffy both shoved their way through the bushes and Wish had to cover her mouth with her hooves to keep from letting out any sort of snicker. They then heard a yelp of surprise from an unseen colt who must’ve also been hiding somewhere nearby and then the sounds of two giggling fillies as they started to chase him through the forest. The rustling of the bushes and leaves stopped after a second and things became silent.

Wish and Brisk Hooves both let out sighs of relief—it seemed like they were safe for now. They were probably going to have to get out of here and find somewhere else to hide or run off to soon though.

Another rustling noise came from behind the two of them and both Wish and Brisk Hooves froze up.

Five seconds later they were running out of the bushes, hearts pounding in excitement, while a third pursuer chased after them.

“Can’t keep running forever!” Red Berry yelled from behind them.

“Yes we can!” Brisk Hooves shouted back at him.

“Hehehehe!” Wish giggled.

The three of them ran through the meadowed forest over grass, leaves, puddles, and everything else as the game of tag intensified. There were more fillies and colts that had been found out and the hide-and-seek part of the game had pretty much ended. Now everypony was wildly running about and screaming in happiness—either chasing or being chased. Naturally the amount of pursuers only increased as time went on until it was pretty much only Wish and Brisk Hooves left, trying to simultaneously hide amongst the thicker groups of trees and run at the same time. A whole group of other ponies made that difficult though as it was just a matter of time until they surrounded the last two free kids and there was nowhere left to run.

But Wish at least wanted to be the last one tagged out. That would be something she could feel good about. Red Berry had really been looking to chase her down though ever since he first found her and Brisk Hooves in the bushes back there. He didn’t want her to keep evading him until it became too dark out to play, or somepony else caught her first.

Eventually things came to a head a few minutes later when Wish and Brisk Hooves were trapped inside a grove of trees.

All the other fillies and colts she had met and made friends with earlier today circled around the two of them and slowly began to close the net. As soon as they got close enough where there was absolutely no possibility of escape they ran in screaming and practically dog-piled Wish and Brisk Hooves. But at the last second Wish had ducked behind the colt and made sure he got tagged out first.

It was the little things.

The whole group was nothing but a mess of cheers and laughter after that, and Wish went around hoof bumping each of the others in turn.

She looked up at the sky she could see between the trees in the forest. It was dark, obviously, but it wasn’t dark enough to be evening or night yet. They still had time for fun before it got too late for that. At some point the Inquisitors or the Head Inquisitor herself would gather up Wish and take her back to the royal carriage. Or perhaps somewhere else in New Pasture for a late dinner. But not just yet.

Wish was breathing hard when she smiled and looked at the others. “So you mentioned something about a clubhouse?”

If only this vacation could be longer.

Wish sighed inside the royal carriage the next day. While she wanted to say she was content with how much fun she had had in New Pasture, she was still disappointed to be leaving so soon. The time spent meeting everypony, playing soccer, tag, exploring everything around town, getting to eat together, and then earlier today when everypony got together with crayons and paintbrushes to make a big collage had filled her heart with warmth. She wouldn’t be forgetting this anytime soon. She would need these memories when she was back in the castle.

But.

She also knew things would be better there from now on too. After she had spoken with her father, after their understanding, and after this trip. Everything would be better.

It was still sad to say goodbye though. Red Berry, Lucky Berry, Fluffy Cloud, they were all sad to see her go too. As were the parents and other adults, though Wish had barely interacted with them while in town. Wish knew why, or at least suspected why. They probably thought they were going to have to go back to how things were before Wish came. Those posters that Vox had told her to ignore… Wish could still see some from the carriage’s window. If that was how things were going to return to being in New Pasture, Wish didn’t blame them for being wary of her imminent departure.

But there was no reason for things to be like this in New Pasture or anywhere else in Hoofica. A smile came to Wish’s face as she told herself she’d talk to her father about it. He could talk to the Queen and Vox and fix all of this. She didn’t know why it was this way in the first place, but her father could fix it.

Wish yawned deeply and relaxed against the comfortable cushions inside the carriage, it had been an exhausting couple of days. Any minute now, Vox should come in and they would be off. She then felt the carriage jolt as if something heavy had just stepped off it and she raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“What was that?” She said as she went to the window and looked outside.

In the darkness of the evening she saw Vox standing by the side of the road while two other Inquisitors carried off the large box that had been put on the back of the carriage.

Wish frowned and popped open the window. “What are you doing? What’s in that box?”

The other Inquisitors stopped but Vox just looked over at her with a smile.

“Just doing some of my usual work. Typical Inquisitor business and all that,” Vox nonchalantly waved her hoof around. “You don’t need to worry about it, just sit in that carriage and I’ll be back in a little while.” She was still smiling but her eyes were really telling Wish that this wasn’t something she should keep pestering Vox about.

“Okay...” Wish said and sat back, letting the window shut.

What did “Inquisitor business” really entail? And that look in Vox’s red eyes… it made her shiver.

Despite the fact that there had been a jovial atmosphere in New Pasture until right now, all it took was for the adults to see Vox walking down the streets with her other Inquisitors for them to remember the posters and what an Inquisitor’s presence usually meant. Seeing Wish was no longer with them, they huddled inside their homes, or got out of the way and hid their children behind their legs. Vox’s gleeful smile on her face only unnerved the townsponies further. As well as the strange box the other Inquisitors were carrying with them.

Vox was making her way to one home in particular as she walked down the streets of New Pasture: the previously visited home of the mayor, Onyx Justice.

With each step closer she felt herself getting giddier inside.

Oh yes, Mayor Justice and New Pasture were about to be rewarded for their excellent service in making Wish happy. Vox had been watching it all. This truly had been a great vacation for the silly filly. And it took every ounce of strength inside her to keep from laughing during every minute of it.

It was a bit late in the day so there was nowhere else the mayor should be right now. He’d be in his home either getting ready for dinner or just finishing up with it. Vox knew that for a certainty. She even started to hum to herself in delight as they turned past the last house and were now walking directly towards his front door. One farmer saw her coming and how utterly blissful the expression on her face was and he wisely pressed himself against the wall of the nearest building and shut his eyes in the hope Vox wouldn’t notice him.

After that, Vox opened up the mayor’s door and stepped inside without even knocking. Why would she knock after all?

He dropped the small bowl of salad he had been holding in shock and it shattered on the floor.

“W-What?” Onyx Justice said, flabbergasted, as Vox walked up to him while the other Inquisitors filed into his home behind her. The last one in closed and locked the door and the pair carrying the conspicuously large box plopped it on the floor behind Vox.

Oh that look on his face, that sheer surprise and fear. That honesty. It was so satisfying to her to see. “Hello, mayor.” Vox smiled at him.

“W-Why-” He struggled to say at first, before swallowing and collecting himself. “Why are you all here in my house? What’s going on? I thought you were leaving this evening.”

“We are. But I have some business with you first, remember?” Vox said, chuckling slightly.

Onyx Justice hesitantly nodded. “Yes… you said that if we followed along and the filly from the castle had a good time we would be rewarded.”

“That’s exactly right,” Vox’s eyes flashed with amusement and… something else. “And your reward, Mayor Onyx Justice, is that you get to personally be the subject of my inquisition.”

“Wai-what?!” Onyx Justice backed away in horror from Vox. “B-But, that’s not—you said that-”

“I said,” Vox rolled her eyes and giggled. “That I wasn’t here for typical Inquisitor duty. That if everything went well and Wish had a happy vacation here that you’d be rewarded and that was all that mattered.” She shrugged. “And that was a lie. I was lying. Completely. That was only half of why I was here, this was always going to happen too.”

“B-B-But I… but we’ve all been good. We’ve all done nothing for this. T-There’s no reason for you to be here, for any Inquisitors to be here,” he shook his head as his face paled, trying to reason with her.

Vox outright laughed. “That seriously doesn’t matter. You were just unlucky that New Pasture is the town that got chosen for Wish’s vacation.” She glanced behind herself at the box. “And truthfully, truthfully for real this time, you’re especially unlucky. My own personal inquisitions are a little… different. Because I, or my boss I should say, needs something from you.”

“What are you talking about?” The sweating mayor asked as he looked to the sides, trying to see if he could make a run for it. But he was already practically surrounded by the other Inquisitors. And he’d never make it far.

“There’s a special device inside this box. Oh so very special. It’s going to be used on you,” Vox said, turning her head back and smiling at him. “Because things haven’t been going as well as they should be. So you need to help us out.”

“N-No… I don’t know what you’re planning but I won’t, I refuse!” Onyx Justice said as he backed up far enough to accidentally back into the wall.

And to his growing fear—Vox’s smile grew even bigger at his words.

“I was hoping you would say that. Because now I get to tell you just how serious this is. Now I really get to see a good look on your face. You say you don’t want to do this? That you shouldn’t be the subject of my inquisition? Heh, well, let me tell you what I’m going to do if you don’t change your mind about that,” Vox said and walked away from him, walking through his living room and looking out the front window of his home. “It really is a nice town. It really is. There were so many happy and smiling ponies out there today.”

Vox blinked and walked back away from the window, standing in the middle of the room. “I’m going to kill every single pony in New Pasture.”

Onyx felt himself freeze and even the other Inquisitors turned away as looks of terror and dismay briefly crossed their faces.

“Y-You...” Onyx whimpered.

“I’m not finished,” Vox smirked and walked towards him, putting a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m going to start with the children. I’m going to wring each and every one of their little necks right in front of their parents. And the whole time I’m doing that I’ll be looking you right in the eyes, so you and everypony else knows exactly why it’s happening. Then I’ll take care of the parents. And then the other adults. And lastly, after the inquisition is over, I’ll kill you too.”

“So that can happen-” Vox continued. “Ooorrrr, you can just let me use the device on you right now. And then I can get out of this stupid town and go back to the castle. Either decision you make is fine with me, it’s kind of a win-win in my book.”

Onyx Justice slumped down to the floor in defeat as tears flowed down his face. “Why? Just why?”

The other Inquisitors weren’t even looking anymore, they had all turned away, turned away from reality and what they were taking part in.

Vox raised an eyebrow at the mayor and looked at him with a genuinely flummoxed face. As if the answer was obvious, or should’ve been obvious to him. “Why? Well, cause I enjoy it.” She smiled as her horn lit up red and the top of the box carrying the device was lifted up. “Now then—let’s get to work. So please tell me, when it comes to the new orders to not smile, how we burned half your crops and rationed your food, how your personal items were taken away, how leisure activities were forbidden, how miserable does all of this make you?”

Wish yawned and looked out the window of the royal carriage once more, checking to see if Vox and the other Inquisitors were coming back yet. It was starting to get a little late and the stallions pulling the carriages and the other servants that were part of the procession were just sort of mulling around the road without direction. None of the ponies from town were out anymore either and Wish was just bored and stuck alone in this screaming pink carriage.

She sat back on the couch for a bit and rested her head on one of the pillows, a bit tired now. There wasn’t anything much else for her to do really.

At some point she must’ve fallen asleep for at least a moment because soon after she heard a bunch of ponies walking around the carriages outside. Wish felt the carriage shake—something was just put up on it, and a moment later the door opened and Vox stepped inside.

“Ah, hello young lady.” The Head Inquisitor smiled at her. “Ready to leave?”

Wish nodded, she was curious about what Vox had been up to but she knew she wasn’t going to get any answers. “Um, yeah.”

“Good, good. I know you had a great time here but I’m sure you’re still really looking forward to getting back to the castle,” Vox said.

“Yes...” Wish answered quietly. The only positive of going back to the castle was getting to see her father again.

“Well we’ll be off in just a few minutes, as soon as our stallions are ready,” Vox said and took a seat opposite of Wish. She rested her chin on her hoof and stared out the window, looking at New Pasture with a small smile on her face. “They were so happy for these short two days.”

“Huh?” Wish tiled her head.

“I’m just wondering. You saw all those posters didn’t you? Saying not to smile and be happy. And yet the townsponies were having such a good time, smiling and everything. As if they weren’t paying attention to the posters at all anymore. I just wonder what’s going to happen to New Pasture now,” Vox shrugged and sat back, looking at Wish. “Oh well. Nothing you need to concern yourself with, like always. Just think about how happy you are.”

The wheels of the royal carriage suddenly lurched and they began moving, getting on their way out of New Pasture and back to Hoofica Castle. Wish sat inside it quietly as they left, the words of Vox running through her mind.

Request

“From what Vox told me it sounds like you had a wonderful time in New Pasture,” Dreamweaver said as he patted Wish on the head.

“I really, really, did. It was great dad, thank you! Thanks so much for letting me go on that trip,” Wish said to him.

The day that Wish and the rest of the procession had arrived back at Hoofica Castle, her father had been there to greet her and join her for dinner. Not only did he want to hear how the vacation went it also seemed he was making good on his promise to spend more time with her. Right now they were back inside her chambers, eating at the large table while Dotty stood off to the side. Wish had to admit she also really liked seeing her maid again. She had missed her.

Vox meanwhile had disappeared off to somewhere else in the castle the moment they good back.

Wish did not miss her.

“Excellent, that’s truly excellent to hear. I’m glad to see you so happy,” her father said.

Wish blushed and swirled around the spaghetti on her plate so it rolled around her fork. “Yeah, but I’m just as glad to get back here and see you again. I didn’t know we were going to be having dinner together as soon as I got back...”

“I wanted to surprise you,” he chuckled and smiled. “I knew you’d enjoy it.”

“And I do. I really do,” Wish smiled at him.

He looked across the table at the much smaller amount of food that was normally given to Wish. “I trust you’re also enjoying not having a grand feast placed in front of you?”

“Heh, yeah.” Wish nodded. Her eyes zeroed in on the chocolate cake in the center of the table. “But I’m still really happy to see that too.”

She very briefly looked over at Dotty and around the rest of the large room. No other maids or butlers were around and she knew from when she had come back here that there weren’t guards standing right outside the doors either. Privacy. She wasn’t being watched or surrounded by a bunch of ponies whose names she didn’t even know. Things really were going to be different here. Her father was going to allow her that freedom that she really wanted. Forget about everything Vox had been saying, forget about Vox in general. Life was going to be better.

“I was thinking after dinner you can paint with Dotty some more if you want,” her father said. “I’d love a painting representing your time in New Pasture. I can hang it up in my lab.

Wish’s whole face lit up. “Okay!”

Her father laughed. “Don’t try to sound too excited now.”

Wish giggled and started slurping up some more spaghetti. Dotty also seemed to be holding back some laughter. After she finished her main course it was time for the cake, and there was some really tasty almond milk to go along with it. Wish cut herself off a slice that was frankly a little bit too big, but after several days of not having any she really craved some. Not like she hadn’t been fed well while out on vacation, but it didn’t compare to the deliciousness of castle-baked chocolate cake. She savored every last bite of it and even her father joined in and had a small slice for himself.

When she was finished, a discreet motion from Dotty reminded her to wipe her mouth off and that just about signaled the end of dinnertime.

“It was wonderful to eat with you tonight, my darling,” her father said as he stood up from his chair and lightly dabbed at his mouth with a napkin as well. “But now I really must be getting back to my work. However—I will of course be available to you much more often from here on out. Just come along with Dotty in case you ever feel like you really need to see me.”

He reached over and patted her on the head, filling her up with even more warmth.

“I will, thank you,” she said.

“That’s my little darling,” Dreamweaver said and turned to leave. As he got to the door he looked over his shoulder at her and waved. “Good night, and sleep well.”

He closed the door and Wish pretty much immediately swung her head in Dotty’s direction. “There’s no way I’m going to sleep just yet, let’s paint!”

Dotty giggled and rolled her eyes. “I was pretty sure you were going to say that.”

The two of them went to the sitting area of the large chamber and set their easels up, it seemed Dotty already had most of their painting supplies ready, probably in anticipation of this happening as soon as Wish got back. This time Wish started painting she did it with gusto and grabbed all sorts of bright colors to use. She wasn’t just painting the town or the forest, but all the friends she had made in New Pasture. And you know what? Maybe she was even going to put a bright sun and a blue sky at the top just for fun. Wish was going to paint a great, big, happy painting that her father could proudly hang up on the walls of his laboratory.

“What are you painting, Dotty?” Wish asked her.

“I’m painting the rocky plains north of Hoofica. There are some majestic and amazingly large rock formations and mountains out there,” Dotty replied.

“I’ve never actually been north enough to see the borders of the country… and certainly never been out of the country, in any direction,” Wish absently said as she continued her painting.

Dotty was silent for a moment, her brush going still. “Maybe… maybe some day you can see it.”

It was a nice thought, but Wish didn’t dwell on it right now. All she needed was to dwell on her father’s love and appreciation. That made all of this easier. Even genuinely happy. Her painting started to become more realized and she drew herself right in the center of it, smiling with her friends. And there were the parents and other adults in the background, and the white buildings, and the forest and farms beyond them. It ended up being an excellent representation of New Pasture.

“I think I’m just about finished,” Wish said.

“I’ll be done soon too. Are you happy with your work?” Dotty asked.

Wish looked over her painting one more time and nodded. “Mhm, I think it’s good. I think I did a better job drawing buildings and the background too.”

“Ah, that’s wonderful to hear!” Dotty smiled as she finished up her painting with a few more brush strokes.

“I think that’s kind of thanks to you...” Wish said.

“Now, now, don’t give me the credit. It’s your natural talent for painting that lets you grasp things so quickly,” Dotty said.

Wish glanced at her blank flank. Not that much natural talent...

“Okay, I’m finished with mine!” Dotty said and took her painting right off the easel, bringing it over to Wish and showing it to her. “What do you think?”

As Wish looked at the beautiful landscape she had to think pretty much the same thing as always when she saw one of Dotty’s paintings: that she was really being wasted as a maid. That could’ve gone up on the walls of the royal chambers somewhere.

“It’s really good. What about mine?” Wish sat back so Dotty could look at her painting.

Dotty smiled. “Everypony you painted looks so happy. Especially you. Your father will think it’s super sweet!”

“Heh,” Wish blushed.

“Now that it’s getting late though I think we need to put a stop to things for today. You need to take a bath and get ready for bed,” Dotty nodded.

“Okay...” Wish rolled her eyes.

Dotty grinned. “None of that now, just come along, young lady.”

Wish had to admit it did actually feel really nice to take a bath in the huge, extravagant, tub again. She still would’ve preferred painting a little more but Dotty had a point. Either way the warm waters and all the soaps and everything added to the bath relaxed her, she practically could’ve fallen asleep right inside the tub. It was a long lasting bubble bath too as Dotty made sure to scrub her body and wring her mane completely clean. Afterwards, Wish really was ready to hop right into bed.

She now snuggled up into the bed sheets while Dotty fluffed her pillows and then drew the curtain on her four-poster bed closed.

“Good night, Wish,” Dotty said and gave her a smile before stepping out of the bed chambers.

“Good night, Dotty,” Wish said and listened as Dotty walked all the way out of her chambers and closed the main doors. No “click”. She wasn’t being locked inside like she used to be. Wish smiled in the darkness of her bedroom and rested her head on her pillow, cuddling up in the sheets and soon drifting off to sleep.

The blue comet with its rainbow trail flew overhead once more. Wish, somehow, flew along behind it. Below it. She was following it out of the castle but she didn’t know why. Why was any of this happening? The dark skies overhead made it easy to see, the comet even seemed to open up the sky it traveled under and let in bright light to pour to the ground of Hoofica far below, lighting up the dark lands.

Wish tried calling out to it, asking it to stop, or come down to her, but the comet only flew on. Where was it going? Wish looked behind her at the castle slowly disappearing into the distance, she and the comet were flying over the lands of Hoofica at high speed. Forests and roads passed them both by.

Wish didn’t want to let it go, she tried flying up and screaming for it again, and tried to put all her strength into reaching it so she could grasp the comet or at least the rainbow tail that flew behind it. It was so warm, so calming, so reassuring. There was something about the comet that told her that everything would be alright.

But why? Why would everything need to be alright? To Wish everything should already be okay.

She grasped her head in her hooves as pain shot through her skull, droplets of blood dripped down her nose and fell to the ground, forming red rivers and lakes throughout the landscape of Hoofica. In the ripples she thought she saw the face of a pony take shape for a moment before it disappeared. To look back at the castle, it was only a speck now but—something or someone was watching her from inside it. Somehow she knew.

They didn’t want her going with the comet. They were watching the comet as well. Screaming. Screaming to not go.

Wish’s head hurt, part of her wanted to go back to the castle just to make the pain stop. But she couldn’t, she had to see the comet, had to reach it. What was it flying for?

In the distance, the darkness of Hoofica gave way to new color. It was not brought by the blue and rainbow light of the comet, nor from the beautiful sun beyond the black clouds. There were spurts of yellow, orange, and red on the horizon. Snakes dancing in the sky.

Fire. Flames. Burning. The horizon was an inferno that the blue comet was speeding towards. The forests and farms in the distance were all being consumed by the blaze.

Wish screamed. In fear? In anger? Her body still flew towards the fire on the trail of the comet. No matter how much of the black sky was torn asunder by the blue comet and light flowed through, it didn’t stop the darkness. Finally the comet reached above the flames and held there, like a shining beacon drawing Wish towards it. Rainbow light rained down it towards the flames but the fire didn’t abate in the slightest. It kept burning fiercely, on and on.

She was flying towards it and the closer she got the more she could make out. The more she could see of what the fire was consuming. Houses, farms, ponies.

Had she been here before? It was familiar to her but Wish didn’t understand why. The blue comet held steady overhead, but it could do nothing else other than light the way for Wish. Illuminate the world for her to see. Meanwhile the fires spread out from the town it was already burning to cinders, threatening to crawl further across the lands of Hoofica. A terror that sought to spread and engulf others.

Wish was falling through the sky, closer to the flames and the town. She could see phantom ponies running around and screaming. Why was this happening? Could anything be done to help?

She saw the ponies. She wanted to reach out to them.

But a white tendril wrapped around her body first and threw her away. Wish went screaming into the darkness, when she could look back again she saw the white monster flying through the flames, helping to spread them, grabbing ponies from the ground and tossing them into the bonfire.

Laughing.

The blue comet above shined as brightly as it could, its rainbow light attempting to drown out and blind the white monster. But as the red eyes of the monster looked up into the sky, more white phantoms appeared around the blue comet. Dozens surrounded it and slowly the light from the comet began to fade away. Outnumbered. Helpless.

Wish tried to fly towards it but she couldn’t move, looking back, chains tethered her to the ground. Chains that stretched for miles and miles all the way back to the castle. She tried to break them, tried to slip out of them, but they were completely unyielding. She screamed in silence and stretched her hooves up towards the comet even as the white phantoms closed in on it.

The larger white monster appeared all around Wish, holding her, using its tendrils to yank her eyelids open and keep her from blinking or looking away. The rainbow light and the light from the sky was cut off. Only the color of the flames spread across Hoofica now. Finally the blue comet itself, holding so strongly up in the sky, so resolutely, was covered and smothered by the white phantoms.

Wish screamed and fought to try and help it. Screams from below from burning ponies begged for help. Begged for her to do something.

The monster laughed. The comet was gone.

Wish was pulled, the chains around her legs were pulling her back to the castle, pulling her through flames, through lakes of blood, through dark forests and dark skies. Laughter and cries of fear and despair tore through her ears. She had to block it out. She clapped her hooves over her ears but still it didn’t stop. The chains were relentless, she looked back at the castle she was being taken towards and saw-

She woke up huddled in the middle of her bed, shaking and shivering in fright while a cold sweat covered her pale body. Tears ran down her cheeks before she realized that it had been another nightmare and she was safe back in bed. Wish sat up, hugging herself and squeezed her eyes shut. “Why… why don’t they stop?”

Although she didn’t need to do it everyday anymore, Wish still decided to go to class, just because she needed something to try and take her mind off of things. However she didn’t really spend the time in there paying attention. Her pencil drew circles and spirals on her paper in boredom while her teacher talked in the background. Wish just didn’t have it in her to care right now.

That nightmare last night was different, there were similar things about it, and it still scared her. But she didn’t know what it all meant or why she was still having nightmares in the first place. Things were better now. She knew the truth, she wasn’t being treated like a prisoner anymore, she could see her father more. So why? Why were her nights still being plagued by these horrible terrors?

Her classmates seemed to notice the malaise infecting her, their smiles were weaker than normal.

Wish sighed and sat back in her seat, looking at the jumbled scribblings on the chalkboard and trying to find her place.

Class was a complete bust and she didn’t feel like painting with Dotty right now. She didn’t feel like anything. The good news was she could go where she wanted in the castle to think.

Wish frowned. She didn’t want to have to think. She didn’t want to keep having this stupid problem. She wanted to put it all behind her and put things back to normal.

Right now she was standing on a balcony overlooking the castle’s central courtyard. She had wanted to get some fresh air and look at something nice besides just black castle walls and torches. The trees and flowers down below were soothing, somewhat, and it felt nice to just stand there while the breeze went by, listening to the world around her. But she was afraid even now. Afraid to go back up to her chambers and go to bed tonight. She didn’t want to go through another nightmare, waking up terrified and confused. But she didn’t know what to do either. Tell Dotty? She wouldn’t know what to do. Tell her father? She was worried he’d be disappointed or upset that she was still having nightmares after the vacation she had just gone on.

It was like it was her fault. If her father was angry at her… or blamed her for the nightmares, Wish wasn’t sure she could handle that. He had worked so hard to make her happy, she didn’t want to upset him or make it seem like he had failed.

“I… I don’t think I can keep keeping this a secret though...” Wish said to herself, trembling as she looked down at the courtyard. The nightmares were eating her up.

Images of the blue comet with its rainbow trail passed through her mind. She knew what that really was.

And deep down inside, she was pretty sure she knew why these nightmares were still happening too. It didn’t have to do with her father, or her being happy in the moment, or her having more freedom in the castle. There was still something wrong. There was something strange going on in the castle and something horribly wrong with the kingdom of Hoofica. Wish knew that. And she knew that that rainbow-maned pegasus down in the dungeons was connected to things. Or part of the answer, or part of something at least.

The nightmares started when she came.

They wouldn’t go away until Wish knew more.

Until Wish knew the truth of that pony stuck in the dungeon below Hoofica Castle.

Wish walked down the stairs to the ground floor of Hoofica Castle. She had traveled down these stairs a few times in recent memories, to see the opera, and then late at night to sneak into the dungeon. Now she was walking down them again just because she needed to get a look. She hopped off the last step and looked around the corner, towards the dark mouth that led down to the large storage area and dungeon.

There were still guards there. Most of the guards Wish was used to seeing weren’t around anymore, and her father told her not to mind the ones she did see. But somehow she got the feeling that didn’t apply to these ones.

They saw her too of course but both kept looking dead ahead as if she wasn’t there.

She needed to go down to that dungeon though. She had to see the rainbow pegasus. Unfortunately… would her father grant that request? If he didn’t and she had to sneak out again… would Vox catch her? The Head Inquisitor probably spent most of her time in that dungeon. And Wish really, really, didn’t want to run into her like that. If she begged her father would he say yes? Or would he instead outright refuse her?

If… if she didn’t mention it to him at all and still tried to get into the dungeon, then technically she wouldn’t be disobeying him. Right?

But no, that didn’t solve the problem of Vox. And the last time Vox found Wish trying to get into the dungeon, an entire day vanished into thin air. Wish turned around and sat down on the stair steps. She sighed and plopped her face down onto her hooves. Nothing sounded good to her. There wasn’t a single solitary option that she could look at and be happy about.

Wish stood up and frowned. She knew what she had to do now, as unfortunate as it was. And she should probably be getting back to her chambers soon anyways or Dotty would start to get worried.

So Wish made the long journey back, traveling the multitude of steps needed to get back to the third tower. She was tired by the time she got back, but aside from maybe getting a glass of water she didn’t want dinner. There were other things to do.

Dotty was naturally standing right outside the door to her chambers and she smiled widely when she saw Wish coming up the stairs. “Hello, Wish. Did you have a good day?”

“It was alright,” Wish said, an even look on her face. She glanced at the doors Dotty was in front of and then looked towards the stairs leading up to the fourth tower. “Um… can I ask you to help me with something, Dotty?”

Dotty cocked her head to the side, still smiling warmly. “Of course you can! What is it?”

“Can you come up with me to my father’s lab?”

The smile wavered just slightly—just for an instant—but Wish caught it. “I-I see. What for? Do you just want to see your father?”

“Yeah, I just want to talk to him. Just need to ask him about something,” Wish rubbed her leg.

“Well okay then,” Dotty said as she looked towards the stairs. She seemed a little hesitant but she still smiled for Wish and left her place in front of the doors. “Let’s go.”

The two quietly began the trek from the third tower to the fifth. Dotty apparently knew that this wasn’t a time for banal conversation with Wish, and Wish’s face was blank and empty. On the inside, Wish didn’t know what to think or how this conversation with her father was going to go. Hopefully good. She had already asked for so much lately though, did she deserve to ask for something more? But he was always saying his work and everything he did was for her happiness. And with the nightmares, Wish would never be truly happy. Neither would she be with Vox around but that was another issue entirely.

It didn’t take too long to get all the way up to the fifth tower, it wasn’t exactly a long trip from the third. Just as before it ended in a small room with the door to her father’s lab closed in front of them. Dotty looked down at Wish and raised an eyebrow at the filly.

Wish nodded.

The maid then took a deep breath and stepped forward, knocking her hoof on the door.

There was a moment of silence that stretched on too long for the occupant of the lab to merely be taking their time to respond.

“Who is it?” Her father’s voice finally came from beyond the door.

“It’s Dotted Easel, sir. Your daughter is here, she wants to see you,” Dotty replied.

The door swiftly opened up, pulled open by golden magic, and Wish saw her father standing a few feet away inside his lab, a curious look on his face. “Wish? Something you needed to see me for?” A smile graced his features. “Silly darling, we only just saw each other yesterday. Did you miss me that much?”

Wish got a tiny bit flustered and she started chewing on her lip before walking into the lab. Dotty meanwhile stood at the door, not sure if she should go in or not until Wish looked up at her and motioned her in too.

“Um… well...” Wish said, looking down at the floor as she walked up to her father. Behind her the lab door closed shut and Dotty stood patiently in front of it. “I had to talk to you… or ask you about something.”

“Yes? You know you can ask me anything, my sweet daughter,” Dreamweaver chuckled and lifted up her chin as soon as she got close.

“I...” Wish looked up at him.

His warm and loving eyes looked back at her.

Wish swallowed and steeled herself to finally say what needed to be said. “I want to see the rainbow pegasus in the dungeon.”

The Special Prisoner

Dotty didn’t like it when things were quiet. Silence bothered her and she couldn’t stand it for long. Whether she started up some inane chatter, cracked a joke, or just talked about something that had happened to her earlier in the day, she always sought to break any string of silence. But she didn’t dare speak up now. She was frozen and helpless. A spectator to the world around her right now after Wish had made her request to Master Dreamweaver. At the moment, Dotty really wished she could just be somewhere else. She didn’t think she needed to be here anyways, but Wish had asked her to come along. Now she was stuck.

Father and daughter were still looking at each other—the warm smile gone from Dreamweaver’s face as a look just as unreadable as Wish’s took its place.

A bead of sweat rolled down Dotty’s face. The door leading back to the stairs was right behind her but it might as well have been a continent away.

“You want to see the pegasus that attacked the castle?” Dreamweaver’s voice cut across the entire room.

“Yes,” Wish said and nodded in response.

Dreamweaver paused for another second before speaking again. “May I ask why?”

“I… I need to see her. I’m still… I-” Wish was having trouble answering.

“You’re still having nightmares, aren’t you?” Dreamweaver said for her.

“Y-Yes...” Wish hesitantly nodded.

Dotty was worried and upset when she heard that. Wish hadn’t been saying anything about nightmares. Part of her hoped the filly was okay, the other part hoped she wouldn’t be punished for not doing more to comfort her. Wish looked fine this morning but what if she had woken up long before Dotty thought she did? She could’ve been dealing with it in secrecy, although Dotty didn’t know why Wish wouldn’t just talk to her about it. She would’ve helped her as best she could.

Dreamweaver sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. He lifted his head and stared at the ceiling as if in deep thought before peering down at Wish again. “You really think this will help with your nightmares? That it will… make you happier to see that pegasus?”

“My nightmares started when she came here. I-I don’t know why, but they did. I just feel like it’s something I need to do,” Wish answered. “I see her in my nightmares sometimes, in some way, if I could just see and talk to her for real then maybe the nightmares will finally go away. Nothing else has worked so far...”

As Dotty watched, Dreamweaver tapped his hoof on the ground a few times, mulling things over and thinking about the best course of action. It seemed to Dotty that he didn’t want Wish to go and see the pegasus, but she could hardly claim to know what really went through his mind. She wasn’t even very good at knowing what went through Wish’s mind most of the time.

Finally, Dreamweaver smiled and patted his daughter lightly on the head. “Very well. I want to do anything for you that could make these nightmares go away so you can have a perfectly happy life again. It’s not like the pegasus can harm you either.”

“Thanks, dad!” Wish smiled and hugged him, seeming much more full of energy now.

Dreamweaver chuckled and returned the hug. “However, you won’t be alone. I have to insist that you have supervision when visiting the dungeon and especially that prisoner. It’s not a place you should go to on your own.” He then looked over directly at Dotty. “Go and fetch the Head Inquisitor.”

Wish was feeling a little worried as she waited in her father’s lab for Vox to come out. Worried and a little guilty honestly. She had made it sound like the rainbow pegasus was what was scaring her in her nightmares when if anything it was the exact opposite. And now she was being allowed to visit her but obviously her father had reservations and she had to do it under Vox’s watch. Hopefully Dotty would come back with the Head Inquisitor soon so Wish could just get on her way and stop being a nervous wreck. The waiting was more difficult than anything.

She looked around her father’s lab again, it looked pretty much the same as the last time she was here. The large curtain still obstructed whatever it was at the back and a few more books had been tossed around. Her father’s cleanliness hadn’t improved one bit. Honestly it kind of made her smile.

At the moment he was standing over one of his tables, looking at some kind of chemistry experiment while Wish patiently waited. She was a little worried that she had upset him. It seemed he wanted to just clear his mind while the two of them waited for Vox. That’s why things were a little too silent in here again.

That silence was broken as the door to the lab was thrown open without warning and a white pony strode in with a happy grin on her face.

“Hello!” Vox loudly announced herself to the lab. Dotty was nowhere in sight anymore, probably sent away.

Wish flinched and Dreamweaver frowned, looking over at her from his table.

“Hello, Vox,” he said to her.

Vox’s eyes zeroed in on Wish and she raised an eyebrow in surprised amusement, it seemed like Dotty hadn’t told her that Wish would be here. “So what’s the occasion? How’s the happy family?”

“We’re well. But not well enough unfortunately, which is the reason for your summons,” Dreamweaver said as he walked towards Wish and put a protective hoof over her shoulders. “My daughter here is unfortunately still having nightmares even after the pleasant vacation you took her on. And the two of us have… come to an agreement so to speak about what is causing these nightmares and what needs to be done to put a stop to them.”

For a very brief moment, a look of fear passed across Vox’s face. Her father didn’t seem to see it, or react to it at the very least, but Wish did. What was the reason for that fear? Was it because she thought her father was talking about Vox? Was she worried that something would be done to her to help Wish’s nightmares? It wasn’t the case at all, but Wish had to admit to feeling a sort of smug catharsis at knowing that Vox was briefly afraid of something. Even for just a moment.

“And so what would that be then?” Vox asked, evenly.

“Your favorite prisoner in the dungeon. Wish would like to see them,” Dreamweaver said.

Vox’s eyes widened considerably before a grin spread back onto her face and she looked down at Wish. “Really now? Your nightmares have something to do with that pegasus I caught?”

“They started shortly after she attacked the castle. I think Wish seeing the cause of the nightmares could aid her. If she saw the pegasus was just a normal prisoner, and she was no threat, perhaps those nightmares would go away for good. Taking away the mystery, fear, and unknown aspect to the prisoner. But the dungeon is a scary place, and I didn’t want her to go there alone. And since you like to visit the pegasus so much...” Dreamweaver said.

“Say no more!” Vox puffed out her chest. “I’d be happy to do this.”

Dreamweaver smiled and patted Wish’s head, glancing down at her. “Well? I think this will help you out considerably. With any luck your nightmares will be a thing of the past. You truly have nothing to worry about with Vox and I in the castle, and now you’ll be able to see that for yourself once you meet the pegasus.”

“Y-Yeah,” Wish said to him. “I think I’ll finally be able to move on after this.”

It wasn’t a complete lie but it didn’t really get to the truth of things either.

“That’s the spirit!” Dreamweaver said. “You go along with Vox now, I’m sorry that I can’t come with you but I still have something else to work on...” He trailed off, looking at the table he was just working at and then at the big curtain. “Hm. That reminds me that there’s another good reason for Vox to go with you.”

Wish cocked her head at him while Vox also seemed intrigued.

“Oh? What reason?” Vox asked.

“I want you to do the usual with the pegasus. Perform your Inquisitor duty,” Dreamweaver said to Vox. “I’d like Wish to watch, I think it will be good for her. It’s the best way to show the pegasus is only at our mercy and what is done to those who would threaten her happiness. It will be proof of how much I care for my daughter.”

He smiled over at her, but truthfully, Wish didn’t like the sound of that. A cold pit started forming in her stomach. What exactly was this sort of usual Inquisitor duty?

Vox on the other hoof started giggling happily. “Now you’ve really made my day. I’m sure your daughter will have a blast.” Her eyes then darted over to the curtain. “So the usual? With the device and everything? It’s not going to get you what you really need right now-”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m working on that too. And perhaps we’ll get lucky. But yes, use the device on the pegasus again and see if she’s more… agreeable. No sense in wasting opportunities or giving up on something just because it didn’t work the first few times,” Dreamweaver said.

“Um...” Wish interrupted, looking between the two adults in confusion.

Dreamweaver blinked, and quickly chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry, my darling. You know how I can get caught up in my work and lose sight of things. You’ll see what we’re talking about very shortly when you’re down in the dungeon with Vox. The two of you should run along now, I want those nightmares gone as quick as possible. Your happiness is my happiness, Wish.”

“Thanks dad… I know,” Wish gulped and put on the best smile she could for him. “I’m sure this will fix things.”

“I’ll never stop working to make sure you’re the happiest pony in the world,” he said to her.

The two of them waved goodbye to each other and Head Inquisitor Vox led Wish out of the lab. A long walk down to the dungeons was ahead of them. As Wish glanced up at her companion, she noticed the maniacal grin that seemed to be etched on her face.

“It’ll be your first time actually in the dungeons, won’t it?” Vox asked Wish as they passed the two guards at the dark maw leading beneath the castle.

“Y-Yes,” Wish answered with a nod. Vox obviously knew about her first attempt to reach the dungeons.

“There’s nothing to really be afraid of down here,” Vox snickered. “Since you’re the daughter of Master Dreamweaver it’s not like you have to worry about being thrown in a cell or anything like that. You’ll just get to happily walk on by every other imprisoned pony. Give some waves if you feel like it.”

Wish grimaced. “I don’t think I will.”

Vox just cackled some more. “Right, right, you’re not like me.” She smirked down at Wish. “So what was that baloney about the pegasus causing your nightmares and you being afraid of her? That’s certainly not the case, is it?”

“It’s… she’s connected to them,” Wish said.

Naturally Vox knew she was tiptoeing around the question but she only rolled her eyes in amusement. “Right~”

They eventually made their way down to the same long hallway that Wish had made it to before she lost consciousness and woke up a day later. Her eyes couldn’t help but dart up to the culprit briefly before she started walking down the hallway as if everything was normal. There was just the one door at the end anyways and it wasn’t too far away. Vox was even humming the whole time they walked. She was even more excited than Wish was, and Wish’s heart was pounding in her chest. It was finally happening. She was here to see the pegasus that had, in one form or another, infested her dreams. The pony she had seen taken to the dungeon—and was the harbinger of her world turning insane. The pegasus that might… might what? Help her? To be honest even Wish wasn’t entirely sure. She could feel it in her chest though, something tugging at her. There was something inside her heart and soul that told her she needed to meet the rainbow pegasus. Instinct or her subconscious or maybe even something else.

There were so many things she didn’t know and she wasn’t sure she believed what her father said about the pegasus. Wish needed to uncover everything or she’d never be at ease. That at least was something she knew for a fact.

Finally they reached the door to the actual dungeon and Vox opened it up with her red magic. It wasn’t even locked. Inside was a narrow staircase leading down, at the bottom Wish saw the light of a torch, or two, providing the only illumination she could see so far. Wish swallowed nervously as she felt sweat start to drip down her face. The dungeon. There it was.

“Feels good to be home,” Vox smiled as she started walking down the stairs.

Wish took a deep breath and followed right behind her.

As they hit the bottom of the stairs they emerged into a rectangular “room” that directly led to the dungeon cells right ahead of them. There was no door, just a hallway in the middle that went far into darkness, bordered on both sides by cells blocked off by stone walls and metal bars. This room they were standing in now had a desk to the left of the stairs they had just walked down, and two hooks on the wall above it. A ring of keys was hung around one of the hooks while the other just had a single key hanging from it. To the right was a door built into the wall that looked like it was for storage.

Wish hadn’t noticed at first, because they hadn’t said anything, but there was an Inquisitor sitting at the desk.

“The keys,” Vox sharply said without looking at him. “And get the device and have it brought to her cell.”

The other Inquisitor reached up and pulled the ring of keys off the hook, hoofing them to Vox. She swiftly grabbed them and started to happily whistle as she walked towards the cells. The corridor that ran between them was fairly wide so you weren’t in “danger” of any pony trying to reach through the bars at you as long as you stood in the middle. Before walking down them, Vox also pulled a torch off the wall with her magic so they had a light to see with as they traveled down the cells. She looked back at Wish and raised an eyebrow. Wish gulped and followed her.

Behind them both, she heard the chair the other Inquisitor was using scrape against the floor as he stood up. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw him walking towards the storage room.

“How are you liking the dungeons so far?” Vox asked. Wish could hear the smile on her face.

Wish bit her lip as she looked at Vox’s back and the glowing torch she held over her head. “It’s...”

“Don’t mind the prisoners. They can’t hurt you,” Vox chuckled.

“The prisoners?” Wish looked into the cells they were walking by, the light of the torch just barely showing shapes huddled up in the darkness. Wish had been so preoccupied that she hadn’t noticed, hadn’t been thinking about anypony else down here besides the pegasus.

She could hear some of the imprisoned ponies they walked past moaning in despair and fear, the ones that were close enough to the light for Wish to see were thin and shrunk away the moment Wish’s eyes fell upon them. A few startled gasps came from the dark cells as Vox walked by them, the prisoners obviously worried the Head Inquisitor was coming from them. She heard muttered pleas for mercy and help from the darkness. All of which Vox ignored and Wish was too afraid or ashamed to answer.

It made her feel sick.

“That pegasus you want to see is at the very end, we’re almost there,” Vox said again.

“O-Okay...” Wish said. Her heart was pounding the further they went. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting but it was almost time, she was about to finally see the rainbow pegasus for real.

They passed an intersecting path in the cells that from what Wish could see led only to another area of cells in both directions along with maybe some more doors and storage. After that it was a straight shot to the back of the dungeon. The farthest place from the door and stairs they had used to come down here. The cell they were walking towards wasn’t to the sides of the corridor but directly at its end. A large, dark cell that sat forebodingly in front of Wish.

Her heart threatened to jump right out of her chest at this point. Wish almost wanted to turn tail and run away, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to take any of this back after today. Hesitation. Anxiety. Fear. Regret. Guilt. All sorts of things were bubbling inside her.

But so was wonder. And curiosity. And a burning desire to know.

Vox stopped in front of the cell and held the torch up, a smug grin on her face, the faint light from it only beating back the darkness a little bit. Only the edge of the cell was visible and if there was anypony inside it they weren’t sitting up right by the bars.

Wish stood beside Vox and-

“Back so soon? Guess you really aren’t ever going to learn your lesson,” a raspy voice said from inside the cell.

Wish froze up while a snide chuckle escaped Vox’s throat and she levitated the torch through the bars to fully illuminate its interior and the pony imprisoned inside it.

The eyes of the young filly widened as she finally saw the rainbow pegasus—and not just in her blurry dreams. Just as she had known, her mane and tail were an extravaganza of color the likes of which she had never seen on another pony. Her coat was a pretty sky blue, and her Cutie Mark was an exciting cloud and rainbow thunderbolt. The pegasus’s eyes were an impressively sharp ruby that pierced out from the darkness, almost making Wish flinch when she looked directly at them. And like Wish and most everypony else in the kingdom, she had the black band tattooed around her neck. To Wish’s dismay, the more she looked the more she noticed how thin and emaciated the pegasus was. As if she hadn’t been fed properly in ages. And she probably hadn’t been. She was also chained down on top of a wooden table, with shackles binding her hooves, wings, and midsection and making her practically immobile.

And yet her voice and eyes were still full of strength. Wish could feel it.

“Oh, as full of sass and spirit as ever,” Vox giggled. Her magic then carried the torch over to the side of the cell and placed it in a receptacle for it, keeping a steady light inside of the pegasus’s cell.

The rainbow pegasus frowned—and then her eyes glanced down and she seemed to notice Wish for the first time. “Who’s the kid?”

“This kid?” Vox smiled and before Wish could respond she leaned down and put her hooves on Wish’s shoulders. “This kid is the reason for my visit today! She’s the daughter of Master Dreamweaver.”

The rainbow pony’s jaw dropped in shock. “His daughter?” She gawked. “What are you doing down here, kid?”

“Why it’s because of you, of course!” Vox again answered for Wish. “You see, this silly filly has been having some rather scary nightmares recently. Nightmares that she sees you in. Nightmares caused by you. She came down here to see the one causing all her torment in an attempt to get over it.” She finished with a laugh. “So, allow me to formally introduce the two of you~”

She patted Wish’s head patronizingly and scooted her as close to the bars as possible. “This charming little filly, daughter of Master Dreamwaver, is named Wish!” She then pointed at the rainbow pony. “And that sorry prisoner in our dungeon—is Rainbow Dash! Say hi to each other!”

“Hi,” Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance, rolling her eyes at Vox’s behavior.

“Um… hi,” Wish muttered, much more quietly.

Another frown passed across Rainbow’s face and she actually looked at Wish with some concern. “You’ve been… having nightmares because of me? For real? Sorry… but uh, at the same time I don’t remember ever seeing you before. How come you’re having nightmares about me?”

“They’re not… it’s not...” She caught Vox grinning her out of the corner of her eye and stopped. “N-Never mind. But um, I saw you. The day you came to attack the castle. And got thrown in the dungeon. I was watching you. I’m not surprised you didn’t notice me at all though… you were… um… occupied.”

“Occupied with getting chased down and chained up,” Vox snickered.

Rainbow Dash glared at her before she looked back at Wish with a softer expression. “Well I hope now you can see that I’m not so scary. Or dangerous, heh.”

“Yeah,” Wish actually smiled slightly.

“Oh anypony can see that,” Vox interrupted. “But it’s not enough, is it? So now we get to the other reason the two of us are here.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

Vox brought a hoof up to her mouth and giggled through it. “Why, Rainbow Dash, we’re just going to be doing something you’re very familiar with. And the silly filly here is going to watch.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious, you’re going to have this kid watch while you do that? You’re sick.”

Vox rolled her eyes. “Oh it’s not like I’m physically torturing you. Besides, it’s all a-okay according to her father. Nothing to worry about.”

“She’s...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked at Wish. “You’re really his daughter?”

“Y-Yes,” Wish nodded. She was looking between Rainbow Dash and Vox. “W-What do you mean, torture? What’s the Inquisitor duty father asked you to do?”

“You’ll see. It should be coming now,” Vox said, giggling and looking back down the corridor.

Wish looked too, but she heard it first. The sound of a cart being pushed through the darkness.

“Why’d he let her come down here? Why does he want her to see this?” Rainbow Dash asked Vox.

“Her father believed it would be helpful for Wish that she sees you totally helpless. That she gets to see what’s done to any pony that would try and take her happiness away. Or something like that—I don’t really care so long as I get to have fun,” Vox shrugged.

Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before looking at Wish again. “Kid, you seem like a nice filly, I don’t know what your relationship with your father and this nutjob here are like, but this isn’t something you’re going to want to watch. Go back up those stairs and forget about me. I’m sure you can get over your nightmares.” She then glared at Vox. “You know you’re not going to get what you want, right? It’s going to be the same as every other time.”

“I know~” Vox giggled.

From the darkness, the other Inquisitor emerged pushing a cart with a familiar box on top of it. Wish felt herself start to shake and Rainbow Dash growled at it. He came to a stop behind the two mares and stood there quietly until Vox ordered him to leave. While humming a tune to herself, she brought her ring of keys to the lock on Rainbow Dash’s cell and unlocked it. The door swung open and Vox stepped inside, holding it open for Wish to walk in as well.

She did so, and now all three of them were inside the cell, her and the Head Inquisitor standing right beside the chained up prisoner. Vox hung the keys up on the door and then ran a hoof through Rainbow Dash’s mane.

“I wonder how long you’ll be down here until your hair starts falling out and your coat loses its luster?” Vox said. “Heh, I didn’t even want to keep you here anymore.”

Vox then grabbed the box with her red magic and levitated it into the cell. She placed it down right in front of Rainbow Dash’s face.

“Time for an Inquisition,” Vox smiled and opened up the box, sliding the lid off.

Rainbow Dash was glaring fiercely at Vox and Wish had gone silent. The filly’s breathing was coming out in short gasps and her heart was pounding as Vox levitated something out of the box.

It looked like a cross between a metal cage and a helmet. There was a cap on the top, with large screws inside it going through other beams of metal to hold them in place. A leather strap was bound around the bottom of it and around eye-level another beam of metal protruded out from the cap that tiny clamps attached to wires were fastened on. Directly below that, another beam welded to the one above it had a few more clamps attached to it. More random strips of metal came out of the back of it that were all held together by screws and tight wires. On the right side of the cap was an empty glass test-tube attached to a metal loop, the top of it was screwed into another piece of metal coming out the side like a faucet. And all across every last inch of metal, not leaving a single blank spot, were inscriptions of some sort. Wish thought they were just random scratches at first but the harder she looked the more they looked like math equations or some kind of weird foreign language.

“W-What is that?” Wish asked. She felt fear just looking at it.

“This-” Vox said, holding it up to show it off better. “It’s what’s used in my true Inquisitor duty. It’s a device that amplifies and harvests the primary emotion of the one wearing it. Your father told me he received it from some other pony, but he didn’t tell me anything else. Aside from how it works.”

With a grin, Vox placed the device on Rainbow Dash’s head even as the pegasus struggled and glared at her. Vox just found that amusing and quickly got the cap on right and tightened the strap right below Rainbow Dash’s jaw to keep it steady. As Wish looked on in horror and disgust, the tiny clamps were affixed to Rainbow Dash’s eyelids, forcing them open, and the screws on top of the cap were tightened so much that Wish was worried they would start drilling into her skull if Vox turned them one more time.

“There we go. You look as wonderful as always with that on,” Vox laughed and got down right in front of Rainbow Dash’s face. The pegasus was forced to look at her and Wish could see her clenching her jaw in anger and frustration. Her eyes were watering thanks to the clamps keeping them open. “Still just angry though. We want despair from you, Rainbow Dash. That’s what needs to be harvested, not anger.”

“Go jump off a bridge,” Rainbow Dash bit out.

“Heh. Well, I figured this is how it would go. You’re really something else,” Vox’s eyes flickered to Wish. “Come stand here with me. Watch her face.”

“I-I don’t-”

“Come here,” Vox sharply commanded.

Wish was shaking as she walked over, her legs felt weak, but she couldn’t stop herself. In the end she stood right by Vox’s side and looked up at Rainbow Dash’s face while the device was affixed to her head. The prisoner looked enraged as she just glared at Vox. It was frightening, she had seemed concerned, even kind of nice just a minute ago, and now she had a visage of frothing anger. She was practically snarling at this point.

“See? She’s just a helpless beast trapped in our dungeon now. Totally at our mercy. I’m sure those nightmares will be a thing of the past after today,” Vox said. She chuckled a bit and leaned in closer to Rainbow Dash, staring directly into her eyes. Her horn lit up and a red glow briefly covered the device and all the little inscriptions on it before fading away. “Tell me—how angry are you? Be honest.”

“Very. Enough to rip your throat out,” Rainbow Dash growled.

“Ooh, that’s pretty good,” Vox nodded. “Even saying something like that in front of an innocent little filly, the device is certainly working.”

“If I wasn’t chained down you wouldn’t have such a dumb smirk on your face. I’m going to get you back for all of this and everything else you’ve done!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

Vox laughed and started clapping. “More, please~”

“I’ll tear your head off! I’ll bring this whole castle and everypony in it down! I don’t care if you beg for mercy!” Rainbow Dash pulled against her restraints with all her might, she was yelling and her eyes were red from more than just being pulled open, she wasn’t acting like a normal pony anymore. Vox was right, she had become a beast. “You want to know how I feel you psycho?! I’m furious! I hate you! I’m angry!”

“So angry you can’t even think straight, it’s wonderful. And it should be just about time...” Vox said.

Wish meanwhile was trembling at the unnatural rage of the pegasus. She wasn’t even paying any attention to Vox or what they were saying anymore. Terror and confusion had completely gripped her heart and mind.

Vox lit up her horn and tightened the screws on the cap again, making Rainbow wince.

“Let it all out, Rainbow Dash,” Vox said.

“Rrrrnnnghh!” Rainbow Dash stopped speaking with words entirely and just growled and barked at Vox.

Wish was sure that if she wasn’t chained down that all of those threats wouldn’t have just been empty words. And as she watched the now manic pegasus, the faucet at the side of her head that the test-tube was attached to started to leak something. Wish almost thought it was blood at first, it was red, but bright red, and it dripped down into the test-tube, coming from the faucet. Which in turn must’ve come from the cap or… perhaps it really was coming from inside Rainbow Dash. She was practically mesmerized as she watched that viscous red liquid fill up the test-tube while Rainbow Dash roared and foamed at the mouth.

Finally the tube filled up and Vox lit up her horn with magic again. The device glowed for a second and then came to a stop, Rainbow Dash seemed to lose most of the energy she had and her whole body pretty much collapsed. She was already chained down but now it was like she had fallen asleep, her head hung limply with the device still on and her eyes still clamped open. Only a few faint breaths escaped from her throat.

Wish felt like throwing up.

“Always takes a lot out of everypony...” Vox muttered and reached forward to start taking off the clamps and loosening the screws. Lastly she undid the strap and took the device off of Rainbow Dash’s head, but the pegasus only continued to lie there in exhaustion. The Head Inquisitor laughed at the state she was in. “How do you feel, Rainbow Dash?”

The pegasus’s eyes rolled up and shot a weak glare at Vox.

“Oh please, I’m the one who should be upset right now. Red again. Nothing but pure, honest, anger. Tsk, tsk, tsk. That’s not what we need at all,” Vox shook her head. She pulled the test-tube off the device and corked it with a stopper from the box. “Well it’s no big deal. Today was about Wish. I’m sure she got to see all she needed to see.”

The Head Inquisitor’s red eyes drifted down to the shivering filly. Wish couldn’t even look back up at her. What had she just seen? What was going on?

“Wish?” Vox said and tilted the filly’s chin up with her magic, forcing their eyes to meet. “Tell me, please, how happy are you right now? Your father will want to know.”

There was only one answer to give.

Wish forced a trembling smile onto her face, the rainbow pegasus lying there and staring at her. “T-Ten out of ten.”

Black

“So obviously, I didn’t get what you wanted from that pony. Again,” Vox shrugged as she stood in Dreamweaver’s lab, explaining how her recent visit to the dungeon had gone. “I’m telling you it’s not going to work. She refuses to despair, it’s only anger, anger, anger. Well—to be fair I kind of skipped a few things since Wish was down there with me. You know, the kind of stuff I didn’t think you’d approve of her seeing? But even then, that rainbow pony is just too strong-willed. Her spirit doesn’t break.” A grin tugged at Vox’s lips. “It’s kind of entertaining but at the same time I’d really like to just strangle her.”

Dreamweaver was busy leaning over one of his tables, looking at a beaker of bubbling liquid and a series of tubes and bowls with all manner of bright-colored liquids moving through them. Some of them ended in little tapered off spots that dripped down into other vials and beakers, mixing together to form something new. He took his beaker of bubbling liquid and ever so gently poured a few droplets into a thin vial and watched as an electric blue substance formed inside. It shifted to green, to yellow, and then back to blue, never staying the same for more than a few seconds.

“Are you listening to me?” Vox raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Dreamweaver responded. “How did Wish react? I should hope her nightmares will be a thing of the past now.”

Vox’s grin widened as she held back a chuckle. “Well she gave me a ten out of ten in happiness after it was over...”

“Good.”

Vox frowned in annoyance at his curt behavior. “Is there another reason I’m here? Cause if not I-”

“You’re going back down there tomorrow,” Dreamweaver told her without looking.

“I am? It’s just going to be the same—unless you’re finally giving me the go to just kill her already,” Vox shrugged.

“Of course not,” Dreamweaver snorted and levitated up a syringe from the table. “It’s just that I’ve finally gotten the answer to our problem.” He brought the syringe over to the shifting vial and stuck the needle down into the liquid, pulling on the plunger and sucking a good deal of it up through the needle. With a smile, he got up from the table and walked over to Vox, the syringe levitating in his golden grasp. “When you visit our prisoner again, inject her with this before putting the device on her.”

“What is it?”

“A hallucinogenic that I’ve been working on. Along with a few other things all mixed together. When you inject her with this, she should enter something of a hypnotic state, she’ll become suggestible, she’ll answer questions truthfully that she refused to answer before. You know how she refuses to talk about her home or loved ones? You’ll finally be able to pry that out of her. And then… just do your thing and get her to despair. She’ll start hallucinating things if you suggest them to her, she’ll think what she’s seeing and being told is real. Make up a story that will terrify and sadden her. Anything so we can finally harvest the right emotion from her,” Dreamweaver explained.

Vox took the syringe from him with a happy smile on her face and licked her lips. “Now you’re talking.”

“Yes, once she’s gotten into the right state simply put the device on her and get the despair harvested. That pure black despair,” he wistfully looked back at the large curtain at the back of the lab. “It’ll be what I need, I can feel it. A pony as strong and full of hope and happiness as she is… to get pure and honest despair from her, it will be of a higher quality than anything.”

“Yeah I don’t know about all that stuff but whatever, it’s still fun for me,” Vox shrugged.

“And I want you to take Wish again so she can watch.”

Vox actually blinked in surprise. “Wait, really?”

“Of course. I want her to see what a pony in absolute despair looks like. It will make her feel better about herself, she’ll be happy and grateful that she’s so fortunate and not miserable. She’ll be able to think about all the things she has, all the love from me, and look at that rainbow pony who’s being tortured and has nothing. That should make her even happier,” Dreamweaver said with a pleasant smile on his face.

“Yeah I’m not entirely sure your daughter, or pretty much any pony, is going to have that exact reaction but hey, whatever.” Vox held back a laugh. “I’m totally sure you know her better than I do. So yeah, I bet she’ll be overjoyed to see that prisoner in the depths of despair that I put her through.”

If Dreamweaver got the sarcasm in what Vox said, all he offered in return was a small chuckle.

“Well, you had best get ready for tomorrow. Once that despair is harvested… things will finally begin here.”

Vox looked behind him at the curtained off thing at the back of the lab and frowned. “You know… you still haven’t told me what exactly is going to happen. What’s the actual purpose of getting all this despair? All you say is it’s your dream or your daughter’s happiness or whatever.”

“If I haven’t told you already why do you think I would tell you now?” Dreamweaver smirked. “That part about it being my dream is all you need, because to you that should mean that you devote everything you have to it. Understand?”

“Yeah… whatever,” Vox huffed and rolled her eyes.

“Not ‘whatever’. It’s never whatever when it comes to my daughter’s happiness and my dream. Just do your job and obey my orders and you’ll get to do everything and anything you want thanks to me. That’s all that should matter to a simpleton such as yourself,” Dreamweaver narrowed his eyes at her.

Vox stared back at him, but then slowly smiled. “Well you’ve got a point. And as far as gratitude goes, I sure am grateful to you for letting me do all this.”

Wish was shifting back and forth in bed, struggling with the covers as she woke up. Once more she had not had a pleasant night of sleep. In fact she had barely been able to sleep at all. Not only was she too tense after the visit to the dungeon and the meeting with Rainbow Dash, she was certain the nightmares would come for her again. Sleep was not a reprieve for her. She was beginning to feel like nothing was. Her eyes were still closed shut as she squirmed around some more in discomfort.

“Mmm… Dotty? I don’t know what time it is or if you’re here already, but I don’t think I’m gonna go to class today. I-I don’t really feel like doing much...” Wish murmured.

“It’s not Dotty this morning.”

Wish’s eyes snapped open and she looked over to see Vox leaning on her bed, her face propped up on her hooves as she watched Wish. A sneering grin was already spreading across her face.

“Hi there, silly filly.”

“W-Where… w-what...” Wish stammered.

Vox rolled her eyes and stood up. “Oh relax. Dotty’s just been given the day off, you and I have something important to do again.” She brought over the stair steps for Wish to use. “So hurry up, out of bed and get ready.”

Wish hesitantly got out of the covers and stepped down from the bed to the floor. She couldn’t hide the look of dismay on her face as she looked up at Vox. “What are we doing?”

“Why what do you think? We’re going to go visit that pegasus in the dungeon again,” Vox giggled.

“B-But why?” Wish paled a bit. She was conflicted, not sure if she wanted to go back there or not. Maybe she did—but just not with Vox.

“Obviously you remember what we did yesterday. But that Inquisition was sort of a failure. So now the real deal is happening, and you’re going to watch. You’ll watch and it’ll make you soooo happy thinking how fortunate you are in comparison,” Vox clasped her hooves together and fluttered her eyelashes a few times before breaking out into more laughter. “Sound good?”

Wish shook her head, surprising herself with her resistance. “I don’t… I don’t want to see that again.”

Vox’s eye twitched. “Huh. I really wasn’t expecting you to refuse. It’s not a request though, and your lovey-dovey father who’s oh so obsessed with making you happy is the one who wants you down there with me again. Do you have a problem with it now? If he thinks it’s good then I’m sure that a good little filly like you must agree. You’d never disobey him.”

“I… he really wants me to?” Wish asked.

“He thinks it’ll be good for you,” Vox smiled. “He really only wants you to be happy. And don’t you want to see the prisoner again? I know she’s not the cause of your nightmares, you probably want to talk more with her, don’t you?”

“Yes...”

“Then it’s settled! We’re going down there as soon as you’re ready. Oh, I truly, truly can’t wait. This time… I can feel already that it’s going to be more fun than anything I’ve done so far as Head Inquisitor,” Vox rubbed her cheeks in joy.

“What do you mean? Isn’t this just normal for you?” Wish asked.

“Oh it’s going to be special this time. You’ll see. That pony is getting a very special Inquisition, after she’s resisted for so long… your father has given me something to finally get what he needs from her,” Vox chuckled some more. “You’ll see, you’ll see very soon.”

Wish trembled where she stood. She didn’t like the sound of any of this.

“Oh, the loon is back. Didn’t get enough yesterday?” Rainbow Dash snorted as Vox walked into her cell with Wish following right behind the Head Inquisitor. Rainbow’s expression got even darker as soon as she noticed Wish. “The kid again? Do you even care how messed up you are for bringing her down here?” Rainbow glanced down at Wish. “Seriously, kid, if you have any choice at all, get out of here. This isn’t the kind of stuff you should see.”

“You’re very kind to her considering who her father is,” Vox giggled.

“Who her father is doesn’t matter, she’s just a filly. She doesn’t even have her Cutie Mark yet, you monster.” Rainbow Dash glared.

Vox shrugged. “Well she doesn’t have a choice. Or she does, but not really. She’d never disobey her loving father. She’s a loyal little darling.”

Wish bit her lip and hung her head low, unable to meet the gaze of Rainbow Dash.

The box containing the device was already with them as well. Vox moved it over to in front of Rainbow Dash but she didn’t open it up just yet.

“Rainbow Dash. Things are going to be a little different this time. And this time we’re going to get what we want from you,” Vox said as she leaned down to look eye to eye with Rainbow Dash.

“Fat chance,” Rainbow responded.

“Heh, we’ll see,” Vox smiled and reached into her white suit, pulling something out of one of the pockets and levitating it between her face and Rainbow Dash’s. “Do you know what this is?”

Wish’s eyes narrowed to pinpricks and Rainbow Dash glared harder at the syringe full of strange glowing liquid in front of her.

A syringe. Needles. Wish’s memories and dreams were replaying themselves inside her head. A cold terror had gripped her entire body. They were always coming down at her. Always trying to get her.

“Yes,” Rainbow Dash growled.

“Do you want to know what’s inside it? What I’m about to inject into you?” Vox’s maniacal grin spread wider.

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer. Her eyes were full of white hot fury as she glared at Vox.

“Heh, well you’re about to find out,” Vox said and suddenly stabbed the needle into Rainbow Dash’s neck. The pegasus grit her teeth and winced in pain, while Vox immediately pressed the plunger down and the contents of the syringe flooded into her body. Vox then pulled the needle out and tossed the syringe onto the floor, letting it shatter there. She grinned and couldn’t help but chuckle as Rainbow Dash shivered and trembled while she was chained down to the table. “Should only be a few moments...”

“W-What...” Rainbow Dash said as she felt a cold, almost numb, sensation spread from her neck and into the rest of her body. “What’s happening...”

“Vox… w-what was that?” Wish asked the Head Inquisitor, a queasy look on her face as Rainbow continued to spasm and her breathing became ragged and uneven.

“Shh,” Vox lifted a hoof to her lips to silence Wish. “Just watch for a moment.”

Wish watched as Rainbow Dash twitched, her neck and head jerking from left to right. The pegasus tried to reach up with her hooves to feel her neck where she had been injected but the shackles kept her well away. Veins in her neck were pulsing and took on a darker color while the pupils of her eyes dilated and they darted back and forth. Her jaw clenched down so tightly it looked like she would shatter her own molars. The rest of her body grew pale as a waterfall of sweat started to pour off her back. Low moans and wheezing noises started to escape from her clenched jaw and throat.

“Alright, time to see if this is working,” Vox said and leaned down right in front of Rainbow Dash again. She had a twisted smile on her face as Rainbow Dash’s eyes focused on her.

But Wish saw that those eyes were almost staring past her. Like they were seeing something else—or something more right now.

“What is your name?” Vox asked the pegasus.

“R-Rainbow Dash...” she answered even as her body continued to shake.

Vox nodded. “Alright… do you see the hat I’m wearing? The black hat?”

Wish looked up, Vox wasn’t wearing any hat. Rainbow Dash’s eyes tilted up too but unlike Wish, they showed a flash of recognition in them.

“Yes...”

“Good, good,” Vox chuckled. “So then, just to be sure this is working, let me ask you some questions you haven’t been willing to answer before. What is the name of your home? Where do you come from?”

Rainbow’s eyes darted around, she seemed confused, agitated, like she didn’t want to answer but couldn’t help herself. “E-Equestria… I c-come from Equestria...”

Vox giddily clapped. “Very, very good! Now tell me more. Tell me about your friends and family.”

“Mom… dad…”

“More than that. Their names, Rainbow Dash. Do you love them?”

Rainbow Dash nodded as best she could in her restrained state. “I love them… Windy Whistles… Bow Hothoof. My f-friends, Twilight Sparkle… Fluttershy… Rarity… Applejack… Pinkie Pie. I l-love them all too.” She was breathing heavily and her eyes had half rolled back into her head. “T-Tank… pet tortoise… a-and...” Suddenly her face tilted down a little and she looked directly at Wish. “S-Scootaloo… l-little sister...”

“Ohhh, all these new names. Please, tell me more about how you love them. Tell me more about your home and everything,” Vox said.

“They mean… everything to me. I’d do… a-anything for my friends. L-Love them… love my family. I live in Cloudsdale… I h-help out at school in Ponyville, p-perform in the Wonderbolts. L-Love Equestria… the Princesses… the kids… e-everything...” Rainbow Dash’s eyes were starting to water. She didn’t want to say what she was saying. She knew she shouldn’t be, but whatever had been injected into her body was compelling her.

“That’s good… now Rainbow Dash. Why don’t you picture yourself back in Equestria? You’re not in a dungeon. You’re back home. You see all your friends. It’s a bright day outside. Equestria. Home. Not some dark dungeon. You’re flying in the sky above your home,” Vox said.

“Flying… flying in the sky...” Rainbow Dash repeated.

As Wish watched, Rainbow Dash’s eyes became glazed over, she wasn’t looking at her or Vox anymore. She had been transported elsewhere.

“Yes you’re flying through the sky, like a ghost. Buildings are no obstacle to you, you can see everything. You see your friends there… but they can’t see or hear you,” Vox smiled. “You’re invisible. You can’t touch them. Only watch.”

“No...” Rainbow Dash whimpered.

“Yes. And now, now that you’re back home, you realize you’ve been gone for so long that you’ve missed something important. Something horrible has happened in Equestria while you were away. What are your friends faces like? Do they look upset? Scared? Sad?”

“Y-Yes… something bad… crying. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy… everypony… crying.” Rainbow Dash started crying completely as well, her eyes wide open. “Stop. Stop it...”

Wish didn’t know if she was talking to her phantom friends or Vox. Either way it didn’t stop.

“Let’s see, what can we—ah. I’ve got it,” Vox’s eyes gained a malevolent twinkle in them that shook Wish to her core. “Rainbow Dash… while you were away, a disease came through Equestria. A sickness. A plague. So many ponies caught it… so many died from it. Your friends are all gathered in the hospital together, crying over those who have died. You’re right there with them—and yet not. They’re crying out for you, Rainbow Dash. Wondering where you are, wondering why you weren’t here to help. Why did you abandon them in their time of need?”

“I-I didn’t… I’m sorry… p-please, stop it… stop crying...” Rainbow Dash pleaded.

“Apologizing won’t bring back everypony who has died, Rainbow Dash. Your friends, your family, everypony is twisted in despair. Now tell me… are you sad right now?” Vox asked.

“Yes...”

Vox grinned. “Are you depressed? Are you miserable knowing your friends and home have suffered while you’ve been away?”

“Y-Yes...”

“That’s right. You’re finally feeling despair now, Rainbow Dash.”

Vox chuckled and opened up the box containing the device.

“N-No...” Wish said as she saw what Vox was doing. She even reached up to tug on the sleeve of Vox’s suit. “Don’t, s-she’s already… please. Don’t do anymore to her.”

“But if I didn’t do this then there wouldn’t be a point to any of it at all. Silly filly,” Vox winked at her and pulled away from Wish’s grip. The device was levitated on out and brought over to Rainbow Dash’s head. Wish could only look on in horror as Vox once again put it on and strapped Rainbow Dash in. Screwing everything tight and pulling her eyelids open. Rainbow Dash only seemed vaguely aware of what was happening, lost in whatever visions and illusions Vox had conjured in her mind.

“Rainbow Dash? I need you to listen to me again. I need you to let it all out. Everything you’re feeling, all that despair inside your head. Let it all out for me,” Vox said.

With the cage-like device on her head, Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw shut and stared a thousand miles ahead. Slowly she shook her head as best she could. “N-No… no...”

“My, what a strong will. Still trying to fight back even as the hallucinations tear at you,” Vox said. She giggled and stared down into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “But Rainbow Dash… that’s not all that’s going on in Equestria right now. It’s not just your friends who are sad, they aren’t only crying for strangers. Somepony very close to you has gotten sick. I’m afraid to say it but… they’re dying. They’re lying in the hospital bed right now, taking their last breaths. Who is it, Rainbow Dash? Who’s dying right now? Who would it tear you up the most to see dying without you there by her side?”

More tears dripped from Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Scoots… S-Scootaloo...”

“The little sister? She must be just a filly, how sad~” Vox smiled. “That poor little filly is dying and you’re nowhere to be found. She’s crying out for you, asking for Rainbow Dash, but you’re not there. You can’t lay a comforting hoof on her shoulder, you can’t tell her it’s all going to be okay, all you can do is watch as she struggles to breathe.”

“Stop it...” Rainbow Dash cried.

“She’s dying. Because you left her alone, because you weren’t there for her or any of your friends. It’s all because of you that this is happening. I can imagine you in that room, screaming, trying to do anything for her, but helpless. The despair you must feel right now… let it out, Rainbow Dash. Let it all out.”

To Wish’s horror, Rainbow Dash slumped forward, limp, and a viscous black liquid began to drip ever so slowly from the faucet and into the empty test-tube. It bubbled and churned about like it was alive as it filled up the glass container and all the while Rainbow Dash’s tears cascaded down her face and puddled to the floor. Wish had seen this black liquid before. It was part of her nightmares and now she was seeing it in reality. Despair given form, much like the red anger before, but far more vile. Not just the midnight black color of it, but something deep within Wish’s soul told her of the darkness she was seeing. This was much worse than last time.

“That’s right, the sheer despair you feel to see your beloved friends and family dying while you can do nothing. While you’ve abandoned them,” Vox continued to coax Rainbow Dash on.

“Nghhh...” Rainbow Dash mewled in a combination of mental and physical anguish while the black liquid despair poured from her.

Wish was starting to feel light-headed as she watched. Something dripped down onto her hoof and when she looked down she realized it was blood from her nose.

“Finally. We’ve finally got it all,” Vox said as the test-tube filled up all the way.

“S-Scootaloo… Twilight… everypony...” Rainbow Dash cried.

“Yeah, yeah, cry about them all you want. Don’t need that anymore,” Vox said as she finished up with the device and carefully extracted the test-tube. “Hmm… he didn’t tell me how long the effects of that drug would last though. Heh, you might be in for a rough night.” She giggled and put a stopper in the test-tube, looking deeply at the black liquid inside.

The device was then taken off of Rainbow Dash’s head and placed back in the box. The pegasus now didn’t have any energy left, her body was still twitching and she stared ahead with red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Wish had no idea how aware she was, or what her state of mind was like at the moment. Her face was so vacant.

“You don’t look so good either,” Vox said.

Wish’s head snapped up to look at the Head Inquisitor as she smirked down at her.

“A nosebleed huh? And your face is as white as a ghost’s,” Vox brought a hoof up to her mouth and started laughing, the test-tube of black despair floating by her head. “Not the expected reaction according to your father—for a psychiatrist it’s almost funny how little he seems to understand his own daughter. Well, it would be bad for me if he knew how you really reacted to all of this. I’ll get you cleaned up and taken care of tonight. And of course he’ll get the news that his darling little daughter enjoyed her time here. After all, you’re feeling a ten out of ten for happiness right now, aren’t you?”

Wish couldn’t nod or speak, she stumbled back and hit the bars of the cell before slumping to the ground. Her vision was going dark and her entire body felt light. Before she even knew it she had already fainted.

“Hm. I’ll just have to take that as a yes,” Vox shrugged.

The vial of despair was safely tucked into her suit and she looked back at Rainbow Dash one last time before packing everything else away. Vox winked at the captive pegasus. “Same time tomorrow~”

Author's Note

So yeah, this arc was pretty much the reason this story needed to be T-rated.

False Smile

A blue and rainbow blur flew over a white room while other phantom figures gathered around a small bed. Wish was standing, silent and immobile, off to the side, watching it all. The colorful phantom had no such restrictions—she screamed and cried a cacophony of noise, trying to reach the others in the white room but getting nowhere.

From the tiles on the floor, a black liquid began to seep in through them. Wish felt the cold numbness of the liquid as it reached her hooves, her knees, her body, her chin. The other phantoms in the room were being swallowed up by it, melted down into it. As they went, Wish could barely make out a small figure lying on the bed.

It was her.

The black liquid reached her mouth and poured into her body.

The pegasus phantom, it reached down to try and scoop her off the bed. To try and save her from the black liquid as it filled up and attempted to drown the room and the ponies inside.

Syringes came from the walls with red eyes twitching and blinking all over them. They impaled the colorful phantom all over her body. Legs, wings, head.

The black liquid at last reached Wish’s eyes.

Wish woke up in the middle of the night with a cold shiver and tears running from her eyes. She turned around and started pummeling her pillow with her hoof before pulling it over her head and screaming into it. After that she threw it across the bed and lied down in the middle of the large mattress, panting and whimpering in exhaustion, fear, sadness, and sympathy for the rainbow pegasus.

“Why? Why is any of this happening?” She asked the darkness.

A few flashes of lightning outside the window made Wish flinch and she rolled over to put her back to the large window. She could try and get out of bed to see what time it was, but what was really the point of that? The darkness was still all around her and it would be hours before Dotty came in trying to wake her up.

The worst part was, as tired as she was she was still afraid to close her eyes and go to sleep.

If she didn’t get anymore sleep, Dotty would surely notice the bags under her eyes. Maybe Wish didn’t even care if she did. However, those thoughts ended up being moot, as she slowly drifted back off to sleep without even noticing.

Wish stepped over the cold stone floor in a dark and quiet room. She was compelled to walk on even as her brain told her legs to stop, to run back. They didn’t listen to her. Her mouth wouldn’t open, only her eyes were under her control as they darted back and forth inside their sockets, trying to find or see anything or anypony that could help her.

Nothing. There was nothing that could give her salvation down here.

Down here. Where was here? How did she know she was down deep below the ground?

Needles had sewn her lips shut. Needles had sewn thread through her limbs and forced her to move like a puppet on strings. Pulling her forward. Making her do and see things she didn’t want to.

A torch lit up on the wall. Followed by another, and another. The fires lit up the room for Wish, allowing her to finally see around her. There was nothing along the walls, only cold black stone.

Above her, the sound of a chain rattled.

Wish fought the strings pulling and controlling her body and barely managed to tilt her head up to look above her.

Ponies wrapped in chains hung off the ceilings. Unmoving. The chains wrapped around their legs, or wings, or horns, or necks, or bodies. Holding them there. Imprisoned. Wish’s eyes were now glued on them as she passed beneath them. Their eyes were the only thing about them that moved as well, all were locked on Wish. Watching her. Silently pleading for her to help them.

But she couldn’t. She was merely being pulled along as well, just as helpless, just as in need of rescue.

Wasn’t she?

Black tears started to pool at the eyes of the hanging ponies, they dripped down and fell to Wish like raindrops.

An unceasing torrent. Wish’s eyes couldn’t close. Her head couldn’t move. She had to watch the black rainfall the entire time. Hear the sound of the heavy droplets hitting the stone floor. When she tried to blink, she realized that needles had sewn her eyelids open as well. She was pulled along like on a conveyor belt beneath the dozens, hundreds, of chained ponies. The black tears from them formed rivers and lakes along the floor.

As soon as Wish passed by the last of them, the needles and threads pulled her head back down and made her stare straight ahead once more.

There was something coming up. Something the threads were pulling her legs towards.

A room. A cell. Bars of steel went from floor to ceiling at the end of this darkness. Wish could see something inside the cell—somepony.

A blue and rainbow pegasus, chained up, suspended in the air. The chains coming from the walls pulled all her limbs taught. Her head was hung low and her rainbow mane covered her face.

Wish tried to scream out for her but it was muffled behind her sewn lips.

She was pulled right up to the bars, her front hooves lifted like a marionette’s and forced to grasp the bars as she looked in at the helpless pegasus. Wish wanted to help her. She wanted the pegasus to help her. Which of them could help the other? Both? Neither? As Wish tried to fight the needles and threads that made her into a puppet, tried to call out for the pegasus, a white smoke drifted from behind her and passed through the bars.

Wish cried out with black tears falling from her eyes as the smoke coalesced into a monstrous figure. A grinning red mouth, glowing red eyes, tendrils emerging from all over. The monster wrapped its tendrils around the pegasus, restraining her more than the chains already were. As soon as the pegasus felt their touch, her head snapped up and to Wish’s horror she saw that her eyes and lips were sewn up tight just as hers were.

As much as Wish could see that the pegasus wanted to struggle and fight back with the fire in her eyes, it was impossible. The monster opened up its mouth—its teeth were needles dripping black.

The black rivers from the other crying prisoners started to flow through the bars and circled below the pegasus. Syringes full of a glowing liquid popped up from them, all of them going right towards the helpless pegasus.

The bars dissolved and Wish felt herself fall forward and into the black river. The needles and thread restraining her disappeared and she fought against the current, trying to swim, to keep her head above it. As she tried to fight her way to the pegasus, a white tendril caught her and wrapped itself around her body.

Wish could only watch as the syringes stabbed into the pegasus.

She was helpless. Always helpless.

The painting of her and her father standing in front of their old house back in Ashen Birch Thicket was starting to take form. Wish had decided to do the hard part (for her) first and made the house and background. Now she was getting close to finishing up the outline of her and her father, then the more minute details could be put in.

Dotty stood across from her at her own easel, humming along as she painted a still life of a bowl of fruits that was on the table between them.

“Are you almost done?” The maid asked her.

“Getting close,” Wish replied.

Dotty nodded, a polite, though small, smile on her face. “And you’re sure all you wanted to do was paint today? You didn’t want to go to class or go out or anything?”

“I’m sure. I’m just… tired,” Wish responded quietly.

There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a moment before Dotty spoke up again. “Do you… want to talk about it?”

“No. But thank you,” Wish shook her head.

“Okay,” Dotty nodded and got back to her painting.

It was about 15 more minutes before Wish was finished with her painting. The very last thing she did with it was adding smiles to her father and herself. After that she sat in front of the easel, just staring at it for a while. Slowly she forced that same smile onto her face. That was all she needed.

“It looks very good,” Dotty said as she looked over Wish’s shoulder at it. Like pretty much always, she had her usual happy smile on her face. “Are you happy with it?”

“Yep,” Wish answered. “What about yours?”

“Oh it’s just another still life. Nothing to really say about it,” Dotty shrugged.

Wish giggled slightly, almost for real. It was nice to know that even with everything else, Dotty was always the same. She took her painting off the easel and set it down on the table. If anything else, at least she had another gift for her father. She was still just so tired today though. That hadn’t been a lie. While Dotty tidied up their paint brushes and other tools, Wish sat back on the couch and rested her eyes. She didn’t want to do anything. Anything at all.

“Dotty?” Wish said with her eyes still closed.

“Yes?”

“Can you get me some chocolate cake? I really feel like that right now.”

A giggle. “Of course I can. I’ll go get it right away.”

“Thank you...” Wish sighed in exhaustion and relaxed back into the couch as best she could. She heard Dotty walk over to the door and exit her chambers, leaving Wish alone. Breathing in and out through her nose, Wish thought if maybe she should’ve just gone to class or done something else anyways. Something more active. Instead here she was, tired with nothing to occupy her mind. The smiles on her and her father’s painted faces were vivid behind her eyelids. Almost taunting her.

Wish stood beside a larger phantom as they stared out together from the castle’s windows. Down below, an unending line of ponies walked through the streets. All of them with their heads hung low and black bands around their necks. Chains connected their hooves to each other and forced them along. The dark sky spread overhead to every horizon, the black clouds spiraling out from directly over the castle’s towers.

There was no light. There was no joy. There were no smiles.

Wish looked up at the one standing beside her. It wasn’t the white monster—but a formless black mass that for some reason made Wish feel colder than she ever had before. A tentacle of darkness came from the black phantom and laid itself out across her shoulders and held her close in a display of affection. But it brought no comfort to Wish.

A noise was coming up from below, and Wish realized that it was the collective mutterings of all the ponies. They recited the same thing in unison, unceasingly as they walked and their chains rattled together.

They were asking for help. Begging for help.

From who? Wish wished she could help them. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything.

The black mass pulled her closer.

She needed help too. She was the helpless one. She was trapped just as much as those ponies. Would they help her? Down far below, she could see something she shouldn’t be able to. The blue comet, the rainbow. Wish begged for it to help her and the other ponies. It couldn’t.

It needed a pony to help it too.

Wish jolted up with a start from her napping dream on the couch. She was sweating again and breathing heavily. Outside the large window in the main room another bolt of lightning flashed. Fear and confusion were muddling her mind until she remembered where she was and what had happened. She had fallen asleep, on accident after finishing up her painting.

“Um...”

Wish looked over at the voice and saw Dotty standing next to the couch with a chocolate cake balanced on her back. She nervously smiled at Wish but it never reached her eyes. “I brought cake...”

“T-Thank you, Dotty.” Wish gulped and tried to calm herself down.

Now Dotty had seen her like this and she knew something was wrong. Would she say anything?

Would Wish say anything? It was just a nap but she had yet another nightmare during it.

“Do you want me to cut it for you?” Dotty asked her.

Wish sat there staring at her, blinking. Before her on the table was her painting. Her happy painting. Naturally she had drawn it to be a bright and happy day. She had painted in the green grass and pretty flowers that sat around and outside her house, and the bright yellow sun overhead. It didn’t reflect the truth. None of it reflected how she really felt. It didn’t acknowledge the nightmares that still plagued her, and the sense of helplessness that dragged her down everywhere she went no matter what she did.

“There’s something else I want to do today now,” Wish told Dotty.

As Wish and Dotty walked past the two guards standing in front of the maw that led down to the dungeons, they shared an uncertain glance with each other but neither one of them spoke up. It seemed just Wish’s presence was enough for them to accept it. Dotty on the other hoof was dreadfully nervous and had been the entire trip down here so far. That didn’t change as she and Wish walked down the steps and then made their way even deeper below the castle, going to their final destination.

“Um, W-Wish? Should we really be doing this right now? Don’t you think you should have told your father that you wanted to see the prisoner again?” Dotty asked her as the two went down the narrow hallway.

“Maybe. But all I’m doing is talking to her. It shouldn’t be a big deal, right?”

“W-Well… perhaps...”

“Besides, I don’t want the Head Inquisitor bothering me and tagging along either. If I told my dad about this, he’d probably make her come too,” Wish looked at Dotty and raised an eyebrow at her. “You wouldn’t want her to come with us either would you?”

Dotty blanched and quieted up after that.

Wish was pretty nervous on the inside as the both of them descended the last flight of stairs to actually make it into the dungeon. She just did her best not to let it show. Right now she was trying to be strong, stronger than she had been lately. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore, or weak, or helpless. The power those nightmares and the Head Inquisitor had over her were things she wanted to surmount. That was another reason she had decided to come back down here.

The Inquisitor at the desk at the front end of the dungeon was surprised to see the both of them as well. He was the same pony Wish had seen here both times before.

“Is the Head Inquisitor here?” Wish asked him.

“No, she isn’t.” he answered. It was the first time she had heard him speak.

Good. Wish thought and then looked up at Dotty. “Dotty?”

“Yes?”

“Stay here.”

Her maid’s eyebrows shot up into her forehead. “Wait, what?!”

“I want you to stay here. I’m going to talk to the prisoner alone,” Wish told her.

“Um, I-I um, really don’t think I should let you do that. Y-Your father probably wouldn’t want you unattended when talking to that dangerous prisoner a-and he-”

“There isn’t any danger. All I’m doing is talking to her. She’s chained up in a cell, what’s she going to do?”

Dotty started to nervously sweat. “W-Well yes but still, why would you want to talk to her alone anyways? I should really come with you. I mean there shouldn’t be anything you need to say around her that you can’t say around me too. Right, Wish?”

“Maybe. But I still want to talk with her alone. Just me and her, nopony else. And that’s what’s happening, Dotty.” Wish said. She looked up resolutely into Dotty’s eyes.

“O-Oh dear...” Dotty chewed on her lip and pulled at the ends of her mane. “O-Okay but… not too long. Just talk for a little bit, please?”

Wish smiled. “I promise. And… um, you also promise you won’t tell my dad or the Head Inquisitor?”

Dotty sighed in distress but managed to nod. “Yes...”

“Thank you, Dotty,” Wish then looked at the other Inquisitor. “That goes for you too, by the way.”

He nodded swiftly. Probably more worried about saying anything to Vox that could get him on her bad side. Either way it felt good to Wish to be able to actually assert herself like this. So many ponies doted on her, but none of them really listened to her. Getting Dotty to actually give her space gave Wish a boost of confidence that she sorely needed. And she really did need to speak to Rainbow Dash alone. She couldn’t have Dotty or anypony else leaning over her shoulder… she wasn’t sure of everything she might say, and she also needed Rainbow Dash to trust her and feel like it wasn’t a trick or part of an Inquisition.

Wish didn’t know if she would.

“You’ll have to take a candle with you,” the Inquisitor said before Wish left. He pulled a candlestick with a handle out for her and lit it with the torch on the wall, hoofing it over to her.

Wish nodded and started walking down the long dark corridor between the cells to reach Rainbow Dash’s solitary cell at the back of the dungeon. With candle in hoof she had no problem seeing ahead but it didn’t give enough light for her to see into any of the cells around. Which was honestly probably a good thing. She didn’t need to see anything else horrible right now, she needed to keep focused on Rainbow Dash.

At the end of the corridor she reached the familiar bars and door that held Rainbow Dash inside. This time Wish would only be standing outside them. The glow from her candle illuminated the bars, and herself, but she couldn’t see inside the cell without putting it a little closer.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Wish’s face, her mouth was dry as she tried to find the words to speak.

“H-Hello, Rainbow Dash. Are you awake?” Wish asked the darkness.

Silence.

“Umm… i-it’s me again. Do you remember me?”

Silence.

“R-Rainbow Dash-”

“Yeah, kid. I’m here. And I remember you,” the raspy voice came from the darkness.

Wish stiffened up and moved the candle through the bars, setting it on the ground between them. The light from it lit up the chained down Rainbow Dash and Wish saw her ruby eyes staring at her. It was a little intimidating and Wish suddenly found herself unable to speak again. There was too much going through her mind.

“Just you today?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Um, y-yeah...” Wish nodded and quieted down once more.

Silence again grew between them.

“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash suddenly said.

“Huh? What?” Wish looked up in confusion at her.

“For the nightmares. The crazy mare with the torture obsession said you were having nightmares because of me.”

“O-Oh. Well, that’s not really… they started when you came here but they’re not your fault. You don’t need to apologize for that. I-I’m sorry for you being stuck in here...”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah well you don’t need to apologize for that either. Something tells me it’s not a little kid’s fault that I’m chained up like this.”

“Maybe… but I still know the ones who chained you up and kept you here...” Wish glumly looked at the floor.

It was silent for another moment before Rainbow Dash broke it. “So… you’re really Dreamweaver’s daughter?”

“Yeah,” Wish nodded.

“Huh, kind of a surprise. Definitely didn’t figure him to be a father.”

“Did you meet him?”

Rainbow Dash attempted a shrug, but it was hampered by the chains and her position. “Once, when I first got brought down here. Heard about him from a few ponies before that.”

“Who?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and raised an eyebrow at her. “You know, I’m not really sure if I should say. You seem like a nice filly, but can I trust you? Why are you down here again anyways?”

“I just...” Wish shrugged, not sure herself. “I just wanted to talk.”

“Alone?”

“What? Did you want Vox to be here with me?”

“Good point,” Rainbow Dash laughed, and coughed. “Oof...”

“Are you okay?” Wish asked, concerned.

Rainbow Dash merely raised an eyebrow at her.

“S-Sorry, dumb question...”

That got another small laugh from the pegasus though. “Forget it, kid, I’m messing with you. So come on, why’d you really want to talk to me alone then?”

“Well… why should I tell you that if you don’t really trust me or anything? You wouldn’t answer my question...” Wish frowned.

“You’re the one who wanted to talk,” Rainbow Dash “shrugged” once more.

Wish sighed. “Fine. I just… thought I needed to. And I wanted to make sure you were okay. And… I think if you weren’t, that I wanted to help you. I-I don’t know, really! I just keep having these nightmares a-and I-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, kid.” Rainbow Dash said. “Look, sorry for pressuring you. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know you were struggling with anything like this. You okay?”

“Pff, the same I’ve been since coming here,” Wish answered.

“How long have you been here now? In this castle, I mean.” Rainbow Dash asked.

Wish shrugged. “I don’t know, almost a year now? Maybe a whole one even. Everyday sort of blends together and I can’t remember some stuff too well. My father, the Queen invited him to stay here permanently after he came to give her and the castle some psychiatric service or something. That’s what he told me. We came here right after the Queen’s doctor or something like that died. I dunno what the whole story is, the Queen just liked my father so much she gave him a whole tower and I’ve been living here too, getting food and whatever else I wanted pretty much.”

“You don’t sound too happy about it,” Rainbow said. “Seems like something that would be the dream of most ponies.”

“I… I think I’d end up having nightmares about this castle even if you didn’t show up. Sooner or later,” Wish said. “Almost right after we got here… everything changed.”

She looked at Rainbow Dash but the pegasus only quietly waited for her to continue.

“T-The sky went dark, my father and so many other ponies started acting weird. The King and Queen too. These weird black bands on our necks appeared… I just don’t understand. And nopony would ever give me a straight answer. M-My father too just… I dunno. I don’t know what’s going on,” Wish shook her head, a few tears starting to form at her eyes.

“What about your mom? Did she come with you too?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Wish shook her head. “My mom’s dead.”

Rainbow Dash winced. “Aw geez, I’m real sorry, kid. I didn’t-”

“You don’t need to apologize for that either,” Wish shrugged and let out a big sigh, she looked tired more than anything. “That’s not your fault. It happened a few years ago anyways. Still doesn’t stop me from hating how the Queen acts around my dad...”

“Sounds like there’s a lot going on here...” Rainbow Dash muttered.

Wish raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you already know about some of it? You said others told you about my dad… and you must’ve talked with Vox a few times.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and stared off into space, debating with herself. “I know a few things, kid. Probably more than you actually...”

“Like what?”

“Uhhh...”

Wish snorted in annoyance and rolled her eyes. “Oh, I get it. More stuff you can’t tell me?”

“Not your fault or anything but I just don’t want the wrong ponies to hear what I have to say,” Rainbow Dash said.

“… you mean my father. So you think I’ll blab all this to him and he’ll do something you don’t like?” Wish frowned.

“I don’t mean to badmouth you or your father—but yeah. That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well what do you even know?!” Wish yelled and grabbed the bars in front of her. “W-Why should I trust what you have to say? I can say the same exact thing about you! Why’d you try attacking the castle? Why are you still locked up in here? What are you doing so far away from your home? I’ve never even heard of that place you said you’re from!” She grit her teeth as tears started to fall freely from her eyes. “W-Why do I keep having nightmares? Why don’t they stop? Why are you… how come when I see you in them I feel relieved and safe and all warm inside? I-I know it… I’ve always known the nightmares won’t stop until whatever’s happening in this castle—in all of Hoofica stops.” She collapsed to the floor in front of the cell. “I know that I need to do something… but I c-can’t.”

“I know it,” Wish said, sniffling, as she stood up. “I know you’re a good pony… I knew it even before I came down here the first time. And I know I should help you out of here… b-but...”

Rainbow Dash sighed as she listened to Wish pouring her heart out. She took a deep breath and glanced aside. “I could get out of this cell anytime I wanted to anyways...”

“Huh?” Wish blinked in surprise.

“Er… forget you heard that,” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“But you-”

“Look-” Rainbow Dash cut her off. “You said you know I’m a good pony? Well I can tell you’re a good kid too. If you want to talk more… if you want me to trust you on all this, then come back tomorrow. Alone. And we can talk some more.”

Wish looked up into her eyes for a moment. Despite everything the pegasus had been through, her eyes still shone with a strength that Wish could only dream of having. “O-okay. I should probably be getting back anyways. And my name is Wish, you know?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Heh, yeah, I remember.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Goodbye,” Wish said and got her candle, turning around and beginning to walk back out of the dungeon.

“Hey kid.”

Wish looked over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash—or at least the darkness that now once again concealed her. “What is it?”

“That psycho mare. She asked you if you were happy after seeing what was done to me. Why didn’t you tell her the truth?”

The filly froze up and she looked away, her mouth opened and closed a few times before she started walking again. “I-I have to go… I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Inside the highest tower of Hoofica Castle, Dreamweaver stood in his lab, facing the massive apparatus that took up the back part of the lab. The curtain was pulled to the side, revealing the entirety of the strange object. Most of it was simply an enormous glass sphere with valves, pipes, and wires connected to the metal stand held on the bottom of it. A single steel pipe, several inches wide, with a closed faucet at the end and a valve on top came from the middle of the glass and stopped at pony height right above the floor. And at the top of the sphere multiple electrodes were stuck into it while arcs of electricity sparked and jetted between them.

An impossibly dark black liquid, darker than any ink or shadow, filled up the sphere.

There was only the smallest amount of space left at the top that was still empty. And even as Dreamweaver watched, the surface of the black liquid bubbled and ever so slightly encroached on that empty space.

“Almost time. My dream is almost here,” Dreamweaver said with a vacant look on his face.

Outside, lightning struck.

Will You Help Me?

“Wait, again?! Do we really need to go back down there again?” Dotty asked Wish nervously the following morning.

“Yes, Dotty, we do,” Wish said to her as she hopped out of bed. “I’m going to talk to her again. And yes, alone.”

“B-But-”

“Nothing happened last time. You don’t need to worry about it,” Wish told her.

“But what if the Head Inquisitor is down there this morning?” Dotty grimaced.

Wish couldn’t stop her own grimace from appearing. “Well then… then I’ll tell her to leave me alone too.”

“R-Really?” Dotty blanched.

“Yes,” Wish resolutely stated. “Even if she tries to stop us or says she’ll tell my father. No matter what, I’m going to talk to that pegasus again.” She raised an eyebrow at Dotty. “And you’re going to help me out, right?”

A nervous smile stretched across Dotty’s face. “Y-Yep! Of course I am.”

“Thank you, Dotty. I want to have breakfast first before we go back down there,” Wish said. She was pretty sure she wanted to be full of energy for her next visit. Something told her it was a good idea.

Dotty nodded. “Let’s get you cleaned up and then you can eat. I’ll draw your bath.”

The time spent taking a bath and getting her mane and tail done was unusually quiet thanks to Dotty’s nervousness and reticence. It was obvious that she had a lot of reservations about going back down to the dungeons. So did Wish for that matter, but she couldn’t exactly stop. She had to talk more with Rainbow Dash. Both to get over the nightmares, and get over everything strange inside this castle and the kingdom in general. Rainbow Dash knew things—there were a lot of secrets, maybe even uncomfortable ones, being held by her. As much as it bothered Wish, she knew that Rainbow Dash was the key to all of this. She had to help her. And then maybe she could get help too.

Only Wish could do this. Her nightmares… she knew that’s what they were telling her. Some of them at least. That she needed to act, that she finally needed to do something or nothing would change.

After the bath it was a hearty and delicious breakfast of pancakes stacked taller than she was. Complete with strawberries, eggs, plenty of syrup, and a nice big glass of cold milk. She had been so tired lately that she devoured the entire plate in front of her and guzzled the entire glass of milk down. For some reason despite her mental and physical exhaustion there was also something buried deep in her that was lighting a fire inside Wish. Some kind of renewed determination.

Maybe Dotty had noticed it as well, she didn’t even attempt to dissuade Wish again. In fact her mouth was once again clamped shut as they left Wish’s chambers and made the same long walk down to the dungeons that they made yesterday.

Wish was a little different. She didn’t have the same kind of nervousness or trepidation inside her. Her face was a strong frown that told any pony she looked at that she was serious right now. It might’ve been mostly because of who her father was, but neither Dotty nor anypony else wanted to speak up to her as she went through the castle.

That’s how it was right up until they made it to the dungeon, and Head Inquisitor Vox was waiting there for her.

The Head Inquisitor wasn’t standing right by the desk or right at the bottom of the stairs. She was out between the first couple of cells with a torch held in her magical grip and a smile on her face as she looked in at whoever it was that was imprisoned there. A tune was humming from her throat as Wish gulped and Dotty started trembling as soon as they both saw her when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Vox of course, as much of a sadist as she was, still pleasantly hummed along and acted like she hadn’t even noticed the two of them yet. Just so she could torment them further.

At the desk, the quiet Inquisitor averted his gaze from all of them.

Wish suspected he had told Vox about her visit yesterday and that’s why the Head Inquisitor was here waiting for them now.

Either way, she was here, and there was no getting to Rainbow Dash without going through her first.

Vox suddenly stopped humming and looked over at Wish and Dotty with a happy grin on her face. “Oh! I hadn’t noticed the two of you there. What brings you down to the dungeon today?”

“Ah, well, u-um, H-Head Inquisitor, it’s really nothing you see...” Dotty started fumbling around, pulling at her pigtails nervously before Wish cut her off.

“I’m down here to talk to the pegasus,” Wish said.

Vox’s grin widened. “Reeealy now?”

“Yes, really,” Wish didn’t waver or cower before Vox.

“Well now that’s news to me,” Vox chuckled and walked up to Wish and Dotty. “You see, I should always be notified if you want to talk to that prisoner. She’s a special case after all. And you’re a very special filly too. But neither me nor your father heard anything about you wanting to do this. Now I’m sure he wouldn’t mind though so long as you weren’t alone. So how about I tag along with you today and we can, heh, talk with the pegasus together. There’s no reason for you to want to talk to her all on your lonesome anyways. Things would probably even be so much better if you just let me do the talking and watched.”

There was silence in the dungeon as Wish looked up directly into Vox’s red eyes. Dotty was holding her breath as her eyes kept going from Vox to Wish and back to Vox. The other Inquisitor was busy looking at his hooves. Wish felt her teeth chatter slightly, she felt a coldness in her stomach, and the slightest of wobbling in her knees. She sucked in a deep breath to steady herself.

“No.”

Vox’s head tilted to the side, her grin frozen on her face and her left eye beginning to twitch. “I… I think I just misheard you, young lady.”

“You didn’t mishear. I’m going to go talk to the pegasus alone and I don’t want you anywhere near.”

Now, Dotty and the other Inquisitor were both staring at Wish with their jaws dropped open in surprise and amazement. Nopony, nopony at all, had ever spoken like that to the Head Inquisitor. And there were very obvious reasons why. The things she did… the things she was rumored to do, everypony was afraid of her.

And now this little filly who she was so used to terrorizing was standing up to her.

“Wish… do you remember the talk we had back in the royal carriage?” Vox asked as she laid a hoof on Wish’s shoulder. Not squeezing or hurting her, but still trying to menace the filly. “You remember that, right?”

“I do,” Wish nodded.

“So then why would you say something like this? Why would you say something that you know I don’t want to hear?” Vox’s pupils were quivering in her eyes.

Wish shrugged Vox’s hoof off her shoulder. “Because I can.”

A vein throbbed in Vox’s neck and her whole head started to twitch, her jaw was clenched tightly shut as she ground her teeth back and forth and a wheezing noise emerged from her throat. She brought a trembling hoof up to her pink mane and ran it through the long curtain of mane. “You… do you really not get what’s happening right now? You can’t say no to me.”

“I can and I will. Because-” Wish fought back the tremble in her own voice and body. “Because if you don’t let me see Rainbow Dash on my own right now, I’ll tell my father how I really felt after you did your… your Inquisitor duty. I’ll tell him some of the things you said and did to upset me. A-And you’ll be the one in trouble then.”

“Little… stupid… brat,” Vox growled as she yanked at her own mane.

“I’m not… I’m not scared of you, Vox.” Wish said to her.

That caused a low chuckle to emerge from the Head Inquisitor. “Is that so?”

“Yes. So you can just stay here while I go talk to Rainbow Dash, Dotty will watch over you,” Wish said, pointing up at her maid.

The maid in question had a look that said “Please don’t drag me into this” on her face, but she still nodded as soon as Wish said what her job was to be. Then refused to meet Vox’s eyes at all and failed her attempt at whistling nonchalantly.

“Really now… well I suppose I just have to listen to the young lady,” Vox said as she ground her teeth and a twisted smile distorted her mouth. “Haha… what a funny turn of events. Guess I’ll sit here with the maid and desk jockey while you have a private conversation with our special prisoner who shouldn’t even be here anymore, hahaha!”

Her wild laughter unnerved Wish and the other ponies, but Wish still stood her ground.

“Boy this sure is amusing!” Vox slapped her knee and looked at the Inquisitor at the desk. “Give the young lady a candle, she’ll need it after all if she’s going to walk down to that cell all alone again. And I’ll just stay here like a happy little pony with the maid. After all I sure wouldn’t want Master Dreamweaver and the Queen to get upset with me. Nope, no way, no how! Hahaha, what a fantastic surprise compared to how I thought this day was going to turn out! I suppose I’ll have to think about something fun to do to deal with all this stress! Sure won’t be fun for anypony else who annoys me today though!”

After that, Vox bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood and paced over to the locked storage room door. She faced it and put a steadying hoof against the door, breathing in deeply and shuddering, repeatedly.

“Umm… here is your candle again,” the other Inquisitor said and hoofed over the source of light to Wish. Anything to take the focus away from Vox.

“Thank you,” Wish said to him and took it. She then looked over at Dotty, somewhat worried for the maid after the mood she had put Vox in, but pretty sure the Head Inquisitor wouldn’t do anything to her. “I’ll be back later, I don’t know how long.”

Dotty forced a smile onto her face. “T-Take however much time you need.”

She didn’t mean it, but the fact she was able to at least say it was nice.

Wish smiled back to her and nodded before turning and once more making the quiet and dark trip down through the dungeon to Rainbow Dash’s cell. It was almost humorous to think she had been struggling to get in here or thinking about what might be down here for a while, and now she had gone in and out of it several times in the past few days. There wasn’t any mystery left. And now she was trying to be strong enough to not find any horror with it either. That was still made difficult by the moans and grumbles she heard from some of the cells around her, along with the quiet whispers for help.

It hurt her to just keep on walking after hearing that, but there was nothing she could do right now. She had to help another pony first. She had to get help and then… then perhaps she could return the favor and stop whatever bad things were happening in this castle.

That was her goal at the moment as she made it to Rainbow Dash’s cell. One step at a time. The next step was talking with Rainbow Dash and maybe finally being able to shed some light on things.

“Rainbow Dash? It’s me again. I’m back, alone, just like you asked. Are you awake?” Wish asked the darkness.

The sound of a stomach growling greeted her.

“Yeah kid, I’m awake. And hungry,” Rainbow’s raspy voice came from the cell.

Wish winced. “I should’ve brought some food with me… I had a big breakfast, and I know you haven’t been given much to eat.”

“No big deal. Relax, I’ll live.”

Wish sat down and once again put the candle through the bars so it was close enough where she could see Rainbow Dash’s face. Despite the emaciated state of her body, her ruby eyes still shone with strength. “You’re really okay even after going through all the stuff Vox has put you through down here.”

“Meh,” Rainbow Dash attempted a small shrug. “I’ve been in some bad spots before, that helmet cage thing is definitely different, but I can take what the nutjob’s been dishing out.”

“I wouldn’t want to have to go through any of that...” Wish shuddered.

“Well and that’s why you’re here, right? You don’t want anypony to have to go through something like this. You want to help, don’t you?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

Wish raised an eyebrow at the pegasus. “Do you trust me enough now to talk about it?”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a second, her strong eyes gazing into Wish the whole time. Finally she took a deep breath and gazed even harder at Wish. “Do you have what it takes to help? Do you have it in you? Are you ready to hear things you might not want to hear? I’m sure you’ve dealt with stuff in here already, but are you really willing to believe in me and help? Do you really, really, think helping me is the right thing to do?”

“Yes,” Wish said as strongly as she could. “I-I’ve been afraid… I still am afraid… that’s why it’s taken me so long. But you’ve always been there in my mind, and then when I saw you… I think I finally understood. There’s stuff going on I don’t understand. And ponies have been acting strange ever since I came to this castle, I know that helping you is the right thing to do. I have to help you, to help myself, to help everypony. I-I’m the only one who can do it.”

“In the end… it always has to be you to help yourself. Don’t forget that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I-It’s tough… I-”

“I know. I know it can be tough,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “You’re just a kid too, but sometimes you’ve just gotta do what you’ve gotta do. I’ll trust you, Wish. Cause to be honest, I need your help in more ways than one.”

“How?” Wish blinked. “And I thought you said you could already get out of here on your own? What more help do you need? Is there some other reason you’re still in the dungeon and haven’t broken free?”

“Well I guess you could say I’m here because of a really bad plan—and what annoys me the most about that is it wasn’t even my bad plan,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“Huh?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “That part isn’t important, never mind. Anyways, I could sort of get out of here, but to do that it would take a little time and some other stuff would happen at the same time and I really can’t have that stuff happen yet without finding something first… and I can’t find that thing without getting out of here. So I’m kind of stuck. Because I’ve been in here so long—way longer than I figured I would be—I’ve been thinking of taking a gamble and just getting the ball rolling anyways, cause it wasn’t looking like I’d be able to do anything else.”

Understanding dawned on Wish’s face. “And then I came here. You need me to find whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“And preferably also get me out of these chains to make things easier before I do my thing,” Rainbow said. “I remember seeing keys on the wall when I was first brought down here.”

“Well… I don’t know how I’d get those without somepony stopping me,” the thought of so blatantly doing something she knew was against her father’s wishes also made her feel queasy, but she didn’t mention that. It may have been the right thing to do. It may not have been easy. “What’s the thing you’re looking for?”

Rainbow Dash breathed out her nose and turned her head slightly so Wish could see her neck. “You know how the sky changed when you came to the castle and everypony got these black bands on their necks?”

“Yeah,” Wish nodded.

“I know why that happened and what’s causing it. And what you don’t know—probably at least—is that at the moment that all happened, a barrier went up along the borders of Hoofica. Around the entire kingdom. Completely separating your country from the outside world,” Rainbow Dash told her.

Wish’s eyes widened. “B-But… how? Why?”

“To make sure ponies couldn’t leave. This wasn’t a shield or a wall to keep ponies out, it’s a huge magical barrier made to keep ponies in. If you were looking at Hoofica from the outside, all you’d see is empty space, mountains, valleys, a normal sky. It’s camouflage. Part of the barrier’s magic. But if you step inside then—zap! This black band appears around your neck and it stops you from leaving. That’s the first thing I learned when I came here. Even if you get close to the barrier and try to look out it’s just like a dark haze and you can’t really see anything. That’s why the sky across the whole kingdom went dark too.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and frowned. “Ponies check in, but they don’t check out. That’s the current state of Hoofica.”

“I-I don’t understand...” Wish shook her head. “And how is something like that even possible?”

“There’s a crystal. A magical crystal that’s being used to make and sustain the barrier. It’s somewhere in this castle but I don’t know where exactly—that’s what I need to find. If the barrier goes down, Hoofica is one step closer to being normal again,” Rainbow Dash looked away briefly, something Wish didn’t notice. “And your Queen loses the iron grip she had on the population...”

“The Queen...” Wish thought about the royal, her strange behavior, her apathy towards the King. “T-This was her idea? But why would she do all this in the first place? I don’t get it.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip in hesitation, something Wish did notice this time. “F-From what I’ve heard, your Queen went off her rocker. Don’t know why exactly, but she threw out a lot of the old royal guards and changed a bunch of policies. She doesn’t seem to care about how all the ponies out in Hoofica are suffering, but I don’t really know what her deal is. Where she got the crystal from or what her goal is, but it doesn’t really matter, she just has to be stopped.”

Wish nodded as she took in what Rainbow Dash was saying, but her brow furrowed as she thought about it. Some things just didn’t add up. And there were other things she hadn’t mentioned at all even though they had to be involved too. She looked up into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “Are you telling me the whole truth?”

“I-” Rainbow Dash winced. “I’m telling you what needs to be done to help Hoofica. I need to learn where that crystal is and then… then I can help everypony and put a stop to this.”

“But you’re still keeping secrets. You asked if I was willing to hear things I didn’t want to hear but you’re still...” Wish frowned.

“I just wanted to know how serious you were. You’re a good kid, there’s no reason to-” Rainbow Dash said.

“To tell me what?” Wish asked. “What… what do you really think I’m so afraid of hearing?”

Rainbow Dash had a sad, almost pitying, look on her face as she thought things over in her head before acquiescing. “The Queen… she’s just part of it. But she’s not the one really behind things, she didn’t start any of this. The one who did...” She trailed off and looked away.

“My father,” Wish’s eyes narrowed. “You’re going to say all of this is his fault. That he’s the one. M-My father, who l-loves me and who’s always, always, taken care of me...”

“Kid, you know as well as I do that this all started when you and your father came to this castle,” Rainbow Dash said. “Some, er, acquaintances of mine filled me in on some of the details. He cozied up to the Queen and got her favor to do pretty much anything. Then after that… all this happened. The barrier, the bands, those posters with your psycho friend started popping up everywhere, ponies started getting dragged down to this dungeon… and what was done to me was done to a lot of them. An “Inquisition” or whatever where Vox drains despair out of a pony. I got no idea what for, nopony does, but there’s no way it can be for anything good.”

“And so it’s my father who’s behind all this...” Wish angrily grasped the bars of the cell.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Look, I don’t know what he’s doing in this castle, I’ve only met him personally once, so maybe we—I’m wrong. But, kid, Vox even said that thing that drains out emotions came from your father. He’s the one ordering all this to happen. Not the Queen or anypony else. It all starts with him.”

Wish’s tight grip turned her hooves white as she shook and stared hard at the floor of the dungeon. “S-So what are you saying?”

“Kid, I don’t know how else to break it to you—and I hate having to say it… but your father is evil.”

“He’s not!” Wish shouted and looked up at her with tears in her eyes. “He’s not! He’s not! HE’S NOT!”

“Kid-”

“It’s the Queen, or Vox, or somepony else. I-I don’t know everything my father’s doing here either but he’s not evil!” Wish continued to yell.

“Look, I’m not saying you have to do anything about him, but you wanted to help me right? You wanted to help Hoofica?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“I-I… I know something’s wrong here but my father isn’t to blame for it. He’s not! Whatever it is he’s working on, for whatever reason, it’s not what you think! It can’t be!” Suspicion gleamed in Wish’s eyes. “W-What were you going to do about him?”

Rainbow Dash winced. “Uhh… stop him?”

“S-So you weren’t even going to tell me that you were going to attack him, were you? You just wanted me to get you out of here so you could do that!” Wish accused.

“No! It’s not like that, I just-”

Wish banged her hooves against the bars. “Shut up! You’re a liar! Y-You’ve just been trying to trick me this whole time haven’t you?! Trick me into betraying my father and acting like you’re some good pony!”

“Kid...”

“Y-You even attacked the castle earlier a-and you were probably trying to reach my father and h-hurt him when you did that too, weren’t you?!” Wish now just yelled at Rainbow Dash while she cried.

Rainbow Dash for her part remained silent with a chastened grimace on her face, knowing that nothing she could say right now was going to get through to the furiously angry filly.

“Do you even know how he’s always been there for me? You can’t. You can’t at all. When my m-mom died, he held me as I cried and cried and ever since then it’s been just me and him alone. There’s no way he can be evil! Always, always… when I’ve been sad, when I needed a hug, when I needed him, he’s been there. I don’t care what you say or what else is happening around here. I know my father loves me and he’s not a bad pony! I know it!” Wish collapsed to her knees and started bawling even louder.

There wasn’t anything Rainbow Dash could do, she lied there with sad eyes and waited for Wish to quiet down. Each word the filly said was like a knife stabbing into her heart.

“I don’t believe you… I don’t trust you...” Wish mumbled.

Rainbow Dash’s head jerked up. “Kid, look-”

Wish angrily glared up at her. “And my name is Wish! That’s the name my father gave me!”

She got up and swiftly ran away from the cell. If Rainbow Dash had tried calling out to her, Wish didn’t hear her. She ran and ran with tears in her eyes, through almost complete darkness thanks to leaving the candle behind in her haste. It took her but a minute to get back to the first room of the dungeon where Dotty and Vox were. Wish went running right past them without a single look, flying up the stairs.

“W-Wish?!” Dotty yelled after her, she took a second look down the dark corridor and then at the Head Inquisitor before she quickly ran to catch up to the filly.

Vox meanwhile merely blinked before a cold grin pulled up her lips. “Heh.”

Choice

The next morning it was not Dotty who stood by Wish’s bedside as she woke up. It was her father.

“D-Dad?” Wish blearily said as she rubbed her eyes and yawned, seeing her father standing there. It was quite early in the morning and she was still tired and groggy from just waking up.

“Good morning, Wish,” he said to her in an even tone.

The filly yawned and stretched, her vision now coming into focus and seeing the serious look on his face. A nightmare had of course visited her and normally seeing her father right as she woke up would be reassuring. But right now she was just confused and worried. “What’s wrong?”

“We have something important to talk about. Come with me,” he said and turned to leave her bedchambers. The door opened and closed with barely a creak.

Wish fought down a growing sense of unease and quickly hopped out of the bed as well. There was no Dotty, that was obvious, and she didn’t hear any other pony out there. The only pony she didn’t want to see right now was the Head Inquisitor anyways. When she opened up her door and stepped into the boudoir, she noticed it truly was all empty aside from her and her father. There was no huge meal for breakfast on the table either, but a mere bowl of oatmeal and glass of orange juice.

Her father was standing in front of her chair, looking at her.

“I-” Wish started to speak before being immediately cut off.

“It’s come to my attention that you’ve made a couple of visits down to the dungeons and spoken with the pegasus prisoner. Alone,” Dreamweaver blinked at her. Like he was so good at, his face didn’t betray a sliver of emotion. “That on its own I don’t have a problem with. I allowed you to speak with her, and while speaking to her alone wasn’t what I had in mind, I would’ve trusted you enough with it if you didn’t want Vox or Dotted Easel to be there with you.”

Wish gulped, being pretty sure of what was coming next.

“However-” her father now frowned. “What I do have a problem with is how upset it made you yesterday. I heard from Vox, you ran away crying from the dungeons.” He kneeled down to look at her at eye level. “I can not have that, Wish. Your happiness means everything to me and I simply can’t have you do things that may potentially upset you like that. So henceforth—you will not be allowed to visit the dungeons again. Under any circumstance. Dotted Easel has also been instructed to not let you out of her sight so you may attempt such a thing for a while.”

In truth, Wish wasn’t even sure if she wanted to go back or not, but it bothered her to be expressly forbidden from it. And the fact that Vox had clearly told him just to get back at her. “B-But-”

“I will not budge on this, Wish. You know how I feel about you. You’re my precious daughter,” he lifted a hoof up and affectionately rubbed her head.

Wish thought about arguing with him—an image of a chained up Rainbow Dash with the metal cage on her head flashed through her mind—but she found she couldn’t. Her head hung down as she looked at the floor. “Yes, father.”

“That’s my darling,” Dreamweaver smiled. “Now, I do have some good news to share with you as well. That’s the other reason I came down to see you this morning.”

Wish’s head snapped up to look at him curiously. “What is it?”

A delighted chuckle came from her father. “My work in the castle is nearing completion, soon everything will be done with, I’ll be able to show you at last. And because I’m not so busy now I thought I would come back tonight for dinner. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

“Yes!” A happy smile lit up Wish’s face.

“I thought it would,” Dreamweaver chuckled again. “You can go along on your day like normal now. I’d love it if you went to class and had some fun. Dotted Easel is waiting outside the door for you once you finish breakfast. But of course if you just want to walk around the castle courtyard or paint all day I’d understand that as well.”

“Thanks, dad,” Wish said and hopped forward to hug him. “I’ll be looking forward to dinner tonight.”

“So will I,” Dreamweaver said and detached from her. The smile on his face was full of warmth.

Wish smiled back up at him as he went to the front door and stepped outside, waving at her.

“Goodbye, I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you later!” Wish happily waved after him.

Once the door closed, Wish hummed in joy to herself and climbed up her chair to eat breakfast at the table. Getting to spend more time with her father was always the one thing that could put her in a positive mood. The rest of their conversation didn’t even matter to her. The oatmeal being delicious and the orange juice being as fresh as could be also did a lot to help. Wish was feeling decently tired from her not so pleasant night of sleeping… and what had happened yesterday, so she had quite the appetite this morning. Oatmeal wouldn’t have been her first choice but it was good enough to not matter.

When there wasn’t even enough for a single spoonful left, Wish wiped off her mouth and jumped off her chair. If Dotty was really waiting for her right outside the door, Wish didn’t want to keep her there all alone for long.

She opened up the door and stepped out of her chambers. Sure enough, Dotty was standing right in front of her in the tower’s open hallway. She had a smile on her face but Wish could see the slight uncertainty behind it. Dotty didn’t know how Wish would be feeling after yesterday or if something bad was going to happen again. The maid probably chiefly didn’t want to run afoul of Vox but at least part of her was possibly genuinelly concerned for Wish as well and just wanted the filly to have a happy and normal day.

“Good morning, Wish,” Dotty greeted her.

“Good morning, Dotty,” Wish smiled at her to try and show the maid there was nothing to worry about today.

It seemed to do the trick as some genuine brightness returned to Dotty’s eyes. “And what would you like to do today?”

“My father said he would like it if I at least went to class today so that’s the first thing I’m going to do. After that I want us to come up here and paint, he’s coming back for dinner and I want to have a new painting to give to him,” Wish beamed.

Dotty enthusiastically giggled. “Alright, let’s head down to your classroom right now then!”

There was almost a skip in Wish’s step as she trotted to the stairs with Dotty. There was nothing to be sad about, nothing to worry about, nothing to think about. All she needed to do was be a good little filly and believe in her father. He loved her. He wasn’t evil. Those two truths alone were all Wish needed.

Nothing.

Else.

Mattered.

Perhaps at some point she could make Vox go away, or convince her father to have the Queen lower the barrier (if she actually was capable of that—if there even was a barrier like that in the first place) but she wasn’t going to misplace her trust with a pegasus who just wanted to hurt her father. Wish couldn’t believe she almost fell for that. That pegasus had been trying to get her to doubt everything she knew, sure, Wish knew something strange was going on here, but that pegasus was crazy. Her father was just a normal pony from a normal town out in the countryside. He was a psychiatrist for pete’s sake!

Wish shook her head. It was silly. It was too silly to even entertain.

That’s why she was going to class now and having a normal day. As long as she held her father close in her heart, the nightmares would go away one day too.

As she stepped into the classroom after the long walk, Wish felt like it had been ages since she was last here instead of really it just being a few days. Her classmates and teacher were already there of course. Waiting for her. As big smiles stretched on their faces, Wish smiled back at them. Maybe she could become real friends with them? Maybe she could bring them along to other parts of the castle?

Whatever she did—in class and later with them—Wish was going to keep a positive attitude now.

The smile wouldn’t be fake. It wouldn’t be forced. When she said she was a ten out of ten she’d be telling the truth. Optimistic. Positive. Those were her words now.

“Hi, Wish!” The class said to her in unison and waved.

“Hi, everypony!” Wish said and waved back.

A stroke of the brush outlined the trunk of a tall tree Wish was painting on her canvas. The brown line connected to the green of the grass below and would soon be joined by others, filling the tree out. Then branches would emerge from the top and Wish would paint all the green leaves that went with them. Perhaps a hole in the middle of the tree where animals lived would be added, or a squirrel running along one of the branches. It was just going to be one of many trees in the painting, she had a lot of choices.

Wish wasn’t painting any sort of forest or garden in particular, she was just using her imagination and thinking about the kind of place she’d like to go to with Dotty, her classmates, the fillies and colts from New Pasture, and her father. Once she was done drawing the rest of the nature in the painting she’d move on to the ponies.

As always, Dotty was painting across from her at her own easel. She hummed in a good mood, showing a lot of improvement from earlier this morning.

“What are you painting this time, Dotty?” Wish asked her.

“I’m going a little out of my comfort zone. No landscapes this time, I’m painting my family who live back in Old Bark City to the east,” Dotty replied with a smile.

Dotty had never really talked about her family, it certainly made Wish curious. “Can I see it when you’re done?”

“Of course!”

Wish smiled and got back to her own painting. She was going to put in some birds flying in the sky too, along with a few puffy clouds, and—Dotty was a pegasus wasn’t she? Wish had just never seen her fly, but she could put her in the sky too. Yes, this was going to be a happy painting, and Wish’s technical skills when it came to painting had gotten better and better too. Once it was done it should look a lot better than her old paintings. Her father would be proud to hang it up on the walls of his lab.

-if that was true then why weren’t any of the other ones she had given him decorating his lab already?-

Her hoof wavered and she accidentally messed up the line of one of her trees.

“Oops,” she said, frowning at it briefly before shrugging. Not like every tree stood up perfectly straight in real life.

After a few more minutes of painting the forest and putting in a bunch of flowers in the grass at the bottom of the painting, Wish began to draw all the ponies she’d be including. She certainly knew some colorful friends, it was going to take a lot of cleaning her brush off and redipping it each time. Maybe it would be easier to one day learn how to paint with charcoal?

Despite ponies being her specialty when it came to painting, because of how many she was putting into this one it took a long time for her to paint them all. Dotty had actually finished her painting already and was now doing some cleaning, leaving Wish alone at her easel. Most of her friends and the others were done with so the final two ponies to add were just her and her father.

in a cold dream she looked over a throng of miserable ponies from on high with-

She used a smaller brush to give herself better control of the details when it came to her and her father. Every strand of her mane, the errant locks on her father’s head, his clothes, her musculature. In the end the two of them really stood out against the others. Wish could potentially go back through the painting and add to the others some more, but she kind of liked it like this. It was almost all done now too and she really just had to add the finishing touches and correct any mistakes, then it would be good enough to give to her father.

Idly she looked back at her flank to see if her Cutie Mark had miraculously appeared but again she had no such luck.

Wish rolled her eyes and looked at the wide smiles she had drawn on her and her father’s faces.

-dark cells with ponies imprisoned and asking for help-

She looked at the large grandfather clock in the boudoir. It was getting a little bit late, her father would be here for dinner in just a few hours. The thought made her face reflect the one she had painted.

“Have you finished your painting?” Dotty suddenly asked from elsewhere in the room.

“Yep! Just now,” Wish replied.

Seeming to have a psychic connection to Wish’s thoughts, Dotty also looked at the big clock. “Hm, it’s not too much longer till dinner. I’ll finish up my cleaning and once he arrives I’ll let the two of you dine on your own. You probably want your private time with your father.”

Wish wouldn’t have exactly minded Dotty being here too but it was true that she kind of just wanted to spend the time with her dad. She smiled at her maid and nodded. “Okay.”

-her old maid Sweet Candy taken away, vanished without a trace, replaced by-

Stretching after setting down her brush, Wish yawned and took a deep breath. There was a slight throbbing in her head that foretold a possible headache so she reached up to rub her temples a bit. But otherwise she was feeling great today.

“Oh! Wish! Your nose is bleeding!” Dotty shrieked in shock and quickly ran over.

“Huh?” Wish said and looked down, a small trail of blood dripped down from her nose and a few drops had already stained the carpet.

“Oh dear, oh dear...” Dotty said as she used her apron to wipe Wish’s nose and face clean. “You didn’t accidentally hit your face on anything or hurt yourself, did you?” Dotty asked and looked at the floor after Wish was taken care of. “I’ll need to get some soap and bleach for the carpet now too.”

“Nope,” Wish shook her head. “I don’t know where it came from...”

“Well lots of kids get nosebleeds, nothing to worry about really. I was just surprised,” Dotty smiled at her.

Wish sniffed, feeling her nasal passages clear. “Yeah...”

“You just sit back and relax now while I get this cleaned up. Wouldn’t want you tired for dinner,” Dotty said.

“Thanks, Dotty,” Wish said as she jumped onto the couch and tried to relax.

-the things Vox had said to her inside the royal carriage on the way back from New Pasture-

Wish yawned again and looked out the window at the capitol city of Hoofica. The day was slightly “brighter” than normal, though that really wasn’t the right word to use at all. Dark clouds still spread out from the castle and covered everything while lightning struck in the distance. Down in the streets ponies were getting their last few bits of work in before preparing to head home and have dinner themselves. Despite the changes to Hoofica, life moved on more or less.

-the strong eyes of a pegasus that filled her with warmth and convinced Wish she was a good pony-

She had spaced out for so long that she didn’t even notice Dotty finishing her cleaning and how much time had passed on the clock.

“There we go! Sometimes I really surprise myself,” Dotty said as she looked down at the now sparkling clean carpet with pride. Her eyes then glanced up at the clock. “Oh, well look at the time, dinner in just about an hour. Hmm… maybe I should get you cleaned up a bit more. Would you like that?”

Wish looked from the window and raised an eyebrow at her. “Hm? Oh, okay, sure.”

“Thinking about something?” Dotty asked.

“Not really, was just kind of tired I guess,” Wish shook her head.

“Well I think a quick hot bath will wake you up… er, wait, are hot baths supposed to make you tired?” Dotty rubbed her chin in confusion.

Wish snorted and giggled. “I dunno, Dotty. But a bath sounds nice anyways.”

And it certainly felt nice to get her face and mane washed and restyled by Dotty afterwards. As Dotty’s brush combed through her tail, Wish closed her eyes and just enjoyed the scents of shampoo and soap that had been used for her bath. Refreshed and well-rested, by the time it was over it was just about dinner and her father should be back here any moment. Hopefully the chefs from the kitchens were bringing chocolate cake along with him. Anything a little more filling, tasty, or sweet than oatmeal would make for a good dinner.

Wish and Dotty of course waited for Dreamweaver’s arrival in the main room, now with neither of them really having anything to do. Wish found herself almost constantly glancing at the clock and out the window as the world grew darker outside.

-a black band around everypony’s necks that appeared when the sky went dark, everypony except for-

The great doors leading out into the hallway opened and her father appeared there with a cadre of butlers, maids, and chefs carrying plates of food and utensils. Wish immediately trotted over to him with Dotty right behind her and smiled up at her father.

“Good evening, I trust you had an enjoyable day?” Dreamweaver asked her.

Wish nodded. “Yep! And it’s about to get even better.”

“Of course it is, I brought chocolate cake,” Dreamweaver chuckled.

“Heh—that’s not what I meant,” Wish giggled and blushed.

“It’s still true though,” he winked at her.

“Hehe, yep!”

It took the other ponies but a minute to finish setting up the table for father and daughter, then with a silent bow the whole team shuffled quietly out of Wish’s chambers. Dotty of course left soon after that. Right before she closed the door as she exited, she gave Wish one last smile and wave.

-ordered by her father to not let Wish speak to Rainbow Dash anymore-

Wish then of course sat in her normal chair again while her father sat to her right. There were several different dishes splayed out on the table before them, from garden salads to eggplant steaks and chocolate cake. Wish poured herself a glass of sparkling cider from a bottle and sliced herself a piece of cake, and that along with some vegetables and a cream of mushroom soup and she had a nice dinner already on her plate. Her father didn’t have much of a sweet tooth or anything though, a beet salad and some seasoned hay balls were all that he was going to eat for the moment.

“I’m glad things have worked out so well lately. I was thinking how fortunate we both are. My work in the castle is proceeding excellently and soon I really will keep my promise with you, you’ll be the happiest pony in the world,” her father said to her. “Getting to spend some more time with you before that is just icing on the cake.”

Wish felt the smile pulling up her cheeks at his words as she took a piece out of her slice of cake with her fork and brought it to her mouth.

-a starving pegasus, thin, ribs visible, chained down to a table-

“Is it as good as always?”

“Oh yeah!” Wish replied after swallowing down the cake.

Dreamweaver laughed as he chewed on his own food. “Which would you choose? Eating that chocolate cake or having dinner with me?”

Wish sputtered. “Eating dinner with you! Duh!”

“Hahahaha,” he laughed harder and winked at her. “I’m just teasing you of course, my darling. Your answer was always crystal clear to me.”

-the Queen telling her father that she was keeping the crystal he had given her that makes all this possible safe in her room-

Her fork paused in midair between her mouth and plate, a sudden chill freezing Wish down to the bone while a wooziness invaded her head. She stared down at the piece of chocolate cake impaled on her fork before slowly setting it back down on her plate. Like her body was made of lead, she managed to barely turn and look up at her father.

“Hey… dad? Can I ask you something?”

“Hm?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Wish blinked, her face much more passive than before. “I just remembered something and I was curious. You, um, you remember when he had dinner with the King and Queen last time? The Queen said something about a crystal you gave her, what was she talking about?”

Dreamweaver didn’t blink as he stared back at her. “Oh, you remember that?” He said and then turned to take a drink of water. “Well yes, I gave her a crystal as a gift for all the help she’s given me.”

“But… where’d you get it from? We didn’t have any crystals back home or anything...” Wish said.

He looked at her and steadily tapped a hoof on the table before responding. “It was a gift given to me by another pony shortly before we came to the castle. I didn’t have any use for it so I decided it would make the perfect gift for the Queen when the opportunity presented itself.”

“Oh, okay...” Wish nodded, she looked down at her plate and then back up at his eyes. “So what is it?”

“What do you mean?” He asked, a look of confusion coming over his face, the only emotion he had shown since she first asked him about the crystal.

“What does the crystal do?”

Dreamweaver took another drink of water while keeping his eyes focused on her. “It’s just a fancy crystal. It doesn’t do anything, Wish. It’s just jewelry—a decoration.”

“Yeah, right, I was just curious about it,” Wish said and went back to her meal. Her fork though just repeatedly stabbed at her cake and started breaking it apart. It was obvious her mind was elsewhere.

“Do you have another question, my darling?” Her father asked her as he noticed her behavior.

“Um… I just wanted to ask...” Wish bit her lip.

“Yes?”

She looked up at him with her big eyes, trying to look for the love and warmth in his. “When this is all over, when your work here in the castle is done, what’s going to happen to Rainbow Dash down in the dungeon.

For the briefest of instants his expression darkened before returning to normal. “Well… she’ll just stay there.”

“Stay there?”

“Yes. Imprisoned for the rest of her life I suppose. However long that is. There’s no need to execute her or anything, but she’s still a dangerous pony who attacked the castle and terrorized Hoofica. You don’t need to worry or feel bad for her, on the contrary, think of yourself as fortunate. A pony like her doesn’t deserve pity or sympathy. Your happiness is all that matters,” he smiled and reached over to her, gently patting her head.

A happy smile was on her face, a scream from her nightmares was in her heart. “Thank you, father. I guess I was just being silly.”

“Not a problem, my darling. But enough of that, let’s enjoy our dinner,” he said and levitated a forkful of food to his mouth.

Wish nodded and went on to finish her chocolate cake. It tasted like nothing.

It's Time For Something Awesome To Happen

Wish sat at the head of her dinner table in her small home, mother and father sitting across from each other and laughing as the family had dinner together. It could’ve been any evening. The happy faces of the three ponies showed a loving family, anypony that came for a visit would see that. A slice of chocolate cake was sliced into three smaller pieces—the largest of which given to Wish of course. A fork levitated by magic aimed a piece of cake straight towards Wish’s mouth and she ate it up with a giggle, her father winking at her. Her mother ate the slice of chocolate cake in front of her before bringing a glass of wine to her lips to wash it all down.

Wish came home from school one day with a happy smile on her face. It had been a great day but she was just as happy to finally come home. Her father was away on a personal trip but her mother was still at home, tonight they were going to play games together. Wish giggled as she opened up the door and called out for her mother, announcing she was home. There wasn’t an answer though so maybe she was in the garden out back. Oh well, Wish tossed her book bag to the floor and trotted inside…

Wish looked down at a patch of ground in the garden behind her family’s home.

Wish wandered through the forest and picked flowers.

Wish and her father ate dinner happily together while a new picture sat on the mantle of their fireplace.

Wish looked up at the high towers of Hoofica Castle as she and her father came through the capitol city of Hoofica. They were so tall, she had been able to see them from far away already, the shadows they cast put so much of the city in darkness while the sun was out. She didn’t have a smile on her face, but her father did.

Wish woke up in a lavish four-poster bed.

Wish ate an unparalleled feast of food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Wish went to class with other ponies who didn’t have real smiles.

Wish’s maid disappeared.

Wish watched as the Queen tried to replace her mother in her father’s life.

Wish went through nightmare after nightmare about screaming ponies, the Head Inquisitor, a fire out in the country, needles, black ooze drowning everything.

Wish felt safe and secure when the blue comet with the rainbow trail was flying through the sky. It was the only thing that brought light and warmth into this dark world and the darker recesses of her mind. How come she never saw her father in her dreams doing the same thing for her? Why was she perpetually having these nightmares? What were they trying to tell her? Why couldn’t things just go back to the way they were when it was just her and her father, happy together in their home? How come no matter what happened she couldn’t shake the feeling of dread inside her?

Wish sat in front of a chained up pegasus as the two of them looked deeply into each other’s eyes. Truth. Trust. Goodness. She saw all of these things. The pegasus saw all of them as well. But there was fear, hesitation, worry, guilt, and love as well. Everything that kept the chains from being undone. Tears that fell, a crying filly, an ashamed mare.

Wish had a family.

Wish had her father.

Wish thought for a long time that that was all she needed. But in the end, no matter how much her father tried to make her happy and convince her that her happiness was all that mattered, she never stopped feeling sympathy and empathizing for the other ponies of Hoofica. Why couldn’t everypony be happy?

Wish woke up.

She hadn’t had a nightmare, and she knew the reason why.

It was because she had finally made her choice. There was no more denial or delusion in her mind. It hurt. It was painful because she loved her father and she knew he loved her too. But that didn’t change the truth. It didn’t change that ponies were suffering and right now she was the only one who could help.

Supposedly Rainbow Dash had a way to free herself, or do something at the very least—she had been a little vague, but she hadn’t done so just yet. And Wish also knew the reason for that as well.

It’s because she believed in Wish, she believed Wish would come back.

Of course, Wish getting back down to that dungeon today wasn’t going to be easy. She threw off her covers and pulled away the curtain on her bed to look at the clock. Seven in the morning. Dotty would be here soon. And unfortunately Wish didn’t really know a good way to get out from under her. She probably couldn’t try running off or ditching her because as soon as Dotty noticed she was gone she’d raise a fuss. So what was there to do?

For now she should probably just act normal.

That meant just resting in bed and putting a fake smile on her face until her cheery maid came in. Wish thought that maybe she could just talk to Dotty first and see if she could convince her… but probably not. Either way that would all have to wait until after her morning bath, grooming, and breakfast.

It wasn’t long before her bedchamber door was opened up and a happy Dotty waltzed on in. “Wish? It’s time to wake—oh! You’re already awake, good morning!”

“Good morning, Dotty,” Wish smiled at her.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Dotty asked her.

Wish shrugged. “As good as ever, I don’t know if I feel like going to class today though. I was thinking maybe we could just have fun today?”

“That always sounds good to me!” Dotty smiled. “Just tell me what you want to do, but first, let’s get you washed up and have some breakfast.”

“Okay,” Wish nodded.

She didn’t wait for Dotty to get the steps, simply jumping out of the bed on her own. After that Dotty prepared the bath and got the usual assortment of bath salts, soaps, and shampoos ready to give Wish the 5-star treatment. Wish could’ve done without it but she knew right now it was probably best to just let Dotty do her thing. After doing this nearly every morning for a while, Dotty had gotten a lot better at it too. While Wish relaxed in the hot water of the large marble tub, Dotty scrubbed her mane and coat and made sure she rubbed in all the right stuff.

After that the combing and mane styling went by as normal. Her rosy red mane was finished up straight just the way she liked it.

It was a normal day so far. As she looked at herself in the mirror while Dotty finished up the last bits of grooming, she really did look the same as always.

It was only the inside that had changed.

“Well, don’t you just look as cute as a button,” Dotty said and giggled.

Wish rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Dotty.”

“Breakfast should be all out on the table by now. Let’s go,” Dotty said and led the way out of both the bathroom and Wish’s bedchambers. Of course she was right, the servants in the castle were always punctual, and the table was already set with the usual suspects standing around it.

Truthfully Wish wasn’t that hungry but she still had to act normal for at least a little while longer. And she had absolutely no idea how this day would turn out, it was probably best to get some sustenance in her. That wasn’t chocolate cake or some other dessert.

So Wish ended up eating a normal breakfast, at a fairly quick pace since she was still feeling impatient, and afterwards the servants left like they normally did. Once again it was just Wish and Dotty.

Dotty of course opened her mouth back up as soon as possible. “So what do you want to do today?”

Wish blinked and hopped off her chair first, walking up to Dotty while her brow knitted together in a combination of stress and apprehension. “Um, I wanted to ask you something first actually.”

“What?” Dotty innocently tilted her head.

“So… I know my father told you that you can’t let me… but can we really not go to the dungeon again?” Wish asked her.

Dotty nearly froze up, a worried frown on her face and she looked away while sweat started to drip from her brow. “I-I’m sorry, Wish. But I was given explicit instructions to not let you go to the dungeon at all. I’m not even really supposed to let you out of my sight for a while now. And I really don’t think you should go there anyways, you were really upset last time and-”

“It’s okay!” Wish interrupted. She sighed and took a deep breath. “I understand, Dotty. I know you’re just following orders and you want to look out for me. It’s okay. Just forget I asked, I was being silly asking anyways.”

“S-Sorry,” Dotty still looked a little guilty and it of course made Wish feel guilty as well.

“Don’t be, I know I shouldn’t have asked,” she said.

Dotty shook her head a bit and put a small smile back on her face. “If you still want to just have fun today though we can certainly do that. There’s a lot of different things we can do!”

Wish had to think. What were her options? What was a way to get away from Dotty and get down to the dungeon? She looked around the boudoir—acting like she was just thinking about ideas for fun things to do—when really her mind was completely elsewhere. What was the answer. What was the answer to this problem.

She saw it.

A horrible feeling turned her stomach into coils, since she was going to have to do something bad. Something that was going to make her feel even more guilty to Dotty. But in the end it had to be done.

Wish licked her lips and brightly looked up at Dotty. “Let’s just paint!”

Sitting on the table in front of her and her easel was a flowerpot taken down from one of the cabinets in the room. Wish was practicing her still life painting abilities with it. At least that was what she had told Dotty she wanted to do. The reality was that at the moment she was just trying to gain the nerve to… Wish clenched her hooves. She knew what she had to do right now to get to Rainbow Dash but it didn’t make it any easier.

Briefly looking up from her easel she saw Dotty right across from her, focused on her own painting like usual.

The actual painting of the flowerpot for Wish was going poorly. Enough that if Dotty came around to look at it she would’ve cringed. Even for something that wasn’t Wish’s specialty it looked bad. There was a lack of detail, lines were crooked, it was lacking a three-dimensional look, and she hadn’t even gotten to coloring the flower yet. Wish was simply too nervous to put her heart into the painting, her pulse was skyrocketing with every passing moment.

She couldn’t screw this up. She had to act now before she chickened out.

Reaching for a smaller brush, Wish “accidentally” dropped it and had it roll right under her couch. The gap in the couch was big enough for a hoof to reach in, but not big enough to crawl under. She made sure the brush rolled far enough she wouldn’t have been able to reach it.

“Oops,” Wish loudly said. “Um, Dotty? Can you help me with something?”

“What is it?” Dotty only just now looked up from her painting. “Do you need advice on your still life? Did you make a mistake on it?”

“N-No, nothing like that. I just dropped a brush and it rolled under the couch, can you get it for me?” Wish asked. She tried very hard to act natural and keep her voice from wavering.

“Of course! Leave it to me!” Dotty smiled and put her own brush down.

She came over to Wish’s side of the table and dropped down to the carpet, peaking beneath the couch and looking for where the brush was. Wish heard her humming to herself as she reached her hoof under the couch in an attempt to retrieve the brush. Her eyes were glued to below the couch. Dotty’s attention was completely off of Wish.

And Wish’s eyes glanced over to the flowerpot on the table.

Wish moved from the couch to the table without Dotty noticing. She was quiet, fluid, as she stepped onto the table. Her small hooves didn’t make a sound.

Nor did she make a sound as she grabbed the flowerpot and lifted it over her head while she looked down at Dotty.

“I really like you, Dotty.” Wish said to her.

Dotty giggled. “Aw, I really like you t-”

She didn’t get to finish that sentence as Wish slammed the flowerpot over her head. With a resounding crack the flowerpot shattered and Dotty lied still on the carpet between the floor and the table, dirt and bits of ceramic all over her head. There wasn’t even a grunt of pain or anything.

“D-Dotty?” Wish gulped and jumped off the table, the sudden terror that she had accidentally done more than just knock her out filled her chest.

But her fears were unfounded. As she looked at the prone maid she saw a steady rise and fall of her body. Still breathing.

Wish sighed in relief and wiped the sweat from her brow. But there was no time to relax, she had to act fast now. There was no telling how long Dotty would actually be unconscious for or if anypony else might come in here and find her. She ran over to the door leading out of her chambers and quickly exited before quickly making her way to the stairs leading to the lower towers as well. While she wanted to just sprint the whole way, that might cause a ruckus and anypony who saw her might get suspicious. She still had to act natural. So Wish ended up walking at a quick pace down the stairs.

Please forgive me when you wake up, Dotty. Wish apologized in her head.

She really didn’t want to have to do that. She really wished she could’ve thought of a better solution. But there wasn’t time for that. Every second that passed by was another second Rainbow Dash spent in that dungeon. It was something that had to change. Wish was making her way down to the dungeon to correct her previous mistake, and to stop an injustice, and hopefully to help many, many more ponies.

The route from her chambers to the maw leading down to the dungeon felt miles longer than it actually was today and her mind was going at super speeds the whole time. She was trying to keep herself from sweating or looking nervous in any way. There were still other obstacles that she needed to overcome before she could get to Rainbow Dash and if she wasn’t acting totally calm and cool she probably wasn’t going to be able to get past them.

After an eternity, she made it once more to the bottom floor to the castle and turned to see the usual two guards flanking the entrance to the underground sections.

They saw her as well and a single uncertain glance was shared between them before they continued looking dead ahead.

It was only when Wish started walking towards them—clearly on the path to go down below—that the two guards became more wary. When she was only a few steps away, they both stepped in front of her and blocked her path. Wish merely stood there, not reacting in surprise or annoyance or trying to run past them. She instead slowly looked up at the two of them and raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, young lady-” One of them said to her. “But your father has given us explicit instructions that you are no longer allowed to enter the dungeon.”

“He changed his mind,” Wish solidly stated to the two of them.

The guards were surprised at the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes, they almost took a step back. The other one frowned uncertainly and questioned Wish. “We didn’t hear anything abou-”

“He only told me just now. He came by and said I could go back to the dungeons if I wanted to,” Wish defiantly folded her hooves in front of her chest. “Are you going to let me through now?”

“Uhh… we, we really can’t just-” the first started before Wish again cut him off.

“Well you could go and ask him yourself and then explain why you didn’t believe something his own dearly beloved daughter told you,” Wish glared at them. “I’m sure he wouldn’t be upset about something like that. I’m totally sure the Head Inquisitor wouldn’t be contacted about it either.”

It actually made Wish feel even more guilty and sick to threaten something like that, but it paid off when both guards paled and stepped aside.

“G-Go right ahead, young lady,” the second guard said.

“Thank you,” Wish turned up her nose as she walked past the both of them and started the descent down the dark stairs.

Well that was easier than I thought it would be. Wish blinked and thought to herself. But still, she was praying and praying internally that Vox wasn’t down here right now. If she was then things might be totally hopeless. And even if she wasn’t, Wish still needed to convince that other Inquisitor at the desk to let her through, give her the keys, and leave the dungeon. What could she do to convince him to do that?

She sighed deeply and tried to calm herself down. She needed to approach this level-headed.

Her hoofsteps echoed as she walked down and down to make it to the dungeon once more. Wish was all alone for the moment and it made her worry even more for what was coming up next. If she just had Dotty by her side all of this would be so much easier. She passed through the halls, passed under the torches, and finally started walking down the narrow stairs that would end with her emerging into the dungeon. She’d be at the homestretch.

Vox hadn’t stabbed her from behind with a needle yet either. That was a plus.

At the final step, Wish walked out and immediately looked to her left, up at the desk and the same Inquisitor that had the unenviable task of manning it. No Vox anywhere. Fortune was favoring Wish today.

However, the other Inquisitor still looked down at her with surprise. Obviously he had been informed that she shouldn’t be here as well. And it wasn’t just that she had to get by him, she had to get the keys too.

Wish wasn’t letting him get the first word in though, she had to come off as strong.

But what did she say?! She hadn’t thought of that yet and the Inquisitor’s lips were already moving!

“The Head Inquisitor wanted to talk to you,” Wish blurted out. It was the first thing that came to mind: when in doubt, use the fear that everypony had for Vox.

His eyebrows shot up, a moment of fear in his eyes before it was replaced by plain confusion. “What are you talking about? And why are you even down here, young lady?”

“My father let me come again,” Wish used the same lie again. It was probably the best one to use. “Since I was coming here, Vox told me to tell you that she wanted to talk to you about something important. She’s waiting up at the second tower.”

The Inquisitor leveled his suspicious gaze at her. “That… doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“It’s Vox.” Wish shrugged.

“Well, be that as it may, I can’t leave my post unattended,” he said.

Wish grimaced and looked back up the stairs. “Are you sure? She seemed pretty agitated. It might be bad to keep her waiting...”

“I have been ordered by her specifically to not leave this desk,” he said, his eyes narrowing.

“Well would you rather make her mad by accidentally disobeying her or purposefully disobeying her? Cause you kind of know how she is. I mean… do you really want to give her an excuse for putting that metal cage on your head too?” Wish asked him.

He paled, his eyes immediately looking over to the door where the box and the device were kept behind. “Umm… uh...”

“I promise to stay here and wait for you to come back,” Wish said, sitting down in front of his desk.

“I… uh… I-I really should get going then,” he stood up and, with surprising haste, walked out and up the stairs of the dungeon.

Wish watched him go until he disappeared from sight and then let out a deep breath in relief. “Am I just good at this or is everypony really that scared?”

Either way, it was the moment of truth now. There was only one thing left to do. The thing she had truly been gathering her nerves for. Wish went around to the other side of the desk and looked for a spare candle she could use, finding one, she hopped up on the desk and used the torch hanging overhead to light it. That wasn’t all though. There were the two key rings as well. Wish didn’t know if any of those keys would actually work for Rainbow Dash’s chains, but she hadn’t seen Vox or anypony else use or mention another pair. So Wish grabbed them both as well and carried them in her mouth as she jumped off the desk.

She paused, frozen, as she looked down the dark corridor that led to Rainbow Dash.

Was she really doing this? Was this really happening?

Wish narrowed her eyes and began walking. Yes. It was.

The dim light of the candle illuminated the path for her and the steady rattle of the keys drowned out the rest of the world around her. It was just Wish heading towards the thing she should’ve done a long time ago. While she couldn’t deny the fear in her heart, the concern for her father, she still felt good that she was doing this.

Her father… she nearly cried when he crossed her mind. She just… it was a difficult thing to face.

Wish made it again to the back of the dungeon and the dark cell that was waiting there. She placed down the candle and took the keys out of her mouth.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” Wish spoke to the darkness. “Are you there?”

There was no answer.

“Rainbow-”

“I knew you’d be back. Sorry about before,” the raspy voice of the pegasus came to greet her.

“I-I’m the one who should be apologizing...”

“...” another pause from the darkness. “I shouldn’t have tried forcing you to help me… and I shouldn’t have told you any of that stuff in the first place. You’re just a kid, you shouldn’t have to be doing any of this stuff.”

Wish glumly looked down before moving the candle forward and lighting up the sad face of Rainbow Dash. “I’m glad you told me.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Kid, I know that’s not-”

“It is true. I was just lying to myself the whole time. For months—ever since this all started even. You were right to tell me you t-think my father is responsible for all of this,” Wish told her. “But. But I still know my father. I know he isn’t evil. I know it, Rainbow Dash.” Wish sniffled and grabbed the bars, raising her head to look at Rainbow Dash. “A-And I know he loves me too, and just wants to help me.” Tears started to freely fall from her eyes as she wavered and struggled to speak. “And I also know… t-that he’s doing horrible things, and hurting other ponies, and it’s his fault Hoofica is like this! But I don’t know why, Rainbow Dash! He’s—he’s always been the best father ever! He’s always loved and protected me so much! So why?! Why is he doing all of these horrible, horrible things?! He’s not evil, Rainbow Dash. I know he’s doing bad things, but he still isn’t evil, I-I just need to find out why all of this is happening… there has to be a reason. There has to be a reason for all of it...”

Wish collapsed to the floor of the dungeon and cried as Rainbow Dash watched on.

After a few moments she managed to calm herself slightly and sit back up again, looking at Rainbow Dash with a miserable expression on her face.

“Rainbow Dash… if I get you out of there, will you help me?”

Her reply was instant. “You bet I will.”

“Thank you… thank you...” Wish cried, lifting her hooves to her eyes and futilely trying to rub away the tears.

Rainbow Dash was patient with Wish as she continued to cry and attempt to get control of herself. It took some time, but Wish did calm down enough to remember what she was here for. She got the keys she remembered Vox using and opened up the door to Rainbow Dash’s cell, stepping inside by herself for the first time and coming up to the table Rainbow Dash was chained to. Of course there were a few more keys to check to see if they unlocked Rainbow Dash’s chains and she didn’t know where to start-

“The small one on the end,” Rainbow Dash said.

Wish looked up from the keys. “Huh?”

“I remember when I was first imprisoned here. That’s the one for the chains,” she shifted a little bit and rattled the chains, twisting her limbs a little to show off the shackles at the ends of the chains with the keyholes in them.

“Okay...” Wish nodded and brought around the right key. There were a number of locks to open up, one for each limb, her midsection, and even her wings, so Wish quickly went around the table and unlocked every one. The key glided in without resistance and a satisfying click emerged with each turn.

Each chain that became undone gave Rainbow Dash a little more freedom. The shackles at her hooves popped open, revealing red bands of agitated skin, the extra body chain around her wings fell away and the flying appendages listlessly fell to her sides, the muscles having gone numb, the final shackle around her midsection fell off and the formerly strong body was totally free. When that last one was done, Rainbow Dash weakly pushed herself up and practically rolled off the table, making Wish gasp as she just barely managed to land safely on her hooves.

Rainbow Dash sucked in a deep breath of air, her visible ribs expanding in and out.

“Thanks,” she said to Wish and lifted a hoof to run through her mane before looking back at her practically limp wings. The blue pegasus frowned and, although they trembled a bit, she managed to still tuck them into her sides like normal.

Wish gulped. “N-Now what?”

“Now?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Now...” she brought her left front hoof up to her stomach and pressed up against it, making a gagging sound. Wish watched in confusion as Rainbow Dash twitched and started to lurch a bit like she was about to throw up. After a few seconds, she saw a lump appear in Rainbow Dash’s throat and at last she regurgitated something into her mouth.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to reveal a yellow, crystal-like orb sitting between her teeth, no larger than a walnut. Without hesitation she chomped down on it and shattered the yellow crystal into a million pieces.

The spirited eyes of Rainbow Dash, sunken as they were, slowly turned to glance down at Wish. “Well, kid, I hope you’re ready for something awesome to happen.”

Rewound Clock

Several months previously…

Rainbow Dash flew over the rocky and arid landscape that existed south of both the Great Camel Desert and the home of the giraffes. She had already gone far enough away from the small town she met Big Red in that she couldn’t have even really seen it anymore if she looked over her shoulder. And it had only been a few minutes since she had flown off. What could she say, she was excited. Even if the world in front of her just looked like a bunch of empty canyons and dry plains. There was something more to it, there had to be, and Rainbow Dash was going to find out what.

The mystery of Hoofica. It promised all sorts of adventure to her, she could feel it.

“There’s no way I’m turning back from this,” she grinned in anticipation as she continued to speed through the hot and dry sky.

Still though, there was absolutely nothing in front of her. If there really did used to be some old kingdom here it really had totally vanished. From horizon to horizon it just looked like uninhabited badlands. Rainbow Dash had flown over and been to similar places in the past, but none that were supposed to be full of cities and millions of ponies. If this is what Hoofica looked like before it vanished she almost couldn’t believe such a large country existed in an unforgiving place like this. Maybe that was just another part of the mystery. Maybe what she was seeing now had been part of what changed when it all vanished.

Rainbow Dash started whistling to herself as she flew over the empty landscape. At least she had finally now gotten used to the heat again after flying through the desert. She was pretty sure she could handle any climate, biome, or insane weather event the world threw at her now.

She looked down at the plateau she was flying over, pretty sure she was just about getting to the point that Big Red said was the start of Hoofica’s borders. That meant that if all this hubbub about Hoofica was true she should be coming across something at any moment.

How does an entire country vanish anyways?

Rainbow Dash frowned as she realized she was being dumb. “Oh wait… the Crystal Empire vanished for a thousand years. But that was like, Sombra doing some crazy magical thing, right? Ugh, I never asked Twilight about the specifics…” She folded her hooves while in mid-flight and thought. “But then again, if he could do it what’s to say some other pony could never do the same? But this place didn’t sound like it was just one big city. It’s a whole country. There has to be something weird going on.”

She passed over the plateau completely and started flying over a flatter stretch of land that looked like it at one point might have had a road going south. But over probable months of neglect it had been reclaimed by the dust and wind.

“What to do, what to do...” Rainbow Dash muttered, bored. Her heart wanted some adventuring right now but what if she kept on flying and never found anything out about Hoofica? “Come on, there’s nothing out here. When am I going to-”

She didn’t feel anything.

There hadn’t been a sign, a warning, her hairs on the back of her neck didn’t stand up. Nothing.

But suddenly one moment she was flying with an empty landscape in front of her, and in the next an exploding kaleidoscope of shifting colors clouded her vision. She had to instantly shut her eyes out of reflex and all her senses went out of wack—vaguely she discerned something that felt like a tiny mosquito bite on the back of her neck for an instant. Vertigo overtook her and it felt like she was tumbling through the sky, first down, then up, then all over the place.

She blinked a few times and the colors of the world slowly returned to normal but things were still blurry, her instincts told her she was upside-down and that she had to right herself or she’d crash.

“Hng!” Rainbow Dash grunted and turned around, pulling up and finally after a few more blinks she saw dark clouds in the sky clearly and the sensation of vertigo was gone.

Rainbow Dash slowed down and steadily flapped her wings until she stopped in a patient hover. Sweat was dripping down her body and she was breathing far heavier than she normally would’ve after such simple maneuvers. It was like she had been shocked, or had just got back up after fainting. The strange experience was making her body react in a more extreme manner.

“What… just happened?” Rainbow Dash questioned. She brought her hooves up to her eyes and rubbed them before taking a long look out at what now lied before her.

And where was she?

Her eyes widened as she saw a landscape and country almost completely different from what she had been looking at only moments before. Instead of dry plains, canyons, and rocky mountains and plateaus, she now saw wide open grassy plains, forests, hills, rivers and lakes, and—far more importantly than any of that—what were clearly towns and larger cities in the distance. It was a sprawling country ahead of her that reminded her more of Equestria than anywhere else she had been on her travels. If it was daytime she surely would’ve found it even more impressive and colorful to look at.

“Wait. What?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head. It was daytime.

She looked up at the sky and saw nothing but an impenetrable ceiling of black clouds rolling overhead. Thunder shook the heavens while lightning struck in the distance. The perpetually dark sky was like that in every direction.

“But… where did this come from? I didn’t see anything like this—it’s impossible,” Rainbow Dash frowned at the black clouds. There was something just not right about them. She could feel it as a pegasus experienced with working on the weather team, there was something totally wrong and unnatural about those clouds. It sent a chill down her spine.

“I was just flying around like normal and then...” she turned around and looked back—and her body froze in shock. “What the...”

Behind her, from ground to cloud, from right to left as far as the eye could see, stood a mesmerizing wall of shifting grey color. Rainbow Dash could only barely make out what was beyond it and recognized the landscape she had just been flying through. Her eyes glanced up again and saw the black clouds stopping and rolling off it, whatever this wall was it was clearly the thing separating this place from the outside world—maybe even disguising it. That had to have been why she hadn’t seen this coming.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “From the outside it all looked like a big empty nothing… this is uh… dang, what would Twilight and Starlight say? An invisibility spell? A cloaking spell? I swear they’ve talked about stuff like that before.” She huffed. “Well it’s definitely magic, even I can see that.”

She flew towards it to head on back outside and get another look-

When as soon as she got within a foot of it she felt a powerful force pushing her back and a light shock around her neck.

“Ow!” Rainbow Dash yelped and flew back, rubbing her neck. “What the hay?!”

Not one to give up so easily, Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and flew right back at it, even faster this time.

Again she was forcefully repelled and shocked. It felt strange, not like wind or something was physically pushing her, but more like how it felt when she was messing with some magnets Twilight had and tried jamming two of them together.

“What gives?!” Rainbow Dash angrily yelled and flew to another spot, then another, and another. She tested multiple different heights and latitudes of the shimmering wall of magic, but not a single point allowed her through. She was defeated and thrown back every single time.

Huffing in exhaustion after a dozen tries, Rainbow Dash finally got the message: she wasn’t getting out of here the same way she came in.

“Hey! Hey up there!”

Rainbow Dash looked down at the source of the voice yelling at her. There was a pony standing on the ground below, waving, standing outside of a shack—house was too generous a word—that had a small personal garden around it. The shack itself looked like it had only been put up relatively recently, and it sat in the middle of an open spot in the ground between a forest to the east and a large rock formation to the west. What she also saw was a road that came up from the south that the shack was built next to, it winded to the north before being cut off right at the grey wall. It must’ve been the road leading in and out of the northern border of Hoofica before this magic wall came down.

She flew down and landed right in front of him, still panting a bit. He was an earth pony stallion a fair bit older than her, with a grey-blue coat and a white beard on his chin with a piece of straw stuck in his mouth.

“Yo,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

He nodded to her. “Saw you come in. And saw you try and leave a few times.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face and briefly glanced back at the wall before raising an eyebrow at him. “You mind telling me what’s going on here? I’m—this is Hoofica, isn’t it?”

“That it be,” he sighed and looked up at the dark sky. “Welcome to Hoofica, and I hope you can learn to love it, cause you’re going to be stuck here forever.”

Rainbow Dash gulped down some water from an old mason jar before setting it down on the table she was now sitting at and leveling her gaze at the pony sitting across from her.

“Thanks for the water, Mr-?”

“Cropduster would be the name,” he nodded. “Pleasure to meet you, although I doubt you can say the same.”

“Well I kind of figured something was going to happen as soon as I reached Hoofica but yeah,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “My name’s Rainbow Dash by the way. So uh, would you happen to know what’s going on here?”

“Can’t say I know everything but I’ve got enough to inform you about the important stuff I’d say. That’s why I built this shack up here, to “welcome” newcomers such as yourself to Hoofica, make sure you all got a handle on the situation you’re in. Cause it aint exactly a nice one,” he said.

Rainbow Dash sat back and frowned. “Thanks for doing that at least. How many ponies have come through here?”

He shrugged. “Can’t say for sure, but not as many in the last few months. Seems ponies outside got the message to not come here for the most part. Some of the ones who have come through were just unlucky traveling merchants, couriers, hikers, and then there were a couple of search parties, and a few more brave souls from nearby.”

“Yeah I stopped at a small village just north of here, they told me a few ponies from their village had come here to see what had happened but...”

“Mhm,” Cropduster nodded.

Rainbow Dash sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Okay, so seriously, what is going on in this crazy place? What the hay is that big magical wall?”

“We call it the barrier. It went up months ago and at the same time the sky turned to what you saw. Nothing but dark clouds everywhere. And everypony in Hoofica... and everypony that’s come in since, gets this on their neck,” Cropduster turned his head and pointed to his neck, showing off a solid black band around it.

Rainbow Dash had noticed it earlier but she thought it was just a tattoo or something. “Wait... do I-”

“Yep,” he nodded and stood up, walking over to a cabinet and pulling a small hoofheld mirror out of a drawer. He walked up to Rainbow Dash and held it in front of her face, showing off the same black band that was around her neck. “You got it the moment you came through the barrier, it’s what keeps you from going back out.”

“I thought I felt something...” Rainbow Dash grimaced and rubbed a hoof around her neck while checking out the black band in the mirror. “Geez... so this is all like some kind of crazy magic spell? Who did all this? Why?”

“I couldn’t even begin to tell you the specifics of how it all works. As far as unicorn magic goes I aint ever seen nor head of anypony able to perform magic on this level. Neither has anypony else in Hoofica. But as for who’s responsible?” Cropduster’s expression darkened considerably. “Our Queen. Our own Queen’s the one that’s done this. She’s lost her dang mind.”

“Your own Queen?” Rainbow Dash was surprised.

Cropduster nodded. “That’s the word at least, ponies from the capitol have said as much, although I doubt those of us living all the way out here have even heard half of the whole story. But what we have heard is that the Queen’s decreed all of this.”

“But... why?” Rainbow Dash shrugged in confusion, holding her hooves out and waiting for an answer.

Cropduster scoffed. “Who knows? We’ve all been saying she’s gone nuts, that’s the only explanation I can think of. The King too for some reason hasn’t said or done anything, don’t hear nothing about him anymore. It’s all the Queen’s word. It’s just come out of nowhere, she’s never done something even remotely like this before.”

“I guess that explains why this is still up. If it’s your Queen I guess your army or whatever is still obeying her?” Rainbow asked.

“Yep. That’d be the case. I doubt there weren’t any that didn’t have a problem with all this but there must’ve been enough to silence them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded a couple times. “So there’s a huge magical barrier around your whole kingdom cause of your crazy Queen. Got it.”

“That’s not everything.”

“Huh?”

“That’s not the only thing that’s changed here. Or why nopony has tried revolting or fighting back against what’s happened here,” Cropduster said. There was a cold frown on his face and he brought up his hooves to rest his chin on them, leaning towards Rainbow Dash across the table. “You see, in the first few days this happened, nopony really knew what was going on, specially on the outskirts of the kingdom. Local mayors and leaders tried to keep order and sent messengers to the capitol and bigger cities, looking for answers. Well we got our answer.”

Cropduster’s eyes narrowed, old anger resurfacing. “A new group of ponies had been formed at the same time that the barrier went up. Out of the royal guards and others, they’re called the “Inquisitors”. Apparently the Queen made them to enforce the new way in Hoofica. And that new way meant that crops were burned, food was heavily rationed, personal belongings were taken and destroyed. Even things like children’s toys and books. The Inquisitors were sent to make sure all of that happened. No guards or police across the kingdom dared stand up to them. Anypony who did stand up to them got rounded up and taken away. I saw it all happen in my home town.”

“But... why? I don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash shook her head, her mouth open in shocked horror. “Why would anypony do that?”

“I don’t know the real reason behind it all. I don’t know what the big picture is, nopony I’ve talked to does. But I know what their short term goal is: making ponies completely miserable. Making the entire kingdom of Hoofica miserable.”

Rainbow Dash was about to ask why again when Cropduster held up a hoof.

“I don’t know. That’s just how it is. If you end up heading south from here and follow the road you’ll hit Far Rock, that’s the northernmost town in the country, and you’ll see it for yourself. You’ll see them for yourself too.”

“Them?”

“The posters...” Cropduster trailed. “It’s... a little difficult to explain, but you’ll get what I mean when you see them. Ponies will tell you the same things I have too.”

“Guess I know where I’m going next then,” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face.

“Actually there might be somewhere else you’ll want to go to first.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “Hm?”

“Since you’re an outsider, and you also stopped at that little village just a bit north of here, you might be interested in getting in touch with the other outsiders that have come in and are stranded here,” Cropduster said. “You probably saw the forest to the east of here when you were flying, right? Well every outsider that came in from the north earlier holed up in there, hiding from the Inquisitors and the rest of Hoofica. Since they didn’t have a home of their own to go to and they were afraid of being carted off and all they needed someplace to lay low. Truthfully I don’t think they had that much to worry about, the Inquisitors only came this far out into the countryside twice. And local ponies probably would’ve been happy enough to shelter them, but for obvious reasons they weren’t exactly going to be too trusting of Hoofica ponies. Anyways, I bet the ones who came from that village at least would like to hear how their family and friends are doing. And the rest probably want to know what’s going on in the outside world.”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin in thought. “That’s probably a good idea. I mean, this country is a pretty big place right? I’m not going to be able to fly everywhere just in one day. Kind of hard to tell what time it is thanks to the sky but I’ll need to find a place to sleep later tonight too.” She nodded to herself. “Alright, I’m going to fly out to that forest next. Those ponies deserve to know... even though I probably won’t have a whole lot to say on what they want to hear about. I’ve kind of just been flying around and doing my own thing.”

Cropduster shrugged. “Better than nothing.”

“Heh, I should probably go now then. Thanks for the water and filling me in on what’s going on,” Rainbow Dash said to him. “You’re doing a really good thing here, dude.”

“Before you go, would you like anything to eat? I’ve got corn,” he offered.

Rainbow Dash’s stomach grumbled. It had been a little while since she had solid food. “Yeah, I think I could go for some corn.”

After chomping through a couple of cobs, Rainbow Dash left the small shack behind and flew up into the sky once more. She gave a single wave back to Cropduster before she looked around at the country of Hoofica. The dark sky had gotten even darker since she went into his shack, stray lightning bolts continued to strike random patches of ground everywhere, if there was a more miserable looking kingdom, Rainbow Dash didn’t want to see it. To the south she saw the supposed town of Far Rock nestled on the road not too far away, but for now she was headed east to the forest and the refugees said to live there.

There was a lot she still needed to find out about this place and why this had all happened.

Author's Note

And now back to our regularly scheduled daily updates.

The Vanished Kingdom of Hoofica

Thunder rumbled in the sky as Rainbow Dash made it to the large northern forest of the kingdom. A bolt of lightning momentarily lit up the horizon to the east, perhaps a foreboding sign, perhaps just coincidence. Either way she had a lot of trees to pass over and she couldn’t just speed by them since she needed to try and look down into the forest to find the ponies now living there. The foliage was thick though, the large pines and redwoods all clustered together, and the natural darkness from the sky didn’t do her any favors. It was apparent pretty quickly that she wasn’t going to be able to just scan over the whole forest and find what she was looking for. She was going to have to go down into it and search more thoroughly.

At least she had just had some food and water. Regardless of how the rest of the day turned out she didn’t really have anything major to worry about.

Her eyes briefly turned south, looking into the heart of Hoofica. Nothing major to worry about yet. But there was something very, very, wrong about this place. Even compared to some of the other places she had been to, it gave her chills. Blizzard may have been a merciless despot but even he believed in what he was doing and that his way was correct. Resin was insane but she too also thought she was doing something good.

What was the point in making your own ponies as miserable as possible? Rainbow Dash just didn’t understand.

The scope of Blizzard and Resin’s control also was nowhere near this... the Eternal Pegasus Empire was really just that one big sky city, and the Metal Mountain was the same. Nothing like this. Nothing like an entire kingdom that stretched for hundreds of miles in every direction. With multiple towns and cities, all sorts of different environments like forests, lakes, rocky mountains, wide-open plains and more. How could this all happen? Why?

A hard frown settled on her face. She was getting to the bottom of it, and soon.

She was sure as she visited more places here that she’d get more of the big picture too. And Cropduster had mentioned something about posters that would explain things. So later when she was in Far Rock she’d keep her eyes open for them.

That was for then though and this was now, she had to find the outsider ponies first.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dipped below the treeline to search through the forest. It was even darker down here, she could barely see anything at all. Only a few more flashes of lightning really gave her the vision she needed. She was lucky though that her eyes were already pretty sharp, and her vision probably better than most ponies, otherwise she may have already smacked into a tree or two.

Maybe I should get down and walk? She asked herself. Walking was lame but it might be more helpful here. And less dangerous.

She hardly saw or heard any animals either as she went through the trees. Not like she’d blame them for being scared or so messed up from how the sky looked all the time. Fluttershy would have a word to say about that. And she already knew that this place was severely in need of a Pinkie Pie party too.

Rainbow Dash finally decided to drop down entirely, her hooves hitting the moist and cool forest floor, and took a look around. Nothing but trees and darkness. She couldn’t see very far through them either.

“Hello?” She shouted out to the forest. Not like these ponies should be scared of her or anything, right? She didn’t need to hide from or sneak up on them.

There wasn’t an answer though so Rainbow Dash just sighed and started walking deeper into the middle of the forest.

She wasn’t going to be getting a warm welcome here like she did from Cropduster. That was pretty obvious. Rainbow Dash tried to look for something like a clearing, or any trails, to see if they had been used recently. If traveling merchants had gotten trapped here they might have brought their wagons with them.

In the end she more or less just continued walking from tree to tree, whistling loudly to show she wasn’t trying to sneak up on anypony if they saw her first. It was a good way to not appear dangerous or threatening. Every now and then she cupped her hooves around her mouth and called out for any ponies but if they heard her they still didn’t bother answering.

“Geez, couldn’t they have chosen to hide out somewhere easier to find?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

Thunder still roared high in the sky every now and then as Rainbow Dash kept walking. Must’ve been annoying for all the ponies here to get used to this weather. Her eyes glanced up through the tall trees to look at the rolling black clouds, they still gave off a weird feeling to her. If they could be dispersed with the usual pegasus magic surely ponies here would have done so already? Maybe she could try anyways.

As she walked past another tree and looked around them for any sign of ponies, she paused.

There was something on the ground.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she looked down at the vine tied in a loop resting on the forest floor. It was the most simple and cliche hoof trap possible. Like it had come right out of a Daring Do story, that was part of why Rainbow Dash recognized it in the first place.

“Like I’m going to fall for that,” Rainbow Dash snorted and hopped over it.

And immediately got snapped up by a net that had been covered by a pile of leaves right beyond the vine.

Rainbow Dash hung suspended about ten feet above the ground, trapped in a net with an annoyed frown on her face.

“Oh. Okay.”

She sighed and dragged a hoof down her face, looking at the vines that the net was made out of. Honestly she could probably break out of this real easy but she wanted to wait a second and see if anypony would come by to help her. It would probably be a better first encounter than if she wrecked their stuff.

“Hellooooo?” Rainbow Dash called out to the forest once more. “Pony caught in a net here. Mind helping me out?”

This time she did slowly get a response. As Rainbow Dash watched from her spot trapped in the net, swaying slightly above the ground, ponies emerged from deeper in the forest. They came from behind trees and from the darkness, a full dozen of them, all surrounding her. And as they got closer she noticed quite a few of them were carrying sharpened sticks. They had unwelcoming grimaces on their faces, but in their eyes Rainbow Dash really only saw fear and worry.

“Uh... hey,” Rainbow Dash said as they crowded around her.

“Who are you and why are you here?” One of them asked, a unicorn stallion with a stick held up in his telekinetic grip.

“My name’s Rainbow Dash, and I came here looking for you guys,” she answered.

“Is she an Inquisitor?” A scared pegasus mare asked.

“She doesn’t look like one. And besides, they’ve never bothered to come look for us,” the unicorn answered. He raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “You’re another outsider aren’t you? Trapped here just like us.”

“Bingo,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Should’ve been our first guess...” another unicorn snorted and shook his head, lowering the “spear” he was carrying.

The unicorn still affixed an uncertain glare on Rainbow Dash. “Can never be too careful. You definitely don’t look or act like anypony who’s been here in Hoofica for long, but before we let you out of there can you prove to us that you’re not an Inquisitor? Got anything to say?”

“Well I just came by from the little shack Cropduster put up if any of you know him. And if any of you ponies are from that little village north of here, I was just there earlier today and met Big Red. He told me about what went on with Hoofica suddenly vanishing and some of the ponies he knew going to check things out but not coming back. That’d be you, right?” Rainbow said.

He nodded. “Yeah, some of us are from that village, I’m a worker for the Aux-Lemm Corporation if you’ve heard of them though. Anypony here from the village?” He asked around the group.

A few stepped forward, including the pegasus mare from earlier.

“You met with Big Red? Are things okay in the village?” She asked.

“As far as I could tell,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I didn’t stay there for more than a quick minute, but the place wasn’t falling apart or anything. He didn’t want me to come south though cause he was worried the same thing that happened to you would happen to me. Can’t say he was wrong about that now. I think he’s still worried about all of you who have gone missing. But obviously they aren’t sending anymore ponies to check things out anymore.” Her eyes then glanced at the unicorn stallion. “And you’re part of Aux-Lemm? I met a pony named Cart D’Evron in the Great Camel Desert back north. You know him?”

“I’ve heard of him from others, but never worked with him myself. Well, I guess that’s decent enough proof that you’re not an Inquisitor. Just another unfortunate outsider. We’ll get you down real quick,” the unicorn said.

The group worked together to loosen the vines and knots that held up the net. Rainbow Dash had to admit the construction of it was pretty clever. It wouldn’t really stop a strong pony from getting out but if it was somepony dangerous who got caught it would still delay and distract them enough. In just a second the net was lowered and she was able to crawl out of it, then it was reset back to how it was and the leaves used to obscure it once again.

“You guys really think you need traps and everything?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she watched them hide the net.

“We’re not taking chances,” the unicorn said. “The Inquisitors and the rest of Hoofica don’t seem to care about us, or maybe even know we’re here, but it’s still better to be safe than sorry.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Fair enough. You all got any names by the way?”

“Vert Minske,” the unicorn answered.

“Blue Teardrop,” the pegasus said.

“Gulf Runner.”

“Chatterbox.”

“Wheat Crackers.”

“Osmondo.”

“Silent Night.”

And so forth did the ponies introduce themselves to Rainbow Dash. A mix of ponies from close by and ponies who were more well-traveled like Vert. She could tell that just from the names. Seems no matter where outside you were from, they all stuck together on the inside. Anypony not from Hoofica had to do that. She wondered if there were similar groups like this elsewhere in Hoofica, like one along the southern border.

After the introductions, Vert led her and the rest of the group through the forest to their “home”. At first it looked like some just a few hastily, and poorly, made shelters in and around the trees. Branches tied together with tightly packed dirt and leaves for roofs, grass curtains, dug out holes in the ground acting as fire pits. But as they went further she started seeing some more long lasting shelters made from carved wood, repurposed wagons that had been dragged inside the forest along with other supplies, and even a few small log cabins made where there was enough room between the trees.

The other ponies living here also made themselves known as soon as the party returned.

Rainbow Dash watched as pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, mares, stallions, young and old, all came from the various huts and hovels to see what the commotion was.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash waved to them all.

“This is Rainbow Dash,” Vert announced to everypony. “She’s an outsider just like us, she arrived here earlier today.”

“You came in through the north then?” A teenage earth pony stallion asked. “Did you stop by my village?”

“She did. Spoke to Big Red,” Blue Teardrop answered for her.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, I did. Now before any other pony asks or gets any ideas, I don’t know a whole lot about how the outside world is doing either. I’m a traveler from far away and I’ve just been flying across this whole part of the world looking for adventure and I don’t really stay in any one place for that long. So sorry but I’m probably not going to be able to tell you too much. I’ve kind of been concerned with my own things.”

“Don’t anypony start to mob her anyways,” Vert said. “Let’s all be polite the same way any civilized ponies should be. She’s in just as bad a situation now too.”

“Welcome to our little den then,” an older earth pony mare said. “Make yourself at home for as long as you want. We’ve got plenty of food and water.”

“You should just stay with us forever to be honest,” Chatterbox from her group said.

“Yeah,” another unicorn from the hideaway spoke up. “There’s no sense in leaving or going anywhere else, not when things are the way they are in Hoofica.”

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof. “Hold on, I know you guys are just looking out for me, and from what I’ve heard about what’s going on here you’ve got reason to be worried about your fellow outsiders and everything, but I’ve got my own way of doing things. I’m not going to just stay here in this forest. I appreciate the offer and the help and all that, but I’m going deeper into Hoofica to figure all this out and put a stop to it. That’s just how it is with me. When I see ponies in need, I don’t leave them hanging.”

Vert raised an eyebrow at her. “You really plan on doing that? Are you crazy or just plain stupid?”

“Both,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “But believe me, I’ve done things like this before. I’ve been to bad places like this before. And I can’t just let them be.”

“Well if that’s what you want...” Vert awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Please, I really don’t think you should do something like that,” Blue Teardrop said as she walked right up to Rainbow Dash, grasping her hooves. “Stay here with us where it’s safe.”

A chorus of agreements rose up from the other ponies around. They didn’t want their new arrival to go out and pointlessly put herself in danger.

Rainbow Dash detached herself from the other pegasus. “Look, I’m glad you’re all worried for me, I appreciate it. But I can’t. I’d heard about this place since I first flew into the Great Camel Desert, and I’ve been excited to make it here and figure out what’s up ever since. Now that I’m here and I’ve heard about the crazy Queen and how all of you and the other ponies of Hoofica are suffering... I’m putting a stop to it. And believe me, I can handle it. I’ve flown from very, very, far away and I’ve faced a lot of challenges and stopped a lot of bad ponies while on my adventure. Hoofica is just one more stop.”

“You’re certainly an interesting pony. I hope that’s not all just hot air you’re blowing,” Vert said to her, a not entirely believing look on his face.

“It isn’t, okay?” Rainbow answered. “I can’t prove it to you, but just believe me when I say that I’m definitely returning this place to normal. That I’m definitely bringing down that wall and letting you all get out of here and go back home. That’s my promise.”

Rainbow Dash saw the other ponies mumbling to each other, most of them obviously not believing her. Most of them probably devoid of hope after being stuck in this place for too long.

“At the very least then-” Blue Teardrop started. “Please stay here for the rest of the day. Just spend the night, get some rest. Even though you said you didn’t have much to share with us about the outside world we’d still like to hear it.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I can do that. And anyways-” she looked up through the trees at the dark sky. “I’ve kind of lost track of the time too.”

In the center of the little hideaway, Rainbow Dash sat in a circle with the other interested outsiders who wanted to learn any sort of morsels of information about how things outside were going. And about what Rainbow Dash actually planned to do. Of course since even Dash herself didn’t know aside from “fly on until she found somepony to punch” she didn’t have much to say on that topic either.

“Seems you actually still need plenty of help when it comes to learning about Hoofica and just what you’re up against,” Vert said to her.

“Uhhhh...” Rainbow Dash awkwardly glanced away.

He snorted in amusement. “Well, can’t blame you for being uninformed. Just make sure you don’t do anything stupid without knowing what you’re getting into. The Queen of Hoofica lives in Hoofica Castle in the center of the kingdom by the way. If you head straight south you’ll get there eventually.”

“I could just ask for directions from ponies too,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I don’t advise that too much,” Lila Blossom, another mare from the hideaway said. “I’m one of the more recent arrivals here, and I went to Far Rock briefly when I came in. Most of the ponies here aren’t as welcoming and selfless as Cropduster. They’re not going to be happy to see you or spend time talking. Everypony is afraid and just hiding out in their own homes.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Well... I guess that’s not perfect but I’ll see what I can do. I don’t plan on, like, imposing on anypony or anything. But I know I’m definitely going to have to ask some... Hooficans? About what’s going on and if they know anything more. They’ve gotta have a better idea of things the closer you get to the capitol.”

“Good luck,” Vert said.

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

She wasn’t sure if that good luck was actually genuine or sarcastic, but she accepted it anyways. Just like she accepted the wooden bowl of soup that was pushed into her hooves a minute later. Not like she was super hungry, but why refuse? Apparently it was close to “evening”. Not like she could tell without a clock. Either way it was a good soup, and she was offered a tent afterwards to sleep in.

“I hope this is comfortable enough for you,” Blue Teardrop said as she showed it to Rainbow Dash.

“After what I’ve been through, anything that isn’t a bed of jagged rocks is comfortable,” Rainbow told her.

“Well… guess you’ll be leaving as soon as you wake up. I really don’t think you should though! This whole country is dangerous, it’s crazy in here!” Blue Teardrop pleaded.

“I get it,” Rainbow Dash said and then smiled to her. “And that’s what makes it an adventure.”

“I just don’t think I understand you...” Blue Teardrop said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “That’s alright. Not everypony has an appetite for awesome adventures. It’s not like I’m happy to hear about things being bad here but danger? Evil ponies? You bet that gets my heart pounding in excitement for when I can kick some butt and save this place.”

“I hope it goes well...”

“Heh, don’t worry about it. I keep my promises,” Rainbow Dash winked.

Closed Doors and Shut Windows

It was just like the other ponies from outside had suspected, Rainbow Dash left as soon as she woke up. Early morning from what her body was telling her. Her eyes only saw the same sort of darkness she had seen the whole time yesterday thanks to the dark clouds blanketing the sky of Hoofica.

However, she was well-fed, well-rested, and ready to take on Hoofica and whatever it could throw at her. She wasn’t entirely sure what she had gotten into when she had become trapped in here, but one thing was for sure: she had found another adventure. All the warnings, the foreboding atmosphere, it hadn’t dissuaded her one bit and now she was smack dab in the middle of it.

And happy for that.

Because another thing was obvious too. That there were a lot of ponies here who needed her help. There was something wrong with this whole entire kingdom and Rainbow Dash knew she didn’t have anywhere near the full picture yet. But that sky—she glanced up at it again—told her that this was no case of some simple tyrant. There was something else going on here. She hadn’t just stumbled onto some oppressed kingdom or anything like that, there was so much more under the surface. As a pony who had vast experience with that kind of trouble she knew. She could feel it. It was almost as if her close connection to harmony itself was giving her insight into the sheer wrongness that was infesting Hoofica.

Rainbow Dash flew high above the trees of the forest and then continued to fly higher into the sky until she was almost just about below the clouds. Up here with a commanding view of everything she could plan out her route through the kingdom. Below her and just slightly to the south she saw the small town of Far Rock down the same road she had seen yesterday, and a bit further south than it was another small town right beside a large river on the west and a wide open stretch of farmlands on the east. Then far, far to the southeast, past a range of large hills, was a city at the edge of the horizon. That was all she could see so far in that direction. Besides that, directly to the east and west were a smattering of other tiny towns, even tinier than Far Rock, along with lone windmills and family farms.

It really was a full country, not just a single city or a settled area like most of the other places she had visited on her journey. But it was all so dark and unnatural looking everywhere too thanks to the sky and barrier. There wasn’t rain but there was a regular striking of lightning bolts in every direction. She had no idea how big this place was either but at least she had a good idea of where to go for now.

Far Rock would be first, then she’d follow along to that other small town, and then finally she’d make it to that large city. From there she could plan her next move. And along the way she’d get some actual directions to the capitol and figure out how far she still needed to travel. Along with figuring out some other things about this place and the situation it was in.

Rainbow Dash nodded to herself with a grin and shot down towards Far Rock. She’d be there in a minute.

“Oof… this place has seen better days,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around the small village.

She had come in from the sky and landed practically right in the middle of town. It didn’t make much of a commotion, but only because there were hardly any ponies out. The ones who did see her arrival quickly went away, down the other little streets of Far Rock or back into their homes before Rainbow Dash could even wave hello. When she walked past what looked like an old clothing store, the pony inside shut her door and Rainbow heard the distinct “click” of it being locked.

It wasn’t just stuff like that either. The few ponies who she did make eye contact with had glum looks on their faces, barely registering her at all, others walked by aimlessly, and she saw flowerbeds out in front of homes that had been torn up. This place radiated depression. Where were the kids out playing around? Where were the friends talking? Where were the ponies working?

It was just all quiet and empty. Doors were closed, windows were shut, and it seemed like happiness had taken a long vacation.

As she passed by another building, she paused. Something on the side of it caught her eye.

There was a poster plastered up on the wall. It had caught her attention because it was the only thing like it she had seen so far in town. There weren’t any other signs, or art, or decorations of any sort in Far Rock. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and walked towards it, there seemed to be a drawing of a mare on the top half with some writing below her. A murky white mare, with a pink mane, and red eyes. Once Rainbow Dash had gotten close enough to the poster to read it, her inquisitive look turned into a hard frown.

NO HAPPINESS

NO SMILES

BE QUIET

OBEY

WE’RE WATCHING

“Well, these must be the posters Cropduster mentioned...” Rainbow Dash said.

She glared up at the face of the mare on the poster—whoever she was—and stepped away. That at least gave her a bit of an inkling into how bad things were here. But it still didn’t make any sense to her. Why would the Queen want to just make everypony miserable and suffer like this? No smiles? No happiness? Why?

The more Rainbow Dash walked through Far Rock, the more posters she saw as well. She came to realize they were everywhere. Quickly she had seen more posters than ponies.

When Rainbow Dash went down a sidestreet she almost pumped into somepony who was staring at the ground as he walked. She figured he would be as good as anypony to talk to and get some answers on things.

“Yo!” Rainbow Dash said to get his attention.

The pony flinched at her loud greeting and looked up.

Rainbow Dash smiled at him and waved. “Hey, can I-”

His eyes widened in fear at her smile and happy demeanor, without hesitating he quickly turned around and walked away down another street.

Rainbow’s hoof slowly lowered back to the ground. “Okay. Don’t be so aggressive next time.”

Next strategy: go to some home off the main roads and knock on the front door to see if the pony inside would be willing to talk. Rainbow Dash figured they’d probably feel calmer and safer inside their own home. Of course as she explored more of Far Rock she saw more of those awful posters. She really wanted to tear them down but she got the feeling that the ponies here wouldn’t want her to cause a fuss like that. It was fine if she got herself into trouble, not if she got all of them in trouble too.

A mother and her child walking by saw Rainbow Dash and—realizing she was an outsider—the mother grabbed her child by the hoof and led her the opposite way.

“Geez, that’s a little excessive,” Rainbow mumbled.

Eventually she made her way close to the southern edge of town and found a few houses off the beaten path. She saw one that had a white picket fence around it and what used to be a garden. Since it seemed the most welcoming, or would have been at one point, she chose it. Rainbow Dash opened up the little gate on the fence and walked up to the house, going up the steps and onto the porch before gently knocking on the front door.

At first she heard nothing, which didn’t surprise her at all. Then a few very slow and wary hoofsteps came from inside the house. The door was opened up just a sliver, he chain still on it, and a mare peeked her eye out at Rainbow Dash.

“Who are you? What do you want?” The timid mare asked.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. I just came to Hoofica from the outside and I wanted to-”

The mare quickly shook her head. “I-I don’t want to talk to any outsiders! I’m just an old mare living alone in peace. You saw the posters didn’t you? That’s all you need to know about this place!”

She tried to shut the door but Rainbow Dash quickly put her hoof forward to stop it. “Wait! Just wait a second! Yeah, I’ve seen the posters and I’ve seen how miserable you all are. And I want to help. Can’t we just talk for a little bit? I’ll be on my way right after, I just want to know some things.”

“I can’t be seen talking to an outsider like you...” the mare whined.

“That’s why I want to do it indoors. Please?” Rainbow asked.

The mare looked out from the slit in the door and saw nothing but empty streets and other closed buildings by her house. Sighing, she nodded. Rainbow let her close the door and take off the chain, then she was allowed inside.

It was… not a nice looking house on the inside. Barren. Empty. Almost completely undecorated. There were only a few pieces of furniture sitting anywhere. Rainbow Dash could see circles of dust from where other stuff had used to sit, gone now.

“Uhh… did something happen here?” She asked the mare.

“The Inquisitors happened,” the mare answered. “Every house is the same.”

“Right, Cropduster told me something like that happened here,” Rainbow frowned.

“You met Cropduster?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. He’s still out there welcoming new ponies in case you didn’t know. Met him and the other outsiders from the north yesterday.” She glanced over at the mare. “And, uh, sorry but I didn’t catch your name yet?”

“Snowy Moon,” the older unicorn mare responded. She was maybe forty or fifty years old, with wrinkles at her eyes, and her coat was a bright white while she had a frizzy light-yellow mane and tail.

“Nice to meet you. I know the feeling aint exactly mutual but thanks for letting me in...”

“I don’t want to talk for long,” Snowy Moon said as she went to peek out of her front window. The curtains were closed of course so she only just looked out for an instant. “Be quiet and obey. That’s what I should be doing, s-so just hurry up and ask what you want and then go. Please.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and scratched her head. “Okay, okay… just give me a second. I really don’t mean to be a bother or anything. I just want to know a little bit about Hoofica and what happened. Cropduster and the outsiders told me a little but I was wondering if you or anypony else here knew more. Also I was wondering where exactly the capitol is and how far I need to go.”

Snowy Moon nervously paced around to the one chair still in this room before sitting down. “Where to even begin?”

“Well first off… about those posters. Is that the Queen on them?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Somehow, Snowy Moon actually paled. “No. That’s the Head Inquisitor.”

“Head Inquisitor?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“The Inquisitors were only formed recently, and she’s the boss of them. I only saw her once, back near the beginning of all of this, only shortly after the barrier went up and these horrible things appeared on all our necks,” Snowy Moon shuddered. “She came with a full force of Inquisitors, guards, and other lawponies conscripted along the way. They set up the posters around town and… did what you’ve seen here in my home. Not to mention burning and salting most of the farmlands.”

“Why did… how did they get away with that? Did nopony really try stopping them?” Rainbow asked.

“We were afraid. There were a lot of them and… they said it was the Queen’s orders after all,” Snowy Moon shook her head. “We asked what the King was doing, we asked what the Captain of the Royal Guard thought about this. The Head Inquisitor told us that it was irrelevant. It was only a few days later that we actually got news from the nearby city of what was really going on in Hoofica. We learned the entire country was like this, trapped, the skies dark, and that the King had gone silent while the Queen was rolling out new decrees and doing whatever she wanted. Red Wing, the Captain of the Royal Guard, had gone missing as well, along with a number of other ponies under his command. And at the same time the Inquisitors were formed to make sure nopony revolted and to make sure the new orders of the posters were followed. Not being allowed to have or do anything other than survive.”

She sighed and looked at her closed window. “This used to be such a bright and happy town...”

“I’m really sorry all this happened, I just don’t understand it at all,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“You and me both,” Snowy Moon stared up at her ceiling, staring past it, at the dark sky that existed beyond it while running a hood across the black band on her neck. “It’s not just all that but… the barrier around the entire kingdom. I don’t understand how something like that can exist. I’m a unicorn and while I’m no expert at magic something like this still shouldn’t be possible.”

“Well that’s another thing I’ll be finding out and putting a stop to,” Rainbow Dash smacked her hooves together.

Snowy Moon looked over at her in shock. “You what?”

“I didn’t just stay hiding out with the other outsiders for a reason,” Rainbow Dash told her. “I’m not taking what’s going on in this place lying down, I’m putting a stop to it all. I’m going to return Hoofica to the way it was, a place where you can all be happy again and this dark sky is gone.”

Unfortunately for Rainbow Dash, Snowy Moon didn’t react positively at all to her little speech.

“Y-You need to leave right now! I can’t talk to you anymore, if the Inquisitors ever found out I spoke to you-!” She quickly stood up from her chair and started pushing against Rainbow Dash, ushering her towards the front door. “You’re dangerous, you shouldn’t be in Far Rock at all! D-Don’t cause trouble for us, alright? Things are bad enough!”

“Wait, hold on!” Rainbow Dash tried appeasing the mare. “You don’t need to be so afraid of everything! I’ve heard the Inquisitors only even came here once, right?”

“That doesn’t matter, just go! I’m not taking chances,” Snowy Moon used her magic to open up the front door while pushing Rainbow towards it, practically trying to dump her out on the porch.

“Can you at least tell me what the best way to get to the capitol is? Is it directly south from here?” Rainbow asked while digging her hooves into the wooden floor.

“Just keeping heading on the road, it’ll take you southeast to Glamour Heights City, you can get better directions there!” Snowy Moon succeeded in pushing her out completely and grasped the door, preparing to slam it shut.

Rainbow Dash again put a hoof on it to stop her. “And what about the Inquisitors? How do I know if a pony in Hoofica is one of them?”

“They wear white suits!”

Slam!

Rainbow Dash stared at the shut door with an uncomfortable grimace. That had not gone as well as she wanted it to. At least she had gotten some information and was starting to sort this mess out. Evil Queen. Evil Inquisitors enforcing her orders. Giant magic barrier that shouldn’t exist. And now if she went to Glamour Heights City, which must have been the city she had seen in the distance, she’d probably get better directions to the capitol. And be one step closer to putting a stop to all of this. Since it was a city that was many times bigger than Far Rock there were likely more ponies willing to talk to her and help her out as well.

However, she wanted to visit that other town down the road first. It was already close to noon (she thought) and so getting some food in her before she made the longer trip to the city would probably be smart. If not outright staying there for a night instead of pushing herself ever forward.

Rainbow Dash nodded to herself and stepped away from the house of Snowy Moon, looking up at the dark sky before taking flight and ascending high above Far Rock. The next town of Hoofica was waiting for her.

Flying Into Trouble

Rainbow Dash kept herself fairly low to the ground, relatively for her at least, because she wanted to get a closer look at Hoofica. And because the low light from the sky caused everything to kind of blend together at times if she was too high up.

She hadn’t even gotten the name of the town she was flying to now though. It looked no different from Far Rock from a distance, just another tiny settlement on the outskirts of Hoofica. There were a ton of towns, even smaller than Ponyville, like that in Equestria too. Hoofica by and large didn’t seem to have the same kind of variety in climate and everything compared to Equestria though. She didn’t see any big mountain ranges or really anything that stuck out as different. It was all green forests, green hills, green fields, and blue rivers and lakes.

Or at least that’s what she could tell it would normally look like. If it wasn’t for those black clouds.

It was breezy out right now in the afternoon air of Hoofica. Thanks to the stormy nature of the countryside there was also a perpetual mistiness and moisture to the air as well. The grassy fields on the side of the road also had a fine sheen of water on them as if it had rained just previously. Outside the border it had been so dry, maybe it wasn’t normally supposed to be like that either? It was possible the barrier was keeping in some much needed water for the lands directly around Hoofica.

Rainbow Dash looked to her right and saw a single windmill off in the distance, between the road and a forest even further away. It looked abandoned but she had no idea if it had been for a while or if it had been forcefully decommissioned by the Inquisitors. The breeze was still making the large blades revolve slightly.

Ahead, a bolt of lightning suddenly flashed in the sky and got Rainbow Dash’s attention. It was close enough that it lit up the landscape in front of her. Right after it a rumble of thunder came from the sky as well.

At least this sort of weather was a lot easier to get used to than the frozen wastes of the north or the scorching heat of the desert.

“Still would be nice if I could do something about any of this...” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she looked up at the black sky.

Before long she had made it to the edge of the next town, and this time instead of dropping into the middle of it from the sky she decided to stop on the road outside and walk in. Like a normal visitor. As she walked down the main road into it she saw a sign posted up along the side of it: “Welcome to Yellow Daisy Hamlet!”. It was probably going to be the happiest and most exuberant thing about the town. Already Rainbow Dash saw that there were hardly any ponies out and it had the same kind of appearance as Far Rock. More closed doors. More shut windows.

She sighed and walked on in.

Head Inquisitor Vox was having a wonderful day.

It started last week when she had been given the opportunity by Dreamweaver to take a trip out to the countryside. Things were slow in the castle and he wanted to see if she could perhaps go on an impromptu Inquisition to find some high quality despair to jump start his little project. Whatever it was. She still didn’t know the details on just what he wanted and what that thing up in his lab was. Not that she cared though. Not as long as she got to keep having her fun.

And boy oh boy was it looking like she was going to have a lot of fun today.

She and her squad of Inquisitors had finally arrived in the far off town of Yellow Daisy Hamlet after getting reports that some silly pony had torn down a couple of Vox’s posters. Oh what a terrible mistake that was.

“Don’t you think these ponies look a little too happy?” Vox asked her Inquisitors as they strode down the street. She almost failed to keep her laughter in. “Have they not gotten the message?”

It was another sick joke of course. The village and all the ponies in it looked miserable—and now terrified that she was here. But her Inquisitors of course couldn’t say anything. They too feared Vox. Five of them were with her right now, walking through the streets of Yellow Daisy Hamlet, while an assortment of other guards and servants had been left back with their carriages and wagons outside of town.

“That merchant from Glamour Heights sure was kind to tell us about this infraction. I’m sure he wasn’t lying and just trying to save his own skin after he saw me walk in the door,” Vox happily hummed as she walked, snickering each time she saw a pony run or freeze up in fear when they saw her.

“What if he was lying?” Another Inquisitor asked her.

Vox’s grin grew wider. “Well either way somepony is getting an Inquisition. Whether or not they deserve it? Eh, whatever.”

The other Inquisitors behind her all flashed each other a grimace.

“I suppose we could go straight to the mayor and ask him about all this… but it might be more fun if most ponies don’t even know we’re here. Going around and asking about the mischievous deplorable who committed vandalism. I wonder how many here would be willing to sell out their own friends and family? Meanwhile whispers would spread about the Inquisitors going around looking for the criminal~. Soon enough I bet the town would be in a panic and they’ll be ready to lynch the culprit all by themselves, just so they don’t have our eyes turn to them.”

She stopped and clasped her hooves in front of herself before turning to her Inquisitors. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“Yes, Head Inquisitor!” They all saluted in unison.

“Hah,” Vox snorted and rolled her eyes. “I bet.” She then looked over at one Inquisitor in particular. A pegasus mare with her salt and pepper mane done in two pigtails. “Dotted? How about you come with me and we can search around for any posters that were taken down or torn up. The rest of you can also go through town and ask around about the vandalism.”

“Y-Yes, Head Inquisitor,” Dotted Easel stiffly nodded and walked forward while the other Inquisitors sighed in relief and went off on their own.

“You’ve always been so diligent as an Inquisitor, I really wanted you by my side for this. Don’t you remember the last time we did an Inquisition together? Vox giggled as she walked along with Dotted Easel.

Dotted Easel however looked queasy. “Yes...”

“Oh I sure hope we get to do it again today. Hasn’t it just been so boring in the castle? Not as boring as when you were working for the King I’m sure, but boring just the same. It was fun for a while when all this started but then it all settled down far too much. I’ve gotten bored of the dungeon already,” Vox sighed. “Really needed a fun trip like this.” She patted Dotted Easel on the back and laughed when the other mare flinched.

“You’re too funny, Dotted. Don’t forget you’re just as far into this as I am with everything you’ve taken part in. Choice or not.” Vox continued to laugh as her eyes scanned around town. “Now then, time to find some fun.”

“This place is worse than Far Rock was. I wonder if it’ll be like that the further in I get in Hoofica?” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she walked down the street.

There were even less ponies outside and none of them, absolutely none, would meet her gaze as she walked. Meanwhile there were more of those creepy posters everywhere. Rainbow Dash was getting real sick of looking at them. A few houses too actually had their windows completely boarded up, Rainbow hated to see a place like this. It probably wasn’t going to be a good place to stay but then was anywhere? Even if she couldn’t find a place to stay for the night she could probably just sleep behind a building somewhere and that would be better than using some ditch outside of town.

She didn’t have money to buy food or board and something told her ponies right now wouldn’t be willing to help her out out of the kindness of their hearts. Would these ones even be willing to talk about anything or should she just cut her losses until she got to the city?

“I wasn’t wrong, that sign was the happiest thing about this place,” Rainbow muttered.

She walked down another street and ended up going past a small library. Or at least it had once been a library. It was all boarded up too with “CLOSED” written on the front door in red paint.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and walked on.

Towns like this were always built in sort of a haphazard way without much planning. They sprawled from the main road and homes and other buildings were just put up wherever. It made getting around on the ground a pain and she had no idea where anything was or might be, aside from any farmhouses that would obviously be on the outskirts. Everything else was up for grabs. She started whistling to herself, taking in the dull sights around her and hoping she’d come across at least one pony that didn’t look totally dead inside.

Up above, the black clouds continued to roll. It was getting slightly darker.

She looked up at them for a while as she walked. Unchanging. A perpetually dark blanket blocking out the sun, moon, and stars. Even if it wasn’t for everything else going on, that sky alone would be reason enough for ponies here to get depressed. She couldn’t imagine Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie being forced to live in a place that looked like this all day every day.

The sound of some quickly moving hooves then got her attention and Rainbow Dash looked back down to see a couple ponies ahead scampering down the street. They looked in a rush to get somewhere, it was the fastest she had seen any ponies move in this town. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at them and picked up her pace, following them to see where they were going. As she did so, more ponies came out from around town and started walking the same way. She didn’t know where they were going, despite some doing that she saw a lot also going back into their homes and loudly shutting the doors.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked herself as she started to hear a commotion ahead.

She turned a corner and saw a crowd of ponies standing in front of a couple houses. Beyond them she heard a few loud voices, louder than she expected anypony to be in this town. Some of them sounded, stressed, afraid, while one was laughing loudly.

Rainbow Dash frowned and pushed herself past the other ponies to see what the hay was going on.

In front of her was a house with three ponies standing in front of it. Father, mother, and son. They were all quivering in fear, the parents holding their child protectively. Facing them was a white-suited unicorn mare with a happy grin on her face. Behind her were several other white-suited ponies, and Rainbow Dash immediately realized who she had stumbled upon.

Inquisitors. She frowned and took another look at the grinning unicorn, suddenly recognizing her from all the posters she had seen. The Head Inquisitor...

“Well, well, well,” The Head Inquisitor said, loudly projecting her voice across the street. “You wouldn’t believe the thing I heard your son did.”

“Please, he’s just a young boy, he didn’t-” the father started before a swift hoof from the Head Inquisitor cut him off.

“If he didn’t know not to do it then it’s the fault of the parents. You can all read can’t you? The posters say “Obey”. You didn’t obey the rules.” She started snickering. “I guess I can give you a choice then, if you really don’t think your son is at fault for tearing down those posters. I can punish you instead of him. Well? Did you raise your son properly? Or are you bad parents? Please tell me, I find this all very amusing.”

“Head Inquisitor, can’t we just-” a pegasus Inquisitor said to her before the Head Inquisitor sharply glanced at her.

“Shut. Up. I’m performing an Inquisition, Dotted.”

The pegasus shrank away in fear towards the other Inquisitors, staring at her hooves.

“I’ll take the blame. It’s my fault that my son tore down the posters,” the father said, stepping forward and leaving his wife and son behind him. There was a noticeable tremble in his step.

The Head Inquisitor smiled. “Really? Well isn’t that lovely. A punishment for you...” Her eyes drifted down to the young colt behind him. “An Inquisition for your son after.”

The father’s eyes widened in horror. “Wha-”

But he was cut off as a red ring of magic appeared around his neck and started to squeeze.

“Hrk!” The stallion choked, reaching up to his throat to try and pry away the red magic while he fell to the ground, writhing as he fought for air.

The Head Inquisitor stared down at him, her horn brightly lit up red, and started laughing at his wild movements. “Hahaha!” Behind her, the other Inquisitors looked away in shame, all except for the pegasus mare who stared vacantly at the writhing father.

“Stop it! Stop, you’re hurting him!” His wife yelled at the Head Inquisitor while his son screamed and ran forward to also try prying the red magic away.

“Well yeah, that’s what makes it a punishment!” Vox laughed. “You want me to stop? Say please.”

“Please, stop!” The wife pleaded.

“I can’t hear you~”

“Please!”

“Louder!” The Head Inquisitor shouted.

“PLEASE!”

Something inside Rainbow Dash snapped. She saw nothing but red, a blinding hot rage. It didn’t matter that she should probably lay low. It didn’t matter that she was outnumbered. Absolutely nothing else mattered at all. Rainbow Dash shot forward at blinding speed, so fast and so powerful she knocked away a lot of the ponies standing around her. She flew directly at the Head Inquisitor, her hoof outstretched and aimed at her head to knock her into next week. She was a blue blur, the other Inquisitors barely even able to comprehend what was shooting across the street towards their leader.

An inch before striking the white unicorn, her red eyes turned ever so slightly towards the blurring blue hoof.

In the next instant there was a pop of red energy and the Head Inquisitor disappeared.

What the?! Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up and she tried to stop herself. But she was going far too fast, she slid into the ground and bounced along on top of it before smashing into a couple of barrels put up next to the house, completely obliterating them and sending debris everywhere.

“Ughhh...” Rainbow Dash groaned as she lied in a pile of scrap, rubbing her head and trying to push everything off of her. “What just happened?”

“Who are you?”

Rainbow Dash looked up and saw the Head Inquisitor walking towards her, the family of ponies behind her were shaking in terror, but at least the father wasn’t being strangled anymore. Every other pony was looking right at Rainbow Dash and the Head Inquisitor as well. She had certainly done another good job of making a scene. Clicking her tongue, Rainbow Dash stood up and dusted herself off, glaring at the unicorn.

“I’m Rainbow Dash.”

The Head Inquisitor grinned sharply and stared right back into her eyes. “You’re an outsider aren’t you? And a new arrival at that I’d bet. No pony who’s been here for too long has eyes like yours.” She laughed. “Do you even know who I am or what you’ve just done?”

“You’re the psychotic freak who’s on all the posters here. The Head Inquisitor. And yeah, I know what I just did,” Rainbow Dash snarled at her, spreading her hooves and wings and getting ready to charge again.

“Head Inquisitor Vox to be exact,” Vox said, chuckling the whole time. “And is that so? Well I suppose this day is turning out even better than expected. I get to punish two stupid ponies.” She lifted her left front leg and held it out to her side while her horn glowed red. Slowly, a long black chain came slithering from the sleeve of her suit and floated over her head.

The other Inquisitors also came around and stood together behind Vox.

“If you’re trying to intimidate me it’s not going to work. Let me tell you, you’re the ones who don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Rainbow Dash said and shot towards Vox again.

With her magic, Vox manipulated the chain and sent one of the ends directly at the oncoming Rainbow Dash’s face. But she was hardly as fast as the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash easily pivoted out of the way and the metal weapon shot right by the side of her head. She then brought her hoof up and aimed to punch Vox right between the eyes.

When she disappeared in a static puff of red energy.

Knew it… Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and lifted up, flying over the heads of the other Inquisitors and coming to a stop in the air, above the middle of the street.

Vox was standing two feet away from where she had just been, and already grinning up at Rainbow Dash.

“So you can teleport, huh? Is that supposed to impress me?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I’ve seen unicorns do that before.”

“Heh. Well why don’t you try and do something about it?” Vox taunted.

Before Rainbow Dash could respond, Vox disappeared again. Instincts and her sharp ears told her that the unicorn had rematerialized above her. Rainbow Dash quickly looked up to see the grinning madmare descending at her, the chain in a loop aiming right for Rainbow Dash’s head. Rainbow Dash swiftly ducked under it and flew up to try and uppercut the Head Inquisitor in the stomach but she vanished in red static once again—reappearing down on the ground, safe and sound.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue.

A whoosh came from behind her and she turned her head to see the pegasus Inquisitor coming at her. It was a decent attempt, but Rainbow could see how sloppy she was. This mare wasn’t a fighter like her leader. She tried to tackle Rainbow Dash out of the sky but Rainbow twirled around her and whapped her in the back of the head with her wing. The mare yelped and went crashing down to the street.

Vox just laughed as her comrade slid to a stop in the dirt. “Hahahaha… get in line, Dotted.”

“Ohh...” Dotted Easel groaned and got up, rubbing the back of her head.

“The rest of you can just sit back too. I’m having fun,” Vox said to her comrades and licked her lips.

“Let’s see how long you can say that,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and dove down to attack.

This time instead of directly going right for her face she sharply turned when she was about ten feet away from Vox and circled around to attack her from behind. Her movements were almost blindingly fast, she knew this unicorn couldn’t possibly keep up with her going at full speed. She didn’t entirely need to though. Knowing that an attack could come at a different angle, Vox levitated the chain around her body like a ring and constantly shook it with her magic, making it bounce and waver and act like an obstruction to Rainbow Dash. She still didn’t know or see exactly where Rainbow was coming from to attack but now could potentially block or counter it. Despite Rainbow’s speed and maneuverability there just wasn’t a lot of room to dodge past the chain and attack Vox.

But the Head Inquisitor was still underestimating Rainbow Dash. At the last second, Rainbow Dash went up and flew over the chain and got directly above Vox’s body before dropping herself on her. Vox’s head was just turning to look when Rainbow Dash tackled her to the ground—slamming her hooves into the small of the unicorn’s back.

“Ngh!” Vox grunted as she collided with the ground and was driven forward by Rainbow Dash’s momentum a few feet.

When they stopped, Rainbow Dash held her down with one hoof and brought the other back to punch the Head Inquisitor. It was suddenly stopped though and Rainbow Dash looked to see a glowing chain wrapped around it. The rest of the chain then swiftly came wrapping around the rest of Rainbow Dash’s body and tightly wound her hoof to her chest, making Rainbow Dash grunt and awkwardly fall off of Vox to the side.

“Heh, one caught rat,” Vox said as she stood up and dusted herself off.

Rainbow Dash’s wings were still free but the telekinetic grasp Vox had on the chain was also keeping her pinned down to where she was. She struggled and glared up at the Head Inquisitor, gritting her teeth.

“Now then… you’ve got a very feisty look to you. I wonder how long that’s going to last when you’re back in my dungeon,” Vox grinned.

Rainbow had no intention of letting that happen so it was time to get scrappy. She used her right wing to scrape some dirt up from the ground and flung it directly into the Head Inquisitor’s face. Vox snarled as the dirt and dust hit her, getting in her eyes and making her lose her concentration. Rainbow felt the chain grow slack around her and jumped up at Vox. She headbutted the Inquisitor in the chin and quickly punched her once in the ribs. Vox coughed in pain before her horn lit up again and she hastily teleported away before Rainbow Dash could land another blow.

Right behind Rainbow Dash.

This time Vox jumped on her before Rainbow could react, tackling her to the ground and grabbing her chain at the same time. Rainbow tried beating her wings to get the power to force Vox off of her but found the unicorn was using her magic this time to pin Rainbow’s wings down. With her hooves she grabbed the chain and attempted to loop it around Rainbow Dash’s neck. Just in time, Rainbow’s blue hoof shot up to get between the chain and her neck so Vox couldn’t strangle her. But she was still in a bad spot.

“You know what?” Vox asked as she leaned down and grinned at Rainbow Dash. “I think I’ve decided that I’m just going to kill you right here and now. So be a good pony and let me choke the life out of you already.”

“No thanks,” Rainbow grunted and arched her head and neck up—and bit down hard on Vox’s horn.

“Ack!” Vox yelped in surprise. She backed off of Rainbow Dash but her magic grip on Rainbow’s wings didn’t lessen, she managed to fight through the pain and keep up her concentration.

That didn’t matter to Rainbow Dash though, she lunged forward and strongly punched Vox right across the chin. The unicorn grunted and with wild anger in her eyes her horn flared and Rainbow felt a sharp lance of pain in her wings as they were abruptly twisted. But if Vox was expecting that to take her out of commission then she had underestimated Rainbow Dash once more.

Rainbow Dash put her front hooves on the ground and crisply pivoted on them like a fulcrum, swinging the rest of her body around while scrunching her back legs up. Once she had turned 180 degrees she kicked out with her back legs and bucked Vox in the head with all the strength and force of her body behind the blow.

Vox’s head shot back like a spring, her brain rattling inside her skull. She was lifted off her hooves and collapsed backwards onto the ground—unconscious.

“Woo… that was fun,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked over her shoulder at the fallen Head Inquisitor. Her eyes then turned to glare at the other Inquisitors. “Well? Are any of you going to try fighting me too? Or maybe I should be nice and let you take your boss away to safety. And then you can stop terrorizing these ponies.”

The five Inquisitors looked uncertain, they had her outnumbered but they had also just seen what she could do. And their boss was out cold and lying in the street and possibly needed medical attention.

“W-We’ll head back to our wagons for now!” A male Inquisitor said. “Rejoin with the others and tell them what happened, then we can deal with this criminal! G-Grab the Head Inquisitor and bring her back carefully!” He commanded to two of the others.

The pegasus mare that had tried attacking Rainbow Dash and one other picked up Vox, and altogether the squad of Inquisitors left, running down the street.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Rainbow Dash glared after them. She then took a look around at the ponies of the village, who had all been watching these events unfold. The three ponies who had been tormented by Vox were all doing okay, they were huddling together out in front of their house, their eyes now glued on her just like the others. But all they looked was afraid. Rainbow Dash frowned and took a closer look around. Everypony looked afraid and horrified. Not a single one of them was happy or cheering for her.

“What have you done?” One of the ponies in the crowd finally said.

“Uhh… saved the day?” Rainbow Dash hesitantly chuckled.

“You’ve doomed us… you’ve doomed our whole town. The Inquisitors won’t stand for this, they’ll blame us too for what just happened...”

“You should’ve just let the Head Inquisitor do her duty and then we’d be done with it!”

“I don’t recognize you, you’re not even from this village!”

“She said she was an outsider, not even from Hoofica! She just came in here and ruined us!”

Rainbow Dash held up her hooves defensively. “Wait, hold on, I didn’t mean for any of you to get in trouble and I’m not going to let you get hurt. I just couldn’t let her-”

“Get lost!” Another pony yelled and a rock came sailing at Rainbow Dash, who barely moved her head out of the way.

“If you’re still here when they come back they’ll burn the whole town down!”

“They’ll think we’re helping you!”

“L-Look, please, just give me a chance to fix this. I can help!” Rainbow Dash said to them.

“We don’t want your help!”

“Go away! Get out of here!”

The entire crowd started to converge on her, more rocks were thrown, including a lucky one that hit her in the cheek. Rainbow Dash winced, her words completely falling on deaf ears. She just wanted to help. Didn’t they see that she had to act? She couldn’t just stand by while that was going on. But the unruly mob was taking none of it and it would just be moments before they had set upon her. Rainbow Dash did the only thing she could—flapped her wings and shot into the sky, flying towards the nearest forest.

Too Fast to Chase

In the dark sky of Hoofica, a pegasus wobbled on a crash course straight into the forest just a short distance southwest of Yellow Daisy Hamlet. She flew like a drunken bird with a broken wing. And not only that, it had gotten dark enough to where she couldn’t easily make out the trees at the speed she was going and with how panicked her flying had gotten.

Rainbow Dash clipped a few treetops and smashed into several branches as she fell into the forest—her pained wings not working right. It was all she could do to not plant her head directly into the ground.

Instead she just collided with it at an angle, digging out a huge trench in the wet soil as she finally came to a stop.

“Urgh… darn it,” Rainbow Dash grunted as she picked herself up and looked at her twitching wings.

The Head Inquisitor had hurt them a little worse than Rainbow Dash first realized. It wasn’t until she had taken flight out of the village that she noticed she wasn’t going to be able to fly properly for much longer. She had only barely been able to make it to the forest before the pain had become too much. Rainbow Dash groaned in discomfort as she reached back with a hoof and felt both wings in turn.

Not broken, and it didn’t feel like any muscles had been torn. It was more likely the bones were sprained and the muscles pulled slightly. So not terrible but something that should still probably keep her from flying for a few days.

Rainbow Dash sat down and sighed, staring up at the dark sky through the trees. “Great.”

She could hide out here for a few days and then try flying to Glamour Heights City when her wings were feeling better or she could try walking there right now. And still probably end up taking longer to get there. At the very least she was pretty sure the Inquisitors didn’t know where she had gone to. And it still put a bit of a smile on her face to think abut how she had decked that chain psycho. While thunder began to rumble even harder overhead, Rainbow Dash came to a decision. It was lame but she was going to have to hide out here until she could fly again.

“And who—please tell me who—thought it was a good idea to let that criminal go? And even worse, thought that I needed help? Please tell me?” Vox said as she pulled on a chain tightly wrapped around the throat of one of her fellow Inquisitors.

It was the stallion who had ordered the temporary retreat. His eyes were starting to bulge out and his hooves uselessly fought to pry Vox away.

She sadistically grinned at him and pulled tighter on the chain. “Was it you? Was it you? I think so!”

Snap!

At the sickening sound, the stallion went limp and Vox relaxed her grip, letting his body fall to the ground.

“Oops,” she blinked and started giggling. “I think I broke him.”

On the side of the road, Dotted Easel threw up.

The other Inquisitors were just as queasy and frightened but Vox only rolled her eyes.

“Get over it. The question now is what do we do about that pegasus? We can’t let a pony like her do whatever she wants in Hoofica. She’ll clearly just cause more problems. We don’t need that sort of free-spirited disruption,” Vox smiled. “So, any suggestions for tracking her down? I advise you to please offer one as quickly as possible or you might end up like our good friend here. Because I am really in a bad mood right now.”

Most of the other Inquisitors were frozen in shock—but one raised a shaking hoof.

“I… have an idea,” a panting and sunken-eyed Dotted Easel said. “It’s simple… but smart. I think it will work.”

Vox tilted her head in amusement. “Really now? Well let’s hear it.”

Four days later, Rainbow Dash had reached the skies just outside Glamour Heights City. Her wings were still sore, especially around the sockets, and she couldn’t force anything extreme out of them but at least she was capable of flight. This city was quite a bit different looking from the other towns she had been to so far in Hoofica. It didn’t quite have what she would call skyscrapers but there were some stone buildings and towers ten or more stories high. A lot of them were clustered close together and there seemed to be a separate area entirely for the houses of ponies off on the eastern side of the city. Roads aplenty weaved through the small metropolis and with her vantage point she could see things like parks, outdoor theaters, and other larger buildings that could have been any number of things. Meanwhile just south of the city flowed a river, going southwest at a gentle pace.

A lot of ponies were going to be living here, and maybe some of them could actually help her out. Or at the very least be happy to see her. But she still needed some solid directions to the capitol. A country as big as this, she couldn’t just aimlessly fly south and hope she’d find it.

To give her wings some rest and make it easier for her to find a place like a bar or something where ponies might still congregate, Rainbow Dash flew down to the streets of Glamour Heights City. She didn’t drop herself off on one of the main streets, instead choosing a smaller side street that didn’t look busy. That combined with the darkness Hoofica was bathed in and Rainbow Dash was pretty sure nopony would’ve seen her arrive.

“Really hope none of those Inquisitors are here either,” Rainbow Dash muttered. Unlike the little roads and streets out in the smaller towns, the one she was standing on now was cobblestone.

She sighed. “Of course they might have a big head start on me… and ways to contact each other far away. Ugh. Wouldn’t mind beating up that one again though. If I could take care of those Inquisitors for good I bet it’d do this place a lot of good. But I probably can’t solve all that out here… don’t even know how many of them there are.”

As she walked down the block of stone buildings her eyes caught sight of plenty of those obnoxious posters. A city like this probably had hundreds—if not thousands—of them plastered around. She couldn’t stand having to look at Vox’s face that much.

Besides the posters, most of the buildings and stores she passed on the street were closed up completely. The city was quickly becoming a more miserable looking place than the towns were. The few places that didn’t look locked up or abandoned certainly didn’t have any “Welcome” or “Open” signs out in front either. And one of the only ponies she saw out was some old stallion sweeping up trash.

This whole country looked like it was dying and nopony was doing anything about it.

A city shouldn’t feel like a cemetery.

She figured she could go to the residential parts of the city and start knocking on doors if it came down to it. But she still really wanted to find more ponies around here first. That took her up and down more streets and while she did start to see more ponies they weren’t exactly ones who looked like they were in any condition to talk. Lots were slumped over against buildings, or on the curb, or in the gutter, with a pungent odor and unkempt appearance to them.

Only a few gave her a look as she passed by—and they weren’t kind looks.

“I know I shouldn’t blame ponies here for this but seriously, it’s more negative than Far Rock and Yellow Daisy were,” Rainbow muttered as she went on by.

She was going more towards the center of the city now and at the very least she was starting to see some open doors and ponies outside who weren’t just vagabonds. A tall building loomed overhead and Rainbow had half a mind to go explore it and see what it was—right up until she passed by the front door and saw a heavy padlock and chain on it. The whole place was locked up and abandoned.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Your Queen really has lost her mind, hasn’t she?”

There was one place she passed that actually had some liveliness to it, a storefront that had a lot of tables outside it. At one point it might’ve been an actual restaurant but right now all she saw were ponies there drinking glasses of water and eating the most meager rations of oats. Rainbow Dash was thinking of going in and maybe talking to the owner, or sitting down and trying to make conversation with some of the ponies at the tables. However, something concerning changed her mind about that and set her ill at ease.

She was getting looks. Different kinds of looks than just some annoyed or naturally angry ones given to a stranger.

Suspicious glares. Eyes widening out of recognition. Ponies leaning over to their tablemates and talking to them in hushed voices as soon as they saw Rainbow Dash.

“Okaaay?” Rainbow Dash quietly whispered to herself. If anything, this was not the sort of welcoming she was expecting from these ponies here. Why did it seem like they recognized her? Instead of going to talk to any of them, she slowly backed away and turned around, walking the other direction. She tried to appear nonchalant but she kept her ears perked up to see if she could hear anything they might be saying or tell if any of them were getting up and walking after her.

Thankfully it seemed like they were just letting her be, but that was still a pretty weird experience.

"There something I don’t know about going on in this city?” Rainbow asked herself as she went down another street.

She now found herself at a fairly wide open plaza that was near the middle of Glamour Heights. At one point it probably would’ve been a popular destination, full of ponies, but now there was practically nothing. Even the large fountain in the middle of the plaza had been turned off and was empty. Rainbow saw a couple of ponies walking around aimlessly and a couple of groups of younger stallions—teenagers—milling about, but that was mostly it. A bustling city plaza was reduced to this. The only thing of note were a few random signboards put up that had the same usual posters on them.

As Rainbow Dash walked over to the central fountain just to gather her thoughts for a moment, a startlingly familiar sensation came over her. She was being watched. Stared at. Ponies were talking about her in hushed voices.

Rainbow Dash looked around discreetly and saw that all of the lone ponies and the small groups had noticed her and had their attention focused fully on her.

Now this was just getting creepy.

Torn between ignoring it and turning around and shouting, Rainbow Dash walked by one of the signboards. And paused. There was too much color on the poster hung up on it.

With her mouth halfway open in shock and realization, Rainbow turned and looked at the poster. On it was a simplistic and fairly unflattering (but still accurate) painting of herself. Below her painting were the words “WANTED CRIMINAL: RAINBOW DASH”, heading things off. And below that was the promise of a reward and favor from the Inquisitors if anypony helped capture her… and the threat of horrible punishment if anypony was caught helping or associating with her.

“Ohhh… okay. Yeah, that explains some stuff,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“There she is! Just like we said!” A loud shout came from behind her.

Rainbow Dash wheeled around to see a group of ponies had just come around the same corner she entered the plaza from. A number of them were ponies from that restaurant or whatever, but there were new ones mixed in as well. Ponies wearing armor. Guards or soldiers of some type. Not Inquisitors but still probably just as problematic for Rainbow Dash right now.

“Aw geez,” Rainbow grimaced. “Look all of you, I don’t want any trouble and I’m really here to help you. Those Inquisitors are-”

“Get her before she gets away! Somepony alert the Inquisitors that she’s in town!” An old mare said.

“They’re over on the west side of the city, I’ll go get them!” One of the armored guards said and started running off.

“That aint good...” Rainbow Dash frowned. Sounded like the Inquisitors had anticipated where she would go next. Were these posters all over this city? Worse—were they possibly already being set up elsewhere in Hoofica too?

“Come on everypony, get her or else the Inquisitors will come after us!” Another pony shouted and the whole mob now charged at Rainbow Dash. The other ponies and groups already in the plaza came after her as well.

“Tch,” Rainbow clicked her tongue and flapped her wings. She couldn’t go full force shooting out of here just yet so instead she kept low, flying over the stone slabs of the plaza and going towards a street that no ponies were nearby. Even if she couldn’t fly at her normal speeds she was certainly faster than any random pony here.

The bigger problem was that now she had to abruptly leave again—totally unable to get what she wanted here.

Rainbow Dash swiftly flew around another building and then darted into an alleyway before coming to a stop.

“I came here to help these ponies… can I really just run again?” Rainbow Dash kicked an empty can. “I don’t know how to help them though. Aside from getting to the Queen and fixing all this at the source.” She looked up past the roofs of the tall buildings at the dark clouds. Her first big city in the kingdom and it was turning into a bust. Idly she looked back down at the ground and started pacing around, thinking about what to do with the ponies here. “They’re not going to listen and I’m definitely not fighting them. Ugh, this is so lame!”

“You’re also very much outnumbered.”

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and looked back up. Along the ledges of the buildings around the alley, a number of white-suited Inquisitors stood, peering down at her. Including Head Inquisitor Vox with a happy grin on her face.

“Hi there,” the Head Inquisitor waved down at her.

Rainbow Dash spat and glared at her. “Sup.”

“I figured I should let you know in person, but there’s nowhere that’s going to be safe for you to go in all of Hoofica,” Vox said.

“Then I’ll just make somewhere safe,” Rainbow Dash defiantly said.

“Oh please, try it,” Vox licked her lips.

She then disappeared in a static red burst of magic and reappeared on the ground right in front of Rainbow Dash. Her chain shot from her sleeve at Rainbow’s face but Rainbow managed to sidestep to safety. However this time it wasn’t a one on one fight. From above she heard several Inquisitors leaving their perches. Pegasi. While at the same time a beam of bright white light came shooting down at her from a unicorn.

Rainbow hopped away from it but ended up with Vox’s chain wrapped around her defenseless left hoof. With a hard yank, Vox pulled her and slammed her into the wall of one of the buildings right as the pegasi Inquisitors landed on her.

“Leave her conscious! I want to talk with her,” Vox snickered as Rainbow Dash was dogpiled.

At the bottom of four other pegasi, Rainbow Dash felt a writhing mass of hooves and wings trying to beat her down and grab her. She was forced to the ground as the full weight of the other ponies was brought onto her back and she couldn’t fight back as well thanks to the chain wrapped around her hoof. And her wings probably still shouldn’t be pushed too hard.

Probably.

“Hnnnghh!” Rainbow Dash grunted and tried to push up against the Inquisitors trying to beat her down and keep her pinned.

“Just stay down so we don’t have to hurt you!” The voice of some other mare Inquisitor shouted at Rainbow Dash.

A grin tugged up the edges of Rainbow Dash’s lips. “Nope.”

Vox’s eyes widened as the four other Inquisitors were suddenly tossed away and a powerful whirlwind came from where Rainbow Dash was. A few flaps of her wings and Rainbow Dash took to the air, smugly grinning at Vox. In an instant her chain was torn out of her grip as the blue pegasus shot up like a missile into the sky, the full power of her wings being put on display.

Slowly, Vox started to grin too as she saw the pegasus angling to the south. “Do what you want for now. We’ll find you again soon, every Inquisitor and guard in Hoofica has already gotten word and knows what you look like. Oh this is turning out to be so, so fun.”

Rainbow Dash’s wings seized up as she left the airspace of Glamour Heights City, a sharp pain shooting through the both of them.

“Crud, crud, crud...” she had put way too much power into them too quickly. They still weren’t fully healed yet and now she was dealing with the fallout of her decision.

Which meant falling at a dangerous pace towards the ground again. Except this time it was even worse, her wings weren’t responding at all and she could barely angle herself or slow down as she flew from hundreds of feet in the air. No matter how she tried to move her wings or flap them all she felt was a sharp pain that made her stop.

There was nothing she could do to avoid this crash landing. Rainbow Dash grimaced and looked down at the ground for something to save her—somewhere she could land safely.

There was a river.

“Aw dang...” Rainbow Dash sighed and shifted in the air as best she could towards the flowing river.

Sticking Out Like A Sore Hoof

She was cold. And wet. And moving.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes fluttered open in the middle of the strange sensations and she saw nothing but blurry darkness. She felt weird, what was going on? Her hooves and wings moved about, creating a splashing sound and finally she fully came back to reality.

Her wings. Falling. The river. Sudden darkness.

Rainbow Dash flailed about in the water and opened up her mouth to suck in a deep breath. Thankfully, her throat didn’t fill up with water. She was disoriented and it was so dark that it made it difficult to tell but it looked like she wasn’t drowning at least. After a few seconds she managed to calm herself down and just float along with the current, controlling her breathing and not splashing around with her limbs.

It was night out. She could tell that for certain thanks to it being even darker than normal, she was on her back floating down a river and staring up at the clouds, barely able to make anything out.

Her wings still hurt.

And she was alive.

That was the important part.

There was no way to tell how long she had been drifting in this river or how far she had gone—she only vaguely remembered impacting it in the first place. But the good news was that it flowed south, she remembered that. So at least she wasn’t going the wrong way. Now though she had absolutely no idea of what was coming up next. The rest of Hoofica was a complete mystery.

Her body was completely exhausted too, worn out from the fall and her journey down the river. It might be better to just continue floating along for the while or at most dragging herself up onto the shore and sleeping till morning. She didn’t think she could manage much else right now. With a minor amount of effort, she swam over to the side of the river. Thankfully the current wasn’t too powerful, there weren’t any rapids or anything crazy like that, it was a fairly gentle river. Her hoof grasped onto the wet grass at the river’s edge and Rainbow Dash pulled herself up and out of it. Rolling onto her back and breathing heavily she closed her eyes so as not to be forced to look up at that ugly sky again.

“This hasn’t been a great adventure so far,” Rainbow grumbled.

The following morning she was walking down the side of the river to wherever it would take her. She unfortunately had no idea where she might end up and she still had to rest her wings for a little while now. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning struck in the lands east and west of her with no rhyme or reason. In other words it was a normal day in Hoofica.

“Has to be at least something else along this river soon,” Rainbow said. “Even just, like, a family farm or something like that.”

Of course she also had to assume that everypony nearby had heard about her and were on the lookout. That was going to make travel more difficult, she didn’t need an entire country after her. And experience had told her that the ponies were simply too afraid of the Inquisitors to listen to reason.

So Rainbow Dash walked on and on in the casual darkness of Hoofica, the sounds of the flowing river her only companion. It didn’t seem like her fortunes were going to be changing anytime soon either.

Her stomach growled and Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance. She had only had grass and wildflowers to eat for the past few days. She needed more than that to really fill her belly.

Minutes of walking eventually turned to hours and Rainbow Dash was fairly certain it was around noon right now. Just from what she had gleaned this place to look like during the day and her own internal sense of time and instincts. Because it was a little less dark than normal she was actually able to see ahead and far into the distance. There was another destination coming up downstream, another city by the look of things. There weren’t any buildings as tall as some of the ones back in Glamour Heights City but this new settlement covered far more area than the small towns she had been to as well. A few large buildings by the river’s edge also grabbed her attention. It was likely that she’d have to somehow disguise herself before heading on into the city, or at least try to sneakily avoid any ponies.

That wasn’t going to help her with her true goal though. She couldn’t just keep randomly stumbling around the countryside of Hoofica, blindly going from one city to the next. She had to learn where the capitol was, get some food in her, and give her wings the rest they needed. Otherwise going to this new city would be totally pointless.

Fortune did finally smile on her just a bit though. At the north end of this city there were a number of larger homes with wide open yards. In one of those yards a clothesline was set up that had a number of white sheets hung across it, drying off.

“Better to wear than nothing,” Rainbow shrugged and started walking away from the river.

After she had her disguise she could walk on into town like she was any other pony and try to find what she needed.

When she reached the clothesline she looked around to see if anypony was around or watching but she seemed to be in the clear. Rainbow Dash smiled and reached up to grab one of the sheets. But she stopped in the middle of tugging it down and slowly started to frown.

“This isn’t right...” she looked up and down the clothesline at the numerous other sheets. Would taking one really matter? “But it’s still stealing… these ponies already have nothing. I-I can’t just take something from them. If I try and ask them if I can have it that’s not going to end well either. Ughhh, am I really doing this? Just going to walk into the city without any disguise or anything?” She looked at the white sheet and sighed. “Being good really shouldn’t mean being dumb all the time...”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and left the grassy yard behind with nothing to gain from it. She just couldn’t bring herself to steal from these ponies. Even for a good cause, even if it probably didn’t matter. It wasn’t right and she’d hate herself for it.

Her hooves ended up taking her to the main road that led into the city. On the side of the road was a large wooden sign that read: “WELCOME TO GENTLE CREEK”.

Nailed to the side of the sign was another wanted poster with her face on it.

“Well I’ve never stopped myself from making stupid decisions so far,” Rainbow scoffed at the poster and walked on. “Now where can I get something to eat around here?”

The city of Gentle Creek was constructed in a large semi-circle as it radiated out from the river the east end bordered. All the larger buildings were gathered closer to the middle area of the river’s edge with things shrinking until it ended up as single-family homes and other small businesses at the perimeter. It all seemed to be sectioned off in a very logical fashion, with careful slices of the city that didn’t spill over into any of the other parts that bordered them. This made it really easy for Rainbow Dash to see everything since she could look over the roofs of where she was and see the biggest buildings in the distance.

Naturally there weren’t many ponies out anywhere either. And Rainbow Dash was skirting around the sides of buildings as she walked, trying to stay out of view as much as possible. She didn’t need to be that dumb.

If she found a small cafe or restaurant she could head inside and see if she could get some food from the owners. It relied a lot on the kindness of strangers but it was really her only option right now since she adamantly refused to steal. The bigger problem was that all the ponies in this city were likely going to recognize her… so she had to be exceptionally lucky to find some that also wouldn’t cause a fuss or try and turn her in. Gonna be tough.

“Easy is boring anyways,” Rainbow muttered to herself.

It wasn’t dark enough where you couldn’t still easily see around too. And Rainbow’s colors very much stuck out. If any random pony looked out their window or from across the street and shouted for her, it wouldn’t end too well.

Were there Inquisitors already here in Gentle Creek? Probably. She was willing to bet that the Head Inquisitor had her subordinates and other guards all stationed throughout the nearest cities and towns looking for her.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums as she slunk from building to building, this was never the kind of thing she enjoyed doing. There might be more ponies towards the center of the city but she was heading in that direction anyways. Maybe she could find some old sheet thrown in a trash can to disguise herself with. And she was more likely to find something like a small hotel or place to eat. It all just kind of depended on if she immediately got chased away or not. How badly had the Inquisitors and the Queen broken these ponies down? That was the sad question.

She did soon see one thing she wanted. There was a small coffee shop nearby that wasn’t completely closed up. As good a place as any to attempt to get some of the stuff she needed. Hopefully they’d be willing to give her something to snack on.

Rainbow Dash looked up and down the dark street and didn’t see any ponies around so she quickly walked over to it and stood to the side of the door. The windows had their curtains closed but they at least weren’t boarded up. No open or closed sign sat on the door either so she really had no idea if they were actually still open and serving ponies. But she wasn’t going to get anywhere if she didn’t try opening up that door handle.

Her blue hoof reached out and pulled it down before she stepped inside the coffee house. A bell rang from above the door and Rainbow Dash stopped to stand inside the doorframe, she blinked as she looked over the interior of the small coffee house.

At one of the tables inside there were three white-suited Inquisitors sitting and drinking coffee.

They were staring back at her, just as frozen in surprise as she was.

Rainbow Dash let out a resigned sigh. “I feel like I should’ve seen something like this coming.”

She turned tail and ran back out onto the street. Behind her she heard the sound of the table being flipped over and mugs of coffee shattering on the floor as the Inquisitors got up to chase after her. A fight wasn’t what she wanted right now, she could take those three easy, she knew it, but the coffee house owner would have to alert more even if he didn’t want to. And she couldn’t fight out on this street either where more could see her and come at any moment.

That meant running was her only option. Her very lame option.

Lose the dumb Inquisitors for a moment and then figure out what to do next, that’s the plan. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as she ran on.

Behind her the three Inquisitors were keeping fairly close though. Luckily all were earth ponies and Rainbow Dash was still a good enough runner on her legs that she was confident to be able to beat most ponies in a race. But they definitely knew the layout of the city better than her, if Rainbow Dash just ran aimlessly she might get lost or stuck or end up running into their friends. She had to lose them quick, really quick.

A loud whistle blew from behind her—obviously from one of the Inquisitors.

Great, not what I needed right now! Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue.

She sped up into a full on sprint and darted down another street, heading into the more crowded interior of the city in an attempt to find someplace to lose her pursuers. Now though she was starting to see more ponies, civilians, standing around or inside buildings. And you bet that this chase was getting their attention too. Although Rainbow would’ve loved being able to run inside one of the buildings and try to hide out with the help of the ponies in there she knew that wasn’t going to be possible.

“Stop running and give yourself up!” One of the Inquisitors yelled at Rainbow Dash.

“If you’re still following the Head Inquisitor then I’m gonna have to say no to that!” Rainbow yelled back at them, she couldn’t help a grin from forming on her face despite the situation. The farther and harder she ran as well the further behind the hooves of the Inquisitors sounded. She was getting some distance on them.

“There’s nowhere for you to run here! You can’t get out of this city now!” Another yelled.

Rainbow Dash just ignored them. A day or two of hiding and she could fly out easy as pie. As long as she didn’t get caught right now she was sure she could outplay these white-suited losers. Once her wings were back into working order she wouldn’t have anything to fear from any of them again.

“You’re only delaying the inevitable!”

Rainbow Dash snorted and turned her head to blow a raspberry at them before swiftly turning down another street.

At the end of which was another squad of Inquisitors and armored ponies.

“Aw crud,” Rainbow Dash winced.

They noticed her and started running in her direction—her path now cut off. There was only one chance she had to get away from them, an alley in the middle of the block she was running down. As long as it wasn’t a dead end she could still run down it and try to lose these Inquisitors. Rainbow Dash pushed herself even harder to get to the alley while the two groups of ponies closed in on her like a vise. Her hooves skidded along the stone ground as she came to a screeching halt and then ran inside the alley-

-to come face to face with a dead end.

“Seriously?! Is my luck that bad today?” Rainbow Dash groaned and stomped a hoof on the ground. There weren’t any doors or windows she could try breaking into, it was just a stone wall on all sides. She could attempt flying up but her wings might fail her before she even cleared the roofs.

Behind her she heard the clattering of multiple ponies getting close to the alley.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and turned around, backing up against the back wall of the alley and getting ready to face her pursuers. If she had to fight through an army now then so be it. Most of these ponies probably didn’t deserve it but she couldn’t afford to be captured or get injured again. She took a deep breath and prepared herself right as the first ponies were coming close to reaching the alley.

Suddenly—the stone wall behind her moved around like a revolving door and tossed her behind it before coming to a stop and settling back into place.

The Inquisitors chasing Rainbow Dash rushed into the empty alley and stopped, wondering where their target had gone.

“W-Where did she go? She was right here!”

“Did she fly away?”

“Impossible, we would’ve seen her.”

“She couldn’t have just vanished though.”

“The Head Inquisitor isn’t going to like this...”

“What the?!-” Rainbow Dash yelped in a startled voice as she was pushed around by the revolving trap wall and accidentally stumbled to the ground behind it when it came to a stop. She was stuck in almost total darkness with only a single torch lighting up wherever it was she had found herself.

A torch that was being held up by a cloaked figure standing in front of her.

Rainbow Dash frowned and stood up, a dozen other shadowed and cloaked figures surrounding her fanned out from the one holding the torch. She narrowed her eyes at them before casually dusting herself off and got ready for another fight.

Not the Literal Underground

“Who are you?” Rainbow Dash asked the cloaked figures, still tensed up and ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“Your rescuers I think,” one of the figures off to the side said.

“So that was your door trick, huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “If you really helped me out then that makes me wonder who you are even more.”

“After seeing the new posters we figured you were a pony in need. And anypony who’s on the bad side of the Inquisitors is a friend of ours,” the central figure holding the torch said with a gravelly voice. “So I’d like to formally say hello to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash stared at his shadowed face for a moment. “Alright, hello then. Am I also getting an introduction from you?”

He hoofed the torch off to another standing next to him before reaching up to pull back his hood, revealing an ashen gray face with a shock of red hair and coal-black eyes. His mouth was set in a hard frown and he had what one could generously call an unfriendly appearance. “I am Red Wing. Former Captain of the Hoofica Royal Guard.”

Rainbow Dash raised a surprised eyebrow at him. “Huh, I’ve heard of you. Heard you went missing too.”

“I went into hiding with some of my closest friends and allies when we realized what was happening in the kingdom,” he told her. “Welcome to the resistance.”

“Well...” Rainbow Dash started to smirk. “I think my day just got a lot better.”

“So she did end up in Gentle Creek? That’s rather favorable for us,” Head Inquisitor Vox said as she spoke with the messenger who had come to meet them. They were halfway down the road between the cities of Glamour Heights and Gentle Creek, Vox with a full group of wagons. “Even if her pursuers were incompetent enough to lose track of her.”

The messenger pegasus gulped and shook her head. “S-She disappeared into thin air, it wasn’t our faults!”

“Uh huh,” Vox smirked and rolled her eyes. “Well as long as she didn’t fly away it means she’s still somewhere in the city. Hiding. We just need to make sure she doesn’t leave.”

“Um… Head Inquisitor?” Dotted Easel hesitantly spoke up behind her.

Vox blinked, surprised to be suddenly spoken to, and looked behind her. “Yes, Dotted Easel?”

“S-Should we really be doing any of this though? Didn’t we come out here for a specific reason according to Master Dreamweaver? Would he want us to-” she was cut off as a red ring of magic appeared around her neck.

“Oh I’m sorry. Did I interrupt you?” Vox said as she strangled Dotted Easel. “Did I interrupt that stupid decision you made to think? I’m the Head Inquisitor. And when we’re out here we listen to my orders. If I want to chase down that pegasus then that’s what we’re doing. I don’t care if it takes days to do it, I don’t care if Dreamweaver will be angry that we’re late getting back. I’m performing an Inquisition.”

She released Dotted and the pegasus fell to the ground with a gasp, choking and struggling to get back as much air as possible.

Vox laughed and turned back to the other pegasus. “Return to Gentle Creek as fast as you can and tell them to keep a tight watch on the whole city. I’ll be there shortly to find Rainbow Dash.” She licked her lips. “It’ll be fun to visit the prison too.”

“When I say “Welcome to the Resistance”, I don’t mean that you’ve been welcomed into our ranks. I was just introducing us. After all, you’re still only an outsider who we know little about,” Red Wing said to Rainbow Dash.

“I mean I kind of figured that. Where am I anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked around at the other cloaked figures. They were inside some dark room with the wall behind her going back out to the alley.

“You’re in part of our secret base. We have numerous tunnels and locations like this in the city of Gentle Creek,” Red Wing answered.

“You made secret rooms and passages and stuff inside of other buildings here?”

“We’ve had a lot of time to do it. Months now. In a city like this there are a lot of empty and extra spaces between buildings, lots of sewers that aren’t fully mapped. Things like that. We’ve just expanded on what already existed. This is just a small room that leads to a larger underground section,” Red Wing told her. “We saw you arrive at Gentle Creek and were keeping a tab on you during the brief time you’ve been here. I’ll admit you had my curiosity piqued, the Inquisitors never bothered making wanted posters for anypony else that crossed them. And when we saw you were in trouble—well, we couldn’t just stand by.”

“Huh, well thanks for that, I guess. You guys got me out of a pickle,” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Uhh… what now? You guys are fighting against the Inquisitors and the Queen, aren’t you? I know you might think it’s dumb to just totally trust a stranger, but I want to help this place too.”

“Can we really trust her? What if this is all an elaborate ploy by the Inquisitors?” A cloaked mare standing right next to Red Wing said, she reached up and pulled her hood back to reveal a teal face with her orange mane cut in a crew-cut.

“We both know Vox, Vice-Captain, she’s not patient or smart enough to make such a plan. And Dreamweaver doesn’t care enough to bother with us,” Red Wing said.

“What he said,” Rainbow pointed at Red Wing. “I got on their bad side but even before that I was always planning on helping out Hoofica and fixing things here. As soon as I saw the sky and heard about what had happened here, I was on a mission. That’s the kind of pony I am.” She then raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Who’s Dreamweaver? The Queen?”

Red Wing sighed and shook his head. “Not quite. There’s a lot you obviously still don’t know about Hoofica and what’s happened here. Outsider or not I’ll admit you have a certain… trustworthiness about you. I can’t say I’ll let you in on everything, but we can talk. Sending you away right now certainly isn’t an option either with the Inquisitors undoubtedly still looking for you. Follow me and we can move to somewhere more comfortable.”

“Sounds like a sweet deal,” Rainbow grinned.

The whole group started to walk down a narrow stone staircase—leaving this hidden room behind and traveling underground. Red Wing and his Vice-Captain took the front while Rainbow Dash was in the middle, still being carefully watched by some of the other cloaked ponies. She didn’t blame them for their caution around her. Obviously this was a pretty sensitive thing going on here.

“I was meaning to ask you-” Red Wing suddenly spoke up from ahead. “But is there any reason you didn’t just fly away?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Actually yeah. Your Head Inquisitor injured my wings a few days ago, I can’t really use them right now.”

“We can have somepony look at you,” Red Wing said.

“Thanks. I really just need to rest for a couple more days, but thanks. Also I wanted to ask you something too. How’d you know I was an outsider and not from Hoofica? She asked him.

“Because there aren’t any free ponies left in Hoofica like you,” he answered. “I already assumed you were an outsider just after hearing about some pony that had gotten the ire of the Inquisitors. And after seeing your eyes I know it for certain.”

“Gotten some comments about my eyes before...”

“If you hadn’t noticed, most ponies here look like walking corpses nowadays,” the Vice-Captain said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Yeah. I had actually. What’s your name by the way? I haven’t gotten introductions from most of you.” She looked around at the other ponies walking with her.

“Brass Hoof,” the Vice-Captain replied. It didn’t seem her unfriendly attitude would be changing anytime soon.

“We can continue with the introductions later, we’re here,” Red Wing said.

The whole group slowly stepped out of the stairs and Rainbow Dash found herself in what was essentially an oversized basement. The walls were a mix of stone and wooden beams holding the whole place up, with torches placed evenly for light and a few doors leading to other rooms along with an open passage directly ahead that looked like it led out of the basement. It wasn’t exactly the most inspiring of secret bases. Once they were all down here though, the rest of the ponies threw their cloaks off and deposited them on top of a few crates off to the side of the stairs. Rainbow Dash gave them a quick glance, seeing stallions and mares representing all three tribes of ponies. Were they all former Royal Guards like Red Wing and Brass Hoof?

She could probably ask in a moment.

“You can come here with me and the Vice-Captain, Rainbow Dash,” Red Wing said as he walked over to a door. He then sharply looked at the other ponies. “I want the rest of you on lookout and spy duty. Collect as much information as you can across the city.”

The others only silently nodded before going to perform their duties and soon Rainbow Dash found herself in a small—practically claustrophobic—room with Red Wing and Brass Hoof. The two former Royal Guards put their cloaks up on a pair of hooks by the door and Rainbow Dash got a better look at them. Red Wing was a pegasus (big surprise) with red fetlocks that clashed with the rest of his ashen gray look. Brass Hoof meanwhile was an earth pony mare with a heavily-muscled body, her musculature was more defined than perhaps any mare Rainbow Dash had seen. Red Wing sat down behind a small desk while Brass Hoof stood beside the wall and stared at Rainbow Dash. Above them a small lantern hung from the ceiling. For a moment, Rainbow Dash and Red Wing entered a short staring contest, the two of them appraising each other and locking deeply with their eyes.

“I suppose the first thing I wanted to ask you is what do you think of our country?” Red Wing said.

“I think you’ve got a real crazy Queen,” Rainbow replied.

“Well, like I said, there’s a lot you still don’t know,” Red Wing leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hooves on the desk, resting his chin on them. “How invested are you in helping Hoofica? Truly?”

“I’m wiling to do anything to help. I was already planning on flying right to the capitol to find your Queen and stop her—to tear down this barrier and do whatever else I needed to to return this country to normal. It wasn’t just after hearing about what had gone on either. I saw what this place was like. I saw what the Inquisitors do with my own eyes,” Rainbow stated.

“You must realize that you’re putting your life on the line trying to help Hoofica. Do you know what’s at stake?” Red Wing asked her.

“I know. And don’t worry about me putting my life on the line. I do that all the time,” Rainbow grinned.

“You’re saying you’d be willing to die for strangers? For a country you don’t even belong to?” Brass Hoof asked with a raised eyebrow. “I find that pretty hard to believe.”

It’s not your city, Rainbow Dash.

The faces of Barnaby and Anathema flashed through Rainbow Dash’s head. She bit her lip and frowned at Brass Hoof. “Would dying be my first choice? No way. But you just don’t know who I am. If there’s some evil tyrant, or monster, or whatever, oppressing ponies and doing evil things, then yes, I’ll give my all to stop them. Cause it’s the right thing to do.”

Brass Hoof was about to respond when Red Wing cut her off. “Words are easy. Actions speak louder. Obviously you’ve proven your authenticity somewhat with your clashes with the Inquisitors, and I do more or less trust you. You seem like a strong pony.”

“Sir...” Brass Hoof frowned.

“We need capable ponies, Vice-Captain. We need all the help we can get at this point,” Red Wing said. “The plan is...”

“Plan?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

“That’s still private. But perhaps if you prove yourself a little more we can all work together to truly fix things in Hoofica. First of all though I’ll tell you why we’re here in Gentle Creek in the first place. And if you think you’re up for it, you can help us out with something we’ve been meaning to do here. That will give you a good opportunity to prove your worth and sincerity and then I’ll be happy to fill you in on everything else.” Red Wing said.

Rainbow Dash had to admit she was a bit intrigued. And actually doing something proactive sounded good. “That sounds good to me. So what’s special about this city? What do you want me to do?”

“Originally, Gentle Creek had a courthouse that doubled as a small temporary jail. After the barrier went up and the Inquisitors took over, the jail was converted into an all-out prison where dissidents, other trouble-makers, and anypony who does anything to run afoul of the Inquisitors in this part of the kingdom is taken. Some have been ferried from here to Hoofica Castle in the capitol for reasons I can only speculate on while the rest have been left to rot in their cells here. That includes a large contingent of city guards and police officers from surrounding towns and cities that didn’t bow down to the Inquisitors and the Queen’s decrees,” a heavy frown was on Red Wing’s face as he spoke, his expression getting worse with each passing word. “When we learned about this, we always planned to free these prisoners. Doing so however would mean we’d have to leave Gentle Creek behind soon after and we weren’t prepared for that until only recently. The other reason we came here and set up was because we simply needed a base somewhere decently removed from the capitol where there would be enough space and supplies for us.”

“So then…?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, pretty sure she was understanding where he was going.

A hint of a smile—the closest to one she had seen so far from him—appeared on Red Wing’s face. “We’d like you to help us free some prisoners. The prison will be heavily guarded, and I’m willing to bet the Head Inquisitor will be in town at any moment, but the payoff is too great and those ponies in there need our help. Give your wings a day or two of rest and medicine and then we can act.”

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash grinned and cracked her neck. “They could have a whole army guarding that prison and it wouldn’t change anything. Let’s do this.”

Dashing Plan

Sleeping in a real bed for the first time in… boy, how long had it been now? Felt really, really, good to Rainbow Dash. It wasn’t a great bed or anything, just a small feather mattress on the floor, but it was still a bed. She had gotten some medicine and some basic ointment to rub on the joints of her wings to speed up the healing process and shortly after that she went off to sleep in the underground barracks of the resistance. And of course she had gotten a bite to eat first too.

She woke up feeling well rested and full of energy, testing her wings a little bit and rotating them around in their sockets told her that they were getting much better. There was still some pain when she moved them the wrong way but she was willing to bet that they’d be all better in just a day or two. Now since she had time to kill she could go around and get to know some of the other ponies here better. They all used the same room for sleeping but most of the other ponies in the resistance were awake and gone by the time she had woken up.

There were just a few left as Rainbow Dash yawned and they didn’t look like they were getting to leave anytime soon either. The group of four was standing around a table that had some cards and a few cups of water placed on it. She trotted on over to their group to introduce herself more personally.

“Yo!” Rainbow Dash waved hello to them and grinned. “What’s up?”

The group all slowly looked to her together.

Rainbow Dash put her hoof down. “Uhhh...”

One of them—a heavyset earth pony stallion with a scar over his left eye—sighed and rubbed the side of his head. “Look, we get that you’re no friend of the Inquisitors, and supposedly you’re going to be helping us out. But you’re still just some outsider. You’re not from Hoofica. This aint your country and it’s not your friends and family on the line. Thanks for the help, but don’t expect us to get all chummy with you. We’ve all been working together from the start, going through the same struggles. You haven’t been part of that. You want a little more respect from us you’re gonna have to earn it.”

“Yeah, well...” Rainbow Dash frowned and ground her teeth back and forth before sighing. “Yeah, okay. That’s fair. I get that. But I’d still like to be given a chance too you know? So what are your names? Cause I think it’d be best if we could get along.”

The heavyset stallion looked at her for a moment before giving a small nod. “Alright, you deserve that at least. My name’s Tango.” He glanced at the others and gestured for them to introduce themselves as well.

“Starry Kiss,” a maroon unicorn mare told her.

“Lead Screw,” another earth pony stallion with a greenish-brown coat nodded.

“I’m Blitz,” the lone pegasus stallion said.

Rainbow smiled at each of them in turn. “Okay then, nice to meet all of you. So how come you guys are here while everypony else has left?”

“It’s our turn today to hold down the fort while the others check things out around the city,” Tango told her. “We’ve got a lot to prepare for—the Vice-Captain said you already know for the most part.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to take it to those Inquisitors and rescue the ponies in the prison,” Rainbow Dash punched her hooves together. “You guys just watch me, I’ll be a way bigger help to you than you can imagine. Just wait till my wings heal.”

“Well I hope you’re telling the truth,” Tango grunted.

“I am. I boast, and I brag, but I aint lying when I say how awesome I am,” Rainbow Dash told them. “And oh yeah, been meaning to ask this too, but are you guys all former Royal Guards?”

“I was,” Tango said. “A lot of the others in the resistance are, but some came from other positions in the castle or were gathered up along the way when we fled.”

“I was a butler in Hoofica Castle,” Blitz said. “One whose job was to work for and aid the Royal Guards.”

“I worked in the castle for the King and Queen,” Lead Screw said.

“And I was a clerk at the capitol’s jailhouse. I personally knew Captain Red Wing from my work,” Starry Kiss said.

“Well thanks for being willing to fill me in a little bit, it’s one step closer to us becoming friends, heh. And if we’re all going to be working together, I wouldn’t mind telling you guys about me too. I mean—are any of us doing anything else today?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Tango shrugged. “No, not particularly. If you wanna talk go right ahead. I suppose learning more about each other can be helpful. Don’t know about being “friends” and all that though.”

Rainbow smirked and winked at Tango. “If you’re at least willing to give me a shot then that’s good enough for me. Okay...” She looked up and tried thinking about where to start. “Let me tell you about a few other places I’ve been to recently...”

Head Inquisitor Vox strode down a row of cells with a smug grin on her face. She hummed to herself while swirling around a half-empty wine glass in her magic. Behind her, Dotted Easel and another Inquisitor walked with her as she inspected the cells and the prisoners inside. Each cell was crowded, holding a multitude of prisoners due to the limited space in the converted courthouse. Vox of course seemed to revel in the poor conditions.

“Who do I want to blow off some steam with?~” Vox said in her sing song voice as she looked into the cells. “And who is going to be lucky enough to join us when we return to the castle?~”

So many of the imprisoned ponies grimaced, shook in fear, and did their best to look away and not meet her eyes.

Vox giggled. “I wonder, I wonder~”

Behind her, Dotted Easel and the other Inquisitor shared a frown with each other. The Head Inquisitor had been in an especially nasty and erratic mood over the past few days ever since they had met that pegasus. It was making working around her even more stressful and frightening than normal. Dotted still had a faint ring around her neck even. But speaking up or trying to rein in the Head Inquisitor was an even surer death sentence. All they could do was go along with her for now.

Vox came to a stop in front of one of the cells and looked in at it with a smile. Inside was a group of guards from this city and other nearby ones.

“Well, well, looks like you’re it.”

In two days Rainbow Dash’s wings had healed completely. During that time she had gotten to know most of the resistance ponies at least briefly, as well as explore their underground base (though she wasn’t allowed everywhere). She was getting pretty kooked up though and it was about time for something to happen. Now finally both Red Wing and Brass Hoof were addressing the rest of the resistance and briefing them on the specifics of the plan to break out a bunch of prisoners at the courthouse.

“As you know, this is what we’ve been working towards here in Gentle Creek, and I think it’s about time we rescue our friends,” Red Wing said. His usual gravelly voice raised a bit louder so he could project to everypony in the underground base. “This is going to be a fast strike where we can rush the Inquisitors and take them by surprise, getting our ponies out and safely into our hideouts before the Inquisitors can muster all their forces together. However—afterwards we’re going to have to quickly leave our base here behind. They’ll be coming after us and no stone will be left unturned. This is a big moment for us.”

He took a deep breath. “If any pony wants to bow out, you have the right. You can simply leave here and blend right into the ponies of Gentle Creek. I’ll not hold it against you.” His eyes scanned out across the ponies of the resistance, but not a single one raised their hooves or made any motion to leave. A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips before vanishing and he nodded. “Alright. I’m glad to fight with all of you, I’ll leave the details of our attack plan now to the Vice-Captain.”

He stepped aside and Brass Hoof took center stage, she had been carrying a small wooden barrel on her back that she deposited on the floor in front of her.

“For those of you that don’t know, this is one of about ten barrels we’ve filled with black powder. It’s a bomb,” she said.

Rainbow Dash frowned—her experience with bombs had been poor. And she noticed a number of other ponies who seemed surprised and worried.

“Don’t be getting so scared. We’d never use these on our fellow ponies. Not even the Inquisitors,” Brass Hoof shook her head. “This will be used to blow a hole in the side of the courthouse. We already know where it’s safe to do so—no ponies will be hurt.”

“And so we’re charging through there?” An earth pony mare who Rainbow recognized as Honey Bee asked.

But Brass Hoof again shook her head. “No. The explosion is nothing more than a distraction, and the hole for them to think they’re being attacked from there. In reality our intrusion will come from everywhere. It will occur in the dead of night when it’s impossible for them to see anything without a direct light source. We’ll have pegasi come from above, going through the windows, and other small teams of unicorns and earth ponies coming from the streets and the sewers. It’ll be an all out rush.”

“That said, we’re not looking for a real fight. Don’t get caught up in anything. We’re there to rescue our fellow ponies and that’s it. This is something that needs to be done fast. Is that understood?” She finished with a sharp glare at everypony.

“Yes!” Everypony responded, aside from Rainbow Dash who was caught off guard.

“Good. It happens tonight in just a few hours, I’ll be leading the group that sets the bomb and lights it. Meanwhile, the pegasi will be circling overhead in the darkness until they see the explosion. That’s your signal to come down. When everypony else hears the explosion it’ll be your signal as well. The Inquisitors aren’t going to know what hit them,” a grimace settled on her features. “Now of course… we know the Head Inquisitor is there too. If you see her, just run. Nopony needs to try and be a hero here.”

Now that was one order that Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure about listening to. She kept that thought to herself though. If it came down to it and she could help this mission by occupying Vox… she was going to take that opportunity.

Brass Hoof’s eyes roamed over each and every other pony of the resistance, settling on Rainbow Dash for a second longer than most, before she returned to looking stalwartly ahead. “Alright. The last thing of course is that we all need to know when it’s time to retreat after the prisoners have been rescued. Our magic expert—Star Petal-” she nodded towards a sparkling tan unicorn with a velvety blue mane. “Will shoot up a firework at that time. It’ll be loud and bright, loud enough where even any ponies still inside the building will hear it even if they can’t see it. That’s the signal to retreat back as quickly and discreetly to our hideouts and tunnels under the city. So now you all know what to do so let’s do this. Our first strike back against the Queen, Dreamweaver, and the Inquisitors. Let’s make it a good one.”

The group of rebels cheered Brass Hoof’s words and this time Rainbow found herself cheering along with them. This was the kind of thing and sentiment she could really get behind. She knew any pony held captive by those Inquisitors couldn’t be doing good—it would be a great thing to rescue them. And then she was one step closer to fixing this whole country and bringing all of the villains down. Rainbow Dash licked her lips, she almost couldn’t contain her excitement, night couldn’t nearly come soon enough.

It was so dark out she felt almost like somepony had put a bucket over her head. She really couldn’t see anything in the sky and there were only a few lanterns and torches lit up in the city below her and the other pegasi from the resistance. Red Wing was the only one not out here himself but from what she had learned that seemed more to be a case of Brass Hoof forcing him to stay back than anything else. It was fine, in truth Rainbow Dash was a firm believer in her ability to handle every single enemy in that prison alone. Especially now that she was healthy.

“So none of the windows are barred or anything, right?” Rainbow Dash asked the others stealthily flying with her.

“Only where the actual cells are. It’s still just a converted courthouse and not a fortress or anything. We’ll be able to get inside,” Blitz told her.

“Cool,” Rainbow nodded and continued to look below for the explosion that would signal their attack.

The anticipation was building and building inside of her. She could feel it in her bones, this was a real chance to fight back against the Inquisitors. It always made her feel better when she could be proactive and do something. Now instead of running she was being the aggressive one. She was taking the fight to evil just like she should’ve been doing from the very start.

A loud explosion suddenly erupted from the ground below, the heat and blast wave from it rushing up into the sky. Rainbow Dash could see the side of the large courthouse down below illuminated by the flames as a chunk of the building was blown off. Looks like Brass Hoof had started things off without a hitch.

“Let’s go!” One of her fellow pegasi shouted and they all dove down to the courthouse, Rainbow going with them.

She dropped like a falcon with the wind whipping around her. From the ground she could hear the shouts and whistling of ponies as they responded to the explosion. The rest of the Inquisitors’ forces had likely also noticed the large explosion and were probably already on their way. Pity them. Rainbow Dash flew around to the back of the large building, the side that faced the waterfront, right up against the river. She had only been given the briefest, er, briefing, on the layout of the building and she knew there were a lot of windows back here. And it wasn’t even her job to actually go to the cells and free the ponies held prisoner there. Other groups were doing that. Rainbow Dash was meant to be a distraction and deal with any Inquisitors she came across that might cause trouble for the rescue team.

Not getting in a long drawn out fight though. She was a speedy pony, all she needed was to punch a pony in the back of the head and knock them out, cause some chaos, and then leave with the rest of the resistance.

Rainbow Dash found a window at the back of the building on its top floor and grinned before smashing through it without hesitation. Shards of glass and bits of wood scattered to the floor as Rainbow Dash hovered above it and looked around. Seemed like an old office that was being used by the Inquisitors, she could tell a group of ponies had hastily just ran out of it thanks to several things and drinks left on the desk. The door leading out was even slightly ajar.

“Alright, time for the fun stuff,” Rainbow said and flew out the door and into the hallway beyond.

To smack almost first face into another pegasus that had been coming back to the office.

“I’m telling you I heard—Ahhh!” The pegasus Inquisitor yelled in fright, there were three others further down the hall who were looking back at her and Rainbow Dash now.

Rainbow Dash acted as quick as she ever did and flew right behind the other pegasus at blinding speeds before swiftly clubbing her in the back of the head. There was only a small grunt from the pegasus as she collapsed in a heap and by then Rainbow Dash was already flying at the other three.

One of them was a unicorn and he fired a beam of forest-green magic at her that she was easily able to dodge. Rainbow closed the gap before he could do anything else and she gave him a fast punch right across his jaw to rattle his brain and knock him out cleanly. The other two Inquisitors were both earth pony mares, and in all honesty they probably didn’t even want to fight Rainbow Dash. But they didn’t have the luxury of making that choice. Both of them lunged at her from the left but Rainbow was easily able to just fly herself above them. One of them tried to jump up and grab at her but found her hoof kicked away by Rainbow’s own. She then quickly darted in front of both their surprised faces and grabbed their heads before clonking them together.

Both mares eyes’ rolled back into their heads as they collapsed along with the other two.

“Something tells me most of you Inquisitors are here against your will,” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the poor showing of the four. It was true that hardly anypony she had met on this journey was a real match for her when she was serious—she was just too fast—but these ponies were essentially soldiers, weren’t they? Or at least a kind of enforcer. So far it was only the Head Inquisitor herself who had proven a danger to Rainbow Dash.

Speaking of her, Rainbow couldn’t just waste time messing around in this hallway. She had more work to do. At the end of the hallway was an open staircase leading down, while from elsewhere, including on the floor she was on, she could hear fighting and chaos breaking out. Shouting, whistles being blown, the sounds of ponies brawling.

Ahead of her one of the doors in the hallway was knocked off its hinges onto the floor and a resistance pegasus stallion came with it, being tackled by and held down by an Inquisitor. The pegasus was struggling to get the Inquisitor off of them so Rainbow quickly zoomed over and kicked the Inquisitor in the side of the head, sending them sliding down the hallway. She smirked and then looked down at the other pegasus before offering a hoof to help them up. They took it and pulled themselves up, wiping some sweat from their brow.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Can’t let any of the rescuers get in trouble during a rescue attempt, you know?” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

“Yeah, we should probably go down to the next floor and help the others,” the stallion nodded.

Rainbow Dash cheekily saluted. “Way ahead of you.” And she zoomed off like lightning to the stairs. The courthouse was a large building, this was only one set of stairs on one side of the building and it didn’t go entirely to the ground floor. Instead she stopped one floor below where she saw a pair of Inquisitors and guards wearing black armor walking from down the hallway towards the stairs. They paused right as they saw her—recognizing the rainbow pegasus.

She narrowed her eyes at them. “Well are you going to be smart and just run away or do you want a fight too? Cause I’m fine with either.”

They wanted a fight.

All four ran at her while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew at them. The Inquisitors were a little faster, being less encumbered, and Rainbow Dash dove at them with full force. She held out her front legs and clotheslined the pair of Inquisitors as she flew by them at too fast a speed for them to react. They choked and were knocked onto their backs while Rainbow Dash landed on the floor and quickly spun about, shooting her back legs into the face of one of the armored guards. He crumpled against the wall. The very last guard took a swing at her, a clumsy and slow one, that Rainbow Dash ducked under. She moved over him like water until she was hovering just barely over his back in the space of a blink. A sharp elbow to the back of his head then dropped him too.

“This is just too easy,” she grinned and tossed her mane back. “Come on, if this is the best you can do then the resistance doesn’t even need me. Outnumbered or not.”

“So does that mean you’ve made some new friends then?!” A familiar voice shouted at Rainbow Dash from behind.

Dash frowned and turned around to see Head Inquisitor Vox at the other end of the hallway.

“Well, well, well, if this isn’t a nice surprise. Been looking for you for days, had my ears open for any word about you. But nothing. And lo and behold it turns out some other ponies were here all along. What a night this has been,” Vox started to laugh. “Rescuing the ponies I’m keeping prisoner here? So what. There are more all across the country. And you know what? We don’t need them either. This whole prison? It just exists for my own amusement whenever I’m away from the castle.” She slowly walked forward towards Rainbow Dash. “But of course… it’s not like I want to lose my source of fun. By now the rest of my forces in Gentle Creek should be arriving. With me here we won’t be letting you get away with this. And I certainly won’t be letting you get away in particular, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow’s ruby eyes glared at the Head Inquisitor and she dropped to the floor, flaring her nostrils and exhaling. “Go ahead then. Try whatever you want. I dare you.”

Vox licked her lips. “Oh I’ve decided. Dying out here, being imprisoned out here, it’s far too good for you. I’m bringing you back to the castle. You’re special, I really can see it. Dreamweaver is going to want to meet you. You might be just what he’s looking for and I’m going to have an exquisite amount of fun with you back in my dungeon.”

There was the briefest silence between them after Vox finished and then both ponies moved at once. Vox’s chain came snaking out of her suit like a striking cobra and went low for Rainbow Dash’s leg. Rainbow Dash hopped over it and extended her wings, flying directly at Vox. As soon as she saw Vox’s horn start to light up, Rainbow Dash started juking and flitting from side to side, making it difficult for Vox to aim at and concentrate on her. She could almost feel the red magic trying to grasp at her but it just wasn’t fast enough. A fraction of a frown appeared on Vox’s face as Rainbow’s blue hoof came within an inch of striking it before she disappeared in a red puff.

She reappeared under Rainbow Dash and uppercutted her in the gut. Launching Rainbow Dash in a flip to the floor.

Rainbow grunted hard in pain but recovered quickly enough, looking to see Vox’s chain now whipping out to her face. Instead of dodging it this time she did something unexpected and caught it—pulling Vox towards her. She saw Vox’s eyes widen in surprise before Rainbow Dash shoulder-checked her in the chest and knocked her to the floor. Before she could jump on her though Vox’s horn fiercely lit up.

“You little-!” She yelled and blasted Rainbow Dash with a powerful shove of red magic.

“Ngh!” Rainbow Dash was thrown through a nearby door and into what looked like a utility closet, full of shelves overflowing with supplies and a small window at the back facing to the river side of the building.

Vox jumped in right after her and slammed Rainbow’s shoulders down to the floor but was immediately punched across the face by Rainbow and tossed right off her, into one of the shelves. A bunch of old junk like cans, binders, paintbrushes, and more went falling everywhere and kicked up a cloud of dust, making Rainbow Dash squeeze her eyes shut and cough. A second later she felt a hoof smash into her ribs and she was carried into the opposite shelf. There wasn’t a lot of space in here and she couldn’t fly around, Vox wasn’t physically that strong but without Rainbow’s big advantage they were basically equal. The Head Inquisitor grasped Rainbow by the sides of her head and slammed her skull against one of the shelves.

In return, Rainbow Dash punched her in the side of the head and pushed her away with her wings before grabbing her by the horn and throwing her against the back wall. She tried to lunge at Vox then but was blindsided by Vox telekinetically pulling everything on the shelf next to Rainbow Dash on top of her. A bunch of clutter fell over her back and head and she had to raise her hooves to shield herself.

Which was all the time Vox needed to form a red ring around her neck and start to squeeze.

Rainbow felt her air supply cut off and started to wheeze and struggle around inside the closet while Vox maliciously giggled and squeezed down harder with her magic.

“There, there we go. Hurry up and pass out you miserable little worm!” Vox yelled.

She was pressing Rainbow Dash down to the floor with the magic at the same time, keeping her pinned so Rainbow couldn’t fly away or move to attack her. It was impossible to try pulling or breaking the magical circle around her neck so Rainbow had to figure out something else before she was strangled into submission. Her hooves were still free and they roamed across the floor looking for anything that would help, her left hoof smacked into a tin can and Rainbow Dash grasped it before flinging it with all the strength she could still muster at Vox. It struck her directly on the horn.

“Urk!” Vox squeaked and closed her eyes on reflex as her magic cut out.

Rainbow didn’t take any time to hesitate or think about what she was doing next, she ran at Vox and slammed into her, carrying the unicorn and herself into the window and smashing right through it. The instant Rainbow cleared the building she let go of Vox and extended her wings, stalling in the air right outside the window while Vox continued to fall. The Head Inquisitor didn’t shout or have enough time to use another spell, she just glared furiously at Rainbow Dash until she fell into the dark river with a plop and disappeared.

“Take a dip,” Rainbow Dash said… and then frowned about a second later, looking side to side. “How come there’s never anypony around when I say cool stuff like that?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance while a whistling noise went up into the air and another bright explosion went off in the sky. A red firework blossomed above her, the booming sound from it almost deafening in the dark night while the bright light illuminated the entire courthouse and the surrounding parts of the city.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash grinned up at it. “This night turned out pretty good.”

With a speedy flash she was gone, flying back to the resistance’s base.

Author's Note

Star Eyes, Starry Kiss, Star Petal, maybe they're all related.

Time to Work Together

It was actually only an hour later that same night that Rainbow Dash, the rest of the resistance, and the rescued ponies were gathered in the largest part of the resistance’s underground base. Red Wing had some important things to explain and they had to move fast, they had no idea how the Inquisitors were moving up above or if they were already looking for where their enemies had gone. Rainbow looked around at the former prisoners and saw a lot of frightened faces and emaciated bodies. They hadn’t been treated well in the prison, that was for sure, and even being rescued didn’t completely fix their mental states.

“I’m glad to see all of you here now, but we aren’t exactly safe yet,” Red Wing said to everypony. “The second part of the plan was always to leave Gentle Creek as swiftly as possible after the prison break. We can’t stay here anymore. While the break was being planned, everything important was gathered for swift removal from our base here. There’s a secret tunnel that we’ve been building in here that goes underneath the river and all the way into the forest to the east. That’s our exit point.”

“Some of you may be wondering where we’re going now-” Brass Hoof cut in. “We’ll get to that as soon as we’re safely out of Gentle Creek. For now the Inquisitors are surely regrouping and getting ready to tear the city apart as they look for us. We have a lot of supplies to bring with us and everypony will need to play their part again.” Her eyes looked at the recent rescues. “As for you all, it’s your choice after leaving Gentle Creek whether to come with us or go elsewhere. Obviously returning to Gentle Creek will be out of the question for any of you, you have to at least come with us to the forest. But we won’t force you to do anything after that.”

Rainbow could see in the eyes of the former prisoners that there likely wasn’t a single one that would stay with the resistance. They were too scared, too scarred. They just wanted to be free and live in whatever quiet peace they could find now after being rescued. Brass Hoof and Red Wing likely realized that as well but were still giving them the opportunity to fight back.

“That’s all that needs to be said for the moment so let’s get out of here. The fight has only just begun,” Red Wing said, his sharp eyes narrowing.

Vox stood in front of the large hole in the converted courthouse a sopping mess. She had a blank expression on her face as water dripped from her mane and face onto the ground. While the local forces were busy looking for the ponies who had done this, she and the original Inquisitors she had brought with her from the capitol were staying here. That group was standing awkwardly behind her, unsure of what they were going to do.

“Um, Head Inquisitor?” Dotted Easel bravely ventured forth. “What are we doing?”

The ears on Vox’s head flicked up but she didn’t turn to face Dotted.

“You know Dotted, it’s a good thing I’ve always liked you,” Vox said. “Cause a lot of times I hear a voice in my head telling me to break that little stupid painter neck of yours. But then another voice tells me that would be a waste because you’re always such a great source of amusement for me. So shut up for a moment.”

She finally turned around, without one of her usual smiles on her face, and looked at the other Inquisitors. “We’re going back to the castle. We’ve been gone for too long and wasted too much of Dreamweaver’s time being out here pointlessly.”

Dotted Easel wisely didn’t comment on how this was a complete reversal of what Vox had been saying before.

“At least we finally know what happened with Red Wing and the forces loyal to him. But they’re irrelevant. Dreamweaver and I have never cared—from the beginning the castle is all that’s really mattered. Everything else is just extra,” Vox shrugged.

She looked up at the dark sky and a grin slowly tugged up her lips. “That Rainbow Dash though… she’s different. I’m not finished with her just yet.” She glanced down back at the Inquisitors. “That’s another reason we’re going back to the capitol. I need to tell Dreamweaver about a certain pegasus, and it’s clear by now that if we just wait back there that eventually she’ll come to us anyways. Let her do whatever she wants until then.” A sigh escaped her lips. “I just wish I had some ponies to occupy my time with on the trip back. Too bad all the prisoners got rescued.”

Vox laughed and walked past Dotted Easel, patting her on the back. “Well I’m sure I’ll find somepony to entertain me.”

Dotted shuddered.

A long and dark tunnel ran deep underground, going from the bottom of Gentle Creek to a forest in the east beyond the river. It was clearly a newly finished tunnel with a lot of it held up by nothing more than some wooden beams. Dirt fell from the ceiling and moisture dripped all around them. Likely it wasn’t actually that safe to travel through here but the resistance really had no other choice. Most of the ponies were carrying bags of food, boxes of other supplies, and she saw Brass Hoof and her group carefully transporting the remaining powder kegs.

The tunnel wasn’t very big either so they were all clumped together and had to take things slow. Naturally that was making Rainbow Dash hate every minute of it, even though she was up near the front with Red Wing.

“So how much further do we have to go?” She ended up asking him.

“We’re still under the river, it’ll be quite a bit longer,” he replied.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Alright, whatever then. I still need you to fill me in on everything you know? I’m pretty sure I proved myself.”

“You did,” a ghost of a smile appeared on his face again before it vanished. “I will tell you everything we know once we’re out of this tunnel.”

“Great,” Rainbow nodded.

The slow journey underground continued on for what felt like (and probably was) miles until the tunnel stopped being so wet and also started to tilt up. At a steady incline they finally reached a zig-zagging staircase built in a room at the end of the tunnel. Practically one by one the ponies all had to walk up it until they reached a trap door at the very top. The unicorn—Star Petal—used her magic to open it up and the resistance found themselves in the middle of a tightly packed grove of trees with a bunch of bushes and branches tossed all around. The outside of the door was covered in dirt, moss, leaves, and twigs to camouflage it. With the natural darkness of Hoofica and the remote location, it’s no wonder it was never found.

Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief and stretched her wings as soon as she was up and out of the escape tunnel, she gave a short flight around the trees and looked around while the rest of the resistance made their way out. Once everypony was up and out of the tunnel she landed back on the ground next to Red Wing. The rescued ponies were staying in one group while the rest of the resistance were checking over their supplies and everything that had been brought with them.

Red Wing looked to Brass Hoof and nodded at the prisoners. “I want you to take care of them. See if any want to stick with us, and give the rest good directions to safer parts of Hoofica.”

“And you’ll be?” Brass Hoof asked, raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

“Yes. I’m going to fill in Rainbow Dash,” he said.

Brass Hoof sighed and nodded. “Alright then, I’ll meet back up with you later.”

She left and Red Wing gestured Rainbow Dash to follow him to where they could talk more one on one. “I’ll be honest with you from the start-” he said as they walked past some trees. “I can’t claim to know exactly everything that’s happened in Hoofica, or why, or some of the more minute details. I can only give you what I know as a direct witness to the events that took place in the castle in those early days, right before and right after the barrier went up.”

“That’s fine with me, it’s still going to be a lot more than what I know now,” Rainbow shrugged.

Red Wing came to a stop next to a large oak tree and stoically looked at Rainbow Dash. They were alone and a slight breeze blew overhead.

“So most importantly—while the Queen is involved in this she’s not really the one responsible,” Red Wing finally said.

“Right. That pony, Dreamweaver, is?” Rainbow asked.

Red Wing nodded. “That’s correct. I’m afraid I know far less about him than I should but truthfully all you need to know is what he’s done. This all started some time ago, when Hoofica Castle’s physician passed away. Dreamweaver arrived at the castle right around the same time and pledged his services to the Queen as a replacement. Although in truth he wasn’t the same kind of doctor, he’s a psychiatrist. Either way he ingratiated himself with the Queen and spent a good deal of time with her, earning her favor and trust… and more.” He grimaced. “At the same time he also sought to foster good relations with me and the rest of the Royal Guards, offering free psyche evaluations and counseling for any ponies that wanted it. At first things seemed normal.”

“But then the Queen started to reward Dreamweaver with things far above what his station would normally deserve. The highest tower of the castle was given to him to be his private quarters and laboratory—for what I never figured out—and she started spending an unseemly amount of time with him. While at the same time the King retreated into privacy more and more often. He ruled less, saw fewer ponies, and when actually out of the royal quarters he appeared vacant and didn’t respond to others. So because of this the Queen started directly governing in his stead. Which is not exactly the way things work around here.”

Red Wing frowned. “In a way… you could also say this started due to marriage problems.”

“Marriage problems? For real?” Rainbow blinked.

“It’s been no secret across Hoofica that the King and Queen did not have a happy marriage. They have been… unable to produce an heir. And the rumor has it that the fault lied on the King’s side. Even before that the Queen was already practically forced to marry him, it’s… it’s complicated,” he sighed and shook his head. “But either way the King has always done his best to rule well. When he stopped, the Queen unofficially gave Dreamweaver authority over everypony and everything in the castle. Just like that. Loyal Royal Guard I was though, I said nothing yet. Right up until I was told I was being removed as Captain of the Royal Guards and our forces were going to be reshuffled into something new.”

“I reacted… poorly to the notice. At the time I still didn’t know what was going on though. That said, things weren’t completely insane in the castle yet and I wasn’t thrown out or imprisoned just yet or anything. So I started going around and finding as many ponies still loyal to me and the King, asking what was going on, trying to figure this all out. Many private meetings were held. It was during one of these meetings that Star Petal—who has always been our top magical expert in the Royal Guards—mentioned that the King’s actions and appearance fit the symptoms of a pony under brainwashing spells. And the Queen and Dreamweaver are of course both unicorns.”

“So you think one of them was brainwashing the King? Just so they could take control easier or whatever?” Rainbow asked.

“Pretty much. Normally I would’ve acted immediately—but a lot of Royal Guards were still loyal to the Queen and might not have believed us. And there was a further problem. A new group that answered to one pony in particular had been formed, partially out of the guards and partially from other ponies.”

“The Inquisitors,” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed.

“With Head Inquisitor Vox leading them,” Red Wing’s face twisted in an angry grimace. “Vox… believe it or not, she used to be a Royal Guard.”

Rainbow’s eyebrows shot up. “I don’t believe it. Seriously?”

“She was always a problem child but I didn’t know how twisted she actually was. She kept it hidden while working under me.” He shook his head. “It’s irrelevant now. The Queen and Dreamweaver gave Vox and the Inquisitors the authority to do pretty much anything. We didn’t have the numbers to openly revolt. Instead I waited to see if there was anything I could do to help the King.”

“Unfortunately I was unable to act in time.”

“The barrier went up...” Rainbow frowned.

“And with that, everything changed completely. There was no more hiding it, Dreamweaver, the Queen, Vox, they had taken over Hoofica. While before that things still passed as almost normal in the castle and the kingdom, right after it became a nightmare of oppression. And the Inquisitors dealt with anypony who spoke or acted out in the slightest.”

“I’m surprised Vox didn’t just toss you into the dungeon or something.”

“I think she found greater amusement in letting me see the current state of things. That was her folly though. I noticed something in particular while in the castle. The Queen and Dreamweaver didn’t have the same black bands around their necks as every other pony did. Another secret meeting with Brass Hoof, Star Petal, and some of our other close allies, and we got to discussing the nature of the barrier. Star Petal assured us that nopony could possibly create such a huge barrier and make it last indefinitely, while also causing other phenomena such as the dark sky. There had to be something behind it, like a magical artifact that amplifies one’s power or some such. And that both the Queen and Dreamweaver had to be the ones who first activated it or used it or whatever, thus the lack of bands on their necks.”

“So we got to thinking… one of them had to have the artifact with them. I knew some of the Royal Guards who were still guarding the King and Queen and working in the royal chambers and one of them told me a very interesting little fact. Apparently not long before the barrier went up, Dreamweaver came to the Queen and gave her a “gift”. I think you can guess what that was.”

Rainbow nodded and snorted in annoyance. “The artifact keeping this barrier up.”

“It turns out it’s some sort of magical crystal. We don’t know where it is exactly though, the Queen could still be hiding it anywhere inside the royal chambers. And as you’d expect—their chambers are quite large.”

“A crystal, huh?” Rainbow Dash thought back to the Crystal Heart, but it had to all be a coincidence.

“Yes. When I learned that though I reacted too hastily. Instead of planning things out better… we stormed in and demanded the Queen to relinquish power, stop brainwashing the King, and destroy the crystal. I thought if we acted first and acted fast enough we could get control and destroy the crystal before anypony could stop us. Unfortunately not as many of the Royal Guards—my own former subordinates—sided with me as I’d hoped. Vox and the Inquisitors arrived shortly after, and we barely escaped the castle with our lives. Some of us got left behind even.”

He lifted a hoof up to his face and exhaled. “Who knows what’s happened to them in the castle’s dungeon...” Red Wing closed his eyes and took a moment to compose himself. “I have no idea what’s been going on in Hoofica Castle since we left. I only know that the Inquisitors have tightened their grip everywhere else as well. The entire kingdom has been stripped of hope and beaten down. The Queen doesn’t even care, she just wants to have fun and sate her selfish desires and make Dreamweaver happy. She became completely infatuated with him. And Dreamweaver himself… I have no idea why he’s done all this or what his end goal is. He’s an enigma. The only thing that matters though is that it was him who’s caused all this, he’s the one behind it all.”

“And that’s the full story to the best of my knowledge,” Red Wing finished up. “Now that you know all that, will you continue to work with us and help us? I—Hoofica—needs all the help it can get.”

Rainbow Dash just scoffed and tossed her mane back while grinning at him. “Dude, do you even need to ask?”

“I suppose not,” this time the smile actually stayed on Red Wing’s face.

The Short Straw

“Most all of you don’t know what comes next now that we’ve left Gentle Creek behind,” Red Wing said to the gathered ponies of the resistance the morning after their retreat from the city. They had migrated once more to a secluded group of hills to the south. As expected, only a couple of ponies freed from the prison had come along with them, the rest having gone their own way. “But now I think we have enough experience working together and enough resources that we’re now ready to continue on with our main goal: saving this kingdom.”

A number of resistance ponies and Rainbow Dash glanced around at each other, wondering what was coming next. She was excited for whatever it was though. The opportunity to finally deal with these bad ponies and help rescue Hoofica was filling her with passion.

Red Wing took a deep breath. “It’s for that reason that we’re finally returning to the capitol. Discreetly for now, but returning nonetheless.”

“We taking the fight directly to the Queen and the Inquisitors?” Tango asked from the crowd.

“More or less, though it’s still not going to be that simple. I’ll explain to everypony when we get back to the capitol. Fortunately we still have friends there and certain plans have already been made for our arrival. We’ll be able to enter and lay low without the Inquisitors finding out about us,” Red Wing said.

“Any questions?” Brass Hoof asked them.

Rainbow Dash certainly had a few, but not for right now.

It looked like everypony else had trust in their leaders as well, nopony raised a hoof or any sort of objection.

“Good then,” Red Wing grunted. “We’ll need to move at night and it’s still a long way from here to the capitol. Sorry to say that it’s going to be a long and boring trip.”

Rainbow Dash normally would’ve rolled her eyes or groaned in annoyance but the sheer fact that she was now finally on her way to the capitol just made her feel relieved.

It indeed did take a long time for the entire resistance to cover the northern half of Hoofica as they made their way south to the capitol but it was at least unmarred by any trouble with the Inquisitors. And now it was finally over. The huge capitol city loomed ahead, its sprawling mass of dark homes and buildings all lumped together in tight streets and blocks. Huge, but claustrophobic. Even though it was night and the dark sky canceled out nearly all normal light, Rainbow Dash could still make out a large amount of the city thanks to the frequent strikes of lightning everywhere.

At one point it probably looked like a normal city—a bustling and happy capitol for the large kingdom of Hoofica—but now it was a dark reflection of the kingdom. Depressed and unwelcoming looking.

The gigantic castle that rose over it all only added to that effect. Rainbow Dash looked up at it and the five spiraling towers, each bigger than the last, that reached up towards the sky. Her eyes fixated on the tallest one, where the pony known as Dreamweaver supposedly lived.

The resistance right now, all clad in their usual cloaks, was discreetly entering the city by hugging the sides of an artificial canal that fed into the city, leading to a whole array of aqueducts, pipes, and the general water and sewage system that worked through the entirety of the capitol. Being such a large city it was just one of several that connected to surrounding rivers and lakes. Red Wing apparently had detailed knowledge of the sewers and their group was getting ready to meet a few friends who would take them to their next base.

With things the way they were in the city, they also didn’t really have to worry about anypony being out and seeing them. And apparently the Inquisitors and what remained of the city guard hardly cared enough to really guard much at all anymore. The entire kingdom had fallen to malaise.

Thunder rumbled in the sky as they finally reached the actual city and the resistance gathered in an empty outdoor lot next to the canal, surrounded on all sides by large stone walls. The canal itself continued underground, feeding the water through a large metal grate. Directly above it was a metal gate that led either into the city or right into a building for treating and managing the water. Either way the gate was closed right now and it didn’t look like the kind of thing that you would open up simply by knocking.

“We’ll hold here for a second, somepony will be on their way to open this up for us shortly,” Red Wing said.

“How are they going to know we’re here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“With this,” Red Wing said and pulled something out of his cloak. It was a small yellow ball, crystal, almost like a large marble. He dropped it onto the ground and shattered it beneath his hoof.

Rainbow Dash was perplexed but only a minute later and she heard a grinding noise come from the large gate as it started to raise.

It only lifted up enough to allow a pony in without bowing their head down but it was at least open. Behind it stood a gruff, rusty stallion in overalls. He saw Red Wing and reached out a hoof that the leader of the resistance gladly took.

“Bout time you came back,” the stallion said.

“It’s certainly been longer than I would’ve wanted. Is everything prepared?” Red Wing asked.

The stallion nodded. “You bet. Got a number of places safe for all of you and trustworthy contacts across the city. Whatever you need, whatever you plan on doing, we’re set up for it.”

“That’s all we need then,” Red Wing nodded. “We have a lot of ponies and things to transport in to our new base, lead the way if you would.”

“Right this way, just be as quiet as you can.”

Red Wing looked back out at the rest of the resistance. “You heard him. Carry your things on in but walk as quietly as you can, no talking. We’ve still got a lot of work to do once we settle in.”

The quiet journey through the building and the outer parts of the city began. It was a more industrial part of the capitol they had entered, even more claustrophobic and labyrinthine than the rest. The group proceeded slowly and quietly, winding through dirty alleys, down narrow streets, under stone bridges, and behind other businesses until they reached what looked like an abandoned three-story building. The brick that made it up had lost all color and paint from it while the windows were boarded up completely and a heavy padlock rested on the front door. The roof was also falling apart and missing most of its shingles.

“It doesn’t look like much… and it aint really, but it’s safe and it has a large basement that leads into the sewers for your needs. Just did some recent construction on it,” the stallion told Red Wing as the group stood in the empty street before the building.

Red Wing nodded. “This will work."

The stallion then took a key from his overalls and unlocked the padlock for them, hoofing the key over to Red Wing after. “There you go. Just contact me again after you’ve got things sorted here and I can tell you about everything else.”

“I will, thank you, friend.”

The resistance spared no time heading into their new base. On the inside, Rainbow could see that it was just as bad and shoddy looking as the outside. There were only a couple of chairs and tables on the first floor and against the back wall a bunch of rolled up mats and blankets were being kept. Didn’t seem like she was getting a bed here. The second and third stories were more of the same, while the large basement was used for keeping all their supplies and the powder kegs in for the time being.

“Home sweet home...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself.

“Don’t get too relaxed just yet,” Brass Hoof said to her as she placed a powder keg down on the ground. “We’ve got another big group meeting coming up. The Captain has an announcement to make.”

Rainbow Dash could only assume that it would have to do with what their next move was. She was excited for it.

Getting everything done inside their new base still took a while and Red Wing was paranoid enough that he sent some ponies out as sentries to keep watch over the nearby streets and buildings. By the time it was all finished up he, Brass hoof, and Star Petal had everypony gather on the third floor. The three of them were standing together with the rest of the resistance patiently waiting to hear what they were going to do. What was the plan now that they were here? How were they going to save Hoofica?

“I told you all that I would reveal what our next plan was when we arrived safely here at the capitol,” Red Wing started. “There’s a lot of thought that’s gone into this but I have to tell you that there’s no simple solution to anything. We’re vastly outnumbered and we also have next to no idea what’s going on in that castle or what Head Inquisitor Vox and Dreamweaver are fully capable of. So we decided to focus on one thing to break their control of the kingdom; the crystal that powers the barrier. Destroy that, and their control falls. If Hoofica is returned to normal it will be an immense psychological victory for us and everypony will know that with them now being able to leave, they can’t be threatened or captured so easily. Essentially, we want to bring hope back to everypony living here. So that even if we’re captured or killed in our attempt to destroy the crystal, the Queen and Dreamweaver can’t keep oppressing everypony.”

“We also believe that by now, most of the Inquisitors and Royal Guards who still side with our enemies have realized their mistake. They’re still following along just out of loyalty and fear. If we can destroy the crystal and show them that we’ve brought Hoofica back to normal… I believe many of them will side with us or at the very least stop fighting. It’s also likely that going for the crystal may also allow us to capture the Queen and potentially force a peace, and even possibly undo the brainwashing spells on the King and get all of this taken care of right then and there.”

“However there are obvious issues with this plan. While we can break into the castle and enter through the sewers and other secret passages I know about, the royal chambers are a different matter. Not knowing exactly where the crystal is puts us at a disadvantage. Every second wasted is a second Vox and the rest of the Inquisitors will use to come after us and put a stop to what we’re doing. And we can’t win a prolonged fight against their full forces. So that being said… there is a plan I’ve come up with. A dangerous and reckless plan, but we need to find out exactly where that crystal is.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up. Dangerous and reckless, huh?

“What we need...” Red Wing slowly started again. “Is for one of us to get intentionally captured and taken to the castle dungeon. From there you’ll need to get free and somehow find the location of the crystal. After that the rest of us will attack the castle. It’s impossible to infiltrate in a simpler way to figure anything out.”

A number of the other resistance ponies looked scared, worried, and uncertain. The thought of being at the mercy of Vox and locked up in that castle’s dungeon was not something any of them wanted to experience. Rainbow had to admit it wasn’t exactly a great plan, and there was a lot clearly being left out on how it was going to work. That said, it somepony had to do it...

“So what I’m asking from all of you is if there are any volunteers who would like to undertake this dangerous mission?” Red Wing asked the assembled resistance.

“No offense, sir-” Tango said from the crowd. “But from what you’ve just told us I don’t see how you can expect anypony to-”

“I’ll do it.”

The raspy voice cut over the crowd of ponies and everypony in the resistance turned to look at one of their newest allies.

Rainbow Dash calmly stared back at them all before looking Red Wing dead on. “I’ll do it.”

Leaving a Lot Up to Chance Here

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth at the ponies surrounding her, many of them gawking at her in disbelief.

“Well don’t all of you clap for me at once,” she snorted.

Brass Hoof frowned. “I don’t think we’ll be leaving this up to an outsider like you who only recently-”

“That’s why.” Rainbow Dash strongly glared at her. “It’s because I’m an outsider that I should be the one doing this. All of you, every last one of you, deserves to be able to see your home go back to normal. I’m just some pony who came in out of nowhere looking for an adventure. Let me be the one to take the big risks here.” She raised a hoof to her chest and took a deep breath as she looked at the other resistance ponies. “You’ve all been suffering here in this country for how long now? You deserve to be able to relax and let somepony else help you out. Let me carry the weight.”

“You may have proved yourself capable but I don’t think I trust you enough for this, Rainbow Dash,” Brass Hoof said.

“It’s not your choice though,” Red Wing cut in, sharply glancing at her. “It’s mine.”

Brass Hoof frowned and looked like she was about to say something, but she closed her mouth and looked at the floor. “Yes, sir.”

Red Wing looked at Rainbow Dash before turning his attention to the rest of his subordinates. “The rest of you can leave us now, get a good night’s rest. It’s likely we’ll have more to discuss in the morning.”

The ponies were a bit uncertain, but after a second they filed on out of the third floor and went towards the stairs. A few ponies Rainbow Dash knew better, like Tango and Blitz, gave her a nod or uncertain look as they left. After they were all gone it was just Rainbow along with Red Wing, Brass Hoof, and Star Petal.

“Are you fully aware of what you’re volunteering for?” Red Wing asked her.

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But that’s just part of the fun.”

Red Wing narrowed his eyes, not in a joking mood. “The getting captured part is easy. Who knows what Vox will do to you in that dungeon, especially after you in particular have repeatedly crossed her. And unfortunately I don’t have any advice on how you’ll manage to free yourself—that part’s up to you.”

There was also the fact Vox had said she was special and Dreamweaver might be interested in her. In what way Rainbow Dash had no idea but she wasn’t going to mention that to the resistance leaders anyways.

“If that’s the case then how are you supposed to know when I’ve found the crystal and you can come attack the castle or whatever anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Star Petal?” Red Wing glanced over at her.

The unicorn levitated something out in front of Rainbow Dash’s face. It was a yellow crystal ball, the same kind that she had seen Red Wing break earlier.

“This is called a Locator Crystal. When you break it it sends a signal to its master crystal, alerting it to the fact its been broken and where exactly it happened. As soon as you find the location of the crystal that’s powering the barrier, you’ll break the locator and that will be our signal to attack. If you break it while you’re at the same location of the other crystal, then great, if not you can meet up with us in the main atrium of the castle and tell us where it is when we come to attack,” Red Wing explained.

“Wait, so...” Rainbow Dash pinched between her eyes. “I’m going to be stuck in a dungeon—with no clue right now how to get out—and then when I somehow do I need to somehow sneak through the castle without getting caught and find this crystal? While there are probably a ton of guards and Inquisitors around. And when I’m in who knows what condition after being in the dungeon. This is a bad plan.”

“I’m aware that-”

Rainbow Dash held up a blue hoof and cut him off, grinning in his face. “Fortunately for you, I like bad plans.”

Brass Hoof scoffed and Star Petal looked uncertain, but Red Wing smirked.

“Well, that helps us out then.”

“Uhh… I do still have a couple more questions though,” Rainbow Dash said. “If I’m getting myself captured, and they’re taking me down to a dungeon or whatever, how in the hay am I going to take that crystal ball with me?”

“We’re going to teach you how to swallow and regurgitate it at will,” Red Wing said.

“Oh. That sounds fun.”

“You’ll get used to it but it might take a little while before you’ve mastered being able to do it,” Brass Hoof told her.

Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face. “Alright, so that’s not going to be a fun part. I had something else I was wondering about though. If you’re still so outnumbered that you can’t just directly attack the castle, how is any of that going to change just by me knowing where the crystal is? If I break the locator thing and you guys just charge on into the castle won’t it end kind of badly?”

“Why do you think we brought the rest of the powder kegs with us?” Red Wing asked.

“Uh, you lost me,” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“We’re going to make a distraction in the city and draw out most of the guards and Inquisitors to it,” Red Wing explained. “We’ll make them think we’re starting an actual armed revolution in the city instead of secretly infiltrating the castle itself. Their forces will be split up and as soon as we see that we’ll enter the castle and find you and then the crystal.”

“So what exactly are you going to do with those powder kegs? Cause I’m a little bit concerned,” Rainbow said.

Red Wing let out the smallest bit of mirthful laughter. “I appreciate the concern but there’s nothing to worry about. This is our home and we’d never hurt our fellow ponies. We’re making sure to do this as peacefully as possible… which I know sounds a little hypocritical, but it’s true. We don’t want to do any damage that we can avoid.”

“We are blowing up some buildings. There’s no avoiding that,” Brass Hoof said. “But they’re going to be emptied beforehand, and we’ll make sure there aren’t any ponies around that can be hurt either.”

“At the same time a fake—but loud—riot will sprout up. That will get the attention of the Queen and her forces. As somepony who personally knows the Queen, I can almost guarantee that she’ll overreact and be very frightened about what’s going on in her capitol,” Red Wing said. “And once we have found the crystal, Star Petal here will destroy it.” He glanced over to her. “She’s confident in her magical knowledge and ability that she can deal with the troublesome artifact.”

“The barrier is practically invincible, so the crystal itself must be the weak point. A strong enough magical attack should be able to destroy it,” Star Petal said, smiling to Rainbow Dash.

“I’m still hearing a lot of shoulds and maybes with this plan...” Rainbow Dash grimaced and rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s not foolproof or guaranteed. We all know that,” Red Wing sighed. “But it’s the best we can do right now.”

“There’s still one other major issue with the plan I need to bring up,” Rainbow said.

“And that is?” Red Wing raised an eyebrow at her.

“What if I can’t get free?” Rainbow Dash asked him. She looked briefly at Brass Hoof and Star Petal as well. “What if I’m trapped in that dungeon and I never find a way out for a really long time? I could be stuck there for weeks, or months, and never come close to finding where the crystal is or freeing myself. What are you all going to do then?”

Red Wing frowned, a concerned look coming over his face as he gazed down at the floor. “We considered that it was likely going to take a while for whichever pony entered the castle to free themselves. Or that they would possibly never be able to escape the dungeon at all. In that case we are willing to wait. We know the danger and the difficulty involved in this mission. And if necessary, you can break the crystal while still trapped if you think there’s no chance for you.”

“I don’t like the idea of giving up. How long are you really willing to wait?” Rainbow asked.

“A month or two perhaps. We spent a lot of time sitting around in Gentle Creek already, biding our time and doing nothing. Returning to that now here in the capitol isn’t impossible. However… ponies are getting antsy and tension is high. Living here, living under this sky, it’s slowly breaking everypony. Even us. We can’t wait forever, Rainbow Dash,” Red Wing said.

Rainbow Dash ground her jaw back and forth and furrowed her brow. “What if I asked you to?”

“What?”

“If I asked you to wait for me. No matter how long it took for you to get the signal that I broke that crystal, if I asked you to wait, would you?”

“Ponies are suffering every day we sit around like this. We can’t just ignore that,” Brass Hoof angrily interjected.

“And they’ll suffer even more if your whole plan fails because you acted too soon,” Rainbow Dash glared at her. “Just have faith in me. That’s what I’m asking. I know that’s a tall order and we haven’t known each other for long, but it’s the right thing to do here. Don’t attack the castle or give up until I break the locator crystal. If you want to return hope to Hoofica, you need to have some of it yourselves.”

“How can you expect us to just listen to your vanity like this? Why should I trust you? What makes you so special?” Brass Hoof huffed and stepped forward to nearly butt heads with Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash defiantly stared right into her eyes. “I’m awesome. That’s what makes me special.”

Brass Hoof narrowed her eyes but she had nothing left to say. She looked over at Red Wing to see what he thought about all of this.

“I believe… that if we’re going to do this, we should do it right. We’ll wait until we’ve gotten your signal, Rainbow Dash. I’ll trust you for this.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Thanks, dude.

While Brass Hoof didn’t look totally happy with the decision, she accepted it. “If that’s your decision, Captain.”

“It is,” he nodded.

“The rest of the resistance will gladly follow your decision as well, sir,” Star Petal reassured him.

“Heh, well if we’re all in agreement then let’s get ready to do this thing!” Rainbow flapped her wings excitedly and hovered in the room.

“You might want to calm down for just a moment. You still need to learn how to regurgitate the Locator Crystal and carry it in your stomach. That’s going to take some time,” Red Wing told her.

“Oh yeah...” Rainbow Dash deflated and dropped back to the floor. “Is there any trick for learning that as fast as possible?”

“Not unless you want to screw up and accidentally not be able to regurgitate it. I don’t think you want to go through that,” Brass Hoof snorted.

Rainbow Dash turned green. “That’s uh, that’s a really good point...”

“It will take us some time to prepare everything else anyways. And you might want to talk with the rest of the resistance. Depending on how long it takes you to actually get free and find the barrier crystal, I think we want to have everything in place and ready before you even get captured. Even as just a precaution. We want to be prepared,” Red Wing said.

“Makes sense,” Rainbow nodded. “But seriously, however long it takes me to get that crystal swallowing perfect, I can’t wait to go and make a huge scene at that castle. I’ll give them an attack to remember. The Queen, Dreamweaver, Vox? I’m gonna call those losers out and even if I’m supposed to be captured you can bet I’m seriously going to make them work for it.” A smirk once again tugged up her lips. “This is gonna be a blast.”

Capture

“HEY VOX, DUMBWEAVER, AND QUEEN UGLY! IT’S RAINBOW DASH DOWN HERE READY TO TAKE YOU OUT! THAT’S RIGHT, THE AWESOME PEGASUS WHO’S BEEN TOTALLY HUMILIATING YOU SINCE SHE CAME HERE! COME DOWN AND FIGHT ME YOU LOSERS BEFORE I TAKE THIS WHOLE CASTLE APART! OR ARE YOU A BUNCH OF LITTLE SCAREDY CATS?! IS THAT IT? YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST RUIN AN ENTIRE KINGDOM, OPPRESS ALL THESE PONIES, AND JUST ACT LIKE NOPONY IS GOING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT? WELL YOU’RE WRONG! SO BRING OUT THE INQUISITORS, BRING OUT THE ARMY, BRING OUT ANYPONY WHO’S BRAVE ENOUGH TO FACE ME! CAUSE I’M GOING TO RETURN THIS COUNTRY TO HOW IT USED TO BE! JUST TRY AND STOP ME YOU BUNCH OF LOSERS!”

Rainbow Dash let out a deep breath and started panting, shouting at the top of her lungs like that had taken a decent bit of effort.

The guards standing in front of the large doors leading into the castle were meanwhile gawking at her in pure disbelief. As they had been ever since she landed in front of them and started.

“Well what are you two looking at? Never seen a pony come attack your castle and try to take down the evil tyrants ruining your country?” She snorted and rolled her eyes.

The two of them clearly had no idea what to do. Luckily for them, they didn’t have to make a decision. The gigantic doors leading into the great hall of the castle opened up behind them after just a few moments and Rainbow Dash was treated to a sight that made her grin. Head Inquisitor Vox stood front and center while thirty or forty other Inquisitors stood behind her. The psycho pony was grinning at Rainbow Dash as well, though there was an obvious anger and annoyance in her eyes.

“Now isn’t this quite the treat,” Vox said as she stalked out onto the stone terrace of the castle while Rainbow Dash stood her ground at the top of the steps. “I was wondering when I’d get to see you again.”

“Oh? You were looking forward to getting beat up that badly again?” Rainbow Dash laughed.

Vox’s eye twitched. “I didn’t think you’d be so stupid and reckless to do this though. You don’t actually think this is going to end well for you, do you?”

“Well I’m definitely not afraid of losing to a pony like you,” Rainbow yawned, intentionally trying to be as obnoxious as possible.

“Hehehehe, you’re too funny, Rainbow Dash. You really are. I’m going to enjoy having you in my dungeon.” She looked over her shoulder at the other Inquisitors. “Capture her—alive. Broken and disfigured is okay.”

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “You’re going to have to catch me first. Today’s the day that you, Dreamweaver, and the Queen all go down.”

Vox chuckled some more and licked her lips. “Oh I sincerely doubt that.”

Her horn lit up red and Rainbow Dash instantly shot up into the sky—well out of her range and going towards the spiraling towers.

“Get her!” Vox yelled. “Don’t let her inside the castle! She must not be allowed to cause any further problems!”

A squadron of pegasus Inquisitors shot up and started chasing Rainbow Dash as she darted in and around the towers, pretty much just messing around but not letting them in on the act. She dove underneath the snaking passage that connected from one tower to the next while checking out down below and seeing the interior courtyard of Hoofica Castle. It was such a huge and imposing place, it would’ve been a lot nicer looking in the sun. Rainbow Dash decided to have a little more fun, put on a show, and circled around and around one of the towers while climbing up at high speed, becoming little more than a rainbow blur. She flew right past windows-

and was seen by-

While the pegasus Inquisitors tried to keep up. Rainbow Dash saw something out of the corner of her eye—several black-armored pegasi were flying up to try and chase her down too. So it wasn’t just the Inquisitors but Vox had also gotten the aid of the Royal Guards. That was going to make this even more exciting.

Rainbow grinned and shot away from the tower, going straight towards the guards. They seemed surprised at her sudden approach but they didn’t turn away. Everypony was ready for a fight as Rainbow Dash barreled towards them. A sudden burst of speed from her surprised them again though and she wrapped around behind them before they could react.

“You guys are slow,” Rainbow laughed and flew between the group, smacking the helmets off of all of them as she went.

“Hey!” One yelled and dove at her.

Rainbow spun out of the way and let him go past, exaggeratedly yawning.

“Boooooring, I said I’m taking down your tyrant Queen and you guys aren’t even putting up a fight. Come on, I thought you Royal Guards would have more in you,” she shrugged and started flying backwards with her hooves resting behind her head.

A crackling noise pierced through the air and Rainbow had to immediately juke to the side as a blast of magical energy shot past right where she had been. She looked down and saw a number of unicorn Inquisitors on the ground, on balconies, and on the roof of the lower part of the castle aiming up at her.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Okay, okay, this should be a little more fun.”

The sky around Hoofica Castle and its five towers became a madhouse as dozens of pegasi guards and Inquisitors chased one rainbow bogey while beams of magic shot up with enough frequency to make it look like a laser light show. Firework like explosions rocked the air, bright flashbangs going off to try and knock out the invader erupted everywhere, and the aerial dogfighting between the fighters grew more intense with every passing second. The incredible colors were all even more noticeable and blinding against the dark sky and black clouds—with the white-suited Inquisitors and the colorful Rainbow Dash easiest of all to pick out.

A mare Inquisitor flew right at Rainbow Dash despite the danger of being hit by a stray laser and tried to tackle Rainbow Dash out of the sky. Rainbow grabbed her outstretched legs and swung the mare around, throwing her into a guard trailing her from behind and sending them both falling to the ground. Idly, she hoped they recovered quick enough so they wouldn’t be too hurt. She really didn’t want to hurt any of these ponies. Not seriously.

Besides Vox.

It was getting to the point where they were putting each other in far more danger than she was though. Explosions and blasts of magic were tearing apart the sky with ever more frequency. Rainbow Dash was more worried for her enemies than she was for herself. If the group was more coordinated they could probably contain her and lead her into a trap or a blast of magic, but nopony seemed to be leading them. It was likely Vox simply didn’t care at all or have the patience to bother with a strategy like that. Instead she wanted Rainbow Dash overwhelmed by an unceasing barrage.

She had to dodge out of the way of another few laser blasts and into the approaching phalanx of guards and Inquisitors flying at her. Several hoofs came whizzing at her face all at once but Rainbow either dodged or blocked them all while throwing out punches of her own to knock back and kick away her opponents. Two came at her from behind while the melee was going but Rainbow did a quick flip in midair and kicked the both of them in their backs before springboarding off and away from them. Another Inquisitor came, aiming his wing at her neck as he flew by, but Rainbow swiftly brought up a hoof to block it and chop down right at the joint, making him bark in pain and start to wobbly spiral away from her to the ground.

Just in time for her to have enough room to blur out of the way of a magical explosion.

“Is that it?!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “Is that really it? Can’t you do anything better? If a single pony could do all this then maybe next time you should put up a barrier that keeps ponies out!”

She taunted them even more and was rewarded by a flock of guards and Inquisitors rising to meet her in the sky once again.

If there wasn’t a ton of earth pony guards and Inquisitors down in the castle too, Rainbow would’ve thought that with her fighting with the resistance they could’ve just made a frontal assault on the castle anyways. But that might’ve ended up being a lot more violent. And there was still no telling what Vox—or that Dreamweaver pony—might do in such a situation.

A Royal Guard mare came flying at Rainbow Dash and threw her helmet at Rainbow to distract her once she had gotten close. Rainbow knocked it up with a hoof towards her back hoof and then juggled it up on top of her head, balancing it on the crown of her head. Right when the mare reached her she bounced the helmet up and ducked down at the same time, the mare flew above her as the helmet came back down and landed snug on her head while Rainbow punched up into her armored stomach and threw her away.

“You should keep those, they’re for your protection, you know?” She said.

A flurry of laser blasts came from the unicorns below and Rainbow Dash had to quickly fly around to avoid them all. Spiraling, looping, and corkscrewing through the sky like she was going through the most extreme stunt show of her life. Other pegasi all chased and hounded her at the same time, flying like hawks trying to take down their prey.

Rainbow Dash flew towards that bridge-like passage that existed between the towers, connecting them all on the inside. She was going to fly under it and take her pursuers through a trip on the outsides of the castle.

As soon as she passed under it though-

“Hey.”

Rainbow looked up just in time for Vox to land on her back and a chain to come wrapping around her wings, pinning them down while Vox grabbed her in a headlock.

“Ngh!” Rainbow Dash grunted as the two of them were now shooting down to the roof of the castle. Rainbow’s wings were stuck, the magical power of Vox that was controlling the chain was too strong for her to break. “Where’d you come from?!”

“Hahahahahaha!” Vox only laughed as she rode Rainbow down like a missile.

Rainbow Dash and Vox crashed into the side of one of the towers and bounced off of it, not far from smashing into the roof of the lower part of the castle. Rainbow could see Vox’s grinning face in the corner of her vision—right before she vanished in a static burst of red magic.

“Oh you chicken...” Rainbow grunted and tried to untangle the chain that was still wrapped around her body before she crashed into the roof.

She managed to slightly get it off of her and extend her wings to pull up a little bit, but not enough to stop herself from crashing into the roof. She smashed into the tiles hard and fast at an angle, bouncing and sliding off of them a couple of times until she came to a stop in a heap with the chain still stuck on her. Rainbow could feel every bump and bruise on her body after that and as she pushed herself to her hooves she ended up spitting out a fair bit of blood onto the roof tiles.

Her recovery was short lived however as the chain suddenly retightened itself around her body and Rainbow Dash was pushed to the roof by a hoof slamming against the back of her head.

Rainbow turned her head as best she could to see Head Inquisitor Vox grinning down at her.

“Caught you~”

Rainbow Dash spat in her face. “Took you long enough.”

Vox’s eye twitched as she swiped the spittle and blood off her face. “Oh… you’re really going to regret all of this.” She lifted a broken roof tile over her head in her magic and slammed it down on Rainbow Dash’s face.

When the next time she woke up she was being dragged across a floor in chains. After yelling and making quite a fuss—she was punched in the face by Vox again. She continued slipping in and out of consciousness, remembering being taken down to the dungeon, seeing what was being done, getting chained up and yelling at her captors, all before Vox took out some kind of syringe and plunged it into her neck.

Then her mind was just a series of noises and flashing lights until...

Rainbow Dash blinked a few times as she woke up, groggy and with a dull pain throbbing in her head. Her vision was nothing more than a black blur and she was having trouble remembering where she was and what she had been doing. As she tried to lift her head up she felt resistance around her neck and was unable to raise it more than just parallel with her body. Trying to move her hooves she felt they were stuck as well, and her wings wouldn’t open up. Finally after a few more blinks and short moments she remembered her situation and what had just happened to her. The plan, fighting and flying through the sky, Vox, getting knocked out, and now there was only one place she could be.

Well I guess the infiltration part was a success. Rainbow rolled her eyes. She did her best to pull and tug on the chains binding her, seeing how much give they had and how strong they were, it felt like she was tied down to a table or something but it was all too dark to see right now.

The Locator Crystal was nestled safely in her stomach, ready for her to regurgitate and break for whenever she completed the other part of the mission. Although that could take a while. Or perhaps never even happen. Rainbow had to admit that possibility. But she wasn’t going to give up so easily. She only just got here, this dungeon wouldn’t hold her forever.

It would really help if she could see anything though.

That wish of hers was answered when a torch lit up in front of her.

Any joy at having some light was immediately squashed when she saw Vox standing there, holding up the torch and smiling at her. It was just the Head Inquisitor and nopony else, but a decently large wooden box was next to her. Metal bars separated them so Rainbow Dash also realized she was indeed stuck in a cell.

“Hi there. Nice to see you awake,” Vox giggled at her.

“I mean, the accommodations aren’t great but as far as hotel rooms go I guess this isn’t so bad,” Rainbow attempted a shrug but could only barely move her body.

Vox snorted. “Believe me, you’re not going to keep that sense of humor for much longer.”

She walked over to the cell’s door and levitated up a ring of keys, unlocking the door and stepping inside before putting the torch up in a slot on the wall. She didn’t close the door though, instead going back out and levitating the large box inside and putting it down directly in front of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at it and looked up at Vox.

“So what’s that?” She asked.

Vox grinned with an especially malicious twinkle in her eyes. “You’ll see~”

“Oh so I’m already going to be tortured and whatever?” Rainbow Dash blew a puff of air out her mouth at one of the locks of her mane, defiantly looking at Vox with her brilliant eyes. “I’m soooo scared.”

“You know you should really be grateful for that and what’s coming actually. It’s only because of a certain pony that you’re alive right now anyways,” Vox said.

“What? Want me to thank you?” Rainbow asked.

Vox shook her head. “I didn’t mean me.”

“You were right, Vox. She is special.”

The male voice cut through the shadows and a new pony stepped into view of the torchlight. A unicorn stallion. He walked slowly and formally through the open cell door before walking around Vox and the box in front of Rainbow Dash, taking a position on the opposite side of it and looking down at her bound form. The smile he wore on his face was as polite and friendly as any Rainbow Dash had seen. Completely different from the mocking smirk of Vox with her empty eyes behind it.

“Hello there, Rainbow Dash. My name is Dreamweaver, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

She looked up at him, calmly, not trying to betray any emotions. “Likewise.”

He still tilted his head at her, likely realizing that she was holding quite a bit back. “You’ve heard of me already, have you? From whom?”

Rainbow Dash remained quiet. Staring at him with an as of yet blank look on her face.

“Doesn’t matter. Not really,” he shrugged. “Very little going on in this kingdom actually does. You though… you might really matter. Who are you?”

“You already know my name,” she frowned.

“Obviously. But really, who are you? Where do you come from? I can tell just looking at you that not only are you not from Hoofica but you aren’t from anywhere around here. It’s not just that mane of yours, it’s your eyes, the way you carry yourself. I’ve never met a pony like you. You’re a very… hopeful pony aren’t you? Very determined. Very spirited and strong-willed. Could you please tell me about yourself and your home?”

“I think I’d rather just tell you to take a hike instead. I don’t feel like telling you anything about me,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“Well that’s certainly a shame but it’s not the end of the world. I don’t particularly need to know that much about you, it just can make things easier.” He stroked his chin.

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between him and Vox. “You two really are just a pair of psychos, aren’t you?”

“I’d prefer not to be compared to the violent brute here,” Dreamweaver huffed.

Vox just glared at him but said nothing.

“Anyways-” Dreamweaver continued. “I think you might truly be it. I think you’re what I need to finally finish all of this.”

“What do you mean by that? What are you even doing here in Hoofica?” Rainbow asked.

“You don’t need to know that. But I suppose in general terms… I’m trying to make my dreams come true,” he chuckled at his own joke before looking back into Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “I hope this isn’t a pointless endeavor. Vox? Would you please take out the Device and attach it to our subject here?”

“My pleasure~” Vox snickered and reached over to open up the top of the box.

Rainbow Dash watched as Vox carefully (and dramatically slowly on purpose) removed the so-called “Device” from the box. She didn’t really know what to make of it. It looked like some sort of metal helmet or cage with straps and locks on it and wires running through parts. On one side was some kind of nozzle or faucet with a test-tube attached at the end. All over the metal there were etchings and carvings of shapes and words she didn’t recognize.

She couldn’t help but feel a cold pit forming in her stomach and a bead of sweat crawl down the side of her head.

“So what’s that for?” Rainbow Dash asked them.

Neither bothered with an answer, Dreamweaver continued to smile and Vox only giggled further as she put the stranger device on top of Rainbow Dash’s head and started tightening the straps so it didn’t budge at all. She grunted in discomfort, especially when her eyelids were pulled open by the clips and she was forced to uncomfortably stare straight ahead. There was a strange claustrophobic feeling that came from the device, anxiety was starting to suddenly pour through her and her heart was pumping harder and faster. Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw shut and breathed in loudly through her nose while Dreamweaver and Vox stood in front of her. Vox smiled and nodded to Dreamweaver, who moved the box out of the way and leaned down to look at Rainbow Dash at eye-level.

“Now then, Rainbow Dash-” Dreamweaver said. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and Vox here will also participate in some more physical activities. But I want you to be completely honest with me the entire time. Be absolutely honest with how you’re feeling. So, my first question, have you ever felt true despair in your life?”

Setting the Clock Right

And back to the present time…

Former Captain Red Wing sat quietly on the top floor of the resistance’s capitol base with his back pressed against the wall. His mind was a tempest of uncomfortable thoughts and worries. It had been too long, far too long since Rainbow Dash had been captured. Too long with them all doing nothing but wait for her and many had ran out of patience long ago. Ponies were anxious, disgruntled, they were all here in the capitol and couldn’t stand doing nothing. Brass Hoof was constantly urging him to start the attack on the castle anyways, even without hearing from Rainbow Dash. She assumed their outsider friend was either dead or could never escape the dungeon.

But Red Wing had not lost hope and given up on her. He still trusted her to pull through and that’s why he was still listening to her request of not making a move until they got the signal from her Locator Crystal. Everything was completely ready, they just needed that signal.

He’d be lying if he didn’t say he was feeling just as anxious and worried as everypony else though. If she still hadn’t gotten free and found the barrier crystal at this point there was no telling what sort of state she’d be in right now. What kinds of things she had gone through in the dungeon, Red Wing didn’t want to think about it.

And still, the best he could do was have faith in that special pony who flew in here like a whirlwind.

Red Wing went over everything in his head again for the umpteenth time. The powder kegs and buildings they were set to demolish were ready. The fake rioters were ready. Other ponies had been recruited to make it more convincing as well. He had teams drilled on entering the castle from the sewers and secret passages he knew about. The frontal assault team was ready and waiting too. Everypony was ready.

They just needed Rainbow Dash.

He sighed and tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling. Sitting around was the worst. It always was.

While he was thinking, the sound of sudden, panicked, hooves running up the stairs reached his ears. He was on alert immediately, standing up and pushing all of the errant thoughts out of his head. The door to the third floor room was thrown open, practically off its hinges, and both Brass Hoof and Star Petal rushed in. The mares had wide eyes and looks of surprise on their faces, sheer disbelief on Brass Hoof’s but a mote of happiness existed on Star Petal’s as well.

“What is it? What’s happened?” Red Wing asked the two of them, walking over at a brisk pace.

“I-It’s the master crystal!” Star Petal said. “Rainbow Dash has broken her Locator!”

Red Wing gasped and looked over at Brass Hoof, who nodded back at him. A grin then slowly appeared on his face. “She did it. She really did it. It’s finally time now.” He raised his head high and took in a deep breath, puffing out his chest. “Brass Hoof, Star Petal, we have much to do.” He looked to his Vice-Captain. “Send the message to the riot squad, the buildings must be blown immediately and the riot begun.” His gaze shifted to Star Petal. “Get every infiltration group ready, we have to be ready to invade the castle the moment the bulk of the Royal Guard leaves.”

He lifted a hoof to his chest and looked past them—to the future. “It’s time that we take this country back!”

The buildings set to explode were located on the northeast side of the capitol city. They had been chosen because they had a straight line of view to the castle’s royal chambers and Red Wing wanted the Queen and guards to see exactly what was about to happen. Practically the entire block had been evacuated as a precaution and the small amount of resistance ponies were holed up down the street with the plunger that would detonate the powder kegs, along with their other tools.

Lead Screw and Starry Kiss sat together inside of what had once been a pub. The stallion had his hoof resting on the plunger, the wires leading out under the door and down the street to the other buildings. Behind the two of them a dozen other ponies were gathered. All of them nervously sweating and clutching things like banners and picket signs tightly in their hooves.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Lead Screw said and pushed down the plunger.

The pair of buildings were annihilated in a fiery explosion that shot fire and debris into the sky, it was incredibly loud and shook the city for several blocks. Thanks to the dark sky and quiet nature of the capitol it was far more attention grabbing than it even normally would’ve been. In an instant destruction had come to the capitol, those in the castle facing this direction would’ve seen it immediately and in mere moments everypony in the city would soon realize what had happened. The fires continued to burn and burn, sending smoke up to join the black clouds in the sky.

“I think that did it,” Starry Kiss said to Lead Screw.

Lead Screw nodded. “Yep. That’s only the half of it though. We need to get as many ponies out onto these streets and protesting as possible. Come on everypony, we’ve got more work to do!”

The resistance group ran out of the old pub and into the street, there was actually a fair amount of scattered debris out there after the explosion but it wasn’t too bad. Some of the ponies raised their signs and others unfurled the banners, holding them together.

DOWN WITH THE INQUISITORS!

DOWN WITH THE QUEEN!

NO MORE VOX!

NO MORE DREAMWEAVER!

The signs and banners said all this and more while the resistance ponies themselves started marching down the streets and shouting for ponies to join them in an uprising against the tyrannical rule. While they marched down the street, other ponies started to come out from the woodwork and march with them. At first all of them were plants, ponies who had already been told to do this to make the riot seem more natural and maybe convince other ordinary ponies to join in as well. And it worked. At first it was a trickle—one or two at the most—but more ponies came in. The posters of Vox were ignored and torn down and the riot started to truly begin in earnest.

But still, many more ponies were afraid… they closed their doors and windows and hid inside, fearing the retribution of the Inquisitors.

It didn’t matter to Lead Screw or Starry Kiss at all, they loudly lead the resistance forces and the gathered civilians through the street. More signs and banners that they had made long in advance were handed out and whole entire groups started spreading out further and further through the city.

And all of it was well away from the castle itself. Far enough away where any havoc occurring at Hoofica Castle short of an explosion of its own would go unnoticed. The fake riot was masking the true revolution already. The ponies of the resistance just hoped their comrades were going to be as successful in their mission as they were.

“Come on, Starry Kiss! Let’s really raise a ruckus!” Lead Screw yelled as their parade marched down a new street. He could see ponies peeking out through their doors and windows, some of who may have had the courage to potentially join them. With a grin he ran over to a nearby building and tore a poster of Vox in half, right down her parted mane. “Down with tyranny!”

“Down with the Inquisitors! Down with the Queen!” Starry Kiss yelled even louder and the other ponies of the resistance joined in.

In the east wing of the castle, in one of its many rooms, the Queen stood with a gnarled expression of hate and fear on her face as she looked out at the explosion. Behind her, her husband—the King—stood like a blank ponnequin, not reacting at all to the blast that had erupted in their capitol. She was grinding her teeth back and forth when the doors to the room were thrown open and one of her Royal Guards entered.

“M-My Queen! There is a riot going on in the streets, a large group of ponies has gathered and began marching after blowing up those buildings. They are calling for an end to your reign and the Inquisitors,” he told her.

“How dare they… how dare they, how dare they!” The Queen glared out the window so harshly her eyes almost popped put. “This is my kingdom now! Dreamweaver gave it to me, how dare they try and ruin everything! What if he blames me if it all gets ruined?”

The guard gulped. “My Queen I believe for the moment that you and the King should move to your interior chambers and let us handle this.”

“You’ll handle it?!” The Queen roared at him. “I will handle it! I can’t let my love down! Send every Royal Guard you can out there to bring those disgusting ponies to heel. I don’t care what you do to them, just make sure something like this never happens again!”

He briefly glanced at the motionless King before nodding to her. “Yes, my Queen.”

With a bow he exited the room and left the two of them. The Queen clicked her tongue in annoyance and returned to looking out the window at the fire.

“How dare they… how dare they… how dare they...”

Outside the outer castle walls, close to the large gatehouse, Red Wing, Brass Hoof, Star Petal, and a small group of others gathered in waiting. They had their heavy cloaks on and were hiding out in a small alley, watching the gatehouse and the sky above it. They knew the Royal Guards had to be coming soon. As soon as whatever forces had been gathered left and were out of sight, they’d begin the true attack. The darkness of Hoofica was the perfect cover for their operation.

Everypony was silent, it was finally time after they had been anxiously waiting for Rainbow Dash to pull through. They knew what they were going to attempt was still dangerous regardless of the distraction and whatever knowledge Rainbow Dash had for them, but this was their country and fellow ponies they were here to save. Other groups were set up around the castle and below it as well. A magical spell from Star Petal would signal them that it was time to act as well.

They just had to wait a little longer for the Royal Guards to leave. Red Wing knew he hadn’t miscalculated, the Queen or Vox would have to respond to the riot going on. They had to. If they didn’t… Rainbow Dash and everypony else in the resistance were in a lot of danger.

By now the Royal Guards and Inquisitors should have had plenty of time to mobilize their forces. On the inside, Red Wing was probably more anxious and worried than anypony, but he masked it with a cold exterior. He needed to be the strong, unmovable stone, for his ponies. At least it was easier now. With action happening in the city and the resistance finally being able to start the revolution to save Hoofica. Waiting they may still have been, but it was an easier type of waiting compared to sitting around and doing nothing in that old base.

And their waiting was well rewarded.

The sound of the massive gatehouse gate opening up reached their ears and the ponies of the resistance watched as dozens of black-armored guards, earth ponies and unicorns, ran out onto the street and started heading in the direction of the riot. Above them, black-armored pegasi also flew out over the roofs of the capitol. Fifty, a hundred, maybe more, were going to quell the riot. Red Wing worried for the ponies causing the distraction, but they had an important part to play and he had his.

The ponies hiding in the alley waited until all of the guards who had left the castle were well away and the gate had closed. There was no way they could sneak through the gate but they had a much simpler plan anyways. Once it was safe to come out the whole group left the alley and went to the outer wall of the castle. Again, the darkness cause by the barrier was actually their greatest weapon at the moment. With the dark sky, their cloaks, and the fact that everypony’s attention would be drawn elsewhere, they could easily get over this wall probably without being seen at all.

Half their group was pegasi, including him, each of them grabbed another pony and they flew over and dropped down to the interior of the castle grounds right beyond it. The entrance to the castle, the huge doors up the ramp and steps that led into the entry hall, was directly ahead.

“Alright, Star Petal. Let the others know it’s time to attack.” Red Wing ordered.

“Yes, sir,” the unicorn nodded and her horn briefly lit up while she closed her eyes. After a mere second of concentration she was finished and a smile graced her features. “It’s done. The attack on the castle has begun.”

“Then let’s not keep Rainbow Dash waiting!” Red Wing threw off his cloak and extended his wings, rising into the air. “Everypony! For Hoofica!”

“For Hoofica!” The others cheered and the entire command party flew and charged up to the main entrance of the castle.

The two black-armored guards who shortly after saw them coming were gawking in disbelief.

Meanwhile, all throughout the lower levels of the castle, beneath the west wing in particular, groups of resistance ponies were breaking up from the sewers and coming in through long forgotten secret passages. Servants of all sorts were left flabbergasted while the remaining Royal Guards left behind were quickly being overwhelmed. However—no Inquisitors had been sent just yet to deal with the riot. All of Head Inquisitor Vox’s forces were still inside Hoofica Castle. And it wasn’t long before they came into contact with the resistance and some real fighting broke out. The castle was turning into a frenzied nightmare of conflict and screams.

Still though, the bulk of the forces loyal to the Queen were gone now and it was the best opportunity Red Wing and the others had to find the barrier crystal and destroy it.

Now the battle to save Hoofica had truly begun.

In the highest tower of Hoofica Castle, Dreamweaver stood in front of the massive glass sphere that was filled to the absolute fullest with the deep black liquid. So dark was it that light could not escape from it. The viscous liquid swirled around inside the sphere, churning and pulsing with every second, far more active than it ever had been before—almost alive.

He was smiling at it. His eyes gazed across the surface of the sphere, the electrodes and wires attached to it, the pipe down near the bottom with the valve sealed shut, right at pony height.

“Hey, I get the feeling you aren't listening to me again?” Vox asked him, standing back closer to the door. “Did you hear what I just said? We’re under attack, my old boss is here and I’m pretty sure you’re going to become a target of his. My Inquisitors are fighting them right now but a lot of Royal Guards were ordered by the Queen to go deal with that riot—which I’m pretty sure is a distraction.” She blinked as Dreamweaver failed to respond. “The Queen’s in danger too, they seem to be trying to break into the east wing and get to her. Isn’t the crystal keeping the barrier up with her? What if they get to it?”

Dreamweaver didn’t respond. Vox rolled her eyes and whistled.

“Yo! What’s going on? What are we going to do about this? Cause I’ve been helping you since you let me do whatever I wanted without retribution, but now we’re-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Vox raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“It doesn’t matter. The attack. The Queen. None of it matters,” he turned to face her with a proud smile on his face. “It’s finally ready.”

“So then?...” She looked behind him at the huge orb.

Dreamweaver nodded. “Yes. It’s time, Vox. Fetch me my daughter.”

Advent

Wish watched as the tiny bits of pulverized crystal scattered like dust to the ground after Rainbow Dash had chomped on it. She blinked in confusion and looked back up at the pegasus she had just freed.

“I-I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Wish asked her.

“We’ve got some friends coming… but we’ve still gotta get out of this dungeon and meet them. But I promise you, before the day is over Hoofica will be saved, and I’m going to do everything I can to help you,” Rainbow paused for a brief moment. “And that includes helping you with your father. Whatever needs to be done.”

Wish hesitantly nodded. “A-Alright. Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash smiled at her. “No problem, kid. Now let’s go and do this thing.”

The pegasus took a step towards the open cell door—and immediately stumbled to the side, bumping into the stone wall and slumping down a little. She groaned and her eyes closed halfway, her body shaking as she tried to right herself and stand up. Wish gasped in worry and ran right over to her, trying to hold the older mare steady.

“Rainbow Dash!”

“It’s nothing,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and took a couple of deep breaths before standing. Her knees were wobbling and there was an irritated sensation in her hooves from the shackles being tight around them for so long. Her wings too felt limp and lacking in vigor, though she could at least feel her veins working double time to fix that. “I’m just not in the best condition right now. Been a while since I’ve stood up and moved around.”

That was putting it lightly. Wish could plainly see how weak and beaten down she looked. The red marks on her hooves, the sunken cheeks and eyes, the slightly faded luster of her coat and mane, and not to mention how starved she looked with her ribs showing. Even if she didn’t want to fully admit it, the time she had spent in the dungeon severely took its toll on her. Wish tried to hold her up and support the pegasus as best she could but Rainbow Dash only grumbled and started walking away.

“Don’t worry about me, I know my limits. We’ve got some work to do and we can’t waste time letting me get some rest. Come on, kid.”

“Stop calling me kid...” Wish frowned and walked after her, concern in her eyes. After a fraction of a second she turned around and went back to pick up the candle—they could use the light.

Rainbow Dash merely looked up and down the dark corridor of cells as she left her private one, stumbling only briefly. Her eyes narrowed as she looked into them, the dim lighting not affording her much vision. She looked back at Wish.

“You still have that key ring? Those keys should work on all these cells, right?” Rainbow asked.

“I have them but… I dunno? Probably?” Wish shrugged, holding up the two rings of keys.

“Hoof em over here anyways. We’ve got some other ponies to help,” Rainbow Dash said. “We’re getting them out of here, every last pony who’s also been stuck down here. That’s gonna be a lot of cells to open and shackles to unlock...”

She was right. Wish had gone up and down this dungeon enough times now to know how many cells there were and hear all the ponies trapped inside them. She was happy to be able to do this though, it was just another wrong thing about Hoofica to correct. Something she, with her freedom, should’ve done or tried to do a long time ago. Now she was here with Rainbow Dash though to make it all right.

Wish gave the keys to Rainbow Dash and the two of them went over to the closest cell.

“Wonder if any of them have some food inside their cells...” Rainbow muttered as she used the same key Wish had used on her cell to unlock this one.

The door swung open and Rainbow Dash stepped inside. “Yo, anypony home?”

The back half of the cell was still completely covered in darkness. Wish gulped nervously and lifted up the candle, stretching her hoof forward and walking beside Rainbow Dash to try and illuminate the rest. What she saw when the light from the candle bathed the rest of the cell horrified her. Wish sucked in a sharp breath of air as her hooves froze where she stood and Rainbow’s eyes narrowed in disgust.

Over a dozen ponies were chained to the back wall of the cell, and to each other, so crowded that some were lying on top of each other. They looked in almost as bad of a condition as Rainbow Dash. They shied away from the light, not realizing what was happening. It probably hurt their eyes a little bit too.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep breath. “Got a feeling we’re going to see a lot of this.” She brought a hoof up to her mouth and whistled—the loud noise finally grabbing the attention of the prisoners and making them actually look at Rainbow and Wish. “Heya. We’re not Inquisitors, we’re here to rescue you so just sit tight. Once you’re out of your chains just get out of this dungeon as fast as you can. The castle’s gonna become chaotic real soon.”

“Who are you?” One of the chained up ponies asked.

“A friend. And we can leave it at that for now, let’s just get you all to safety,” Rainbow said and walked over to the nearest pony. She glanced back at Wish as she started using the other keys to unlock the shackles. “Keep that light here, okay?”

“R-Right,” Wish nodded.

It took some time but Rainbow shortly had every pony unchained from the wall and the shackles off their hooves. Some had trouble standing, others still looked afraid and worried, but it was an improvement from their previous situation. The group was wary about leaving without a light or anypony to guide them but Rainbow Dash and Wish couldn’t go just yet. They had a lot of other cells to get through.

“Help each other and just run right out of this dungeon,” Rainbow Dash told them.

“But the Inquisitors-”

“They’re going to be busy with something else. Trust me. Just get to safety, leave the entire castle if you need to.”

The prisoners didn’t really want to argue the point any further, they just wanted to get out of here. A lot of them had to help each other walk and lean on each other, but they slowly made their way down the dark corridor to the dungeon’s exit. Rainbow Dash and Wish watched them go before the pegasus turned to the cell on the opposite side of the corridor.

She sighed. “One group down… a lot more to go.”

It was more of the same in every cell, with some even worse and more crowded than the others. Ponies who were beaten, tired, starving, who had halfway been driven mad. More than one thought they were dreaming or it was all a trick and Rainbow Dash and Wish were just disguised Inquisitors. Some shouted that they had been good and yelled for Vox to leave them alone. Others cried and begged to not have the device used on them anymore. With every new pony they met, Wish’s face grew sicker and Rainbow’s expression darkened. Cell after cell it was all like this, hundreds of ponies down in the dungeon, Wish had no idea there were actually this many here.

Some of them she even thought she vaguely recognized, like old servants or guards she might have seen around the castle once or twice. If any of them recognized her they didn’t care enough to stop.

They just wanted out.

Rainbow Dash was exhausted by the time they had freed the last group and she collapsed against the side of the cell, resting against the cool metal bars. She was breathing heavily and her eyes had closed shut.

“R-Rainbow Dash? Do you need to stop?” Wish asked her.

“I told you already… can’t wait around for me,” Rainbow quietly said back with her eyes still shut.

“You at least need some food or water...”

Rainbow Dash cracked her eye open just a slit. “Got any hiding in your mane?”

“Um… no.”

“Then we need to just keep going. I’ll find something along the way, at least we freed all the ponies down here.”

Wish was still surprised about that to be honest. Not because of their conditions down here, but because surely the guards and other ponies up outside of the dungeon had seen what was happening. If ponies suddenly started pouring out from down here shouldn’t somepony have checked up on things? Or alerted the Inquisitors to come down and stop all of it? But nopony came. What was going on up in the castle? What had really happened after Rainbow Dash crushed that yellow crystal ball?

The two of them were now close to the small room where that desk stationed Inquisitor used to always sit, right out of the stairs that came down to the dungeon and right before the dark corridor of cells. All they needed to do was go up those stairs and walk a little bit further to be out of this dungeon and into the main part of the castle. Rainbow Dash grunted and pushed herself off the bars she was leaning against, walking into the middle of the room while Wish followed close behind, carefully watching her and checking to make sure she didn’t collapse. She really wished she knew where she could pick up some food for Rainbow Dash.

But in the middle of a step, right before they reached the desk, Rainbow Dash stopped and Wish accidentally bumped into her.

“Oof...” Wish fell down onto her flank. “Rainbow Dash?”

She looked up and saw the pegasus looking over to the side—to the door that stood against the far wall of this room, opposite from the desk.

The pegasus stared hard at it without blinking.

“Um… Rainbow Dash?” Wish asked again.

“It’s there,” she said.

“What?”

“Hold on. I just need a minute to do something. Put the candle on the desk,” Rainbow said and walked over to the door.

Wish complied and watched as Rainbow Dash made it to the door. That was storage, right? Wish remembered that. She saw Rainbow Dash fumble around with some of the other keys until she found the right one, unlocking the door and letting it slowly swing open. Wish peered past her and looked inside the storage room as well—seeing a certain large wooden box lying in the middle of the floor. She shivered, knowing what was inside there.

Rainbow Dash walked up to the box, her face a solemn mask that betrayed nothing, and she quickly popped off the top. The lid clattered to the stone floor as Rainbow Dash peered inside… and then carefully pulled out the Device. Wish couldn’t help but feel a spike of fear the moment she saw it. That strange helmet that caused so much suffering. That forcefully pulled the despair out of Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash looked at it, holding it in her hooves. Her gaze was so intent, so focused, she had lost all of the shakiness in her body and now looked as strong and steady as a statue.

“Rainbow Dash?” Wish quietly said.

Her hooves tightened around the metal bars of the Device and Rainbow Dash swung around, slamming it as hard as she could into the stone floor.

“HAAAAAGH!” Rainbow yelled as she picked it up and slammed it back down again and again, denting and warping the metal, breaking the faucet, tearing off the straps, and chipping the stone. Violent echos blasted off the walls of the dungeon as she smashed the Device repeatedly into the floor and walls. A piece broke off it and Rainbow Dash kicked it away before gripping the top of the Device and throwing it into the metal bars of a cell at full force. It was steadily breaking and falling apart with every second of her assault but Rainbow Dash didn’t stop or let up in the slightest. She was like a wild animal as she obliterated the Device. From wall to wall she attacked with a ferocity that came from the deepest pit of her heart, bringing forth an energy that one would never expect from looking at her weakened state.

Piece by piece, it all broke until not a single piece of metal or anything else on it was left in its original state. The dozens of pieces of remains were all bent and broken in various ways, and Rainbow Dash stood panting over them.

After a second, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. “I… really needed that.”

“Are you okay?” Wish asked her.

“Oh yeah. I’m way okay. In fact, I feel a lot better now,” Rainbow Dash grinned. She started chuckling and looked down at Wish. “Come on, kid. Let’s get out of this dungeon.”

Two weeks prior…

Heartless stepped through the barrier surrounding Hoofica and immediately came to a stop.

A happy smile stretched across her face.

“I knew it! I knew it had to be something like this! There’s no way you could’ve died, Rainbow Dash!” Heartless giddily hopped up and down. The bright light was calling to her once again—she could see and feel it just as clearly as before—directly to the south. “I’m so happy! I can’t wait to finally see you again!”

The black band on her neck that had appeared when she stepped through the barrier meanwhile slowly dissolved until it was gone completely. She didn’t even notice.

“You’re still far though… but you’re not moving? Good! I’ll get to you soon!” Heartless let out a happy sigh and started walking along, going right towards the bright light of Rainbow Dash.

It took her right next to a small shack, and a pony out in front of it working on a small garden with his hoe.

Cropduster lifted his head when he heard the approaching hooves of another pony. He raised an eyebrow at the pink pony, who had her eyes glued past him, and planted his hoe down before leaning up against it. “Well hello there, Miss. You’re probably a bit confused about what’s just happened but-”

Heartless reached over and tapped his chin as she walked by without even looking.

In the second it took for him to fall she had forgotten he even existed.

Time for Battle

Rainbow Dash and Wish ran up the steps of the dark maw that led down to the dungeon—now this time leaving it for good. When they emerged from the maw, to the actual ground floor of the castle, Wish’s eyes opened up wide. Things were a lot different than how she left them.

The huge open floor of the castle was full of Inquisitors and a few Royal Guards locked in battle with another group of ponies. Everywhere Wish looked there were at least three or four ponies fighting each other. Is this what Rainbow Dash meant? Somehow crushing that crystal had led to this but Wish was still full of so many questions. The Inquisitors were outnumbered but Wish noticed that a lot of ponies engaged in the melee were actually prisoners they had just rescued, and they weren’t in a great condition to fight.

Neither was Rainbow Dash—despite her willing spirit, the moment they had reached the top of the stairs she had to stop and lean up against the wall for support. The loud battle going on at least had the other ponies distracted so nopony was coming over to fight her for the moment. Wish went up to Rainbow Dash and rested a hoof on her side to see how she was doing, lightly rubbing the pegasus to try and maybe ease the pain a bit.

Rainbow Dash coughed a couple of times and stood up away from the wall, ignoring Wish’s attempt to make her feel better. “K-Kid… we need to get to the main hall, right by the main entrance or whatever to this place. I need you to lead the way cause I honestly don’t even know where to go.”

Wish bit her lip but nodded. Everything going on was maddening right now. “Okay, just follow me.”

“Lead the way...” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath to steady herself and the two ponies left to go walk alongside the wall towards a hallway on the north side of the large room. They kept away from most of the fighting as they went, though Rainbow Dash normally probably would’ve been eager to join in she had her own mission to accomplish right now. What was happening in Hoofica right now was too important for her to selfishly sidetrack them.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Wish asked as she watched the shaking pegasus half lean against the wall for support as she walked.

“I’m fine,” Rainbow answered with a frown. “Just look out for yourself right now. A kid like you shouldn’t be doing something so dangerous, you should be hiding somewhere safe… but I kind of need you.”

The words actually made Wish feel a little happy. She was needed. She was helping. It was a long way from how she had been back before she met Rainbow Dash.

The fighting going on worried her but she trusted in her heart of hearts that it was to help Hoofica. They were fixing things today. Wish had read plenty of stories and by now wasn’t some sheltered kid, she knew not everything could be solved by talking. There was too much wrong with Hoofica ever since the barrier went up—and Vox was still somewhere too. But at least… at the very least she knew she could talk to her father about all of this. Soon, with Rainbow Dash. They just had to do Rainbow’s thing first.

Wish tried to not pay too much attention to the fighting going on at all, she didn’t like seeing ponies fight, but it was impossible to avoid or ignore all of it. A lot of it was getting pretty vicious too with ponies being beaten unconscious and a lot of bleeding figures already lying on the floor. She saw one Inquisitor have a tooth knocked out of his mouth while an armored guard broke the leg of another pony attacking him. Who were all these ponies fighting anyways? Everypony was so fanatic, neither side was letting up at all.

Close by, a pair of Inquisitors tackled a muscular earth pony and rained blows on his head until he stopped moving. And even quite a bit after that. Wish felt her face pale as she watched; until Rainbow Dash pushed her on with a wing.

“You don’t need to see any of this. These ponies are fighting for a reason—leave it at that. They’re helping us too, just know that,” Rainbow said. “They’re doing the same thing the two of us are: saving Hoofica. Right now the best way for us to help everypony and put a stop to this is to move on.”

Wish watched as a unicorn blasted away an Inquisitor with a burst of magic and saw his skull loudly smack into the stone floor. He twitched as a steady stream of blood flowed from where he landed.

“B-But-” Wish quivered.

“Trust me, Wish. None of these ponies want to be doing this. I know them, I know that even when it comes to the Inquisitors they don’t really want to hurt them. As crazy as that may sound with what you’re seeing right now. But they just know what they have to do and what’s riding on the day. I know it’s awful, so let’s end it together.”

The two of them moved as discreetly as possible along the wall to avoid the savage fighting before they finally reached the hallway that would take them closer to the main hall of the castle. Wish still didn’t exactly know what Rainbow Dash needed to do there, but it was plain after looking around that now wasn’t the time for questions. Unfortunately once they entered the hallway it was at exactly the wrong time. Three Inquisitors were running down it to join the battle in the other room and they came skidding to a halt when they saw Wish and Rainbow Dash.

“It’s that pegasus prisoner!” The one in the lead said. “How did you escape from the dungeon?”

The only mare of the trio looked down in shock at Wish. “The young lady?” Her eyes glanced up at Rainbow Dash. “Have you taken her hostage, you fiend? We won’t let this stand!”

“Head Inquisitor Vox and Master Dreamweaver will want your head for this,” the last one, a pegasus, said to Rainbow Dash and narrowed his eyes.

The trio was getting ready to move against Rainbow Dash, who clicked her tongue and pushed off the wall to stand on her own. She resolutely glared back at them and spread her wings to get ready to fight.

“If you want a fight then come and get it.”

Both sides were about to pounce at each other when Wish jumped between them.

“No! Stop!” Wish shouted.

Rainbow Dash gawked down at her and the Inquisitors backed up in surprise as well.

“Young lady?” The lead Inquisitor asked.

“What are you doing? That pegasus is a dangerous criminal, we need to stop her for your father and the Head Inquisitor!” The mare Inquisitor said.

Wish fervently shook her head and affixed the trio of Inquisitors with a powerful stare. “No! I’m ordering you to stop and let us through! You aren’t fighting Rainbow Dash!”

“Y-Young lady, we can’t just-” the mare said.

“I’m telling you right now not to fight!” Wish repeated. “I don’t care what Vox or my father might say, you’re gonna have to disobey somepony and no matter what you do you’re going to get on my father’s bad side! But I’m the one here right now, so just listen to me!”

The pegasus coughed into his hoof and looked past them to the fight raging on in the other room. “The young lady makes a good point… and I do recall the last time we fought with the special prisoner.”

The other stallion and the mare both blanched.

“Fair enough,” the lead stallion said.

Together the trio ran past Rainbow Dash and Wish, but not before the mare shot Wish a worrying glance.

“Your father will be notified of this, young lady,” she said.

Rainbow Dash scoffed as they went. “Decent job there, kid. Don’t think you need to worry about your dad being all angry either...”

Wish meanwhile was sweating, even she was surprised by what she did. “Y-Yeah.”

“Heh, come on, how close are we? I still need you to show me where we’re going,” Rainbow said.

“It’s not much further now, there’s only a few more rooms to go through. B-But if there’s fighting everywhere in the castle there might be more Inquisitors and guards coming down the different stairs,” Wish explained.

“Well if there are, and they can’t be talked down by you, then just leave them to me next time,” Rainbow grinned.

“I hope nothing like that happens...” Wish gulped.

The two of them went quicker through the dark halls and corridors of the castle, Rainbow Dash seeming to have a little more energy in her. Wish still wasn’t an expert in the castle’s layout but she remembered exactly where to go to get to the main entrance from the time she had tried escaping. As they went as fast as they could, Wish could hear fighting coming from other areas of the castle, past doors and down other hallways. The castle looked like a nightmare already and now the insides were truly becoming one. They passed through an intersection and Wish saw a group of Inquisitors clashing with another group of ponies.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she saw what was going on but urged Wish to continue on.

“If you’re still worried about betraying your dad, or that you’re doing something bad… I know it’s going to sound cliche—and probably the kind of thing a liar would say—but just remember that you’re doing the right thing, kid.” Rainbow said to her.

“I don’t like that all this fighting started because of me...”

“It didn’t. Trust me, there was a lot more going on here in this castle, in the whole kingdom, than you think.”

Wish wasn’t entirely reassured but in the end she continued to silently lead Rainbow Dash on and the two of them made it to the front area of the castle, close to where the grand entrance was. As they did so, they noticed far less fighting going on. The sounds were dying down and there were no random scuffles occurring. No sign of any Inquisitors either.

“Do you hear that?” Rainbow asked her.

Wish looked back up at the pegasus and saw a grin on her face. “No?”

“There’s no fighting going on, no shouting or screaming. But hoofsteps are coming this way. Familiar ones.”

“Huh?”

In a second, Wish indeed heard some hooves running across the floor from somewhere ahead of them. It sounded like another group of ponies but apparently according to Rainbow Dash they didn’t really need to worry?

Rainbow Dash and Wish came to the end of their hallway and met a large set of double doors that led into the next chamber of the castle. Without any hesitation, Rainbow Dash gripped the handles and pulled them open. Right on the other side, another trio of ponies came to a screeching halt. But this time it was certainly no trio of Inquisitors. An earth pony, a pegasus, and a unicorn stood together, and they gaped in shock at seeing Rainbow Dash.

Wish recognized the pegasus in the center of the group, she had seen him once or twice in the castle during the early days of her stay here.

“Hey, been a while,” Rainbow Dash smirked at the three of them.

A small grin emerged on the face of the pegasus. “I almost can’t believe it… it’s good to see you again.”

“You look awful...” the unicorn said.

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah I’ve kind of been through a lot.” She glanced at the earth pony. “No happy greeting from you?”

“I’m just glad we’re finally here...” the earth pony mare grumbled.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well I’m glad to see you all again.”

“So you did find the location of the barrier crystal? We can go destroy it?” The pegasus asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yep.”

“Then there’s no time to waste so—who’s this?” The pegasus suddenly said, looking at Wish. A frown settled over his features as he gazed closer at her. “You look familiar to me...”

Wish wasn’t surprised to hear that. Red Wing—the former Captain of the Hoofica Royal Guard. She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen him but Vox eventually seemed to take over completely around the same time. It might have been a little before or a little after the barrier went up and everypony became banded. Her memory was still spotty on specific details. The other two with him might have been Royal Guards too, and the way he was looking at her now made her worried. Was he leading these ponies in fighting against the Inquisitors? If that was the case and he knew who her father was…

“She’s a servant kid who’s been working here in the castle,” Rainbow Dash quickly said and patted her on the back. “She’s the one who helped me escape from the dungeon and told me where we can find the barrier crystal. Pretty awesome kid to be honest.”

“I see,” Red Wing smiled. “Thank you very much then, child. So where is it? We must know exactly where the crystal is and then we can take both it and the Queen down once and for all.”

“U-Um, it’s...” Wish nervously looked up at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash smiled back at her. “It’s okay, they’re friends. We’re all here to help. That crystal you told me about that the Queen has? It’s what made Hoofica look how it does. The sky, the clouds, everything. The black bands around everypony’s neck too that kept them from escaping. If we can destroy it, Hoofica will almost be right back to normal. Just like that.”

Wish believed in Rainbow Dash. But she was worried for her father. There was so much she wanted to ask, wanted to know. Did Rainbow Dash need to lie about who she was? What would their reaction have been if they knew she was Dreamweaver’s daughter? She wished there was just one simple answer and choice to all of this.

However, she knew that the way things were in Hoofica right now was wrong. The dark sky, the bands, the depressed ponies, it needed to end.

“The royal chambers in the east wing of the castle. The Queen has her own private bedroom. I-I heard her talking once, the crystal is in there,” Wish told them.

“Excellent. I know exactly where to take us then,” Red Wing said.

“It’s likely that all the remaining Royal Guards in that part of the castle will be there. She knows she’s under attack now,” the earth pony said.

“So what?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m here. It’ll all be a piece of cake.”

“No offense—but you look like you’re about to fall over and die,” the earth pony said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Am not. I'm at least half-alive, not half-dead.”

“It’s true, Rainbow Dash. You obviously are in poor condition after your time in the dungeon. You’ve done enough for us, let us handle the rest,” Red Wing said.

“No way,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Red Wing, Brass Hoof, Star Petal, we’re all in this together. I can help. I’m coming with you,” She glanced at Wish. “You too, kid. I’m not letting you out of my sight, I promised to help you too and I’m going to make sure to put a real smile on your face. Until then, we’re together too.”

Wish gulped but nodded up at the implacable pegasus. “Alright.”

“If you really can’t be convinced otherwise then very well, we don’t have all the time in the world, and you clearly know your limits better than us,” Red Wing said. “We’ll gather up everypony we have nearby and head for the Queen immediately.”

Wish was still worried, but a comforting wing laid across her back at least calmed her down. Despite the pain she was in, despite the hunger, thirst, and exhaustion racking her body, Rainbow Dash was grinning in excitement. Seeing that strong pony, how could Wish not be reassured?

Wish for Hope

And meanwhile, elsewhere in the city…

“Well here’s where the fun begins,” Lead Screw said to Starry Kiss.

“So long as it makes things easier for the Captain...” Starry Kiss grimaced.

A large contingent of Royal Guards—armored pegasi flying in the sky and armored earth ponies and unicorns marching down the street—came to meet the riot. They vastly outnumbered the resistance ponies and the few who had decided to join with them in the “revolution”. A lot of those same brave civilians now found their courage vanish, most threw down their signs and ran away, fearing retribution. The resistance ponies couldn’t exactly blame them, a lot of them were just as frightened.

“No Inquisitors. That’s both good and bad,” Lead Screw said.

Starry Kiss nodded. “We can only hope we’ve thinned the castle’s numbers enough by drawing these ones here that our comrades can do what they need to.”

“And hopefully they’ll finish their job before we’re all dead,” Lead Screw gulped as the small army came near. The two sides were about to charge into each other at full force.

“We can hope,” Starry Kiss said and lit up her horn, preparing for battle.

The wave of Royal Guards smashed into the resistance ponies at full force, simply bowling them over while the pegasi guards dove in from above. It was too one-sided from the start to call a battle. And yet it wasn’t over so quickly. The resistance ponies were overwhelmed but they didn’t run away or give up at once, knowing how important this fight and their distraction was. It didn’t matter that every one of them was being thrown and beaten down by five or more guards, they were fighting back until they were out cold. Every second longer it took for the guards sent from the castle to pacify them was a boon to their comrades. They had to occupy these guards for as long as they could.

Lead Screw and Starry Kiss were both fighting back as fiercely as they could despite guards having already dragged them to the street. Shouting and curses echoed across the buildings, but it was getting quieter every moment. Most of the resistance had been dealt with and only a few of the loudest and rowdiest were still causing problems.

“Will you just stay down?! You’re only making things worse for yourself!” A guard said as he held Lead Screw in a headlock.

“Never! You’re the ones who should stop! We’re trying to save Hoofica, don’t any of you realize what you’re doing is wrong?” Lead Screw said before being punched hard in the stomach, the wind leaving him.

“Shut up… you think we want to do this?” The guard who punched him said.

“You can help! You always had the choice!” Starry Kiss shouted at them before being silenced as well.

“There isn’t a choice anymore. It’s over and the Queen’s word is law. You’re all coming back to the castle with us now… I feel sorry for you,” another guard said.

Lead Screw coughed, his eyes drifting down the street in the direction of the castle. “Not as sorry as I feel for all of you… when Hoofica is saved… how are you all going to live with yourselves?”

Over twenty ponies were racing through the central part of the castle to make it to the east wing and the royal chambers that resided within it. Rainbow Dash, Wish, Red Wing, and the other leaders of the resistance and the ponies they could gather were all grouped together. Rainbow Dash was flying slowly to keep pace with them—and also because she might not have been able to go any faster at the moment.

Wish kept glancing over at her, worried. But at least thinking about Rainbow Dash kept her mind away from her own issues. She wasn’t sure what was about to happen with the Queen and that crystal though, was another big fight about to break out? She didn’t want to see that, and certainly didn’t want to be in the middle of it. Knowing Rainbow Dash though she doubted she was going to let Wish get in any danger. Leaving Wish on her own was probably a total no too, so this was the best thing to do.

Soon they made it to a place that was actually quite familiar to Wish: the room right outside the large throne room of Hoofica Castle. The doors to it were blocked off however by a large group of ponies.

Not just guards.

While Wish and Rainbow Dash’s group outnumbered the armored guards standing there, there were also several dozen others standing in front. Maids, butlers, chefs, servants of all sorts had been gathered to defend the throne room and what lied beyond it from the invaders. Some of them Wish even recognized well. They looked terrified, they had no weapons or anything to defend themselves with, they had clearly just been lined up to act like a big pony shield. The guards behind them as well didn’t look too happy about the state of affairs.

“Seems the Queen got desperate when she heard about our attack,” Red Wing growled at the new inconvenience.

“We need to get through that door,” Brass Hoof said.

“But we...” Star Petal grimaced.

“Look, there’s nothing to worry about!” Rainbow Dash said. “We don’t need to hurt anypony too bad, right? Just give them a tap on the back of the head and that’ll be it! I know it’s lame but if you want you can blame it all on the rough outsider if anypony complains!” She started flying at the assembled castle servants. “Now come on, we’re forcing those doors open!”

“You heard the lady,” Red Wing shrugged with a grin and flew after her.

“I still kind of wish I never did,” Brass Hoof grumbled and followed.

Wish stayed back while the rest of the resistance went into the fray on the heels of Rainbow Dash. She was worried for Rainbow Dash with the condition the pegasus was in but Rainbow didn’t seem to put the slightest thought into that.

Seeing that they were about to be attacked, the servants seemed like they were going to break and run in every direction instead of stand strong against the invaders.

A rather quick-thinking Royal Guard at the back made sure that wasn’t going to happen though.

“Obey your Queen’s command! If you don’t, the Head Inquisitor will deal with you!” He shouted to the assembled servants.

The threat of her was more than enough to make sure these ponies would stay here and fight for now.

Wish winced as the two opposing sides finally clashed with each other—Rainbow Dash naturally at the very front and starting things off. Despite her weakened state she was still stronger and faster than any normal pony, and she seemed to somehow still be able to draw up energy from somewhere, like this kind of thing simply invigorated her. Wish didn’t want to see what she’d be like when the adrenaline wore off but for now it’s what they all needed. Against a pony like her, conscripted cooks and maids that were terrified out of their minds didn’t stand a chance. The servants didn’t even want or even have a rudimentary knowledge of how to fight aside from the most basic knowledge of throwing your hoof out in a punch or jump on top of your opponent. Rainbow Dash didn’t even really give the closest ones to her a chance to do that. She slipped around and past them and delivered quick, precise, blows to the backs of their heads just like she had said. With her elbows, wings, and hooves she safely knocked out as many as she could.

The rest of the fighting wasn’t going quite so cleanly, though it also wasn’t nearly as vicious as the fighting against the Inquisitors in the other parts of the castle was going. Red Wing and the others—despite their training and discipline—didn’t have the finesse that Rainbow Dash did. A few black eyes, dislocations, lost teeth, and even broken bones were going to be the result. That was made more apparent when the guards joined the fight as well in the middle of the melee, trying to use the confusion to their advantage and move through the fighting mob of servants.

Brass Hoof found herself facing off with one of the armored guards. And she was a pony who didn’t even have finesse in her dictionary. When he ran out from behind a pair of maids to attack her, she held her position and let him crash into her, armor and all. To his surprise, her muscles won out despite his best efforts to bowl her over and tackle her to the ground. The two fought each other for supremacy for a second with each trying to move the other back before a headbutt to his unprotected face sent him reeling backwards with a broken nose. A step forward by Brass Hoof and a hoof that was like a rock gave him a broken jaw to go along with it. That was one guard down.

Star Petal on the other hoof was playing it all much more defensively, she was clearly uncomfortable fighting with her hooves and merely put up protective shields either in front of herself or between other ponies to help her comrades out. Rainbow saw her doing this and figured “magical expert” probably didn’t mean “giant laser beam” the same way she associated it with Twilight and Starlight.

Red Wing found himself not fighting any servants from the start—they all recognized him and even the fear of Vox couldn’t make them directly attack him. Instead he now was surrounded by three Royal Guards, ponies he had once commanded. Ponies he knew well.

“In the essence of being your former leader, I’m going to give you the opportunity to stand down,” Red Wing said to them, his gravelly voice cold.

“You know we can’t do that, Red Wing,” one shook his head.

“You betrayed the Queen.”

“And the Head Inquisitor would-”

“Yeah, that’s enough,” Red Wing cut them off. “I don’t need to hear anymore. I know why you’re all doing this and if this is still the path you’re going to take? Then fine. We’ve both made our decisions.”

He moved before they did, at the one directly in front of him. The guard cursed under his breath and lowered his head, ready to meet the charge while the other two came at Red Wing from the sides. He of course was once Captain of the Royal Guards for a reason though. An extra push from his wings gave him a surprising burst of speed and he reached his first opponent before the other two could close in on him. Red Wing threw a hoof at his face that the guard attempted to block with one of his own right before Red Wing swiftly drew the hoof back and launched a lightning fast punch with the other.

The guard couldn’t react to the change-up in time and ended up taking a dizzying punch across the face that spun him around. While the other two were still coming at him from the sides, Red Wing extended his wings out and caught the both of them in their throats. The two gagged and reflexively stepped back, allowing Red Wing the opportunity to rush the one on his right and hit him with another powerful punch. That left one guard in fighting condition and he hesitated to take the chance to attack Red Wing from behind.

That moment of fear was something Red Wing was counting on. He immediately turned back around and flew at the last guard, tackling him to the ground before slamming a hoof down onto his face. Out cold.

However the first guard was still conscious and was beginning to regain his senses. His dizziness was just about coming to an end when another hoof smacked him across the other side of his face—and that put him down for the count.

The fight was going poorly for the guards and the unfortunate servants forced to fight with them. Everypony could see it. But so far the doors to the throne room remained unopened. It was just a complete mess right outside it. That was until Rainbow Dash decided to change things at least.

Rainbow knocked out one more maid and then backed up, squinting at the guard at the back of the mob—the one who had threatened all the servants with Head Inquisitor Vox. He was standing right in the middle of the doors, right where they met. A devilish smile graced her face as she hovered up and aimed right at him. With speed that surprised even her—she shot at him and practically carried all the ponies around her with her thanks to the powerful air current and whirlwind she was dragging behind her. The guard only had the time to gasp in shock before Rainbow Dash plowed into him like a train.

The doors of the throne room were smashed open with enough force to crack their hinges and a bunch of guards, servants, and even some of the resistance ponies came tumbling in as well. The fight quickly spilled over into the throne room and now Red Wing led the charge of whoever remained behind him. Wish as well skipped over to keep up and saw Rainbow Dash floating in the middle of the throne room’s entrance, above the still ongoing melee, panting and sweating heavily. She had probably taken more energy out of herself than she meant to.

Rainbow Dash looked over and saw her, flashing a grin. “Hey kid! Get in here and hide behind a pillar or in one of the alcoves or whatever, just watch out, and once I’m done in here I’ll grab you and we can keep going!”

“O-Okay!” Wish shouted back, hoping her voice reached over the noise of the battle.

Rainbow Dash nodded anyways even if she hadn’t heard and dropped down to the floor to keep participating in the fight as well. Not like she hadn’t done enough already. Most of the servants had been taken out of the fight or fled anyways despite the threat of the Head Inquisitor, a lot were lying around right outside the throne room. Inside it, just past the doors, the resistance ponies were dealing with the last few guards left standing as well.

Sucking in a deep breath and calming herself down, Wish quickly started running to the throne room to find someplace to momentarily hide.

“Wish.”

The whisper came from behind her and a hoof touched her back and the next thing she knew she had disappeared in a red flash.

She reappeared somewhere else—the sounds of the fight muffled behind a wall—and a hoof pressed against her mouth to quiet her.

“Hi there, silly filly. You’ve certainly been on an adventure today, haven’t you?” Vox said to her.

“Mmf!” Wish tried to scream and knock Vox’s hoof away but the Head Inquisitor was much stronger than her and easily held her down. She looked around in a panic, they were in some dark corridor that must’ve been near the throne room, in a corner that she couldn’t see out of.

“Shh, none of that,” Vox grinned. “I’m not here to hurt you anyways, alright? Well, I doubt you’ll believe that but it’s still true.”

Wish continued to struggle until Vox reached another hoof up and tugged hard on her mane. “Stop.” Vox ordered. “I’m here because of your father, understand?”

Wish paused, looking up at Vox in confusion.

“I’m going to take my hoof off your mouth, but you have to promise me you wont yell or try and get away. You want to know why your father sent me to find you, right? You want to know how he’s doing?” She said. Her eyes then narrowed and she peered at Wish much closer. “You want to know why all of this has been happening? I can take you to him.”

She did. Wish had tried to bury it momentarily. She had tried to ignore what might happen from here on out, and she had agreed to let Rainbow Dash help her. But he was her father. Wish had to go see him.

With a slow nod, Wish agreed to not cause a fuss.

“Okay,” Vox smiled and let her go.

Wish took a deep breath and looked up at Vox. Her fear of the Head Inquisitor was still there, but it was overcome right now by her own desire and the recent strength she had found in herself. “Please, take me to my father. I want to know why.” She grimaced at the sounds of the fighting dying down. “B-But why now? Why so suddenly?”

“It’s just finally finished,” Vox shrugged. “You’ll see what I mean up there. I don’t understand it all myself, but I’m sure he has the answers for you. I don’t know entirely why he’s been doing all of this or what his end goal is, but he always said his happiness and your happiness were the same. He was always vague in what he said but if I had to guess… I guess his dream is finally coming true. Yours too. Whatever it all is.”

“Alright...” Wish steadied her body, only realizing just now that she had been trembling. Rainbow Dash’s face flashed through her mind but… she had to go. She had to. Before anypony else reached him, before this ended, she had to see her father. “Let’s go.”

Vox smiled and took her by the hoof. “Right this way.”

A swift kick to the head knocked out the last Royal Guard that was fighting in the throne room and Rainbow Dash sat back briefly to catch her breath. Red Wing and the resistance ponies were helping each other up (and helping out some of the injured servants for that matter) but they didn’t have much time to waste. The Queen’s chambers and the barrier crystal were close now.

“You guys go on ahead, I… I just need a little bit of a breather...” Rainbow Dash said, wiping the sweat from her brow.

Am I really almost at my limit? She grit her teeth in consternation.

“Take all the time you need, Rainbow Dash. We’ve always wanted that for you,” Red Wing said. He gathered up Brass Hoof and Star Petal and together they led the resistance ponies still capable of fighting onward.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to focus on her beating heart and quick breaths. “What I wouldn’t give for some cider and a cake right now...” She opened her eyes and cracked her neck. “Alright, come on kid, let’s get going too!”

There was nothing but silence.

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked around the throne room. “Kid?” She didn’t see her anywhere, the filly had disappeared. Worry was breaking out through Rainbow Dash’s body. “...Wish?”

Unavoidable

The Queen paced back and forth in her room, the glowing green crystal on a pedestal behind her bed. Outside her door were her two last personal guards but she was sure she wouldn’t need them, right? The other Royal Guards had to have succeeded. This was just some tiny insurrection, wasn’t it? Apparently Red Wing was back and coming after her again, but the Royal Guards and the Inquisitors would save her. She knew they would.

“I know it, I know it, oh my dear Dreamweaver, I won’t ever let you down...” the Queen nervously prattled to herself. She knew from the last time that Red Wing was coming after her again, she couldn’t let him bring it all down. “Who does he think he is? How can they do this to my Hoofica? He won’t get away with this… he probably wants to save my husband too. Absolutely not, there is absolutely no way I’ll let any of that happen!”

The two guards standing outside could more or less hear her frantic mumblings. But as much as that worried them, it was nothing compared to how they could hear a lot more noise coming from the direction of the throne room. That wasn’t right.

“Uhh… do you think?...” One of the guards asked the other.

He nodded his head, a distressed look on his face. “Yeah...”

Red Wing and the rest of the resistance encountered no more… resistance… through the royal wing of Hoofica Castle after getting past the throne room. At best they saw one or two elderly maids and butlers, ones thankfully spared from having to fight earlier. Naturally the whole group was laser-focused on simply reaching the Queen so they could end the horror that had befallen their country. It was only one among them who had noticed something.

“Rainbow Dash still hasn’t joined back up with us!” Star Petal said as she ran along with Red Wing and Brass Hoof.

“She probably passed out after the adrenaline wore off back there,” Brass Hoof said. “You saw how she was.”

“But shouldn’t we-” Star Petal started.

“She’ll be fine,” Red Wing said. “She’s far tougher than I could’ve imagined. Let her have her rest, and we’ll come back with some water and food for her once this is over with.”

Star Petal seemed a little concerned still, looking over her shoulder to see if maybe the rainbow pegasus was finally coming on her way, but saw nothing. Hesitantly she nodded. “Alright.”

All it took after that was one more door, one more staircase, and they were right outside of the Queen’s personal chambers. Finally. They were finally here. After Hoofica being trapped in this nightmare for almost a year, what they wanted was just right past that door. The two guards standing in front of it were shaking in their armor, with a single glance at each other they shook their heads and stepped aside.

“Y-You may enter,” the one on the left said.

“Smart move,” Red Wing snorted.

The ornate doors were shortly thrown open and the leaders of the resistance stepped inside while the others waited outside for them.

Inside, they saw a room of incomparable beauty and lavish decoration. Famous paintings and sculptures from the greatest artists across Hoofica’s long history stood along the walls and in the corners. Perfectly grown and groomed flowers sat in planters or hung from the ceiling, and a chandelier of gold with diamond jewels encrusted in it sat in the center. Even the wardrobes and cabinets were fashioned out of the rarest wood and hoof carved with enough detail on them that it had taken master craftsponies weeks to do. The marble tile that made up the floor was also perfectly polished and reflected the ponies stepping over it, while at the back of the room the largest and softest bed one could ever hope to sleep on rested.

Truly a room for royalty. Truly a room for one indulging in excess while the rest of the kingdom of Hoofica suffered.

The Queen was there, standing in the middle of it, an onyx pedestal coming up from the floor behind her.

And a softly glowing green crystal in a slim hexagonal form floated right above it.

“You!” The Queen glared at them in a fluctuating mixture of fright and anger while the doors fell back shut with a creak. “How dare you come in here! Just what do you think you’re doing?!”

“I think you know the answer to that question, your highness,” Red Wing calmly said back to her.

Her eyes darted back to the crystal for a split second. “You can’t! You can’t, Red Wing! You were a Royal Guard once, you must obey the royal family! The King also sides with me!”

“Only because of your brainwashing spells,” Star Petal narrowed her eyes at the Queen. “Did Dreamweaver teach you how to do that?”

The Queen grit her teeth, the look in her eyes becoming more frenzied with every passing second. “Traitors! Traitors, all of you! You should’ve just listened to orders, should’ve just accepted the new way! I had to throw away everything I ever wanted when my family and his made me become the Queen! I deserve this! I deserve my Hoofica! My Dreamweaver!”

Red Wing shook his head and sighed. “As selfish as ever. I would’ve felt sympathy for you at one point, but not after everything you’ve done. I don’t think you even know half of what’s happened because of your choices. Now stand aside, Queen. I have no intention of harming you, but you will be taken captive until we’ve freed the King from your spells and a trial governed by him can take place. But before any of that—the crystal imprisoning Hoofica must be destroyed. Move.”

“Noooo!” The Queen roared and stepped back, hugging her body around the pedestal. “Dreamweaver entrusted this to me! He needs it! He needs me!”

“Brass Hoof, take her off it and hold her down. Star Petal, destroy it,” Red Wing ordered.

“With pleasure~” Brass Hoof grinned and stalked forward towards the Queen, wringing her hooves in anticipation.

“Nooo! Stay away you foul scum!” The Queen roared and tried to bat the Vice-Captain away.

It was pretty pointless considering the difference in their strength and abilities. Brass Hoof easily peeled her off the onyx pedestal, despite the Queen kicking and screaming the entire time, and wrapped her strong limbs around the Queen’s body to pin her limbs down. The Queen frothed in rage, swinging her head from side to side and trying to break free to no avail. Brass Hoof found the whole performance quite amusing.

“Unhoof me! Unhoof me right now!” The Queen demanded.

“Quit your yapping! You’re the Queen, right? So have some dignity!” Brass Hoof laughed.

Red Wing rolled his eyes as he and Star Petal stepped up to the glowing green crystal. The unicorn stared at it in deep concentration, biting her lip.

“You can destroy it, can’t you?” Red Wing asked her.

Star Petal didn’t respond at first, her horn merely lit up and a different aura of magic appeared around the crystal. In seconds both her face and horn were dripping with sweet as she concentrated. “This crystal… it’s incredibly powerful and complex magic. I don’t even know where anypony would find something like this. But… I believe I can send a magical surge through it that will cause it to shatter and the spell to be dispelled.”

“Don’t!” The Queen yelled again.

Red Wing ignored her. “Then do it, Star Petal. Return our sky to us. Make everypony across the entire country see that the nightmare is over.”

A smile graced the unicorn’s face. “Yes. Yes, sir.”

Rainbow Dash was flying at a speed that actively hurt her with her body in the condition that it was. She wasn’t about to stop though. Wish had disappeared. She had only taken her eyes off the filly for less than a minute but then she was gone. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how she had suddenly up and vanished, but she did know that if she wasn’t with her there was only one other place that kid would be going.

Her father’s lab… Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. His lab in the highest tower of the castle.

If only she knew the layout of this castle a little better she could zoom through it and shoot up there in just a second. Instead she was stuck trying to find some stairs and what the best way to go was. She had never actually been in that part of the castle before.

“Why, Wish?” Rainbow said to herself but in truth she still knew the answer.

Doubt. Fear. Love. She knew the filly was still internally in turmoil but she had hoped that she wouldn’t do anything like this. Her trust in Rainbow Dash obviously wasn’t unshakable just yet, and she probably believed there was still a good reason for what her father had done. Or still didn’t fully believe everything Rainbow Dash had said.

She hated that she had to put the kid through this. That she had to tell her about her father. Even though Rainbow was pretty sure she herself had realized it a while back, but just didn’t want to admit it.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. It’s not like she knew everything either. Nopony knew why exactly Dreamweaver was doing all of this. But she certainly knew that there couldn’t be a good reason for doing something so horrible. There just couldn’t be. Whatever was going to happen in that tower, whatever Dreamweaver was doing, whatever Wish was looking for, it was already filling Rainbow Dash with a sense of foreboding.

Rainbow rounded a corner and saw an Inquisitor stumbling about. His white suit was ripped and bloody and he was having trouble standing up. She immediately flew over to him and grabbed him by his collar, shoving her face into his.

“Where do you go to get to the castle’s towers?!”

“Y-You’re the-” he said in a daze.

Rainbow Dash shook him, not having time for any of that. “I asked you—how do I get up to the tallest tower?!”

Vox pulled Wish along by the hoof as the two of them quickly ascended the spiraling stairs up the towers. They were almost to Dreamweaver at the top. Wish was tired but Vox didn’t relent at all in hurrying them along, finally wanting to finish with her duty and see just what was going to happen. She also probably needed to start thinking of getting out of here, what with everything else that was going on in the castle.

“Come on, silly filly, you know we don’t have unlimited time,” Vox said.

“I know,” Wish glared at her. “I can’t walk as fast as you.”

“We’re almost there, I’m sure you can keep up for a little longer.”

“I’m trying… I hope I don’t have to do anything with you again after today.”

“Oh believe me, I hope for the same thing,” Vox chuckled.

They walked up further until they were just about to reach the fourth tower. Suddenly Vox’s ears snapped up at attention and she paused, Wish stumbling to a stop next to her. Vox looked back down the steps and a grin came to her face as she stared at the dark curve leading back down.

“Well, well, well… isn’t that amusing?”

“Huh?” Wish said.

“Nothing. But I need to stay here, you can make it to your father’s lab on your own, can’t you?” Vox asked her.

Wish stared up at the last few stairs leading to the fourth tower. “Well, yeah. It’s not far...”

“Then be a good little filly and go. He’s waiting for you,” Vox reached down and patted Wish on the head before snickering.

Wish stopped to look at her, and down back at the stairs for a moment, before picking herself up and running up the steps. Vox listened to her until she couldn’t hear the light steps of the filly anymore and then focused her complete attention at the stairs below her. A whistling sound, cutting through the air, was coming up through the enclosed corridor. Vox licked her lips in anticipation.

In a second, Rainbow Dash appeared flying around the corner, her eyes widened as she saw Vox standing above her and she came to a stop, dropping down to the steps. Her face took on a decidedly unfriendly form.

“Well I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t have to see you again,” Rainbow Dash said to the Head Inquisitor.

“Odd. I was hoping for the exact opposite. You’ve really been up to a lot today. You and Wish,” Vox hummed as she looked down at her “favorite” prisoner.

“Just get out of the way. I don’t have time for you. And to be totally honest? I really couldn’t possibly think any less of you either.”

Vox grinned. “I’m afraid such honeyed words will get you nowhere, Rainbow Dash. Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to kill you? How badly I’ve been looking forward to this opportunity? You’re not getting away from me—and you’re most certainly not getting to that pathetic little filly without a fight.”

Rainbow’s eye twitched but she managed to retain her cool for now. “I’ve beaten you before, Vox. You really want a repeat of that?”

“You know that’s true but I do believe that the deck is stacked in my favor today,” Vox looked up and down Rainbow’s haggard body. “My do you look positively dreadful~”

“I’d still rather wake up looking like this every day then wake up looking like you,” Rainbow shrugged.

This time Vox’s grin became strained. “It occurs to me that I never did get rid of that sense of humor of yours. Your spirit truly is unbreakable.” She took a step down towards Rainbow Dash and the grin on her face morphed into a dark and malevolent smile. “I suppose I’ll have to settle for breaking your body instead.”

Star Petal’s magic wrapped itself around the barrier crystal and hugged it with intense power. The unicorn strained as every muscle in her body screamed out and a powerful headache started spiking down from her horn. Red Wing, Brass Hoof, and the fanatical Queen all watched as the magic started to cause cracks in the crystals surface, cracks that then spread deeper through its body.

“NO! Nooooo! Stoooop!” The Queen roared but Brass Hoof held her back easily.

“Do it, Star Petal!” Brass Hoof cheered. “I know you can!”

“Concentrate...” Red Wing said, much more restrained, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head.

“I can feel it… I can feel it breaking...” Star Petal said, the strain of her magic causing her nose to bleed, droplets of it marring the impossibly perfect marble floor.

An ear-splitting whine then erupted from the crystal as the cracks became more widespread and all of the ponies winced in pain. But even through that, Star Petal kept up her spell.

“Hnnnnngggghhhhh...” Star Petal groaned and the cracks had almost spread across and through the entire crystal. Her horn was steaming and the tip had started to turn black.

Right as her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness, the crystal shattered.

Millions of pieces too small to even be considered dust exploded outwards and disappeared almost like vapor. The force of the explosion knocked every pony backwards to the walls of the room. Star Petal practically collapsed into Red Wing’s hold while Brass Hoof and the Queen fell apart from each other. While Star Petal was totally out of it, the others were merely dazed and they slowly started to rise again. The Queen gasped in horror at the empty pedestal and tried running over to it before being tripped up and tackled once more by Brass Hoof.

“Stay still,” the earth pony grunted in annoyance.

“No… no… no...” the Queen merely began to despondently cry. “I’ve lost everything… it’s all gone now...”

“Baby,” Brass Hoof snorted.

Red Wing carefully got up and laid Star Petal down, checking her pulse and breathing first to make sure she was okay—when he noticed something that made him gasp in shock. He quickly looked over at Brass Hoof and saw the same thing. His shock turned into joy as a smile, a true, genuine smile, came over his face.

“Vice-Captain. We’ve done it,” he said to Brass Hoof.

“Huh?” Brass Hoof looked over at him.

And saw him pointing a hoof to his neck.

Just his neck.

Her eyes opened wide as well and she glanced down at Star Petal, the unicorn’s neck also devoid of any black band wrapping around it.

“It’s a brand new day,” Red Wing said. He sighed deeply and sat down, closing his eyes in contentment, finally feeling like he could take a break.

Outside of the castle, across the entire kingdom of Hoofica, the dark sky was clearing and for the first time in many months, rays of unobstructed sunlight began shining down to the ground. At the borders of the kingdom, the shifting wall of colors faded away and the world outside became visible and reachable once more. To any ponies outside, the kingdom of Hoofica had suddenly reappeared after its long absence.

In the forest close to the border, the ponies from outside who had been trapped cheered and celebrated together when they noticed their bands were gone and the sky had returned to normal.

Across every small town, village, and even big city, ponies left their boarded up homes and went outside to stare up at the blue sky.

In the town of New Pasture, fillies and colts were crying and hugging each other in the streets.

In the capitol, the riotous fighting that had been going on came to a stop and the thousands of other ponies that lived there were also now finally coming out of their homes and the other buildings. One by one, the formerly bustling capitol had its streets filled once more. A blue sky was overhead, a bright sun was shining down, thunder and lightning was heard no more.

The darkness was gone.

And while all of that was happening, nopony noticed the single pink pony walking into Hoofica Castle.

Final Round

“Now how about that?” Vox said as she saw the black band disappear from around Rainbow Dash’s neck. “They really did it. Heh, isn’t that something?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, not taking her eyes off the Head Inquisitor as she rubbed at her neck and saw Vox’s band disappear as well.

“Guess it’s over for the Queen. Over for the Inquisitors too probably. But it doesn’t really change anything right here between the two of us, does it? And Dreamweaver… I don’t know what he’s going to do now but I don’t think he particularly cares about what’s happened either. He already might have all he needs,” Vox shrugged. “Especially since that silly filly has made it to his lab by now.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “What’s he doing with her?”

“I honestly have no idea. Why does it matter to you anyways? Why do you even care about that dumb kid?”

Rainbow Dash blinked once, frowning at Vox. “I… I really don’t think you could ever possibly understand.”

“Fair enough,” Vox shrugged again. “Not like it matters, since you’re never going to see her again.”

Her horn lit up and Vox lifted her front right hoof. A chain enveloped in her magical aura started snaking out of the suit until Vox could grab it with both her hooves and swung it back so the chain’s length was resting behind her neck. She idly rubbed her right hoof up and down the swaying length that dropped off that side of her body while smugly smiling and humming to herself. The unicorn seemed to be full of joy as she took another step towards Rainbow Dash.

“You’re not stopping me, Vox.” Rainbow Dash defiantly said to her advancing opponent. There was no ounce of fear or doubt in her voice.

“We’ll see,” Vox’s red eyes locked with the rubies of Rainbow Dash.

The two mares didn’t blink, their bodies didn’t move at all for the next few ticks of the clock. The rainbow pegasus stood a few steps below the white unicorn—and at this moment the rest of the world might as well not even exist. Thoughts of what would come after were no longer going through either of their minds. There was no notice. No sudden sound, or tremor in the stairs, no drop of sweat that fell to the ground. Vox simply jumped forward towards Rainbow Dash, whipping her chain out at the pegasus’s head.

Rainbow Dash ducked below it and let the chain sail over her head, then had to immediately lift her head back up as Vox’s viper-fast return swing aimed right at her chin. Rainbow Dash was put on the defensive as Vox kept swinging the chain at her as if it was a whip, a single solid blow from it on her body or head could probably end the fight right there. And because of the narrow confines of the stairway the chain kept bouncing off and sparking against the walls, chipping bits of stone away. Rainbow had to step down a couple of steps just to stay safe since Vox wasn’t giving her the opportunity to fly.

After a few more swings, Rainbow Dash saw her opening. A slower whip of the chain was coming at her body and Rainbow lifted up her left hoof, grabbing the chain and swiftly wrapping her limb around it. It hurt, but she had stopped it. Before she could even try yanking it away from her opponent though—Vox simply let go of her weapon.

The white unicorn grinned and her horn sparked red before she vanished—and immediately appeared to Rainbow Dash’s right, already in the middle of throwing a punch.

Rainbow extended a wing outward to catch her before she could land it, but Vox immediately teleported again. This time to Rainbow Dash’s left while her punch was still following through. Rainbow brought up her hoof to block it but Vox teleported in a flash once more, reappearing in front of Rainbow Dash and doing a backflip that ended with her back hooves catching Rainbow Dash in the chin and smacking her into the wall.

Someone’s been practicing… Rainbow noticed with distaste. Vox had never teleported like this before.

She wiped her jaw and lunged forward at the unicorn to try and get on the offensive but Vox made another pinpoint teleport directly above her. When Rainbow Dash attempted to spin and knock her down with her wings, Vox teleported again to behind her and swiped Rainbow’s legs out from under her before teleporting again to higher up on the stairs.

“This fits you,” Rainbow Dash coughed as she picked herself up after falling hard on the stone steps. “It’s a really annoying and cowardly way to fight.”

“Heaven forbid I fight fair,” Vox giggled.

She didn’t allow Rainbow Dash anymore time to recover either, making three teleports in rapid succession, ever closer to Rainbow Dash, with her body in motion through each one. And finally at the last one she landed a solid punch on Rainbow Dash’s face. Rainbow had seen it coming—she had seen her body moving like that through the teleports—but she couldn’t react to her sudden appearance.

As Rainbow stumbled backwards, Vox appeared in midair and kicked her in the side, then appeared on the other side and punched Rainbow Dash in the ribs. She never stayed in one spot for more than a split-second, sometimes winding up a punch and then teleporting like a picture book around Rainbow Dash before finally connecting. It was a wild way of fighting and Rainbow Dash had never experienced something like it before. While she could hear and sense Vox each time she teleported the unicorn was still able to teleport faster every time Rainbow Dash attempted to defend against her attacks and then went for her openings.

If Rainbow was trying to block a kick from the left Vox teleported in mid kick and struck her from the right. In the state Rainbow Dash was in she just didn’t have the speed or reflexes to fight back.

It didn’t help that she was feeling every strain in her muscles, every sore spot, every bruise from her imprisonment. Her lungs burned and her stomach ached even before this fight had begun. Vox held every advantage and had clearly been working hard to overcome Rainbow Dash in case they ever fought again. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash had been wasting away to nearly nothing and had already been through a lot today. The way the fight was going so far it didn’t look too good for her.

That said though, if there was anything Rainbow Dash loved it was a challenge. And in a fight like this she would never, ever, give up. Even if all her bones were broken. Rainbow was not going to let Vox have it so easy.

The next time Vox disappeared in a static red burst, Rainbow Dash hunkered low to the stairs and grabbed the chain that Vox had discarded. She heard the tell-tale sound of Vox reemerging into reality coming from above and to the right of her head. Without looking or moving any other part of her body than was absolutely necessary—Rainbow Dash swung the chain up in the direction of the sound. She didn’t even look.

And then she guessed.

Where would Vox be most likely to teleport to next? Probably the opposite side from where the chain was coming to hit her.

Rainbow Dash heard the crackling pop of Vox teleporting right as her other hoof went up into the air to the left of her head.

The chain whizzed through empty air and in another red burst of static energy Vox reappeared—and swiftly enjoyed a stiff hoof to the gut. The unicorn gasped in pain and surprise, falling to the stairs right next to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow looked at her with a grin and wasted no time in jumping on the Head Inquisitor, scrambling on top of her to keep her pinned down and punching her horn to temporarily disorientate her and keep her from casting any more spells. She tried to grab her by the head and bash her skull against the stone steps, but Vox grasped her hooves and held Rainbow Dash back.

Something that Rainbow Dash had briefly failed to take into account was that her physical strength was drastically lower than normal. Even a thin unicorn like Vox could contend with her like this.

“How did you do that?” Vox growled into her face.

“It’s called being an experienced fighter. I knew where you would go,” Rainbow cockily grinned at her.

“Tch,” Vox clicked her tongue and briefly threw Rainbow Dash off her, making the pegasus painfully roll down a few steps.

“Oof!” Rainbow Dash grunted as she came to a stop.

Meanwhile Vox stood up and started putting more magic into her horn, getting ready to attack Rainbow Dash. At this distance she probably couldn’t react or close the distance in time to stop Vox normally—but she saw her savior again. The chain was still left lying on the steps and in reach of her.

Rainbow Dash grabbed it and swung it at Vox’s head. The unicorn had to turn her attention to it, using her magic to instead telekinetically grab and stop it instead of using it to attack Rainbow Dash. The chain was stopped in midair—grabbed in Vox’s red aura—but that was all the opportunity Rainbow Dash needed. She ran forward and threw a punch at the unicorn’s face, Vox was able to dodge it and throw up a punch of her own that Rainbow Dash countered and the two of them started to attack each other together like that. No more fancy moves or movement for the moment, just a flurry of punches traded back and forth. Neither one could actually land a solid blow on the other though. Rainbow wasn’t as fast as usual in her punches but she still had enough in her to avoid Vox’s own.

Steadily she stepped forward and started pushing Vox back up the stairs, much to the unicorn’s growing annoyance.

“You don’t actually think this is ending well for you, do you?” Vox asked her.

Rainbow didn’t answer and kept pushing—methodically only focusing on taking out her opponent. Since Vox realized she was slowly losing she decided to change things up. Her chain was still held in her magic, just because she couldn’t focus on using another spell at the moment didn’t mean she still couldn’t use that. The chain came shooting up at Rainbow Dash’s face and she had to dodge away from it only to get elbowed in the side of the head by Vox when she left herself open.

Vox then brought the chain back down in an attempt to simply slash it across Rainbow Dash’s back but her opponent again managed to jump away in time. Not entirely though. There wasn’t enough room in the stairway and Rainbow Dash ended up bumping into the wall and the chain took away a few feathers on her left wing before smashing down against the stairs and taking a big chip out of one. There was no hesitation or slowing down from Vox at this point though and she again whipped the chain up at Rainbow Dash, coming in low and angling up with it so Rainbow couldn’t duck under it.

Which left the option of jumping over it.

Rainbow Dash dove over the incoming chain and right towards Vox.

This time though it was Vox predicting her moves. The unicorn grinned and ducked under Rainbow Dash as the pegasus’s blue body flew overhead before throwing up her limbs into Rainbow’s stomach and catapulting the pony into the stairs behind the two of them. Rainbow Dash landed painfully on them with her back—the sharp edges feeling like somepony had hit her with hammers at a few spots along her spine.

Before she could fully recover she felt the cold metal of the chain wrap itself around her throat and pull her back towards Vox.

“Now the fun part~” Vox said as she telekinetically tightened the chain and held Rainbow Dash up in front of her.

Rainbow Dash let out a strangled gasp as the chain painfully cut off her air. It was too tight on her, and Vox’s magic too strong, Rainbow tried reaching up and pulling it away from her throat but it was impossible. In Vox’s sadism though, she had made the mistake of bringing Rainbow Dash too close. Not anticipating Rainbow Dash being able to still fight back, she wasn’t prepared for the solid kick to her chin that Rainbow Dash delivered.

“Ngh!” Vox stepped back, stumbling down half a step, and reflexively canceled her magic.

Rainbow Dash reached up and pulled the chain off her, letting it clatter to the floor while she breathed in and caught her breath.

“I’ve had enough of you...” Rainbow Dash coughed.

“Thinking the same thing you little-” Vox couldn’t finish the sentence as another blue hoof came at her face. She disappeared in a red burst and resumed trying to trick Rainbow Dash with her teleports. She wasn’t stupid about it either, knowing Rainbow Dash was trying to predict where she would appear she constantly made quick jumps around her without attacking yet. Appearing for a half a second at most before disappearing and reappearing someone else. Sometimes she would fake getting ready to throw a punch or kick—all to keep Rainbow on edge and maybe make her screw up.

So Rainbow Dash kept her eyes peeled and her ears open. Her pupils were darting about from side to side keeping up and her muscles were tensed. Her legs and wings were ready to act on pure reflex to strike Vox whenever she tried to make her own attack.

The crackling noise came from right above her head and Rainbow Dash looked up—right hoof already going up as well—to see an empty white suit falling to her.

Rainbow’s eyes opened in surprise as the sound of another crackling teleport reached her ears and Vox jumped onto her back, wrestling Rainbow Dash down to the stairs and immediately overpowering the pegasus and putting her in a headlock. Rainbow tried opening her wings and flapping them to push herself up and potentially knock Vox off of her but she found she couldn’t unfurl them. Vox’s magic must’ve been pinning them in place. She reached up with her hooves and tried to pry Vox’s away—having better luck than with the chain—but Vox fought to keep her hold as well.

“Well look at the situation you’re in~” Vox taunted as she held Rainbow down.

“Been… in… worse...” Rainbow said and managed to instead elbow Vox in the ribs.

Vox winced and loosened her grip slightly but she didn’t let up on her magic at all, Rainbow Dash was only able to try and fight against her hooves some more.

“If you want to struggle so much...” Vox growled as she had one hoof wrapped around Rainbow’s neck and reached the other out to grab the chain a few steps away. “Then fine!”

She looped the chain around Rainbow’s neck and pulled it taut to begin strangling the pegasus once more.

Rainbow Dash tried to pull it away but she just didn’t have the physical strength right now. She was too worn out, too weakened from her months in the dungeon. With Vox lying on top of her, her magic pinning her wings down, and her chain choking the life out of her, Rainbow Dash couldn’t do anything.

“This has been fun, really fun, but now it has to end. You know, Rainbow Dash? I’m not going to miss you. But you know what I will miss? What I’m really going to be disappointed about not getting to see?” Vox asked her, laughing in her ear. “It’s your face. Your face when I kill all of your friends too!”

Rainbow Dash twitched, a strangled growl coming out of her throat.

“That’s right! All those friends of yours you told me about? Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Scootaloo? I’m going to kill them! I don’t care where I have to go, how long it takes me to get there, I’m going to find them and I’m going to kill them just like you. So you can take that pleasant thought with you straight to the grave!”

But from below her, she felt the pegasus push back.

“Hnnnggghhh!” Rainbow Dash started to push herself to her hooves. Despite the weight of Vox bearing down on her and the chain cutting off her air supply, it was like a new well of power had been tapped in her body. Her eyes narrowed in red hot anger, fury in her pupils.

Vox’s eyes widened in shock and she pulled harder on the chain to try and stop Rainbow Dash.

When Rainbow Dash sharply smashed her head backwards and into Vox’s muzzle.

Once. Twice. And on the third time she heard a painful but satisfying crack and felt a spurt of hot liquid pour over the back of her head.

“Guah!” Vox groaned in pain and fell off of Rainbow Dash, blood dripping from her broken nose and the chain falling to the stairs while her magic canceled again as well.

Rainbow Dash gasped and coughed a few times before turning to her. Vox’s own eyes were alight with fury and in a blind rage she pushed more red magic into her horn to attack Rainbow Dash with. Wordlessly, Rainbow Dash scooped the chain up and whipped it at Vox.

The metal wrapped around her white horn and Rainbow Dash tugged—pulling the surprised Vox towards her and breaking her magical concentration.

With her free hoof, Rainbow Dash pulled back and delivered the strongest possible punch she could directly on Vox’s jaw once she pulled her in.

Several teeth went flying and Rainbow Dash dropped the chain the moment her hoof made contact. Vox was knocked back into the wall and her head painfully smashed into it. The white unicorn collapsed to the stairs with a sputtering murmur and coughed up some blood onto the steps before lying still.

Rainbow Dash didn’t spare her a second glance—she was already running back up the stairs.

Dreamweaver and Wish

There were only a few more steps until Wish reached the top of the tower and the final destination of her father’s lab. Despite how much her heart was pounding, despite all the anticipation in her veins, she was shivering and shaking too. By the time she reached the last step and was standing right outside the door, her lip was quivering and a cold sweat had broken out over her entire body.

Why am I afraid? There’s nothing to worry about. Wish said to herself.

It was just her father in there after all. Her father who loved her and did everything he could to make her happy.

Her father who had the answers and reasons to everything going on in Hoofica.

Wish took her hoof and placed it on the door, ready to open it up and walk on in. She was sorry she had to leave Rainbow Dash behind, wherever the pegasus was now, but she couldn’t wait. Couldn’t lose this opportunity. In the end, she truly cared about her father more and the possibility of something bad happening to him by the end of the day because of what had happened in Hoofica… she couldn’t bear it. She needed to do this.

She needed his explanation so she could help him too.

She needed to know that everything had been for a good reason.

She needed to prove Rainbow Dash wrong.

A banging noise came from the stairs below and Wish flinched, but she was hardly about to go and investigate the source or whatever Vox was doing. Still, she found she couldn’t open the door just yet. Her heart was pounding too much and she felt the beginning signs of a headache. She wouldn’t be surprised if her nose started bleeding again—she just didn’t feel right. Waves of anxiety were creating a tumultuous storm inside her.

Wish closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Nothing else going on right now mattered. It was fine. It was all fine.

She opened up the door and stepped inside to her father’s lab.

When Wish was six years old and living in Ashen Birch Thicket with just her father, she came home from school one day in a bad mood. The filly threw open the door and slammed it back shut, stomping with her book bag into the living room and tossing it on the floor before jumping onto the couch and frowning. She was alone in the room but not alone in the house.

“Wish? Is that you?” Her father’s voice came from his study.

The filly didn’t answer. She just grunted and furrowed her brow, staring down at the carpet.

In a second she heard the creaking sound of a chair being pushed out from under a desk and the familiar sound of her father walking down the small hallway to the living room. He appeared in the open entryway between the hall and the living room, quickly spotting her and raising an eyebrow.

“Did something happen at school?” He asked her.

Wish huffed and looked away.

An amused grin came to Dreamweaver’s face as he walked over and sat down on the couch with her. “Now there’s a look I’ve seen many times. What’s the matter? I can’t help you if you don’t tell me anything. Did you get in another fight?”

“No...” Wish muttered.

“Ah, a word. I’m making progress,” he chuckled.

“Hmpf...” Wish pouted.

“So what was it then? If not a fight I’m assuming some other sort of argument? You know I hate seeing you like this, Wish. Your smile and your happiness is the same as mine,” Dreamweaver said to her. “I know things have been tough the past year but I’m proud of how well you’ve done. Aside from a few of the fights.”

Wish’s angry frown morphed into a sad one. She bit her lip in shame and looked up at her father. “I’m sorry, dad.”

“You don’t need to apologize, my little darling. I just want you to tell me what’s wrong,” he patted her head.

Wish sighed and looked away—looking over at a small table that had a few family photos on it. “You know my classmate, Rock Buster?”

“I… believe so. Earth pony? Onyx mane and blue eyes?” Dreamweaver said.

“Yeah,” Wish nodded.

“What about him?” Dreamweaver asked.

“He has his Cutie Mark now. He came in to class this morning and showed it off to everypony. He’s the first one in the whole class to get his...” Wish sighed.

“I see… somewhat. My apologies, my darling, but why does this upset you so much?” He asked again.

“I don’t know!” Wish threw up her hooves and fell back against the couch cushions. “I don’t know why! I-It’s just… I got so mad when I saw it, and how he was so proud, and how proud he said his parents were. It was like, like, he was making fun of me, or teasing me, even though I know he didn’t mean to. But I felt so bad that I didn’t have my Cutie Mark yet like he did...”

“Wish, you really don’t need to feel that way. It’s not like you’re last in your class to get your Mark. Most ponies your age don’t have their Cutie Mark yet,” Dreamweaver tried to comfort her. “Hmm, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this issue is a little more complicated.”

“Well it’s… it’s just...” Wish grimaced and started wringing her hooves together.

“It reminds you of your mother. I know, Wish,” her father reached over to pull her in close to him and hugged her. “I know how much you wanted to one day show your mother your Cutie Mark. To see the look on her face… and I know how badly you still want to get it, to make her proud. But you needn’t fret, it will come one day. No matter what happens your mother will be happy for you. She loved you and she wouldn’t want to see you like this over something so trivial. Everypony gets their Cutie Mark someday. Don’t worry about it so much.”

“But if more of my classmates keep getting theirs and I never do...”

Dreamweaver turned her head and smiled at her, lovingly looking into her eyes. “You will, Wish. And I’ll throw you the best party when that happens and make sure you’re the happiest pony in the world. Don’t forget it.”

“I still miss her...” Wish murmured after a moment.

“I know, Wish. So do I,” Dreamweaver sighed. “The honest truth is that we’re both going to be missing her for the rest of our lives. But time does make it easier, take it from an adult.”

“Thank you...” Wish hugged him back and rested her head against his chest.

“No problem, my darling.”

Wish murmured and looked up at him. “Were you busy when I came home?”

He chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about bothering me when you’re feeling upset. And no, I was just reading a new volume on pony psychology. Have to keep up with the latest treatments and studies after all.”

“Okay...” Wish sighed and closed her eyes. She was tired, tired after school and this conversation.

“Do you want to take a nap?” Dreamweaver asked.

Wish frowned. “I’m six, not four.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, forgive me.”

“… I think I’d like to take a nap.”

Dreamweaver chuckled some more. “I thought so. Let’s get you to bed then. When you wake up I’ll have dinner prepared.”

“Chocolate cake?” She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Definitely not.”

“Hmpf...” Wish pouted.

“How about if you can promise to be well-behaved at school for another week I’ll get you a great big chocolate cake from the baker’s, hm?” Dreamweaver bartered.

“Okay!” Wish happily replied.

“That’s my girl,” he tussled her mane. “But first, you really need that nap.”

He stood up from the couch and levitated the tired filly onto his back. Wish snuggled up against him and he carried her to her room. They didn’t have a big house, and her room was comparatively small as well, but it was still her room. Drawings from school practically covered the walls, and her own little desk that sat under the room’s back window was messy with art supplies. By her bed there was a little nightstand with an alarm clock and an old portrait of her, her father, and her mother standing together. All smiling.

An entire year had gone by since that day Wish came home and…

Her father had been away for a week, visiting some former patients of his and checking up on them to see how they were doing after his therapy sessions had concluded. And one day when Wish came home from school she had found her mother lying in the kitchen. She couldn’t even count how many times she had cried herself to sleep since then. Apparently it was a sudden sickness according to her father when he came back.

But Wish still had the memories and nightmares of screaming alone in her home and shaking her mother, begging her to wake up…

Sometimes she had to place that photo face down, though not lately.

It was so tough. She felt so empty for a long time, even with her father around and even with all the support she got from the rest of the town and her classmates. It was like she was stuck in a fog and didn’t think she could ever be happy again. Eventually though, while she hadn’t stopped being sad, she did eventually get out of the pure state of depression and sloth she had been in. Slowly things became easier to handle, and with her father’s love she could return to smiling and being able to feel happiness again.

Nothing would keep her from missing her mother though.

As her father placed her on her bed he looked over at her bookshelf and hummed. “Hmm… how would you like a short story before your nap?”

“Can I?” Wish asked with excitement and a smile on her face.

“Of course, I think it will help you sleep better anyways,” he said and walked over to the shelf, perusing its contents. “Now which one of these should I read?” He was looking at her collection of old children’s stories, books that were classics throughout the entire kingdom. “Ah! Found the perfect one.” With his magic he pulled out one particular book and walked back over to Wish’s bedside. “The Traveling Mice Family. This is your favorite, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” She brightly nodded. It was a fun story of a family of mice building a raft out of household items and traveling downriver with it. Her favorite part was when a catfish almost capsized their raft and they had to escape it while it tried to eat them.

It was just a fun story, she liked the adventures like that. Partially because she had rarely ever traveled anywhere herself so she liked reading about big escapades and journeys. There were a lot of other stories she had read like that but The Traveling Mice Family was still her favorite. Both her father and mother had read it to her plenty of times before bed.

“Good, I’m glad I remembered,” Dreamweaver smiled and grabbed a seat to sit down on while he prepared to read the story to Wish. “I hope you at least don’t have the full thing memorized do you? Perhaps for your next birthday I can buy you some new books.”

Wish shook her head. “I’m fine, you don’t need to do anything like that.”

In truth, if her father was going to get her anything for her birthday she wanted it to be more art supplies.

“Alright then, I suppose I should start reading if I want you asleep with enough time to prepare dinner before you wake up,” he said and opened up the book to its first page. “And so—In a small cottage by the winding blue snake river, there lived a family of mice below the stairs...”

At some point she fell asleep during the story but she couldn’t remember exactly when. When she woke up, she found herself tucked into her bed with the pillow fluffed up behind her. A glance to her nightstand showed the framed photograph of a happy family and Wish smiled back at it. Cozy. Warm. Her room, her house, it was all full of love. Wish threw the covers off herself and jumped out of bed, trotting out of her room and going down the hall to the kitchen.

When she reached it, the first thing she noticed was a slice of chocolate cake sitting on the table…

The first thing she noticed when she stepped into her father’s lab inside the tallest tower of Hoofica Castle—the tower that ominously loomed over the rest of the capitol—was the light pouring in from the windows. From the window that overlooked the interior courtyard and from the one that looked south over the city, sunlight was coming in and filling up the entire room.

Wish reached a hoof up to her neck even though she couldn’t actually tell if the black band was gone too, but the fact there was light outside meant Rainbow Dash and the others had at least succeeded at one thing.

The second thing she noticed… was that the curtain at the back of the lab had been taken down. And for the very first time she was seeing what it hid.

A massive and strange contraption—mostly a huge glass sphere—that took up the back of the room. Wires and electrodes that were currently sparking and dancing with weak streams of electricity also crawled up around it, and there was some kind of pipe at the bottom protruding from it with a valve just about at head height for her. Wish had no idea what she was really looking at. Was this what her father had been working on? Is it what the point of this was?

She had to assume yes, because what she did know, what she did most definitely recognize about it, was the churning black ooze that filled up the sphere. The black liquid from her nightmares. The black liquid that she had seen Vox drain out of Rainbow Dash.

Despair.

It moved and writhed around inside the sphere as if it was alive and a strangely cold sensation wormed its way up through Wish’s entire body as she looked at it. A freezing cold that penetrated deep into her very soul. Wish fought back a shiver and her eyes finally dropped to the pony standing in front of the strange contraption. When she did, she didn’t feel so cold anymore.

Her father. Standing there with a loving smile on his face, he was so happy to see her.

It made Wish smile too.

“Wish,” Dreamweaver said, lifting up a hoof and holding it out for her. “My darling daughter, I’m glad you could make it here. Please, come, I have much to tell you. It’s finally time.”

“Yes, father,” Wish said and walked towards him, reaching out to take his hoof.

This is Reality, I'm Afraid

“Ooohhhh… my head...” Dotted Easel said as she got up from the carpet. Her hoof rubbed the back of her head until she accidentally rubbed the spot causing her pain and she winced in discomfort. “What happened? Wish?”

She was painting with Wish and then… something hit the back of her head. That was all she could remember. Dotty frowned as she felt bits of soil and ceramic fall off her head, the remains of a flowerpot. The flower itself also lied on the ground now, disturbed after she had gotten up.

“Ugh, so I’m covered in dirt too...” Dotty frowned, trying to clean off her maid uniform.

How long had she been out? She looked around the boudoir and saw that it was empty—no surprise there. A quiver came to her lips and she gulped, thinking she was probably going to be in so much trouble for something. Even though she had no idea what that something was yet she certainly couldn’t shake that feeling. Wish was missing. She was supposed to take care of and watch over Wish. Vox and Master Dreamweaver were going to be so mad…

The pounding in the back of her skull hadn’t abated so Dotty leaned up against the comfortable couch and closed her eyes. It was so bright though even with her eyes squeezed shut, she really wanted a pillow.

“Huh?” Dotty opened her eyes in confusion and looked out the window.

Sunlight. She hadn’t even noticed it at first, but the sun was out. The sky was no longer dark and the tall windows had rays of sunlight beaming through them, filling up and brightening the room.

“But… how?” She walked towards the window and looked up at the blue sky. Everything was back to normal. Her breath hitched and she ran to the nearest mirror in the boudoir, checking her neck. And sure enough, the black band around it was gone too. Dotty was happy—but worried at the same time too. “I don’t understand...”

Wish. She knew it in her heart that somehow the filly was involved with this.

Dotted Easel gulped again, thinking of what she would have to do now.

“You… you—guh—you think you can… you think you can do this to me?” Vox said as she pulled herself up, leaning against the wall of the stairway. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose and a few of her teeth still lay scattered on the steps around her. “I’m not… I’m not through with you yet. Kill you… kill you...”

She coughed heavily and more blood splattered from her mouth onto the steps.

“Rainbow Dash… Wish… Dreamweaver. All three of you, kill you all...” Vox muttered as she tried to get steady and took another step up the tower. “Don’t care… don’t care...”

Her mane was messy and her eyes were bloodshot, pupils shrunk down to pinpricks as all she saw was rage in front of her. The pain and broken nose were nothing. The blood and her lost teeth were nothing. Rage was a good way to force herself onward. She didn’t care about what else was going on in this castle or what would happen to her by the end of this revolution, as long as she was able to get up there and kill those three she would be happy. Vox was able to keep slowly moving just thinking about that.

“Hehehehe… I can’t wait to see it… I can’t wait to see the looks on your faces...” Vox grinned manically. “Which one should be first? Who should it be?” She licked her broken and bloody lips. “Yes… hehehehe… I’ll get you all for this.”

Heartless walked by her and tapped her on the shoulder as she went. Vox shuddered and fell over onto the stairs, limp and quiet.

“It’s taken a long time, and I know it hasn’t always been the most fun for you here in the castle, but it’s finally over. Everything I’ve been working towards has now finally come to a head.” Dreamweaver said to Wish as they held hooves, him looking deeply into her eyes. “My dream is coming true. And the promise I kept to you is going to be fulfilled.”

“Promise?” Wish asked, curiously.

Dreamweaver nodded. “That’s right. I promised to make you the happiest pony in the world. It’s been a lot of effort… but that’s what I’ve always been working towards.”

Wish found herself smiling as a warm feeling filled up her chest. She knew it. There was a good reason for all of it. There had to have been one. She let herself be led along by him as they stepped over to the large glass sphere. There, Dreamweaver stood before it and placed a hoof on her shoulders.

“Do you know what this is?” He asked.

“I...” Wish looked at the intense dark liquid swirling inside the sphere. “Yes. It’s… despair. I saw Vox take it from Rainbow Dash in the dungeon.”

“She was the last bit. The catalyst that gave me the purest, darkest despair. You see, the greatest despair can only be born from the greatest hope and happiness. And Rainbow Dash had hope in abundance. All the other liquid despair you see gathered in the sphere? That’s all been gathered over the past months by ponies in Hoofica. That’s what I’ve been doing, Wish.” He told her before wistfully staring at the sphere. Wish didn’t know what to say, she ended up just staring with him. “But over time… the quality went down. It became degraded. Ponies had lived in despair for too long, the despair I had gathered wouldn’t grow, wouldn’t become stronger. I was stuck until Rainbow Dash came here. Well… you more or less know the important parts concerning that, and I don’t want to bore or bother you. It’s why I kept you in the dark about most everything while we were here. Why I wanted you living a normal life, and not come in to this lab, why I’ve kept this all a secret from most everypony. All so you could remain ignorant and happy. You see, it had to be that way. You couldn’t know about what was going on if I wanted you to be the happiest pony in the world.”

Wish looked at the darkness, thinking about how all of this had been gained—how many ponies had gone through what Rainbow Dash did—and then at her father. “Um… d-does that mean it can stop? It’s finally over now. C-Can things go back to normal? The ponies in the castle… in all of Hoofica… they can be happy again, right?”

“There’s certainly no reason for things to keep going the way they have been. I have no use anymore for the Inquisitors or anything else that has been done,” Dreamweaver said, rubbing his chin.

Wish felt a wave of relief. It was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

She was wrong to have been worried.

Her father was still her father.

“S-So what happens now? I mean… why did you need to do all of this?” Wish asked him. She looked at the sphere and the black liquid that seemed to churn about more ferociously the more she looked at it. “What’s all of the despair actually for? What does it do?”

Dreamweaver smiled and looked down at her. “It will help mark a new day in the world. But to put it simply—the despair will be used for you.”

“For me?” Wish didn’t understand.

“Yes,” he said and knelt down to meet her at eye level. “I need to ask you something. Are you happy right now? I’ve been sure to make you the happiest pony as can be. Everything has been for that purpose. You’re here right now with me, you know how much I love you, how I’d do anything for you. You truly do feel happy don’t you? A perfect ten out of ten like always?”

Wish looked at him, looked into his eyes. Her memories flashed back through her mind. Memories of what she had seen in the castle. Memories of living at home with him. Memories of her mother. Everything she had been through. Everything Rainbow Dash had told her. Everything he was telling her now. She could feel the love from him.

“Yes, father. I’m happy,” Wish smiled.

He let out a deep breath and hugged her. “And I’m so happy to hear that.” He released her from the hug and stood up, bringing her over to the pipe that came out from the sphere. “Wish, this is important, would you please stand here?”

She looked at it—slightly worried, but did as he asked. The pipe was right above her head and she could see into the dark hole that went all the way back and into the glass sphere. “Like this?”

“Just like that,” he reached down and patted her on the head. His eyes held affectionately on her for a moment before he stepped back. “I have another thing I need to ask you, Wish.” He smiled. “You know how much I love you, don’t you? And how much your mother loved you? You know that’s all true no matter what and you can always trust me?”

“Yes,” Wish nodded honestly. “I know how much you love me… and I know mom loved me too, and she’s watching over me right now, just like you said.”

Dreamweaver smiled wider at her before closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them back up. “That’s great, my darling daughter. My Wish. Now, I have something very important to tell you.”

He took a deep breath-

-and the door to the lab was loudly thrown open.

Both Wish and Dreamweaver looked over in shock at the intruder. A blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, her body thin and disheveled, her breathing heavy. As soon as Rainbow Dash’s eyes locked onto Dreamweaver, they narrowed while his widened in fright.

She flew with a scream across the laboratory in an instant—before Wish could speak or Dreamweaver could react at all. Rainbow Dash crashed into Dreamweaver and grabbed him by the lapel of his suit, throwing him across the stone floor to the window that looked south over the capitol. She was hardly finished either, flying right back to him and slamming his shoulders to the floor so he couldn’t get up. All Dreamweaver saw standing over him now was the furious face of the blue pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash!” Wish yelled from in front of the sphere.

If Rainbow Dash heard her she didn’t seem to care. Without any hesitation she lifted her hoof and punched the shocked Dreamweaver in the face, quickly drawing it back and punching him again and again.

“Do you know what you did to me?! To everypony down there?! To everypony in the whole kingdom!” Rainbow Dash yelled between repeated punches. His face soon became a bloody and bruised mess, his limbs fruitlessly fighting to get away. “You… you!” She punched hard enough across his face to break his nose. “Do you care? Do you even care?!”

“Stop it, Rainbow Dash! Stop it!” Wish wailed at seeing her father be beaten bloody, tears pouring down her face. “Please! You said you were going to help!”

Rainbow Dash’s hoof paused mid punch.

She was still breathing heavily, below her was the swollen face of Dreamweaver. Her right hoof was covered in his blood.

“Kid… you don’t… you don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash said, gritting her teeth.

“Please...” Wish cried. “He’s my father—h-he’s not, he’s not the pony you think he is! He’s not evil! Stop hurting him… please...” She begged and begged Rainbow Dash. “It’s over, Rainbow Dash. It’s already over… you don’t have to do this!”

Rainbow Dash shook, struggling with her emotions, before finally putting her hoof down and stepping off of Dreamweaver. He was wheezing and in pain but still conscious. Rainbow wiped the sweat from her brow with her clean hoof and looked over at Wish.

“Kid, I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why he did all of this. But your father, he-”

The door to the lab opened up once more, much more gently this time, and all eyes turned to look at the pony walking in.

“You’re hurt, aren’t you? Or tired? Because your light isn’t as warm as it usually is, Rainbow Dash.” Heartless said as she strode into the lab.

Rainbow Dash blinked, heaving heavily as she stared at Heartless. It was already bad enough. She was close to passing out. For once though she didn’t feel just terror at seeing Heartless again, but exhaustion mixed in with worry for Wish. “Hey, Heartless… guess you’ve been walking for a while.”

“W-Who’s she?” Wish asked as she looked at the pink pony. “Rainbow Dash, I don’t-”

“Just stay back for a second, alright?” Rainbow Dash said to her.

Meanwhile Dreamweaver pulled himself up, standing right under the window and leaning against the wall. “This interruption… has gone on long enough.” His eyes looked over to find his daughter. “Wish… I have to tell you something.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow Dash growled at him. “I don’t know what you’re doing up here with that thing but I’m not letting it happen.”

“Rainbow Dash, he’s not-” Wish started to say.

“Allow me to speak,” Dreamweaver said. “Allow me to talk to my daughter. You want to know, don’t you, Rainbow Dash? You want the truth about everything. You want me to enlighten both her and yourself. I can. Besides, it’s my right as her father, I think she would want that. You can allow something so simple, can you not?”

Wish blinked, looking back and forth between her father and Rainbow Dash. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say. What was going on?

“Nothing good could come from whatever it is you’re planning...” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“I don’t like it when you ignore me, Rainbow Dash.”

The faces of the other three swung back towards the smiling Heartless.

Heartless looked between Wish and Dreamweaver. “Are these ponies important to you? If you want I can take them first.”

“No! Don’t you even dare, Heartless!” Rainbow yelled at her. She bit her lip, glancing at the scared Wish.

“This time there’s nothing to stop me, and here you are right in front of me,” Heartless said. “Are you going to try running again?”

“I’m…” Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and groaned. “Just wait, okay?!”

Heartless tilted her head. “Wait?”

“Yeah, you heard me! Right now I’m dealing with something else. If you just sit there and wait for me to finish up my business with these two, I won’t run or anything when we’re done. That sound good to you?” Rainbow Dash said, hoping that Heartless would accept it and give her a brief moment of reprieve.

“Hmmm...” Heartless brought a hoof up to her chin and looked at the ceiling, as deep in thought as she ever went. At last she shrugged and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Okay!” She calmly sat down and looked on. “I’m waiting!”

Now Rainbow at least had some time to think of how to get her and Wish safely out of this.

“If you’re both done then-” Dreamweaver said to get everypony’s attention again. “Wish? Would you like to hear what I have to say?”

Wish looked at Rainbow Dash—who was clearly torn on what to do now with this situation—before looking back at her father.

“Yes,” she nodded.

Rainbow Dash frowned but said nothing for the moment, respecting Wish.

Dreamweaver smiled through his swollen and bloody face. “Alright, my darling daughter. I’m going to tell you everything now.”

The Saddest Pony in the World

“You see-” Dreamweaver started. “All of this has been for the purpose of making a dream come true. Many things had to happen for this day—this very moment—to come to pass. Many ponies, many desires have made this possible. But at the heart of it all is one thing. One dream born from one pony’s life.”

He took a deep breath while Rainbow Dash and Wish listened to him (Heartless wasn’t paying attention at all) and looked with pride at the glass sphere full of the black liquid despair. “So much was done, as you both know, for this. And throughout it all I haven’t told a single, solitary pony what its purpose is. Not the Queen, not Vox, and not you, Wish. But what I am telling you now is the absolute truth.”

He straightened up a bit, trying to fix his clothes and wipe some of the blood off his face. “The reason all of this started is very simple. The reason we came to Hoofica Castle, the reason I formed the Inquisitors, gathered all of this despair, the reason for everything.” Dreamweaver looked at his daughter and smiled warmly.

Wish smiled back.

“The reason is because ever since I was a child, I’ve only ever been able to feel happiness when others are suffering.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed.

Wish’s smile froze on her face. She couldn’t have heard right. Her father didn’t just say that.

“Huh?” She tilted her head.

“You heard me correctly, Wish. It’s something I’ve known about myself since I was younger than you are now,” Dreamweaver said.

“I… I don’t understand,” Wish shook her head.

Dreamweaver hummed, a patient grin on his face as he stroked his bruised chin. “I suppose you’ll both need an explanation or two then. I was born to normal parents, living a normal life in Hoofica, but when I was a child I noticed that I was different than my fellow ponies.” He started to explain his life to the two of them with a wistful expression on his face, the bright sky in the window framed behind him. “I didn’t feel happiness the same way they did, running around with a soccer ball gave me no joy. For a while I was quite miserable because of this. But when my neighbor’s house burned down I finally realized what made me tick. When I saw my colt classmate crying in the night, I felt true happiness for the first time… funny, I don’t even remember his name.”

“F-Father, what are you talking about?” Wish asked him.

“You want to know why this has all transpired don’t you? It means needing to know the truth about me, Wish. I think you should be happy since for the first time in your life I’m being honest with you,” Dreamweaver said.

Wish looked at him with a shaken up expression on her face, not sure what to say.

“Anyways… I quickly realized as well that despite my desire to see the suffering and misery of others that I simply couldn’t go out and do whatever I wanted. I’d get caught obviously. Imprisoned, taken away, any number of things,” Dreamweaver continued. “So for a while I resigned myself to living a more or less normal life and trying to find contentment there. It was awful. I put my safety above my happiness for years, what a miserable and wretchedly depressing life that was. That’s why I ended up getting married and having a child in the first place. I tried to force myself to be happy like a normal pony.”

“You… you what?” Wish spoke barely above a whisper. Rainbow Dash looked over at her and saw her lip quivering, her mind still not fully processing what Dreamweaver was saying,

“Kid...” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“It’s what I said. Your mother, I married as an experiment. And you I fathered as an experiment. Unfortunately neither thing helped me at all, you were both failures. Even my own daughter I couldn’t relate to or feel anything towards. I ended up putting myself to work harder, using my profession to give bad advice to ponies, tear apart marriages, enable poor behavior, all just simple and petty acts to make myself feel some joy. And when you were very young… your mother actually realized just who it was that she had married. But I’ll get back to that later. Either way, at that point in my life I had resigned myself to a life of unfulfilled dreams, despair, and the occasional joy of ruining the life of another.” His eyes glanced up at the ceiling in thought. “I had originally intended to tell you all of this on my death bed, the look on your face would’ve given me one last moment of pure happiness before I died. But that all changed one day, about a year ago now.”

Dreamweaver smiled, looking at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “That day that led to everything else that’s happened in Hoofica.”

Rainbow Dash glared at him, checking up on Wish but seeing that the filly seemed to be in a state of shock. “What happened on that day?”

“I’ll tell you,” Dreamweaver took in a deep breath, still happily smiling. “It was raining one night and there was a knock on the front door...”

A rather peculiar pony was standing on the front porch. I couldn’t make out much of him, he was wearing a cloak that completely obscured his features, all I knew for sure was that it was indeed a he. Besides that, he had a box sitting beside him. I was rather confused, it was the middle of the night and with how hard it was raining I really didn’t expect any visitors. When I saw the box I admit that I first thought he was selling something and told him we weren’t interested.

Well, he wasn’t selling anything, that was for sure.

“This is a gift for you,” the cloaked pony said, gesturing to the box. “I’m giving it to you because I believe it can make your dreams come true. Your true dreams that you keep inside yourself, hidden from other ponies.”

Naturally I was wary, but he seemed to be speaking with such truth and conviction that I was intrigued.

“What do you think you know about me?” I asked him.

“Everything. You are a capable pony, Dreamweaver. And I came here to help you because I believe you can also help me,” he said.

I regarded him suspiciously of course, I mean who wouldn’t when a strange pony on a dark and stormy night comes saying and offering things like this. “Excuse me?”

“Let me tell you about what’s inside this box. You can become happy, at the cost of others and Hoofica becoming a much quieter place. I see it as a good trade for the both of us so long as you use the Device inside correctly.”

This sudden encounter was strange, I admit. I didn’t fully believe him but when he said that… it was like a spark had been lit inside me. I felt excited, like there was a true opportunity in front of me again. For the first time in ages I felt a great sensation welling in my chest that perhaps my dreams could come true. It was something like pure instinct or hope even though logically I knew I probably shouldn’t outright believe what he was saying. “Alright… show this “Device” to me.”

“Of course,” the pony said and opened up the box. “You will not be disappointed...”

He told me everything about how the Device worked after showing it to me, and just what I could do with it. Although admittedly I changed and modified it to better fit my own uses and desires later on, but that’s not really important to the two of you. I can safely say though that I was quite happy at the end of the night. Oh how excited I was to make my dream come true, my dream that I abandoned, thanks to this pony I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

That wasn’t all either of course, we talked for quite a bit and he told me about some very interesting things that had to do with the capitol and the royal family. I truly don’t know how he knew all of this. He must have had some unnatural means. In the end, most of what happened in Hoofica was largely the result of his ideas and advice, though I did plenty of my own too.

I am curious though, he said I—and what I would be doing—would help him but he never elaborated on what he actually got out of it. Oh well.

There was something else he showed me too, a special crystal that I’m sure the both of you must know well about at this point. It was responsible for the barrier that went up around the entire kingdom. I can’t even fathom how or where he would’ve gotten or created such things, but he had them. Either way, the crystal allowed all of this to go much smoother. Nopony could escape from the experiment and it helped foster more and more despair throughout Hoofica.

And Wish, you of course know what happened soon after this. The two of us went to Hoofica Castle.

The stranger had told me that the Queen’s physician was about to pass away and I should take his place and ingratiate myself with the royal. A good idea. That made everything possible from the start.

Really our trip to the castle went better than I had ever expected it to. The Queen was lonely and easily plied and convinced of anything I said once I showed her a little love. Ponies like that are the easiest—anypony starved for love is easy to manipulate. She hated her husband enough to be quite open to using mind-control spells on him as well. It’s amazing how well things went, almost like fate was on my side.

Of course I realized that for things to proceed smoothly without trouble I’d need some allies or ponies that directly responded to me and carried out my orders. My idea for the Inquisitors of course.

That’s why I came up with the idea for psyche evaluations to give to the Royal Guards and other ponies in the castle. When truly I was just looking for appropriate ponies. And of course it wasn’t soon after first coming to the castle that I met a certain violent thug who the both of you also know well…

“Vox!” Captain Red Wing yelled at the white unicorn.

I paused while walking through the halls of the castle, startled at the loud yelling and looked to see what was going on.

The Captain of the Royal Guards, who I had met for the first time upon proposing to the King and Queen to replace the old physician, seemed to be having an altercation with another Royal Guard.

“This is the third time, Vox! The third time you’ve done something like this! What do you have to say for yourself?” Red Wing angrily yelled at her.

“Like I said,” Vox rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I thought those two ponies were intruders who had broken into the castle. How was I supposed to know they were just tourists who had gotten lost?”

“Don’t lie to me! If you do anything, anything at all like this again, you won’t just be dismissed, I’ll have you imprisoned!” Red Wing threatened her.

Vox angrily bit her lip and ground her teeth, it looked like she really wanted to say something but she wasn’t stupid enough to actually do so.

“Excuse me,” I said, walking up to the two of them.

They both looked at me in surprise, Red Wing raising an eyebrow and Vox narrowing her eyes.

And when I looked into Vox’s eyes for the first time I realized immediately that she was exactly the pony I was looking for. I knew everything I needed to in that one moment.

“Who are you?” Red Wing asked me.

“Ah, I see you don’t recognize me,” I politely said to him. “My name is Dreamweaver, we met briefly in the throne room the other day.”

Recognition at last dawned in his eyes and he nodded. “Right, my apologies. What do I owe the occasion? If you would forgive me, I’m in the middle of disciplining a subordinate of mine.”

“Yes and I’m sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear what was going on… may I ask what has happened?” I asked.

Red Wing regarded me stoically for a second before acquiescing. “I suppose so. You’re a doctor of some sort, aren’t you? The King and Queen did seem to be ready to accept you into their services.” He glanced at Vox. “This one, assaulted a couple of ponies who were lost in the castle. Just one more incident in a pattern of poor behavior from her.”

“I had reason to suspect they were up to no good,” Vox shrugged.

“You’re a liar, a violent sadist. And I should just get rid of you already,” Red Wing glared at her.

“Now, now, I don’t think there’s any reason for that,” I said. “In fact, I believe I can help the both of you.”

“How so?” Red Wing regarded me questioningly while Vox just looked disinterested.

“Well I’m not just any sort of doctor. I’m a psychiatrist. And I’ve talked with the Queen about this already but I was interested in giving psyche evaluations and free consultations to any and all Royal Guards. I believe Miss… Vox… here would be a perfect first patient if she has these problems you’ve mentioned. I don’t wish to sound so prideful but I am quite good at my job, if I can help Vox deal with her problems and you can keep a Royal Guard on your force it’s a win for everypony. And to be honest, any opportunity I have to help one deal with any issues they might have is good enough reason for me to do something like this,” I told the both of them.

Red Wing looked between me and Vox before he accepted the proposal. “Alright, it does seem like it’s supposed to be your job anyways. If Vox can be helped then that’s certainly better than an alternative.” He narrowed his eyes at the white unicorn. “You just be on your best behavior, understand?”

“I promise,” she rolled her eyes.

“Excellent. Well I’m free right now, would you care to come with me to my lab, Miss Vox?” I asked her.

“Fine. Whatever,” she shrugged.

“Thank you,” I nodded to her and looked over to Red Wing with a smile. “And thank you as well, Captain.”

The two of us then left the Captain behind. It was a long and quiet walk up to here but I was excited on the inside. Vox seemed supremely bored but that was going to change shortly. The moment I closed the door and turned to face her she frowned at me.

“Look, I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish with your little therapy session but-”

“Oh no, no, no,” I quickly corrected her. “You don’t need to worry about that, one look in your eyes was all it took for me to see that there’s no fixing what’s wrong with you.”

Vox’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Then what the hay are we doing up here? Aren’t you a psychiatrist? My parents sent me to others when I was younger and they all tried to “help” me. I think I got pretty decent at lying to them after a while.” She narrowed her eyes. “But none of them ever said what you just said.”

“I have an eye for ponies who can’t be fixed. Call it having personal experience,” I shrugged.

“So why’d you lie to the Captain then? What do you want with me?”

I smiled at her. “Well I was wondering… if perhaps you would like the opportunity to indulge in all those dark desires you keep bottled up in your head. Would that be pleasant for you? If so, I believe the two of us can help each other.”

Vox’s eyes darted back and forth, as if she was thinking this might be some kind of trick and weighing the possible options. Slowly though, she grinned and a very familiar manic look came to her eyes. “That sounds wonderful~”

“And as far as the history lesson goes that’s pretty much all that needs to be said. Vox of course ended up being just as problematic as she was helpful, a mere sadist without an ounce of intelligence or vision inside that tiny head. The why though I will explain now,” Dreamweaver said to Rainbow Dash and Wish while a bored Heartless kept her eyes locked on the pegasus at all times.

“You’re disgusting,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

Wish meanwhile was blankly staring at the floor, blinking every few seconds. Her head felt funny and a pulsing pain was starting to emerge deep behind her forehead.

“I… I...” the little filly muttered.

“Wish?” Dreamweaver said to get her attention. “Would you like to know the true—the final—reason for why I’ve done all this?”

She looked up at him. “Father...”

“Wish—just stop! Just stop listening to him!” Rainbow Dash said to her and then glared at Dreamweaver. “She doesn’t need to hear anything else!”

“She does. She needs to hear what her purpose is. The part she plays in all of this. How all of this despair has been gathered for her,” Dreamweaver pointed to the glass sphere.

“What?” Rainbow Dash spat out.

“For me?” Wish asked, still partially in a daze. “Why? What’s going on?”

Dreamweaver smiled at her. “Wish. I have never loved you. Not once. Not a single solitary moment in my entire life have I cared about you. You have only been an object to me—and only recently have you become a tool that I could finally use to make my dream come true. Because your happiness will become my happiness. Because the greatest, purest, darkest despair can only come from true happiness. Just as I told you.”

Each word he spoke was a hammer that made Wish shiver in pain and horror, the pure sorrow in her eyes was leaking down her face. “Nghh!” Wish grasped her head and cried in pain. A window of glass inside her mind shattered into a million pieces.

The dark liquid inside the sphere became even more violent, so violent that it seemed like it would almost break free. Even Heartless turned her head to look at it. There was a strange spiritual light emanating from it that she could feel.

“K-Kid...” Rainbow Dash looked at her in horror.

“I wish to spread despair throughout the entire world. That is my dream,” Dreamweaver continued. “That is what all of this has been about. I want to drown the world in despair until I am the only happy pony left and every other creature is suffering and wallowing in misery. That is why, Wish. And your purpose in all of this is to be the core. You will become one with the despair. You will give it ego, a focus, a direction. You will become The Avatar of Despair.”

He pointed to the valve on top of the pipe. “All that needs to be done is for you to open up that valve. You’re right there. Become The Avatar of Despair for me.”

“Don’t even think about it, Wish!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I-I know you’re feeling messed up right now, but don’t touch that thing! You don’t want this, Wish! I know you don’t.”

“You are the only one. Brought from the greatest happiness to the greatest despair. That is why all of this was done,” Dreamweaver continued to say.

Wish’s nose started to bleed and she groaned, her eyes twitching in shock and her jaw clenching up. Waves of nausea and pain radiated through her head and her stomach was twisted in knots.

“Ohhhhh...” The filly groaned.

“Kid, just stay with me,” Rainbow Dash tried to get Wish’s attention.

“I need to tell you the truth about your mother too.”

Both Wish and Rainbow Dash looked at Dreamweaver once more.

He was smiling. Smiling in great amusement. “I told you that your mother eventually found out about what kind of pony I really am. The kind of pony she married. The kind of pony she had a child with. I dropped all pretense around her out of boredom, and I still remember the sweet look on her face when she realized I was being serious. Obviously she was horrified and she wanted to run away, but I couldn’t have her possibly causing problems for me like that.” He wryly grinned, briefly looking at Rainbow Dash. “Now while I am not the foremost expert on magic, I am an expert on the mind. And mind control spells come fairly easily to me. For the last two years she was alive—your mother was under my mind control. She was a puppet, locked inside her own head, forced to appear normal while screaming on the inside.”

Rainbow Dash gaped in horror and disgust at him while Wish’s face was the perfect image of a phantom.

“Yes… those days were slightly more enjoyable just with that knowledge. However, my lack of expertise in magic eventually became my folly. You do remember the circumstances around your mother’s death, don’t you, my daughter?” Dreamweaver asked her.

Wish of course was in no condition to respond, blankly staring at him as if the entire world had fallen apart around her. She might as well have been staring into a black hole.

So he continued. “When I was gone for about a week… that’s what led to it. You see, the mind control spell has to be constantly reapplied or it slips away. And unfortunately I was delayed in coming back home. Eventually it broke completely and your mother—your real mother—became free.” He looked at her deeply. “But Wish, I’m afraid I lied about something else too. Your mother never loved you either.”

Wish shook and shivered, nearly convulsing as tears started to fall from her eyes again.

“In those days, locked away in her head, she came to hate and despise you. Seeing you as just another thing that brought her despair. A reminder of her horrible, ruined, life. And when she became free? That random day, that random moment while you were at school? She didn’t think about you at all. She didn’t want to talk to you or see you. She didn’t care about leaving you behind alone with me. She didn’t care about you coming home and seeing her dead. She didn’t care about you,” Dreamweaver chuckled, unable to contain himself. “That’s right, Wish. Your mother wasn’t sick. She killed herself! Poisoned herself right from some drain cleaner we had. I kept that hidden from you all this time. Your mother killed herself rather than spend another second alive with you! She-”

He couldn’t finish as in the space of a blink Rainbow Dash had shot over and pinned him to the window, cracking it behind him. Her blue foreleg was raised and pressed up roughly against his throat as she stared him in the eye—burning ruby flames penetrating down to his soul.

“If you say one more word. I’ll kill you,” Rainbow threatened.

Dreamweaver wisely shut up.

“Rainbow Dash.”

The quiet voice caused Rainbow Dash to look over her shoulder.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

Wish was standing there. Smiling at her even as a cascade of tears ran down her cheeks. Her hoof was raised to the valve, resting on it.

“I think… I think that maybe… if I can at least be useful to my dad. Then maybe I’ll become happy.”

“DON’T!”

Wish turned the valve and the black despair came pouring out.

Death and Despair

“Ow!” Twilight Sparkle clutched her head in pain, a sudden headache spiking through her skull. The book she was carrying fell, just barely grabbed by Spike before hitting the floor.

“Whoa! What’s the matter, Twilight?” Spike asked her in concern.

“I… I don’t know. I just got a headache all of a sudden, it came out of nowhere,” she said. There was a strange feeling to it as well, like something was wrong. A terrible feeling of foreboding and trepidation was running through her but she didn’t know why. It almost felt like… that very moment when she realized Nightmare Moon had returned.

Twilight Sparkle bit her lip, unsure of what was going on. She led Spike to the Cutie Map room to see if anything was happening.

Frost gathered on the glass of every window inside Hoofica Castle. In the Queen’s personal chamber, Red Wing suddenly shivered and clutched his body, letting out a shuddering breath and seeing the cold vapor in the air. The Queen and Brass Hoof did the same, and even the unconscious Star Petal shivered and tried curling up as well.

“D-Did it just get colder in here all of a sudden?” Brass Hoof asked.

“Yeah...” Red Wing nodded and walked back over to open up the door leading out of the room. The rest of the resistance still there were shivering as well, also confused. “What is this?”

“Oh, Wish no...” Rainbow Dash looked on in despair as the black liquid swallowed up the filly in an instant. The entire contents of the sphere poured out and churned around its vessel, drowning and coalescing around her. Waves and waves of it rippled about, spiraling, twisting, contorting, growing, until it took on a shape.

A horse rose up out of a black whirpool in the middle of the lab. A black swamp from which no light could escape. Despite seeing how much liquid despair was in the sphere just a moment ago, Rainbow Dash somehow intrinsically knew that the pool of liquid the Avatar was rising from was impossibly, infinitely deep. The form of the Avatar was a large pitch black horse that grew until its entire upper body was coming out of the bubbling pool of despair. Its skin was liquid like oil, eyeholes without eyes, larger than even any alicorn. At its midsection, where it met the pool of despair that it was rising from, its skin was stretched taut like something trying to break through a sheet of plastic wrap. It stopped with only half of a horse being formed, the bottom half staying in the dark swamp around it that covered the floor, almost stretching far enough to reach the other ponies in the lab.

When the Avatar opened its mouth, great strands of black liquid stretched with it until they snapped and the abomination could fully open its maw.

“OOOUUUAAAHHHHHH!” An unnatural wail emerged from within, causing both Rainbow Dash and Dreamweaver to wince and cover their ears.

Icicles formed on the ceiling and a deathly cold washed over the ponies. The Avatar of Despair raised its large hooves and arched back as it wailed, like a horse rearing up on its hind legs.

“You feel different,” Heartless said as she looked up at the Avatar. She tilted her head back and forth as if trying to figure out just what to make of this new monster.

“Wish! Wish, please answer me!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the dark abomination. She shivered as the Avatar continued its rearing pose for now.

“I’m afraid that isn’t going to do you any good. It’s already over,” Dreamweaver smirked at her.

“Shut up, you monster!” Rainbow yelled at him as well.

Dreamweaver ignored her insult like water off a duck’s back, merely looking on at The Avatar of Despair he had created with pride and joy on his face. “Ah… this is truly wonderful.”

The Avatar finally stopped its wailing and rearing movement, lowering its hooves and head and gazing around the lab with its empty eyes. It passed over Heartless. It passed over Rainbow Dash. And its face came to a rest on Dreamweaver.

“Father.”

Dreamweaver smiled. “That’s right, Avatar. Spread your despair to the rest of the castle, to the rest of Hoofica, and then to the entire world. Fulfill your purpose for me!”

The Avatar of Despair seemed to stare at him for a moment longer before briefly turning its attention to Rainbow Dash and then back to Dreamweaver. Its great head lowered and the bubbling pit of despair it rested in started to churn. “You as well.”

Before Dreamweaver could say anything, a tendril of black slime shot from the Avatar’s body. It knocked Rainbow Dash aside and grabbed Dreamweaver, crashing him through the window right behind the two of them. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground with a grunt and looked up to see Dreamweaver being held in the sky by the tendril, cuts and pieces of glass all over him.

“A-Avatar… w-what are you doing?” He asked it, horrid fear and confusion evident on his face.

The black goo of the tendril started to spread over his body, other ropes of it grasping around his limbs, his neck, his head, and his horn.

“Father. If you wish to spread despair across the world. You must know what true despair feels like as well.”

A rending series of crunches and snaps filled the air and Rainbow Dash had to look away, the vaguest silhouette of a mutilated body burned into her retinas. She heard something falling and looked to see the Avatar’s black tendril receding back into its body.

“No… Wish… this isn’t you. That’s not what you wanted,” Rainbow Dash said to her, shaking her head as she stood up. “Please, please fight it. You can’t do this, Wish!”

“There is no Wish anymore, Rainbow Dash.” The Avatar shook its large head at her. It looked up at the icicle covered ceiling, as frosty wind now escaped out into the sky around the castle. “Now… fall.”

A magical shockwave came from the Avatar that briefly warped space and buffeted both Rainbow Dash and Heartless. Rainbow felt her teeth rattle around but it was only a mere symptom of what had just been done. The icicles on the ceiling broke and shattered while cracks spread through the floor, up and down the walls, and across the ceiling. The tables and shelves inside the lab shook and fell over as a tremor went down the tower and throughout the entire rest of the castle. Everything was shaking slightly and the cracks in the stone continued to grow as Rainbow Dash looked on in horror.

The entire castle shook as if an earthquake had just happened, but to most of the ponies inside it there was no warning or explanation for what was going on. Servants, maids, straggling guards and resistance fighters, all looked around as cracks appeared in the walls. Windows broke, chandeliers fell, paintings dropped from the walls, dust fell from the ceiling as tiles broke away and shattered. Every tower, every wing of the castle, it was happening everywhere.

Dotty yelped in fright as the grand chandelier in Wish’s boudoir crashed to the floor, almost on top of her. The polished stone floor was shaking and practically splitting apart right underneath her and some of the walls were already beginning to crumble. Not seeing any other option, she tossed off her maid uniform and spread her wings, flying through the window to safety.

It only gave her a few cuts and bruises when she broke through the glass—small compared to being crushed.

Down in the royal wing of the castle, Red Wing and the ponies with him looked up at the high ceiling of the atrium outside the Queen’s chambers. Cracks were spitting all across it. Along with the walls and the floor all around them.

“No...” Red Wing said as he saw what was happening.

“What is going on?! An earthquake?” The Queen yelled from back inside.

“S-Sir, what’s happening?” One of his subordinates asked.

Red Wing gulped, a frightened sweat starting to pour down his face. Brass Hoof now came out with the Queen as well, and Star Petal had gotten back up.

“Captain?” Brass Hoof raised an eyebrow at him.

“Everypony… stay calm, but listen to me. We need to round up and evacuate everypony from the castle. Hoofica Castle… is going to collapse,” he told them.

“That’s impossible! There’s no way this can be happening!” The Queen screamed at him. A lot of the other ponies here seemed to be in disbelief as well.

Red Wing ignored her but affixed his strong gaze to his fellow resistance ponies. “We need to act fast, there’s no telling when it will all fall to pieces but this shaking and the cracks throughout the walls… it’s definitely happening. Go throughout the entire castle, and quickly! Get the servants, the guards, even the Inquisitors, we need to get them all out of this castle right now!”

“Yes, sir!” His ponies saluted and ran back towards the throne room even as pebble and bits of stone from the ceiling started falling around them.

“C-Captain...” Brass Hoof said as she came up to him. “What about Dreamweaver?”

He clenched his jaw and ground his teeth. “Unfortunately it seems we’ll have to deal with everything else later. Saving the ponies in here and getting them all to safety takes priority now. I’ll get the King.”

“A strong lifeforce. Overflowing, just like yours, Rainbow Dash.” Heartless said as she blinked at The Avatar of Despair. “But different. Cold. And… empty somehow at the same time.”

The Avatar turned its attention to Heartless for the first time as the tower threatened to collapse like a periscope with all of them in it. Rainbow Dash watched as a bubbling appendage stretched from the bottom of the Avatar, emerging from the swamp and lifting up, rising over Heartless. A massive six-pronged claw formed from the appendage while black slime dripped from it. The Avatar brought it to a rest over Heartless’s head and shadowed her with it.

“Hm?” Heartless continued to smile.

The claw slammed down onto the pink pony, covering and swallowing her completely before dragging her back to the bottomless swamp—the bottomless pit of despair—that existed under and inside the Avatar.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t even feel happy or relieved about that for the moment though. There was still far too much to worry about.

After doing whatever that was to Heartless, the Avatar turned its grand head back to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash...”

“Wish, please, you have to stop this.” Rainbow Dash begged.

“I told you. Wish is dead, gone, there is only despair now and what lies beyond it. Come and let me show you. Become one with me. Everything. Everypony. Every creature. Will become one with despair,” The Avatar said and multiple tendrils slowly slithered out from its body.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and stalwartly stood her ground. “No, Wish. I’m not letting that happen. And I’m going to save you.”

“There is nothing to save! Nothing is left. Nothing matters anymore. Join despair, Rainbow Dash. Join me now,” the Avatar’s various tendrils shot towards Rainbow Dash and she had to fly through the limited space in the lab to avoid them.

Luckily for her, the tendrils weren’t especially fast or prehensile. But at the same time, she wasn’t feeling too good either. Everything she had been through was bearing down on her and threatening to crush her under months of trauma and malnourishment. A black tendril coming at her was dove under and then she spiraled between two more, flying circles around the Avatar.

“I know that’s not true, Wish! You just can’t give up! Listen to me! Listen to my voice and don’t give up hope,” Rainbow Dash tried to help her.

The Avatar sent a pair of grasping tendrils that tried to worm their way around Rainbow Dash and pull her in but the pegasus still flew away from them fast enough. At the same time the castle continued to shake and the Avatar paused in its attempts to swallow up Rainbow.

“Why do you continue this? Everything is already over. The pony you’re trying to save is gone, she can’t hear you anymore.”

Despite the situation, Rainbow Dash grinned. “You’re a bad liar, kid. You still are. If you want to take in everypony like that… then why didn’t you take in Dreamweaver the same as Heartless?”

“…I didn’t want him.”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I know it hurts. I know it must hurt in a way I can’t even comprehend. But I know you don’t really want to do any of this. I know you’re just lashing out, and things feel hopeless, but please, you have to hold on. I know you don’t really want to spread despair like this, you don’t want to hurt others but you’ve been changed by all that horrible stuff. But if you just keep fighting and believe in me I know I can save you and make this all right.”

A stone fell from the ceiling and crashed down to the floor between them.

“It can’t go back. I don’t want to go back. You don’t need to die here pointlessly, Rainbow Dash.” The Avatar said. “The castle is collapsing… do you want to be crushed with it? If you join me in despair then at least we can be together. That is what I desire. Everypony will drown, but you will still be there with me. You are the only one who ever cared. They never loved me. Nopony ever loved me. But if you really care so much about me, then join me, and we can be together forever in eternal, unyielding, despair.”

“No. I promised you, Wish. I promised to help you. I want to see a real smile on your face. I-I want to see you happy. And that’s never going to happen this way,” Rainbow Dash felt a mild wooziness overtake her and she almost drifted out of the air before catching herself. “S-So whether you like it or not—I’m saving you.”

“It doesn’t matter. Give up,” the Avatar said and sent its tendrils out at her once more.

The ends of some of them blossomed into the forms of venus flytraps, grasping claws, hands, nets, and anything else one could think of that could grab a pony and pull them in. All of them were going for the blue pegasus that the Avatar so desperately wished to swallow up and make part of it.

“Really have to make this difficult, huh?” Rainbow muttered as she dipped and darted between them.

It was an unceasing assault though and she was being overwhelmed by sheer numbers and her own failing body. The Avatar had no sense of combat, no strategy, it just waved its tendrils about and shot them at Rainbow Dash like an uncoordinated child trying to swat a fly out of the air. Unfortunately it was working. There was no room for maneuverability and Rainbow simply couldn’t go at her usual speed right now. A snapping claw nearly clamped down on her head while a hand tried to grab her tail, Rainbow had to twist her body like jelly to avoid them both at the same time and then kick herself off another tendril that was swinging about in her direction.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she kept on dodging and flitting about. “You need to stop! Let me get you out of there instead of you trying to pull me in. Come on, Wish! You’re just a scared little filly who didn’t deserve any of this, let me help you!”

“There’s no reason. Why go back to a world where nopony loves me? Where nopony ever loved me?”

“That isn’t true! Your mother loved you!”

“She died rather than be with me.”

“She was scared and in pain, Wish! You heard what your father said, what he did to her! She wasn’t thinking clearly!”

“She wasn’t thinking about me—Wish. That pony is dead now and never coming back. I’ll make the whole world feel the same despair.”

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “She needed help too but nopony was there for her. She didn’t hate you! Now I’m here, right now, to help you. So let me!”

“No.”

A black tendril snaked its way around Rainbow Dash’s hoof and pulled her to the ground, slamming her into the broken stone floor.

“Gah!” Rainbow Dash coughed in pain.

“Come, Rainbow Dash.”

The tendril pulled her towards the bubbling pool at the bottom of The Avatar of Despair and despite how Rainbow Dash fought to pull herself free and drag her hooves along the floor to stop it, she could no nothing. Right as she reached the pit of despair itself, she looked up at the great head peering down at her. She tried to mouth something to Wish but couldn’t in time. Cold numbness crawled up her body as the black despair enveloped her. Swallowed her. Absorbed her.

Rainbow Dash was taken inside The Avatar of Despair. And she fell.

Falling Down

Rainbow Dash drifted down, slowly. It was as if she was sinking to the bottom of a deep pool. At first it had been cold but now she simply felt nothing at all. She was pretty sure her eyes were open but she couldn’t see anything. Was she forgetting something? Had something happened? She was angry just before this. She was fighting. She was… what? But now she just felt numb both inside and out. Tired. So tired. A feeling of sloth. Depression so complete that it made her not want to do anything. Not even move or think.

Rainbow Dash

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and then opened them—not like there was any difference.

Not like anything mattered. The despair was crushing her, suffocating. She could remember every moment of her life she ever felt a modicum of sadness, it was all there in her head. And the sorrow and despair from others were swimming around her as well.

Rainbow Dash

Wish? Rainbow couldn’t move her mouth or speak, but she could think.

Not anymore. But we can still be together here. Just give in finally. Give in to despair. It’s alright, Rainbow Dash. It’s better now like this. There will be no more hurt, no more pain anymore, soon, once all have given in and joined me

No…

Yes. This is how it should be. I found it, Rainbow Dash. What lies beyond despair. Nothing. Numbness. Apathy. Peace. If you would only give in, and let yourself rest forever, if you stop caring… you’ll be happy

That isn’t happiness, Wish

It’s as close as anypony can ever truly get

Happiness is real, Wish. Love is real…

I wouldn’t know. Now, I simply want everypony to feel the peace of apathy. I will spread despair and drown the world in it—but not to make ponies suffer, not to enjoy it, just to bring an end to everything. A world numb to everything can never be hurt

You can’t…

Be at peace, Rainbow Dash. Forget it all. You’re feeling less and less as time passes by… soon the apathy will take you completely. Stop fighting. Stop fighting and be at peace

It felt like she stopped. Stopped sinking. Floating in a bubble of a muddy slime, unable to move… or perhaps unwilling. The amount of energy it took her to even think about moving was almost too much. She couldn’t bring herself to care. Why was everything so heavy? It was all so dark, she saw nothing. She heard nothing, tasted nothing, smelt nothing, felt nothing. Blinded, deafened, she had left the world behind entirely and only had despair around her trying to crush her down into apathy.

Permanent and eternal apathy. Wish’s desire to avoid pain and sadness.

The thought of Wish briefly caused her emotions to stir again, but Rainbow Dash still couldn’t move.

Wish… Wish… don’t give in to this...

There was no answer from either Wish or The Avatar of Despair however. It was deader and lonelier than the grave. She was in a casket, buried deep. Sensation she tried to claw back failed to come. But she was still conscious, still alive, and perhaps because of that, the power of despair was still trying to break her down harder. Inside her head she could hear the thoughts and voices of others—old memories of despair that crawled across time and space to be with her.

You tore down everything I believed in

I still haven’t found a home

You destroyed my dream before I could even see it

I died because of you, and my sister suffers still

How many have been killed because she chases you?

Why did you come here and ruin my beloved home?

Why did I die for you?

Why didn’t you come here sooner to save us?

I was killed because of you, Rainbow Dash

How much destruction and death will you leave behind?

Selfish

Apathetic

Evil

What would your friends think?

All of this, all that you are experiencing, is happening because of you. You were the catalyst that allows this. Congratulate yourself. Remember what you’ve caused, Rainbow Dash

She blinked. Was it really all our her fault? Should she just give up? If it was her fault… if all the death that had happened because of Heartless and every other mistake of hers… if that was her fault, could she live with it? Would she want to? It was easier. It was easier to accept despair. Sink down and stop feeling. The more she despaired… then eventually the less she would care. The less she would feel bad. Until finally apathy and she wouldn’t have to think about anything at all.

Yes, Rainbow Dash. The two of us together at the bottom of despair. It won’t be so bad anymore

But everypony else… all my friends… everypony I’ve helped…

Don’t think about it. It all ends in despair eventually. Your friends as well. Stop caring, if you simply do that there will be nothing to worry about anymore. You don’t want to live with your mistakes and sorrow either. Just give up and you won’t have to face them

That isn’t me, Wish. That isn’t the kind of pony I am

Rainbow Dash…

I don’t want this, Wish. I don’t want to give up and ignore things just because it’s easy. I don’t want this fake happiness—for either you or me. I want to see your real smile

That will never happen. There is nothing to smile about. There never was and never will be in Wish’s life. It’s over, Rainbow Dash, accept it. There is only despair now, don’t let your mind fall to pieces, just give in to it

Life isn’t just good or bad, Wish. You can still find the good if you keep moving forward. And I can live with the bad I’ve made, the bad I’ve caused, so long as I try to make up for it and still be the best pony I can be…

Stop. It’s pointless

The feeling of sinking down returned again to Rainbow Dash. She still couldn’t fight back against it physically, but she refused to give in. It didn’t matter how deeply into despair she went, how bottomless this black swamp was, Rainbow Dash refused to give up entirely. The apathy was still there, the lifetime of despair was still crushing against her, but she didn’t embrace it.

She didn’t give up.

This isn’t the way, Wish

You’ll see it eventually. When you realize that you’ll never see your friends and family again. When you realize all the suffering that lies at your hooves. You’ll have to embrace despair and apathy, or the guilt and pain will drive you insane

It was all going away again, Rainbow was becoming tired, as if she was about to enter a deep sleep.

I… won’t…

Cry

Scores of ponies ran out of Hoofica Castle as it continued to collapse at an even faster pace now. The walls and ceilings were beginning to crumble and fall apart—nowhere was safe anymore. They were all being led and escorted by Red Wing and the rest of the resistance, it no longer mattered which side you were on. In the city, thousands of ponies could now look up and see the castle in the stages of collapsing—it had taken their attention away from the bright and warm sky that once again graced their kingdom.

“Come on, come on, faster!” Red Wing yelled as he ushered ponies out the grand front doors of the castle.

“Sir, we still haven’t found or heard anything of Rainbow Dash!” Tango said as he ran up to him.

“Darn it… we can’t afford to keep looking at this rate, there isn’t long before it all comes crashing down,” Red Wing clenched his jaw.

Brass Hoof meanwhile sidled up to him with an uncertain look on her face. “Sir… is it possible that she has something to do with this in the first place?”

Red Wing narrowed his eyes as he looked higher and higher up at the castle. “I don’t know. But she’s resourceful, we’ll just have to hope she’s okay on her own. Everypony else here needs to work on getting the last few ponies out of the castle and out of the grounds, get to a safe distance.”

“Yes, sir!” Brass Hoof saluted and worked with the others to accomplish the task.

Every capable pony continued to ferry others out to safety while chunks of black stone fell around them and cracks split up the facade of the castle. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and Red Wing didn’t understand why this had to happen right after they succeeded in freeing the kingdom, but at least everypony was working together. The one positive. Perhaps after this shared experience, the wounds would heal quicker.

He shivered as he looked at the towers.

Why was it still so cold?

Blame. Guilt. Regret. Sorrow. Anger. Hate.

Despair.

Rainbow Dash was drowning and fighting to keep her head above the water. Fighting to pull the filly up with her and save her from the bottomless pool they were both stuck in. But it was like an anchor tied around her body—pulling her down, making escape impossible. If she could ditch the anchor… no. Never. She could beat despair, she knew she could.

It’s pointless, Rainbow Dash. You know this. At best you delay the inevitable

I’ll tell you when I think something’s pointless

The moment I became the Avatar, it was already over for me. The moment I brought you here it was over for you

No it’s not!

Don’t you understand? Even if it could happen, I don’t want to go back to the way things were. I don’t want to go back to being Wish again

So you’re saying you honestly want this? This is you being happy?

Yes

Then why did you say you wanted to be useful to your father and maybe that would make you happy but the very first thing you did when you became this was… was…

…

Well?

It doesn’t matter

Yes it does, Wish! Yes it does! You’ve been corrupted by all of this, overwhelmed, and you don’t even know it! This isn’t you, Wish. Please just listen to me! You don’t want any of this!

What do you even know? What does your life have to do with mine? Can you even compare them? I saw your eyes… how can a pony as strong as you, with friends you would die for, who puts their life on the line to save ponies they barely know, how can a pony like that know anything about what I’m feeling? How could you understand? I can feel the laughter, the kindness, the generosity, the honesty, the magic of friendship inside of you, Rainbow Dash

And I know that all of that is missing from me. You know what I wanted before this. It was to have what you already had

But I’ll never have what you have. You can’t know what this is like—somepony like you who has always had that light inside them. That’s why I’m ending this, that’s why… why…

Wish?

I… I…

Rainbow Dash felt something in the pit of despair around her. That alone was already unusual—until now her senses had been completely deafened. But right now she was feeling rumbling, and freezing cold, not just numb nothingness anymore. The sound and feeling of bubbling black despair started to fill her ears as well.

Hurts… it hurts… what is this? Why… IT HURTS! IT HUUUUUURTS! R-Rainbow Dash…. I-I… what’s happening… AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

Wish!

It was getting warmer and warmer inside the bottomless swamp, the freezing cold quickly subsiding to warmth that grew worse and worse until it was almost boiling all around her. Rainbow Dash found she could move again, she flailed her legs and wings around but at the moment she was still stuck in utter darkness. Every second though she was getting more sensation back, more strength, more awareness.

Wish? Talk to me, what’s going on?!

IIIIIIT HUUUUUURTS! WHYYYYY?!

Rainbow Dash suddenly felt herself being pushed and pulled around like she was in a fierce whirlpool that had formed in the depths of despair.

And up. She was being forced up.

She “looked” up and saw a light ahead, a light that existed at the surface of this infinite and unfathomable pool of despair. The voice of the Avatar had disappeared and Rainbow Dash was stuck in such a violent frenzy that she could no longer try speaking to it anymore. The speed she was traveling increased and she felt herself practically being shot to the surface-

One moment she was in darkness with an oppressive feeling of despair all around her.

The next, she felt herself popping up out of something and tumbling through the air before hitting the cold stone floor and rolling around. Rainbow Dash shook her head, coughing, and sat up on her unsteady hooves. Around her, tendrils and dripping globs of black despair fell off her body and evaporated into nothingness. One instant she was cold, the next hot, one instant she only heard ringing in her ears, the next it was pure silence. Her eyes were dizzy and they only barely came back into focus when she held her hooves to her head and forced herself to get back into gear.

“IT HUUUUUURTS!”

The scream from The Avatar of Despair rang through the collapsing lab and Rainbow Dash swiftly turned her head over to see what was happening.

A pink pony was standing on the edge of the black swamp of despair, sticking her hoof into it while The Avatar of Despair’s large upper body writhed around in pain. Tendrils wavered and broke away, drops of the black liquid fell and evaporated away every second.

And Heartless was smiling.

“So much life. It’s not fulfilling like the warmth and light from Rainbow Dash, but there’s a lot of it.” She said as she drained the life from the Avatar.

“BUUUURNIIIIING! AAAAGAAAAHHHH!”

The massive horse body fell over onto its side and moaned in pain, its great mouth open and wailing. The pool of despair itself was bubbling and shrinking the longer Heartless stood in it. Rainbow Dash watched as now the great limbs and head of the Avatar started to melt and stretch like wax.

“OOOOOAAAAAUUUUUHHH! HEEEEELP! WHAT’S HAPPPENING?! R-RAINBOW DASH!”

Finally Rainbow Dash’s mind came back into focus and she grit her teeth, steadying her hooves and glaring at Heartless. “Heartless, stop!”

“Why?” The pink pony responded without even looking in Rainbow’s direction, for once her attention staying elsewhere.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” The Avatar tried to raise one its large legs but it wavered and started to fall and drip apart like flesh melting off a bone.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash yelled. She bit her lip, there wasn’t time to think and there was only one possible thing she could do, just one idea that was floating inside her head.

Rainbow Dash flew forward as fast as she could. She shot like a blur across the collapsing lab and grabbed Heartless. Not by her body, which would’ve been a suicidal death sentence thanks to the mare’s strange powers, but by her tail. She pulled the pink monster away from the pool of despair and into the air, spinning around like a powerful tornado with Heartless along for the ride, gripped by the tail in Rainbow Dash’s blue hooves.

Once she felt like she had enough momentum and made sure she was timing it right—Rainbow Dash let Heartless go. She hammer threw her right through the other window of the lab that sat high above the interior courtyard of Hoofica Castle. Heartless crashed through the glass and fell downwards like a rock before she even really knew what was going on.

Rainbow Dash fell—practically collapsed—back down to the stone floor, panting and exhausted. Somehow though, she still found the strength to move.

“W-Wish?” Rainbow Dash panted and looked over at The Avatar of Despair to see what was happening with it. Its cries of horrible pain had stopped the moment she took Heartless away.

The once mighty horse form of the Avatar was reduced to little more than a pony-sized pile of black ooze sitting in a pool that was ever so slightly shrinking. No tendrils, or limbs, or any sort of shape or appendage was visible anymore. It was likely too weak and on the verge of total dissipation to do anything like that anymore. The bottomless pit of despair it had formed from was a meager puddle now, the power and threat from it gone.

Rainbow Dash stepped into and through the outer edges of black despair to reach the mound in the middle. Each step sent freezing pain and forced a dozen unknown screams of terror and despair into her head, but that was nothing that could stop her from trying to save the filly who needed her. “Wish? A-Answer me… please. Are you in there? Please… you have to be okay.”

Her voice came out in ragged breaths through a sore throat and the weak sound of her own speaking concerned her. Didn’t matter though. Couldn’t matter. She had to reach Wish.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash managed to shout louder and grabbed the melting, wax-like, mound with her hooves. “Answer me!”

“It’s all coming down… just go… just go before you die here too...”

Despite the situation, a smile, though a sad one, graced Rainbow Dash’s face. “Not without you.”

“I’m already dying… I can feel it all ending...”

“No way is that happening. I’m not letting it,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Wish can’t return to you… what do you think is even going to happen if you can bring her out of this despair? Any life after this… how could it be worth living?”

“I can’t say what might or might not happen in your life… but the point is… the point is to not give up hope. It’s to believe in that opportunity. To believe that you can smile and be happy one day, to find a life that you can enjoy living, live without regrets, and one day look back on fondly. I don’t know how your life is going to be worth living—you’re the one who shows that to me.” Rainbow Dash went down to her knees into the despair and hugged what she could. “And I promised you. I’m not giving up on you or hope until I see that real smile of yours. I bet its beautiful and fills the hearts of everypony around it with warmth.”

The remnants of the Avatar continued to shrink away and dissolve, faster now.

“I… want...”

It all fell away completely in Rainbow Dash’s hooves, dissolving, evaporating into nothingness. At last there wasn’t a single trace of black despair anymore.

All that was left was a tiny filly curled up on the cold floor of the lab.

Not moving.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash shouted and picked up the filly in her hooves. She was deathly cold, and she wasn’t breathing. “Wish, talk to me!” She tried to gently shake the filly awake but… she might not have been asleep. Either way there was no response of any form. “Wake up, you have to wake up!”

As she pleaded and cried out for the filly, the ceiling overhead finally gave away completely and the entire lab gave its last heave as its final collapse began. Rainbow grit her teeth and clutched Wish close to her chest, flying towards the broken window facing south even as the entire wall that held it was breaking apart and falling off the tower. She smashed right through some of the last remaining pieces of glass and into open air before the falling stone crushed and carried her down with it.

With the last remaining dregs of strength she could pull up in her body, she wobbled and kept pointed to fly south and down to the open ground outside the capitol as quickly as she could. She needed to get Wish to solid ground and safety… somewhere to breathe without ponies around… she hoped she could make it in time…

Heartless stood up in the middle of the castle’s courtyard and dusted herself off. Besides that her body was completely unmarred in any fashion. She was still smiling like usual even though she was a bit miffed, Rainbow Dash’s light was still so close after all and she had just managed to feel a large source of life that was somewhat fulfilling in its own way. It was rather loud around her and now she was stuck down here and didn’t know exactly where to walk to get out but that didn’t really matter. She could fly probably, that would be quicker.

A massive cracking and breaking sound came from all around her along with the new sound of something—multiple somethings—gargantuan now falling.

Heartless looked up and saw the five towers of Hoofica Castle all falling towards her. Not straight down, not the other direction over and top of the rest of the castle, the towers were all falling inwards towards and into the courtyard.

“Well this is going to take even longer to dig my way out of...” She said as the first of hundreds of tons of black stone fell on top of her.

Red Wing watched from the edge of the grounds, close to the perimeter wall and the large gatehouse as the entirety of Hoofica Castle fell to pieces, becoming no more than ruins and rubble in an instant. It was a horrible scene to see this become of their castle, their capitol, but at least everypony had been brought to safety. A massive cloud and wave of dust had spread out from it and was now dissipating over the closest buildings to the capitol but that was it. Hundreds of other ponies were with him, watching from safety. It didn’t matter if they were part of his resistance, random servants, or former Inquisitors. All were joined in this.

He heard the Queen wail in horror as she watched, still restrained by Brass Hoof. Beside her the King stood—rescued from the royal wing by his subordinates and Red Wing—with a blank expression on his face. The brainwashing spell that left him in such a fugue still hadn’t been removed, nopony had had the time for it.

“Sir...” Star Petal said as she stood beside him, the unicorn still looking exhausted. “What about Dreamweaver? What about Rainbow Dash?”

Red Wing blinked at the collapsed castle, the rubble still settling into place. “I… think it’s already over. Whatever Dreamweaver was doing, wherever he was, I don’t think it matters anymore.

“And Rainbow Dash? We never found her...”

“I’m sure she’s alright. And I’m not just saying that,” Red Wing said as he looked up at the blue sky. “It’s a feeling I have.”

“I hope you’re right then...” Star Petal said and joined him, looking up at the beautiful sky of Hoofica together.

Dotty meanwhile had watched from the sky around where the third tower used to stand as the castle collapsed. Her jaw dropped in shock as she saw it all fall to rubble. But that wasn’t all that she saw. Trying to get away from the shockwave of the collapse and all the dust clouding the sky, she flew out a little bit and circled to the south.

That was when she saw them. A blue and rainbow blur in the sky, going south at high speed, and something red and brownish being carried in her hooves.

Her breath caught in her throat. “That pegasus… Wish… what happened?”

Dotty bit her lip in consternation. As stressful as it was to conclude, she couldn’t just float around in the air here, doing nothing, she had to go get Wish.

The former maid, the former Inquisitor, she began flying after Rainbow Dash. But just as she exited the sky above the castle grounds, just as it finished its total collapse, a red flicker from below caught her attention. Dotty looked down and stopped in midair. She wasn’t the only one watching where Rainbow Dash and Wish was going.

A crackling burst of red magic erupted over the roof of a tall building just outside the castle grounds to the south and Vox fell like a rock from the air and onto it. She hit the cold stone of the roof with a thump and wheezed in pain, looking up at the sky and just barely being able to see Rainbow Dash flying away with Wish in her hooves.

“You… you aren’t… you aren’t getting away from me...” Vox coughed up more blood and spittle and raised her head, putting her right front leg onto the stone and pushing herself up as best she could.

Her left front leg was mangled and broken in at least two places and her back legs trailed limply behind her. She couldn’t feel a single thing from them. Her horn sparked uselessly, completely out of magic after that last desperate teleport to save herself. Exhaustion that she didn't understand ravaged her body and mind. The rest of her body was just as bruised and broken and her lungs were having trouble drawing in air.

“Kill you… kill you… the both of you… I’ll kill you...” Vox muttered as she dragged herself closer to the edge of the roof, still fruitlessly trying to get after Rainbow Dash and Wish. Blood covered the entirety of her face. She didn’t know what had happened, what made her so tired and weak that she had only barely woken up when the stairs were already collapsing on her. It didn’t matter now though. Nothing mattered except finding and killing those two.

She would. Vox promised herself that she would kill them.

“Head Inquisitor.”

Vox blinked at the familiar voice and looked over her shoulder, a manic grin soon spreading over her broken face as she saw the pegasus land on the roof close behind her. “Dotted Easel! P-Perfect cough perfect timing!” She giggled crazily and looked back to the south, pointing at the disappearing speck of Rainbow Dash. “F-Fly with me… I need you to take… take me to those two! An hour—two at the most—and my magic will be back! I can kill them then! I can kill them! J-Just… help me fly… after them!”

She received no answer. Looking back at her former subordinate, she saw that Dotted Easel was staring at her with a blank expression. Not moving to help her.

“What are you doing? I gave you an order!” Vox yelled. “Carry me and fly after them!”

Dotted Easel continued to stare at her, unmoving.

“What are you looking at me like that for? Have you lost your mind?!”

Dotted just blinked.

“Oh… Oh I see...” Vox narrowed her eyes and coughed up some blood. “Y-You’ve had a change of heart, is that it? Huh? Y-You’re looking down on me right now… you think you can look at me like that?! I was… I was the Head Inquisitor! But you… you were still there too, Dotted! H-Have you forgotten that? You… none of you have the right to look down on me!”

Vox waved her hoof around angrily, her eyes glassy with shock but her mind still focused enough to continue her rant. “What right do you have?! You’re just as bad! You went along with it too, Dotted! You’re one of us, don’t you ever forget that! Don’t forget all the terrible things you let happen! Don’t forget every time you stood by and watched! Don’t you dare look at me like that! All those times you could’ve said something… or fought back… or at the very least ran away… but you didn’t!” She coughed and had to catch her breath for a moment. “C-Coward… weakling… you just went along with it… you went along with it… s-so just keep going along with it and listen to my orders! Fly me to Rainbow Dash and Wish! I have to kill them!”

For a while it looked like Dotted Easel was going to continue ignoring her and just staring at the miserable, wretched, form of Vox. But then she slowly stepped forward, her face still empty, and reached down to pick up the injured unicorn. Putting Vox’s healthy leg over her shoulder, Dotty walked over to the edge of the building.

“Yes, yes! Good work, Dotted! That’s right!” Vox laughed. “We’ll get them… we’ll get them for sure.”

But Dotty didn’t fly off from the building. She paused there, at the ledge, holding Vox.

“What are you doing, you idiot?! Fly after them already! We can’t lose them!” Vox screamed and glared at her.

Dotty blinked, first looking down below and seeing the narrow alley in-between this building and the next. The ground wasn’t level down there, so much of the city was uneven like this, a set of stairs went up from the street and between the two buildings before wrapping around the backside. It was still a forty foot drop straight down to them with nothing to break your fall. She then slowly turned her head to look at Vox. No other ponies were around. No ponies were down there.

“What’s that look on your face?” Vox asked, anger rising up as she realized what was going through Dotted Easel’s head. “Don’t you even think about it you pathetic waste!”

Dotty blinked at her.

Vox practically spat blood in her face as her furious raging continued. “You think you can?! You think you can?! Don’t forget who I am, Dotted! I’ll slit your throat! I’ll find your family and I’ll kill every last one of them!”

Without a word, Dotty pulled Vox’s hoof off of her and held the unicorn’s upper body over the narrow chasm.

Vox’s broken leg dangled uselessly and for the first time she really looked down below at the stone steps waiting for her. “D-Dotted… you aren’t really… you can’t.” Her breathing sped up, along with her heartbeat, and true fear started to etch its way into her. “You can’t do this to me, Dotted! You can’t kill me! Y-You’re not… you wouldn’t!”

She looked back at the pegasus and saw that Dotted Easel wasn’t even really looking at her, her eyes were focused on the steps down below.

“Dotted! You’re not like me, you can’t do it! You won’t!” Vox pleaded in fear for her life. She felt a strange sensation coming from her eyes and realized she was crying. “Please, Dotted! Don’t drop me! Please don’t kill me!”

Finally, Dotty sadly looked over at her. “You’d be laughing.”

Vox didn’t say anything, she locked eyes with Dotty while her lip quivered and tears of fear and despair ran down her bloody face.

“You’d be laughing,” Dotty repeated. “If our places were reversed… and I was the one begging for mercy. You’d just be laughing at me.”

A wordless whimper came from Vox’s mouth.

“You remember it too, don’t you? That Inquisition where we first met Rainbow Dash? What you were doing to that family… you made them beg you to stop. You made them say please. Did you listen? Did you stop? Were you ever going to?” Sad tears came from Dotty’s eyes as well. “Say please again, Head Inquisitor.”

The white mare fell through the air. She didn’t cry out, or scream, or struggle. Dotty watched as she hit the steps headfirst with a loud crack and rolled down a few. And didn’t move after that.

Dotty wiped the tears from her face and looked into the southern sky.

Rainbow Dash and Wish had vanished from sight long ago.

Rainbow Dash hit the ground hard at an angle, tearing a trench into it with her shoulder as she crash landed while doing her best to protect Wish, holding the filly close to her body and making sure she didn’t hit the ground the same way. They had landed in some kind of field but Rainbow Dash didn’t care enough to look around and check things out right now. She had to make sure Wish was okay.

“W-Wish?” Rainbow Dash said to the bundled up filly in her hooves. She was still so cold, so limp. “Talk to me kid, just talk to me.” She placed the filly on the ground and started checking for vitals, using everything she knew from her Wonderbolts’ emergency medical training.

Rainbow placed her ear against the filly’s chest.

No heartbeat.

No breathing.

“No, no, no, no…” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as a nervous sweat poured across her brow. She was shaking, in disbelief and denial, and her heart was beating out of control in her chest. She lifted up one of Wish’s eyelids and saw the eye lolling about behind it, showing no reaction to the light or anything at all.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do? Rainbow Dash panicked.

“This can’t be happening… you’re not dead, you’re not dead!” Rainbow opened up the filly’s mouth and quickly breathed in before pumping up and down on her chest with her hooves to try and get her heart beating again. “Come on, Wish, come on!” She had practiced resuscitation many times before with some of the other Wonderbolts but this was the first time she had ever done it for real. “Breathe, breathe, breathe...”

Tears fell down from her eyes and started to pour onto the filly’s face the more Rainbow Dash pumped and the less Wish responded.

“You’re not going to die, you’re not going to die!” Rainbow Dash screamed. “NOPONY! IS DYING! AGAIN!”

She finished the next set of pumping and checked Wish’s vitals again, feeling for a pulse, listening for a heartbeat, checking to see if she was breathing in any air. But she had to squeeze her eyes shut and clench her hooves in anger and despair as there were still no signs of life from the filly. Her entire body heaved before she arched her neck back and screamed up at the sky.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!” Rainbow Dash bellowed and pounded her hooves on the ground over and over. “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” She cried as hard as she ever had in her life.

“Ngh!” She thrashed around and growled, continuously hitting her hooves against the hard ground enough to bruise and redden them. “WHY?! WHYYYYY?!” Finally she lost the energy to do even that, and she only sat there and cried. “Why...”

“This isn’t fair, this isn’t right...” Rainbow Dash moaned and wiped her tears away even as fresh new ones kept falling from her eyes.

“Why?” She cried.

cough

Rainbow Dash’s breath hitched in her throat and she tilted her head down.

cough

Wish coughed once more, her body stirring and her eyes blinking slowly as if she was coming out of a deep sleep.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her through teary eyes, her jaw half-open in awe.

“Mmmm...” Wish coughed a few more times before her eyes opened completely and she turned her head to see the pony sitting over her. “Rainbow Dash?” She squeaked out.

A smile broke out on Rainbow’s face, through her sobs and everything. She swiftly picked up the filly and held her tight against her chest, crying and crying in relief. “You’re alive… you’re alive… you’re alive...”

Wish was too tired to do anything else, so she merely rested her head against the older pegasus and allowed the crying to continue.

Nothing to Worry About Anymore

Rainbow Dash shoved her face into the bowl of oats placed in front of her, gorging herself immediately. It was the first real meal, the first time she could really fill her stomach, in months. And she certainly wasn’t going to let it go to waste. Beside her, Wish sat with the same bowl of oats sitting on the table in front of her. Though the filly hadn’t touched hers yet.

The both of them had been found yesterday by the farmer whose field they crashed into right outside the capitol city. He had both watched Hoofica Castle collapse in the distance and saw their unfortunate flight—arriving shortly after Wish woke up. Of course the both of them passed out again pretty much immediately after he came upon them, they had woken up this morning to learn their “rescuer” had carried them back to his home and given them water while they were out.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mare eat that fast before. Though considering your state I guess that aint a surprise,” the farmer—Beet Harvest—said.

“You’re… telling… me...” Rainbow Dash said between huge mouthfuls of food.

Beet Harvest looked over at Wish, who was still staring at the full bowl without taking a bite. “Your sister okay?”

Rainbow Dash looked over at her with a bit of a concerned look as well. Wish’s eyes weren’t quite empty… but they were cold, and sad, and she hadn’t spoken much since waking up after Rainbow Dash had rescued her from the despair.

“She’s… been through a lot,” Rainbow Dash said. “And she’s not my sister.”

Beet Harvest took another look at the filly and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Daughter?”

Rainbow frowned at him while Wish flinched. “Do I look that old?”

“Wasn’t judging… just wondering,” the farmer answered.

“Well no, we’re just friends. That’s it,” Rainbow said.

Beet Harvest nodded and let them get back to their breakfast.

Before Rainbow Dash went back to eating though, she took a look at just how much Beet Harvest had given them. “Err… is this really okay? I know the Inquisitors made you ration heavily… they’re gone but...”

“It’s okay. You two need it far more than I do,” Beet Harvest said. He brought a hoof up to his neck and absently rubbed where the black band used to be. “And you already said that the Inquisitors were gone after what happened in the capitol yesterday… and with the sky back to normal too, it just makes me feel better. Safer.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, I guarantee you don’t have anything like that to worry about anymore.” She snorted. “And hopefully ponies are already tearing down those stupid posters across the whole kingdom...”

“I was mighty happy when I saw the sky again yesterday. Had almost forgotten what it looked like,” Beet Harvest said.

“Seriously,” Rainbow Dash agreed. She looked over at the motionless filly again and frowned. “Wish? You should eat something.”

Wish only minutely shook her head in answer.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Come on, Wish, you really need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Doesn’t matter, you still need to eat.”

An angry eye flashed up at her from the filly. “You’re not my mom.”

Beet Harvest sat back—silent and nervously confused. Rainbow Dash’s reaction was much more muted, staring down at the young filly as she glared at her. Wish eventually broke contact and went back to angrily frown at her untouched bowl of oats. The dinner table was quiet for a few uncomfortable seconds.

“Hey-” Rainbow Dash said to Beet Harvest. “I know this is your house and all… but do you mind giving the two of us some time alone? I need to talk with her.”

“That’s alright, I can tell that the two of you have some things you need to sort out. I imagine there are a lot of ponies that do after what’s happened over the previous year,” he nodded and sat up from the table, leaving the room and the two of them behind.

When he did, Rainbow Dash reached over and softly brushed Wish’s mane with her hoof, patting the young filly on the back. Wish’s expression slowly softened a bit from angry to just morose.

“You want to talk?”

Wish shrugged. “I dunno.”

“How uh, how much do you remember exactly?” Rainbow asked.

Wish sniffled and lifted a hoof to rub away at a few tears that were starting to form. “I remember what my father said… I remember turning the valve… and then pretty much nothing, just images. Then I woke up with you in that field.” She sadly looked up at Rainbow Dash, her eyes questioning. “Dad’s dead, isn’t he?”

“I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip, unsure how much she should say. “Yeah… yeah he is, kid.”

“I don’t know,” Wish shook her head as more tears coated her cheeks. “I don’t know how to feel. Is that wrong? Am I broken?”

“No, Wish. You’re not broken,” Rainbow reached down to hug the filly close. “You’ve been through so much, so quickly, it’s okay to not be sure what to feel right now. It’s all okay. You don’t deserve to have gone through any of this, you just need time now, just some time to rest and let things heal.”

“You were right about him...” Wish said.

“I’m sorry I was...”

Wish cried into her chest. “I loved him… I loved him so much… he—he was… but I still loved him, Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash pet her mane. “I know.”

“I don’t know what to do… I don’t know where to go… I don’t have anything...” Wish said. “N-Nopony ever cared about me before you came here, not really, and now you’re going to fly away and leave...”

“Kid...”

“You are! I know you are so don’t even try to deny it!” Wish yelled, pushing away from Rainbow Dash and jumping down to the floor, pacing away. “All alone.. I’m going to be alone again.”

“No you aren’t.”

Wish paused and looked back at her.

Rainbow Dash got off her chair and walked over to the filly. She placed her hoof on the filly’s shoulder and took a deep breath. Everything that had happened since Rainbow Dash arrived in Hoofica was playing through her mind, every pony she had met, every fight she had been in, her time in the dungeon… what had occurred only yesterday. The moment she first met Wish. And later the promise she had made to Wish.

“Didn’t I say I would help you? Didn’t I say I wouldn’t stop until I saw your smile? How could I just leave you like this before that? Tell me, Wish—are you happy right now?”

“I...” Wish’s lip quivered, the question so similar to the one she had been asked again and again inside Hoofica Castle. Finally she shook her head back and forth, more tears spilling from her eyes. “No.”

“Then I’m still going to be here for you. And I always will be until I see a true, genuine smile on your face, and you can tell me that you’re happy for real,” she hugged the filly.

“So… you’re staying here with me?” Wish asked.

Rainbow Dash grinned at her. “Now I didn’t quite say that.”

“Huh?”

“Well I mean… do you really want to stay in Hoofica? Seems like you’ve got a lot of bad memories here. And I bet a kid like you would like the opportunity to get out and see the world. After everything else I think you deserve some fun adventuring,” Rainbow tussled her mane.

“So you mean...?” Wish looked up at her with wide eyes.

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “You’re coming with me.”

“You two are leaving already? Where are you going?” Beet Harvest asked them next morning after they had gotten another—still much needed—night of rest at his house. And of course another much needed breakfast.

“Going on a trip,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. She and Wish were standing out on the porch of his home, with Rainbow Dash stretching her body and her wings most of all. “Now that the barrier is down, anypony can go in and out of Hoofica again. Also I guess I didn’t mention it before but I’m not from here anyways, still got a long way to travel personally. And the kid… guess you can say she’s getting a much needed vacation.”

“But you sure you want to leave right now?” He asked again as he looked at Rainbow Dash’s still very thin form, her muscles and fat weren’t going to be back to normal for a little while, and her ribs were still visible along with the marks from a number of injuries she had sustained in the castle battle. “My home is open to the two of you—if Hoofica is back to normal then I need to do my best to make up for all those miserable months and show you the best hospitality I can.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and chuckled. “You did, dude. Thank you. Besides, the kid tells me that there are still tons of towns and cities to the south of here that we’ll be able to stop at at anytime.” She raised an eyebrow at Wish. “Right?”

Wish nodded with a small smile. “That’s right.”

“You can guide me until we get out of the country’s borders,” Rainbow patted her on the shoulder.

“Well then I suppose it’s goodbye and good luck to the two of you,” Beet Harvest said to them. His eyes lingered on Wish for a moment, but the filly seemed in much better condition than yesterday at least.

“Yep, we’ll be flying out of here in just a moment,” Rainbow Dash said. “Uh, but before I forget… do you know Red Wing? The former Captain of the Hoofica Royal Guard.

“I know of him, yes,” Beet Harvest answered.

Rainbow nodded. “Okay. Well at some point, he or some ponies working under him might come by here asking about me. If they do, can you tell them that Rainbow Dash is doing okay?”

“Uh, I suppose so,” he shrugged.

“Thanks again then,” she grinned and turned to Wish. “Ready to go?”

“Ready!” Wish replied.

Rainbow Dash reached down and tossed the filly onto her back. “There you go.”

“I could’ve jumped or climbed up on my own...” Wish frowned.

“Yeah, yeah, relax,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Just grab on and hold on, kid. I fly fast.”

Wish smirked. “I know.”

Rainbow looked at Beet Harvest one last time and gave him a quick salute. “Bye, dude. Thanks for letting us use your place.”

“Goodbye,” he smiled to them.

Rainbow Dash then blasted off from the ground with Wish on her back, leaving a rainbow trail as she went. Beet Harvest continued to wave after the two of them until they quickly disappeared in the distance. But he kept staring at the sky for a long while afterwards. It was a beautiful day out after all, with a blue sky and white clouds floating around in it.

A truly beautiful day.

“Hoofica looks a lot nicer now than when I first came here,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew with Wish over the landscape. The green ground below, the healthy blue rivers, the wide valleys, the sprawling forests, rocky mountains to the east, it was a beautiful country now that she could see it in its natural state. It really was.

“Mhm...” Wish mumbled in agreement, having difficulty speaking with the wind whipping around her. She wasn’t exactly used to this and her hooves wrapped a little tighter around Rainbow Dash’s neck for safety.

“Er, sorry—I guess I might have to slow down a little,” Rainbow Dash chuckled in embarrassment. “Don’t be afraid to speak up about anything, okay?”

“I won’t be.”

“Good,” Rainbow Dash nodded and looked south. In the distance she could see a small village, and it wasn’t the only one. There were probably ponies out already, going about their business, talking with friends again, going back to normal. She smiled warmly at the thought. “Good...”

“Huh?” Wish said.

“Nothing… just thinking. How are you doing back there? How are you feeling?” Rainbow asked.

Wish was quiet for a second, shifting a little on Rainbow’s back before she responded. “Better… I guess. I just… I’m happy to be with you. I-I know that at least...”

“That’s… that’s probably the best we can do right now,” Rainbow said, a small and sad smile on her face. “But it’ll get better for you, I promise. We can do this together.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Wish said.

A cloud overhead briefly drifted in front of the sun and cast a shadow over the two of them before they were out from under it. And the friendly and inviting landscape of Hoofica continued to pass by beneath them, Rainbow Dash and Wish flying on and on.

Dune Days

“You know I really would’ve appreciated if you could’ve told me beforehand that there was another desert south of Hoofica,” Rainbow Dash said to Wish as the two of them walked through a wide sea of sand.

“Well I didn’t know. I’ve never been out of Hoofica before,” Wish shrugged and frowned at her.

“Great education you got in school...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

Four days it had taken for them to fly from the middle of Hoofica to the southern border, stopping occasionally for food and sleep and saying hello to new ponies. While also spreading the news about what had happened and reassuring the ponies of Hoofica that yes—it was safe to start smiling and be happy again. It had been a nice trip, an easy trip that they both needed, but now it was time to move on. The relaxed days were likely ending soon as Rainbow Dash, and Wish with her, entered the next leg of her adventure. And unfortunately that meant traveling through a desert for now.

Rainbow looked out across the desert, seeing nothing but sand and sloping sand dunes in the distance. “Great… just great.” She looked back down at the filly and raised an eyebrow. “So these are your first steps out of the country, huh?”

“Yeah,” Wish nodded.

“How’s it feel?”

“I dunno. Doesn’t really feel special or anything to be honest,” Wish shrugged. “I think it probably would’ve been really amazing to me… but now I guess I don’t really care.”

Rainbow Dash patted her head. “You’re still dealing with a lot of stuff. I’m sure eventually you’ll get that excited feeling back. I’ll help you with that too if you need it.”

“Mm,” Wish noncommittally nodded.

At least she isn’t crying or just totally depressed anymore. Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she thought that. There was obviously a lot Wish was still dealing with internally, and probably trying to ignore. But Rainbow really wasn’t any kind of therapist or had any idea of how to help the filly deal with those issues. Her answer was “time”. Time and being there to support her if Wish asked or obviously needed it. That was all she could do right now.

The good news was, Rainbow Dash had spent the last few days chowing down to excess at any place they stopped and she was more or less back to normal. Being out in the fresh air, getting some good exercise, sleeping in nice beds, it had all gone a long ways to fixing her health and body. No longer were her ribs visible and her mane and coat lacking in luster.

Now at least they were going into this with full stomachs. She was a little worried when it came to Wish’s ability to travel like this, but the filly hadn’t complained about anything yet and Rainbow Dash could always just easily carry her if she got tired of walking.

In fact the only reason they were walking right now and not flying was because Rainbow wanted to give Wish something to do. Make her get a little exercise and not let her get bored so her mind wanders. She didn’t need to be trapped in her own head right now.

“Okay, let’s get moving. Let’s get to the top of those dunes at least and see what else is out here,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the sand dunes ahead.

There was no way this place could be as big as the Great Camel Desert at least. No way. It thankfully also wasn’t as hot as that northern desert so that was a plus. The sand was warm but not scorching and the sun wasn’t a harsh killer on her back. Traveling through it wouldn’t be so terrible as her last tryst with a desert. Probably just boring.

It was all just sand after all. More boring sand.

Another key difference though was how white this sand was compared to the more yellow-orange sand of the Great Camel Desert. Whatever this desert was, its sand was almost as white as snow.

“I think I really don’t like deserts,” Wish said as she trudged through the sand. “But maybe I can finally get my Cutie Mark in desert exploring or something.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Fat chance of that. You don’t need to worry so much about not having a Cutie Mark anyways.”

“Easy to say for the pony who already has hers.”

“Heh, seriously, it’s not like you’re older than normal for getting your mark or anything. I bet most foals your age don’t have their Cutie Mark. You’re what, six or something, right?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.

Wish frowned and glared up at her. “I’m eight!”

“Oh, big difference,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“It is!” Wish said in annoyance.

As they kept walking along, Rainbow Dash got a devilish look on her face. “Hmm… I guess if you’re really not just a little kid anymore, then you wouldn’t like it at all if I did this!”

She quickly jumped over to the filly and grabbed her before tossing her into the air, then catching her on the way down and tossing her up again.

“Waah! Rainbow Dash!” Wish cried out in surprise and nervousness as Rainbow tossed her up. “What are you doing?!”

“Having fun with a little kid!” Rainbow Dash laughed as she threw Wish up again and again, darting over the sand and catching her each time.

“W-W-Well stop it!”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I guess maybe I should. This is the kind of thing a four year old would enjoy, not a big and mature eight year old like you. You’re too old for this, huh?”

“Yes! Now put me down!”

Rainbow Dash threw her up even higher one last time and pretended she wasn’t going to grab her before she hit the sand—when at the last moment she reached out and safely caught her. She grinned at the filly and raised an eyebrow. “Well? Did you have fun?”

Wish angrily glared at her… before her expression changed at the honest smirk on Rainbow Dash’s face. A small smile crawled up Wish’s lips and she started giggling at the pegasus.

“You’re dumb.”

“You can say that again,” Rainbow Dash laughed and put Wish back down on the sand. “And you’re a kid. Don’t feel so bad about it. You don’t need to grow up so fast, you can still act your age and have fun doing silly stuff like this. You’re never a kid again. And you definitely don’t need to try forcing that Cutie Mark to appear—believe me—it’ll come when it comes. So just relax some more, just relax and let me treat you like a kid. I’m a dumb adult but I’m still an adult, I at least know a thing or two.”

Wish snorted. “Fine. I know I’m not that old or anything...”

“Yeah, and be happy for that. Now come on and walk with me, let’s see what else is going on in this desert,” Rainbow said and took the two of them closer to the sand dunes she had spotted earlier.

“I’m going to guess sand,” Wish said.

“Well… probably,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

The two of them took about ten minutes to crest the nearest sand dune and get a look out at the rest of the desert. As expected, it was just more sand in every direction, didn’t look like the desert was ending anytime soon. A cactus or something would’ve been nice but instead the two of them spent their time looking at white sand with no obstruction. She knew that further south there was something called the “Green Divide” according to Cart D’Evron but she didn’t know how far exactly it was. After that it was the country of Vissidia, which hopefully was a lot nicer than Hoofica had been.

“Go figure,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. She motioned to Wish to get on her back. “Hop on, kid. Let’s speed things up.”

“Alright,” Wish said and jumped on. “Do you even really know where we’re going next?”

“Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“I know what’s south, but I don’t know how far, or where exactly to go. Or much about what’s there at all aside from the name.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“Yeah, yeah… I know what I’m doing.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t fly away with her for the moment, but instead continued to walk. It was just at a faster pace than Wish could manage with her shorter legs. She started whistling after a minute, and a smile came to her face when she heard Wish join in.

The Circus is in Town

“I spy, with my little eye, something... white.”

“Is it sand?”

“No, it’s-”

“Is it a cloud?”

"Yeah, yeah it’s a cloud.”

“I’m getting kind of bored of this, Rainbow Dash.”

“Well there’s not really a lot to see... maybe I can come up with a better game to play.”

“I think maybe I’d prefer quiet for now.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You still need to learn to have some fun.”

“I know how to have fun, but do you see anything to paint with around here?”

“Err... no.”

“Exactly.”

“Fine, alright. We can just walk quietly for now until something comes up.”

Another day had gone by with the two of them traveling through the desert. Boredom at the moment was their greatest enemy. Rainbow Dash had offered to fly the two of them at top speed out of here but Wish had stopped her from doing that for the moment, too tired to deal with flying on Rainbow’s back like that. Instead they continued to walk and hope for any source of amusement or change in the scenery. So far no luck. Wish of course was still getting a free ride anyways on Rainbow’s back, but it’s not like Rainbow Dash minded.

“Should we be worrying about water?” Wish asked her.

“Nope.”

Wish stretched her head around to look at Rainbow Dash’s face and frowned, but she didn’t say anything. It was fairly obvious that she wasn’t entirely sure about that.

“So you like painting a lot, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked her to change the subject.

“Yes... it was my favorite thing to do back in the castle,” Wish answered.

“Huh, maybe you’ll get a painting Cutie Mark someday.”

Wish snorted. “If that was going to happen I think it already would have.”

“Never know,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Sometimes it takes some specific moment, or push, or for you to realize something. I dunno, I’ve got some friends who are kind of experts on Cutie Marks but meh, can’t really tell you too much myself.”

“Well thanks, that’s a ton of help.”

Rainbow Dash flatly looked over her shoulder at Wish. “You’re a really sarcastic pony, you know that?”

“Now that I can really speak my mind on things and don’t have some white-suited psycho scaring me all the time...” Wish grumbled.

“Well... yeah... fair enough,” Rainbow allowed.

The filly huffed and pretty much laid down on Rainbow Dash’s back. After a minute she spoke up again. “Okay... now I spy something. Something red.”

“Something red?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as she kept walking.

“Yep. Guess what it is.”

Rainbow Dash looked around and saw nothing that was red, but it only took a second for her to think before a smile stretched across her face. “Hmm... I wonder. Could it be the stripe of red in my mane?”

“Nope.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “No? Really?”

“Really. Guess again.”

She frowned and furrowed her brow, thinking where else something red could be in this white desert. She was about to give up when realization dawned on her face and she rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Is it the red stripe in my tail?”

“Yep,” Wish’s smirk was audible. “Good job.”

“I think we’ve both been walking through this desert for too long. You should’ve seen what it was like in the last desert I had to get through,” Rainbow Dash said.

“You already told me about all the crazy places you’ve been and had to fight your way through. Was that giant pegasus who made a hurricane real?”

“Yes! He was! You’re the second pony who hasn’t believed that!” Rainbow frowned.

“I’ve never been outside Hoofica, it all sounds strange and unbelievable to me. I’m sheltered,” Wish shrugged. “If you’re telling the truth about that I’d never be able to tell when you’re actually lying about something.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you about my cool adventures. But uh... I might fudge the details on parts,” Rainbow Dash thought about the three separate times she was knocked out and beaten by Blizzard.

“Suuure,” Wish said.

“Trust me on it! If you want a cool story I’ve got a bunch to tell. Hay, I’ve got a bunch from my friends to tell. Unless you still want to just rest or whatever.”

“I’m still kind of tired... hm, now I spy something green with my eye.”

“Okay, okay, enough of that. If you’re tired then get some sleep on my back.”

“Can do,” Wish yawned and closed her eyes, curling up a little on Rainbow’s back and trying to get some rest.

The good news about today and their walking right now was that there was at least a decent breeze in the air. And not a scorching and burning one, but a surprisingly cool one. And several clouds existed in the sky to keep the sun from permanently beating down on the both of them. It definitely wasn’t as awful as it could be but it still wasn’t a vacation either. Rainbow would be happy when they got out of here or at least got to the point where they could see the Green Divide. One thing she was proud to realize though was that she had also gotten used to higher temperature places like this. Her hooves didn’t even burn a little on the sand anymore. By the time this adventure of hers was over she’d be able to handle any climate and any environment.

Ahead there was a large hill—well—large sand dune that she was heading towards. It was taller than any other Rainbow had seen in the desert so far and she was hoping it would reveal something on the other side once she and Wish crested it. Only one of them had to actually make the obnoxious journey up it however.

Rainbow Dash started whistling a bored tune as she walked. Wish didn’t join in but she didn’t say anything about it either so Rainbow continued with the music while the filly rested.

That whistling ended when she was about ten feet from reaching the top of the sand dune.

Because she had seen something that caused her to stop in her tracks.

“Uh, now I spy something red with my eyes,” Rainbow Dash said.

Wish slowly blinked her eyes open. “I thought we were done with this?”

“Kid...”

“Is it my red mane or tail you’re seeing this time?”

“Kid—look up.”

Wish frowned and looked up over Rainbow Dash’s head, which was also raised and looking into the air. She blinked again and her jaw hung half-open, not sure if she was seeing what she was actually seeing. Rainbow Dash had the same confusion going through her head.

A red balloon. Floating in the breeze. It had come up from beyond the sand dune and was now rising higher and higher into the sky. As they watched, another balloon came floating up, then another, and another. Red, blue, yellow, green, all the colors of the rainbow and more. Dozens, then hundreds, they filled the sky as the two ponies looked on. It was an unreal sight, they had come from nowhere and were now floating off in every direction.

Wish hopped off of Rainbow Dash’s back and looked up at her with a stupefied expression.

Rainbow Dash frowned and trotted up to the top of the sand dune, Wish following her.

What they saw when they looked down at the sandy valley in the desert below put a mere flock of balloons to shame.

A circus full of tents, rides, stalls, and crowds sat in the sand. Nothing else was around for miles, and yet here this circus was. Rows of fair games were lined up, a large ferris wheel sat on one side and a mini-roller coaster on the other, a bumper cart zone was set up in one part, snack shacks were all around, more balloons were coming from in it. And right smack dab in the middle sat a gigantic red and white big top.

“W-What is this?” Wish asked as she looked down at it all.

“It looks like some kind of circus or carnival...” Rainbow Dash said.

“Are we both hallucinating or something?”

“I... I really don’t know,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. She squinted and peered down at the circus, seeing a bunch of figures mingling around in it. “There are definitely ponies or other creatures there but... how come it’s so quiet?”

Wish frowned and listened in too. Rainbow Dash was right, there wasn’t a peep or noise of any sort coming up from it.

A shudder went through Wish’s body, there was a sick feeling she got from this strange circus. “I-I-I don’t like it Rainbow Dash... l-let’s go somewhere else. There’s something weird about that place...”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and started walking down the sand dune, a serious expression on her face. “We’ve gotta check it out.”

“Since when?” Wish complained.

But Rainbow Dash ignored her and kept walking down to the circus.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” Wish yelled and came running after her.

There was definitely something up with this circus, Rainbow Dash could feel it too, the same as Wish. She couldn’t ignore it or just fly around, they had to see what was going on down there. Wish came up beside her and matched her pace while the two walked down the large sand dune. There was no fence or barrier around the circus, but there was a large ticket booth and turnstile directly in front of them. Rainbow Dash frowned at it and just walked around the whole thing. She didn’t even see a pony inside manning the booth anyways.

The two of them then walked onto the grounds of the circus where all the other visitors were standing around and-

“What the—what is this?” Wish said as she looked around.

“I... I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

All the guests, all the figures they had seen from above here in the circus, weren’t really guests at all. Rainbow Dash and Wish’s eyes roamed over dozens and dozens of cardboard cutouts of ponies propped up in the sand. They were standing in front of tents, or waiting to get on rides, or just standing around anywhere really. All of them made to create a facsimile of a busy and crowded circus.

“They’re just fakes...” Wish said.

“Yeah they’re... they’re...” Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat as she looked at a particular group of stands. “No way... what?”

“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” Wish asked her.

Rainbow ignored her again though and walked towards a big group of cardboard pegasi that were standing in the middle of the rows leading to the fair games. Seven of them in total, her hoof reached out to touch the nearest one, a nostalgic look on her face mingled with confusion and worry. Her mind was slow and her voice soft as she looked at the familiar ponies. “Summer Rains... Crescent Moon... Wild Wind... everyone.”

“You know these ponies?” Wish asked as she joined Rainbow Dash by the cutouts.

“I...I knew them, yeah. I met them early on on my journey,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “I-I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Wish shook her head and gulped, looking at the cutouts and the other ones around. “I don’t know, Rainbow Dash.” The faces on the cutouts were smiling and they looked as happy as could be. “I think you mentioned these ponies to me before, once or twice maybe, when you were telling me your old stories?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“But... how is this...” Wish started before trailing off.

“I’m just as lost as you, kid,” Rainbow said while looking around some more. She saw what she thought she would—more ponies she recognized. They were all around her, either in front of rides or games, or “walking” around the circus. From her time in the Eternal Pegasus Empire, she saw a lot of them all around her former squadmates. Elder Tornado was standing by a caramel apple stand, Snowshine and Aurora were already holding cotton candy as they walked together towards a dart-throwing game. Inside the game booths and snack stands though, there was something different than simple cardboard cutouts. Instead ponies made of straw, like scarecrows, were set up. They all wore the same uniforms and had button eyes.

Wish fought a shiver whenever she saw one.

Rainbow Dash walked past them all, a somewhat somber look on her face. All ponies she had met. All ponies whose lives she had changed. She missed them, it felt both good and sad to see their faces again like this. In this strange way. Not only were they mere cardboard cutouts but their smiling faces were off on their own, they were too wide, too ecstatic, the smiles were just unnatural looking.

She walked past some more cutouts and saw another pony she recognized from elsewhere, this one holding a broom.

“Dust Bunny...” Rainbow Dash walked over and affectionately patted the cutout. She remembered how fun it was to dance with her that one night.

There were a few more she recognized from that underground city but Rainbow Dash continued to walk on and check more of the circus out. Wish followed close on her heels, far more confused and worried than even Rainbow Dash. The two of them passed by a tent and Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped at what she saw a little further away.

Quickly she ran over to a new set of cutouts, ones standing in a line waiting to get on a rollercoaster. They were much larger than any of the other cutouts Rainbow and Wish had seen so far. Mammoth sized even.

“Larkon! Samarkon! Alykon! Shibu!” Rainbow Dash said as she came to a stop in front of the mammoth family.

Wish came up behind her, panting, and looked up at the gigantic cutouts. “These... is this what mammoths look like?” She asked, putting two and two together from what Rainbow had told her and the names she had just spouted.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash nodded. She looked at Larkon’s cutout, noticing the distinct lack of any wheelchair. Whoever had made these must’ve thought it wasn’t “happy” enough. Behind his family in line were even more mammoths. Abalun, Ollaron and the rest of the Sages, Bakol and more.

“They’re big,” Wish gulped.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash smirked for the first time since they had seen the circus. “Just big balls of fur, the mammoths were all really nice. Well, almost all.”

“How come every cutout is smiling so much?” Wish asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “Still got no idea. I really don’t know what’s going on right now...” She took a deep breath. “But what’s for sure is that all of these cutouts are of ponies and other creatures I’ve met on my journey.”

The two ponies walked deeper into the circus towards the large big top at the center and Rainbow Dash continued to see other faces she remembered. Crush, Night Reader and Brilliant Star from the Metal Mountain, and the gang leaders Double Duty, Acid Rain, and Frayed Wire too. All of them were placed in the bumper cars, smiling and having a faux-battle. Beyond the bumper carts a group of griffons were standing inside what looked like an empty petting zoo with hay bales piled up everywhere. Galia, Glaive, all the others from House Stormwing she had met. And then outside of another tent stood Ark’Nogt, Sia’Lorna, and Wandering Claw.

When she and Wish walked by a game stand that had you trying to throw baseballs to knock down milk cartons, she noticed that the top prize seemed to be a giant balloon Raalzeron. Though not nearly as giant as he really was.

And as soon as Rainbow walked by that stand...

“No...” she whispered. “Don’t do this to me.”

“R-Rainbow Dash?” Wish looked up at her and then over at the two cutouts her guardian was looking at.

They were standing in front of a row of skeeball games. One earth pony stallion in a uniform with a red helmet on his head, and one unicorn mare in a doctor’s coat.

Rainbow Dash felt her eyes start to get wet as she slowly walked up to them. “Barnaby... Anathema...” She grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing the cardboard cutouts were something easier to hug. “Why? Who’s doing this...?”

After that she walked in a daze through the rest of the circus, with an uncertain Wish practically bumping against her with each step. Miss Valentine was riding a merry-go-round, He Whose Neck Is Long and a number of other giraffes stood by some stand that their tall bodies obscured, and after them Wish was now able to recognize the ponies they saw. Captain Red Wing, her old maid Sweet Candy, the Queen, and several others from Hoofica were arrayed all over. A smorgasbord of ponies the two of them knew. Rainbow Dash bit her lip as they were now close to the large big top.

On the wind, two small pieces of paper blew in and fluttered about in the air before landing at Rainbow and Wish’s hooves.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Wish, who merely shrugged, and the pegasus decided to pick up the pieces of paper. Turning them over in her hooves, she frowned at what she saw:

ONE ADMISSION TO THE BIG TOP BIG SHOW!!!!!

That text in thick black ink surrounded by stars along the border. All her senses and instincts were telling her that it was probably a bad idea to go to the big top. But it was almost like something else was pulling her, calling to her, it wasn’t just simple curiosity. There was far more to it. Rainbow Dash exhaled through her nose and began walking towards the big top with purpose. Wish took a last look at the cutouts she recognized before following along.

They had to push through another few stalls and tents before they emerged onto the open sands that led right to the big entrance of the big top.

And Rainbow Dash once more paused, her eyes going wide and a great gasp of surprise coming out of her mouth. There were five cutouts in line at the kiosk and turnstile that led inside the big top. With the one in front happily smiling to the others and pointing inside the tent, telling them to hurry up and head inside before the show started.

“This is just crazy,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked upon Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack as they stood standing there.

“Who are they?” Wish asked her.

“My friends... my friends from Equestria.”

Wish looked at the cutouts in surprise. She had heard Rainbow Dash first mention their names when she was being tortured by Vox in the dungeon... and now she was getting to see them. But why? Why any of this? She didn’t know what was going on at all. And the big top... the huge red and white tent with its shadowy entrance was lording over the both of them. It was so imposing... so... wrong.

“Are we going in there?” She asked Rainbow Dash again.

“We’ve got tickets, don’t we?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Besides... I need to figure this out.”

“Okaaayyy...” An uncertain Wish followed her towards the big top’s entrance.

There was a whole admissions booth set up just for it, with another straw pony inside and a turnstile set up beside it. Although she doubted she actually needed to, Rainbow Dash slid the two tickets under the glass to the “pony” in the booth. Then she and Wish walked through the turnstile to get into the large open flap of the big top. It was impossible to see deeper inside, there wasn’t a single light on or torch by the look of things. As soon as they pushed past the rotating turnstile, Rainbow gave one last glance to the cardboard cutouts of her best friends before venturing on with Wish close by her side.

The sand beneath their hooves turned to dirt as they entered the big top, in the shadows beside them, Rainbow Dash could see large stands going up and up on the sides of the big top. Was anyone else here waiting to watch the big show? Or was it more likely just a bunch of cardboard cutouts and straw ponies sitting in here?

In a few more steps a spotlight set up on the ceiling of the big top switched on and granted Rainbow Dash and Wish some light in here. Rainbow put her hoof in front of Wish to block her in case anything bad was about to happen, but it seemed there was nothing else, just the light. Now though the two of them could see where they were. On the ground floor of the big top, there was a chest high barrier forming a ring around the center of the huge tent, inside that ring sat a variety of circus equipment. A trapeze close to the top of the tent, a cannon big enough for a pony to fit inside, empty cages that would’ve normally held wild animals, a springboard for jumping on and launching ponies into the air, big hoops ready to be lit with flames, and more. Exactly opposite from where Rainbow and wish were standing, the back of the ring opened up and led to a set of closed back curtains.

“Umm... are we supposed to do something?” Wish asked as she looked around. “There doesn’t really seem to be a show going on.”

“Not sure,” Rainbow said as she looked up at the stands that went around almost the entire interior of the tent. As expected, it was nothing but button-eyed strawponies taking up every available place to sit. Except... there was one small open spot midway up the stands to her left. Big enough for her and Wish to sit together at.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “I think we need to take our seats... and then the show will start. Whatever it is. Whatever’s going on here...”

She picked Wish up and carried her over to the empty spot between a few of the strawponies. Wish sat down to her right and looked at the rows and rows of strawponies sitting around them. It was a little unnerving. Rainbow Dash too frowned and looked at the back curtain that led deeper into the tent, wondering if anyone was going to come out and start the show.

Should we really be sitting here? Shouldn’t I be doing something? Rainbow Dash thought to herself. Instead she almost felt compelled to just stay and watch. As if that was the best way to figure out the mystery of the strange circus.

As soon as that thought of hers ended, more spotlights switched on all around the big top, fully lighting it up. Hidden cannons of confetti erupted in the stands and filled the air with colorful bits of paper, making Wish flinch at the noise and Rainbow Dash tense up and get ready to move at any threat of attack. Still though, nothing came, it was just an announcement that things were beginning.

Music started to play, coming from somewhere in the tent, fanciful circus and clown music. The back curtains were pulled to the side and-

-a large ball came rolling out with a pony riding on top of it, expertly moving his hooves to stay balanced. He rode it all the way to the middle of the ring while the music peaked, and out from behind his back withdrew four bowling pins and started juggling them all at once. It was easy as pie to him. He was a yellow earth pony with an electric blue mane and tail and a white star painted on his left cheek. The pony also wore a clown costume with garish colors, suspenders, big floppy shoes on his back hooves, and a bright red nose on his face with an overly tall top hat on his head. As he put on his show the music continued and he jumped off the ball, flipping around and juggling the bowling pins while on his back for a second, then jumping back up and expertly catching them all in a perfectly balanced stack before tossing them away.

One of the hoops in the ring suddenly caught fire and the clown jumped through it with a front flip before sliding across the ground and holding his hooves out towards the “crowd”.

“TA-DA~” He shouted.

Silence.

Rainbow Dash and Wish both gawked in disbelief and confusion, and of course no cheers and clapping came from the strawponies.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind!” The clown laughed and got up, bowing repeatedly. “I am so, so very happy you could all come here today! Especially our two special guests!” He looked up and winked at Rainbow and Wish and a spotlight suddenly turned on overhead, shining down on the two of them. “Welcome to the wonderful Laughing Brothers’ Circus! I am your host and ringmaster, Ha-Ha-Harlequin White!”

Rainbow Dash’s pupils shrank and her eyes narrowed. “What? What did he just say his name was?”

Wish looked up at her. “Huh?”

“I hope you will enjoy this show we have today for you,” Harlequin White grinned and pulled a baton from nowhere, spinning it around as he strode around the center ring of the big top. He came to a stop in the middle of the dirt and thrusted his baton towards Rainbow and Wish while they sat in the stands. “Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash, what a pleasure it is to have you here! Would you like to come on down and join the show?”

Rainbow Dash frowned down at the ringmaster. “No, I don’t think so.” She loudly said.

“That so? What a pity, what a pity indeed, we’ve got quite the spectacular show to put on and I was sure you’d enjoy being part of it more than just simply watching,” he shrugged and turned his attention to Wish. “What about you, little filly? Would you like to engage in death-defying feats and stunts?”

Wish adamantly shook her head, not moving from her spot.

“Look-” Rainbow Dash interjected. “I don’t know what this is or what you think you’re doing, but I’d like an answer.”

“I’m putting on a show. This is a circus after all,” Harlequin White shrugged.

“Don’t give me that!” Rainbow Dash roared and stood up, flapping her wings and hovering over her seat. “You think I’m stupid? You’re like him, aren’t you? So what do you want with me? Harlequin White, Harlequin Grey, I don’t care if you’re lying and maybe you’re the same pony—or maybe you’re brothers, or something, it doesn’t matter! But I know you’re up to something!”

“Actually you are somewhat mistaken. I’m not up to anything and I couldn’t care less about you for the most part. But good on you on realizing something is off here. Most ponies can’t even register that things aren’t how they should be when I’m around. You really are a special one,” he said.

“R-Rainbow Dash, what’s going on?” Wish asked her.

“Don’t worry, Wish. It’s nothing, just sit there and let me handle this,” Rainbow told her.

“Well... you’re mistaken a bit on that too,” Harlequin White said. “It’s not exactly nothing. Especially concerning the silly filly.”

Rainbow Dash paused and looked at Wish, who herself was trembling in uncertainty.

“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked Harlequin White.

“Oh just that... well, just because I’m not up to anything doesn’t mean no one else is. And just because I don’t care about the two of you doesn’t mean no one else does. And this circus wasn’t just made for you, Rainbow Dash. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if you assumed it was. After all, you’ve always been the focus whenever you met a certain someone else like me.” His eyes glanced over to Wish and a smile danced on his lips. “That’s different today.”

Suddenly a trap door opened up beneath where Wish was sitting and the bench dropped, dumping Wish down and into the dark chute that had opened up.

“Ahhhhhh!” The filly screamed before the trap door closed back up and cut her off.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash yelled and dropped to the stands again, punching the seat and floor of it to try and pry open the trap door. She knocked away a number of the strawponies and looked for anything she could do, but the door might as well have been a sealed vault. She quickly rounded on Harlequin White and glared at him furiously. “What did you do to her?!”

“Me?” He pointed to himself and faked obliviousness, blinking at her and sticking out his lip like he knew nothing. “Well I didn’t do anything at all. She’s merely become the guest of a very special show being put on by someone else.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed and she grit her teeth in anger. “Who?”

Harlequin White grinned. “Oh, I think you know who.”

“Waaaaaahhhh!” Wish screamed as she fell down and down the chute, like she was on an exceptionally steep and slick metal slide. After what felt like she had been falling down it for hundreds of feet it finally spat her out and she fell right onto a wooden stool.

“Oof!” She cried out, it was uncomfortable but it didn’t hurt as badly as it probably should have. “Ow... seriously?” She rubbed her flank and looked around.

It was dark. That was the first thing she noticed. She could barely see a few feet in front of her hooves and there was only a weak light directly above her head that she couldn’t see the source of. The chute she had come flying out of was gone too. She must’ve been somewhere under the big top... right? Wish fidgeted uncomfortably on the stool, she couldn’t actually see the floor or how high up she was.

“Um... hello?” She called out to the darkness.

“Hello.”

A pony strode out from the shadows towards Wish, his face was stony and expressionless, his eyes empty but also strangely moving from one color to the next every time Wish blinked. His black mane was slicked back over his head and it matched well with the cool dark blue color of his coat.

“W-Who are you?” Wish asked.

“The name is Harlequin Grey,” he answered. “But that’s not important right now. There are some things I would like to talk about with you.”

In the Court of the Crimson King

“What does he want with her?!” Rainbow Dash shouted to Harlequin White.

“I dunno,” Harlequin White shrugged. “I was merely asked to be a distraction, taking care of you while he talked with her. Whatever his goal is with her specifically I don’t know and I couldn’t really care less. Normally I wouldn’t help my condescending putz of a brother but I was bored and didn’t really have anything better to do so here I am. And truthfully, despite sharing nothing in common with him or his ambitions, I do have to admit that I was interested in messing with you as well. I hardly get the chance to mess with a pony as entertaining as you. It was worth putting up with his smug, know-it-all, attitude.”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “Well then you better tell me how to get to him right now!”

“Can’t. I’m the distraction after all, and that would be sooo boring if I told you where to find him just like that. Wouldn’t it?” Harlequin White taunted her. “And he’s already the king of boring.”

She clenched her hooves and flew over the stands, preparing to dive at him. “I don’t think you understand what I’m saying. Tell me where Wish is right now. Or else.”

He merely grinned up at her. “If it’s a fight you want, then keep on flying. Ha-he-ho.”

That was all Rainbow Dash needed.

“Okay! You asked for it!” A vein popped out of her forehead and she shot towards the ringmaster.

Schwwwiiiing!

The sound of something descending from the big top’s roof caught her attention and Rainbow Dash looked up just in time to dodge backwards from something falling right towards her.

“Gah!” She flew back as the thing on wires and ropes stopped in front of her, hanging there “eye to eye” with her. It was some kind of puppet, made from wood and metal gears and winches, in the shape of a pegasus. It was large, painted blue, with each rope and wire articulating a specific limb and joint. A large grin in red paint was on its face and black and white yarn had been used to make its mane and tail. Despite the relatively shoddy construction, Rainbow Dash still knew exactly who she was looking at.

“Blizzard,” her eyes narrowed at the puppet pegasus and then at Harlequin White below.

“And that’s not the only familiar face we have here,” Harlequin White chuckled.

Schwwwiiiing!

Five more puppets dropped from the ceiling. And Harlequin White was correct, they were all very familiar.

“Karkona.”

“Resin.”

“Lord Copper.”

“Supernova.”

"Vox.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the smiling puppets disinterestedly. “So this is it? A bunch of old villains I’ve already beaten? And just broken-down puppets of them too. Come on, dude, this isn’t going to scare me. If you think this is going to protect you you’re wrong.”

“Hmmm... not going to scare you, eh? What about this one?” Harlequin White said and tapped his baton on the ground.

Another puppet dropped down less than an inch in front of Rainbow Dash’s face.

A pink puppet.

Rainbow Dash grimaced and jumped back in shock, her heart momentarily speeding up despite her best efforts to keep it calm. The Heartless puppet dangled right there in front of her. Grinning.

“Okay, I’ll admit I had that one coming,” Rainbow Dash said as she narrowed her eyes at the seven puppets. She looked up towards the ceiling but the ropes and wires that held them seemed to disappear up into nothingness, the spotlights drowned out wherever they connected. “But they’re still just puppets and I’ve beaten all—almost—all of them before.”

“Doesn’t really matter. None of this is supposed to stop you completely. Just slow you down. I’m only the distraction, remember?” Harlequin White said. “He didn’t give me any real instructions on what to do, that’s why I came up with the circus and all the cutouts and everything on my own. To make it more fun! I’m pretty sure he would’ve preferred me just locking you in a cage or something, but if I’m going to do this then it’s going to happen my way. And my way is the way of entertainment.”

He hopped back onto the ball he rode out on and started juggling his baton along with several beanbags while balancing atop it. “So please be that source of entertainment, I didn’t come all the way here for nothing.”

Rainbow Dash first cracked her neck and then her hooves, snorting as she looked at the seven puppets that all hung around the air of the big top. “Fine then. Hope you don’t mind your toys getting broken.”

“I don’t understand,” Wish said to Harlequin Grey, shaking her head.

“There isn’t much to understand. It’s just a talk, Wish.” He said to her.

Wish frowned and raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. “You know my name?”

“Indeed,” he nodded. “Just as I knew your father’s name.”

Wish stiffened immediately, a cold feeling growing in her stomach and a chilly sweat breaking out on her brow.

“Does it truly bother you so much when he is only so much as mentioned now?” Harlequin Grey asked. “Sad. So sad. Tragic, even. What you went through, what you suffered at his hooves and the hooves of the pegasus you travel with now is far too tragic.”

Wish blinked, looking up at his eyes. “W-What are you talking about? Rainbow Dash didn’t...”

“It’s her fault, isn’t it? Isn’t everything that happened to you just as much her fault? She tore down your entire world by coming to Hoofica. If she hadn’t... why it’s quite possible you never would’ve learned the truth about your father. It’s possible that nothing in that tower would’ve happened and you would’ve continued to live in blissful ignorance. If only Rainbow Dash never came.”

“But... b-but that’s not right...”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh? Are you going to tell me you honestly prefer knowing the truth? You’re happy that you now know the truth about your father and mother?”

Wish shivered and shook, she reached up to hug herself and stared down at the dark floor.

“Well? Answer me.”

“No...” She whispered.

“What was that?”

“No!” She shouted. “No! I-I’m not happy to know... I wish... I wish I never knew.”

“And yet now you do. You know that miserable and ugly truth and you will never, ever, get to live without it for the rest of your life. How sad. How sad that Rainbow Dash forced it on you. She’s a selfish pony. Always has been and always will be. I hope you’re not under any illusions that she truly cares about you now?” He huffed.

“Huh?” Wish looked back up at him in horror. “What are you saying... of course she does. S-She brought me with her. She cares about me...”

“Obligation. Mere obligation. She didn’t want to feel guilty. That’s all. Please, Wish. You know best of all that no one cares about you.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Nggghhh...” Wish grumbled and held her head, a powerful headache coming on. “T-That’s not true...”

“Why are you lying to yourself? Although... I suppose you’ve gotten quite good at lying to yourself and others. Just like how you lied about not remembering anything after becoming the Avatar.”

Her eyes shot open and her mouth trembled. “H-H-How-”

He ignored her questioning, instead leaning down to her and staring deep into her eyes with his ever-shifting ones. “You remember it all. You remember what you did. What you said. What you felt. You remember killing your own father and trying to drown Rainbow Dash in endless despair.”

“NO! I-I just-” Wish shook her head, crying, trying to block out the memories.

“Don’t lie. Not here at least, it won’t help you,” Harlequin Grey sighed. “Did you really think you could just go the rest of your life trying to act like you weren’t aware of everything that happened? Please. At some point all that bottled up pain would erupt. You had the right idea as the Avatar to embrace complete apathy.”

“No—that’s wrong! That’s wrong, that’s wrong, that’s wrong!” Wish yelled.

“Why? Because Rainbow Dash said so? That selfish pony is more responsible for your woes than anyone. Surely you harbor some resentment for her after everything that has happened? Surely you at least still hold some of what you realized as the Avatar close to your heart?”

Wish kept shaking her head as tears fell from her eyes. “No... no... that’s wrong. I’m not like that. That’s not what I wanted... it’s never what I wanted. R-Rainbow Dash was right. E-Even what I did to f-father, wasn’t what I wanted...”

“And has any of that brought you happiness? Has anything Rainbow Dash has done made you happy? So what if it’s not real happiness. Or the truth. At least you would be at peace if it wasn’t for her. You do resent her, don’t you? For making you kill your father, for tearing away all the lies and forcing you to confront the cold truth of your sad, pathetic, life.” He reached to her chin with his hoof and lifted it up to make sure she was always looking into his eyes. “Tell me. Do you resent her?”

Wish’s mouth opened and closed. She felt tears slide all the way down her cheeks before they dripped off and fell to the floor.

“Yes.”

“It’s only natural,” he shrugged and dropped her chin, walking away from her and pacing around the dark room slowly.

Wish let herself stare at the floor with empty eyes. What did she just say?

“There’s really nothing wrong. You have a natural reaction for a pony who has been harmed so much,” Harlequin Grey said to her. “But it’s not enough. It’s not what you should be feeling towards her.”

“Wha—what are you talking about?” She asked him in a daze, her mind all fuzzy. “What should I be feeling?”

“Hatred.”

Rainbow Dash kicked the puppet Blizzard in the head and ducked beneath Karkona’s long trunk as she shot down towards Harlequin White on the ground. She was quickly cut off by the Supernova and Vox puppets, who threw a flurry of blows and horn jabs at her. Rainbow was easily able to avoid or parry them all, but she was still pushed back and away from her true opponent on the ground. The Resin puppet then came in from the right and tried to careen into her before Rainbow Dash flew under it—only to be bodyslammed by the Lord Copper puppet and knocked further away.

She spun about and quickly regained control of herself, maintaining her altitude in the big top and flying over the stands. All the while she kept her eyes on Harlequin White.

Seriously, what even is this? Rainbow Dash thought as she looked at the wires and ropes holding the puppets. Somehow they never became tangled and were always able to glide across the tent to wherever they needed to be. The good news was it was obvious they couldn’t use magic, and the Blizzard and Karkona puppets certainly didn’t have the brute strength that the real deals did. She was faster as well, they just outnumbered her.

Rainbow Dash knew she could win. It was just taking up an annoying amount of time. Which apparently was the whole point, and she knew she shouldn’t leave Wish alone with Harlequin Grey, so she had to deal with this quicker.

The Heartless puppet zoomed circles around Harlequin White, hanging at ground level, his last line of defense.

“Tch. Whatever,” Rainbow Dash growled and looked at the other puppets all dangling in the air. It was obvious she’d have to deal with them one by one before she could get to the Harlequin. A smirk tugged up her lips. “Alright... it’s gonna feel pretty good getting to beat on some of you again. Might as well make the most of this.”

She flew straight at the Blizzard puppet and punched it in the face with enough force to crack the wood that made its head. The puppet was launched backwards but before she could continue to dismantle it, the Karkona and Resin puppets came up behind her. The Karkona puppet was very big and it simply tried to “jump” on her and knock her down to the ground. Rainbow Dash rolled out from beneath its large mass before it hit her and quickly had to lift her left front hoof to block a punch from Resin. Spinning, she kicked the Resin puppet away and immediately flew up as the Vox and Supernova puppets came at her from her sides and tried to impale her with their horns.

She flapped her wings and flew up closer to the ceiling, another advantage she had was thanks to the wires and ropes holding them up they couldn’t come from directly below her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the seemingly magical wires holding the two unicorn puppets and she darted towards them, seeing if she could grab and break them from up here. But as soon as she got close the wires and ropes moved away and no matter how quickly she flitted towards them each time she couldn’t grab a single one. Looking up at where they went she only proceeded to get almost blinded by the bright spotlights coming down from the top of the big top.

Several of the puppets started to be reeled in and pulled themselves up to the ceiling to match where Rainbow Dash was once more. The Lord Copper puppet came directly at her face and tried punching her, so Rainbow Dash grabbed the hoof it threw at her and kicked it hard in the joint that connected it to the body while wrenching it in the other direction, breaking it off and letting the limb spin away into the air, now only held up by a couple of wires. It sure felt good to do that to something that looked like Lord Copper. That wasn’t all either. She ducked under its body and pummeled the weak wood, cracking the puppet all over before flying out from below it.

Glancing back up at it, she saw the Lord Copper puppet awkwardly moving, a lot of its joints broken and bits of it falling apart. The ropes and wires couldn’t perfectly guide it anymore.

“Heh. Not quite finished, but still a piece of cake,” Rainbow grinned.

The massive trunk of Karkona then came right for her head. Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on it and vaulted over it before kicking the Karkona puppet in the face with her back legs and cracking it down the center. She then flapped up and ran across its back, kicking the winches that held the ropes holding up the puppet and weakening or breaking them outright as she went. The puppet started to list in the air and shook, almost falling down as the weight of it was too much for the rest of the ropes and wires.

Laughing, Rainbow Dash jumped off its back and flew in a circle over the center ring of the big top, looking for the next puppets to dismantle.

Vox and Supernova always seemed to be dangling close to each other. Rainbow Dash grinned and flew at the two of them. Two on one could give her potentially a decent amount of trouble when it came to dodging all their blows, but Rainbow wasn’t really afraid of the power they could actually put behind their strikes. They were just wooden puppets after all.

Punching the Vox puppet right in her grinning face also felt quite good.

The Supernova one came wheeling around behind her but Rainbow Dash kicked it in the side and knocked it away—where it also collided with the Blizzard puppet that was attempting to come in and join the fray. The Resin puppet dropped down from above onto Rainbow’s back but she swung it off of her and smacked it into the Vox puppet when it tried coming at her again. Now a lot of the puppets were all in a jumbled up mess with each other, but their wires and ropes still somehow managed to stay free of each other and shortly afterwards they still managed to all hang around and surround Rainbow Dash after pulling away from each other.

She kept her eyes open on the four of them, and looked up to see the Karkona and Lord Copper puppets were attempting to come down and rejoin the fight as well. Now she really had to start taking some of these out of commission for good.

The Resin puppet came from directly behind her and tried to grab her, but Rainbow ducked under it and elbowed it in the side of the head with enough force to make the neck break and the head loll about awkwardly. She winced, the Resin puppet was the only one she felt bad about hitting. However, she couldn’t let up just because of that, and she grabbed the puppet by its left front leg and used it as a pony shield against the Blizzard puppet when ti came in to attack her. The Resin puppet got crunched between Rainbow Dash and the other puppet and Rainbow gave it a hard kick to the midsection to knock both it and the Blizzard puppet away temporarily.

That kicked proved to be enough as the force from it split the Resin puppet down the middle, its two halves now dangling uselessly apart from each other.

“One down,” Rainbow looked to her right just in time to duck under a punch thrown by the Lord Copper puppet and the front hoof it still had.

Deciding to fix that, Rainbow Dash grabbed the outstretched wooden hoof and planted her back legs against the chest of the puppet. She then pulled with all her might and pushed away with her legs at the same time—tearing the leg clean off. Spinning around in the air she walloped the Lord Copper puppet in the head with its own leg and almost knocked it clean off, now only hanging there by a loose strip of wood. To finish things, she flew below the puppet and stabbed up the wooden limb into its gut, spearing the puppet right through the middle.

All its joints and wires seized up after that and it did nothing but spasm and shake in the air, dangling helplessly.

Rainbow Dash didn’t take any time to admire her hoofiwork, for the Karkona puppet was bearing down at her. Its trunk lashed out at her repeatedly, but compared to the real Karkona it might as well have been moving through molasses. Each time it tried to hit her she kicked it right at one of its joints to damage it and make it become less and less articulated. That made every subsequent strike even easier to dodge. On one last attempted strike she broke off the end of the trunk entirely and kicked it into the Karkona puppet’s already damaged face.

It ricocheted off but still sent more cracks through the wooden face of the puppet until it all started crumbling to pieces. Rainbow Dash then flew right at it and knocked loose the puppet’s right tusk. Something that would work even better as a weapon. Instead of just jamming it through the body of the puppet like she had done with the Lord Copper one, she flew up across the Karkona puppet’s back and with one fast swipe she severed every rope and wire holding it up. The ropes and wires all snapped away with a heavy sound and the largest puppet crashed down onto the stands. Reduced to nothing more than a broken pile of wood.

She didn’t drop the tusk either, instead she spun it around overhead and grinned while gazing at the Blizzard, Vox and Supernova puppets.

“Three down,” Rainbow grinned.

The Vox and Supernova puppets came flying at her but Rainbow Dash batted each one of them away with the wooden tusk and flew between them towards the Blizzard puppet. She lopped off both its wings and then kicked it down to the stands where it crashed into pieces. Without even looking, she threw the wooden tusk spinning behind her and heard a satisfying crunch as it smashed into the Vox and Supernova puppets as they tried to attack her again. Her instincts were as sharp as ever.

Both of the last two puppets left in the air were now heavily damaged and bits of wooden pieces of them were falling off. Rainbow Dash flew at them while they were still swaying from being struck by the tusk. She kicked the Supernova one first, hearing a crunch come from its insides when she did, and then grabbed the Vox one by its yarn mane and smashed it into Supernova’s. She then jumped on top of the Vox puppet and flapped her wings, carrying it, the Supernova puppet, and herself, down to the ground at high speed.

The two puppets were practically totally obliterated when they collided with the ground and Rainbow Dash stood atop them in victory. Now there were merely a bunch of dangling wires and ropes with loose limbs and other broken apart pieces of wood hanging around the big top. Except for one set.

Rainbow Dash turned her eyes to the pink Heartless puppet that was puppy dog guarding Harlequin White as he continued to balance on his ball without a care in the world.

“Now this one? This one I’m going to really enjoy,” Rainbow Dash said as she hopped down from the pile of rubble and walked over to the puppet.

The Heartless puppet came swinging at her but Rainbow Dash cartwheeled to the side and avoided it. When it came around again to try and punch her, she backflipped and kicked it in the chin with her back hooves. The force of the blow tore the puppet’s head clean off, sending it spiraling up to the ceiling of the big top before it fell back down into the dirt. Grinning at the headless puppet, Rainbow Dash dashed in and shoved her hoof in up to the elbow down its neck, crushing and then pulling out a bunch of wood, straw, and little gears that made up its insides. The pink puppet sputtered and dangled away before the entire thing collapsed, wires and ropes going slack, and it all fell to the ground.

“That, was cathartic.” Rainbow Dash exhaled and wiped her brow, she hadn’t even really broken a sweat.

She then turned to Harlequin White and glared at him, a serious look once again adorning her face.

“And you. You better tell me where he and Wish are right now,” she threatened.

Harlequin White hopped off the balancing ball and shrugged. “Okay.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Wait. What?”

“I’ll even do you one better,” he grinned and twirled his baton around before pointing it at the air beside them.

Lines appeared in thin air, drawing a rectangle—a door—that stretched to the ground and then glowed bright white for a second before then becoming faintly blue. As the light settled down, the blue gave way to a cosmic hallway of stars and darkness that stretched on and on. It was all moving about rapidly through the door as if they were standing on the interior of something careening through space.

“That’s a portal that will take you directly to where my brother and that filly friend of yours are,” Harlequin White said.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked over at him. “Why are you doing this?”

“Well if I hadn’t made it clear enough already I really don’t like my brother, and his goals don’t align with my desires at all. I just wanted to have some fun and I’ve had it. Helping you now would unironically be more beneficial for me and the fun-loving life I would like to continue to have,” he explained.

“If that’s true then... then why would he ask you to help him in the first place? If you’re so easily betraying him?” Rainbow asked.

“Because you’ve made him desperate enough to. Which I find immensely funny. He’s a self-assured numbskull but he probably knew I would do something like this when I got bored enough, and still he came to me for help because he saw no better option. You’ve really stressed him out. Bravo on that,” Harlequin White started chuckling as he looked at the portal. “You see... if he had used his own magic for any of this, then Discord would have very likely noticed. And, although my brother would utterly deny this if asked about it, he’s afraid of Discord. My oldest brother and he’s still such a baby. So instead he had me help and I put on this little chaotic circus.”

“What... what even are you two?” Rainbow Dash’s face twisted up as she asked him.

“I’m not one for boring exposition, ask someone else,” Harlequin White waved her off. “Now tick tock, tick tock, portal’s closing soon. Are you going to save your little friend or not? Because I hope you are, seeing my brother upset will be another good laugh.”

Rainbow Dash took a step towards the portal but paused, frowning at him. “How do I know this portal will actually take me to them?”

“You don’t. You just have to trust me,” he snickered as he said that.

She rolled her eyes. “Great. You’re lucky I don’t have the time to beat on you.”

“It wouldn’t really help anything anyways,” he shrugged.

“It’d make me feel better...” Rainbow mumbled and stood before the starry portal. She gulped and took one last look over her shoulder at the grinning Harlequin White before she jumped in. The portal closed behind her and Rainbow Dash felt herself falling, no, shooting forth through the stars.

“Hang on, Wish. I’m coming...” She said, narrowing her eyes as her speed picked up and the stars began to blur together into lines of light.

Meanwhile, Harlequin White stood in the middle of the ring and hummed to himself as the portal closed up and disappeared.

"Well, that was fun, time to head home.” He shrugged and in a flash the entire circus vanished, once more leaving nothing but sand in the desert.

“No! No, that’s wrong—that’s horrible! I-I don’t hate her and I don’t want to hate her! Rainbow Dash is... I-I know she means well. I know she cares. I just... I just can’t help it after everything... b-but I don’t want to feel that way! She’s a good pony, and you’re wrong about her!” Wish shook her head. “I don’t hate her...”

She sniffled and rubbed away at some tears. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because I think we can help each other.”

Wish looked up at him, her teary eyes making her vision a little blurry. “What do you mean?”

“The truth of despair you attained. The feeling of calm and peace. I can return you to it, I can even help you spread that feeling to others. I think the world would be a much better place if it was as calm and apathetic as that. I think you should embrace what you realized and felt as the Avatar and work to bring total apathy to the world. It will be the only thing that can possibly make you happy after what you’ve been through. And I would like to make you happy, if you’ll let me. It will be beneficial to everyone.” His eyes just stared down at her. Unblinking, almost hypnotic, the words he spoke carried such an impossible weight.

“I-I don’t want to do that,” Wish shook her head.

“Yes you do. Deep down, even though you’re trying to hide it. That moment you became The Avatar of Despair was the most honest moment of your life. Everything was pulled away, all the falsities, all the illusions, and you were finally able for the very first time in your life to think and feel clearly. Your father’s influence was gone. It was only you. You proved that when you killed him and took in Rainbow Dash. Do not deny it.”

“It wasn’t me... she said it wasn’t me...” Wish clenched her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut in denial.

“It was you in the most purest sense of the word. The darkness deep down in you that was always there and finally unleashed. That still lives in you, it has only been buried again.”

“Stop it!” Wish screamed.

Harlequin Grey paused, a long exhale coming out through his lips as he looked down on the filly.

“If perhaps more... basic desires will sway you, then wouldn’t you like to be powerful? Not a weak little filly anymore? Wouldn’t you like to not be afraid of ponies like Vox, to never again be manipulated by ponies like your father, to not be hurt again? I can do this for you. I can make it so you are never a victim and no words and actions from other powers can pierce your armor.” He raised his cold hoof and used it to wipe away a tear from her cheek. “I can give you what you’ve wanted for years.”

Wish froze. Was it true? Her hoof shakily moved back to her blank flank.

“I see you understand. That’s right, Wish. The Cutie Mark you’ve so desperately desired for years. Don’t you want it? Don’t you want to finally stop searching? You want to know. You want to know yourself. You want to be at peace and feel like you’ve finally become an adult. I can give that to you.”

“How?” Wish asked him.

“You have to truly desire it. You have to agree to help me. You have to embrace those feelings deep inside you... but once you have,” he lifted up his hoof and a sparkling cosmic shower of stars appeared around it before a spectral black question mark rose up, levitating over his hoof. “All you need to do is take my hoof.”

Wish gazed upon it, her eyes flickering from the question mark to his rainbow eyes. It was so cold here. The darkness around them became even more pronounced with the light coming from his hoof. Her entire body was trembling, she couldn’t hear herself think, and slowly she reached out from the stool towards his hoof...

Finally Something Else to See

A gentle rocking sensation greeted Wish as she slowly woke up. With her eyes still closed she breathed in deeply a few times and shifted around, not sure where she was. Tired. She felt incredibly tired. It was cool out too with a slight chill on her back and she shivered once, snuggling up against the warmth beneath her. She didn’t want to open her eyes yet. She wanted to go back to sleep and get some rest. Whatever had made her feel so exhausted could be dealt with after a few more hours of sleep.

“Heh, you finally wake up, kid? Just in time to go back to bed,” the voice of Rainbow Dash spoke to her.

Wish’s head shot up, now fully awake, and she looked forward to see her vision completely blocked by the rainbow mane pouring down the back of Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Wha…” Wish said as she blinked a few more times, remembering finally what had happened before she fell asleep. “The circus… t-that pony… huh? Where are we?”

She looked around and saw a dark desert landscape around her. Looking up at the sky showed the moon just barely out from behind the clouds. It was evening, late evening, and probably close to when she’d fall asleep normally if she hadn’t slept earlier. But how did she get here? The very last thing she remembered was talking to that creepy pony and then Rainbow Dash came in.

A sigh came from Rainbow Dash. “So uh, I take it you remember all that stuff that happened?”

“Y-Yes… what happened after I fell asleep? What was going on?” Wish asked her.

“I dealt with that guy, for now. And then we ended up back in the desert, I didn’t want to wake you up so I’ve just been walking since,” she briefly glanced back at Wish. “And it was just… business I had to take care of. That pony who you met, he’s a bad guy I know, and he wanted to hurt me… and you. It’s a little complicated but it’s all okay now. I’m glad he couldn’t do anything to you before I got there.”

Rainbow Dash’s words passed over Wish and an icy feeling settled in the filly’s stomach. More of her conversation with the pony was coming back to her. What he said to her. What he tried to get her to do. What she had admitted.

“Stop… w-wait, can we please stop?” Wish said, on the verge of a sob.

Rainbow Dash looked back at her with worry and came to a stop. “Sure, kid… we should be stopping for some sleep soon anyways.”

Wish almost immediately jumped off her back and held her hooves to her chest as she started to hyperventilate.

“K-Kid?” Rainbow Dash asked in concern, kneeling down beside her and placing a hoof on her back. “I knew it… something happened before I arrived, didn’t it?”

Wish shook her head, not looking up at Rainbow Dash. “No… it’s not that…”

Rainbow bit her lip. “Just what exactly did you talk about with him?”

“It’s not that!” Wish screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. “Listen to me for once!”

Rainbow Dash flinched, taking her hoof away and stepping back. “I-I’m sorry...”

After a few more panting breaths, Wish gained control of herself and finally looked up to meet Rainbow Dash’s eyes. “I need to tell you something.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion.

Wish’s lip trembled and it still took a while for her to gather her courage. Did she really want to do this? Could she? Things probably would’ve been fine if she never brought it up at all. It was nice for a while when they were just traveling without really a care in the world anymore. And yet she still knew she couldn’t just bottle it up and press the truth down inside her forever.

“I’ve been lying to you,” Wish said. “I’ve been lying to myself.”

Rainbow Dash leaned her head back, still peering down at the young filly but (surprisingly) keeping her mouth shut for the moment and letting Wish continue on her own.

“The truth is… the truth is that I remember everything,” Wish could feel some tears starting to gather at her eyes. “What happened in the castle… what I became… what I did to you, and my father, and what I tried to do to everypony else. I remember all of it. I just… pretended not to. I didn’t want to have to deal with it, I didn’t want you to worry about me even more, but most of all I didn’t want to admit that it really was me… that everything I said and felt was just me.”

“Oh, Wish...” Rainbow Dash leaned down and gathered up the filly in the hug. “Kid, didn’t I tell you that wasn’t really you? You were broken, you were forced to feel so many things, you were brought down to the lowest any pony could ever possibly get, you were betrayed by the pony you loved and all that despair that didn’t even belong to you… it did something to you, that wasn’t you. You don’t need to feel bad for what happened. And you shouldn’t care about me worrying over you. You’ve got the right to have someone worry about you. Believe me.”

Wish sniffled and shook her head. “Even if it wasn’t all me… some of it was, Rainbow Dash. Some of it really was.”

“Then all you need to do is grow and live a happy life so you never become like that again. If anything, do it to show your father that you’re still alive and happy despite everything. And do it to show your mother, your real mother who loved you, that you can move on.”

Wish hugged back against her and quietly cried into her fur. “… I love you.”

Rainbow Dash gaped in surprise down at the young filly hugging her.

“I said that I resented you to him. And part of me does, because of everything that’s happened. But I love you, Rainbow Dash. Even more than that. I love everything about you and everything you are. And I know how much you care about me and how much you really want to help. I love you. It’s okay, that you’re reckless, a little annoying, even selfish sometimes, and it only took me about two days to realize you were a lot dumber than I thought you were-”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“-but I don’t care about any of that. I love you so, so, much. And I needed to tell you that. Thank you, thank you for everything, Rainbow Dash.” Wish hugged her tighter and let herself cry as much as she needed to.

Rainbow Dash affectionately rubbed the back of her head, just letting Wish do what she needed to do. Still, a somber expression, unseen by Wish, stayed on her face. “I love you too, kid.”

Which is why- Rainbow Dash thought as she looked up at the moon. Which is why, now, sometime soon...

The two ponies woke up the following morning in much higher spirits and Rainbow Dash decided to quickly start off the day by taking Wish for a fly as they continued south in the direction the Green Divide and then Vissidia were in. She figured they had to be getting there sometime soon, Cart had made it sound like it was all pretty close to the southern border of Hoofica. But he had also said he hadn’t been there in a while. She was hoping it would be today when they were finally out of this boring white desert. Some green would be nice, along with some shade and plenty of fruits and vegetables to eat again. Those had to be there too, no doubt about it.

“Do you see anything yet?” Wish asked her as she looped her hooves around Rainbow’s neck and held on.

“Not yet, just more desert,” Rainbow replied.

“Great, I’m totally not tired of the desert yet. In fact I think I might want to move here for good someday...” Wish snorted.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You’re a real comedian, kid.”

Wish snickered from on top of her and looked up at the clouds overhead, since that was a little less boring than looking at the white sand as it blurred by beneath. She started humming a random tune to herself as she tried to make out shapes in the clouds. A turtle, a bucket, a crumpled up piece of paper, a brush. Yeah, this was a decent enough way to pass the time.

Some good food and water would’ve been pretty nice but she had faith in Rainbow Dash to find what they needed.

“Not bored back there?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“Nope. I’m fine,” Wish said and continued to check out the clouds. Pillow, cat, bed, strawberry…

Rainbow Dash smirked and just went back to checking out the distant horizon for any change. Not a lot was happening out there but she was still making good progress and flying fast. Sand dune after sand dune went by beneath them. Rainbow Dash idly wondered where she would be right now if she was on the other side of the world, her side, back home. Somewhere in Equestria she was almost certain. She could probably figure it out at some point but for now she just wanted out of this darn desert.

She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

“Hold up...” Rainbow Dash said.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Wish asked her.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and looked straight ahead at the horizon. The white stretch of desert that covered it was giving way to a dark line that went all the way from east to west as far as she could see. It was just barely perceptible to her right now, but she could still see it for sure.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash grinned and flapped her wings harder, picking up speed. “Well forget about moving here, kid. It’s almost time to say goodbye to the desert.”

The Green Divide

The dark line on the horizon quickly became more pronounced and it changed from a solid black blur to a deep green the closer Rainbow Dash got. Seems like they finally made it. From how high up she was, she could actually see where the dark green line ended at the south and faded away into a much lighter landscape beyond. It looked like she could fly over the Green Divide in a snap. But that’s not really what either Rainbow Dash or Wish wanted right now. And it was because of that that Rainbow Dash descended through the air towards the end of the desert and the start of the incredibly thick jungle that constituted what was known as the Green Divide.

It popped up out of the sand so suddenly it looked like Discord had chopped up two different countries and smacked them together for fun one day.

“So that’s it?” Wish asked her.

“Don’t know what else it could be,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It doesn’t look like any forest I’ve seen in Hoofica. Why’s it all just one straight line? And the trees and everything look so thick, it’s weird.” Wish said.

“It’s more like a jungle than a forest.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash furrowed her brow. What was the difference again? “Jungles are more like… tropical. And I think denser… and more humid.”

“So what you’re saying is you don’t actually know but you’re going off your gut feeling?” Wish frowned.

“And what it looks like to my eyes,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

Wish rolled her eyes. “Okay then… not like you’ve ever been wrong about anything before.”

“Pfft!” Rainbow Dash snorted at the sassy filly and continued to fly down.

She landed in the hot white sand, ten feet in front of the wild jungle. And wild was certainly correct. There wasn’t a place to stand or walk in there that wasn’t covered by leaves, tall grass, bushes, vines, roots, or trees. A thick and impenetrable jungle from where she and Wish stood, the heavy cover of the trees and foliage would block out the sky once they actually walked in. Again she could probably just fly over it all, but they both wanted to find some food and water too. There also probably had to be a few actual routes and trails through the Divide or else the Aux-Lemm caravans and other travelers wouldn’t be able to trade effectively through it. Rainbow Dash didn’t have the patience to go looking for them though.

The hooting and cries of animals and birds came from the Green Divide as the two ponies stood there and listened. At least that meant there had to be plenty of food and water to pick up along the way.

Wish hopped off Rainbow Dash’s back and walked forward. “I think it’ll be more fun than just flying over it.”

“Nothing’s more fun than flying, kid. But I guess you want to do something different. Don’t blame you,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and walked up next to her.

“Well it seems like a waste to just fly over it instead of walking through and seeing it...” Wish said. “I mean you’re on this huge adventure so I figured you’d want to see and explore new things.”

“That’s true but… I also just really love flying and moving fast through places. Specifically places that don’t have any action, which I kind of doubt this jungle will,” Rainbow said.

“Then let’s just look for fruit while we’re in here to make it worth it.”

“Now that’s something I can agree with,” Rainbow Dash smiled and walked ahead of the filly to make an easier path through the dense foliage for the both of them.

The first steps into the jungle caused an immediate change in the atmosphere. Humidity. It wasn’t any hotter than walking through the desert had been, but it was much, much, wetter. Sweat covered both their bodies and they were dripping in minutes. It was tough to walk too since the ground was so uneven, Rainbow Dash had to lift Wish up a couple of times to carry her over roots and fallen logs. The filly absolutely refused to be carried anymore than that though, having had enough of riding Rainbow’s back in the desert. The leafy plants and vines they pushed through didn’t make things any easier either and Rainbow Dash hoped nothing they were touching was poisonous. One giant plant she pushed the wide leaves out of the way but as soon as her hoof left them the leaves swung back and smacked Wish in the face as she followed behind Rainbow.

“Ack!” Wish sputtered as the heavy leaf hit her, sap and some kind of mildew getting over her face.

“Oops, sorry,” Rainbow Dash sheepishly said and helped wipe her face off.

“Bleh… be more careful next time,” Wish rubbed her eyes.

Both of them really wished they had a towel now to wipe themselves clean. At the same time as they slowly traversed through the jungle they heard the countless cries and skittering of other animals. As they went deeper in they finally started to see the jungle life as well. A large boa constrictor slithered up a tree they walked past while toucans rested on branches overhead and all manner of rodent and insect darted from bush to bush. Wish didn’t hate animals or anything but she still felt a little uncomfortable being around so many wild ones. Especially since some of them could probably eat her.

Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was just looking around with a big smile on her face. “Fluttershy would love it here.”

Wish knew there were many more animals in the jungle they couldn’t see, that might have been watching them. A large beetle, larger than her hoof, flew past her head and she ducked down to avoid it.

Maybe I should’ve just let her fly us over the jungle… what’s with this reversal? I’m not used to adventuring like she is… Wish thought to herself.

She tried to take her mind off all that by looking at the very pretty plants and flowers all around them too. And search for fruit that had to be growing somewhere in the meantime. At the very least it was extremely colorful in here and pretty much everything was nice to look at. There was more color in the jungle around her than in Rainbow Dash’s mane.

Speaking of, Rainbow Dash tugged some vines out of the way so she could walk through and they promptly snapped, dropping all of their length down on top of Wish.

“Ugh!” Wish cried out as she was buried beneath the lengthy plant vines.

“Oops… again,” Rainbow Dash winced.

Wish promptly threw the vines off her and stood up, dusting herself off with a frown on her face and without another word she scrambled up onto Rainbow Dash’s back. Rainbow could practically see the dark cloud of annoyance over her furrowed brow.

“I’m just going to sit here and look for fruit,” Wish pouted.

Rainbow Dash felt a small smirk tug up her lips. “Be my guest, kid.”

“I don’t think nature likes me very much...” Wish murmured and kept on the lookout for their desired food.

“Well you said it yourself that you haven’t really traveled much. Just gotta get used to it,” Rainbow shrugged.

Wish huffed again and looked up at the trees to see if any of them were fruit bearing. She definitely saw some fruits and seeds but none she recognized as edible, Rainbow Dash must’ve seen the same thing. They couldn’t just eat something random growing in a jungle like this, they had to find a fruit they recognized like bananas, pineapples, or coconuts. One tree that looked like some kind of mini-palm tree had a large blue fruit growing at its neck, but something that color could easily be poisonous. She tried paying attention to some of the animals to see if there was any fruit they were eating but at the moment she didn’t see any in the middle of a meal. It was just so hot too, she constantly had to brush her soaked mane away and wipe sweat from her eyes.

There probably wasn’t clean water in here either. Every puddle would likely be dirty and buzzing with mosquitoes and who knew what else.

The crying of some kind of bird—much louder than the others—rang out through the jungle as Wish and Rainbow Dash passed through another few trees. It startled a few other animals and they all ran to hide. But as Wish and Rainbow Dash looked for the culprit it turned out to just be an exceptionally large parrot. It flew around where they were and landed on a tree branch, peering down at them with its black eyes and not making any further noise.

“How big did this place look to you from above?” Wish asked Rainbow as they walked past the parrot.

“Dunno for sure. The jungle didn’t look more than a mile or two thick and I’m pretty sure those were the lands of Vissidia I saw beyond it,” Rainbow said.

“Then it’s not like we really need to walk that far before we get through it,” Wish trailed off.

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash nodded and continued on.

Perhaps ten more minutes of struggling through the thick foliage of the jungle, and the two of them started to hear something new. High pitched chattering, whines, and howls from directly ahead. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and pushed through one last layer of leaves before she stepped out into a clearing.

All around the clearing were banana trees with dozens of tiny monkeys only half Rainbow’s size hopping up and down and swinging between them. It was a cacophony of noise as the monkeys growled and bared their fangs at each other, throwing bananas and waving their arms in the air. They seemed to pay no mind to the pony intruders at first, far too busy yelling at each other and doing whatever sort of monkey business they were doing. Some hung by their tails upside down and screeched while others ran about around on the ground.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head and glanced at Wish. “Well we found some food. Hope you don’t mind the noise.”

“Are these monkeys okay with us?” Wish asked as she looked around at the wild monkeys and their chaotic behavior.

“Well they haven’t done anything about us yet, have they?” Rainbow said.

A screeching monkey came swinging by on a vine and grabbed Wish off her back.

Rainbow Dash dragged a hood down her face as Wish screamed. “Oh come on, seriously?”

“Ahhhhh! R-Rainbow Dash!” Wish screamed for help as she was carried through the air.

Rainbow Dash watched as at the apex of the monkey’s swing he let go off Wish and sent her flying into the sky. She almost jolted up and flew to grab her—but then she saw another monkey come swinging in and grab Wish first.

“Waaaaaahhhh!” Wish continued to scream.

Meanwhile the monkeys were cheering and shouting as well and… Rainbow Dash looked harder. They were smiling. They were just messing around with Wish.

“Rainbow Dash, do something!” Wish yelled for her again as she continued to get thrown around by the laughing monkeys.

“W-Wish, just r-relax!” Rainbow Dash said throughout bits of laughter. “They’re playing around, they’re just having fun!”

“Well I don’t like it!” Wish shouted for her in-between tosses. “Hurry up and get me down!”

It was pretty obvious that it was really bothering Wish so Rainbow Dash figured she should probably help her out already. With a smirk, she brought her hoof to her lips and loudly whistled across the entire clearing. The shrill noise cut through it and the monkeys’ roughhousing instantly came to a stop… which of course meant that Wish was left flying through the air.

“R-R-Rainbow Dash!”

“Oh shoot, coming!” Rainbow yelled and shot up to her like lightning. She grabbed the filly out of the air and safely floated down to the middle of the clearing. Wish was breathing heavily and she closed her eyes to calm herself down while Rainbow looked around at the now much quieter monkeys and all the piled up bananas. “So… do you like bananas?”

Wish opened up her eyes and frowned at Rainbow Dash. “… they’re alright.”

“Well I think we’re going to be able to eat our fill.”

The two ponies sat on the southern edge of the clearing and proceeded to eat a number of bananas together while the monkeys returned to screaming and swinging about around them. Occasionally they jumped on Rainbow Dash and messed with her mane and tail but she did a decent job ignoring them. Wish just sent a stiff glare at any of the primates that came close to her. It was all pretty loud and obnoxious still but having some food to eat made it easier to deal with.

Wish tossed her third peel to the side and sat back, having had enough to eat for now.

Rainbow Dash was on her seventh.

“You can eat a lot,” Wish said to her.

“I’m bigger, and I use way more energy than you. And I live in the same place as Pinkie Pie and Applejack, you kind of get used to eating big meals,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Well if there was some chocolate cake around here I feel like I could still eat a whole one of those by myself...” Wish said.

“Hmm, maybe we can look for some in Vissidia. I bet they’ve got chocolate cake there,” Rainbow said.

She finished her seventh banana and threw the empty peel behind her back. Reaching down to start snacking on an eighth, she watched as a monkey came swinging down and stole it right out of her hoof. The pegasus frowned at the laughing monkeys as they tossed her banana between them and jeered at her.

Wish looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. “I’m ready to leave when you are.”

The banana came flying back with a splat right on top of Rainbow Dash’s head.

“Yeah. So am I,” the pegasus said.

After taking a few leaves and wiping herself off as best she could, Rainbow Dash grabbed Wish and put the filly back on her back, the two of them continuing their walk through the Green Divide after finally getting some food. It shouldn’t be too much longer until they were through the whole thing. The humidity of the jungle, the struggle through the dense foliage, the wildlife, it had all worn out its welcome to the two ponies. Wish now kept a sharper lookout as she rested on Rainbow Dash’s back, making sure no more monkeys or anything else would come swooping down to grab her.

That boa from earlier still made her kind of wary.

“Oh by the way, kid. If you see any pretty and colorful looking frogs, don’t touch them. That’s advice from my friend, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash told her.

“Why?” Wish asked.

“They’re poisonous.”

“And you didn’t remember to say that before we came in here?”

“Well I still don’t know if there are actually any in here… just seems like the kind of place they would be according to what Fluttershy has told me.”

“Hmm...”

“In general I think she told me that really colorful animals and stuff are more likely to be poisonous or whatever. It’s like a warning sign or something. I dunno, I’m not the expert on it.”

“You are compared to me.”

“Oof… that aint exactly a good thing,” Rainbow Dash winced.

Thankfully the rest of their travel through the jungle was proving to be fairly uneventful. It was getting slightly darker though, a combination of the day getting later and the thick jungle canopy drowning out a lot of the light. Rainbow never would’ve suggested they sleep in a humid and unbearable place like this, where they probably couldn’t find a spot to stay clean, but barring any unforeseen accidents they shouldn’t be stuck in here much longer. Rainbow couldn’t believe it but after being covered in sweat this much and having to push through the dirty and smelly jungle, she probably wanted to take a bath as much as Rarity. Ugh, Rarity might never let her live it down… especially if she also learned about that spa trip Rainbow Dash took back in Oreville.

While she wasn’t as great at judging distance when it came to walking as she was when flying, Rainbow Dash was decently sure they were coming to the end of the Green Divide. Both she and Wish were hearing less and less crying and howling from animals as they traveled as well. That was something Wish was far more grateful for than Rainbow Dash.

“You could use a pet one day, kid,” Rainbow Dash said to her. “You ever have one?”

“Nope,” Wish shook her head.

“Pets do a lot of good, I’m serious. I think you’d like having a cat or a dog… or a tortoise.”

Wish raised an eyebrow at her. “Why a tortoise?”

“Cause they’re awesome!” Rainbow Dash blushed.

Wish shrugged. “Whatever you say...”

“It’s true! Don’t knock tortoises!”

“Okay, okay, sheesh!” Wish shook her head. “Just keep walking already...”

Rainbow Dash hopped past a large leafy plant and into mud, splattering it up her hooves. She rolled her eyes and kept walking anyways. Now though, light was starting to come from ahead, not just faint slivers from above. The end of the jungle had to be coming up, the trees weren’t completely blocking their vision anymore. Rainbow Dash picked up the pace to get through all the hanging vines and big plants in the way. After passing around another large tree she and Wish were both able to peer ahead and saw the last vestiges of the jungle starting to thin out.

“There we go,” Rainbow Dash grinned and walked towards the light.

It was basically just a few more feet worth of trees and vines that she needed to push through before she and Wish both emerged out from the Green Divide. The light and what lied beyond the line of trees became easier to see—green, green and sunlight. The humidity was started to lessen as well, a drier but still warm breeze was coming in from the south.

Looking back at Wish to give her a grin, Rainbow Dash jumped past the last row of trees and landed on soft grass.

The two ponies emerged from a tropical jungle into an idyllic countryside not out of place in the heartland of either Hoofica or Equestria. It was the afternoon, and the sun still shone down to brighten up the grassy world in front of them. A blue sky with white clouds hung over head, the temperature in the air was a perfect springtime, simple dirt roads snaked through the tall green grass in the distance, and a few homes and farmhouses dotted the lands. Wildflowers sprung up everywhere and flocks of pretty birds flew overhead while a rabbit stuck its head out of its hole before quickly retreating at the sight of the ponies.

“Vissidia,” Rainbow Dash said as she took the peaceful lands in. “I think Cart might have been right about this place.”

Wish silently looked on as well before jumping off of Rainbow’s back. The grass felt comfortable on her hooves and she took a moment to relish the feeling. Something told her that walking on her own here would be much better than walking through the desert and jungle had been.

Lands of Eternal Spring

Together the two ponies had found a wagon-worn dirt road that went south into Vissidia from the Green Divide. All around them were meadows of green grass and wildflowers, it was like a beautiful, picture-perfect, spring day. Bees and hummingbirds flew from one flower to another while spotted rabbits ran through the tall grass and only the most pleasant and relaxing of breezes came with the wind.

“It’s so different here,” Wish said as she trotted over the soft dirt with Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah. It reminds me of home actually. There’s not really anyplace else I’ve visited on my journey quite like this place, even Pinetree Warren and Hoofica after it went back to normal weren’t the same,” Rainbow Dash blinked, taking it all in. It certainly had the same idyllic feeling to it that the peaceful lands around Ponyville and in the heartland of Equestria had.

But if anything there was something even more mellow about this place. Like it was some little slice of paradise all cornered away on this side of the world.

Rainbow Dash looked ahead and saw a farmhouse approaching down the road. Rather large, it was painted a happy sunflower yellow with a classic red barn out behind it. When she and Wish got closer they noticed a wide white fence that stretched out across several acres worth of land started around the farmhouse. It held in an open pasture with a number of cows milling about inside it and several small gardens growing a variety of different crops, along with a chicken coop and a well with a pump for drawing up water.

“Like I’ve never seen a place like this before,” Rainbow Dash snorted as she and Wish walked by.

Wish nodded along, not entirely getting what Rainbow Dash was talking about but still familiar with the average family farm back in Hoofica.

It was starting to get a little later in the afternoon now so Rainbow Dash wasn’t really expecting to see anypony out, but she was surprised. On the porch of the farmhouse, a lone earth pony stallion sat in a rocking chair, rocking back and forth. He was probably about the same age as Rainbow Dash’s parents, with a yellow complexion and a raggedy orange mane he wore under a straw hat. Blue overalls, well worn and torn, adorned his wiry body. He hadn’t noticed them arrive since his eyes were closed and he looked to be taking an afternoon nap, but Rainbow and Wish could still see the happy smile stretched on his face as he rested.

Rainbow Dash had her and Wish stop in front of the farmhouse, standing in the dirt leading up from the road to the front porch. She brought a hoof up to her mouth and coughed to get the pony’s attention. “Ahem.”

The stallion’s eyes slowly blinked open, his sleep apparently not being very deep. When he had fully woken up he looked down from his porch and saw the two unfamiliar ponies standing there in front of his house.

And the easygoing smile on his face spread from cheek to cheek.

“Howdy there!” He said as he stood up from his chair and waved.

Rainbow Dash grinned back, happy to be meeting a friendly pony. “Howdy!”

“Well I’ll be, wasn’t expecting anybody to be coming by the farm today, who might you two lovely ladies be?” The friendly stallion asked as he stepped off his porch. He glanced north down the road and shot them a questioning look. “Y’all just come out of the Green Divide?”

“Yep!” Rainbow Dash answered. “And we’re in Vissidia now, right?”

He nodded. “Mhm, sure are. Welcome to the Russo family farm! Am I right in suspecting that this is your first time visiting Vissidia?”

“Yep again, neither of us have been here before, and we’ve been traveling for a little while now,” Rainbow Dash said.

The stallion gave an excited hoot and swung his hoof across his body. “Aint that just beautiful then! Ya come from far away and my own farm is the first place in all of Vissidia you come across! Don’t get much more fortunate than that for the both of us, I tell ya! Allow me to formally introduce myself, I’m Farello Russo, head of the Russo Family, and let me welcome you to the great country of Vissidia! Please accept our hospitality if you will.”

Rainbow Dash and Wish shared a look with each other. They were both covered in a bit of mud, they smelled something awful, sweat had still flattened their manes and coats, and banana gunk was still stuck in Rainbow’s mane.

“Uhhh... if hospitality includes a hot bath, I think we’d both be happy to accept it.”

“Sure does,” Farello Russo chuckled. “The two of you can come inside now and meet the family, don’t be afraid of tracking a little dirt in, this is a farm after all and we’re pretty used to it.”

He turned around and opened up the front door before waving the two of them in. Once they were inside he took a deep breath and hollered out:

“Hey there! Ginnive, kids, we’ve got company! Come on down here!”

From down the hall, an older mare emerged wearing a bonnet and holding a plate and wash rag in her hooves. She seemed surprised at the sudden shout but as soon as she saw Rainbow Dash and Wish her face lit up in a smile just the same as Farello’s. From elsewhere in the house and from up the stairs, Rainbow and Wish heard the galloping hooves of several other ponies as well. The mare put her rag and plate down on a side table and walked to stand beside Farello.

“Well hello there! Who might you two be?” The mare asked them,

“Let’s wait for the kids to come down before our guests start their introductions,” Farello said. He then winked at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “And this lovely mare here is my wife, Ginnive.”

 “Alright, speed it up then, kids!” Ginnive yelled up the stairs.

Rainbow and Wish looked to see a veritable swarm of fillies and colts come pouring down the stairs. Some of them were a few years younger looking than Wish while the oldest were teenagers. Rainbow counted ten in total, all of them with a similar enough appearance to tell her that they were clearly siblings. Lot of work off the farm Farello and Ginnive had apparently gotten up to as well.

“And here’s the true pride and joy of the Russo family—my children!” Farello said as they all politely lined up in front of him for the two house guests.

“Howdy!” The oldest colt said to Rainbow Dash and Wish, while the others followed along one by one.

A couple of the colts who were around Wish’s age shyly blushed and waved at her, but Wish didn’t seem to understand why. Neither did she care to, she just wanted a bath right now.

“Howdy back,” Rainbow Dash said and waved when the entire family was done with their own introductions and hellos. She reached down and put a hoof on Wish’s back. “Uhh, the two of us are travelers I guess you could say. This filly here is Wish, she’s from Hoofica. And my name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from a really far away country called Equestria.”

Farello looked down at Wish in surprise. “You’re from Hoofica, youngin? But I thought...”

“Oh, uh...” Rainbow Dash stumbled a bit while Wish sullenly stared at the floor. “That’s kind of a long story, yeah you probably heard a lot about Hoofica the past year... I can tell you about it but can that wait till later?”

“Of course, of course, sorry about that, where are my manners?” Farello said. “Savini? Why don’t you take our guests upstairs and show them where they can wash up?” He said to his eldest daughter.

“Sure thing, pa!” A teenage mare with buckteeth and her mane done in a ponytail said.

Farello then threw a smile back at Rainbow and Wish. “By the time the both of you are all cleaned up we’ll have a nice Vissidia welcoming meal waiting for you down here!”

“Thanks!” Rainbow Dash said and watched as Savini walked back over to the stairs and beckoned her and Wish to come follow her.

“Come on up here, bath is on the second floor,” the polite young mare said. “It’s a big ol’ tub that can fit ya both!”

“I can wash myself...” Wish grumbled.

Rainbow Dash reached down to ruffle her already disheveled mane. “Relax, kid. Seriously. I think we’ve finally reached someplace where we can just relax. So try and smile some more, say hi to the other kids, have a good time.”

“Hmph,” Wish shrugged back.

Rainbow was still going to have to work on that. But for now the two of them could at least clean up and not feel—and look—miserable and gross anymore. Savini was happy to show them the washroom along with all their soaps and towels and just let Rainbow Dash and Wish clean up on their own. Obviously just being a simple farmhouse bath it wasn’t luxurious or anything but it still worked. Rainbow Dash got the banana gunk totally out of her mane and made sure to use a clean brush to get Wish’s mane nice and straight again, just like how she liked it. After that the two just soaked for a bit and let all the dirt and grime wash off their bodies before draining the tub and getting out to dry off.

When they returned downstairs they were brought into the large dining room of the Russo family farmhouse—and saw the feast arranged on the table for them. The table itself was gigantic of course since it had to seat every member of the family and then some, and every last inch of tablecloth was covered in a plate with some kind of food on it. Pies, soups, salads, baskets of bread, cheese, a few large jugs of milk, eggs, oats and hay, fruits, vegetables, it was crazy. Rainbow Dash and Wish’s eyes roamed over all of it even though they had eaten just a short couple of hours ago already.

There was a second stomach for meals like this.

“You... you all really didn’t have to do this,” Rainbow Dash said to the family.

“Course we did! We wouldn’t be doing Vissidia justice otherwise,” Ginnive said.

“Now come and sit down and have a real Russo family feast!” Farello said.

It’s like when I first met Applejack and her extended family... Rainbow Dash grinned.

Rainbow Dash and Wish sat down at the head of the table directly opposite Farello and Ginnive. After that, everyone dug in with gusto. The food was all so fresh, all so tasty, it could only have been recently grown, harvested, and cooked. The kind of home-cooked food that nothing else really compared to.

“So how do you like your first taste of Vissidia?” Farello asked.

Rainbow Dash finished chewing on a roll of bread and grinned at him. “Well... it kind of makes me hope that everywhere in the country is like this.”

Farello smiled and nodded. “We’re a welcoming folk. Vissidians take pride in their home, and welcoming outsiders and strangers with the warmest hospitality we can is just our way.”

“Thanks then. So is there anywhere else nearby? Like any big town or city or something that we can go to next? Right now the two of us are just kind of going anywhere south,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “We don’t really have a real trip planned or anything...”

“If you keep on down the road you’ll end up in the town of Arondel. It’s not far, maybe two hours just by walking, if you flew you’d get there in no time at all,” Farello said.

“Cool... and is there like a capitol of Vissidia or anything? Do you have a king or queen or anything like that?” Rainbow asked.

“The capitol is called Verbansk, that’s pretty far west of here though, we don’t have a king or queen like Hoofica, just a governor who gets elected every year. Why do you want to know?” Farello asked.

“It’s just...” Rainbow Dash glanced at Wish, who looked back up at her. “There’s some stuff about Hoofica I think I need to tell your leaders about... something I want to do for it. Obviously you’ve heard about Hoofica disappearing, right?”

Farello shared a look with his wife before nodding to Rainbow Dash. “Sure have.”

“Well long story short, it’s back. I really don’t want to bother you with the details but it’s not in great condition right now... I just had some ideas on how to help it and I thought if I could reach whoever was in charge of Vissidia that would be easy.”

“If you go to Arondel they’ll have ponies who can contact the governor in Verbansk easily enough,” Ginnive said. She looked at Wish. “Is Hoofica okay?”

Wish shied away from the question while Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“It will be,” Rainbow said.

Farello looked at the clock on the wall of the dining room. “Well it’s getting late, you probably want to rest for the night before heading out again, don’t you? You’re welcome to stay here of course, we have plenty of room.”

“Thanks, we do.” Rainbow Dash smiled. She raised an eyebrow at Wish. “Wish?”

The filly frowned for a split second before looking neutral again. “Thank you.” She said to Farello and Ginnive.

Good enough... Rainbow Dash thought. Wish’s mood, that looked like it had been improving, had gone back to being a little worse since arriving here, and she didn’t really know why. But they’d be out and off to Arondel early tomorrow, and she still had plenty of time to talk to the kid. Though not as much as she thought she would when they first set out.

Because soon...

Rainbow Dash sighed, no use thinking about the future right now.

Author's Note

Arondel, Vissidia

By just about an hour or two after sunrise the next morning, Rainbow Dash and Wish had already left the Russo family farm and were heading south towards the town of Arondel in the northern reaches of Vissidia. Wish was still in a funk that even Rainbow Dash was able to notice. Rainbow did plan on talking to her about it, but not until they arrived in Arondel and took care of some other business. And had found a place to stay for the next few days. Everything they had learned about Vissidia made it seem like a good place to take a vacation for a little bit. And Wish needed a break even more than Rainbow Dash did.

To speed things up, Rainbow Dash was flying with Wish on her back once more. The trip to their first real settlement of this springtime country would be a short one.

“You doing good back there?” Rainbow Dash asked Wish.

“Yes,” Wish answered as her mane whipped around. “The weather is really nice here.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. That was certainly true. If this was normal for Vissidia then it probably had the nicest weather and temperate climate of most anywhere she had ever traveled. Like spring in Ponyville, it was just perfect outside. Not too hot, not too cold, no heavy winds or other weather phenomena going on, perfect weather to farm in, perfect to fly in, perfect to lay out on the grass doing nothing in. Below them the world was either green grass, ocean blue ponds, or beautiful fields of flowers.

With the distance Farello had given them and the rate that Rainbow Dash flew at, she suspected they’d come across Arondel fairly quickly. It was probably going to be just as pretty as the flowery lands around it. Rainbow figured it wasn’t going to be a place that gave her the usual adventure she wanted, but that was fine. For once that’s not what she was really looking for.

A couple of times on the short flight, she almost tried talking to Wish again. About anything. But each time she stopped herself before she did. There was just an awkwardness about the entire situation and Wish clearly didn’t want to talk.

Thankfully it wasn’t much longer that the rolling green lands of Vissidia partially gave away to a small town in the distance. The buildings spread out in a careless manner, no true streets existed anywhere, and the buildings were mostly small cottages or at the most two-story wooden constructions with thatch roofs. Chimneys poked out of most roofs with light trails of smoke leading away from some of them, and a few farms and barns existed to the east and west of the town. There did seem to be a small square in the middle of town but even then it was just a big dirt square. And of course, completely unsurprisingly, there were gardens full of flowers absolutely everywhere. Every single cottage probably had flowers or plants of some kind growing around them. Some even had vines crawling straight up their walls or trees growing right next to and over them. It was a town of nature just like Vissidia was a country of one.

“It’s so pretty here...” Wish said.

It made Rainbow Dash smile to hear that. At least the filly could still speak without being prompted to first. Despite the funk she was in she was still just a normal kid.

Rainbow Dash continued to look at Arondel and noticed that there were already a lot of ponies out and about, yet it still didn’t look busy. That wasn’t the right word. No one was in a rush or anything, there were kids running around and playing but that just made it look all the more peaceful. It was a subdued, not frantic, sort of activity going through the town. It seemed like something was going on in the square too, tables and banners going from building to building criss-crossed over it.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash decided it was probably best to drop down now and walk into town, since she didn’t really have an idea of where to go. Like that she could just talk to whoever she ran into. “I’m going to land now, you ready to walk?”

“Yep,” Wish nodded.

It just took a second for Rainbow to come down and land on the soft ground. Wish hopped off her back and together the two started walking into town. A number of locals had already seen them coming and were waving and smiling in their direction, it was certainly a warm enough welcome. Rainbow Dash noticed that there was an assortment of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi among them. It wasn’t just an earth pony town, so Vissidia probably had plenty of all three tribes living in it. A lot of the mares here were also wearing pretty dresses, and had flowers decorating their manes, while the stallions wore blue jeans and overalls with flat-top black hats.

Rainbow Dash waved and smiled back to any pony who said hello while Wish stayed close to her legs. She had become shier ever since they left the desert.

“Hello there!” A friendly looking young mare said to Rainbow Dash, walking from the garden of her cottage to greet them. “Always nice to see an unfamiliar face, where might the two of you be from?”

She was probably about the same age as Rainbow Dash or maybe a year or two older at most. Her face was bright and full of freckles with her coat being a shiny lime-green and her mane an earthy brown fitting her earth pony nature. Like most mares here she was wearing a flowing and lacy white dress while a crown of flowers was placed around her head and woven right into her mane.

“Guess you saw us fly in?” Rainbow Dash said to her and lifted a hoof for a hoofshake. “We’re from pretty far away, not from Vissidia.”

Her eyes lit up even brighter. “Not from Vissidia?! Well then you came to Arondel at the perfect time! Our Harvest Festival starts up tomorrow!”

“Uhhh, that a big deal here?” Rainbow asked.

“Sure is! There aint no better time to visit Arondel than now,” the mare enthusiastically nodded. “My name’s Rosalie by the way, what about the two of you?”

“I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Wish.”

“Well those are definitely a couple foreign names. You wouldn’t happen to be from the Great Camel Desert? Or did you start down south from the swamps and make your way up here?” Rosalie asked.

“Not exactly-” Rainbow Dash started.

“I’m from Hoofica,” Wish bluntly stated, not feeling like beating around the bush.

“Hoofica?” Rosalie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “But all the caravans and travelers we’ve had through here for months have been telling us that the whole country vanished. What happened to it?”

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Now that’s a bit of a long story… and I kind of wanted to first tell it to whoever was in charge here and get some other business taken care of. You have a mayor, right? Is it possible for me to see them?”

“We do have a mayor, she goes by the name of Charlotte and… she might be busy getting the festival ready but I think you’ll still be able to talk to her. Is it serious? Did something really bad happen in Hoofica?” Rosalie asked.

“Yeah but don’t worry about it. It’s all over now, things are okay in Hoofica again, I promise,” Rainbow Dash reassured her. “Er… but if it isn’t too much trouble… can you show me to where I can find the mayor?”

“Of course it aint too much trouble! Let me show you through town and we’ll find the mayor!” Rosalie grabbed Rainbow Dash by the hoof and pretty much dragged her along while Wish followed to keep up.

“Later on I can introduce you to my friends and neighbors and everybody else too!” Rosalie happily exclaimed.

“G-Great,” Rainbow Dash said as both she and Wish struggled to match the mare’s excited pace.

It didn’t take long before they were pulled into the busy town square and Rainbow Dash and Wish got to see what the ponies were up to in their preparations for the Harvest Festival. A lot of ponies were busy making decorative wreathes of flowers and twigs and hanging them up everywhere, while others were setting up long wooden tables throughout the square. Groups of fillies were going around throwing flowers, bits of straw, and sawdust all over the ground to cover up the simple dirt. It looked like it was going to be a fun place to be tomorrow. If it was a harvest festival they had to have plenty of food too, right? Lots of other ponies here saw Rosalie guiding them and gave both her and the two of them some happy waves and hellos.

Even through the large crowd, Rosalie knew exactly where she was going and soon she had pulled Rainbow Dash and Wish out to a group of ponies standing in front of one of the larger buildings of Arondel, built at the east edge of the square. They were all mostly older ponies and they seemed to be discussing something. One mare in the middle was a pink unicorn, just on the cusp of being called elderly, with lines on her face and her coat fading slightly, along with a greying mane. They didn’t notice Rosalie, Rainbow, and Wish approaching until Rosalie spoke up.

“Mayor Charlotte!” The enthusiastic young mare said.

The mayor looked over and smiled at her when she realized who it was. “Rosalie! Good to see you this morning, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“We have guests!” Rosalie giggled and practically swung Rainbow Dash out in front of her while Wish also stumbled to stand right by the side of the pegasus. “These two come from beyond Vissidia!” She smiled at Rainbow Dash and Wish. “Go ahead and introduce yourselves.”

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rosalie’s antics before smiling at the mayor. “My name is Rainbow Dash, I’m from a far away country called Equestria.”

“I’m Wish. And I’m from Hoofica,” Wish told them.

The mayor and the other ponies looked surprised to hear that.

“You’re from Hoofica? But there hasn’t been a visitor from Hoofica in almost a year,” Mayor Charlotte said.

“Well there’s one now,” Wish shrugged.

“And that’s why we’re here,” Rainbow Dash said. “If it’s possible, could I talk to you about some things? Maybe somewhere a little quieter? There’s a lot to go over when it comes to Hoofica and… truth be told most ponies aren’t going to want to hear about it. Some bad stuff went down there.”

The mayor and the other ponies she was with shared a few uncertain looks with each other before the mayor nodded to Rainbow Dash. “You can come into my office if you would like. Whatever it is, if it pertains to Hoofica I must know.”

“T-That… is all of that true?” The horrified mayor of Arondel asked as Rainbow Dash finished telling her about what had gone on in the kingdom of Hoofica. She had grown pale and beside her a woozy looking Rosalie swayed about on her hooves.

“I think I’m going to be sick...” the earth pony mare said.

“I told you you didn’t have to listen in too,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “And yeah, unfortunately it’s all true. But it’s over now. That’s the good part. Hoofica is finally fixing itself and getting back on its hooves.”

Rainbow Dash briefly glanced over at Wish, who was sitting on a chair next to her. She hadn’t mentioned how Wish was directly involved with things, for obvious reasons, and the filly hadn’t spoken up about any of it either. Wish’s eyes remained downcast, peering at some knot in the wooden floorboards.

“Did you come to Vissidia just to tell us that? I-It’s good knowing that Hoofica has returned and things should be getting back to normal at least,” Charlotte said.

“Well, not really, I was coming here anyways but when I thought about it I kind of realized there was something I really needed to do. Something else to help Hoofica,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Something to help?” Charlotte repeated.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. You see, I first heard about Vissidia a long ways back from a pony called Cart D’Evron, who worked for the Aux-Lemm Corporation. You guys sell food and trade with them a lot, right? You grow a ton of food down here in Vissida, right?”

“Of course. Vegetables, fruit, dairy and grain products, everything. We’re farmers, the entire country is.” Mayor Charlotte said.

“You grow enough food to feed a whole kingdom?”

“And then some,” she nodded.

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “Before Hoofica vanished and everybody got cut off. Did you trade with them?”

Charlotte nodded some more. “Yes, we traded and exported year round. Usually caravans from the Aux-Lemm Corporation were our intermediaries.”

“Then what I wanted to ask you—the entire country of Vissidia—is simple. I want you to get all the extra food you have and take it up to Hoofica. Half or more of their crops have been burned and destroyed, the whole kingdom is miserable, they need the help. Just giving them some extra food will go a long way. And I think Vissidia is in position to do that. I know it’s a big request, and you’re just the mayor of one town, but if you could contact the governor and tell them about all this I would super appreciate it. Hoofica still needs whatever good can come their way,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And if our neighbors to the north are in trouble then we would gladly help them,” Charlotte said. “You are right that as just a single mayor I can’t make this sort of decision on my own, but I will send message by carrier hawk to Verbansk immediately. Vissidia has the extra food, and the ponies, that can help restore Hoofica. I can assure you that we will not simply ignore this.”

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and sat back, putting a hoof around Wish’s shoulders. “That’s… that’s good. That’s a big load off of my back. Good to know most places in the world are still mostly made of nice ponies.”

“Indeed. And please, I recommend you and the young filly stay for our Harvest Festival. From the sounds of things it seems like you deserve to rest for a few days,” Charlotte said.

“They can stay with me!” An already rejuvenated Rosalie said with a happy smile on her face. “I have plenty of room.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. Things always seemed to turn out well enough like this. “What about you, Wish?”

“I’m fine with that,” Wish shrugged as well.

“Great! Let me take you back to my place right now!” Rosalie said and once more grabbed Rainbow Dash (and Wish too this time) and swiftly pulled them out of their chairs. Like a whirlwind she shot out of the mayor’s office with them in tow.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash bit her lip. There was still something wrong with Wish and she knew it.

Harvest Festival

“Oh yes, I’ll show you around town for a bit, and then take you back home and give you something to eat. And I can show you your room! It’ll be my den, that has a bed in it that the two of you can share, and I can tell you everything about Vissidia you want to know about! Ooh, and then I can also invite my friends over and you can meet them too! We’ll have such a fun night before the Harvest Festival!”

Did I somehow manage to tangle myself up with the Pinkie Pie of the village? Rainbow Dash thought as Rosalie continued to pull both her and Wish through the busy town square.

“You’re already going to see a ton of the town square tomorrow so I’m going to take you to some other places in Arondel!” Rosalie said as she guided them towards the southern and western sides of the town. They were going right on out of town square, not stopping for more than a moment to share hellos with other ponies who knew Rosalie or wanted to greet a couple of strangers.

Rosalie glanced down at Wish. “You’re doing alright, aren’t you? Or am I walking too fast? Want me to slow down? Need any food or anything to drink? You haven’t talked that much, am I asking too many questions?”

“No, no,” Wish stiffly shook her head, clearly thinking that Rosalie had been asking too many questions. “It’s okay. And you’re not walking too fast.”

“Okay! Then just follow me!” The mare giggled and continued on.

Rainbow Dash frowned over at Wish. You’re not usually so quiet…

“You see those cottages?” Rosalie suddenly said, pointing to a couple of small cottages to the south that had rose bushes surrounding them.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“Some of my friends live there, but they’re probably not in right now. And look, look at this building!” She pointed to another building they were walking by. “Giuseppe works here, he makes candles. I have so many of them at home! Once we get back I can light some of my favorite scents for you.”

Rainbow Dash looked and saw that most of the buildings around them didn’t look occupied at the moment. Most ponies must’ve been out or at the very least closed up as they prepared for the Harvest Festival. That didn’t change as Rosalie brought them closer to the edges of town where they could see a few small farms. Wagons by the farms were full up so high with food it looked like they would almost tip over or collapse. So much produce had been gathered up from the farms it was crazy.

“So this festival is a really big deal, huh?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Oh yes, it’s the most important time of the month!” Rosalie answered.

Rainbow blinked. “Wait. What?”

Wish also shared her confusion and raised an eyebrow at Rosalie.

“I said it’s the most important time of the month!” Rosalie repeated with a smile.

“You do this… every month? There’s a Harvest Festival every month?” Rainbow rubbed her head, a bit confused.

“Of course! After all, there’s always plenty to harvest,” Rosalie nodded.

“Your crops really grow and get harvested every single month?”

“Yep! Isn’t that what farming’s like everywhere?”

Now Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly know too much about farming, and most of what she did learn from Applejack went in one ear and out the other, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. Seasons were a big deal, right? You didn’t really grow stuff in winter as far as she knew. And with how much food they grew and harvested… did it really all grow back so fast that they had a big festival for it every month?

“I’m not sure about that… but it’s at least reassuring to know you’ll have plenty of food for Hoofica and for yourselves,” Rainbow said.

“Oh yes, we’ll have lots and lots of food!” Rosalie said.

After that there wasn’t really much else for Rosalie to show them, Arondel was a pretty small town after all. She just guided them past the small farms and the homes of ponies she knew. Which was pretty much everyone, another benefit of living in a small town. They got stopped along the way a few times as they made a revolution through Arondel by other ponies who wanted to say hello. Wish was quiet through most of that, especially when kids her age were around. But Rainbow Dash got to know a few more faces that they would likely be seeing tomorrow. It was uplifting to come to a place like this and make some new friends, she’d be happy to share all this with Twilight and everyone else once she got home.

Now it was really just Wish’s mood she had to improve first.

Thanks to how early they had gotten the day started, it wasn’t even noon by the time Rosalie had brought the two of them back to her house, close to where Rainbow and Wish had first landed earlier today. By now the weather was even nicer out than it had been before and more ponies were out decorating the entire town. Rosalie’s cottage that was covered in flowers and plants with a small garden in front of it looked positively delightful, it reminded Rainbow Dash of Fluttershy’s cottage just minus all the animals around it. It was probably Rosalie’s own little slice of heaven.

“Welcome to my home!” Rosalie cheered and opened up the yellow-painted front door. She happily ushered her guests inside. “I know it’s a little small but what do you think?”

There were a lot of lace throw pillows on every bit of furniture. Rainbow Dash would definitely use the word “cozy” to describe it rather than small. It was a very cozy cottage. She had a small kitchen, a small sitting room, a bathroom, and two other doors that must’ve led to her bedroom and the supposed den. Yeah, it wasn’t much room but it was fine for just Rainbow Dash and Wish to crash here. The decorations inside were so girly too, with so many flowers everywhere and paintings of cats, pictures of friends, and white linen sheets placed over the few tables.

“It looks great,” Rainbow Dash said.

Beside her, Wish shuddered a bit.

But before Rainbow Dash could say anything to the filly, Rosalie was already continuing the tour.

“Here’s where the two of you will be staying!” The mare said, opening up one of the doors and showing them a small bedroom. Just a single bed but Rainbow wouldn’t have been surprised if Wish wanted to sleep in the same bed anyways. Naturally it was also decorated just as nicely as the rest of the cottage. The bed itself was covered in lacy sheets and comfortable looking pillows.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said, she glanced down at Wish. “Look comfortable to you?”

“Mhm. Very,” Wish nodded.

“Uhhh… are you alright?” Rainbow asked her.

Wish shrugged. “I’m fine.”

“No you’re-”

“Let me get some lunch for the two of you! I’ve got plenty of food around the house, it would be just super if I treated you to your first meal in Arondel!” Rosalie said, interrupting the two of them. “And I can get some of my candles out of the closet and then later today I’ll get my friends to come over and meet you too. Is that alright? I don’t want to overwhelm you or anything.”

“You’re not,” Rainbow Dash assured her. “And lunch sounds pretty good.”

I can talk with Wish tonight… we’ll have plenty of time. Rainbow thought. As she looked down at the filly she saw that her face was still mostly blank. Had she been like this since the desert or was it when they made it to Vissidia and first met the Russo family? She clearly didn’t want to talk about anything so Rainbow was obviously going to have to force it out of her, and she didn’t want to do that in front of Rosalie.

“Okay! I have the freshest fruits and vegetables for the two of you, I’m sure you’ll love them. What’s your favorite fruit?” Rosalie asked.

In truth, Rainbow wasn’t sure, she really loved apple cider to drink but were apples her favorite fruit? Eh, whatever. “Apples. You got any?”

“My favorite fruit is strawberries,” Wish quietly said. It seemed like she couldn’t resist the allure of a sweet meal.

“Got both! Just relax in the sitting room and I’ll bring you some food in a moment,” Rosalie said and went right into her kitchen.

Rainbow Dash and Wish took a seat on her couch, in front of her coffee table, and relaxed. It was as comfortable of a place to sit as it looked. They heard their host rummaging through some things and a minute later she came back out with a bowl of apples and a bowl of strawberries carefully balanced on her head and back. Putting them down on the table, all three of them got to filling their stomachs for the first time today. Rainbow had to admit that these were some really fresh tasting apples too—and out of the corner of her eye she saw Wish smile ever so slightly when she first bit into one of the strawberries. She hoped they could expect the food to taste this good through the whole Harvest Festival.

“So do you do anything for the festival?” Rainbow Dash asked Rosalie in-between bites.

Rosalie shook her head. “Naw, I just enjoy things. Usually it’s the bigger families, the farmers, and the mayor and elders who set things up. As you can see it’s just me and myself living here. Don’t got no family of my own in Arondel.”

Wish’s head perked up. She suddenly seemed far more alert than before. “You don’t?”

“Well...” A somewhat sad smile appeared on Rosalie’s face. “Some things happened and I decided to branch out on my own, left home and all that. But Arondel’s a nice place and I got my friends here, that’s all I need. A festival every month where we can have fun, sing and dance together, sure makes the days go by fast. There aint nothing else I can think of that I’d want from Arondel.”

“It seems like a really happy place...” Wish said and ate another strawberry. “All the ponies seem really happy.”

Rainbow Dash slowly chewed on her apple, watching Wish.

Breakfast

Rainbow Dash woke up the following morning to find that at some point in the night Wish had snuggled up against her. It was a surprising sight, but a welcome one, and Rainbow smiled warmly down at the young filly slumbering peacefully against her body. She turned her head as best she could without moving so as not to disturb the filly, and saw that the sun was already starting to come in through the window. Quietly she leaned down to Wish so as to whisper into her ear.

“Psst, hey kid, it’s about time to wake up.” Rainbow Dash told her.

Wish stirred and after a few moments began to blink her eyes open. Shortly after she yawned and stretched, pushing away from Rainbow Dash out of reflex and turning over. “Five more minutes...”

“Don’t count on it,” Rainbow Dash snorted and turned Wish back over. “Wake up, kid. We’re in Arondel, remember? The Harvest Festival is starting this morning.”

Wish’s eyes were still half-closed but she furrowed her brow and sat up in bed. “Oh yeah… I remember now.” She took another big yawn and blinked a few more times before she was totally awake.

“Heh, good morning,” Rainbow said, also sitting up now and throwing the covers off before taking a big stretch and yawn herself. “Hope you slept well cause I’m pretty sure we’ve got a big day ahead of us.”

“It was nice,” Wish admitted, though she looked away from Rainbow Dash when she said that.

Rainbow just grinned.

A moment later, a light knock came to their door and then it was carefully opened up a sliver.

“Rainbow Dash? Wish?” Rosalie quietly said into the room. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah, we just woke up,” Rainbow Dash said and hopped out of bed. Wish followed her as well after one more yawn and stretch.

“Oh good!” Rosalie smiled and opened the door up all the way. “The breakfast is starting in about an hour, Angie and Jolene will be here soon and then we can all head over. You’re going to love it, I promise.”

“If the food and festival is even half as good as you and your friends have hyped it up to be I think we’ll be pretty happy,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Sounds like everyone is going to be really happy at the festival,” Wish muttered.

“Sure are!” Rosalie nodded happily, not quite getting that Wish maybe wasn’t saying that in a totally positive way. “I just know at the very least you’re going to love the food. It’s as fresh as fresh can be, right from farm to plate.”

“As a pony who hasn’t always gotten to eat the best quality food while adventuring about, I’m looking forward to it,” Rainbow grinned.

Rosalie opened her mouth to say something else when some excited knocking came to the front door of her cottage. Her eyes widened and she clapped her hooves together. “That’s them! Come on Rainbow Dash, Wish, let’s go enjoy the Harvest Festival!”

The town square had been busy and crowded yesterday the first time Rainbow Dash and Wish had seen it but now it was positively packed with ponies. Everyone who lived in Arondel must’ve been here. There were over a dozen long tables, Rainbow Dash and her group were sitting at the end of one, joined with some other ponies from Arondel who were only too happy to be eating with them. And of course on each table were sheets, decorative place mats, plates, utensils, and then bowls, pots, pans, and trays of food. Mountains of it.

Before anyone chowed down though, the mayor stood up from where she was sitting at one of the tables in the middle of the square. The jolly conversations between the ponies of Arondel died down as they allowed Mayor Charlotte to speak.

“I welcome you once more to our wonderful festival, celebrating the great bounty of these lands of Vissidia. I know you’re all eager to eat and I have no intention of boring you, so please, enjoy your breakfast, and enjoy the rest of the Harvest Festival,” she lifted up a glass of milk. “To Arondel and the blessed lives it has given us!”

With a drink from the glass she sat back down and the ponies of Arondel cheered before hooves started to scramble all over and bring food back to their plates.

“Dig in, Rainbow and Wish!” Rosalie happily said to them.

Rainbow Dash saw something good looking in front of her, a plate of baked potatoes covered with melted cheese and butter. She grabbed one for herself and offered another to Wish, but the filly instead went for some honey and bread rolls. There were a lot of different types of bread, rolls and toast around them, along with eggs done a variety of ways, asparagus, cabbage and other vegetables, strawberries, apples and other fruits, blueberry and raspberry jam, and then of course milk and juice for drinking. Rainbow knew there was other stuff that was harvested and grown here so the rest of the crop probably wasn’t coming till lunch or dinner. Right now was basically all just traditional breakfast foods. She didn’t exactly mind.

“Once breakfast is over the music and dancing will start up too. And that’ll go on alllll through the night,” Rosalie told them.

“Cool,” Rainbow said between bites of potato. “I think I could probably go for some dancing.”

“Wanna dance with me?” Jolene asked. “I love a good dance and you seem like the kind of partner with a lot of energy, if you don’t mind me saying.”

Rainbow snorted in amusement. “I don’t mind cause it’s true.”

“You should dance with me too then,” Angie said.

“Don’t you have a stallion or two—or three—to dance with?” Jolene playfully wiggled her eyebrows at her friend.

“Oh stop, you!” Angie giggled. “This is different anyways.”

“Sure is! You should dance with all of us, Rainbow Dash,” Rosalie eagerly nodded.

Rainbow shrugged. “Hey, plenty of me to go around.” She looked over at Wish. “You want to do any dancing too? Have you ever danced before? I bet we could find a local kid who’d like to dance with you.”

Wish shook her head, frowning at the thought. “No thanks, I’d rather just eat and listen to the music.”

“Are you sure you wont get bored?” Rainbow asked.

“There’s probably plenty of other stuff to keep me entertained. It’s a festival after all,” Wish took a big chomp out of her honey covered roll.

“We could get you both some flower crowns later, like ours,” Rosalie said.

“There’s hay bale tossing to watch, and pumpkin carving to judge,” Angie said.

“The kids around town will always be playing a game or two. You like horseshoes? I bet you’d enjoy hanging out with some ponies more around your own age at least,” Jolene said.

Wish flinched. “Um… maybe. A game might be fun… but I just want to eat for now.”

“Course you do. You’re a guest of Arondel and I want to make sure you have a good time here. None of us would be good hosts otherwise,” Rosalie smiled and grabbed a jug of milk and poured some out for Wish. “Have your fill there, little one. It’s still breakfast time, merriment comes right after.”

Lunch

Shortly after breakfast had finished, a number of Arondel ponies had set up on one side of the town square with a wide variety of instruments and got to playing a fun tune for the rest of the town. There were mostly fiddles and banjos but Rainbow Dash also spotted at least one harmonica and a stallion blowing into a jug. The music they were making was very upbeat and fast and a lot of ponies around them were stomping their hooves along, or whistling and hollering for them to really cut loose. Rainbow Dash found herself tapping a hoof on the ground and her three mare friends were also nodding along and whistling occasionally. Even Wish was lightly tapping a hoof on the table, though she didn’t really seem to be paying attention to the music too much.

“You’ll let me have that first dance, won’t ya?” Jolene asked as she stepped away from the table and walked over to Rainbow Dash.

“Sure!” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Aw, no fair!” Angie exaggeratedly pouted.

Jolene scoffed. “Just get one of your stallion friends, girl.”

“I will!”

Jolene then pulled Rainbow Dash out of her seat and towards the crowd by the musicians. “Come on, let’s have some fun!”

“S-Sure, just one second!” Rainbow said and looked at Wish, who was watching the whole affair with bemusement. “Are you sure you don’t want to dance or anything either? You’re going to be fine on your own?”

Wish nodded to her. “I can’t dance anyways, I just want to sit here for now… maybe we can do something later. Don’t worry about me, okay? The food is really good, I just don’t want to dance. I’m still having a good time.”

“Go have fun dancing for now, Rainbow Dash, I’ll stay here and keep Wish company,” Rosalie said, moving over to sit right by Wish and smiling at the filly. “A good time aint good enough, you gotta have the best time!”

“Mmrmm...” Wish muttered but didn’t reject the other mare.

“If you like any food in particular I can get it for you, and we’ll have lunch in just a couple of hours,” Rosalie said.

“Thank you,” Wish said to her as Rainbow was finally pulled away by Jolene and Angie.

Rosalie watched the three mares head off before she looked down at Wish and gave her a questioning little tilt of the head. “Do you really not want to do anything, sweetheart? I feel terrible that you’re not enjoying the festival as much as I wanted you to.”

Wish frowned, previously thinking that Rosalie had been oblivious to how she was feeling. “I-It’s not your fault. And it’s fine anyways. I’m just… dealing with stuff. About Hoofica.” It was a half truth but still a decent enough explanation.

“I understand. I just hope you can relax and enjoy the festival some more to take your mind off things,” Rosalie patted her back. “Do you want to get a flower crown? Just like me?”

“I-” Wish looked up at the older mare, saw how honestly she was smiling and how genuine her feelings were. The warmth from her eyes. “I think I’d like one… that sounds alright.”

Rosalie smiled. “Great! I’ll help you with that and we’ll be back here right when lunch is getting served.” She got off her seat and waited for Wish to jump down and join her. Together the two of them started walking towards the other side of the square, away from the music and dancing.

“Um… I wanted to ask you something too if it’s okay?” Wish said to her.

“Of course, what is it?” Rosalie welcomingly said.

“What’s it like not living with your family?”

Rainbow Dash and Jolene swung each other around in a fast circle as they engaged in something Jolene called “Square-Dancing”. Rainbow didn’t get what was so square about it but it was still pretty fun. Other pairs were dancing around them too—mostly stallions and mares together, so Rainbow stood out even more than just for the fact she was an outsider. Angie at the moment also swung between several other stallions who were all trading off dancing with her. Jolene hooked her leg through Rainbow Dash’s and the two hopped around in a circle, tapping their hooves to the raucous music.

“Having fun?” Jolene asked her.

“You bet!” Rainbow grinned and disentangled her leg before turning around and grabbing Jolene’s again, now twirling the two of them around together while they looked face to face. “You move pretty good, you know?”

“Got a lot of practice after all. We do this every month, remember?”

“Oh yeah...” Rainbow Dash muttered before she felt herself pulled away and was swung around to join Angie in a dance.

“My turn now!” The pegasus said and started her own round of square-dancing with Rainbow Dash.

Jolene huffed. “You interrupted!”

Angie stuck out her tongue at her. “Snooze you lose!”

“Meanie!” Jolene shouted and rushed in to try and push Angie away and resume her dance with Rainbow Dash.

“I get the feeling that this dancing isn’t going to be ending anytime soon,” Rainbow laughed awkwardly as the two mares fought over getting to dance with her.

She was right, as it wasn’t until several hours later that the group of three returned to the table just before noon. The sun was directly overhead and according to Jolene and Angie that meant it was almost time for lunch. Rainbow Dash noticed when she got back to their table that at some point it had been cleaned and then covered in more and different food than what had been served for breakfast. Now it was mostly plates and bowls of vegetables and fruits, one massive bowl of corncobs was placed in front of her, while stuffed bell peppers sat just an inch away, there were cooked carrots, cucumbers, tomato soup, watermelon, and most impressive of all—on each table sat one pumpkin.

But a gigantic pumpkin, big enough for Rainbow Dash to jump in and use as a boat if it was hollow.

Not that she would ever have reason to do that, but she could if she wanted to.

The tops of the pumpkins were cut off and inside was a thick pumpkin soup. It swam with other vegetables, spices, and ingredients, the heavenly scent from it wafting towards Rainbow Dash.

“I’m definitely having a bowl of that,” she said.

“My favorite thing to eat all day,” Angie said.

Rainbow Dash absentmindedly nodded—and then blinked. “Hold on, where are Wish and Rosalie?”

“We’re right here!”

Rainbow Dash turned around and had to almost immediately bite her lip to keep from laughing.

A blushing and highly embarrassed Wish wore a crown of flowers on her head above her straightened mane. Roses, lilies, tulips, and carnations were woven in with twigs and her own mane hair. It looked nice, but it was hilarious to Rainbow Dash to see Wish wearing something like that. Almost as hilarious as it would’ve been to Wish if Rainbow Dash was wearing the same thing. The sarcastic little filly’s personality and recent attitude were clashing greatly with the accessory.

“You—you like nice,” Rainbow said, snickering slightly. “That’s what you were doing while we were dancing?”

“Mrph...” Wish mumbled and looked away.

“I got that done for her and then we spent some time talking and watching the festival together,” Rosalie smiled. “Wanted us to come back and get together for lunch though. Maybe between lunch and dinner we can find a game to play.” She glanced down at Wish.

“Sure...” Wish nodded.

Rainbow Dash smiled, she didn’t know everything that happened while she was having fun with Angie and Jolene, but it looked like Wish had had a good time with Rosalie and her mood had improved a bit. Maybe the festival really was what she needed.

Dinner

Rainbow Dash chowed down on a corncob like a chipmunk. Going side to side and rotating it over in her hooves to make sure she got every last row of kernels. Once she had completely devoured every last edible little piece she dropped it to her plate and sat back, sighing contentedly. Lunch was now over. And she was very, very, full.

“Hope you saved room for dinner!” Rosalie smiled and patted her on the back.

“Uh… we’ll see...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her stomach. Maybe she still had some room in there?

“I could eat more,” Wish said as she put down her spoon, a now empty bowl of pumpkin soup in front of her.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Little glutton.”

“Lightweight,” Wish snorted right back.

“Yeah whatever… so what do we do now between lunch and dinner?” Rainbow Dash asked the group.

“There’s more dancing, it gets a little slower and more, erm, romantic though as the day carries on. So I’m not sure you’d be interested in that,” Rosalie said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head with a flat expression on her face.

“Mostly done with couples or ponies seeking to become couples,” Angie said. “Which is why I will still be dancing later.”

“And tonight you’ll be doing a lot more than just dancing-” Jolene said before Angie smacked her upside the head.

“Shh!” The pegasus shushed her and nodded her head towards Wish.

“Yeah, like I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Wish rolled her eyes. “Gross romance stuff...”

“Ehehe...” Both Angie and Jolene blushed in embarrassment while Rosalie and Rainbow Dash frowned at them.

“Anyways I think we can find some games to play before dinner. We have plenty of board and card games that we like to play in Arondel. I think it would be the perfect way to relax and let our stomachs settle before the food comes out,” Rosalie said.

Rainbow Dash let out a deep sigh. “I think I’m okay with that.”

“You didn’t want to hang out or play any games with the local kids?” Angie asked Wish.

Wish fervently shook her head. “N-No, I’m fine just staying with the four of you and eating...”

“You didn’t meet any kids when you were getting your flower crown or around with Rosalie?” Rainbow asked.

“Some wanted to talk but I was busy,” Wish said and looked away.

“Uh huh, well whatever you say,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“It’s fine, Rainbow Dash. You know after talking with her and getting to know her some more, I think Wish is a very sweet little filly,” Rosalie said, smiling at the both of them.

“Mmm...” Wish blushed and looked at her hooves in embarrassment.

“Speaking of that, how did the two of you start traveling together anyways?” Jolene asked. “We only know a little about you coming from Equestria and Wish coming from Hoofica. You said what happened in Hoofica but not why you’re together. What’s the story?”

“Er, Jolene...” Rosalie warned.

“We’re just traveling together. I’m looking out for her, and… the rest is personal. Sorry,” Rainbow Dash cut in to explain.

Jolene seemed to get the hint and she nodded. “Right, I’m sorry if I was poking my nose into a sensitive topic.”

“That’s fine too,” Wish shrugged, glancing up for a second at Jolene. “I just don’t want to talk about it though.”

“W-Well let me go get us a board game!” Angie enthusiastically shouted in an attempt to change the subject and bring about something more fun. “It should be fun since it’ll be your first time playing. After that maybe we can play horseshoes, just the five of us? That should get us ready for dinner.”

“Go get whatever you think will be the most fun,” Rainbow smiled to her. “The three of you have already done a good job making the festival inviting for the two of us. I almost feel right at home.”

“I’ll be right back!” Angie said and ran off, with Jolene in tow, going through the crowds and tables of the Harvest Festival.

“Those mares...” Rosalie shook her head in amusement, a small smile on her face.

The rest of the day went on swimmingly while the sun slowly traveled across the sky and the shadows in the town of Arondel grew longer. At first, their happy group of five played a board game at their end of the table together, after moving a lot of stuff out of the way. That went on for a decent while until the group came to realize Rainbow Dash’s obscene luck at every kind of game of chance she played. Not to say there wasn’t a little bit of strategy to the board game, but it still relied on rolling dice and drawing cards. The other mares didn’t stand a chance.

After that they went over to a small horseshoe court that had been set up for the festival.

Rainbow did a good job of not embarrassing them too badly this time.

Meanwhile the music had indeed slowed down and they were able to watch as several couples took to dancing around the flowery ground of the square. More ponies clapped and watched as well with this proceeding until it eventually grew dark in Arondel, the sun disappearing beyond the horizon. That was the cue for numerous ponies to go from table to table and light candles and lanterns that had been discreetly brought out in the previous hours. In the warmth of the town square, things looked even prettier now than they had during the day.

A last horseshoe rang around the pole after being expertly thrown by Rainbow Dash and the five mares decided to end the game there. Feelings weren’t hurt that much. By the time they had returned to their table, the food was starting to come out.

A lot of it was similar to what they had at lunch, but there was more cooked food along with it.

And desserts. Lots and lots of desserts. Apple pie, cherry pie, pumpkin pie, apple turnovers, puff pastries, cookies, scones and the thing that drew Wish’s attention most of all—a large chocolate cake.

“Is that what I think it is?” Wish said as two stallions foisted the giant cake onto the middle of their table.

“Do you like chocolate cake?” Angie asked her.

“Y-Yes,” Wish nodded as she stared at the cake. “It’s my favorite food… it just… brings back memories too.”

“Good memories?” Rosalie hopefully asked.

Wish was silent for a moment as Rainbow Dash and the other mares watched her. She blinked a few times before responding. “Some.”

Rainbow Dash reached over to rub her back. “You feeling alright?”

“Yes, I’m not going to start crying or anything if that’s what you’re worried about,” Wish said.

Rainbow wryly grinned. “I wasn’t. You’re a strong kid."

Wish snorted and mockingly pouted up at Rainbow Dash. “Kid. Kid, kid, kid.”

“Enjoy being one while it lasts,” Rainbow laughed and grabbed an oatmeal and raisin cookie. She ate the whole thing in practically one bit. “As my friend Pinkie Pie would say: there’s a second, third, and fourth stomach for desserts.”

“Wise words,” Rosalie said and stood up so she could walk over to the chocolate cake. She had a big slice cut for her and placed on a plate before walking back and placing it right down in front of Wish. “For you.”

The decadent chocolate cake was moist and shiny with frosting on the outside. It looked absolutely delectable.

“Thank you,” Wish said and smiled at Rosalie. Grabbing her fork she prepared to dig in.

Make Friends With Someone Your Own Size

“How did you eat all of that?” Rainbow Dash asked in awe as she watched Wish shovel the last bite of chocolate cake into her mouth. “Seriously, where do you put it?”

“I’m used to eating big meals,” Wish said and immediately placed a hoof over her mouth to keep the cake from falling back out.

“You’d get along well with Pinkie Pie… and Applejack when she’s introducing you to the family,” Rainbow murmured.

The table around them was filled with empty plates and bowls as all five mares had eaten way, way more than they should have for dinner and dessert. Post-binging sleepiness was starting to catch up with them as well. Angie and Jolene were already yawning and Rosalie looked like she wouldn’t have minded if they turned in for the night soon. By Rainbow’s estimation it was probably about 8 at night and she was getting slightly tired too.

She had definitely eaten enough.

In the middle of her thoughts, Mayor Charlotte once again stood up from her table. The mayor commanded the attention of the Arondel ponies and the light music that had been playing quieted down entirely as all eyes and ears turned to her. This time she had what looked like a glass of white wine in her hooves.

“My lovely fellow ponies of Arondel, once more we’ve had a magnificent first night of the Harvest Festival-”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Wait. First night?”

“Oh,” Rosalie blushed and giggled a bit in embarrassment. “Did we never bring that up? The Harvest Festival is two days, not one.”

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said, briefly thinking before shrugging. “Well, whatever. It’s not like we were in a hurry to leave or planning to just head out tomorrow. Right?”

Wish nodded. “Right.”

Rosalie sighed in relief. “Oh good, so you’ll stay for tomorrow too then?”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Yep, I think we will. Maybe even after tomorrow too.”

“-so I know that tomorrow when the Harvest Festival ends you will all have brand new memories of fun and love for your town and the great land of Vissidia we all live in. Every month we do this to remind ourselves not just of the importance of the food we grow, but the luck we had to be born here and the gratitude we must show for these lush and fertile lands. Our town of Arondel is strong thanks to all of you. It grows thanks to all of you and the wonderful children being raised here. Just like our crops, our town is grown with care and love. Thank you all, and please now enjoy the rest of the night and the second day of the Harvest Festival tomorrow!”

The mayor sat back down as everyone in the town square cheered, clapped, and whistled for her.

“It really is...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

Rosalie heard her and raised an eyebrow. “Hm? Did you say something?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head. “Just talking to myself.”

“Tomorrow most of the kids will be playing a game together in the field south of town. Maybe you can finally introduce yourself and hang out with them, Wish?” Angie suggested.

“Umm… I don’t really think so. I think I’d rather just keep spending time with all of you,” Wish said.

Rosalie discreetly shot a look at Rainbow Dash, who nodded back to her.

“Really? I know a lot of kids who’d love to make a new friend,” Jolene said.

Wish nodded swiftly. “Yes, I’m fine. Are things done for tonight? There isn’t anything else going on in the festival until tomorrow?”

The question was abrupt and Wish clearly just wanted to change the subject but Rainbow Dash had to admit that she was curious too. After the mayor’s little speech it seemed like some ponies were already leaving the town square. Mostly families with younger children but she saw some others getting up and heading back on home too. Some of the elders and the ponies she had seen working with the mayor were cleaning up tables and talking with some of the other townsponies. There was probably a lot of work that still had to be done if this place was going to be prepared and filled up with food tomorrow as well. On the ground, the flower petals and hay was still being left there for the festival’s second day.

“No, and I think it’s about time we should go back to my house. We’ll want to get plenty of rest for tomorrow after all,” Rosalie said.

“Do you want us to come over early just like today?” Angie asked.

“Mhm,” Rosalie nodded. “Bright and early!”

“Okay, Jolene and I can meet up first and then we’ll see you before breakfast,” Angie smiled and stood up.

“Have a good night’s rest!” Jolene said and winked at Rainbow Dash. “Let’s dance some more tomorrow.”

Rainbow smiled to her and gave a curt nod. “Sure, no problem.”

The two mares then waved goodbye and started heading south past the crowd and tables, their homes on the other side of town from Rosalie’s. After that, Rainbow took a little stretch and downed a little bit of juice just to refresh herself before she stood up as well. Wish and Rosalie both did the same and soon the trio was also taking the short walk out of the square and to Rosalie’s home. Arondel was a small town, even smaller than Ponyville not counting all the fields around it, and it only took a couple of minutes before they were back at Rosalie’s cottage. It really made the whole place seem even cozier and connected than it already was. She’d be shocked if Rosalie didn’t know the name of every pony that lived here.

As soon as the door closed, Rosalie yawned and looked at her two guests with a tired smile. “I don’t know about the two of you but I’m ready to head straight to bed after all of that.”

“I think I am too. Someday I need to take a nap again… a nap is different from sleeping and I haven’t had the opportunity to take one in ages,” Rainbow said. “Uh, anyways, you ready to sleep, Wish?”

“Yes,” Wish yawned along with Rosalie.

“Cool, goodnight Rosalie,” Rainbow said to her.

Rosalie smiled and gave her a brief hug. “Goodnight, Rainbow Dash.” She leaned down and hugged Wish as well. “Goodnight, Wish.”

“Goodnight. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Wish said to her.

The earth pony mare yawned once more and with a small smile she walked across the sitting room to her bedroom door. Her eyes were practically already closed as she gave a tiny wave to the two of them before opening up her door and retiring for the night. The darkness of night was now completely upon Arondel and only the shadows of the various objects and furniture in Rosalie’s cottage were visible. Whatever light from the moon existed currently wasn’t reaching her windows. With Rosalie now in bed, Wish started to take a step towards the den, but she ended up being stopped by Rainbow Dash who put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Wish, hold on for a second.”

The filly looked up at her, now only barely being able to make out Rainbow Dash’s face and colors. “What is it?”

Rainbow Dash stared at her before taking a deep breath. “Why don’t you want to meet or do anything with any of the kids that live in Arondel?”

“I-” Wish’s eyes opened up wider and she took a step back. “What do you mean?”

“Come on, kid. Don’t even try to deny it. You’ve been weird since we stepped hoof in Vissidia. And at every opportunity you refuse to go play or even talk to any kids here. Why? What’s been bothering you this whole time?” Rainbow Dash asked. “You’ve had a decent enough time with Rosalie, Angie, and Jolene. So what’s the matter? Please, Wish, you know how much I want to help you, how much I would do for you.”

“I know...” Wish quietly muttered, looking down at the floor. “But… I don’t think I know how to get along with kids my age anymore. It feels weird. I feel weird. A-And…”

“What?”

Wish shook her head. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Wish...”

“I’m just tired, okay!” Wish said, loudly, before quieting down so as not to disturb Rosalie. “I just… I just want to go to bed now.”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, she didn’t really know how to handle things like this. As good as she was at giving encouragement and saying awesome things, there were some issues a little more complex that required more than that. And it wasn’t a battleground she had much experience in. Or much comfort in. A ray of moonlight came in through the window in Rosalie’s sitting room and it briefly illuminated them. Late.

In the end, she decided to relent. But only partially.

“Alright… we can go to bed now. And we can just enjoy the second day of the Harvest Festival tomorrow. But.” Rainbow Dash fixed Wish with a steady gaze. “You’re going to play with those kids tomorrow—you’re going to join in that game Angie mentioned. Because I think it will be good for you. Okay? Can you at least do that for me?”

Wish frowned, her eyes looking back and forth at anything that wasn’t Rainbow Dash. The dismay was clear as a bright day on her face. Finally she gave a little nod. “I can do it. I’ll do my best… I-I want to get along with them, and have fun, I really do...” Her lip quivered slightly and she took a deep breath. “Can we go to bed now? I really am tired...”

Rainbow Dash gently stroked her mane and smiled at her. “Yeah. I’ll be there for you tomorrow too. If you need me.”

Game

That night, Rainbow Dash and Wish slept curled up together once more, and this time Rosalie had to wake them both up before Angie and Jolene arrived. Perhaps they were both more tired than they had thought. Rosalie though waited a minute before she actually woke them up, finding the two of them adorable together as they slept in bed and not wanting to ruin that. Alas, they would have to get up sooner or later and head off to eat breakfast once more.

As she poked at both of her two guests they slowly blinked themselves awake and yawned. Rainbow Dash’s wings fluttered about and Wish pushed away the covers so the two of them could detach from each other and get out of the numerous bed sheets.

“Rise and shine you two. Did you sleep well?” Rosalie asked.

"Mmmrm,” Rainbow Dash muttered at first, rubbing her eyes.

Rosalie giggled. “Seems like you didn’t want to wake up just yet.”

“I’ll get over it...” Rainbow said and yawned before looking at the just as tired Wish. “You alright there, kid?”

“What time is it?” Wish mumbled.

“...seems she’s still got a little ways to go before she’s ready,” Rosalie said.

“No kidding,” Rainbow Dash said.

Fifteen minutes later though both Rainbow Dash and Wish were more or less awake and ready to leave. Rainbow had even done what she could with a brush Rosalie had to style Wish’s mane the right way—though the filly had to interrupt and point out the correct way to do it a few times. Or more than a few times. But they were still ready by the time Angie and Jolene arrived and that was the important part.

“So is it the same breakfast as yesterday?” Rainbow Dash asked as the group of five stepped out of Rosalie’s cottage.

“Not quite the same. The feast won’t be so gigantic but you’ll still be fed breakfast, lunch and dinner if you want to eat all three meals,” Angie told her.

“I guess I’ll see how much I can shovel in my mouth today then...”

“And I’ll see if there’s chocolate cake again,” Wish said.

“You’ll probably work up enough of a hunger for it after playing with the other kids today,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Rosalie and the others perked up.

“Oh?” Their earth pony host asked with a raised eyebrow. “Have you changed your mind on getting to know the local kids, Wish?”

“Umm… y-yeah,” Wish hesitantly nodded. “I’d like to try making friends with them. What game is everyone going to play?”

“It’s called Capture the Flag,” Jolene said. “It’s super fun, and the kids love it. You always get to be moving round a lot too. You see—you separate into two teams and each team has a flag that they protect. If one team can get the enemy team’s flag and bring it back to their side without being tagged out they get a point. You ever play Tag, Wish? You can think of it as sort of a bigger version of that, with more rules and goals and what not.”

“Yeah, I’ve played tag,” Wish said. “The game sounds fun.”

“A lot of parents watch too, the kids always go all out and have such a fun time it’s really entertaining to watch,” Angie said.

“I’ll definitely be there watching you. I know you’ll have a good time,” Rosalie told her with a smile.

“Me too,” Rainbow Dash winked and tussled her mane (and then carefully fixed it).

“Mmm… thanks,” Wish said in annoyance and frowned up at Rainbow Dash after the older mare had messed with her mane.

“Heh, food first though, right?” Rainbow said.

“Yes,” Rosalie said. “The game will start a little later so for now let’s go and eat. The mayor isn’t making a speech or anything this time, ponies will already be eating.”

“Today’s a lot more relaxed,” Angie said.

“More relaxed than yesterday? That’s almost hard to believe,” Rainbow said.

“I’d say a better way to put it would be… less structured. It’s all relaxed and fun. You saw enough of that yesterday when you were dancing with me,” Jolene said.

Angie nodded. “Yeah, yeah, less structured’s a better way of saying what the second day of the festival’s like.”

Rainbow Dash and Wish saw that for themselves when they arrived back at town’s square this morning. No one was playing any music yet or anything and there was far more mingling going on and less food placed on the tables while a few other ponies talked with the mayor. It was quieter and not as crowded either, with seemingly not all ponies of Arondel showing up.

“Do some ponies not come to both days of the festival?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No, everyone comes just not for the entire day like yesterday. Some families spend part of the festival today just at home with each other or close friends. And some ponies need a little more sleep after all the activity yesterday. Angie usually wouldn’t come for breakfast today either,” Rosalie said.

“Yeah because she’d be-” Jolene started with a smirk before Angie smacked her.

“Anyways-” Rosalie rolled her yes. “Let’s have breakfast. You’ll definitely want to have a little something to eat and drink before the game starts, Wish.”

The five sat at pretty much the same place as last time, but today their table wasn’t as crowded nor was there such a huge amount of food or any sort of ceremony or theater before it was brought out. Ponies were eating like they were inside a cafeteria or mess hall. Not like Rainbow Dash really had a problem with that, in fact she probably enjoyed it more. Like this they could all just eat together and go with the flow instead of having to really do anything specific. That was the correct way to enjoy a festival and such a banquet of food anyways.

A bagel, a roll with some butter, milk, and carrots, that was all the breakfast she needed right now. Wish didn’t get a ton either, just some oatmeal, grape juice, and cornbread.

She was probably waiting until later tonight when she could eat more chocolate cake.

Rainbow Dash frowned for a split second before hiding it. She really hoped Wish had a good day. She meant well, getting her to do this. She was just trying to help Wish open up and maybe finally get over—or at least come clean with—whatever was bothering her. Though it was obvious the filly was feeling a little upset and anxious over all of it. Rainbow hoped her forcefulness was worth it all.

“You promise you’ll dance with me later, right?” Jolene suddenly asked her.

“Huh? Oh—yeah. I said I would, didn’t I?” Rainbow smiled at her.

The unicorn smiled and went back to eating breakfast. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.”

After breakfast had finished up, some of the adults and their kids started to get up and congregate together. The sun in the open blue sky was inching closer to being directly overhead Arondel. More families were now coming into the square as well, ones who hadn’t been here for breakfast but were coming to join up with the others. Their kids ran out and immediately greeted the other young fillies and colts already at the square. It was starting to become an excited and loud group, Rainbow Dash could hear them all chattering and playing with each other already.

“We should go over and have you introduce yourself,” Rosalie said to Wish. “I promise everyone will be friendly and happy to have you play with them. The kids here are nice and they’ll help you with anything you need.”

“Alright,” Wish nodded and got up with the other mares, together the five of them walked over to the large group.

“Hello!” Rosalie said to them to get their attention.

A middle-aged stallion turned to look at her. “Well hey there, Rosalie. What can we do for you?”

Rosalie smiled and pushed a nervous Wish forward while Rainbow Dash watched. “Go on.”

“Um, h-hi...” Wish said to him and the other adults and kids that were now all looking at her. “My name is Wish… me and Rainbow Dash are here from out of town and enjoying your festival...” she briefly looked back at the pegasus. “And Rosalie told me that the kids my age like to play a game called Capture the Flag together today? And I was wondering if I could join in and play too...”

“Course you can!” One colt said before any adult could respond, he ran out right up to her and threw a hoof out at her. “Name’s Salvatore! Pleased ta meet ya, Wish!”

Wish almost flinched back away from the exuberant colt and the happy smile on his face but still took his hoof and shook it. “H-Hi.”

He was probably ten or eleven years old, with a bright orange coat and a bushy black mane and tail. “You can be on my team even!”

“No fair!” A slightly older filly, maybe even a teenager, said. “You can’t just take her for yourself, I want to play with the newcomer too.”

“Snooze you lose,” Salvatore shrugged.

“Kids, be nice, you’re all playing together anyways,” one of the adults said to her.

“So where are you from, Wish?” Salvatore asked while all the other fillies and colts now started to crowd around Wish.

“I’m from Hoofica...” Wish hesitantly responded.

A couple of the adults looked worried but none of the children seemed to see anything strange about Wish being from Hoofica. It was likely that they had never been told in the first place about the troubles up north.

“Cool, that’s a huge place with lots of big cities, right?” Another filly asked.

“Mhm,” Wish nodded.

“How come you came here?” The older filly asked her.

“Umm...” Wish glanced back at Rainbow Dash for a moment. “I’m on a trip with Rainbow Dash. We’re just traveling together, and we stopped here. S-So when does the game start?”

“We can go out to the field now, our parents already set everything up,” Salvatore said.

“Sounds like you’re about to have a blast!” Rainbow Dash said and once again tussled Wish’s mane. “Let’s get on out there and you can have some fun with your new friends.”

“The last time I did something like this was… never mind,” Wish shook her head.

“I guess we’re ready for the game to begin?” Rosalie asked the parents.

The same stallion that had first spoken to her nodded. “Oh yeah, we can head on out to the field. We’ve got chairs and some snacks set up and everything.”

Rainbow Dash leaned down to Wish and whispered in her ear. “See? Everyone’s nice and you’re going to have a great time. Just learn their names and have fun with them. They already like you and want to get to know you better.”

Before Wish could say anything, more of the fillies and colts came up to her and made sure she came with them as the whole big group left the square and went towards the field to the south. Along the way the younger kids were nothing but smiles and cheer as they talked to Wish and asked her questions. They introduced themselves, told her about Arondel, asked about Hoofica, asked about her pretty mane, went on and on about pretty much any random thing that entered their heads, as kids are wont to do.

A fair amount of other ponies joined the large group of families as they walked through town and went to the field. As expected a lot of ponies in Arondel were going to watch the big game.

That probably wasn’t going to help Wish and her anxiousness but everyone here was so friendly Rainbow Dash couldn’t imagine it being a bad thing.

After they had left the last few houses behind, they went off the main road leading south from Arondel and went over into a grassy field to the left of it. It looked like it was made right in-between a few farms and farmhouses so it didn’t get in the way of any crops. There was a wide rectangle on the grass, made from white chalk spread over the grass, that stretched pretty much the entire field. Each side of the rectangle had two other smaller boxes at the ends, and another line of chalk went right through the middle to cut it in half. As soon as it came into sight, all the kids of Arondel cheered and ran right towards it. An apprehensive Wish was dragged along as well.

There were several dozen kids in total who were going to partake in the game so it looked like things were going to get pretty wild.

When they got to the middle of the field, they already started to separate into two different groups on either side, seems the teams were already decided. Wish was standing with Salvatore while Rainbow Dash, Rosalie, Angie, and Jolene watched. Steadily the adults moved over to the side, where the aforementioned chairs and snacks were also already set up. A lot were taking the time to mingle with each other while the kids were still talking.

“I don’t really need my own chair or anything,” Rainbow Dash said. “I can just fly if I need a better view.”

“Sure, I was just going to sit on the grass anyways,” Rosalie said.

“Doubt any of us are hungry for a snack yet either,” Angie said.

“Nope,” Jolene shook her head.

“Do you think Wish is going to have a good time?” Rosalie asked Rainbow Dash.

“I...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked at the large group of kids. “I hope so.”

Last Night of the Festival

“So the adults already explained the rules of the game to you, right?” Salvatore asked Wish.

“More or less,” Wish shrugged.

Wish had no chance of remembering the names of everyone, even just the ones on her team. She was happy to note at the very least that she wasn’t the youngest or smallest kid out here. Her eyes though kept darting over to Rainbow Dash on the sidelines. A few times she saw her and Rosalie waving at her. That was embarrassing.

“Okay—well you see the rag lying down in the boxes on both sides of the field?” Salvatore asked.

Wish looked past him and saw that there did seem to be a white rag and towel in the box on that side. “Yeah.”

“Those are the flags. And the boxes opposite them are the jail. If you get tagged out you have to go to jail until someone else comes and tags you free. And you can’t run out of the field or nothing either, kay?”

Wish nodded. “Yeah, got it.”

“I think she’s got enough sense to know how to play the game, Salvatore,” the older filly (who Wish did remember now as Beauticia) said from beyond the halfway line of the field. “Come on, let’s hurry up and have some fun.”

“Yeah!” The ponies on her side of the field cheered.

“Alright, alright, hold your horses!” Salvatore said. He smiled at Wish and had her and the rest of the team come over with him to their side of the field. “We can start in a second.”

After that, both teams walked back to the far sides of their fields and stood there, watching the others and getting ready to run out and try to capture the enemy flag. Wish wasn’t too interested in actually playing, but she would try. As she looked to her right and left, she saw how many of the other kids were smiling. How happy and excited they were to play this game.

Salvatore and Beauticia’s eyes met from across the field and the two kids smiled and nodded at each other.

“CHARGE!” Salvatore yelled.

“CAPTURE THE FLAG!” Beauticia yelled from the other side.

Altogether the two masses of kids from Arondel ran to enter enemy territory and retrieve the opposing flag before theirs was taken. Wish half-heartedly ran along at first, maybe thinking she could just be on defense instead for most of the game. That way she probably wouldn’t have to do as much. But a glance at the sidelines showed a delighted Rainbow Dash smiling and cheering for her. Wish rolled her eyes and picked up the pace, running out to the center of the field and preparing to go and try grab the enemy flag. There were a lot of kids out running around too and it was actually fairly difficult for Wish to maneuver between them or even remember which ones were on her team and which weren’t. And it was very noisy. Very, very, noisy. The kids were as energetic and carefree as the kids living in a place like this should be.

So unlike her.

Anxiety was eating away at her once more and it only grew worse every time she saw a smiling face or heard a happy shout. But she couldn’t let those negative feelings show. She didn’t want to upset or disappoint Rainbow Dash. Or Rosalie for that matter. So a familiar forced smile wormed its way onto Wish’s face and she found herself playing a role she had a lot of experience with.

It was easy to at least act like she was having fun playing with everyone else.

Wish crossed the mid-line of the field and went for the box that contained the flag. Her small size and swift agility helped her dart between ponies on her team and also avoid the hooves of ponies on the other team. Unfortunately her red mane and outsider status made her very noticeable to the Arondel ponies so she never had a chance of doing anything sneaky. Like the other kids here she was just going to have to be part of a wild mass charging the other side. There wasn’t much of a strategy or game plan at all from what she could see, both sides were basically just trying to outrun each other.

Not unexpected since it was just a wild bunch of kids having fun during their festival. Did they really do this every month?

“I see you, Wish!” Another filly on the enemy team said, probably around Wish’s age. She had a bright smile on her face as she ran towards Wish in an attempt to tag her out. Wish thought her name might’ve started with an A.

Wish only grinned and swiftly started running away from her. “So what? You think you can catch me?”

She shot to the side of the field, avoiding her teammates and other enemies as the filly chased her. Already she could hear so many ponies being tagged out and shouts of indignation, hooves trampled over the grass of the field, and parents and other friends cheered and laughed while they watched. Wish jumped behind another bigger teammate of hers to avoid her pursuer, but then just as quickly had to run from others on the enemy team. She was starting to get cornered the further she pressed into enemy territory. Others running by though caught some of the attention of the ponies on the opposing team, and Wish gained a little bit of freedom.

A loud whistle then suddenly rang out over the whole field. Wish looked back to see that a colt on the other team had managed to grab their flag and was now running for the middle. She turned around immediately, forgetting about offense and avoiding the group of other ponies trying to close around her. There was way more room to turn around and go to try and play defense than there was trying to push on on offense.

Wish kept the smile on her face as she joined with her teammates to stop their flag from being carried over the middle line.

No matter what, she was going to keep that smile on her face.

Rainbow Dash was watching her intently from the sidelines, flapping her wings and hovering above the other ponies to always keep her eyes on Wish. She had a wide grin on her face at the start of the game, but that had slowly faded over time. Now she was only staring blankly at Wish and in particular the smile the filly wore.

She drifted back down to the ground and stood beside Rosalie, Angie and Jolene, who were still all cheering loudly.

Rosalie caught her blank look out of the corner of her and she raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Something wrong? Aren’t you having fun watching Wish?”

“Hm...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow’s eyes drifted over to Rosalie. “Can I ask you for a favor tonight? I’m going to need to talk to Wish alone.”

“That was really fun to watch! You look like you had a great time too,” Angie said to Wish as all five of them walked back to Rosalie’s cottage later that night.

“It was great when you stopped that colt from bringing your flag to his side at the last second,” Jolene said. “You got a lot of cheers for that one.”

“Yep! It really was pretty fun,” Wish said with an easygoing grin on her face.

“See? You should’ve tried to make friends earlier,” Angie said.

Wish shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Wasn’t it a lot of fun watching her?” Jolene asked to Rainbow Dash.

“Mhm. It was,” Rainbow Dash said, walking in front of the others.

“Oh!” Rosalie suddenly said, gasping in surprise. “I just remembered something!”

Wish, Angie, and Jolene turned to look at her.

“What is it?” Angie asked.

Rosalie grabbed both her and Jolene and pulled them away. “I wanted to get some more candles, can you girls come with me and help me decide what ones to get? Rainbow Dash, Wish—you can both head to the cottage, I’ll be in later.”

“Okay, see you later,” Wish was a little confused by Rosalie’s sudden announcement but still waved her and the others goodbye as Rosalie pulled them back towards the middle of town.

“Guess it’s just us for now then. Come on,” Rainbow said and resumed walking to the cottage.

Wish thought Rainbow Dash sounded a little… subdued… but she just shrugged and followed along with her. In a second they were back to the cottage and the two of them walked inside, the door drifting closed behind them. It was late enough for them to go to bed already but Rainbow Dash stopped in the sitting room. Something about this seemed familiar to Wish. She didn’t let any troublesome thoughts in though, and instead just kept the small smile on her face.

Rainbow Dash turned around to look at her. “So you had fun today?”

“Yep!” Wish answered, nodding.

“Made some new friends?”

“Uh-huh. Met a lot of kids, can’t remember all their names but I still made friends with some of them.”

Rainbow Dash blinked.

“Umm… what’s wrong?” Wish asked her.

“Why are you lying? You know I can tell already. So why even bother? That smile on your face… the one you had on during the game. It’s the same fake smile I recognize from when I first met you, kid. You’re asking me what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong with you,” Rainbow Dash strongly said.

“I… that’s not...” Wish shook her head, the smile fading from her face.

“Just tell me, Wish. What’s been bothering you?”

“Nothing,” she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head harder while fighting back tears. “It’s nothing. Just let me lie.”

“Kid, I can’t do that.”

“Please… just let me keep smiling like this,” Wish kept shaking her head.

“Wish...”

A near silent moment hung in the darkening cottage, the only sound being the heavily-labored breath of the young filly.

“… it isn’t fair.”

“What’s not fair?”

“They’re so happy… everyone here is so happy. The kids don’t have anything to worry about, every adult is so friendly, all they do is farm and have festivals every month. W-What were they doing while I and the rest of Hoofica were… was it the same thing? How many festivals did they have? Were they all just smiling and playing games everyday? Why… why did they get to do that? It isn’t right, it’s not fair!” Wish shouted.

Rainbow Dash sighed deeply, the root of the problem now finally revealing itself. “So how does it really make you feel seeing these ponies? What do you really think about all those other kids you just played with?”

“I… It’s wrong...”

“You need to let it out, Wish.”

Wish grit her teeth and tightly hugged her hooves around her body. “I hate them! I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!” She screamed loudly and cried out, her voice echoing through the small cottage. “I don’t care if it’s wrong! I know it’s wrong, I don’t need anyone to tell me! But I can’t… I can’t help it. Why do they get to live so happily… and so carefree… and have parents that love and take care of them when I—when I… just why?”

She felt herself suddenly embraced by the hooves of Rainbow Dash and hugged close to the mare’s chest.

“No one should have gone through what you did. You’re right, it’s not fair. None of it is,” Rainbow told her.

“I didn’t know I’d feel like this until we came here and met all these ponies… I didn’t know it would make it hurt so much,” Wish sniffled against her.

“I’m sorry for forcing a lot of this on you too...”

“I should’ve just told you from the start. You’ve always… you’ve always been trying to help me.”

“And I don’t know if I can tell you to just “feel better” or “stop being unhappy”. I know it probably doesn’t work that way. But I still need to help you. And I’ll be here for you as long as you need me, until that hate and sadness is totally gone.” Rainbow Dash gently rubbed her mane and held Wish close, letting the filly cry against her as much as she needed to.

“What I will say-” Rainbow Dash continued. “Is stop hating these ponies. You have to, Wish. Even though it’s unfair, nothing good is going to come of you holding on to feelings like that. And it’s not fair to them either. As much as it might hurt to see them smile, that’s something you need to get over, or you’ll never stop feeling miserable. Don’t let another pony’s happiness make you sad.”

She felt Wish’s head nod against her. “I know...”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Let’s go to bed, you’ve had another big day. Tomorrow… we can see what we wanna do.”

“Okay...”

Rainbow Dash picked the filly up and put her on her back, flying lightly to their room. Wish nuzzled up against her, eyes closed, exhausted and seeking rest once more. Rainbow opened the door to the den and gently floated right onto the bed, curling up and simply letting Wish use her as a big pillow. With a smile on her face, she quietly waited until Wish had nodded off before she fell asleep as well.

Why Not Keep Relaxing?

The following morning, nobody came to wake Rainbow Dash and Wish up early. The two of them stayed curled up in bed, pleasantly slumbering, until well into late morning. When they woke up they did it at the same time thanks to Wish’s movements disturbing Rainbow Dash. The filly blushed in embarrassment when she realized she had been using her friend as a pillow the whole night.

“Heh, sleep well?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

“Shut up...” Wish muttered and looked away.

“There’s the sassy filly I like,” Rainbow chuckled and reached over to ruffle Wish’s mane.

“Nnngh, stop it,” Wish grumbled.

Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement before pulling her hoof away, stretching out on the bed and looking at the window. Sunlight was coming in through the drapes and right onto the bed to warm the two of them up. “Wonder what time it is? Maybe Rosalie hasn’t woken up yet.”

“They just had their big festival, I bet most ponies don’t get up early on the day right after,” Wish shrugged.

“Heh, they probably rest today, yeah.” Rainbow Dash nodded.

Wish yawned one last time to finally wake herself up completely before she hopped off the bed. “I’m going to see if Rosalie is awake or making breakfast or anything yet.”

Rainbow Dash rolled over to stretch her wings one by one. “Yeah, I’ll be right out too.”

Wish left the den and walked out into the sitting room before peering around into the kitchen and seeing Rosalie standing there, brewing some coffee and preparing to pour it into a few mugs. When she saw Wish in the corner of her eye she turned to look over at the filly and smiled.

“I thought I heard the two of you wake up. Want some coffee?” Rosalie asked.

“Yes please,” Wish smiled. “Rainbow Dash will definitely want some too.”

“I’ll bring it out to the table,” Rosalie said and one by one she carefully carried each mug out onto the table in the sitting room. Shortly after that, Rainbow Dash came yawning out of the den and plopped down onto the couch. When her nose sniffed in the scent of coffee her eyes opened up all the way.

“Oh, oh yeah, that’s what I need,” Rainbow Dash smiled and reached for the nearest mug.

“Rainbow Dash and I were wondering what’s going on in Arondel today,” Wish said to Rosalie. “Is everyone mostly resting?”

Rosalie nodded. “More or less. The harvested crops need a few days before they start growing again and then the farming cycle starts anew. So it’s not really a festival anymore but you’ll still find most residents of Arondel relaxing or playing around.” She suddenly looked a little more serious as she glanced between the two of them. “You… you weren’t planning on leaving yet, were you?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “You can relax, we weren’t going to just up and ditch you today or anything. I don’t know how much longer we’ll be here but we aren’t leaving yet.”

“Oh good, because I-”

Whatever Rosalie was about to say had to be put on pause because right at that moment someone knocked on her front door. The earth pony and her guests were surprised, Rosalie tilted her head and got up, walking over to the door.

“I wonder who this could be?” She said as she pulled it open.

An older stallion was standing there, Rainbow Dash thought she had probably seen him a couple of times at the Harvest Festival but it was likely she had never learned his name.

“Rufus! So nice to see you, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” Rosalie asked the stallion.

“Hello there, Rosalie,” Rufus politely dipped his head to her. “I was wondering if...” He trailed off as he looked past her and saw Rainbow Dash and Wish inside. “Oh! They are still here, this is perfect.”

“You need us for something?” Rainbow Dash asked as she floated off the couch towards him, with a curious Wish following along.

“Actually Mayor Charlotte asked me to see if the two of you were still in town. She said she had something to talk to you about,” Rufus said.

Rainbow Dash and Wish shared a glance before Rainbow shrugged. “Alright. Not like we had anything else planned for today.”

Rufus smiled. “Great to hear. You remember where her office is, right? I’m not going back there myself.”

“Yeah. Small enough town anyways, can’t really forget where anything is,” Rainbow said.

“I can come with you too if you’re going,” Rosalie said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No need, Rosalie. Thanks for the offer but why don’t you get some rest too? You’ve already done a great job hosting me and Wish, kay? I think you’ve kind of earned it. Sides, not like it can be anything that’ll take too long.”

Rosalie looked mildly miffed at first before she just smiled and shrugged. “Alright, you two enjoy meeting the mayor again. I’ll cook up something here or have a game ready by the time you get back.”

“Goodbye then, I’ll see you some other time, Rosalie.” Rufus waved and walked away from Rosalie’s door, heading elsewhere in Arondel.

“We’re going too,” Rainbow said and dropped to the ground, walking off the porch.

“Bye, Rosalie.” Wish waved at the mare and walked out right after Rainbow Dash.

“Bye you two, have a nice day!” Rosalie cheerfully said to them and waved as well.

A lot of flowers were left strewn all over the ground and many of the Harvest Festival decorations were left up. Besides that the only big change compared to yesterday was how many fewer ponies there were around. Only a few were out walking around Arondel—mostly adults with only a couple small groups of kids running around and playing.

Wish tentatively watched them, still not fully comfortable.

A fact that Rainbow Dash took note of.

“Do you want to try playing with them again?” Rainbow asked.

“Y-Yes,” Wish nodded. “I’d like to. Maybe tomorrow though, I just need another day.”

“You sure? I don’t want to force you...”

“I’m sure,” Wish replied with a little extra firmness in her voice.

Rainbow Dash nodded and the two of them continued walking to Mayor Charlotte’s office. Quietly. A few faces smiled and nodded to them as they walked along, and even a few of the kids recognized Wish and waved to her. Arondel was as pleasant as always. It wasn’t just the Harvest Festival that made it a nice place.

“I don’t hate everyone.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash’s ears twitched as she looked down at Wish, the filly was looking out at the other ponies walking through Arondel.

“I just wanted to say… it’s not like I felt that way about everyone. Even before today. I like Rosalie, she’s nice, and… she told me about her family earlier at the festival. She doesn’t get along with them and they never see each other anymore. She… it’s not the same as my problems… but I feel like she can understand better. At least a little bit. And I can tell she’d really try to help, and be kind, just like you.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “She’s a good pony.”

“Yeah… and I’m… I’m still glad we came here. I’m glad we met everyone,” Wish said, walking slightly closer to Rainbow Dash.

They walked into the mayor’s building/residence soon after that, and went right up to her office after greeting a few of the same Arondel elders that always seemed to be around here. Mayor Charlotte was sitting at her desk with a pleasant smile on her face, looking at some papers and opened up envelopes on her desk. When Rainbow and Wish entered her smile widened even further and she got up and came to greet them personally, throwing her hooves around them and hugging them. It was surprisingly informal for a mayor but Vissidia was just that kind of place.

“I have some great news!” Mayor Charlotte said. “A carrier hawk from Verbansk has come back. The governor responded to me about Hoofica and our plans to help it!”

Rainbow Dash’s face lit up in an excited smile. “Seriously? Already? That’s awesome!”

Wish too sighed in relief, her tumultuous feelings not having anything to do with Hoofica’s well-being. She too wanted those ponies to have peace and the ability to live well. This felt like a massive weight off her shoulders.

“So what’s happening now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“An effort is already being made to coordinate a large transportation of food and relief to Hoofica from across Vissida. The governor is taking care of it personally. Hawks have also been sent to Hoofica itself so we can try setting up communication with them. There’s another thing too,” Charlotte said and walked back to her desk, picking up the one envelope that hadn’t been opened just yet.

“What is it?” Rainbow Dash walked over to see it too.

“As it turns out, there was an Aux-Lemm caravan in Verbansk when the hawk I sent arrived. We’ll be working with them as well to help move things along more smoothly. And when the governor explained things in detail to them, one of the ponies working on the caravan wrote a personal letter to you.”

“A letter for me?” Rainbow Dash was confused as she took the envelope from Charlotte and opened it up. “That doesn’t make any sense, who would write a letter to me?”

She unfolded the paper and her eyes scanned over it, dawning comprehension coming to them as Wish looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Rainbow Dash? What’s in the letter?” The filly questioned.

To Rainbow Dash,

It’s been a long while since we parted ways and I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. When I learned you had planned to travel south straight into Hoofica I was worried, but it seems my fears were unfounded. If anything, going by what I just heard from the Vissidian Governor, it was a good thing you went there. Sounds like they need help, but if the country is back like normal then good job. I’ll be leading the caravan that takes the first batches of food from Vissidia up to Hoofica. I’m sure I’m going to meet quite a few ponies who have something to say about you there.

After that I’ve decided to retire. There’s been enough excitement in the world and in my life lately. A nice piece of land in Vissidia to spend my days on sounds like a dream after years of pulling wagons through the hot desert.

On that note, you’d be surprised how different things are up there. There were some long talks between the camels and representatives of a few groups after that fire you and your friends left behind was found. Don’t be concerned though, they were good talks. Talks that were sorely needed. The desert and Hoofica both seem to be in a lot better place now than they were before you flew through them. Ponies and other creatures don’t even know they should be thanking you.

We may not have known each other for long but I always got the feeling you were a special pony. I wish you luck in whatever travels you go through next. I get the feeling that a lot of ponies around the world are going to come to remember your name.

-Cart D’Evron

P. S. He Whose Neck Is Long says hi

Rainbow Dash was smiling by the end of it, and her eyes were misty. She folded up the letter and wiped at her eyes. “Aw geez… I-I could totally never admit this to my friends back home… but stuff like this might actually be the best part of adventuring.” She opened her wing and pulled Wish in for a tight hug against her body.

“Heh,” Wish grinned and hugged her back.

“Pff… laugh it up, kid.”

Smile

“That’s a really special thing you made happen, Rainbow Dash,” Jolene said to her as she, along with Angie and Rosalie, sat at the edge of a flower field on the west side of Arondel the next day.

“You should’ve told us about what was going on, Rosalie,” Angie said to her friend.

“Well I didn’t want to say anything about it all in case nothing ever came from it,” Rosalie said.

“But still—to think we get to help out so many ponies in need. It’s just… really, really, special. Aint it?” Jolene asked.

“Yup. I think so at least,” Angie nodded.

“It’s just kind of what I do,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she sat in-between a bunch of dandelions. “Part of me sort of wants to say it’s no big deal but the other part makes me want to say it’s a super big deal. I mean, it’s really important, yeah. It’s really important to the ponies in Hoofica and I’m glad your governor pulled through. That country needs it.”

“You told us so many stories but you really are a hero...” Jolene said in wonder.

Rainbow snorted. “Did you not believe me before?”

“It’s different to see it in action,” Angie said.

The happy yell of a filly momentarily broke their conversation and they looked to see the group of kids they were watching over all running through the flower field playing tag. One of them had almost been caught. The meadow was full of about a dozen of them, since some kids were now already back to work or hanging out in their own smaller friend groups. The tall grass and the flowers were practically being trampled through be the carefree army of kids.

Rainbow Dash watched Wish as she ran through the meadow as well. She didn’t quite have a true smile on her face but she seemed to honestly be enjoying herself better. The anxiety, the negative emotions gripping her, had lessened since they had their talk. Wish was attempting to go back to being a normal filly. To go back to a life before she ever set hoof in Hoofica Castle. In truth, Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if it was possible, Wish had been through too much that being a “normal” kid again may have been a pipe dream. But at the very least she could live a normal life in a happy and peaceful place with plenty of kids her age to keep her company.

Rainbow bit her lip. But she wants to stay with me too… and I don’t know if… I can’t just leave her here or anything like this. Can I? She wouldn’t react well to that and I still have to help her. I made promises to her…

“She’s having such a great time, isn’t she?” Rosalie’s voice cut in.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

Rosalie raised an eyebrow at her curt response. “Is something wrong again?”

“Not with her...” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I’m still waiting for something. The reason we traveled together… it’s not like we planned to stop in Arondel, or stay this long or maybe longer, but I have a feeling that we should. I have a feeling that there isn’t anyplace better for her to find what she needs. And you’ve already made friends with her too. I have my own adventure that I’m on, but I still have a promise I made with Wish that I need to take care of first.”

Rosalie’s hoof started rubbing up and down her back to relax her. “There, there, if it’s any consolation I think the both of you are doing great. Even I can tell that Wish has become more positive since I first met her.”

“She likes you,” Rainbow said.

“That… makes me very happy to hear,” Rosalie softly smiled.

“Are we friends with her too?” Angie asked.

“Yeah, are we?” Jolene asked.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “She’s not exactly the fastest filly when it comes to making friends. Talk to her one on one some more or come over and play some more games together.”

“For a while she’ll probably just keep feeling awkward though...” Rosalie said.

“That’s also true,” Rainbow nodded. “But if anything I think she’d still be quicker at making friends with you than with kids her age… which is why right now is pretty special. I like seeing her like this.”

Wish at the moment was running through the grass, both chasing and being chased at the same time. There were no teams, no set pony who was It, it was just a bunch of ponies playing around chaotically and doing whatever they wanted. Rules? No way. If she ran through some flowers and saw some pony turn and run the other direction she’d chase after them—if they decided to chase her then she’d run from them. She knew the names of all the ones she was playing with today too. It had taken a little time this morning but the longer introductions were worth it. Giggling fillies and colts were all around her and the noise from them echoed through the entire meadow. Wish wasn’t giggling with them, she couldn’t say she became as happy as easily as they did, but it was still fun right now. There at least wasn’t anything hanging over her anymore like during the Harvest Festival. There really wasn’t anything to worry about anymore, was there? But at the same time she couldn’t say she was truly happy yet either.

But it was still nice to be here. It was healing. After what they had both been through, Wish and Rainbow Dash needed a vacation in a place like this. Where it almost seemed like nothing ever bad happened and the ponies of Vissidia truly had nothing to worry about. Did these kids even go to school like she used to back in her old hometown?

Surprisingly, Wish found she wouldn’t even mind having class again.

“Better run faster, Wish!” The voice of a filly her age suddenly grabbed Wish’s attention.

Wish looked to see the grinning face of Henrietta as she ran towards her. Henrietta had a poofy light-green mane with a pair of thick braids tied around her head and joined at the back. Her white coat was a little puffier than the average pony’s as well, it almost made her look like a dog as she bounded through the grass. Her Cutie Mark was a blooming pair of gold and purple flowers, Wish was almost envious of how pretty it was. Pretty much every pony she was playing with right now already had their Cutie Marks.

“Nobody could catch me at Capture the Flag, you think you can?” Wish taunted and started running.

The two of them ran through the grass and flowers, creating new trails, almost vanishing in the tall grass unless you were looking at them practically directly from above. A lot of the other kids were doing the same, all on their own little chases. Wish and Henrietta ran right in between two others and jumped past a bed of roses so as not to get pricked by any thorns. A bee buzzed overhead, spreading pollen from flower to flower.

That was hardly the only insect out either. More bees, butterflies, dragonflies, the fields of Arondel were alive in every sort of way.

There’s just something so calming about all of this… Wish thought as she ran. Maybe this is what I needed more than anything?

While running, she also saw a colt named Antonio chasing a filly named Gabriela. The two of them were a few years older than Wish and clearly flirting with each other. Wish thought it was silly and she didn’t exactly “get” romance or anything but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. She didn’t exactly think colts were icky or anything like that but she didn’t want to kiss any just yet either. She could wait a few more years. Or ten.

A giggle that sounded a little closer came from behind and Wish looked over her shoulder to see that Henriette had gained a bit on her. She had let her mind wander too much.

“I’m gonna catch you!”

“Don’t count on it!” Wish stuck her tongue out at her.

There were a bunch of sunflowers ahead, taller than any of the ponies running through the meadow, Wish ran straight for their green stalks. They were too big and sturdy that she couldn’t just run into them and knock them out of the way, she—and by extension Henrietta—had to run between them like they were running through a maze of obstacles now. It gave some extra excitement to the chase that they both enjoyed.

Stalks of sunflowers shifted and wavered, the great big blooming flowers at the top tilted back and forth as both fillies nudged up and brushed against them as they passed through the field. It was fun doing this, Wish thought. They could probably have an even better time doing this at one of the local cornfields.

“Come on, Wish, give up already!”

“You give up!”

“No way!”

Instead of just running straight through to the other side of the sunflower field, Wish made a big curve inside it and looped back around, eventually going out the way she came in. Henrietta kept up the chase the whole time though, kids like the two of them just seemed to have limitless energy sometimes. When they came out of the sunflowers they ran through a bunch of wildflowers and scattered a group of butterflies to the air. There were some brambles ahead that Wish could potentially try running or crawling through but that might be painful.

A few other kids saw the two of them come out of the sunflower field though and they started joining Henrietta in chasing her. Now Wish had a few more on her tail.

“Oh, so you need everybody?” Wish laughed.

“Bleh! I didn’t ask for them!” Henrietta shouted back at her.

Wish still led them on quite a chase, zigging and zagging through the grass and flowers. There were a couple of rose bushes ahead now and she chose to run through them—they were at least far apart enough from each other where she didn’t have to worry about getting caught on any branches or thorns. Henrietta and the others followed her in, with Wish now actually laughing during the chase. She was close to leaving the rose bushes-

“Ah—Oh no!” The unhappy yell of Henrietta came from behind her.

Wish looked back and saw that the filly and her other pursuers had stopped in the middle of the rose bushes, Henrietta now sitting on the ground and worriedly tugging at her mane. Wish herself came to a halt and turned around.

“What’s going on?” She asked as she trotted back over to them.

“It’s my mane!” Henrietta said, she looked very upset. The braids of her mane had come undone. “My braids got caught on the branches, now my mane’s been ruined! My mom helps me with it every morning, I don’t know how to fix it myself. It takes so long for her to get it right...”

“Does anyone here know how to do their own mane or make a braid like that?” A colt named Bruno asked.

The colts of course all shook their heads, they looked like they didn’t even comb their manes at all. But the fillies who did have their manes styled didn’t have any answers either. Seems everyone still had their parents do it for them.

Wish bit her lip as she now looked at Henrietta’s braidless mane. There was something tickling the back of her mind.

“I um… I think maybe I can help? I had a professional style my mane every day for a long time, and then another pony who got good at it too. I haven’t done my own mane or anything, but I know how a pony is supposed to treat and style someone else’s. I think I kind of have some experience and ideas about it.” Wish said. “Um, does anybody have a comb or a brush with them?”

“I do,” another filly named Cordelia said. She had a bag on her side that she took a small hairbrush from and hoofed it over to Wish.

“Thanks,” Wish smiled and looked over Henrietta’s fluffy mane—there was already some strange feeling of inspiration welling up inside her just looking at it. “Let’s get out of these rosebushes first.”

The whole group left the rosebushes, now walking out into the middle of the field where they weren’t crowded by anything. Rainbow Dash, Rosalie, Angie, and Jolene could all see them again, and were now watching in confusion as to what was going on.

Wish meanwhile walked around Henrietta in a circle, looking at her mane every which way. She was sharply concentrating with her eyes narrowed in an attempt to figure out just how to start this. What did Dotty and Sweet Candy do first? No… Wish shouldn’t just rely on what she knew about them, she felt something kind of instinctual right now, she was getting ideas just looking at Henrietta’s mane. The feeling of a comb and brush dragging through her mane, hooves holding the strands of hair, pulling and tugging it the right way to get it perfectly straight and compliant.

“Do you think you can fix it?” Henrietta asked.

“Mm,” Wish nodded and stood behind Henrietta as she sat on the ground. She reached up and grabbed some long strands of Henrietta’s mane before running her brush through them. She had never done this before but something about it felt right, natural. Maybe because of how much it had been done to her.

When she had brushed through most of the mane she took a few hooffuls of it and started twisting them around each other, tying them in a tight braid. She held the end of it down and put it in her mouth for the moment, then reached across to the other side of Henrietta’s head and started making a second braid. Once that was finished she was able to tie them together at the back of the filly’s head. A little more primping and taking care of loose ends and Henrietta’s mane looked practically good as new.

Wish grinned to herself. That was surprisingly fun, it was like she had a knack for it.

She heard a couple of sudden gasps and some muttering coming from the other kids around her, but Wish ignored whatever that was as she looked over at Cordelia.

“There are a couple of split ends in your mane,” Wish said as she walked up to her and brought the brush to her mane. “Let me help you. Dotty and Sweet Candy would never let me go out with my mane anything less than perfect...”

Her brush glided through the mane and fairly easily fixed Cordelia’s split ends. One of the colts as well had his mane just shooting out wherever, she tidied it up and parted it to one side to make it look better. It all just felt so right to do…

“W-Wish!” Henrietta suddenly said.

“Huh?” Wish looked over at her to see the other filly staring in shock at her. Her hoof was pointing at Wish’s flank.

“Look!” Henrietta shouted.

Wish looked down at her own flank.

And saw something.

It was a brush with a red handle not unlike the one she was holding right now, but sparkling like it was brand new right on her flank.

“I-It just appeared right when you finished with Henrietta’s mane,” Bruno said. “Your Cutie Mark...”

Wish blinked in almost pure disbelief, she didn’t know what to think. “My Cutie Mark?”

“You got your Cutie Mark, Wish! Congratulations!” Henrietta cheered for her.

Wish continued to sit there in shock, staring at the Cutie Mark. “I… I...” The Cutie Mark she had wanted for ages, that she had always thought she would get in painting, the mark she wanted to show her mother so badly. The place she had wanted. The purpose, talent, everything she had been searching for. Tears that she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to slowly began to well up in her eyes. “You were right here? All this time… all this time you were just waiting for me?”

Her entire body shook and she squeezed her eyes shut with tears falling freely from them. Tossing her head back to the sky she started to loudly cry in the middle of the meadow.

“Aaaaaaahhhhh, mmmmmaaaaaahhhh!” She wailed like a baby, dropping the brush and bringing her hooves to her eyes. “Waaaaahhhhhh!”

The other kids didn’t know what to do at all, and Rainbow and the others saw what was happening as well too.

“W-Wish!” Rosalie said and started up to go see what was wrong.

But a blue hoof stretched out in front of her chest and stopped her. Rosalie blinked and looked over at Rainbow Dash, seeing a stony face on the pegasus mare.

Rainbow Dash alone then went to walk out into the field to Wish.

“W-What’s wrong, Wish? Why are you crying?” Henrietta asked her as Wish’s cries finally started to die down a little.

“I’m just… I’m just… so happy. I don’t know what to do,” Wish said as she opened up her eyes and looked back down at her brand new Cutie Mark. Through tears and even some unfortunate snot dripping from her nose, she smiled.

A shadow appeared on the grass and Wish looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing over her.

“R-Rainbow Dash, look! Look! It’s my Cutie Mark! I-I finally found it! I finally got my Cutie Mark!” Wish smiled up at her.

An understanding smile made its way onto Rainbow Dash’s face and she reached a hoof up to pat Wish on the head. “Yeah kid, I see it.” And under her breath she whispered: “I see them.”

Knowing What to Do

Rainbow Dash laid back on the guest bed in Rosalie’s den. Her hooves were behind her head and she was staring up at the ceiling in contemplation. Thinking at any sort of depth was usually deeper than how she normally thought, but that’s what she found herself doing right now.

Rosalie, Angie and Jolene were out in the sitting room, talking about who knows what. Wish was out playing with the friends she had made again. Or perhaps practicing her mane styling skills after finding her special talent. It seemed she had become the hot new topic among the kids in Arondel. That was a good thing, a really good thing.

That smile… Rainbow Dash thought as she looked up at the ceiling. It was so happy. She finally had a real smile.

She had known Wish for a while now and that was by far the happiest she had ever seen the young filly. And with what Wish was doing now it seemed like she might have finally gotten over her own issues. She wasn’t afraid of the other ponies here, or full of hatred or anxiety, she had managed to find peace with herself. It was so simple but so important to her.

And now here Rainbow Dash was. Thinking.

What had happened with Harlequin Grey was replaying in her head. The fact that… she… was still chasing her went through her mind. Wish’s smiling face was stuck in her head. She thought about the peacefulness of Arondel. The quick friendships that had been made with Rosalie and the others.

She thought about the promise she had made Wish.

Will you help me? That’s what she asked when she freed me. And then the promises I made to her when we left Hoofica behind… Rainbow Dash sighed and turned over in the bed, grabbing a pillow and pulling it down on top of her head.

There were the adventures still to come. The unknown to go through. And her goal of flying all the way around the world that she still needed to accomplish.

The danger that was certainly still out there waiting for her.

Rainbow Dash groaned and started punching the mattress. “Why does stuff have to be so difficult? How come I have to make a decision like this? This isn’t the kind of thing I wanted to have to deal with when coming to this side of the world… I didn’t think something like this would happen.” She got tired of beating the mattress and threw the pillow off her in annoyance. “So uncool. It’s so uncool. I’m not the one who freaks out or struggles, right? I’m the one who makes a gut decision and busts through any walls in the way.”

She turned around again and stared up at the ceiling. “So what’s my gut telling me? What’s the right thing to do here?”

She blinked before closing her eyes and sighing. “I don’t know why I even asked myself… not like I haven’t always known.”

Rainbow opened her eyes again and hopped out of bed. A glance outside the window showed that it was the middle of the day, nobody had bothered her yet since she told Wish she was going to sleep in. There were still the voices of Rosalie, Angie and Jolene from the other room, Rainbow Dash was going to need to talk to Rosalie before she did anything else. Maybe she could also tell Angie and Jolene to make sure Wish didn’t come back for at least a few more hours? Though she doubted the filly would right now, she was really busy being the center of attention. That mental image actually brought a smirk to Rainbow Dash’s face. To think that uncomfortable, suspicious, withdrawn, and sassy filly was probably being crowded by a bunch of other kids who thought she was just the most amazing thing that had happened to their town recently. And that she was smiling about all of it.

With a twist of her limbs, Rainbow Dash popped her joints and then cracked her neck, taking a big stretch and yawning after spending so much time in bed.

Her stomach grumbled and she rolled her eyes.

“Right… maybe I can get lunch or something from Rosalie first.”

Rosalie and Rainbow Dash sat alone on her couch, an untouched cup of tea that had since gone cold sat in front of a nervous Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had been struggling to find her words for a while now, even after shooing Angie and Jolene away for the moment.

“Is whatever you wanted to talk about really something we need to be alone for?” A curious Rosalie finally asked.

“Umm… I dunno, probably not. Just kind of wanted the privacy I guess,” Rainbow replied.

“So what is it then? Is it something about Wish—or are you leaving?”

Rainbow Dash groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “I don’t know why this is so difficult...”

A sad look passed across Rosalie’s face and she looked down at her lap. “O-Oh… so you are leaving.”

“Aw geez… Rosalie I’m sorry but… I was always going to be leaving. I’m surprised I even stayed here for this many days. But yeah, I’m going to be leaving Arondel and Vissidia behind soon.” Rainbow sighed and reached a hoof over to Rosalie’s shoulder, affectionately patting it.

“I’m going to miss the two of you so much,” Rosalie said.

Rainbow Dash’s breath hitched in her throat. “That’s… that’s another thing. I wanted to ask you about something.”

Rosalie looked over at her with a confused face. “What?”

“When it comes to...” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and steadied herself. “In Vissidia, when it comes to ponies that don’t have a home, and don’t have a family, how are they taken care of? Do you have foster families? Or orphanages? Or anything like that?”

“Well of course… and we value having a strong community, we take care of any pony who doesn’t have a family of their own. Shelter, food, love, ponies from all over town will come and help,” Rosalie smiled. But in a few seconds the smile slowly disappeared from her face. “Why?”

Rainbow Dash’s hooves shook and she felt a tear rolling down the side of her face. “Y-You’ve really made friends with Wish, haven’t you?”

“T-That filly has become very special to me, yes,” Rosalie slowly nodded, a few tears now spilling forth from her eyes.

Rainbow Dash brought her hoof up and wiped away the tear. “I… I need to ask you to do something.”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash...” Rosalie reached over and wrapped the pegasus in a hug.

Tearful Promise

“Okay, okay, now just stand still, you have a lot of knots and stuff in your mane but I can straighten it all out,” Wish said as she pulled a comb through the other filly’s mane. “Wow, how’d you get it all messed up like this?”

At the moment, Wish was situated in Arondel’s town square, at a table that had been set up earlier, and she was showing off her mane care skills for everyone who was interested. Because she had never gotten the opportunity to do this herself back in Hoofica, thanks to her maids taking care of her mane and her mother before that, it was really refreshing to get to do it herself. It was something that maybe she should’ve discovered earlier in her life but just didn’t have the possibility to. Now that she had “acquired” it and new the truth about herself it was just wonderful. She had always loved painting but she had never known how much she loved mane care and styling either. Until finally now.

“Well we were running through bushes and tumbling down a few hills… my mane got all tangled and stuff,” the filly said.

“Guess it doesn’t really matter. I’ll get it all fixed up in a minute, it’ll look even better than before,” Wish said and continued on combing and styling the mane.

“Can you do mine next?” A colt asked her.

Wish shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I don’t have as much experience when it comes to colts manes but if anything it should be easier, right?”

“After him how about the two of us?” An older voice said.

Wish looked to see Jolene and Angie walking towards her with smiles on their faces. It was kind of strange to see them without Rosalie but Wish didn’t pay it any mind. They must’ve known she was hanging out with the local kids and came to check on her.

“Our manes aint messed up or anything but we’d still like to see what you can do with them,” Jolene said.

“Uh huh, I wonder what ideas you have for styling my mane,” Angie smiled.

“Heh,” Wish confidently smiled at the both of them. “Sure, I haven’t actually tried to style any adults’ manes yet. You two can be my first. Fair warning though, if I get any wild ideas then you’re both going to be guinea pigs.”

Jolene giggled. “Don’t worry, Wish. We trust you.”

Since she had a lot of ponies to work on now, Wish spent the better part of an hour combing, brushing, and then styling and practicing every kind of thing she could think of on these manes. Jolene and Angie were really perfect for this since their manes were longer than the fillies her age. If there was a mare here with a really long, really straight, mane, Wish would love to meet her to have an even better canvas to practice on.

Right now her hooves were just finishing up with tying Angie’s mane into a bow against the back of her head.

“Hey, kid. You having fun?” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out to her.

Wish smiled and turned around to see Rainbow and Rosalie walking towards her. “Yep!”

“That’s good to hear, glad you’re having a better time in Arondel now,” Rainbow grinned.

“Well… I kind of have you to thank for supporting me and not letting me just… you know, keep being me.” Wish said.

“No problem when it comes to that,” Rainbow reached down and ruffled up Wish’s mane.

“Hey!” Wish shouted in playful indignation. When Rainbow Dash stopped, she looked back up at the mare and saw her looking down with a more serious expression on her face. Wish cocked her head to the side. “Rainbow Dash?”

“If you’re done practicing with the kids here and everything do you want to come back to Rosalie’s cottage for a minute? There’s some stuff to talk about,” Rainbow said.

Wish shrugged. “Alright.”

Rosalie went to talk to Angie and Jolene, whispering in their ears. The two of them nodded about something and said goodbye to Wish, leaving it to just be the three of them going back to the cottage. Wish didn’t get what was up with that either but it must’ve been something private. Either way they went back to the cottage without any other issue, Wish’s mind occupied by what she could try out next when it came to manes. Maybe her Cutie Mark had to do with tail care too? She hadn’t tried styling any tails just yet…

Once they got back to Rosalie’s cottage, she said she had to clean something up and went into her bedroom. Leaving just Rainbow Dash and Wish in the sitting room.

Wish now raised a curious eyebrow at her pegasus friend. “So what is it?”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head back and forth a bit, chewing on her lip and tonguing the inside of her mouth. “Well… we’ve been here for a while now, you know?”

“Oh...” A somewhat regretful realization came to Wish. “It’s time to leave?”

“Yeah. It is,” Rainbow Dash stiffly responded. She glanced down at Wish and stared into her eyes. “Did you like it here? Were you having a fun time in Arondel?”

“I-I was… yeah. After everything that had happened… and then getting my Cutie Mark… I like it here.”

“Are you happy here?”

“Mhm,” Wish nodded. “For the first time in a while I felt happy for real.”

“Have you made some good friends?”

Wish looked to the side, thinking. “I mean… I haven’t known anyone here for long, but they’re all nice. And… I’d call them friends, yeah. Sometimes it only really takes a day to make a new friend, right?”

“Yeah, you’ve got that right,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “You really like Rosalie too and get along with her well, I’ve seen it.”

“Rosalie’s really nice. She helped me out at the festival… I think I told you about that,” Wish said.

“Yep...” Rainbow Dash said.

“I’ll miss it all when we go,” Wish sighed.

“When we go… there’s still… a lot out there. And a long ways to go. And I’ve been here too long,” Rainbow said. She calmly breathed in and reached down to rest a hoof on Wish’s shoulder. “I’m leaving you here, Wish.”

Wish stiffened and her pupils shrank as she looked up into Rainbow’s eyes. “W-What? What did you just say?”

“I’m leaving you here in Arondel. I’m going to be heading south on my own.”

“T-That’s a bad joke,” Wish shook her head back and forth. “That’s a bad joke, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash sadly looked down at her. “It’s no joke.”

“You… why? Why are you doing this? Y-You made a promise, you said you’d help me and now-”

“Wish,” Rainbow Dash cut her off. “You’re happy. I saw your smile when you got your Cutie Mark. I’ve seen how you’ve been with the local kids and Rosalie ever since. You’re happy, Wish. I told you I would never leave you until you smiled for real. And I kept that promise.”

Tears were starting to spill down Wish’s face. “No, no, I don’t care! I don’t care about any of that! I-I just want to be with you! I don’t want you to leave!”

Rainbow Dash kneeled down and hugged her. “Wish, you can’t come with me. Do you think I’m happy to have to do this? I wish you could come with me the entire way, and we’d tackle whatever adventures we came across together. But you can’t. It’s too dangerous for you, a-and you deserve better. You deserve a normal and happy life, someplace here like Arondel. You deserve a place where you can finally relax and live with ponies who love you.”

“L-Love me?!” Wish shouted at her as a river of tears fell down her face. “No one loves me… you were the only one… and now you’re going away and leaving me all alone! You were the only one who cared and now I’m going to be alone again...”

“Wish...”

“I don’t care! I don’t care what happens, just take me with you! For the first time I had a pony in my life who cared about me… don’t go, please don’t go and leave me alone...”

“You won’t be alone.”

Wish and Rainbow Dash both looked over to Rosalie’s open bedroom door and saw her standing there.

“You won’t be alone, Wish,” Rosalie repeated as she walked over to them.

Rainbow Dash too smiled down at the filly. “You think I’d just ditch you? Rosalie and I were talking.”

“Yes,” Rosalie nodded, she also lowered her head so she could look Wish in the eye. “We spoke earlier and… i-if it’s okay with you… would you like to live here with me? In my cottage in Arondel? I-I could understand if you didn’t want to, or wanted something else, b-but I… I would love to have a little sister living here with me.”

Wish cried out and reached over to Rosalie, hugging her now instead of Rainbow Dash.

“Why? Why are you all so nice? Why can’t you be mean so I can stay with Rainbow Dash some more?...” Wish cried into Rosalie.

Rosalie giggled even as she started to cry too. “Oh… you silly girl.”

“Is it alright?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Do you think you’d like to stay with Rosalie?”

Wish sniffled and rubbed some of her tears away. She nodded her head a bit while looking at the floor. “Y-Yes.”

Rainbow Dash reached down and hugged her again too. “I know you’ll have a good life here kid. Way better than what would happen if you came with me.”

“You’ll… you’ll come back and visit though, right?” Wish asked her.

“Heh,” Rainbow grinned and looked into her eyes. “You know I’m a pony who keeps my promises. So yeah, I promise I’ll come back one day.”

“Thank you. I just… I just feel like I’m being abandoned. You were the only one who cared about me in all of Hoofica… I-I’m going to miss you so much,” Wish said.

“I’m going to miss you a lot too, kid. But you’re not being abandoned,” Rainbow said. “And I think you’re going to like having a normal life again.”

Wish smiled at her. “I-”

The sounds of a few muffled shouts from outside suddenly came into the cottage. All three of the mares looked to the door, wondering what was up. Rosalie was pretty confused and she walked over into her kitchen, looking out the window that peered out from the front of her home.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“There’s a mare out there causing a fuss with some of the villagers. I don’t recognize her,” Rosalie frowned.

Rainbow Dash’s blood ran cold. No. It can’t be. She can’t have gotten back to me so quickly.

She shot up and flew over to the door, throwing it open and jetting out to the area in front of Rosalie’s cottage.

“Rainbow Dash?!” Wish yelled from behind her and started running to follow, Rosalie also coming out of the kitchen.

There was a crowd of ponies out in the middle of the dirt road, and Rainbow Dash could hear panic and confused shouting coming from the crowd. There was someone moving around past them. She flapped her wings and flew past them, almost throwing some of the Arondel ponies aside, but it was for their own good anyways. At last she broke through the group and could finally see the mare that had interrupted the peacefulness of Arondel.

“Heart-” Rainbow Dash’s voice caught.

“Where is she?!” A mare unfamiliar to her yelled, she looked ragged and exhausted, with bags under her eyes and her mane and tail all frazzled. She was a cream colored pegasus with a salt and pepper mane and tail and on her flank resided a Cutie Mark of a painter’s palette with several dots of paint on it.

“I asked you where she is? I know she came here, I heard it from the family up north by the Divide! Where is she?!” The mare continued to yell, breathing heavily. As she looked around the crowd her eyes caught on Rainbow Dash and immediately the mare’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. And even a slight bit of fear. “Y-You?! You’re still here too?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Who the-”

“Dotty?”

Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder and saw Wish walking through the crowd. “You know this crazy mare?”

Wish just blinked and kept walking forward. “Dotty? Is that really you?”

Dotted Easel’s entire body relaxed as her eyes grew misty and a smile broke out over her face. “I found you.”

“Y-You’ve been looking for me?” Wish asked.

“I was so worried,” Dotty nodded. “I was so worried about you, Wish. I had to make sure you were okay. I just… I had to make right. I-I don’t know what you think about me, or if you’ll believe me, but I cared about you, Wish. All that time while I was your maid, I really did. After what happened I just had to find you and make sure you were happy. Y-You deserved better.”

A mewling noise escaped Wish’s throat as she started freshly crying again. “Dotty!” She ran forward and wrapped the mare in a big hug. “Dotty! Dotty! Dotty! I’m so sorry about what I did! I’m so sorry for leaving you behind! Dotty… Dotty...”

As the two cried together, Rainbow Dash looked on with a smile.

“You sure you have to leave right now?” Rosalie asked.

“If I don’t I feel like I might accidentally stay for a month,” Rainbow Dash said, shrugging. “Sorry, Rosalie, but it’s gotta be now.”

Six mares were south of Arondel in one of its many fields, later in the same day but still before it was going to start getting dark. Angie and Jolene looked just as upset to see her go, and Wish was still glum even as she stood between Rosalie and Dotted Easel as Rainbow Dash had come to learn. That pony looked slightly familiar for some reason but Rainbow figured she must’ve just seen her in the castle at some point.

“We’re going to miss you!” A teary-eyed Angie said.

“I wish we could’ve danced some more...” Jolene said.

“I know, I know,” Rainbow Dash came up and hugged each of them in turn. “Someday, I promise.”

She then walked over and looked Dotty in the eye. “Er… don’t know you too well but Wish likes you a lot, I hope you have a good time living in Arondel too.”

"I think it’ll definitely be nicer than the last place I lived eheh...” Dotty nervously chuckled.

Rainbow grinned and then stood right in front of Wish. “Hey, kid.”

Wish snorted.

"Hey, Wish,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“That’s better...” Wish looked up at her.

“You’re an amazing filly,” Rainbow said. “You’re strong, you’re smart, you’ve got your own path in life, and now you’ve got a bunch of great friends to walk down it with. You’re compassionate, lively, traveled, sweet, and you’re going to grow up to be the nicest mare around.” She leaned down low and gave Wish a brief but tight hug. “I love you, kid. And I’m going to miss you way more than you can know. But it’s not going to be goodbye for good, I’ll see you again. I promise.”

Wish sniffled but she managed to not cry this time. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. Good… goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Wish.”

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and flew up into the sky, all of them waving at each other the entire time.

Up.

Up.

And away.

Author's Note

And thus, one chapter of the story comes to a close.

Five day break.

Wetlands

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of deep contentment as she slammed a now empty wooden mug onto a picnic table and wiped away the foamy head of the beer from her mouth.

“I guess the drink agrees with you pretty well,” her drinking companion—a stallion by the name of Vito—said as he held his own mug across from her.

“Yep, that’s some good stuff,” Rainbow Dash smiled at him.

“It’s always nice to drink a cold one on a hot day like this. Specially after work,” Vito nodded.

“Work?” Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement. “Didn’t you sit back and do nothing while I cut and gathered up all the barley?”

Vito shrugged. “Well that’s the perks of being the boss, can’t blame my son for coming down with a fever and us needing the extra help on harvest day, could you?”

“Yeah, yeah...” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “Thanks for at least letting me have a free drink and meal after finishing up.”

“Hospitality’s a big deal for us.”

“Yeah I know. I’ve been all the way through Vissidia now. You guys have always been polite and helpful, I’ve gotten enough hospitality to last a lifetime. Though it’s probably something I shouldn’t take for granted considering the trip I’m on...” Rainbow Dash said.

“Best of luck on that trip by the way, guessing you’ll be going on out soon?” Vito asked.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “I’ve been flying through Vissidia for days, at the last town I visited they told me I was almost at the southern border. I’ll miss the place but yeah, I need to get going.”

“You know what’s south of here, don’t you?”

Rainbow Dash glanced to the south, seeing the far off green horizon. “It’s a swamp, right? I’ve heard that from others.”

“Big, big, swamp,” Vito nodded. “Not as big as Vissidia but still, that’s a lot of swamp to travel through. Er, at least from what I’ve heard. You’ll find very few Vissidians who have actually traveled there.”

“Any way around it? Not that I’m worried but yeah, flying through or over a swamp doesn’t sound especially fun. Maybe adventurous, but eh,” Rainbow asked.

“There are the southern mountains to the east and west—you see, it creates a bottleneck and the swamp is actually in-between them. As a pegasus I guess you could fly over the mountains instead but those are totally uninhabited and inhospitable. Nobody lives in those mountains,” Vito said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “But ponies live in the swamp?”

“Actually, yes,” Vito nodded. “They’re our brothers and sisters down there. Not literally speaking of course but we’re pretty much connected right at the hip after all. Even if we don’t have much real contact. I think it was the Hall of Records in the capitol that had a history on the swamp—either ponies from Vissidia traveled to it and set up there or it was the other way around and we Vissidians originally came from the swamp. Hay if I know. But heh, I bet neither country wants to be the younger sibling if you know what I mean?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “So are there like… actual cities in the swamp.”

Vito shook his head. “You can’t build a city in a swamp, but there are definitely settlements. Obviously food isn’t quite as plentiful in a place like that as it is in Vissidia, but I doubt they want for much.”

“Uh huh. So if I start heading south now I should get there pretty soon? You said your farm was the last one in this whole part of Vissida. Not any more towns south of here?” Rainbow asked.

“Nope. Just yokels, country bumpkins, and recluses living by themselves on the outskirts of Vissidia. Don’t let that worry you none though, it’s still Vissidia after all, aint nobody going to give you trouble,” Vito said. “Things are gonna start getting wet and marshy for you real soon. You’ll see a lot of little creeks and streams through the grasslands even well before you actually get to the swamps. Also… I’d recommend not stopping for a bite to eat at any little hut you come across south of here.”

“Why?” Rainbow blinked.

“Uh, do you like fish?”

“Fish are cool I guess,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“No, I mean do you like fish to eat?”

Rainbow Dash immediately got green in the face. “Ohhh, oh. Ew. Yeah, I think I’ll be avoiding that if I can then.”

“I mean they aint bad ponies or anything, they just have their own ways. It comes with living so remotely,” Vito said.

“I’ll take your word for it. At least I got to eat here already...” Rainbow said.

“I’m sure there’s at least all kinds of perfectly good food to eat once you get to the swamp,” Vito said. “Even living somewhere different like that, they’re still ponies just like us. To be honest though I can’t say what kind of welcome you’ll get there though. I don’t expect you to be received poorly but anything after traveling through Vissidia probably isn’t going to seem as nice.”

“Meh, I’ll deal with it.,” Rainbow cracked her neck and stood up off the picnic table’s bench. “And I think that it’s about time for me to get out of here. Thanks for letting me help out here in exchange for this.”

“No problem,” Vito smiled. “I liked getting to talk to someone not from Vissidia. Doesn’t happen too often. Since you’ll be leaving our country now, well, I hope you’ll have a lot of good to say about it to anyone you meet and your friends back home too.”

“Oh yeah, you bet I will,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“I suppose that’s all I need to hear,” Vito said.

Rainbow Dash nodded before flapping her wings to ascend over the picnic table. “It was nice meeting you!”

She gave a curt wave and then she was off into the sky—just barely hearing a “Goodbye” coming from behind her.

Now at the southern edge of Vissidia, Rainbow Dash was ready to say for certain that green was most definitely the color that defined the country. Green reed-like grasses and bushes grew from the wet marshes below, with trees also covering quite a bit of the landscape. Compared to the brighter, livelier, looking green of the rest of Vissidia it was actually a bit darker here. Probably because there were still lots of flowers and stuff elsewhere, here it looked like everything was half submerged. Rainbow Dash didn’t really mind though, she liked knowing that she was getting closer to the big swamp and whatever lied in and beyond it. She was almost totally out of Vissidia now.

She would miss it.

She would miss the ponies she left behind in it.

But she was happy with herself. Happy with the decisions she had made and what she had accomplished back in Hoofica. There was no failure this time, Rainbow Dash had succeeded in helping to make Hoofica a better place and saved countless ponies. Including one very special little filly.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she flew. Barnaby… Anathema… I think the two of you can be proud of me and rest easy now...

It won’t be like that anymore. I’ve gotten stronger, I’ve changed, I won’t ever let anyone down again.

There was a hut with a straw roof almost directly below her, built on the edge of one of the small rivers. Vito’s words rang in her head and Rainbow Dash decided she didn’t need to pointlessly stop to check it out. She didn’t need anymore delays at this point, she had seen enough of Vissidia and she knew there wasn’t any adventuring to be had here. It was good to relax and find a safe place for Wish but now Rainbow wanted to get some excitement back into her life.

After Hoofica she didn’t know what her next grand adventure would be but she was looking forward to it.

Perhaps the swamp would have something like that or perhaps she’d still have to go even further. She had flown so far at this point, it was almost insane. Though she couldn’t know for sure, with how much she had traveled—and compared to what she knew about her side of the world—Rainbow Dash was fairly certain she was slightly past the halfway point of this side of the world. Vissidia and the swamp would be just south of the equator, that’s what she was pretty sure of at least. There were ways to find out for sure but she was feeling a bit lazy about it. Not like it was actually that important. Until she started seeing snow again it didn’t really matter.

“Kind of hope I don’t start seeing snow again for a long time...” she muttered to herself.

At this point it was barely past noon and her flying was still slow and relaxed. The beer she had drank earlier was keeping her from wanting to speed up too much, and getting a last look at Vissidia was pretty nice too. If it started to get dark before she got to the swamp or found a place to rest she could pick up the pace then.

Rainbow felt a bit of moisture on her face and blinked, rubbing her eyes and finding traces of tears.

“Aw geez… come on… I know I miss them a lot but I can’t go back,” she said to herself. “One day. Even if it’s far away, I’ll see them again.”

She shook her head and looked down at the deep green marsh to occupy her time. A boat was lazily traveling down one of the small streams, she was fairly certain she saw the pony sitting in it holding a fishing rod and she shuddered. Somehow that probably wasn’t catch and release. It definitely was a bit of a different world out here, she wondered if maybe in some of the more destitute and remote areas of Equestria she could find similar things. Regardless she hardly saw any other ponies after that, or any other buildings aside from old long-forgotten shacks. Just a calm and quiet marsh that extended towards the horizon.

Wanting a closer look, Rainbow Dash flew in low towards the water. Low enough where the wind from her wings could disturb the surface of the streams and ponds she was flying over and her hooves were tickled by the tall grass shooting out of the water and muddy ground. It wasn’t just simple tall grass around either, now she could see all the cat tails everywhere. They swayed from the wind and occasionally her hooves would hit one and accidentally knock a thousand little seeds into the air, sending them traveling on the only journey that mattered to them. Dragonflies, ladybugs, and butterflies flew out of her way before she could reach them, and a frog hopped from a lilypad and into the water the moment her shadow passed over it.

Ahead of her, the treeline that emerged from the marsh obscured everything beyond it. The last vestiges of Vissidia. The southern border. Once she hit those trees the swamp couldn’t be much further past them. She’d be in a new place, a practically unknown place that might not have even had a name, things were going to be very different again.

Even here at the very end the pleasantness of Vissidia was almost overwhelming and she had the urge to stay a little longer. How many marshes and remote places full of nothing but wet plants and mud look and feel this nice? But she knew she couldn’t at this point. The flowers and the calming sounds of nature had to be ignored. Fluttershy might never be able to leave a place like this, but there was more that called to Rainbow Dash.

“Goodbye, Wish. I’ll see you later...”

She made it to the trees and started to whistle as shadows blocked out the sun from above. As thick as the trees were she was able to glide through them easily.

She was Rainbow Dash after all.

Croaking

A swamp differed from a marsh in a few ways. At least Rainbow Dash thought it had to, otherwise why would they be called two different things? Well the first thing she really noticed was that it smelled different. Worse. There was a mulchiness, a staleness to the air, putrid, almost rotting. Fungusy. That was a swamp. The twisted trees coming out of the water were another dead give away, as was the fact that she had stopped seeing even muddy ground and now there was only a murky green and brown water everywhere. Lilypads, reeds, vines, and dead trees fallen over into the water were the abundant types of vegetation.

Moss too. Lots and lots of moss everywhere.

It was also dark now as well—early in the evening—and fog rolled through much of the swamp to give it a spooky appearance. Currently the greatest source of light for Rainbow Dash wasn’t the moon or the stars, but instead the hundreds of fireflies that flew around the insides of the swamp. Some buzzed right past her while others flew off in the distance between the trees.

None of the twisted trees were particularly tall compared to some larger pines or redwoods, but their branches all stretched out wide overhead and they constantly snarled around with the branches and leaves of other trees to make a decently thick canopy. She could see patches of the dark sky pretty consistently but even in the middle of the day this would be a mostly dark and shadowy place.

Of course beyond the trees, beyond the water, beyond the smells, beyond everything else about the swamp, there was one thing that stood out the most.

The croaking.

Endless croaking from an innumerable amount of frogs inside the swamp. Their croaking drowned out everything else completely and it never abated. It was driving her crazy, it just didn’t stop and she couldn’t even really see any of the frogs making the noise, it just came from everywhere.

“Celestia’s flank, could you quit it for five seconds?!” Rainbow Dash yelled into the dark swamp.

They didn’t.

She groaned as she flew deeper into the dark swamp—the croaking even drowning out the crickets she knew were also making a ton of noise. If she found a frog it was going to take a lot of inner strength to not chuck it somewhere. Fluttershy would be mad if she did that too…

“How does anypony sleep in a place like this?” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

And speaking of sleep, it was getting darker and darker as early evening shifted to late evening. Soon she’d want to get some rest herself and she’d preferably like to do it someplace dry. Her eyes searched through the dark swamp on the lookout for any sort of cabin or bungalow or other dwelling, even just a tied up boat or something that said ponies would be around, but so far she hadn’t found any. If it came down to it she could probably sleep in a tree but that would be dirty and uncomfortable too.

Frustrated enough at her lack of progress and the constant croaking, Rainbow Dash decided to briefly touch down on a half-sunk log and give her wings a little rest. She could try working her brain now to come up with an idea of what to do next. It was difficult though with all the croaking. Even after closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to try and shut it out it still invaded her ears.

“Stupid frogs…” Rainbow Dash muttered.

Realizing in about three seconds that thinking wasn’t her strong suit, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes back up and shook her head.

“Okay, whatever, I know for a fact there are ponies living in here and I’ve gotta come across them sooner or later. If I just keep heading south I’ll probably stumble into something. That’s happened every other time so far on my journey,” she shrugged. The fireflies in the distance were still telling her where the trees and where the open space in the swamp was.

“This would be easier if I could fly above the trees and still see down past them to find any houses,” she blew a breath of disgruntled air from her nose. “Whatever.”

Rainbow Dash was getting ready to leave when she noticed some of the water by her log had started to bubble and ripple.

“Hm?” She leaned down to get a better look at it-

-when a wide open pair of jaws with lots of sharp teeth shot out from the water at her.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide and she immediately jumped back, flapping her wings and flying up from the log. It was just in time too as the alligator’s jaws snapped shut on empty air—barely missing her hooves. Angrily, the reptile turned around and dove back under the surface, leaving only ripples behind.

“...that was a little close,” Rainbow said after a moment of catching her breath. The water had returned to being totally placid and impenetrable to her eyes, there was no telling if the alligator or any others were still close by, watching and waiting for her. “Gonna need to be careful when it comes to landing anywhere here.”

Sleeping in a tree was sounding better by the minute.

A huge swamp like this was probably home to thousands of alligators. Not to mention what other sort of predators might live in here. They probably outnumbered the ponies. How many ponies could really live comfortably in a swamp after all? What did they farm or grow? Or maybe they just fished too like the southern Vissidians. Rainbow Dash hoped not.

Since it still wasn’t exactly late night or anything, Rainbow decided she still wanted to fly a little further until she gave up and stuck herself in a tree for the night.

“Can alligators climb trees?” She idly wondered as she flew over the water.

Some of them were tilted enough that it looked like they probably could easily get up the trunks.

Well, she’d find a safer looking one if she had to.

Thirty more minutes of flying and following the lights of the fireflies as if they were lanterns showing the way down a street, and Rainbow Dash may have finally found something. A larger light than any simple firefly reached out to her from the darkness ahead. Rainbow Dash flew to it like it was a shiny lure reeling her in.

When she got a little closer she realized it was a light pouring out from a window, and the building around it became more clear to her. A small shack built up against a few trees in the swamp and standing on stilts to keep the bottom from touching the water. A few stairs led down to a small dock where a single canoe was tied up. The shack itself was made of a bunch of wooden planks of all shapes and sizes, nailed together to make a few haphazard walls and a rather uneven roof with a small metal chimney also popping out of the roof. But it obviously still worked well enough as a place to live since it was clearly occupied.

Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and dropped down onto the porch right in front of the front door before knocking a few times.

“Hm? Who’s that?” She heard the voice of a stallion from inside and shortly after the front door was opened with a squeaky creak.

A middle-aged stallion was standing there, a light green earth pony with stubble on his chin and a grey mane and tail. He held a corncob pipe in his mouth and wore a straw hat on his head. Behind him, Rainbow Dash saw two mares who looked about as old as he was. One pink earth pony with a purple mane who had it wrapped in a long braid and another blue earth pony with a white mane who had it in a tight bun behind her head.

“Uh, hi,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved to them.

The stallion nodded. “Well hello there, miss. What brings you to our home at this time of night?”

“I’m traveling through the swamp and I was looking for a place to spend the night… er, if it isn’t too much to ask, do you mind if I stay here?” Rainbow asked.

“You from Vissidia?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, but I just traveled through there too, I’m heading south and, well, your swamp was the next stop.”

“Figured,” he nodded. “You didn’t seem like a Vissidian.” He smiled at her. “And you don’t have to worry none. While we may not go crazy about hospitality like those fellows living up north, anyone worth anything living in this swamp would never turn away a pony in need. Come on in.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and wiped a little sweat from her brow as she walked in. “That’s great to hear. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping in a tree. Name’s Rainbow Dash by the way, nice to meet you three.”

“Well met, Rainbow Dash,” the stallion said. “I’m Giacomo, and this is my wife Peggy Sue-” he gestured to the pink mare. “And this is my other wife, Mary Anne.” He gestured to the blue mare.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Can… can you repeat that?”

“Oh right,” Giacomo got a contemplative look on his face. “Vissidians I meet always say that it’s uncommon for ponies to have more than one wife or husband outside the swamp. So they say at least, never been anywhere else myself.”

“You’re not put off by that, are you?” Peggy Sue asked Rainbow Dash, speaking for the first time.

“Uh, no… it’s just a bit unusual. I was just surprised,” Rainbow awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“It’s just a local custom. Lots of families in the swamp are made of multiple spouses all married together,” Mary Anne said. “I have been up to Vissidia many times in my life and they always seem to think it’s a little weird too.”

“But it works for us,” Peggy Sue said and both she and Mary Anne hugged Giacomo.

Rainbow shrugged. “Well hey, more power to ya I guess."

Giacomo then coughed and sat down at a table inside the shack, like everything else it was pretty shoddily made. Aside from the table there was a stove over by the fireplace and chimney, and a few chairs, a sink, and a door that must lead to their bedroom. Their bedroom. A couple of cabinets, boxes, and barrels lay about the floor of the shack, and a trio of fishing poles sat up against one of the walls.

“Now uh, Miss Rainbow Dash? There’s something you said that has me a might bit concerned,” Giacomo started.

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked.

“You said you were heading south through the swamp now? Well I don’t think you should do that, we’ve got a problem here,” Giacomo told her.

“That’s right, she wouldn’t know...” Peggy Sue said with a worried face.

Mary Anne shuddered. “It still hasn’t been caught yet, has it?”

Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between the three of them. “I take it you’re about to say there’s something dangerous going on deeper in the swamp. Cause that’s been pretty par for the course when it comes to my journey so far.”

“To put it simply—there’s a monster in the swamp,” Giacomo said.

“A monster? What kind of monster?” Rainbow furrowed her brow.

“A gigantic alligator,” Peggy Sue said. “At least that’s what they say.”

“Who’s they?” Rainbow asked.

“The ponies who live further south in the deeper parts of the swamp. They say their fishers and trawlers have been attacked by it and it even swallows up boats and has attacked some of the smaller settlements and crannogs. From what they’ve told us it’s not a normal alligator at all, it’s just some huge ravenous monster with blood red eyes that has been terrorizing the swamp,” Mary Anne said.

“That’s right,” Giacomo said. “If you want to head south, I’d recommend you just fly above the swamp the whole way since you’re a pegasus and all. Otherwise you’d end up going right through that monster’s territory.”

“I see...” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin.

It seemed like fun—and more than that, the opportunity to help ponies in need—wasn’t far away.

She didn’t need to bother these ponies about that though, no reason to stress them out. And from the sound of it there would be others for her to meet first just a little further into the swamp.

“Er, I got another question,” Rainbow asked as her eyes looked over at the fishing poles. “You mentioned fishing down there… what do ponies do for food in the swamp?”

“Oh we got stuff like cranberries, water chestnuts, rice, and catfish and crawdads of course,” Giacomo replied.

Rainbow Dash got a little green. “That’s… that’s what I thought. Do you have any cranberries? I’m not really a fish pony...”

“Sure we do, wouldn’t be right to not give you a nice meal,” Peggy Sue said.

“If you don’t like fish we’ve got some gator skewers too though. I bet you’d love em,” Mary Anne said.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her mouth as she felt her stomach almost come up. “N-No thanks. And one more question but… does the croaking here ever stop?”

“No, no it does not,” Giacomo chuckled.

Author's Note

Mile Moss Crannog

“And so south of here is what again?” Rainbow Dash asked the married… trio… the following morning as she prepared to leave their small home.

“Mile Moss Crannog,” Giacomo replied.

“It’s the closest thing to a town here in this swamp,” Mary Anne said.

“Lots of platforms and homes like this on stilts or on pontoons just a little deeper into the swamp. Some of them permanent but some float along across the water. They’re all connected together, some just by rope so they can unmoor at any time and go elsewhere. A lot of families have their own little place that they can travel through the swamp on or stop at a place like Mile Moss Crannog and hitch themselves up for however long they want,” Giacomo said.

“There are a couple of bigger communities, but Mile Moss Crannog is the biggest,” Peggy Sue said.

“Some families even just stay in big groups of canoes that they tie together and navigate through the waters on. You’ll probably see some of those at Mile Moss Crannog too.” Mary Anne said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Alright, by the sound of it it’s not a place I can miss if I just go straight south?”

“That’s right, you can travel mighty fast so I doubt it’ll take you long to reach it. Just watch out for gators and wasps on your way there,” Giacomo said. “Ponies from there are who told us about the monster, so if you wanna just go there for some food and to meet some ponies before you start flying again, that’s really the last place you should stop.”

“From what they said, the waters the monster dwells in are only a little deeper into the swamp,” Mary Anne said.

“Good to know,” Rainbow Dash smiled, still no intent of telling them her plans. “You three have been great, but I guess it’s time to say goodbye now.”

“It was nice meeting you too, hope you have a fun trip,” Peggy Sue said.

“You were interesting to talk to, be careful out there,” Mary Anne said.

“You three were interesting to talk to too… for a few reasons,” Rainbow Dash’s eyes wandered off to the side.

“Just remember what we told you about the monster and stay out of trouble. Not much to see in this swamp anyways, no reason to get eaten by a giant alligator because of it. And don’t worry about the food either, you’ll find plenty of fruits and vegetables at Mile Moss Crannog,” Giacomo said.

“That’s a relief,” Rainbow grinned. “Alright, I’m heading out then, bye you three!”

She waved and jetted off from the porch, heading deeper into the swamp.

“Bye!” The happy trio waved back.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “That is never not going to seem weird.”

It was light out now, early in the morning, as she flew through the swamp again and it did give the wet locale a bit of a different appearance. It didn’t look so spooky and uninviting anymore—just ugly. She had been to a few bogs and swamps in Equestria and when it came down to it, this one wasn’t really any worse than those. Aside from the croaking. Cause the frogs were still constantly croaking.

“Can’t the alligators eat you?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

At least according to the ponies she had just left behind it shouldn’t take her long to fly through here and reach Mile Moss Crannog. Though the densely packed trees and fog still kept it from being brightly lit in the swamp it was still much easier for her to make her way around than it had been at night. And as well-rested and fed as she was she didn’t have to touch down anywhere and risk a gator trying to have her for breakfast. She actually saw some decently nice looking flowers out now and once or twice a fish jumped out from the water. Yeah, monster or not this place wasn’t wrong the same way Hoofica had been when she first entered it.

“But there’s still a monster here, huh? Not just some wild animal but a genuine monster?” Rainbow thought to herself. “I mean, these ponies totally would have to know a normal alligator from whatever the hay it is that’s been attacking them. Monsters don’t just come from nowhere though...”

She shrugged as she flew. “Not like I can figure this out just by thinking. I’ll see that giant alligator for myself. Especially if it’s causing trouble for the ponies here.”

A frown wormed its way onto her face. “That should be the first reason… tch, I know by now, I know. I shouldn’t be so selfish. I’ve been better about that...”

It was a little tough though. With how emotionally and spiritually draining Hoofica and what came after was on her, Rainbow Dash really craved another fun adventure where she could just be awesome again. Taking out a monster sounded like the perfect opportunity for that.

If only things could always stay simple.

She hated it when stuff was complicated. Fly, punch bad pony, make friends, what was better than that? There had been so much lately that put a strain on her heart and mind and she needed a carefree adventure again to put herself at ease. Her time back in the True North had been so straightforward compared. It was easier when she was just back in the mammoth city and she didn’t really need to think hard about anything. It was always easy back home in Equestria too. Well, not always easy in that sense, but she always knew the right thing to do and she never had to question herself. She had never let anyone down either.

But she had made up for those mistakes. And she would keep making up for them and the ponies she had let down by never forgetting them either. Giving Wish a happy life was only the beginning, saving these ponies from whatever monster was terrorizing them could be part two.

And taking on any villains she found on the rest of her journey could be part three. After all, she still had a long ways to go before she got back to Equestria.

While she flew a little further, Rainbow Dash’s ears shifted a little as the sounds of the swamp around her changed a little bit. The croaking… it hadn’t gone away completely but it had lessened. Was something coming up or had she entered some waters where there were a ton of hidden alligators below her instead? It seemed the first option was correct as the gnarled trees started to thin out a bit and some more light came from overhead and into the swamp. Fog was still rolling in from the distance but even it was clearing up a bit.

Shapes then emerged from the fog as Rainbow Dash flew into it. Thatch covered wooden buildings standing on stilts in the water, wooden platforms floating between them connected by ropes and rope bridges, huts of reeds and mud built next to trees, dozens of canoes and other boats floating alongside or underneath the platforms. All of it stretching in every direction, filling up the open spot of the swamp completely. With how natural and swamp-colored everything was it probably would’ve looked like an ordinary part of the swamp if Rainbow Dash was flying above it.

When she got closer to the platforms she started seeing the ponies moving across them too. Everything was still a bit foggy but she could see decently enough, and some of them had noticed the colorful pegasus coming in as well.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves touched down on the first platform and she felt it shift in the water ever so slightly.

She then looked up with an easygoing smile on her face and waved to the nearest ponies. “Hey, is this Mile Moss Crannog?”

“That it be,” a mare said as she walked up to Rainbow Dash. She was probably Rainbow’s age, with a light-red, almost pink, coat and a pumpkin orange mane and tail. She strangely had a streak of mud under both of her blue eyes, and as Rainbow Dash looked around she saw that every pony had mud on their face like that. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash, I’m traveling south and I met some other ponies in the swamp who told me this place and thought I’d drop by. That alright?”

“We don’t have any problems with visitors,” the mare said, offering a small smile. “Though we normally don’t get any from outside the swamp. My name is Belle by the way, how do you do?”

“I’m doing pretty good now that I’ve found this place. The croaking is a lot quieter here. How about you folks?” Rainbow asked.

“About as good as any other day around here,” another stallion said. “If you hadn’t heard we’ve got a bit of a problem in this swamp.”

Belle frowned. “You don’t need to get right into that, she’s a visitor, why bother her with something so negative right off the dock?”

Rainbow nodded. “I had heard actually. Something about a monster alligator?”

“Let’s not talk about that right now!” Belle said. “You just came here to our home, please, have some breakfast and get to know the place. We care a lot about being kind to strangers and visitors.”

“Uhh, if breakfast means “fish” then I dunno...” Rainbow awkwardly grimaced.

“You a vegetarian like the Vissidians? Are you a Vissidian?” The stallion asked.

“I don’t eat meat yeah but I’m not a Vissidian. I’m from further away,” Rainbow said.

“All the more reason to sit down and have a talk. I can introduce you to the elder of Mile Moss Crannog, I wasn’t really doing anything else today,” Belle said.

“Because the monster made it unsafe to travel the waters you usually go to...” the stallion snorted.

“Hush, William!” Belle said, and now Rainbow Dash at least finally had a name for the stallion.

“Hey look, I’m not in a huge hurry to just up and leave and fly right into that monster’s territory or anything. I wouldn’t mind meeting your elder and sticking around for a meal or two and talk. Depending on how far I have to go in this swamp I might even stay the whole day. I kind of enjoy telling other ponies about myself too anyways. And I’ve got a friend or two back home who wouldn’t mind learning about you guys too,” Rainbow said.

William raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you saying you don’t care to learn about us?”

“Uhh… no?” Rainbow Dash looked away.

At this point most of the other ponies around were getting back to their own business, some random pony from outside the swamp not really holding their interest. They probably had plenty of things on their mind right now anyways.

“Well here, come with me across the platforms and I’ll take you to our elder. She lives on one of the permanent platforms in the middle of Mile Moss Crannog,” Belle said.

“You two go do that, meanwhile I actually have some work to do around here,” William rolled his eyes and walked off. “Just don’t go south into the waters of the swamp alone, or that monster will get you.”

“Sorry about him, he’s not very social but he means well,” Belle apologized.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “A warning about not getting eaten is better than just telling me to buzz off at least.”

“Normally even he would be more inviting… but ponies are stressed lately because of the monster,” Belle said.

“I get it, it’s okay,” Rainbow Dash said. She glanced to her guide. “So about that monster though...”

“Why are you so interested in it?” Belle asked, confusion evident on her face. Normally she would expect most ponies to be afraid of a monster when hearing about it. Or at the very least avoid talking about it and wanting to stay focused on more normal topics. Or just turning back and leaving Mile Moss Crannog.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. “Just curious… I’ve been to a lot of places and seen a lot of things, it wouldn’t be my first monster.”

“Well if you want we can talk about it with the elder, she and some of the other crannog leaders can tell you more,” Belle seemed a little dismayed at the prospect.

“Sorry...” Rainbow said.

Belle shook her head. “If you are going to keep traveling through the swamp you will need to learn all you can. I was just hoping we could have some time to talk about more positive things first.”

“Well then...” Rainbow Dash looked at the mud on her face. “I’m kind of curious about the mud under your eyes. Is that an art thing?”

“It is our way,” Belle smiled. “The mud is a symbol of our connection to Mile Moss Crannog and our appreciation for the swamp that gives us our livelihood. All mares and stallions here wear mud on their face like this, we keep special mud that has been blessed by our elder in sacred jars in our homes. Every morning a new streak is applied.”

“Is that just a Mile Moss Crannog thing? Cause the other ponies I met didn’t have any mud on their faces,” Rainbow said.

“We have a deeper attachment to this place than ponies who live independently or in the smaller crannogs elsewhere in the swamp. Mile Moss Crannog is the first and oldest community in this swamp where multiple swamp families came together to make this their home. It is a sacred and beautiful place. Only a few other groups wear the mud besides us,” Belle said.

Rainbow Dash looked around. Well, she wasn’t exactly one to care much about beauty in the first place. So if that’s what Belle thought then why say anything else?

As they walked across several rope bridges and from platform to platform, Rainbow Dash waved and said hello to every other pony living here that they came across. Sure enough they all had the same mud on their faces, even the foals. Most seemed decently happy too, or at least not upset, but there were some with hard frowns on their faces and others who seemed stressed. These weren’t ponies in danger or ones who had their livelihoods ruined, but they were still dealing with the looming threat of something they hadn’t managed to stop yet and it might have been causing a squeeze on their home. Rainbow had already just heard how Belle wasn’t able to go into the place she usually went to in the swamp. There were likely many others in her situation.

“Come on, it’s just right this way,” Belle directed her as they walked across another rope bridge to the largest platform so far. It was made with what looked to be far sturdier construction and several other small wooden buildings and shacks sat on top of it. Their roofs were still made mostly of reeds and twigs though.

“The elder will be happy to see a visitor, and she can bless your trip through the swamp with good luck!” Belle said.

“Thanks,” Rainbow grinned. Kind of in the business of making my own luck though…

“Our shaman can create charms for you too.”

“Shaman?” Rainbow asked, the word unfamiliar to her.

“The shaman are our spiritualists and healers, they keep us connected to our friends and family that have passed on and joined the mud below but watch and protect us still. They gather and perform the rituals for our sacred mud—and then get it blessed by our elder,” Belle explained.

“Uh huh,” Rainbow nodded along. She then paused. “Wait, hold on one second. So your belief and all is that the ponies who pass on go down to the mud below the swamp?”

Belle nodded. “When a pony here dies, they are wrapped with reeds and rocks are placed inside the wrappings, and we let them sink into the swamp below us. There they become one with the swamp and with the sacred mud. Our ancestors are always with us you see.” She smiled.

Rainbow Dash again looked at the mud on Belle’s face. “You’re wearing your ancestors?”

“I understand if you think it’s gross or strange… many Vissidians have said the same. But it’s really all a spiritual thing. It’s symbolic. The sacred mud is dragged up from everywhere around, places where bodies may have been laid to rest, and places where they haven’t been. In the end we’re all part of the swamp, it’s the meaning that’s the important part.”

“It’s… definitely a little unusual to me. But I at least get that you aren’t creepy about it or anything,” she said as she looked at the wooden platform below her hooves. “Still though… right under here are…?”

“Generations and generations that have been laid to rest in these waters,” Belle nodded.

It was a rather macabre thing but in the end there wasn’t really anything else they could do with the bodies of their dead, was there? It was their own way of treating their loved ones with respect and admiration, even if the whole mud wearing thing did seem a little gross to her now. But then again from what Belle had said most of the “sacred” mud probably was just ordinary mud. And most of the ponies laid to rest would be skeletons long before anything else too. They clearly loved their ancestors, Rainbow didn’t need to think too negatively about it.

“How long exactly have you been living here? And I don’t just mean Mile Moss Crannog—how long have ponies been living in this swamp?” Rainbow asked.

“Hundreds and hundreds of years. Longer than ponies have been living in Vissidia,” Belle said. “We all came from the mud, that was our beginning.”

Rainbow Dash remembered that Vito wasn’t sure about that fact, but apparently the ponies of Mile Moss Crannog were. Or it was just their preferred version of history. The library in Verbansk might have had its own tale to tell. Rainbow had no intentions of questioning their history though, let Twilight sort it all out later when she got back home.

“You all came from the mud but other ponies don’t take it as seriously as the ones who live here, do they?” Rainbow asked.

Belle sadly smiled at her as they walked. “Yes, it’s unfortunate but I feel more and more have been losing their way over the years. The larger communities still follow the guidelines of the shamans but we’ve had many breakaways and ponies going their own ways—the ones you met must have been the same.”

“They were still nice ponies though...”

“I’m not saying they aren’t!” Belle said with some alarm in her voice. “I just wish they and everyone else still had the same respect for our ancestors and where we came from that I and the others living in Mile Moss Crannog do.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled as they approached the central building on the large platform, it was a fairly big hut with a domed roof of reeds. “It’s alright, I get it.”

Belle laughed a bit too. “Heh, sorry, I get a little enthusiastic about things. Let me show you inside to our elder.”

“Lead the way,” Rainbow shrugged, stopping right in front of a set of double doors that led into the hut.

Belle smiled to her and opened the doors.

On the Lookout for Adventure

“I’m really, really glad you guys still grow fruits and vegetables here,” Rainbow Dash said to Belle as the two of them stood on the dock of one of Mile Moss Crannog’s many floating platforms. It was one of the most southern ones, she and Belle had walked to it early this morning after another visit to the Elder. Currently a stallion was sitting on the edge of it with a fishing pole beside him and his line already out in the water.

“I’m glad you have a good opinion of Mile Moss Crannog after coming here… but I wish we could’ve spoken more of things that weren’t so negative. If it only wasn’t for that monster I’m certain your visit to our swamp would be magical,” Belle said with a look of dismay on her face.

Rainbow Dash reached forward with an easy grin and put her hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I can tell how much you love your home so rest easy when I tell you that I liked coming here. The monster isn’t your fault or anything.”

“Thank you for saying so, it’s been difficult. But I hope now that the rest of your journey goes well. I will pray for the swamp and our ancestors to watch over you,” Belle smiled.

Rainbow pointed to the fresh line of mud on her face. “I’ve already got them protecting me, don’t I?”

Belle giggled. “Indeed you do. I’m glad you have shown respect for Mile Moss Crannog even though you’re from so far away.”

“Hey, like I’ve said I’ve been to a lot of places. So long as you aren’t sacrificing ponies or worshiping chaos and evil it’s all good to me,” Rainbow shrugged. “Anyways though I really should get going, I’m glad I stopped by in Mile Moss Crannog and got to meet you and learn all that I did.”

“Be careful out there. It’s still dangerous,” Belle warned.

“Danger’s my middle name,” Rainbow grinned.

Because the area of the swamp right around Mile Moss Crannog was not as dense as the rest, it was still generally bright out at this time of day. A layer of fog stayed over the water but Rainbow Dash was at least able to see everything without issue. And hear everything. Because of course the croaking had not stopped. She flew past a pair of ponies out on a boat, fishing. A stiff smile and wave was all she could offer the two of them before she went by.

“I’m not getting used to that part...” she said to herself.

Honestly she was kind of surprised ponies even went out fishing like that in this swamp anyways. Even just regular alligators seemed like they’d be pretty dangerous to small boats like that.

In fact…

Rainbow Dash turned around and zoomed back over to the two fishers. “Hey there.”

“Well hello, miss,” one of the fishers said before squinting his eyes and seeing the line of mud on her face. He smiled up at her. “I see you’re our friend.”

“Nice to meet you,” the other fisher said.

“Can we do something for you?” The first asked.

“Actually I just wanted to ask if you guys are really okay out here? I know there are a ton of alligators in this swamp, one tried to even eat me when I stopped on a log,” Rainbow told them.

“Oh yeah, we’re more than okay,” the first one nodded.

“Guess nobody told you about Gator Powder?” The second one asked.

“Gator Powder?” Rainbow tilted her head to the side.

He pulled up a draw-string bag sitting in the boat and opened it up, revealing a white powder on the inside. “This here is Gator Powder. It’s made from grinding up a bunch of different seeds and roots, gators hate the smell of it. You sprinkle a bunch wherever you boat out to and you make them go away for a few hours. We fishers do it, crawdad trawlers and farmers do it too.”

“Huh, okay then,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Been living in this swamp a long time, had to find some way to avoid the gators,” the first fisher said.

“Guess so. Well that’s really all I wanted to ask, glad you guys are doing alright!” Rainbow waved to them again.

“No problem, take care out there, friend!” The first said.

“Be careful deeper in the swamp,” the second said.

A little more waving and Rainbow Dash flew away from their small boat, resuming her trip into the depths of the swamp. So they had a way to keep themselves safe from the gators if they needed to spend a lot of time out in the water? She wondered if it worked on the monster at all. Someone had probably tried already. It was as they said, they knew the swamp much better than Rainbow Dash did. Since she was still fairly close to Mile Moss Crannog she was willing to bet she’d continue to see more ponies like that either fishing or doing something else. The swamp wasn’t as huge a country as some places she had been to but it was very large and if the monster stayed closer to the heart then it might be a little bit before she got to the danger zones and where ponies no longer traveled.

Aside from the hunting party. Once she had gone further south she’d start asking ponies she saw if they knew anything about the party or how to find them. Belle and the Elder said they were more likely to spot her first if she kept going this way, but Rainbow preferred being proactive.

It might take a solid day or two of finding her own way through this part of the swamp before she reached deep enough to find the hunting party and monster. The early darkness and density of trees that came with the swamp slowed her pace. Annoying, but she had dealt with worse. At least she knew there was stuff in here that was perfectly safe to eat. Belle and the Elder had both told her how to spot healthy plants, since she sure as hay wasn’t going fishing for any of her meals.

And if she ever got bored while flying through here maybe she could intentionally find some alligators and bother them? Something to chase and attack her should get her blood pumping.

Fluttershy probably wouldn’t appreciate her just messing with animals out of boredom though…

That thought did make her think about what should be done with the monster. Was it really just a monster and not a normal animal at all? Or was it some kind of unusual animal that was just doing what any big predator would do? If it was just an animal then it was wrong to kill it, even with the danger it posed it had a right to live here in its own home too, she would have to try finding another way. Though the hunters might disagree with that… and it was their swamp.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. She really hoped it was just a big evil monster.

It was an exceptionally big swamp though, if she had to get a peaceful solution it couldn’t be too bad for them to just stay out of the monster’s territory. Hopefully. But the swamp was super important to their culture and religion so they might not deal with being unable to travel anywhere in it badly…

“Ugh! Stupid complications!” Rainbow shouted to the swamp.

There was no point to thinking about this dumb stuff anyways, not until she found the hunting party and saw the monster for herself. If things turned out to be more complicated she’d deal with it then. Until such a time, she was going to happily fly along and look forward to her adventure in this swamp. Taking things easy was the Rainbow Dash way. Unfortunately, she thought that maybe some of her prior experiences on this journey may have started to jade her. She liked to think she was too strong for herself to be changed in any negative sort of way.

But… when she returned to Equestria, maybe her friends would notice something she didn’t? She had been thinking of ways to become better ever since her failure in Oreville but what if she had become worse in a way she hadn’t even been thinking about?

Cynical. More pessimistic. Quicker to expect things to be bad or for the worst to happen?

She had always kind of had a bit of a pessimistic streak in certain ways. Or at least she wasn’t all super jolly and frou-frou about friendship and magic and all that stuff like Pinkie and Twilight. But she was positive with the big important stuff—the stuff that mattered. What if she came back to Equestria and she was even more negative about the little things because she hadn’t been expecting to ever get changed in such a way. It would be lame. And she didn’t want to believe it could happen to her. But she didn’t want to believe a lot of things had happened on this journey either.

Rainbow didn’t want to fail at anything. I’m not changing for the worse about anything. Only for the better.

She stopped on a mudbank that sat between a couple of gnarled trees and caught her breath. Her mind had just gone crazy there for a moment and she needed to relax. She also carefully glanced around at the waters to make sure there wasn’t any rippling or bubbling. Definitely didn’t need a sudden alligator attack again.

Rainbow could feel the now dry mud on her face as she relaxed. “Friend of Mile Moss Crannog… things are going well. Not doing this just for myself, doing it for my new friends.”

A grin touched her lips and she cracked her neck, flying back up and heading away from the mudbank. “Keep it simple, Rainbow.”

Several hours later things were already getting dark in the swamp and she hadn’t seen any other ponies in ages. She didn’t exactly know what signs to look for when it came to finding new crannogs. She had stumbled upon Giacomo’s home from luck and he directed her on to Mile Moss Crannog. But from what Belle and others had said there should still be more places and ponies out here for her to find.

When it went from just “dark” to actually evening, she did soon find another pony out in the swamp.

It was a lone mare on a raft, not riding in a normal boat. Rainbow Dash saw her because of the lantern that hung off a hook on top of a wooden pole that sprouted up on one side of the raft. She had several different bags lying on the raft that looked in various states of being filled, and carried an oar that was strapped across her back. No, it wasn’t actually an oar, just a big stick that she probably used to push off against the mud and trees when navigating her raft through the swamp. Right now though her raft was stationary between a few trees and she was reaching up into one and plucking some kind of fruit from it, placing them in one of her bags.

Rainbow Dash decided to fly on over to her and say hello. She zipped over to the trees and flew right beside her head. “Yo!”

“Wha-?!” The mare yelped in a startled voice and dropped the fruit she had just picked into the water. She was an earth pony even several years younger than Rainbow Dash, with big yellow eyes that stuck out in the darkness. “You scared me! Who are you?”

“Uh, sorry… my bad. I’m Rainbow Dash, who are you?” Rainbow Dash sheepishly replied.

The mare frowned but then her face softened up as she noticed the mud on Rainbow’s face. “I see you’ve come down from Mile Moss Crannog. My name is Sophia.”

“Nice to meet you, you gathering food tonight?” Rainbow asked.

“No, these fruits are used for medicine, I’m a medicine mare,” Sophia explained. “Everything I gather from the swamp goes towards my medicines.” She said and pointed to her bags. “What are you doing out here in the swamp? We don’t get many travelers through here—and I’m certain the ponies at Mile Moss Crannog would’ve warned you about the monster.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “They did. Actually I’m going out to find the hunting party and help them deal with the monster.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “You’re quite a brave pony then. Even just regular alligators frighten me enough I’d never go anywhere alone without plenty of gator powder.”

“Figured they could use some help. I think your home deserves to go back to being peaceful. I mean, peaceful compared to now, you’ll still have all the regular alligators,” Rainbow said. “Speaking of that, do you know how close I am to the monster’s territory? And where the hunting party that went after it is?”

Sophia pointed slightly southeast. “I’d say fly that direction and you’ll come across one or the other in another day. Soon as you pass the lilypad fields, and you’ll know them when you see em.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow saluted. “And uh… I’m just gonna go out on a limb and assume I wont find a nice place to sleep going that way, will I?”

“Not a chance,” Sophia shook her head.

“Great,” Rainbow sighed.

Swamp Soldiers

Sophia was right, it was pretty much impossible to miss the lilypad fields. Right now Rainbow Dash was flying over a part of the swamp where not a single inch of water was left uncovered. It was lilypads everywhere. Lots of them even crowding and overlapping each other. She wondered how they all survived and grew like this.

And of course as expected in a place like this, the croaking was even worse.

Unbearably so. She wished Sophia had given her a warning about it, but to those who dwelled in this swamp the croaking was probably just white noise anyways.

She was considering going carnivorous when it came to frogs.

“Ugh,” Rainbow got green in the face when she thought about that. “Can’t even joke about it… gross.”

She hadn’t seen a single pony again since parting ways with Sophia either. And of course no homes, not even abandoned shacks. Now she probably was deep enough into the swamp where the usual ponies had fled. Until she came across the hunting party she doubted she would see any others. Not unless they were ones as brave as she was.

At least there was one positive about this field of lilypads despite the heavy croaking. Lots of the pads had flowers growing from them, yellow cores with white and pink petals, they were pretty nice to look at. They gave a lot of color to the swamp, which was mostly greens and browns otherwise. It was so odd though how she still barely saw any frogs even though their noise was now louder than ever. They must’ve been really good at hiding. Maybe they feared ponies? No one at Mile Moss Crannog had said they ate frogs or anything though.

She wanted to zoom up past the trees and take a nap in the clouds. Just for an hour or two to get away from the croaking and the gross smells of the swamp. But she didn’t want to delay things anymore than necessary. If only it was possible to see into the swamp better from above…

Rainbow figured she just had to get over it and keep flying like normal. She had to force that attitude onto herself quite often anyways.

Were there any alligators hidden under this forest of lilypads? Just hoping she would slow down and get a little bit closer to the surface of the water? Probably. If there weren’t any ponies around here to spread gator powder on the regular, the alligators were probably hording all over. Considering they and the frogs all liked to keep themselves hidden though, the only other living things she really saw right now were swarms of mosquitoes. A lot of them tried to swarm here and she had to repeatedly swat them away.

“Okay… I’m going to say deserts are the number one place I hate the most, then frozen mountains are number two, but right after those is swamps. Swamps are my third most hated place to fly through,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She snorted. “Can’t believe the snow isn’t number one...”

A few more mosquitoes had to be whipped away by her tail before she continued onward. “Dumb bugs.”

Rainbow Dash flew for almost another hour over the lilypad field, still heading pretty much directly south now. Maybe once or twice she caught a glimpse of a large frog jumping off a pad into the water before she passed by. Things were getting darker and foggier as she went as well, the already thick canopy overhead was getting thicker as the gnarled branches of the trees started to join together and create a criss-crossing mess over her head. The field of lilypads started to give way to mud banks and patches of reeds and grass. There was almost what could be called a steady amount of “ground” now.

For a moment she just flew on normally like that until she suddenly stopped in midair as sudden realization hit her.

There was something missing.

The croaking had stopped.

Is that a good sign or a bad one? Rainbow Dash thought to herself as she now slowly flew on. She kept her ears perked and her eyes searching about, but the fog was obscuring the surface of the water and most of the trees in the distance as well, she just couldn’t see much.

She came to a stop, hovering, over a mud bank that sit in the middle of a few trees and started to think about what she should do next. All she had to go on was traveling past the lilypad field and now she had done that. The hunting party and monster had to be close by. Wouldn’t that be a laugh if she flew out over open water only to have a giant alligator monster suddenly jump out from nowhere and try to swallow her whole?

Yeah, no, she didn’t exactly want that to happen.

Rainbow huffed and started to continue on-

“Shh, don’t yell, what are you doing here?” A quiet voice asked from beside her.

Rainbow Dash froze up and looked to her right at one of the trees to see a pair of eyes blinking back at her. “Uhh...”

A pony—completely covered in mud and leaves—detached itself from the tree and stepped onto the mud bank. Three other ponies from the other trees around the mud bank showed themselves as well.

“Well, that’s some decent camouflage,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around at them and landed on the mud bank as well, tucking her wings in. “I guess Belle was right that you guys would see me first.”

The pony who had spoken to her looked at the mud on her face. “I see you visited our home and made acquaintance with our Elder.”

“Yep, name’s Rainbow Dash, you guys must be part of the hunting party? What are you guys doing here just pretending to be trees?” Rainbow asked.

“We’re on sentry duty. We’re trying to figure out the monster’s movements, if it’s come by here recently and things like that,” another one of the ponies said.

“And you really shouldn’t be here. Certainly our Elder and the others of Mile Moss Crannog warned you away?” A third hunter said.

“They did, but I thought you guys could use some help with your monster problem. I’m not from anywhere nearby just so you know, I’ve been traveling across the whole world and I’ve got a lot of experience dealing with monsters and other stuff. Your Elder eventually gave me her blessing and realized I wasn’t going to just fly away. So here I am,” she shrugged.

“You really want to help us hunt down this monster?” The first asked.

“Hunt it down, capture it, stop it, make it go away, bring peace back to your swamp. Whatever needs to be done,” Rainbow nodded.

The hunters shared a look with each other before the first one shrugged.

“To be completely honest, we need all the help we can get. Already we’ve been trying to get others to join us from elsewhere in the swamp. This monster just won’t stop. All of our traps and attempts to kill it have failed so far,” he said.

“Our sentry duty ends at midnight. If you’re willing to wait here with us until then, we can take you back to where the rest of the hunting party is. Because of the monster we have to be hidden and mobile at the same time. We never stay in the same spot for more than a night or two,” the second one said.

Rainbow nodded. “That works for me.”

The small group of sentries had a canoe hidden in some of the nearby reeds, they used that while Rainbow Dash flew alongside them. It was incredibly dark out, almost pitch black, but the sentries only used the smallest flame from a match-lit stick to see. Saying it was a necessary precaution to not draw unwanted attention to themselves.

They slowly drifted through the waters of the swamp in the dead of night so as not to make much noise or send any big ripples through the water. Rainbow Dash kept quiet for this as well even though she had a few questions to ask. Could the giant alligator monster really sneak up on them like this? Maybe they were worried about regular alligators as well.

After about thirty minutes of them navigating the swamp water and the half-sunken trees, Rainbow Dash could see small candlelights peaking out to her. No brighter than a few fireflies, the flames flickered in the soft night wind. They passed a tree and out of the reeds next to it a small canoe with a pony sitting on it came, he nodded in greeting to them. More canoes made themselves visible, all of them seeming to come from nowhere. These ponies definitely knew how to hide in the swamp.

But it wasn’t until they reached the flames that Rainbow Dash got a look at their “base”. At first she thought it was a tree sitting on top of a grassy mud bank, but then she realized the tree was actually a wooden shack with branches stuck on top of it for disguise, and the mud bank was several barrels and logs floating in the water with mud and grass over them. Surrounding it were several rafts and boats as well, some tied together while others were moored to trees. It wasn’t much, but it was probably the biggest and best kind of “structure” you could build in a heavy swamp like this with barely any room. The lights had come from it, weak lanterns hanging from the tree branches and others sitting in the boats.

There were several ponies on the small floating island as well. Camouflaged the same as the sentries but these ones were holding spears as well. Pretty primitive ones, not even tipped with steel but with sharpened rocks.

One pony, an older looking one with a bushy white mustache underneath the mud covering the rest of his features, stepped towards the group of sentries and Rainbow Dash as they came to a stop at the island. His eyes briefly held on Rainbow Dash before he raised an eyebrow at the sentries. “Any sign of it in your spot?”

“Nope, we didn’t see it all day,” the first sentry responded.

“Seems you found something though?” The mustachioed stallion said as he looked to Rainbow.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said as she dropped down and landed on the island. “My name is Rainbow Dash, I heard about what you guys were doing from the Elder at Mile Moss Crannog and I wanted to help you to hunt the monster. Are you Claude?”

“I am,” Claude nodded.

“Sweet, nice to meet you,” Rainbow stuck out her hoof.

He didn’t take it and she slowly lowered it back to the ground.

“Okay...” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“I’m not one for pleasantries. There’s nothing nice going on right now, this monster still hounds us so if you want to help then make yourself useful or leave. I don’t have time to waste entertaining some random nobody who isn’t even from our swamp,” Claude said.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “You know what helping means right? I could have just flown on but I’m not that type of pony. You’ve been asking around for all the help you can get in the swamp but you want to act like this to me?”

“Why would an outsider want to help? This is swamp business, friend of Mile Moss Crannog or not don’t expect me to care about whatever it is you’re looking to do here,” Claude told her off. “None of you know what it’s like to live here… you don’t have respect for our way of life or our troubles. If you’re really so sincere you can carry bags of food and help feed the party.”

“You’re a lot different than I expected...” Rainbow said.

“I can’t afford to be anything less with this monster here,” Claude said.

“Come on, Claude, we need as many hooves as we can get,” the first sentry said again.

“Bah!” He waved his hoof dismissively. “Look out for her yourself then, too many troubles in this swamp… too many troubles even before the monster...” He turned around and started to walk into the disguised shack. “We’ve got a hunt to go on tomorrow, if you think you’re up for it then come along and try not to get eaten. Or at the very least don’t let a pony from the swamp get eaten, outsider.”

The first sentry sighed, tying his canoe to the island before he and the others walked out onto it and joined Rainbow Dash. “Sorry about that… he’s just under a lot of stress.”

“It’s whatever,” Rainbow shrugged. “There are bigger things to worry about anyways… but it seemed like he was stressed out before the monster too.” She looked around at the other hunters as they receded to their own boats and other hideaways. “I guess if there’s a hunt tomorrow I should get some sleep?”

“We all should,” the first sentry nodded.

“Alright then...” Rainbow frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. “Er, sorry, but what’s your name?”

“Jules.”

“See you bright and early then.”

The Beast

There wasn’t really anything good about sleeping in a tree. Especially a dirty and bumpy swamp tree. Bright and early was also a bit of a misnomer. It may have been early but it definitely wasn’t bright. Rainbow Dash was woken up by the feeling of something prodding her leg and looked down to see Jules poking at her with a stick from his canoe.

“You’re very colorful, I think you should also start using the mud and leaves here to camouflage yourself. The fact that I can see you so easily in this part of the swamp at this hour isn’t good,” he said to her.

“Fair enough,” Rainbow yawned and crawled her way out of the tree, floating off it and getting to eye-level with him. She wasn’t looking forward to being covered in all that gross junk but she didn’t want to be a detriment to the hunting party.

“It also covers your scent, so it really is pretty necessary,” Jules said.

Rarity would have a fit if she had to do this… Rainbow Dash grinned to herself.

“So what time is it anyways?” She asked Jules. It was pretty dark, but mostly because of the dense trees and fog, she could tell that the sun was at least partially out already.

“Less than an hour after sunrise, Claude wants us to get moving as early as we can. He’s pretty sure we can track where the monster will be. At least generally,” Jules said.

“Alright. Breakfast first?”

“What? The outsider can’t go more than a few hours without eating anything?” The voice of Claude cut up from the water and he emerged from the low-lying fog, sitting in a canoe and paddling along. “Maybe you aren’t cut out for this.”

“I have a name,” Rainbow Dash frowned as she flew over and dropped down into Claude’s canoe, rocking it. “And seriously, what’s your deal? Cause I want to help and I figured with something this serious going on you’d want to not cause problems with other ponies for no reason. If we’re about to go hunt a monster together, why don’t you get whatever’s on your mind off of it?”

Claude allowed their canoe to drift a little further into the water as he stared Rainbow Dash down, until they had disappeared into the fog again. “I believe you want to help—fine—but you’re still just some outsider who doesn’t really respect us.”

“What are you talking about? You don’t know me,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“You’re all the same. Every Vissidian was the same too… you’re clearly not from there but I’ve known enough… I’ve been around enough to know how outsiders are. Our Elder may have marked you as a friend of Mile Moss Crannog… but let me ask you. What do you really think about our sacred mud? What do you think about the fact that I have three wives? That I believe my mother and father live on in the waters, the mud, and trees of our swamp? Hm?” Claude asked her.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash awkwardly looked away.

“That’s right… ever since I was a young colt and I traveled to Vissidia I knew. The laughs, the jokes, the disbelief, the pity. The way they looked at me like I was some backwards hick. I learned then what outsiders thought of our ways. How little they would ever care about us or our problems, the tough life we live, the connection we have to our swamp and our families,” he spat into the water. “Forgive me if I don’t care much at all for your help. You’re the same. You think what we do—what we believe in—is gross, or weird, or silly.”

Rainbow Dash stood up and walked across the canoe, accidentally rocking it some more, and stared him dead in the eyes. “Alright, I’ll tell you this again; you don’t know me or what I think. I’ll give you one win, that I don’t believe the same stuff you do and I’m not sure what to think about all of it. But that doesn’t mean I’d ever laugh at you about it. That doesn’t mean I can’t respect what you believe in or what you do here in the swamp. And honestly? You wanna know what the biggest issue for me is when it comes to your way of life? It’s how you eat fish. So there. Deal with it.”

Claude stared back at her, narrowing his eyes.

But Rainbow Dash adamantly refused to back down.

The leader of the hunting party at last gave a small nod. “Alright. I’ll call that fair enough, I can at least tell you’re being honest. And you don’t seem like the type to laugh or talk behind another pony’s back.”

“I’m not,” Rainbow stated.

“So fine then. You’re right that we’ve got something more important going on. So long as you carry your own weight, I’ll have nothing else to say. Now get back to Jules and get yourself camouflaged up, we’re going hunting soon,” Claude said.

Rainbow nodded. “Fine, that works for me too.”

A quick flight back over to Jules and then to the small floating island and Rainbow Dash was shortly being painted in mud. Regular swamp mud, not their blessed sacred mud. She was covered head to tail in it so much that her bright blue coat and even more noticeable rainbow mane and tail disappeared. She might as well have been a naturally all-brown pony when it was done. The mud was just the first part too, leaves and twigs were carefully tied into her mane and tail to make her look like a living bush or some kind of mud creature.

It was cold and uncomfortable, and as it dried it became itchy, but she couldn’t ruin things for the hunting party by basically being a signal flare inside the dark swamp. If this made her difficult to see and impossible to smell, she’d just have to live with it for now.

A smirk graced her face. That big alligator wasn’t going to know what hit it now with her around.

Some of the hunting party members got into a few canoes and rafts and tied them to the floating island, once there were enough they paddled out and started ferrying the island through the swamp. Everyone was moving slowly, calmly, and quietly. Obviously Claude and the others already knew where a safe space to put their “island” was and as soon as it was secure they were probably going after the monster.

Rainbow Dash, as she flew along with them, ducked down towards Jules and whispered into his ear. “Hey, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but does gator powder not work on the big monster?”

“It doesn’t like it but unless you throw a whole bag in its face it aint going to go away,” Jules said and briefly looked back at the island. “And we’ve only got a few bags left so Claude doesn’t want them wasted.”

“You still need to use them for the regular gators too?”

Jules shook his head. “Nope, they’ve all left this part of the swamp because of the monster. Same with the frogs, that’s why you don’t hear any croaking around here. Claude just wants to keep the powder for an emergency if it’s necessary.”

Now in the early hours of the morning, the entire hunting party stealthily traveled through the swamp on the hunt for their quarry. Rainbow Dash saw many of the ponies in their canoes clutching spears tightly. They were really serious about this. To her surprise, none of them looked afraid either. Even though this monster had gotten the better of them so far, and had perhaps even eaten some of them, they were all putting on a brave face. These were serious ponies who were used to living tough lives.

“So you’re sure it’s a real genuine monster too and not just some big animal?” Rainbow asked Jules.

He looked at her with a dark expression. “We’re sure. You’ll see for yourself today.”

“Have you ever hurt it? What do you actually do to hunt it?”

“Its scales are hard like armor. Our spears can only hope to damage its vulnerable spots, but the monster is intelligent and faster than you’d expect something its size to be. Its great claws and tail can reach out and send waves through the swamp as well as knock over any boats or crush ponies. We’ve just barely been able to injure it a couple of times to make it flee and by the time it shows itself again its wounds have already healed. Claude is adamant that the only way to end the monster is to kill it in one go. First we used to draw it out with bait in trapped areas of the swamp, but then it quickly got wise to that, now we have to find where it swims and rests first and bring the fight to it.”

Rainbow sighed. “So you’re definitely killing it? No chance of just catching it or trying to keep it in some far off part of the swamp where it wont bother anyone?”

“Something like that can not be caught. And it’s proven ravenous enough to not be safe anywhere. Considering what you’ve said about fish and eating meat in the brief amount of time I’ve known you, I can understand why you might have reservations about this. But there’s no other way. And it is just a murderous monster. You’ll see, it’s… not normal. Those eyes...” Jules frowned and shook his head. “We respect the animals that live in this swamp, even the dangerous ones, we’re all part of a circle and we all came from the mud and will return there in the end. This monster is different.”

Rainbow Dash looked ahead at the fog and the several canoes she could vaguely make out. “Guess I’ll see.”

The darkness of the swamp and early morning lessened slightly as they went on until they entered a dense forest of reeds that came shooting from the water. Claude guided the hunters around and through it, the boats pulling the floating island then letting it come to a rest in the middle of the reeds. A few longer ropes were pulled out from it and tied around some of the natural trees around the reed forest to keep the island safely anchored in place.

Claude, his mud covered face, looked out at the rest of the hunting party as soon as they were done with the island. “Alright everyone, we all know what we’re doing now. Follow me, keep your wits about you, and help each other. This monster dies today.”

“Here,” Jules said and pulled an extra spear from his canoe and hoofed it over to Rainbow Dash. “You’re a hunter now and you’ll need this.”

It felt uncomfortable in her grasp—wrong even, but Rainbow Dash accepted it for now. “Thanks.”

Claude led them in a new direction now, south again deeper and deeper into the swamp. They must’ve been right in the heart of it. The deepest and darkest part of the swamp where this massive alligator monster made its home and hunting grounds. To not stand out or look unusual, Rainbow Dash stopped flying and hunkered down in Jules’ canoe with him. She had to be thankful that there was enough room for two. She sat at the front with her spear while Jules for the moment paddled through the water with the others.

The paddling was slow as everyone was careful to not make any splashes. They pushed themselves through the water with practiced ease to send only a few wide ripples each time. It was silent and almost tranquil paddling as each canoe, boat, and raft made their way. A silent flock of hunters, like alligators themselves that hid under the water to strike at their prey without warning.

Because of the slow pace and how everyone now kept completely quiet, Rainbow Dash got a little bored. But she was sure to keep attentive with how important this was.

Claude had them eventually go into a part of the swamp that was slightly more open than the rest, but it wasn’t bright out. Overhead dark clouds had gathered to block out the sun. Just their luck, for once there should actually be sunlight reaching them and it was blocked off. The waters around were covered in moss and algae, broken and fallen over trees sat everywhere, a field of lilypads floated along to the east, and there was no sign of any animals.

Everyone brought their canoes and such to a stop by the edge of this open area. Rainbow Dash could now feel the tenseness leaking from everyone as they sat quietly and waited. This was the spot.

Quickly, Claude reached into a bag that sat in his canoe and pulled out several small rocks. He threw them as far as he could into the center of the open area, where they landed in the water with a splash. Then he threw some more towards the left, then the right, causing splashing wherever he threw.

He was trying to agitate it, Rainbow realized. Let it know that something was intruding on its home turf. It may have been too smart for obvious bait but they could still provoke its territorial senses.

Claude then took a much larger rock and chucked it hard into the distance where it landed with an audible plop.

After that, everyone sat and waited.

The lilypads shifted.

A bulge appeared on the water.

A shadow visible even through the murkiness.

A drop of sweat broke through the mud on Jules’ face.

The fluttering wings of birds taking flight reached their ears.

Somehow the swamp was even more deathly quiet than it had already been in this area.

The slightest ripples and bubbles appeared where the rock had been thrown.

It was here.

A Dentist's Nightmare

She first saw the scales on its back as they rose out of the water. First just a couple of inches, then they broke the surface by more than a foot. The huge monstrous alligator shifted under the water as if trying to figure out what exactly had disturbed its territory, its movements now sending mild waves towards the boats the hunting party were using. The trees they were still hidden in dampened the waves somewhat but Rainbow Dash still felt the hump pass underneath her and Jules’ canoe.

What now? It was there, still mostly underwater, but there nonetheless. What was Claude’s plan of attack?

Claude tersely whispered to the other hunters. “Spread out, spread out!” While he reached into his bags and retrieved more rocks.

The hunters moved their boats throughout the wooded area of the swamp they were hiding in and at the same time Claude threw more and more rocks at the alligator monster swimming just barely below the surface of the water. They impacted the surface and made even more splashes, or even just outright hit the scales of the alligator itself. It caused the monster to move around more frantically, sending greater ripples and waves everywhere.

Just smart for an animal, huh? Rainbow thought as she tightened her grip on her spear. She looked at the other boats and saw the hunters getting not just spears ready, but also things like nets weighted with rocks, hooks tied to ropes and pieces of wood, and bags full of some kind of red powder that she didn’t recognize.

If Claude had been a little more trusting of her she’d have a better idea of what was going to happen next, but at the moment she had to wait and see what the hunters would do first. She didn’t dare just fly out and ruin things for them. That was not the way to get on anyone’s good side right now.

Once the boats had spread out some, Claude grabbed his paddle and started smacking the surface of the water with it. It sent loud vibrations through the water that were sure to grab the attention of the alligator monster.

“Wait for it to charge into the trees before you attack! Let it come to the shallower areas first!” Claude shouted.

As he said that, the shadowed beast and its scales poking out from the surface turned fully to face them. Rainbow could tell it was pointed towards the source of the paddling from Claude. It was still hard to tell just how big it was, but it must’ve been huge, and now it started swiftly swimming to them. Claude himself was just an earth pony, he dropped his paddle and pushed the boat away from the trees towards the oncoming monster before climbing into the nearest tree with just a spear in his hooves. Rainbow Dash and Jules were twenty feet away behind another tree in their canoe. As the monster approached, Rainbow Dash got her first real look at part of it as its tail whipped out of the water behind it.

Massive. The tail alone had to be fifteen or twenty feet long, thick and muscular with spiked scales covering every inch of its dorsal side. If that tail smashed into a tree it would’ve rended it in two.

The shadow grew more defined under the water as the alligator monster approached Claude’s abandoned canoe. Bubbles and ripples came up from the water, she heard Jules’ jaw clench and her own heart increased its thumping inside her ribcage as well.

Finally the faded green scales on its snout broke the water’s surface and a huge gaping maw of teeth opened up in a flash. Rainbow Dash only had a brief instant to really see it, but that was all she needed. Her eyes opened wide as she took in the massive jaws of the alligator monster and the hundreds of sharp dagger teeth that lined it. Some were chipped and broken while others were as pristine as if they were new, a single one was the size of one of Rainbow’s legs and the alligator’s mouth was so big and opened up so wide that it could’ve swallowed a canoe and the pony sitting in it whole. The swamp water dripped down from the top of its jaw as it then crashed down on top of Claude’s abandoned canoe—obliterating it completely. Most of the canoe was swallowed outright but some planks went flying to the sides as water sprayed everywhere.

In just one brief instant, Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of red when the monster savaged the canoe. A dot of piercing red that stared out from the water.

“Now! Now!” Claude yelled and threw his spear like a harpoon into the water at the barely submerged monster.

It must’ve hit something soft because the monster started to rage around in the shallower water. One of its massive claws came up towards the tree where Claude was and eviscerated it right before Claude jumped to a new one for safety. The rafts and canoes of the other ponies now came out and every hunter threw their spears and other weapons at the beast whenever it gave them an opening. Jules paddled out to join them and Rainbow Dash flew up above the alligator to look for a prime spot to drive her spear into as well. When she flew above the churning waters that flash of red called out to her once more and Rainbow Dash looked directly at it.

For just an instant again she saw the red eye of the monster glaring out at her from beneath the water. Pupiless. Just a pure red sun burning with beastly rage and ravenous hunger. That was no animal’s eye. Jules was right, there was no way that thing was ever a normal alligator or any sort of normal creature. It was the eye of a true monster.

But it vanished out of sight as the alligator and all its limbs struggled in the water before she could attack that vulnerable spot. The other hunters were throwing the weighted nets and rocks on it to try and hamper its movements, but the thing was just so big and strong that Rainbow could see it was pointless. The one advantage they had was that in the beast’s rage it was still trying to go further into the trees to eat Claude and the other ponies now attacking it instead of just retreating back to the deeper waters.

“Use the marking powder before it tries to get away again!” Claude yelled.

Several hunters paddled out and threw the bags of red powder Rainbow Dash had seen earlier out into the water, directly on and over the alligator monster. As soon as the powder came out and mixed in with the water, it changed from a powder and into some sort of sticky liquid that spread over and clung to the alligator’s scales, painting it. It was now like the alligator was partially writhing around in red bubblegum or honey. Not only was the stark red color marking the monster and making it easier to see in the water, but it was also slowing it down because of its stickiness.

“Alright!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew over to the gator, she really wanted to make her strike count… but at the same time she had to admit she was still hesitant to drive her spear into this thing. Monster or not it was far more visceral and gruesome than near anything else she had done in her life.

She ended up not getting that perfect chance right now anyways. The huge meaty tail of the alligator monster rose up from the water directly next to her. The power that tail contained must’ve been enormous, and as water dripped from it Rainbow Dash had only a second to react before it slammed back down into the water. A massive spout of water shot up and rained down on the nearby ponies—including her—and temporarily messed with their vision of the monster. At the same time the wave it created in the swamp water lurched out towards all of the hunters in their boats and made them hunker down for safety so as to not fall into the water. The entire area around the monster was rocked like that as the assault had to momentarily stop.

Rainbow Dash had brought her hoof up to block a spray of water from getting in her eyes even as the rest of it washed over her like a storm. When she was able to look again she saw one of the monster’s huge claws, now covered in the red slime, reach towards one of the canoes and tear it to pieces, forcing the pony inside to jump out and try to swim to safety. Others were still pelting it with rocks and spears, but the moment the monster sensed a pony in the water its massive head turned towards the floundering.

Because of its size practically all it needed to do was open its toothy mouth and…

There was nobody else who could rescue him in time and the monster would easily be able to swallow him whole with one bite. Rainbow Dash flew down from the sky to grab the flailing pony and came face to jaw with a hundred teeth that wanted to rip her to pieces. The monsters’ throat was like a black hole threatening to swallow all that was unfortunate enough to get near. With one hoof curled around the hunter’s leg to help pull him up, Rainbow Dash launched her spear with all the strength she had in her other front leg and sent it right into the fleshy bits of the alligator’s open mouth.

It stuck in deep and the monster flinched back, a low growl emerging from that black hole of a throat. Just in time, Rainbow pulled the other hunter out of the water so that when the monster’s jaws came snapping shut the only thing they tore apart was water.

She carried the hunter over to the trees and put him in one a few back from the front line.

“You alright?” She asked.

“Y-Yeah...” he nodded. “Thanks.”

“Save the thanks for when this is done,” Rainbow Dash frowned and flew back out to the monster. It was still under attack and now she knew it could be hurt as well, but if what she had heard was true then it would likely try retreating soon and recuperate. If they lost it then all this would have to start over again and she knew the hunters were running out of supplies.

When she reached the monster flailing in the water she saw an unusual sight. Claude had gone back out to attack it and was standing on the back of the monster, he had jammed a spear into the softer area around the joint where its front left leg met its body and was holding on with a fierce expression on his face. He kept trying to twist the spear and drive it further into the flesh of the beast.

“Nice work,” Rainbow muttered, impressed. The other hunters were continuing to pelt it with rocks and more of the red powder as they aided their leader but the beast was hardly finished.

Its tail once more raised up out of the water before smashing down again, this time several more of the hunters were knocked off their canoes and rafts and had to swim for the trees. A torrent of water fell onto Claude as well but he didn’t release his grip on the spear even as the hunting party started to fall apart around him.

“Don’t give in! We can’t let it escape!” Claude yelled. “Wait for it to raise its head fully out of the water and attack the neck!”

Sounded like a good enough idea to Rainbow Dash. She saw a piece of wood from a destroyed raft floating in the swamp water and grabbed it, one of its ends jagged enough where it might be able to do damage to a soft spot. However the monster refused to just do what they wanted. Tired of the attack, it backed up, away from the trees and trying to get into the deeper water again. A trail of red came with it though, it couldn’t hide and it was moving slower thanks to the injuries and the red paste all over it.

Claude still stayed on its back, not giving in even as water started to make its way up his legs. The other hunters regrouped, getting into each other’s boats and paddling along after him and the monster. Rainbow Dash flew along over to him and winked.

“If you need any help when this thing bucks you off its back, just holler!” She said.

“Quiet, outsider!” Claude growled back at her.

The monster meanwhile turned towards the lilypads and sought to submerge itself fully, but it was getting tired. When it lifted a claw out of the water, Rainbow could see that several of its digits were stuck together thanks to the red substance. Seemingly the monster realized it was having a problem and also wanted to get rid of Claude at the same time. It soon began to roll over in the water, getting ready to toss Claude away or crush him outright if he didn’t let go. The other hunters were still too far away to attack it when it was vulnerable like this.

But Rainbow Dash would have a prime shot at its unprotected neck.

Persistence

Claude had to let go of his spear and jump off the back of the alligator at the last second before it fully turned over and pulled him underneath its bulk and into the swamp water. He still ended up in the water, but not helplessly carried and drowned under the monster.

And now it was just Rainbow Dash, right above it, with her sharp and jagged wooden stake in hoof. Claude hadn’t surfaced but she could see him swimming safely away, and she knew the other hunters were paddling over to the monster as well, but right now she was the only one who had a chance to attack it while it was vulnerable. When it had fully rolled over onto its back, she saw the yellow scales of its underside. So much thinner. It might as well have been defenseless.

Rainbow Dash tightly gripped her weapon in her hooves as her eyes narrowed at the throat of the monster. It was the most sensitive spot, she had the speed to attack it, she knew she had the strength to drive her weapon deep into it.

Her hooves shook as she froze there in the air. A moment of hesitation as she thought about what she was going to do. It was a monster. Not an animal, she had seen that with her own eyes and with what her instincts were telling her, but she still hesitated.

Could she kill this thing with her own hooves? Even knowing what it was and what it had done?

Could she do that?

That moment of hesitation may have been short, but it was all it took for her to lose her chance. In the middle of its roll the monster raised its other claw up out of the water and brought it towards her. Rainbow Dash didn’t know how it knew where she was, but it didn’t matter, she had to fly back to evade the massive claws. By then the monster had fully turned around and was no longer showing its exposed belly and throat to her, but the hard armor of scales all across its head and back. As she looked down at it, she swore she saw one of its red eyes glaring up at her like a piercing laser.

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw in frustration and the alligator monster strongly moved its muscular tail back and forth so it could start to propel itself away. The motion sent waves of water at the pursuing hunters to make it harder for them to catch up to it. It was clearly trying to get away once more. However, a trail of red followed it. That powder turned liquid was still giving its location away and it didn’t look to be thinning out anytime soon.

“After it! After it, all of you!” Claude yelled as he stuck his head up out of the raging water.

One of the hunter canoes reached him and he climbed inside it. Seeing he was safe and the pursuit was on once more, Rainbow Dash flew ahead to keep right over the alligator monster. It couldn’t outrun her, that was for sure, and she could make sure that the red marking it wasn’t fading away and it wasn’t pulling any tricks. The trail was easy to follow since it looked like it was a gigantic red algae bloom in the middle of dark and green water.

Or more like blood in the water if she wanted to go in that direction.

The problem was though with that how much the monster was disturbing the water, and how fast it swam, the other hunters might never catch up to it like this. They just couldn’t go the same speed Rainbow could as she flew. Up ahead was a denser area of the swamp as well, with trees choking the water everywhere. Rainbow didn’t think the alligator could hide or easily travel through there and yet it was still going for it at full speed. It must’ve had a way to swim through those waters and that would make it even tougher for the ponies to pursue.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and instead of just matching the alligator’s pace she flew in front of it to get its attention.

She could see its red eyes even through the water at this point, it wasn’t deep enough to completely mask itself. As she looked at those eyes she wondered how she even hesitated in the first place. Murderous, monstrous eyes, so unnatural and completely unforgiving. This was no mere animal protecting its territory and trying to feed itself, it was a beast that terrorized everything in the swamp.

It looked up at her. She knew it did even as its head didn’t even move. It saw her.

But for now it didn’t slow down, still attempting to reach the next part of the swamp.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” Rainbow Dash yelled and flew down closer to the surface of the water. Close enough where it could try eating her. Close enough where she could even reach her hoof an inch or two below the surface and touch it. “Bet you haven’t had a pegasus to eat before, you going to throw away the opportunity to eat something as awesome as me? If you’ve got any taste in that big dumb mouth of yours I’d say you should follow me!”

She grinned. “Or you could just be some big, cowardly, animal that can’t do anything about a couple of ponies. If that’s the case then please, keep on swimming away.”

The alligator monster exploded in rage and came at Rainbow Dash, its claws and tail tearing apart the surface of the water while its great jaw opened up for her. A deep and rocky growl emerged from the black hole at the back of its throat as the jaws clamped open and shut in their hunger for Rainbow Dash.

“That’s more like it,” Rainbow said and flew back from the deadly jaws. She started circling around, drawing the alligator away from the trees and back towards the lilypad field so the other hunters could catch up to it.

She wanted it to tire itself out so she intentionally slowed herself down a couple of times to give the alligator the illusion that it may have actually been able to catch her. It lunged at her out of the water a few times but its massive jaws always came up a little short. She could see its red eyes glaring hard at her. Now the hunters had again reached it as well, and they spread out on their boats around the monster before they started pelting it again with rocks and spears.

“Don’t let up for a single moment!” Claude commanded as he chucked another bag of red powder out onto the monster.

Rainbow could feel the frustration coming from the monster, it was in pain and having more trouble than usual getting rid of these pests. She chose to join in now too and correct her earlier mistake. The spear that Claude had driven into one of the monster’s joints was still stuck there, not pulled loose from when it rolled over. Rainbow swiftly flew down across the monster’s back and grabbed the weapon, tearing it out and flying back overhead. Now she stared directly at its red eyes too as they wavered right under the surface of the water.

But the monster turned its head away from her now, ignoring her entirely and going for the other hunters surrounding it.

Rainbow Dash frowned, maybe it had realized that she was just messing with it this whole time and it couldn’t catch her? She’d make it regret that but she also had to be sure it didn’t harm the other ponies. She was the only one with the speed and ability to go around getting ponies out of danger. And right now the monster seemed to recognize Claude as the one who had been giving it the most trouble. Its red eyes zoned in on him and its powerful tail propelled it straight to the canoe Claude was now using.

Claude realized he was in danger too and he and the other hunter in the canoe started to paddle away. They weren’t nearly going to be fast enough to get anywhere safe.

“Tch, maybe shouldn’t have taunted the monster so much...” Rainbow Dash ground her teeth together as she flew with spear in hoof to reach Claude’s canoe.

She came alongside the monster and saw its red eyes zeroing in on its new target. Soon the monster could open up its mouth and either swallow the canoe whole or smash it to pieces. Rainbow saw her new opportunity though, she took a deep breath and pulled her hoof back with the spear still tightly gripped in it. That red eye might as well have been the bullseye on a dartboard. It was underwater but she was sure she could hit it.

With a powerful throw she launched her spear directly at the red eye.

At the same time the monster suddenly turned again, possibly in reaction to her throw. The spear ended up sailing into the water but instead of hitting the monster’s eye it only impaled itself into the flesh and scales behind it. But now the monster was no longer going directly for Claude, not with its mouth at least. As it swam past it brought its claw up out of the water and smashed it into the canoe, sending Claude and the other hunter flying into the water.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted and flew down to try and rescue them. “Are you alright?!”

Claude—treading water—stuck his hoof out and pointed behind her. “Look out!”

Rainbow Dash turned around to see the massive tail of the alligator monster whipping out of the water at her.

“Aw crud,” Rainbow frowned right as the scaly tail hit her and knocked her into the water.

Temporary Retreat

There wasn’t much she knew for certain after that colossal tail hit her. In fact, she couldn’t even be sure if she lost consciousness before or after she hit the water and went under. But despite her mind racing while a series of images replayed themselves at lightspeed in her brain, it was apparently only a few seconds before she was pulled out of the water and into a canoe. Things were a blur, her memories of the past few days were a jumbled mess, and she wasn’t entirely sure where she was.

Until a hoof smacked her upside the face.

“Hey! You alright?!” Jules yelled at her, a look of worry on his face.

Rainbow Dash spat a stream of swamp water out of her mouth and nodded. “Yeah… think so. What about the monster?”

“We’re still on its trail. The red powder is showing us where its gone and slowing it down too. But… we’ve lost a lot of boats and have some injuries, so we need to go get more supplies from our hideout first before continuing on,” Jules said.

Rainbow Dash blinked, her disoriented body now realizing the canoe she was in was moving. “Oh.”

“Claude says we’re not resting or stopping for the day though. We’re getting back out there and killing the monster no matter what. We’ll get on that island for a few minutes and then get right back out,” Jules said.

“Does anyone have a plan for actually killing it though? That thing is tough. I saw all the injuries we’ve given it but that hardly did anything at all,” Rainbow said.

“I don’t know. Claude thinks we still have a chance to get it so I’ve just gotta believe in him. Thankfully no one’s gotten eaten this time too, I saw how much you’ve been helping us,” Jules told her.

“Just doing my job...” Rainbow said.

She sat up and put her hooves on the front of the canoe to check things out now. Around her and Jules were several other canoes and they were making their way through the dense trees where they had originally started their attack from. Claude was leading them in what must have been his third canoe of the day. He had an angry frown on his face and she could see him tapping his hoof on the canoe, there was no patience whatsoever in him. He was absolutely determined to end things today and the fact they had to temporarily go back like this was clearly eating at him. The other hunters had just as determined and serious looks on their faces, they hadn’t lost anyone and that red powder stuff had worked well so there was a pretty assured air coming from them. This was going decently, probably better than most of their attacks had gone.

But to Rainbow Dash she still wasn’t sure how well this was going to end if they just kept trying to do the same thing again. She had seen its eyes, that wasn’t some normal adversary they were dealing with. If they attacked recklessly, then something as dangerous and vicious at that alligator would look to take as many of them down with it as possible. Plans and thinking weren’t always her way of doing things, but if it helped to save these ponies maybe she could come up with something.

What did they have to work with? What could she bring to the table? What new things that maybe Claude hadn’t thought of could be done now that she was here?

There was a lot. And she didn’t have a ton of time to think about it all.

Rainbow Dash looked back at Jules and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. “How long does that red powder stuff last? Like, isn’t it all going to wash off its scales eventually?”

“It’s supposed to last almost a full twelve hours before it dissolves completely, and we threw a lot on it,” Jules told her. “I think we’ve got a long while before we can’t track it anymore.”

That was one positive at least. After that the hunters soon made it back to their little floating island hidden in the dense swamp forest. Claude wasted absolutely no time in jumping off his canoe and onto the mud and reed covered barrels and planks of wood that held most of it up. The whole thing bobbed up and down in the water but he paid it no mind as he walked into the small shack atop it. The rest of the hunting party was doing similar, either tying up their boats and taking a stretch or checking over their weapons and other supplies.

Claude came back out of the shack in just a moment with another spear and a few more bags of red powder in his hooves. “Don’t take too long! We’re going back out after that monster in a minute!”

Rainbow Dash frowned and flew over to him, landing on the island right by his side. “So what’s the plan then?”

“The plan is to chase that monster down and kill it. What else?” He looked at her with a disgruntled expression.

“Are you sure we can just keep throwing ourselves at that thing? It was kind of tired but it didn’t look very hurt, there’s gotta be a better way of doing this. Otherwise we’re going to start getting hurt. That thing is smart, and really tenacious, you can’t just brute force it with shoddy spears and rocks,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“Like you’d know better?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Sure, you did decently out there, saw you even save Antoine, but you’re not some big game hunter as far as I know.”

“This isn’t big game. This is a monster, and I’ve got experience dealing with those. Worse ones than this alligator even,” she glared back at him.

“So what? There still isn’t time to waste standing around jabbering about it. We’ve got to find that thing and kill it as soon as possible,” he said.

“And I think you, your hunting party, and every other pony in this swamp, would probably prefer if you did that without any of you dying. Look, I get you don’t like me for being an outsider, but seriously, I’m trying to help. Don’t you realize how stubborn you’re being? How stubborn you’re being over something so dangerous? We can be better about this,” Rainbow told him.

By now most of the other hunters were watching and listening in on them too.

Claude frowned, looking down at the swamp water. “It’s taken too long. We can’t let this thing keep terrorizing the swamp… everyone else you’re talking about? They’re relying on us. I can’t let us seem like failures who can’t even solve our own problems. What would our ancestors think? Every generation has a hardship of their own, to not even be able to stop this monster, it’s an insult to the mud and the bones of our ancestors buried within.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and laid a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “Would they really hate it if you asked for help?”

“No,” Claude shook his head. “No they wouldn’t. I know that. They must be so sad right now… all the ones the monster has killed before their time has come. The ones I’ve been unable to save or even get revenge for. They weren’t put to rest the right way, their bodies and spirits can’t join their ancestors in the mud until we put an end to this monster.”

“So come on then, let’s do this together and let’s do it right. Cause I want to stop that monster too. Both for the ones who aren’t here anymore and the ones that still are,” Rainbow grinned.

“Well what’s your plan then?” Clause asked her.

Rainbow’s grin became a little strained. “Err… I dunno.”

“Oh, fantastic,” he rolled his eyes. “Look—we still don’t have any time to waste here so we have to get going after that monster again!”

“Just give me a second! Let me think about what we’ve got…” Rainbow Dash said as she mulled over what she and the hunting party had to work with. Spears, rocks, nets, her, boats, the red powder, gator powder, other weapons, the monster’s strengths and weaknesses, where it was vulnerable. Rainbow Dash nodded as an idea was forming in her head. It was all starting to come together.

“Okay,” she said and looked back at the shack Claude had just come out of. “I hear you’ve still got a few bags of gator powder left?”

“Four,” Claude nodded.

“And the monster still hates the stuff just like normal alligators do? It really bothers it if you pour a whole bag on its face and stuff?”

“That’s right.”

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. “Okay… then I know what we’re going to do. And even better, I’m going to be the only one in danger this time. But I promise your ancestors are going to be happy by the end of the day.”

“I certainly hope so,” Claude said as his eyes returned to the swamp. “I’ve let them down enough already.”

Round Two

Rainbow Dash followed a trail of red through the waters of the swamp. Alone she flew over the dark water, the red coloring from the powder being the only thing even remotely colorful in this place of browns and greens. It stood out so easily that it was impossible to miss. The alligator monster may not have even fully realized how easy of a trail it left behind as it tried to swim away from the hunters. She was able to make good time following it too thanks to her ability to fly. Even though this thing was trying to hide deeper in the swamp there was no way it could get away from her like this.

She had a spear in her hooves, though she knew she wouldn’t be able to end the monster so easily. It was still a good thing to have.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. There was a lot riding on her right now, a lot that she had convinced Claude to trust her with. Hopefully she could get to the monster soon and get things started back up, quiet times like this were always the most anxious to her. It didn’t help that the entire rest of the swamp was dead quiet too. That monster tearing through here had silenced everything.

“Where are you?” Rainbow Dash said as she followed the red. “It hasn’t been that long, you couldn’t have gotten too far away.”

Her eyes scanned ahead but darkness and the swamp’s natural fog made it difficult to see how far the red trail went in the water until she was practically on top of it. She was slightly worried that she was going to fly right on top of the monster without noticing first. At some point the red trail should turn into a big red blotch on the water though to signify where the monster was. And that’s if it wasn’t even just poking out of the water in places in the first place.

“Maybe I should shout for it? Would it come after me or would it try and run away some more?” Rainbow thought.

She couldn’t imagine such a vicious monster didn’t want to get revenge on her and the hunting party. A simple animal would’ve just had its fight or flight reflex activate and kept running when it got hurt. But not this thing. According to the others it healed faster than normal anyways, and was extremely territorial, there was no way Rainbow Dash could see it not wanting to attack and eat everyone after a moment of rest.

“Stupid monster… you need to get angry and follow me again...”

There was a big role for her to play but it wouldn’t come up as anything unless she could find and bait the monster again. She had seen the way it looked at her, how badly it wanted to eat her, if she could grab its attention again she was certain it would try to chase her once more.

She was extremely thankful that the red powder—or red paste, however you wanted to call it now—was working as intended. Just like Jules had said it showed absolutely no signs so far of dissolving or disappearing. It was leaving a trail through a heavily wooded area of the swamp now, even though Rainbow had no idea how the big alligator monster would’ve gotten through here.

Finally, the red trail in the water started to get wider and wider, more of it was congealed together and just sitting there in the water. She had to be getting close.

“Hey, dumb alligator! You oversized luggage! Where are you?” Rainbow Dash started shouting to the swamp as she continued to follow the red.

Ahead, she was fairly sure she heard the water rippling.

“There we go,” Rainbow grinned.

The red was now totally covering the water all around her like a layer of moss. But where was the gator? It must be here, right underneath, hiding from her. Probably waiting for her to fly over the wrong spot so it could try shooting out and taking her by surprise. Some of the trees around her shook and shifted, ripples of water coming from their trunks, and a few bubbles came up past the red paste in the water.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile kept on edge, the spear in her hooves and her muscles tense and ready to move at a moment’s notice.

The red had an unfortunate side-effect. She couldn’t see the piercing eyes of the monster through the water anymore.

Perhaps the monster thought that gave it an advantage when its claw came right out of the water, going for Rainbow Dash as water and the thick red paste fell off it. If it did think that it wasn’t taking Rainbow Dash’s sharp reflexes into account. She flew over the sharp claw and watched as it smashed into a tree and tore it to pieces. Below her, the water was frothing as the monster rose up entirely out of it, knocking other trees away with its body, head, and tail as it glared up at her.

“Found you,” Rainbow said to it.

An angry growl, almost a roar, came from the alligator as it opened its jaw and jumped up at her. She flew back just as the jaws came snapping down with a resonating sound that shook the leaves on all the trees around them. The monster’s tail came up and slammed back down onto the water behind, sending waves in every direction as the monster launched forward towards her. Of course it had no chance to actually catch and eat her, but she needed to keep low and let it think it did.

That’s why there was a happy grin on her face as she flew down low to the water and started darting through the trees while the alligator chased her. She was more than fast enough to escape from it if she really wanted, but she kept in view of it the whole time as she led it away.

Led it towards the trap she and the hunters had set up.

The monster of course had no problem pushing through and uprooting all the trees around it, devastating the swamp in its rampage. Most ponies probably couldn’t avoid it the way she could, the thing was relentless now that it had chosen to get her. It was proving how it traveled through the denser parts of the swamp though: sheer brute force. Even then it also seemed surprisingly limber and flexible how it swam through the crowded waters and practically crawled over the mud and tree roots buried below.

This was exactly what Rainbow Dash wanted though, that thing to chase her in a blind rage. All the way back to the hunter’s hideout. If it ever looked like it was getting wise or giving up she planned to poke and antagonize it with her spear until it chased her again.

But right now it looked like that wouldn’t be needed. The monster really wanted to eat her.

Rainbow Dash’s grin grew wider as she looked over her shoulder, her vision pretty much entirely taken up by a gaping maw full of teeth. “Heh, come on already! You’re letting me get away again!”

A few more roars came from the monster after that taunt.

In just another couple of minutes of flying and evading the monster, Rainbow Dash was coming close to making it back to the rest of the hunting party. It would be time to spring the trap soon and this monster wouldn’t know what hit it.

She saw the dense trees ahead where her allies were, it was even denser than the swamp forest the monster was tearing through right now. Thought it wouldn’t stop the beast it would at least slow it down for what they needed. The monster’s jaws snapped shut again just an inch behind her tail, its claws pushed two trees out of its way and waves of water were blasting out across the swamp from its body as it pursued her.

Rainbow Dash stopped paying attention to it and instead looked ahead. Her eagle eyes narrowed as she tried to pick out her allies and see if things were ready in the area ahead. They had good camouflage still since they wanted to avoid the attention of the monster, but Rainbow knew exactly where they were all supposed to be. Before it might’ve been impossible for her to see them, but this time she could, all of them wearing their mud and leaves and attached to the various trees. Good. Rainbow Dash flew towards a specific spot with the alligator monster right behind her, she was hoping her plan would work and that she wasn’t going to let Claude and the rest down. They had all put a lot into this and if things didn’t end here the hunting party was going to be in a pretty bad spot.

Rainbow brought a hoof up to her mouth and whistled loudly. It was likely they could all see and hear her and the monster coming anyways, but the whistle was still the signal for them to be on alert.

“Let’s do this,” she muttered to herself.

The hunters in the trees had their own special jobs right now. As soon as they heard Rainbow Dash’s whistle, they pulled on ropes tied around the trees and lying in the water, lifting up nets that were hidden in the waters of the swamp. The alligator monster would have to go right through those as it tried to catch Rainbow Dash. The nets of course wouldn’t stop it, but they would momentarily tie it up and slow it down for the next phase.

Rainbow Dash flew in a set course, so the monster wouldn’t come near the other hunters, and went right past two trees that had a net hidden in the waters between them. The giant alligator roared as it followed in after her and Rainbow Dash heard the sound of it tripping in the water and snapping the trees next to it as it powered its way through, an angry roar came from its throat as it struggled to get its claws clear. More and more ropes and nets were waiting for it but the enraged beast never stopped going for Rainbow Dash. She looked back and saw its red eyes piercing through the darkness of the swamp at her and its massive mouth chomping up and down.

“Last line!” Rainbow Dash yelled out. “Everyone get ready!”

She was approaching the true trap now. What she and Claude had decided would be the finishing blow to the monster.

Through the trees and the darkness she saw Claude on a raft with several other hunters and numerous bags of both the red powder and the four bags of Gator Powder. Their eyes met and he nodded to her. Rainbow Dash grinned and whistled loudly once more to the hunters in the trees. Right behind her a line of criss-crossing ropes was raised out of the water, they would’ve been right at the mouth and face of the beast as it reached them.

“Get the bags ready!” Claude shouted to the hunters with him on the raft. They grabbed the bags of red powder while he hefted up all four bags of Gator Powder.

As Rainbow Dash flew by them she put the shaft of the spear into her mouth, Claude tossed the bags of Gator Powder up to her and Rainbow Dash flew up to the tops of the trees, still where the monster could see her but where it would have to lunge up a little to reach her. At that point the beast also hit the last few ropes that had been pulled between the trees. One of the ropes went right into its mouth and caught along the back of its jaw where it had difficulty biting through, others stuck right across its nose and down by its neck. It could still snap them all momentarily, but now Claude and his hunters had their opening.

While its eyes were focused on Rainbow Dash—who mockingly flew just right above its jaws—the other hunters lobbed the opened up bags of red powder at it. The powder completely covered it, turning into the sticky paste at once as it come in contact with the water and wet scales. It was like it had gum all over it now, further slowing it down and tying it up. Lots of it even got into its wide open jaws and made it even tougher for the monster to bite down and threaten anything.

The entire top half of the monster was red with the special powder and it was struggling to move in the dense swamp now. Its claws and tail smashed out at anything as it flailed in anger and roared.

Rainbow Dash flew in front of its eyes to make sure it saw her. And she winked at it.

In a fresh new rage the monster put all the strength it had into jumping out of the water at her and trying to swallow her whole. Rainbow Dash could see the black hole of its throat there in the center of her vision as its tooth filled jaws opened wide around her. That was exactly what she wanted.

And this time without any hesitation in her she chucked all four bags of Gator Powder straight into the monster’s mouth.

A Lot of Suitcases

The four bags of Gator Powder, their drawstrings pulled loose, fell into the alligator monster’s wide open mouth. Some powder spilled out on its tongue or the insides of its jaws but most of it tumbled right down its throat. Rainbow Dash could see the surprise and realization in the monster’s unnatural red eyes as it accidentally swallowed what was practically a poison to it. All at once it practically seized up and shook its massive head back and forth, coughing and wheezing came from the monster as it tried backing away in the shallow waters. But the ropes, the red powder, the dense trees, they were all working against it now.

The fact that its mouth was raised out of the water, raised towards Rainbow Dash, also left it especially vulnerable to the hunters.

“Now! Now, while it’s in pain!” Claude yelled. “Go for the throat and bring it down!”

The hunters with him attacked immediately and the others that had been seeded through the trees were coming back to join in on the assault as well. Spears were launched right into the soft scales of the underside of the monster’s neck, impaling themselves deeply as the monster continued to thrash around, fresh new pain joining the frustration and irritation that came from the powder. It could tell that this was no normal danger it was in this time. The great beast’s tail lashed out behind it and obliterated several trees as it tried to escape and knock away any other hunters. All the while its eyes still focused on Rainbow Dash—on the pony it somehow knew was responsible for its plight.

There was no sorrow in those eyes, no begging for mercy or pity, no simple pain or confusion that a normal animal would have. It was rage. Pure evil rage.

Spears and rocks started to pummel its sides as the other hunters joined in, using the weapons they had left to further weaken and injure it. The main attack on its throat didn’t let up for a moment either and the beast was bleeding from dozens of wounds, all of it joining in with the red powder that already colored the swamp. Puffs of the white Gator Powder came from its mouth as it frothed and choked on it while unable to stop itself from spasming or coughing. The pain, the reflexive reaction, the taunting of Rainbow Dash, it all caused it to lift its great head and jaws up out of the water more.

“Kill it! Bring it down!” Claude yelled again, the rage and steel determination from him possibly outdoing the monster’s own rage.

A heavy roar came from the monster as it perhaps recognized and understood his words—as well as maybe finally accepting that it was doomed. The red eyes glared up at Rainbow Dash, the right eye piercing at her, angry for what it had done to her. Rainbow Dash stared back down at it while her spear was still gripped in her hooves and the other hunters attacked. She twirled the weapon around and aimed it at the red eye staring at her.

“Sorry, but not sorry.”

The sharp tip of the spear was the last thing the alligator monster saw.

Ropes tied around the limbs of the monster’s body kept it floating in the water even after it had gone completely still and silent. Connected to the trees it was now nothing more than a trophy waiting to be hauled back to Mile Moss Crannog. She really hoped they weren’t going to use it for food but she had to admit that such a catch had a lot of uses. The teeth alone could be used to make hundreds of new weapons or tools. Maybe there was some sort of ritual or something they needed to do with it too, the swamp ponies had a lot of ways that were rather unusual to Rainbow Dash, she couldn’t exactly predict them.

Either way she wouldn’t really be around to see what was coming next, since she was already planning on leaving soon. Once more her work here was done and it was time to head for the next adventure. Wherever and whatever it was.

Still though, a brief moment of relaxation was needed. That’s why she was on the small floating island, lying against the shack, with a pouch of clean water in her hooves.

“Thanks for everything you helped us with,” Jules said to her. He was sitting and resting right next to her, his eyes occasionally checking over the tied up remains of the alligator monster.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “You guys were doing this for a lot longer than me. Don’t sell yourselves short.”

“Still, it’s finally over thanks to you. No one else here came up with such a daring plan.”

“Mm,” Rainbow grunted. “Just the kind of thing I do.”

“Would you like to come back to Mile Moss Crannog with us? You’ll be celebrated,” he asked

Rainbow shook her head. “Naw, as nice as that sounds I’d rather keep moving, get to the next place. I don’t really go backwards even if it’s just a day trip. You don’t really need me around anymore anyways.”

“Well if you are leaving very soon then it was certainly really nice to meet you.”

“I’ll grudgingly agree with that sentiment.”

Rainbow Dash and Jules both looked to see Claude walking over the bobbing barrels towards them. A sour look was on his face, though that might have just been his natural disposition at this point. He huffed when he got to Rainbow Dash and sat down on the other side of her before sending a look to Jules. “Give us a moment here, kid.”

Jules nodded and stood up. “Bye, Rainbow Dash.”

She nodded after him and then raised an eyebrow at Claude as Jules walked away. “Grudgingly, huh?”

“Take it or leave it. You proved yourself at least,” the codger said.

“And maybe now you’ll be nicer to the next outsider who comes through here?” Rainbow asked him.

Claude was silent as he stared ahead, his nostrils flared every now and then but he seemed to be deep in thought.

“Guess not,” Rainbow snorted.

“It’s not just about outsiders… it never was,” he said.

“Care to explain what’s been eating at you so much? Cause I could tell that obviously you had a lot on your mind even before this giant alligator came by.”

“The entire swamp is changing. Moving in a direction that I don’t like. You must’ve seen or heard a little about it before we met, more ponies living away from Mile Moss Crannog and the other large settlements, not paying respects to their ancestors. Maybe even some of them just leaving the swamp entirely and heading to Vissidia. Our way of life… it feels like it’s slowly ending and no one is doing anything about it. The monster was like a physical sign of that, it was something for me to take all my inner feelings out on. A problem I could actually do something about. But now that it’s dead… so what? Has anything really changed? Isn’t the swamp still going to get quieter and everything I care about still going to slowly disappear? I just don’t want this to happen to my home…”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked out past the trees in the distance. “Yeah… you know that’s at least something I can get. If you just told me that from the start I think we’d have gotten along better. I’ve got a friend too, Applejack, who could probably sympathize with you even more since she’s really big on tradition. Me? I can’t say I’ve personally gone through what you are, but I feel for you, yeah.”

“It just feels like there’s nothing I can do. More kids talk about wanting to leave the swamp. What are our ancestors thinking right now as they watch over us?” Claude shook his head.

“Well… even if it does go that way… maybe I can still help you out again?” Rainbow suggested.

He looked over at her. “What are you talking about?”

“You care so much about your ways, and you’ve got a long history that you definitely don’t want to see disappear. I think I can do something about that. Sort of at least. I can’t stop ponies leaving the swamp and I’m sorry to say that I can’t stop things changing for you either… but I can help make sure that everything you care about gets remembered. Your culture, your religion, I can make sure that others learn about it and it all gets recorded somewhere safe where it can reach ponies and other creatures in the future,” Rainbow told him.

Claude blinked. “I’m honored that you would but I can’t say I completely follow you…”

“I’ve got another friend, back home where I come from, and I can tell her about your swamp and your way of life. I was already going to tell her pretty much everything about my journey, but with you guys specifically I’ll make sure she writes everything down in a book. I’ll have her record your whole history and culture, so that way it never really goes away or gets forgotten. Creatures from around the whole world will be able to learn about what you care about.”

There was a far off look in Claude’s eyes as he stared at her and then turned his gaze back to the swamp. “That… that doesn’t sound so bad.”

Rainbow Dash did end up staying around a little longer than she thought, because she needed to listen to Claude for a few hours as he explained as much as he could about the swamp’s history, culture, and religion. She would commit it to memory—she promised—and one day relay it all to Twilight when she got back home.

It was a pretty good promise to make.

At the end of it all she was lying on the lightly floating island, on her back, staring up through the small gap in the trees at the now dark sky. It was peaceful. Despite the croaking and the relative simplicity of this little adventure, she was still glad she came through the swamp instead of just flying over it all. And now next… next up was what?

Rainbow Dash turned her head and saw Claude now helping with moving the remains of the beast, he and some of the others were on a small boat as they tried to tie the thing up the best way and move it onto a couple rafts so they could float it through the swamp. She stood up and flew over to him. “Hey.”

“Done resting?” He turned his head to her in question.

“Yeah, and I’ve got a question too.”

He momentarily stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. “Alright, what?”

“I just wanted to ask you what can I expect to see south of the swamp. Like what’s coming up next on my journey?”

Claude shrugged. “How should I know? I’ve never been there.”

“Never been south out of the swamp at all? Don’t got any ideas?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“Aint never had any reason or desire to go there. I assume it’s wet for a while, but that’s about all I can guess at.”

“Any places further south in the swamp that might know more?”

“Sure, I’d be willing to bet you’ll come across some more ponies who can help fill you in more, but it aint like there’s another Vissidia right next to us. Otherwise I would know about that. I doubt even the ponies who live at the edge of the swamp really know that much about what’s far south of here.”

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash said and looked into the dark depths of the swamp.

Claude followed her gaze. “What? You scared or something?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No. It’s just it’s been a long while since I haven’t had any idea of what’s coming next. It’s kind of exciting.” A grin slowly formed on her face. “And I think that means I better get going now.”

“Good luck to you out there,” Claude nodded to her.

“Thanks. Say bye to the other hunters for me, and when you get back to Mile Moss Crannog say hi to the Elder too,” Rainbow Dash smirked and wave.

“Will do.”

“You’re a good guy, Claude, just be nicer to other outsiders now.”

Claude rolled his eyes, but his countenance was amicable. “Will do.”

“Bye,” Rainbow saluted and flew up, over the trees where she could see the sky and the moon clearly, and then headed straight south.

Marcene's Turtle Farm

The thick trees and dense forest of the swamp had faded away by next morning and there started to be actual land below her again instead of just water covered in lilypads with reeds shooting out of it. She had gone from swamp to marsh, similar to what the northern outskirts looked like. Claude’s guess was certainly right, but she wasn’t sure just how far this new environment would go until she came across something else. Right now she was still considering this to be part of the giant swamp anyways, it looked and smelled similar enough.

And there was still a lot of very loud croaking.

She hadn’t come across any other ponies or homes since leaving Claude and the hunting party either. Not yet, since she stayed above the trees and water of the swamp and couldn’t see into the darkness like that. But now with things more open below her she’d surely be able to see anything of note if it existed.

It was still a little foggy out here but not too bad, the sun still shined bright overhead. Rainbow Dash yawned once and then felt her stomach rumble. She actually hadn’t had anything to eat since last night. If she could find some vegetables or fruit that didn’t look poisonous down in the marsh that would be pretty nice.

She decided to drop down lower, it wouldn’t give her as wide a view but she’d be able to pick out anything like that easier.

Another yawn escaped her as she flew along right through and over the light fog for a few more minutes. She wasn’t sure what was coming up next on her journey but she felt like there might be some time before she got anywhere special. If the swamp denizens didn’t know anything about what was south there was probably some space between them and the next big country or whatever. If there even were any countries left. For all Rainbow Dash knew it was a big wasteland between here and the south pole.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Eh, whatever. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

As time went on the croaking started to die down too. So Rainbow Dash was seeing that as a very big plus. There wasn’t a sign of edible food right now but she had gone way longer without any before. This was nothing. Lazily she still flew along without much of a sense of urgency, she did that until the fog broke ahead and a building poked out farther away at the edges of the marsh.

“Okay, what’ve we got?” Rainbow Dash asked herself as she flew in closer.

It was a typical wooden home, built on stilts like some of the buildings in the swamp had been, but with no dock or any boats moored up down below. There was some solid—though muddy—ground around it but it was mostly a bunch of ponds and wet grass. Also she saw a few fenced up areas around the home. Not a single large fence going around it, but what looked more like a few circular pens.

She dropped down to the soggy ground when she noticed there was actually a muddy trail that led between all the pens and up to the house. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she immediately walked over to the nearest pen and poked her head over the fence. What she saw inside were dozens of small turtles crawling around in the mud and grass of the pen. They even had a few little water bowls and boxes for sleeping inside.

“No way. Turtles?” Rainbow Dash said as she looked down at all of them. None of them quite as awesome as Tank, since he was a tortoise after all, but it was cool to see them. She was still embarrassed to admit to her friends how much she liked turtles and tortoises now…

She left the first pen and walked over to the next closest one, finding more turtles, and more, and more. Every single pen here was for turtles.

“Cool,” she said and looked over to the house. There were steps leading up from the ground to the porch and she quickly hopped up them. There wasn’t a sign or anything on the door or above it, she wondered if this was a business of some sort or if whoever lived here just really liked turtles. Either way, she brought her hoof up and knocked a few times. “Hello? Anybody home?”

The sound of hooves walking over creaking wood reached her ears and shortly after the door was pulled open, revealing a mare and three stallions standing on the other side.

The mare was an earth pony with a yellow coat, a wavy orange mane, and blue eyes. She immediately smiled upon seeing Rainbow Dash. “Well hello there, who are you?”

“My name’s Rainbow Dash, I’m flying south right now and I just got out of the big swamp, saw your place and was wondering if maybe you had some food? If it’s not a problem…” She told them, putting a friendly smile on her face.

“Not a problem at all! I’m Marcene, and these are my husbands,” Marcene said.

Rainbow Dash’s smile became slightly strained.

“Hello there.”

“How do you do.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“H-Hey…” Rainbow Dash awkwardly waved to them all. “So I guess you all consider yourselves as swamp ponies too then…”

Marcene nodded. “Sure, but we struck out on our own ages ago. Wanted to live somewhere close to home but a bit quieter. How are things in the swamp? If you just came down from there.”

Rainbow Dash briefly thought. “Pretty good now I would say. Uh, got another question for you though. I’m still traveling south so… what’s south of here?”

“Mud mostly for a long while. Miles. After that… don’t really know. Never been out that far,” Marcene shrugged.

“Still a mystery then, huh? Oh well,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Thanks.”

“So you want a quick meal then? Come right inside and I’ll fix you up something,” Marcene said.

“Yeah, just something quick and then I’ll be right out,” Rainbow Dash paused before she took a step, looking back out over the turtle pens. “Er… you don’t eat turtles, do you?”

Marcene laughed. “Course not! They’re pets. Guess I can’t blame you for thinking that if you’ve just been through the swamp, I heard Vissidians don’t eat any sort of meat. Don’t worry about that, we’ve got plenty of rice and veggies for you.”

“Thank Celestia…” Rainbow Dash sighed in relief and grinned at the little turtles down below.

“So might I ask then-“ Marcene started as she welcomed Rainbow Dash inside her home. “Just what are you flying south for anyways?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I’ll give you the short version.”

The Town of Clay Tower

Mud didn’t just cover the ground Rainbow Dash was flying over now. Mud was the ground. Mud was the ocean below her. It stretched in every direction as far as she could see. If she ever made the dumb decision to land on that mud down there she was certain she’d sink up to at least her chin. Plants didn’t exist anymore and the water had so completely mingled with the earth to make this mud there were hardly any actual little puddles or pools of it. Just mud, mud, mud.

It wasn’t as bad as being in a desert at least.

Or still being back in the swamp.

But it was pretty boring. She’d been flying out over this brown mud all day.

Such a place could never be settled by ponies or other creatures, there was just nothing here. Did civilization actually end at the swamp? Cart D’Evron had known about the swamp, or at least heard about it, but neither he nor anyone else she had met on this journey could give her a solid answer on what existed south of it. If there was any sort of civilization on the horizon, it was probably far enough away where nobody could be bothered to make the trip up north through this mud to see if anything was above them. Obviously if they saw a huge, flat, ocean of mud ahead and nothing in the distance they probably wouldn’t be in any hurry to go exploring.

That was if there was anything.

Rainbow Dash could think of a lot of different reasons for why there was no knowledge or contact past this huge mud field. But it was all guesses at this point anyways. She might as well keep flying until eventually she did find something. Or starve. But she didn’t think she was that unlucky.

Her mind drifted back to her time in the True North… maybe she shouldn’t entirely count on her luck.

Good news was the weather was nice, it wasn’t too hot or too cold here, there were plenty of clouds overhead to give her shade or a place to nap on if she needed to, and the wind had been nothing more than an occasional breeze. Ever since she had made it to Hoofica the weather hadn’t really been an issue, only occasional bad spots to get through like the small desert south of it and then the swamp of course. There had to be a decent amount of rain here too. All in all, it wasn’t the worst place to fly through. She was just hoping she’d find something new soon. It hadn’t been a long flight yet but her patience had already ran out.

There being a real mystery as to what came next was making her too excited.

She started thinking about Twilight again too. There was so much she was going to have to tell her and fill her in on, the promise to Claude was just the tip of the iceberg. And Twilight was going to especially like hearing about unknown places just newly explored.

After about another hour of flight things started to dry up below her. The very wet and porous mud was changing and becoming more solid. Further on from that it started to dry up completely and crack.

“Okay, so we’re changing a little bit,” Rainbow Dash said as she followed the ground. She looked ahead and squinted her eyes to see if there was anything else on the horizon, now that she at least knew it wasn’t all going to be the same wet mud.

In a few minutes the horizon of dried, brown, mud started to change. Much to her delight.

More color appeared at first. Red and orange, the mud ahead was giving way to clay. Not the most inviting stuff to see just yet but it was still a change. Rainbow Dash welcomed it. The landscape became far more uneven as well instead of just a flat field of mud, there were large rocks pocking out and large shelves and formations of the red and orange clay. No buildings, trees, or anything like that yet, but she was getting somewhere.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and rose up a little higher, she wanted to be able to see a little further now with rocks and stuff partially blocking her view.

There still wasn’t a ton of detail that she could make out at this height and distance, but as she flew some more she thought she saw something else on the horizon that stuck out more than a simple rock. She had to squint again but she was pretty sure now about what she was seeing. What looked like a tower—an orange tower—was shooting up into the sky. It was already standing on top of a small plateau of clay that any pony could’ve easily walked up, giving it a commanding view and presence of the area.

Whatever it was for didn’t matter, it was a sign of civilization. Someone had built it and now Rainbow Dash had proof that yes—there was indeed something to find if she kept going south.

When she got closer though she noticed that it looked pretty old and dilapidated. One side of the top part of the tower had fallen away completely and there were cracks going all the way down to its foundation. This didn’t bother her too badly though since at this point she could now see what lied just south of the tower. And it was a far more inviting sight.

The first thing was a few patches of green and yellow land, that she was guessing were farms, the second was a smattering of small buildings in the shadow of the large tower. While there was no road leading to or away from this “village” she highly doubted they were responsible for the much grander tower. There had to be more even further south, either that or these were the last remnants of some other, larger civilization. Before landing she took another gander south and saw that the clay continued on in a flat expanse for quite a bit further as well. She was unable to see the end just yet.

Tilting her head back down she got a better look at the small village. The buildings were all huts and hovels made of red adobe clay and bricks. There didn’t seem to be any streets, just lots of wide open areas with most of the buildings built up against the plateau or close to it, and others built alongside the large shelves of clay and rock formations to the south of the tower.

And there were ponies down there. Walking amongst the buildings and enjoying the pleasant day outside.

“Score,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

With not a second to spare she descended towards the middle of the small village. A lot of ponies were out there in the open spot she had chosen, ignorant of the pegasus about to touch down. When her hooves reached the hard clay ground she noticed one of the reasons for all the ponies in this spot was the large communal water pump built into the ground. A few ponies here had buckets of water they were carrying on their backs, tied to wooden sticks. Others were carrying baskets of corn, beans, and some kind of yellow rice. Others still looked like they had just been walking and talking with friends. Most wore wide hats on their heads and ponchos covering their bodies, but more than a few were bereft of clothes to make Rainbow think it wasn’t out of the norm to not be wearing anything. And every single pony she saw so far was an earth pony—no pegasi or unicorns just yet if any lived here.

Naturally, once they noticed her descend from the sky and intrude into their town, all the eyes of the ponies here turned to her. Conversations stopped and everybody froze up at the sight of the colorful pegasus.

“Hi!” Rainbow Dash cheerfully waved to them.

A few young fillies and colts who were out looked at her with a mixture of surprise and amusement, but they were being held back by their parents and older siblings.

“Er…” Rainbow Dash’s pleasant grin became a bit more sheepish. “What’s up?”

Those stopped conversations turned into hushed whispers and one enterprising stallion wearing a sombrero finally had the courage to take a single step forward and speak to her.

“Hello… miss.” He said as he looked her up and down, the fact he didn’t seem weirded out by her wings at least told Rainbow Dash that he probably knew what a pegasus was. “Where uh, where in the world did you come from?”

Rainbow Dash sighed, she looked behind her to the expanse of clay and mud to the north. “Do you want the long version or the short version?”

“We never thought there could ever be so much north of the mud fields. It almost doesn’t seem possible,” the stallion—Early Riser—said to Rainbow Dash as they sat down at his dinner table in his family’s humble abode.

“Did anyone ever try looking?” Rainbow asked him.

Early Riser shrugged. “Not especially, not in a long time at least as far as I know, it just seemed like mud and more mud that never ended. There wasn’t really reason to think there might be a “beyond” or anything.”

“Well if you ever feel like traveling now…” Rainbow Dash trailed off. “Just make sure you really prepare yourselves. It’ll be a tough trip for anybody walking.”

“The sun forbid anyone gets any crazy idea in their head,” a mare’s voice cut in as she plopped a spoonful of rice and beans on the plate in front of Rainbow Dash. “We quite enjoy our lives here, thank you very much.”

Early Riser’s wife, a red-head by the name of Sunny Forecast, had already been wary of Rainbow Dash the moment she met her. And that wariness only grew the more Rainbow Dash’s story unfolded.

“Sweetheart, don’t be rude to our guest,” Early Riser lightly admonished her.

Sunny Forecast stuck up her nose at him. “I don’t want her negatively influencing the children.”

“I wouldn’t do that on purpose or anything,” Rainbow said nervously and looked across the table at the couple’s two children. A filly and a colt, they were both staring at her while they ate from their own plates. While they had been pretty excited to see her at first, a stern look from their mother was all it took to make them quiet. “I’m not even planning on staying that long, I just wanted a quick meal and to hear about what’s south of here. Uhh… speaking of, does this place have a name.”

“Clay Tower. Not a very creative name but it’s clearly the most obvious thing to call our town,” Early Riser said.

“Who built that big tower anyways? It looks really old,” Rainbow asked.

“You’re right about that. It’s a few hundred years old, Clay Tower here is right at the edge of the old Golden Empire. The tower is the northernmost outpost it ever had,” Early Riser told her. “When the Empire fell apart, our ancestors settled here to make a quiet living away from the heart of the Empire and the more heavily populated lands to the south.”

“Golden Empire?” Rainbow tilted her head.

“Yes, an old empire ruled by the Triarchy of Ponies that existed up until a couple of hundred years back before fracturing. Now most of its lands are taken up by the Hundred Kingdoms,” Early Riser said.

“Hundred Kingdoms?” Rainbow tilted her head the other direction.

Early Riser coughed. “Right—my apologies, I’m sorry, I’m not used to ponies not knowing any of this. I kind of forgot where you’re from…” he looked to his wife. “Dear? Can you get me a map and pencil from the chest?”

Sunny Forecast snorted in annoyance but walked out of the kitchen and into another room, presumably looking for their storage chest. Meanwhile Rainbow, Early Riser, and his kids quietly ate their meal. Rainbow Dash could already tell that someone was going to be having an argument with his wife later today. The kids could probably tell too. Rainbow Dash took a brief look around the home, checking out the red walls of the building and some of the stuff the family owned. They had a few decorative plates, some tapestries and paintings, along with a number of clay pots and sculptures.

A few seconds later, Sunny Forecast returned and placed a large map on the table and hoofed a pencil to her husband.

“There,” she said and sat down.

“Thank you,” Early Riser said and spread out the map for Rainbow Dash. “Here, come look at this.”

Rainbow leaned over it and took her first look at the world to the south. Most of the map—three quarters of it—was taken up by land, with only the bottom quarter being water. The top half looked like it was mostly dry, arid, and empty, while below that it was much greener and hilly with lakes and rivers worming through it. She wasn’t a map expert but she could at least tell these things.

Early Riser took his pencil and made a small “X” near the top and middle of the map.

“This is Clay Tower. The edge of the known world to the Hundred Kingdoms,” Early Riser said. “And this-” he made a large circle around most of the dry land directly to the south. “Is the Disputed Lands. A land mostly of salt flats and old mineral mines. Officially declared off-limits to settlement or development by any ponies from the Hundred Kingdoms as part of a treaty they’ve all agreed on. Though there are plenty of ponies that still live there, they just aren’t from any kingdom. They eke out a small existence just like us, mining salt and precious metals and trading them to us and the kingdoms. And finally this line-” he drew a line across the length of the map, right where it first started turning green. “From it all the way down to the coast is the Hundred Kingdoms. To be blunt though, it’s more like “The Two-Dozen Kingdoms” but Hundred Kingdoms has a better ring to it and that’s what everybody calls them.”

“Well I can’t say I don’t understand that sentiment,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“If you’re going to continue flying south, let me fill you in on them as much as I can,” Early Riser smiled. “The Hundred Kingdoms formed out of the remains of the Golden Empire, the lands below the Disputed Lands and between the Grand Ocean are at any moment divided up by a couple dozen minor kingdoms. Some have existed since the beginning, others are relatively new, some are unstable, some aren’t, you get the gist. If I was you, I would just fly south and get through them as quickly as possible.”

“How come?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

“The heartland of all these kingdoms, where every capitol and major city of each independent kingdom sits, is very insular. They care nothing for the outside world. Every ruler sees themselves as the inheritor of the Golden Empire, and all the kingdoms just spend time playing war and jockeying for position with each other. I doubt you’d be welcome anywhere—and no one would spare the time for you as some outsider from the north. If you want an adventure and exploration like you’ve said, I’d say go right past all that and just make it to the coastline. Officially all the cities and ports on the coast are part of their respective kingdoms, but they’re mostly allowed to do whatever they want and there’s barely any sort of oversight or government to them. So long as trade and business continues.”

“So you think I’ll have a more fun time out on the ocean then?” Rainbow asked.

“I think there’s more waiting for you there to be sure,” he said. “Almost the entire coastline is taken up by various ports, docks, trade outposts, small cities, and the like. The whole world is connected by those ports. You’ll find something.”

Rainbow Dash grinned in excitement. “Alright, thanks for the advice.”

“One last recommendation then before you finish eating and head off,” Early Riser said and brought his pencil back to the canvas of the map. He drew two lines down from the Disputed Lands to the coast, a little closer to the left side of the map, so west, and created a rectangular slice of land. “This is the Kingdom of Malkonrik—well technically it’s a republic, they have an elected Prime Minister, but everyone calls them kingdoms no matter how they’re actually run. Either way, it’s one of the more stable and peaceful kingdoms last I heard, with one of the largest ports on its southern coastline. I’d suggest you go there and travel through Malkonrik on your way to the ocean.”

Rainbow Dash took in the map and imprinted it in her brain as much as she could. She had a knack for naturally and instinctually finding the right directions for where to fly to. She was pretty sure with just a glance she’d be able to find the right spot.

“Got it,” Rainbow nodded.

“Good luck on your trip then. I hope you have a fun time,” Early Riser said.

“I think an ocean at least sounds way more fun to travel than a desert or a snowy wasteland,” Rainbow shrugged.

“We’ve never seen the ocean,” the filly whispered to her brother.

Sunny Forecast frowned. “And you should be glad. Who knows what sort of trouble you’d have to go through on the way there.” She then turned and glared at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow coughed. “Ahem… that’s probably my sign to go. T-Thanks for the meal.”

Early Riser sighed and rubbed his head. “You’re welcome. It’s very dry out in the salt flats, so take a drink of water before you go, and try and be on the lookout for any small villages since they’ll have wells of their own. Other than that I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.”

“Cool,” Rainbow looked over at Sunny Forecast and tried to put on a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you, and you have really nice kids too.”

“Hmph,” Sunny Forecast snorted in defiance.

Rainbow Dash winced and turned to the kids as she sat up from the dinner table. “Bye, and listen to your mother.”

“Aww...” they both glumly looked down at their plates.

“Heh… sorry,” Rainbow said.

“That’s right,” Sunny Forecast glowered at them all.

Early Riser was much more polite as he stood up from his seat as well and smiled. “Goodbye, and take care.”

Disputed Lands

While Early Riser and his children waved goodbye to her, Rainbow Dash flew away from the town of Clay Tower. She was fairly certain she heard a certain mare mutter “good riddance” as soon as she took to the air. It didn’t really bother Rainbow Dash. She didn’t intend to be a bad influence on any kids—and despite her thinking there was nothing wrong with adventuring she also knew it could be dangerous. And a mother had a right to want to keep her children around.

There wasn’t much else for her to think about as the decaying sentinel was left at her back. The shadow of the large tower stretched over the land for quite the distance, but Rainbow Dash could still cover that distance in a second. In the past that tower might’ve been something impressive, but not anymore. There used to be an empire here that ruled over these lands but apparently it would be a long while until she hit anything remotely approaching something like that now. Strange to compare it to Equestria, which had been around for thousands of years or whatever, while these other empires and kingdoms had been rising and falling in the meantime on the other side of the world.

Oh well, she had empty lands of clay and then eventually salt flats to look forward to for the next few days at the least. She’d just have to get through it as fast as she could.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if she had ever heard of or been to any “salt flats” before but they were certainly living up to their name of being flat and salty. A white landscape of cracked ground spread below her, it was almost like another sort of desert or badlands. Was there a point to having a treaty to not settle these Disputed Lands? Maybe the salt and resources Early Riser had mentioned were a bigger deal than she thought.

You certainly weren’t going to make any cities out here.

At least that still unlike some other places the weather was alright. It wasn’t a problem for Rainbow Dash to fly through here, dry as it was, just boring again. She was taking the warning she had been given seriously enough and would keep her head out for anywhere she could get water, but that was about it. Right now she was just angling herself southwest to reach Malkonrik. Kingdom, Republic, whatever, it was her current destination.

There was still a big portion of the world ahead of her, she knew that for sure since she wasn’t even remotely close to reaching the south pole. She wasn’t sure how big that ocean might be though, the map Early Riser had didn’t really show it too much. There was the ocean separating Equestria from Griffonstone but that was more like a big sea wasn’t it? Then there was the ocean to the south that Mount Aris was in, she didn’t know exactly how huge that was either. An ocean either way did seem like a fun change of place compared to the other places she had traveled through on her journey. She was looking forward to it a lot.

That said, judging by the map and her own estimates, the Disputed Lands covered just as much area if not more than the swamp or Vissidia had. It was a big space. And then add to that however long her trip through Malkonrik took.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums. “Whatever. Few days of flying and doing nothing? I’ll call it a break.”

As long as she found a place with water at some point it didn’t sound like a bad break either.

A welcome breeze blew through her mane and Rainbow Dash smiled, looking up into the sky while the bright sun shined down on her. A few white clouds dotted the blue and just the sight of such a nice sky lifted her spirits even more. Her flight soon became far more relaxed instead of her just shooting dead ahead at high-speed. The white ground below her also sparkled slightly in the sunlight, giving it a more pleasant appearance than if it was just dull white sand or something. She had to guess that was because of the salt.

Wonder if I can go lick the ground? She blinked in thought.

That was probably a really bad idea though. Least of all because of dehydration.

Yeah, better not chance it. Rainbow shook her head.

She idly looked to the east and the sun in the sky, it was starting to drop a bit, though she still would have hours of sunlight it didn’t look like she was going to find a watering hole or any of the scattered towns Early Riser mentioned before the day ended. At least she knew from experience she could go a couple of days without water or real food, and she just had a decent meal not long ago. Even if she didn’t find a town tomorrow she was still pretty sure she’d be fine.

Early Riser said the settlements in the Disputed Lands traded with Clay Tower, but Rainbow Dash had to assume that most probably existed closer to the borders of the Hundred Kingdoms anyways. The closer she made it to Malkonrik the more likely she was to find a place in these salt flats. And if she wasn’t that lucky she was sure she could push herself on until she made it to a more hospitable part of the world. She was still Rainbow Dash after all.

She did a loop in the air for no reason other than she could and ended it by flipping around and flying with her back facing the ground, folding her hooves behind her head and staring up at the blue sky while it was still there. Cloud gazing while she flew, until it turned dark, sounded better than gazing at white salt flats that stretched every direction.

“That one looks like an apple...” Rainbow whispered to herself.

“That one’s a kite...”

“Butterflies...”

“A cake...”

“A dress...”

“Bookshelf...”

“Looks like fire...”

Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times. “Nice clouds.”

She turned back around and looked down at the cracked salt flats. Animals certainly didn’t live out here either, did they? She couldn’t think of any that could. Everything needed to drink water, didn’t it? Maybe there was some kind of bug that could live off salt. Or some kind of plant. But Rainbow Dash didn’t see any of those either. There must be some kind of moss or fungus or something though, even deserts had cacti and other stuff.

“I’m bored,” Rainbow Dash suddenly said. “I’m so bored I’m thinking about mold and fungus. Crud, am I gonna go crazy out here before I even find another town?”

She vaguely remembered her time in the True North, on this side of the world, when she had momentarily created a snowpony of Twilight and started to talk to it…

As long as she didn’t try and make a Twilight out of salt down here she was probably okay.

There used to be—and maybe still were—mines in the Disputed Lands according to Early Riser. Minerals and precious metals taken from them or whatever. But she didn’t see any sort of rocks or any big hole in the ground that would signify such a thing, much less any mountain. She was in what might as well have been another wasteland.

Hours later and the sparkling on the ground started to die down as the sun descended towards the horizon, instead rays of orange light pierced out across the salt flats. Dusk, evening, night, they were all approaching shortly. How cold did it get out in a place like this in the middle of the night?

Couldn’t be worse than the desert at night.

Couldn’t be.

She at least wasn’t going to have to sleep on the ground or anything like that. There were plenty of clouds she could use to make a bed and temporary shelter for herself. So long as they didn’t thin out or disappear anytime before she needed to sleep. No matter what it looked like she was in for a long, boring, and cold night. And a thirsty one. She could already now feel the dryness of the salt flats starting to parch her mouth.

Was dryness like this better than it being really humid? Rainbow had experienced both now, several times.

She hated them both.

When the dying light from the sun finally disappeared, Rainbow Dash sighed and decided she might as well end things for the evening. She definitely wasn’t going to find anything in this darkness and for now it was probably better to rest herself instead of pushing her body harder. Let that come tomorrow and the day after if necessary. For now she rose up higher into the sky and went to gather up the clouds that were indeed still there, score one for her, to make a quick bed. It wasn’t much when she was finished with it but it was enough. And as soon as she curled up on it it took no time at all for her to drift off to sleep.

Rainbow Dash gulped down an entire bucket of water with wild abandon as half of its contents spilled out across her face and onto her mane. She couldn’t care less, she was thirsty enough where she could’ve easily drank down a second bucket. Once she was finished and the bucket was empty, she lowered it from her face and sighed in relief.

“Thanks a lot, I seriously needed that,” Rainbow said.

“No problem, happy to help,” the shawl-wearing mare said to her. Her head was currently wrapped up in a light cloth as well that hid everything but her face. “You just came out of nowhere, you doing better now?”

Rainbow had dropped out of the sky just a few minutes ago, after seeing this small town in the salt flats. Even small town was being generous. It was a few buildings of white clay and bricks centered around a well. From what she could tell, this part of the salt flats was actually more of a dried out riverbed or something, the important part was there was actual ground and dirt. She had been flying for over an entire day now without any food or water or any vision of green on the horizon that would signify her nearing approach to the Hundred Kingdoms. It was pure luck that she had picked this place out.

“Yeah, I’m doing a lot better,” Rainbow nodded. “Sorry for just coming in and pigging out on your water like this.”

The mare shrugged. “It’s alright, just like I said, we have a duty to help out any travelers in need. We rely on those willing to travel the salt flats to survive.”

“Seems like you’d need to. I didn’t catch your name earlier either? Er—and I didn’t give my own. I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Alabaster Blush, pleased to meet you, Rainbow Dash.” She nodded.

“Likewise. So what’s your little town called? And… uh… are you the only pony who lives here?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked around. Unlike Clay Tower there weren’t any other ponies around, and none had come out of the buildings since she had stopped here and started to talk with Alabaster.

“This is Dry Basin, wouldn’t really call it a town though to be honest,” Alabaster wryly smirked. “I’m not the only one who lives here but I am the only one here right now. The stallions are out in the pits further east in the riverbed digging up gold to trade with the Hundred Kingdoms. And the other mares are on a long trip to the Democracy of Ullsorth to the east to barter for food and supplies for the next season. I’m here to watch over Dry Basin in the meantime. Not like we worry about bandits or anything like that, but you still need to have someone watching over your home.”

Rainbow Dash stared east for a moment, but she couldn’t really see anything, it was basically all still a white blur. “Well that fits with what I heard in Clay Tower. I stopped there for a minute, heard that there were other places in these “Disputed Lands” where ponies mined salt and other stuff.”

“That’s right. We’re not a salt mining town though. There are much larger salt mines to the east and west of here,” Alabaster told her.

“I’ll take your word for that since I don’t plan on visiting them, heh,” Rainbow Dash chuckled.

Alabaster Blush raised an eyebrow at her. “Where are you going then if you don’t mind me asking? And if you just stopped in Clay Tower… where did you come from first of all?”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “Well if you’ve got some time, and it sounds like you do, wanna go inside and hear a long story? I, uh, could use some food too if that’s okay...”

“Of course. I can’t spare too much food though.”

“That’s fine, just a bite or two would be good for me,” Rainbow smiled.

The next few hours after they entered Alabaster’s small home were almost a copy of what she had been through at Clay Tower when telling Early Riser and his family about her adventure. Though there was only one mare this time and she was quite enraptured instead of bothered. Rainbow Dash never got tired of telling her story to ponies willing to hear. Or those unwilling to hear but too polite to say no. Thankfully Alabaster Blush was in the former category.

“You’ve led quite the storied life… I had no idea the world was such a big place,” Alabaster said as Rainbow Dash finished up the tale.

“Neither did I until I started this trip to be honest,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But yeah, all in all it’s been pretty awesome seeing the places I’ve seen.”

“And that stallion—Early Riser—he said you should go to Malkonrik now?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. Why? Do you think that Democracy of Ulthar county is a better place to go to?”

“Ullsorth,” Alabaster smiled. “And no, while the Democracy of Ullsorth is better suited for our needs when it comes to getting food, I think your other friend is right that Malkonrik is the best of the Hundred Kingdoms to travel to if you’re looking to get through it to the Grand Ocean. Ullsorth is a newer kingdom that is currently going through… problems when it comes to its borders. They might not let you travel through at all, unlike Malkonrik.”

“Cool, how far away from here is it?” Rainbow asked.

Alabaster brought a hoof to her chin in thought. “Hmm… for a pony who flies it might take you less than a full day before you reach its borders. And you’ll know you’re there when you finally start seeing green grass and hills.”

“That’ll be a treat...”

“Yes, now I wouldn’t expect a friendly welcome from them exactly but I wouldn’t expect an unfriendly one either. Their soldiers are always abrupt with outsiders but I doubt they’d pick a fight with you either, and the further south you go in the kingdom the more things will loosen up. I’ve been through Malkonrik before and there are some nice towns after you get past the capitol in the north.”

Rainbow Dash nodded along a few more times. “Okay, okay, that’s all good to know.”

“And if you’d like you’re welcome to stay the night here. I know it’s not close to sundown just yet but I think you might want some good rest and another drink before you head off again. You won’t find another watering hole in the Disputed Lands between here and Malkonrik. The ones that used to exist dried up or the ponies moved on elsewhere.”

“Seriously? That’s awesome, thanks!” Rainbow smiled.

“Least I can do after you turning what would’ve been a boring day into a fun story. I’ll have something to tell my friends when they get back too. There’s plenty of room here too, find a bed you like and enjoy your evening.”

“Thanks. If you want I have more stories to tell?” Rainbow offered.

Alabaster leaned back and grinned. “I wonder if you just plan on staying up all night then. Cause it sounds like you have a lot to tell.”

“I’ll just stick to the awesome bits this time.”

By the time she was finished, sundown had already passed. After that, just like last night, it took only a few minutes for her to fall asleep after finding a nice bed. There was excitement on the horizon but it didn’t beat the exhaustion she felt.

The Hundred Kingdoms

It was nice to see green for the first time since she had left the swamp. Not counting the tiny little plots at Clay Tower. This was real greenery, real fields of grass, strong growing trees, rolling hills, flowers and bushes and other plants. This was a country she was coming into.

Malkonrik. Her first taste of The Hundred Kingdoms. And beyond it an entire ocean of adventure. She hadn’t felt so excited for something since before she entered Hoofica. That had turned out… to not be the adventure she wanted in a few ways, but this felt different. From what ponies had said, while things weren’t perfect in the Hundred Kingdoms there wasn’t really anything horrible going on.

Rainbow Dash was hoping for a pure adventure. Pure fun.

She didn’t know how far the borders of Malkonrik stretched to the east and west but she couldn’t really see anything different or any sudden changes. It all looked like it had pretty much the same landscape. She flew up higher in the sky to get the best vantage point, flying at an elevation high above the tallest hills. The weather was perfect, like springtime Equestria, and the sky and ground were both clear. It made traveling through here a breeze.

Being early in the morning she had a full day ahead of her to travel through and explore Malkonrik. She could figure out where to go and if she wanted to just burn straight through to the Grand Ocean or not. With the warm sun at her back she felt herself brimming with energy.

Once she passed over the first couple of big hills she saw the first signs of life and civilization in Malkonrik—the first sign she was actually in the right place. A windmill stood on the ground, in the middle of a large wheat farm. Looking to her right and left she saw more windmills and farms built in this large valley behind the hills. It brought a grin to her face, this kind of thing was a familiar sight, it gave her a sense of nostalgia and reminded her of her home. Peaceful farmers growing their crops in the breadbasket of their country. Always a nice sight to see.

Further south those farms tapered off but now she saw a series of well-kept dirt roads that winded through the countryside. They ran off into the distance to the east and west but going to the south she saw one road leading to a small town. A real town. Not just a small settlement in some practically inhospitable land. The town was completely walled off, sitting next to a decently sized lake and a river that ran south from it.

Rainbow considered dropping down to it and introducing herself to the ponies of Malkonrik right then and there. But if she did… she was probably going to get drawn into another long and drawn out storytime. And who knows what else. She might lose an entire day that she could be using to travel instead. And it was just a small farming town, there probably wasn’t any sort of adventure there.

“If I stop anywhere up here then I want it to be the capitol or wherever I can meet their “Prime Minister” or whoever,” Rainbow said to herself. “I’ll be the envoy from Equestria. They’ll probably want to meet me and learn about us, right?”

She now followed the road leading further south from the small walled off town. It always made the most sense to follow the roads even when she was flying like this, since it made it easier to find the important stuff in any country. Pegasi didn’t have a need for roads or to build stuff according to a “plan”, but anyplace that was populated by earth ponies, unicorns, or other creatures needed to put more thought into the groundwork for their country.

“Haven’t seen any pegasi since Vissidia actually...” Rainbow Dash thought. “Wonder if we’re not so common in this part of the world?”

It would be cool to be unique.

Not that she wasn’t already unique by being the most awesome pony to ever live, but still.

She continued on a pretty lackadaisical flight, not putting much effort into things just yet since Malkonrik was proving to be a very idyllic and slow-paced country so far. No reason to zoom on at full speed just yet. Partly because she at least didn’t have to worry about finding water to drink or food to eat when she needed it anymore.

In just another few minutes of flying like that, she saw the road ahead go through a forested valley between two small rocky mountains. Rainbow Dash flew straight on over it and came out the other side of the mountains to take a look at where she was in Malkonrik now.

Immediately she saw something to her right—the west—it was a large castle, more of a fort actually, built on top of a raised hill with a flattened top. It overlooked a town built around it at the bottom of the hill, with farms pressed up between the hill and the mountains to the north. The entire fort was ringed by giant redwood logs, sharpened on top, that had been stuck close together to form a defensive wall.

“Well that looks pretty important,” Rainbow said and started to fly towards it.

When something else caught her attention from below. From the road below her, figures were coming up into the sky to meet her.

“Huh, guess I can forget being unique,” Rainbow said as she recognized the forms of two pegasi flying up to her. She squinted as they got closer and saw that they were clad in silver armor over their bodies and wings while they had golden-trim helmets on their heads. Soldiers. The wing armor was impressive as it needed to be made of a bunch of segmented pieces that could carefully fold together.

“You! Stop right there!” One of the pegasus soldiers shouted as he and his comrade reached her. “Just what do you think you’re doing, flying up here?!”

“Umm… flying?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. The one who had spoken was a dark yellow stallion with an angry scowl on his face, the other, a blue stallion, at least didn’t look angry but he was clearly suspicious.

“You can’t fly in the capitol province! That’s a threat to our Prime Minister’s safety!” The yellow one glared at her.

“Well I didn’t-”

“Didn’t know? How could you not know?!”

“She’s an outsider,” the blue one said before raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Aren’t you?”

“Uh huh,” Rainbow nodded.

The yellow one scowled some more and clicked his tongue. “Oh, I see. No wonder. Where are you from? Ullsorth? Winderbadon? The Disputed Lands? Either way you’re lucky we didn’t send Javelin Squad up to shoot you down without warning. Bah, outsiders!”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Bah yourself, dude.”

“You dare-” the yellow one started to move towards her before he was held back by the other.

“Sir, please, she’s just an outsider. There’s no reason to rise to her provocations. I’m certain she doesn’t come from one of the rival Kingdoms either, their ponies would know not to do this too.”

He clicked his tongue again. “I suppose you’re correct. Either way you must come down to the ground with us immediately. There is absolutely no flying in the capitol province unless you’re a soldier like us.”

“Fine,” Rainbow said. “It’s not like I came here to cause problems or anything.”

“Good. We wouldn’t want to have to detain you. We have better things to do,” the yellow soldier said.

“Well technically this is our whole job so this is a better thing to do,” the blue one rubbed his chin.

“Shut up!” His superior yelled.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh boy...”

A quick descent to the ground found Rainbow Dash at a military camp—a checkpoint—built beside the main road that she had followed past the mountains. The camp here was almost like a mini-version of the massive fort up on the hill, with spiked wooden fences around it and several large tents and wooden buildings set up inside it. A large gate that could be raised or lowered was built across the road and the wall on the other side of it stretched all the way to the mountainside on the east. By hoof, going past the camp and through the gate would be the only way in or out of the capitol province through the north. No wonder they forbid flying, they wanted to keep all traffic under control.

A lot of soldiers were in the camp, marching in formation, guarding the gate, stuck on lookouts over the walls, and running in their armor for exercise. She had heard that the Hundred Kingdoms liked to “play” at war, but truth be told this was the first time she had been somewhere since all the way back in the Eternal Pegasus Empire where it looked like she had found a real army. If this was just one company of soldiers too then Malkonrik looked like it had a decent fighting force. The spears the soldiers carried were definitely not toys.

“Just walk out the gate and head down the road now,” the yellow soldier said to her.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s it?”

He glared back at her. “What else were you expecting?”

“I mean… I figured you’d want to take me to your leader… or at least figure out where I’m from and why I’m here. Or something like that,” she shrugged.

“You’re just some outsider from some irrelevant place. We don’t care what you want. If you’re traveling through Malkonrik just obey the rules and don’t bother anyone. There are enough soldiers in the capitol province where we’ll know if you try flying again. Stick to the road until you make it to the southern checkpoint, then do whatever you want,” he told her.

Rainbow Dash tried to crane her neck and look past the walls of the camp towards the giant fort she had seen earlier. “Well… what if I went to that huge fort? That’s your guy’s capitol right? I can just go and meet the Prime Minister on my own then.”

“You absolutely can not!” The yellow soldier yelled. “The army would never allow you inside, and besides, the Prime Minister has far too many important matters to deal with, he can’t waste time chatting with some outsider! No pony in our government can!”

“Why would you want to visit the capitol and Prime Minister anyways?” The more curious blue soldier asked.

“Well I’m from really far away… guaranteed to be a place that no other pony who’s been here is from. Figured your leader would want to meet me and hear about my home,” Rainbow said.

“Why?” The blue soldier tilted his head.

“Uh… cause it’s special?”

“The world outside the Kingdoms might as well not exist,” the yellow soldier scoffed. “Malkonrik is concerned with rebuilding the Golden Empire, not with your issues. If you’re not even from one of our neighbors then you simply don’t matter to the Kingdom. Hurry up out of the capitol province where important things happen. I’m sure some random townsfolk down south or near the coast will be entertained by you, but not us and certainly not the Prime Minister.”

“Great, good to know,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “Guess there really isn’t a reason to stick around here or try and talk to you guys. I’ll just keep going right to the ocean then...” She glanced at the southern wall of the camp. “So how far is that checkpoint? I’d like to be able to fly again and hurry this up.”

“The next mountains you see in the distance, the capitol province is boxed in by these mountains. I think a pony who looks to be in as good of shape as you can probably make it by early next morning if you go at a quick pace,” the blue soldier told her.

“Thanks. I guess,” Rainbow said.

“We’ll have the gate opened for you now,” he said and together the three of them walked over to the road.

“Remember, no flying until you pass the checkpoint!” The yellow soldier said.

“I got it,” Rainbow glared at him.

“The rest of Malkonrik will be more open to you, but the capitol doesn’t have time for such things,” the blue soldier said.

“Bye then, I’m probably not coming back.”

Rainbow Dash found that despite it being the home of Malkonrik’s capitol—or perhaps because of it—that this province was not heavily populated at all. She briskly trotted down the road and the most she ever saw were more camps of soldiers and the occasional small farm or private manor built on its own plot of land. There were no more towns at all here. Thanks to the weather and well maintained road her trip was still easy however. It would even be pleasant if it hadn’t been for the rude welcoming and flying now being temporarily forbidden to her. But that was all in the past anyways. Like that guard had said, it was now the next morning and she could already see the checkpoint in the distance right in front of the mountains to the south. She could leave the province soon and get back to flying south to the ocean.

This checkpoint was much the same as the other, a large camp was built on the western side of the road while a gate blocked off the road itself. They should just let her through without a problem though, right? It’s not like she needed some kind of ID or permission or anything here, right? They just wanted to see who was coming and going. She wasn’t suspicious—and she was trying to leave the capitol province. It shouldn’t be an issue at all.

“And if it is… honestly don’t think I’d feel too bad about making these guys my enemy,” Rainbow said. She then frowned and shook her head. “No, no, stupid. Even as just a joke I shouldn’t think about that, I should be better than that now.”

She slowed the pace of her trot as she got closer to the gate, looking for all intents and purposes just like some normal pony out for a walk. Which technically she was right now. Unlike the northern checkpoint, the gate here opened inwards to the capitol province and it had two wooden towers built on either side of it that soldiers currently manned. Rainbow Dash saw them peering down at her from their perches, but they made no indication that they saw anything unusual or would do or say anything to her. Instead a large tent right on the side of the road outside the main part of the camp seemed to be her temporary destination. A squad of guards stood inside it at attention while another—with a more elaborate helmet—sat at a small desk.

Since it was clear the gate wasn’t going to be opened for her without the word of someone else, she walked over to that tent to see what was up.

“Uh, hi,” Rainbow said to the desk pony.

“Hello. What can I do for you?” The soldier said.

“Well actually I’m just trying to leave the capitol province, just traveling through and all, so can you open up the gate for me?” Rainbow asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Of course,” the soldier nodded. “I’ll have it opened immediately.”

Rainbow blinked. “Oh. Sweet.”

That went about as well as she could have hoped. Maybe he thought she was from Malkonrik, or was just no-nonsense in general and wanted to do his job without fuss, but it was good to meet polite soldiers. Whatever the reason, he only needed to whistle to his subordinates and they quickly went out like a well-oiled machine to open the gate up. There wasn’t any fuss or additional words, it was the monotony of a normal day job.

Once the gate had been opened, Rainbow Dash courteously waved goodbye to them all and stepped on through to the other side of the road. And from out of the capitol province. She didn’t exactly want to chance causing an incident though so just to err on the safe side of things she didn’t shoot off into the sky just yet. It’s possible the soldiers still wouldn’t like that happening so close to the checkpoint. Besides, she had all day ahead of her and now that she was past the wall of the checkpoint she could see out into this next part of the Kingdom of Malkonrik.

Naturally it was just as green and nice looking as the rest of Malkonrik had been so far, with rolling hills and lush farmlands ahead of her. A forest covered the east for miles while to the west the largest lake she had seen since Hoofica stretched down from the mountains and far to the south. The road leading to and from the capitol province split off shortly in many different directions, but straight ahead past a few farms it ended up going right into a large sprawling town. This one wasn’t walled off like the first she had seen in the north. Nor did it have a huge fort looking over it. Maybe everyone had been telling the truth and things were more relaxed the closer you got to the coast. Obviously these kingdoms had their own way of doing things, they didn’t seem too concerned with what was going on outside their bubble.

Well, that made it easy enough for her from now on.

Rainbow Dash smiled and resumed her brisk pace as she trotted towards the town. She could maybe just get some info on how far away the ocean was or maybe even spend a whole day here if some ponies were willing to give her food and a place to stay. It would probably be best to get a feel for how ponies here lived and what the locals were like. But she definitely didn’t plan on staying more than a day and getting bogged down in a place without any fun and adventure. This wasn’t going to be an Arondel trip where she needed time to relax and help out a certain special filly.

As she made her way down the road she looked to the farms and occasionally waved at any ponies she saw out during this fine morning. The farms seemed to all be mostly corn and wheat, and a number of windmills sat around as well to turn that wheat into flour. Wagons and walking ponies were occasionally seen down the other roads but this main one that only led to the checkpoint didn’t have much traffic. A few little farmhouses on the side of the road looked welcoming but Rainbow still wanted to get to the town itself.

She offered a wave to an old stallion she saw hammering nails into a board to fix his fence outside one of the homes and got a friendly wave in return. Her first impression of this part of Malkonrik was pretty good.

The town also looked nice. Painted white brick buildings with timber framing and a myriad of roof types from hip, gable, and just flat, lots of wooden cottages, and no building seemed to be over three-stories high. It was a big town with a small town look and feel to it. Reminded her of Ponyville except covering a larger area and more crowded in the middle. Definitely had an easy-going atmosphere to it, there weren’t any loud or busy sounds coming from it either. Rainbow didn’t need to try and put a smile on her face as she walked in from the road. She didn’t see a sign naming the town anywhere, but since this was the side coming from the capitol that maybe wasn’t so surprising.

The smell of freshly baked bread, flowers in bloom, and cut grass reached her nose. Several streets and alleyways branched off from the main road but Rainbow for now kept walking straight ahead. A lot of ponies were out going about their own business as well. She heard a window open up overhead and looked up to see a mare dusting off an old bedsheet, waving it up and down over the street. The more she walked the more she saw bakeries, tailors, small coffee shops, tea shops, merchants, anything really. A few ponies would smile and give her a polite nod, but most just walked by with maybe only a small glance. She really was just any other pony here.

Looking down an alley she saw some kids playing, kicking around a ball together. And some mares carrying laundry. The more she looked the more certain she was as well that there were plenty of ponies from each tribe living here. It wasn’t just an earth pony or unicorn town, all three were out in abundance.

“Now I’ve just gotta find a place that looks inviting for travelers...” Rainbow said as she continued her jaunt through town.

She needed to find a lodge or inn, or just walk into the next cafe she found. Now that she had gotten a nice look at this place she was at least sure she wasn’t going to accidentally break any social norms just by being herself. Maybe she could start flying again soon. She passed an empty lot that was covered in grass and had a few families holding a picnic in it under the shade of a walnut tree. She probably could’ve gone to talk to them but it wasn’t the kind of thing she wanted to interrupt. Rainbow went past them and kept her eyes peeled for somewhere else, a business where travelers would naturally frequent.

That was going on until the point she was walking down another street and a ball smacked into the back of her head.

“Ow!” Rainbow Dash grunted in pain and rubbed the back of her head, the small rubber ball bouncing in front of her hooves.

“Sorry!”

Rainbow Dash looked over to see a young filly and colt running over to her, followed by an older stallion and mare.

“My brother and I were playing around… we didn’t mean to do that,” the filly said, apologetically.

Rainbow Dash just grinned and picked up the ball before tossing it back over to her. “Heh, don’t sweat it, kid.”

The colt meanwhile looked up at her with his mouth wide open in astonishment. “You’re so colorful...”

“Never seen a pony with a rainbow mane and tail before?” She teased.

“Nope,” the colt shook his head, not getting the sarcasm.

The stallion and mare now came up to her, obviously the parents of the siblings, and the mare bowed her head in apology. “We’re sorry for our children not paying attention while they were fooling around. Please forgive us!”

“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay, it was just kids having some fun,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves to let the parents know it was no big deal. “You don’t need to apologize or anything.”

The father meanwhile had a curious look on his face as he looked Rainbow Dash up and down. “You know I have to say you’re really a striking pony, I’m not surprised my son can’t find his words right now. Forgive me if this is a little intrusive but are you not from around here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before and I doubt I could forget a mane like that.”

“Don’t be too charmed,” his wife said to him with a slight frown.

He coughed. “I didn’t mean anything like that...”

Rainbow Dash decided to cut in and save him. “Yeah, I’m not from around here. From pretty far away actually. I’m just traveling through on my way to the ocean, and speaking of that, would you know how much longer I’ve got to travel before I get there?”

The father glanced down at her wings. “I’d say even by flight it would take a couple of days. By hoof or wagon maybe a week.”

“Well I’ll definitely be back to flying soon then...” Rainbow frowned.

“Well I wouldn’t fret about it too much. It’s an easy trip so long as you have a little coin for food and lodging,” the father said.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Oh yeah. I knew I was forgetting about something.”

“There a problem?” The mother raised an eyebrow at her.

“I uh… hehe… I don’t have any money,” Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment as she rubbed the back of her head.

“You don’t have any money? What were you planning to do while traveling through the Kingdom? Much less when you reach the ocean,” The father asked her.

“Err… hadn’t really thought about that.”

The father and mother shared a look with each other.

“Miss… would you care to stay with us for a day? We could give you a small amount of coins for a meal or two when you leave,” The mare asked.

“Wait—hold on. I don’t want to be a charity case or intrude on you guys. Like, I’m just some pony you don’t even know, I don’t want to be a burden to you. I appreciate it a lot but I’d just be abusing your generosity and hospitality…” Rainbow Dash tried to refuse. It was friendly of them to offer, but it was too much.

“Please, we insist. It wouldn’t be right to just let a pony like you go your way without a single coin to your name. How would that reflect on us to not help a pony who’s new to the Kingdom?” The father said.

“I…” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Alright, but just one day at your place, and I really don’t need much money. Things usually turn out fine in the end.”

Upon entering their nearby home, Rainbow Dash and the family of unicorns exchanged more formal introductions. Gold Jackpot, his wife Lucky Clover, and their two kids Little Jackpot and Jade Jackpot were the perfect image of a happy family. After eating lunch together, they had talked about what Rainbow Dash was doing and where she had come from and she got to ask a few questions about their town and the rest of Malkonrik.

“Going so long without needing money for anything… I guess I kind of just forgot that I’d still need it for most normal places,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well you’ll have us to help you out for the beginning, but at some point you’ll probably need to find a way to get some money yourself,” Gold Jackpot said.

“I’d say most strangers from here to the coast will be more than happy to help you but as soon as you get to the coast it’s almost like a different world. The ponies who make their lives on the docks and ports only care about money. Hospitality isn’t much of a thing to them,” Lucky Clover said.

“The ocean is far different from The Hundred Kingdoms,” Gold Jackpot nodded. “Not to say there aren’t kind ponies there too, but they’re still not going to be the type to just give you something for free.”

“Good to know,” Rainbow Dash said. “Guess I have to doubly thank you for how much you’re helping me.”

But I’m still looking forward to getting out to that ocean.

Vision of the Future

“Okay so, the way you play Buckball is like this, let me draw it up for you,” Rainbow Dash said to Little Jackpot and Jade Jackpot as they sat at the breakfast table together the following morning.

Since the kids had shown an interest in sports and playing catch with each other, she figured she might as well teach them an awesome game to play with their friends. Give them something from Equestria in return for everything their parents were giving her. Since she didn’t have anything else she could offer them or pay them back with, this was kind of the least she could do. Especially after already getting food and a bedroom all to herself last night.

“So we need six ponies to play?” Little Jackpot asked her.

Rainbow nodded. “That’s right. You’ve got teams of three, a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony on each one. It’s pretty easy to pick up and start a game since you don’t need much.” She finished up her crude drawing, showing the baskets, how the ponies were positioned, and what was supposed to be going on.

“You’ll have an all-new game to play with your friends,” Rainbow told them.

Jade Jackpot looked to her brother with a smile. “Everyone will be so jealous that we learned about a new game from a far away country! I bet they’ll all want to play!”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Hey, make a whole bunch of teams and start your own league.”

“Kids, Rainbow Dash, are you ready for breakfast?” Lucky Clover said from the kitchen. She was working over a skillet with a number of tasty looking flapjacks just finishing up on it.

“Yes!” All three replied at once.

Lucky smiled and started flipping three flapjacks apiece onto plates for the kids and Rainbow Dash. She levitated them over to the table and then got one for herself before sitting down with them. Naturally Rainbow Dash didn’t waste anytime in chowing down, some syrup poured on them and they were ready to eat. The kids scarfed their portions down too, only the mother at the table was eating with anything approaching decency. As she finished chewing a bite of flapjack and swallowing it down she looked across the table at Rainbow Dash.

“Are you leaving soon then? You were saying how you really wanted to get out to the ocean.”

Rainbow Dash had to gulp down a huge mouthful before she could respond. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be heading out soon. Gotta get back out on the road and all, or sky technically.”

“I’m going to miss your mane,” Little Jackpot said.

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Where’s dad?” Jade Jackpot asked.

“He’s just getting something together for our guest, he’ll be down shortly,” Lucky Clover said.

Rainbow still felt pretty bad about how much she had imposed on them, but it’s not like it was the first time on her trip. At least she had gotten to meet some nice ponies. There was clearly a lot going on in these various kingdoms but it was good to see that ponies were the same all over. Some probably wouldn’t be so good but she was optimistic enough to believe most would be just like the families she had seen here.

“My ears are burning,” a voice from the stairs said as Gold Jackpot walked down them. He had an easygoing smile on his face as he spotted his family and guest happily eating breakfast together. The stallion walked over to them while levitating a small pouch attached to a string beside his head. He put it down on the table right next to Rainbow Dash, where she heard an audible clink come from it.

“What’s that?” She asked, though really she already knew.

“Money. Just a bit, but it’ll last you a couple of days so long as you’re thrifty,” Gold Jackpot told her. “I’m sure you’ll love seeing the ocean when you get there, it’s quite the sight.”

Rainbow Dash sighed as she picked up the pouch of coins. “You still really didn’t need to do this…”

“Nonsense, take some generosity,” Gold Jackpot said and used his magic to loop the string around her neck so the pouch came resting against her chest.

“Well… I suppose I’m used to that,” Rainbow said.

Malkonrik was a wide open country of forests and rivers from top to bottom. While she had heard that some of the other kingdoms weren’t like that at all, she was grateful she could fly through one that was so similar to her favorite parts of Equestria. Early Riser was definitely right to send her in this direction. The largest city she saw when she flew through its skies wasn’t even comparable in size or style to Manehattan. There were plenty of settlements that had stone walls surrounding them, and a few forts that at one point looked like they had been garrisoned for defense, but for the most part it was all a peaceful and welcoming place. Aside from the capitol province it seemed the more militant look of some parts of it were mere holdovers from an older era.

It was now the second day since she had left Gold Jackpot and his family behind and she was expecting to reach the ocean well before the sun went down. She didn’t have a map to know how close she was but she had a feeling. That was usually more than good enough for her. From what she had been told too it must be close, though she couldn’t see it yet on the horizon either. She might feel the breeze or smell the saltwater before she saw it depending on things.

As she flew, the pouch gifted to her by Gold Jackpot rubbed against her chest. There was one gold coin left inside—enough for a small meal. And then she’d be back to not having any money to her name. She’d probably have to do something about that at the port or just wander about and stumble into some adventure anyways. Since that was pretty common for her.

Below her right now was a large cherry orchard that must’ve covered at least a couple hundred acres. She was low enough in the sky where she could look down and see the various ponies walking through the rows of trees, picking the cherries that were ripe. Most of the farms and crops she had seen in Malkonrik were used for more vital foods, but she wasn’t surprised to see at least one place like this. Everybody needed their treats. Couldn’t just eat bread baked from wheat everyday or you’d go crazy. At least Rainbow Dash would.

Rainbow Dash lifted her head back up and looked straight south before taking a big stretch and yawning. “I’ll be there soon...”

Beyond the cherry orchard was a large grape vineyard and past it was a small town. It might be the last place before she reached the ocean, she wasn’t sure. She reached down and rubbed her stomach as she flew, it was probably for the best that she should get something to eat now. Better safe than sorry. One coin wouldn’t help much when she reached the port city and what was there, so she at least wanted to have a full stomach and be full of energy when she got to the ocean. She might need to do some work or just fly for a while looking for something.

As boring of an option as it was—and she had just gotten done with thinking that—Rainbow Dash eventually only had a freshly baked loaf of bread from the small town. It tasted good, so there was that, but she really wanted something sweeter too. That would just have to wait until she had more money or came upon the generosity of some others again though.

Now she held that half-eaten loaf of bread in her hoof as she continued her flight over Malkonrik, taking a bite every few flaps of her wings. Looking to her right she saw the green hills of Malkonrik extend onwards for quite a bit until they morphed into larger, rockier, mountains with a sandy color to them. A different Kingdom maybe? It was the same to her left except it was a forest that covered most of the land before it tapered off into a wide open plain and beyond that what looked to be wheat fields that stretched to the horizon. Maybe there was a wall or other checkpoints out there that decided where the border of each Kingdom was, but Rainbow Dash couldn’t see any.

As she chewed on the last quarter of her bread, she looked down below at the ground to see a lake with a boathouse and dock built on its northern shore. Nothing big or anything, it looked like just a bunch of rowboats out there with families or couples enjoying them. Just a place for ponies to vacation or have fun for the day. There was a river leading away from the lake that winded into a nearby forest, she could see ponies rafting and swimming in it. Would’ve been a nice and lazy way for her to spend an afternoon too. She could see herself doing that.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes briefly and just imagined. Just imagined hanging out down there with her friends. Swimming contest with Applejack, Rarity sunning on the side of the river, Fluttershy talking with fish, Pinkie Pie hoofing out treats to everyone around, and Twilight probably reading a book or something instead of having fun. It had been a long time since she had seen them. Once she made it back to Equestria she was going to make sure to do a whole bunch of stuff together with them just to make up. And then they’d finish it off by just finding a nice and quiet place and chillaxing.

Yeah, that couldn’t be beat.

She finished the bread and sped up her flight.

Another hour of an easygoing flight through the skies of Malkonrik and the air started to get slightly cooler. It wasn’t because of the time of day, since it was still perfectly sunny out, the air had simply cooled down as she made it further south. Rainbow Dash knew one of the causes for that: the breeze coming from the ocean. She still couldn’t see the ocean itself just yet but she knew that it was partially to blame for the cold.

She took a deep breath through her nose but at the moment she couldn’t smell the ocean yet either. The salt and water should reach her on the breeze at some point. She liked to think all of her senses were top-notch, not just her eyes.

Rainbow Dash hummed to herself with the pleasant sun still over her head, that humming turned into whistling as she tried to spruce up the flight with a tune. Some movement below and to her right caught her attention, a flock of birds coming up from the forest and heading west. She grinned as they flied off on their own bird adventure.

The cool breeze coming from the south was starting to transform as well into a colder wind. Her mane and tail were whipping about, not just because of her own speedy flying. The weather was nice but she was expecting the port to still be naturally fairly cool. She was lucky to get here in a season that was as nice as this and not winter. Otherwise the port, not to mention the ocean itself, would be as troublesome to travel as the True North had been.

Ahead of her, a few hills rose up from the green ground. Below she saw only a scant few cottages but also a number of different roads going through the hills, through fields, and to each cardinal direction. Wagons were becoming a more common sight. Did that mean something? These weren’t just simple family wagons either from what she could tell. Well—maybe some were—but most were pretty big and looked loaded up with cargo and goods. Yeah, that had to be a sign she was getting closer to the ocean. All that stuff must’ve been coming to and from the ports.

A wide smile spread on her face and Rainbow Dash shot towards the hills. All the while the breeze increased and the faintest bit of dampness started to enchant the air. Down below, a lot of the ponies could probably see the rainbow lightning bolt flashing overhead, so great was her haste. She didn’t pay any attention to the lands of Malkonrik below her anymore though. Clouds covered the sky above the hills, Rainbow needed to push past those final landmarks to see beyond.

She really wanted to see it.

With that smile still stuck on her she flew past the hills and it was almost like the entire world had opened up for her. Like the moment she left the True North, she was looking upon the avenue for a grand new adventure.

Buildings clustered together and stretched east to west far into the distance while wide roads led to and from their northern edge. Right beyond them, a long, long boardwalk and road ran parallel, and past that it was nothing but docks and harbors with dozens—hundreds—of ships of all sizes docked and tied to port.

And of course, to the horizon and beyond, was a blue ocean of water.

Rainbow Dash calmly floated in the sky as she took her first glimpse of the ocean in. Huge. Majestic. Powerful. Full of adventure. She could feel all these things from it.

Almost straight ahead a piece of land jutted out into the water, it was practically the only part of land there that didn’t have a dock built out of it. That was because it was fulfilling another purpose; there was a lighthouse built right on the edge of it. Useless now in the daytime but it was still the building that stuck out to her the most. And it was the furthest anyone could go before sailing out into or flying above the ocean.

Rainbow Dash flew to it to get a closer look at the ocean she knew she’d soon be traversing. She went over the roads, over the buildings, the boardwalk, and went straight to that lighthouse. When she reached it she gently floated down to the ground. There was a cement path leading to the door leading inside the lighthouse, but Rainbow Dash ignored that door and simply walked around the building until she could stand at the edge of the rock it was all built on. The tip of the continent.

This land the lighthouse was built on ended at a cliff. Rainbow Dash was standing twenty feet over the surface of the water, watching as small waves broke along the rocks below. The water was so blue, even here right at the shore. And when she raised her eyes to look out as far as she could, all that was reflected back was an even grander and deeper blue. A true ocean, the first she had seen on her journey.

A few ships were out there but for the most part it was a blank blue canvas with the occasional white from some breaking waves. Just so wide open it almost looked like she could see the curve of the world the further she looked.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath as the sea breeze rolled across her face, mane, wings, and tail. The salt water had its own unique smell that you didn’t get anywhere else in the world.

After enjoying the sight of the ocean for a good few minutes, Rainbow Dash turned her head to the left and looked out at the massive docks and all the ships sitting there. Some of them were huge, three or even four masts, with tons of sails, while yet others were only single-masted and even just some rowboats and much smaller family boats were docked. Rainbow didn’t really know much about sea ships like these at all, but there were a lot of differently designed ones in there, some with multiple decks rising high out of the water and others more low-swung. And a lot of ponies at the docks carrying out or lifting in huge pallets of crates and barrels.

Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to the empty bag hanging by her neck. She idly rubbed it and frowned. “Guess I better get moving again.”

She shrugged and walked back around the front of the lighthouse, heading towards the boardwalk to see what this port really had to offer her.

Author's Note

Wharf Walking

Rainbow Dash walked along one of the many piers of this large port city as she explored for… pretty much anything really. The wooden platform she was on rose up out of the water, supported by giant wooden pillars covered in barnacles at their lower reaches. The planks of wood gave a nice sound with each step of her hooves over them, almost like the sound of crossing an old wooden bridge. She was walking beside a railing with the ocean to her right and could see right down into the harbor water and spy several tied up boats on the smaller docks. To her left, off the pier, was a paved road that was mostly for wagons and carts being pulled along by ponies, and then right up against the long row of buildings was a cement sidewalk. They made it easy to separate traffic here and keep things moving smoothly.

She wasn’t sure what to really do now. There was a lot to go and see. She could try one of the buildings, most of them seemed to be shops selling seafaring related stuff but there were a lot of bigger warehouse looking places, restaurants and things like carpenters and blacksmiths, or she could try and talk to some of the actual sailors around the docks. There were definitely a lot of them. Maybe try and find a captain of one of these big ships moored to the docks to try and get some more details on the ocean?

Maybe see if there was any odd job she could do for the day to get some money? She was gonna need it. Some generous hospitality was one thing, she didn’t want to just have money thrown at her. The bread would tide her over a bit longer but she wanted something to drink and something with more substance to eat later.

As for going from here, traveling out and exploring the ocean? She’d have to plan that out a bit more. Think about it—much as she preferred just going headfirst into things—before she left this port. Flying over a wide open ocean carried risks different from anywhere else and at the moment she knew less about the ocean than she even did when she first traveled into the Great Camel Desert. She was going to have to be smart about this. Ugh.

But for now the port itself still held plenty for her. There would be a lot to check out and learn right here before she left. Probably a lot of interesting ponies to meet too.

She passed by one of the larger docks and saw a huge ship with three separate masts rising from the deck. Their massive sails were all furled up and several ramps were leading down from the deck to the docks. Big, muscular, stallions were carrying crates down the ramps and dropping them off onto carts that were then pulled up onto the street. There was one stallion up on deck wearing a tri-point hat watching over it all. The captain? He would probably be a good pony to talk to but he looked busy, he and his ponies seemed the type that wouldn’t appreciate being interrupted while they’re working like this.

The stores and other buildings on the side of the road would probably be a better source of finding ponies to help fill her in on this place. Unless she found a boat full of ponies just lazing around out by the docks.

Rainbow shrugged and decided the best course of action was to walk by the buildings now. There had to be more opportunity to talk to ponies who weren’t totally busy over there. Or walk into a place that looked like it might be inviting to her. Maybe she’d even get called out to by someone because of how much she stuck out. Either way she flapped her wings and left the pier, easily flying over the street and all the traffic of wagon and carts going down it, until she dropped down on the wide sidewalk on the other side.

“Wonder if maybe somewhere I’ll find a place that’ll give me dinner and a room if I promise to wash the dishes at the end of the day...” Rainbow said as she started walking by the various storefronts.

There was enough room on the sidewalk for a few ponies to walk beside each other without running out of room. And it was a busy sidewalk so it really needed that. Rainbow Dash found that no other ponies were really going to take the time to stop and talk to her though. Some bowed their head in a quick greeting or even gave her a smile but that was really about it. Ponies were busy.

And she didn’t stick out as much as she was expecting. Ponies of all sorts were going up and down the sidewalk and street. Pegasi, unicorns, earth ponies, workers, families, ones that even looked like tourists the same way she practically was, shopkeepers sweeping out front, and a few kids playing dice in the alleys… and a few seedier looking adults skulking out around in the shadows too. Rainbow Dash kept her eyes o them. Lively place even at just a glance.

She was passing by what looked like a bar when-

“I told you to stop bothering my sailors you crazy old codger!” A loud voice yelled as a grizzled stallion with a scar on one cheek threw open the doors to the bar and threw out another pony right onto the sidewalk. “Now get out and stay out!”

The elderly stallion that had been thrown out was a wrinkled earth pony, dark green with a thinning brown and grey mane. “H-How dare you!” He sputtered as he tried to rise to his hooves.

“Master!” Two other stallions dressed as butlers yelled as they darted out of the doors and tried to help him up.

The grizzled stallion merely clicked his tongue and turned around, loudly shutting the doors to the bar behind him. Rainbow Dash watched as the wrinkled earth pony shrugged off his butlers and lifted a hoof towards the bar.

“You youngins! You don’t know anything! T-The treasure you could have… the greatest discovery ever made on this ocean! Showing me this disrespect, how dare you! How dare you!” He continued to yell.

“Master, please,” one of his butlers tried to consul him. “Let’s go before he comes back out...”

“Uh, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked as she walked up to them. “Need any help?”

The old stallion’s head swung over to her with a suspicious and downright unfriendly look on his face. “Who are you, whippersnapper?”

Rainbow Dash frowned slightly but let it pass. “Rainbow Dash. Why’d that guy throw you out here?”

“Because he has no sense for adventure or respect for history!” The old stallion shouted, spittle flying right into Rainbow Dash’s face.

She brought a hoof up to wipe it away and raised an eyebrow at him. “Adventure?”

The old stallion squinted his eyes and looked her up and down. “Oh? Perhaps you’re a pony who understands what I’m talking about?”

“I’m always open for a good adventure,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Well then, my name is Old Diver. Grandson of Deep Diver, the greatest explorer and treasure hunter this ocean has ever seen! Tell me, mare, what do you know of Merlantis?” He asked her.

“Umm… absolutely nothing. I’m new here,” Rainbow said.

“Bah!” He scoffed. “Whatever then, so long as you care about adventure. Merlantis is the ancient home of the legendary Ponyseidon, who ruled this ocean thousands of years ago! A city, a castle, at the bottom of the seas! Most think it is only a legend, a fairy tale, but I know it’s real! Years ago my grandfather found it, when I was just a child, but a storm sunk his hip and all of his maps and tools. He lost his life that day. The only thing that survived was a single letter, bound and addressed to me, saying he had found it! Ever since then I’ve spent my family’s entire fortune on tracing his steps and finding where exactly it was he dove down to find the lost city of Merlantis!”

“And you know where it is now?” Rainbow Dash could admit to feeling a little excited. Ancient city at the bottom of the ocean? Sign her up.

“I know it’s general location. I believe,” Old Diver responded.

“Oh.”

“But I’ve ruled out so many other spots I have to be right! I know it!” Old Diver accidentally flung more spittle into her face again. “What do you say? Will you help me find Merlantis? I don’t care about any treasure that might be down there, you can have it all, I just want the credit and respect for finding it!”

“Earlier it sounded like you were using the promise of treasure to convince that other stallion, but you don’t actually know if there will be treasure there?” Rainbow asked.

“Er, well, there has to be! Doesn’t there?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Right. Look, I don’t care about treasure either but it sounds like you’re not as sure about any of this as you’re acting.”

He grit his teeth and glared at her. “Mare! What do you know? I’ve spent my whole life, and seen my own family name tarnished and impoverished all for this dream! I’m sure of Merlantis! One empty house! Two dim-witted butlers! That’s all that remains of the Diver family fortune after my search for Merlantis, that’s how much it means to me!”

“Alright, well I came here looking for a fun adventure anyways sooo… I guess I’m onboard,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Excellent! So how much money do you have?” Old Diver asked with a yellow grin as his eyes turned down to the pouch Rainbow had around her neck. Several of his teeth were missing.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Um, none.” She poked the empty pouch. “It’s empty, dude.”

Old Diver’s smile fell off his face and he angrily glared at her. “Then what are you wasting my time for?! Ohhh, I get it, you’re just like all the rest! Just messing around with Old Diver! Bah!” He walked forward and shoved her out of the way as he left down the sidewalk.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted at him. “You jerk!”

“Stupid mare! We need money for provisions and a boat if we’re making this trip! I can’t have any freeloaders!” Old Diver growled as he continued to walk away, followed by his butlers.

“You don’t even have a boat?” Rainbow gawked.

“It sank!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and dragged a hoof down her face. “What even just happened?” She looked at Old Diver as he disappeared in the crowd of ponies on the sidewalk, still hearing him angrily grumble and lash out at others around him. “But… if Merlantis is still real… maybe I found an adventure already.”

The further she walked the more the docks and the port in general started to change its makeup. Things were less busy here and the ships docked here were only the biggest of cargo ships, there were no more small personal boats or sailing families. It was all business. Even the buildings next to her had changed completely to large warehouses and other big buildings that had no signs outside them indicating what they were. Shipping corporations, business headquarters, she had no idea. She did see that quite a few had ponies standing outside them that were clearly guards. They affixed her with a strong gaze whenever she walked by them. Naturally less ponies were walking down the sidewalk with her at this point too.

Curiously she started seeing more large constructions on the harbor as well. Not just the large docks but huge buildings connected to the pier built right on and over the water. Since that looked more interesting, she once again switched sides and flew back over to the pier.

Rainbow Dash walked towards the first of the large buildings. It had the shape of a huge warehouse with a triangular roof with more than half of it going out into the water. The back end wasn’t held up by pillars, it was fully enclosed with the walls themselves reaching down to the harbor water. A front office was attached to it on the side facing the pier as well. Though she had no intention of going inside she still wanted to see what it was since it was the first building like this she had seen.

On the front window, words had been painted on the glass reading: “Welcome to Dredge’s! The number one shipwright in the world!”

Rainbow tilted her head. “Huh, so the guy builds ships here? Or something?” She figured that’s what a shipwright was.

Down the way from this building, barely a hundred feet down the pier, another building that was nearly identical stood. Curious to see if it was the same thing, Rainbow Dash flew over to it as well. It didn’t have as big of a front office, but next to the door there was a large wooden plaque reading: “Welcome to Ballast’s, the greatest shipwright in The Hundred Kingdoms!”

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Rival businesses, huh?”

It figured there had to be places like this at such a large port too. Places where a ship could be built, repaired, and retrofitted. Both of these buildings looked like a fairly large ship could fit entirely inside them, and even the largest ones could at least be moored halfway inside while someone worked on them. Rainbow didn’t know much of what went into building or fixing up a ship, but the largest ones she had seen out here at the docks probably needed a lot of hardwork and a big place to put them together in.

Rainbow smiled and walked further down the pier. From here on it all looked pretty much the same again. Something did catch her attention pretty quickly though. On one of the docks leading out from the pier, a large ship was moored in place and several huge crates were stacked up on its top deck. Down on the dock, a stallion with a sailor’s cap was standing in front of two others who looked to be yelling and arguing with each other about something. Her natural curiosity once again got the better of her and she walked a little closer to eavesdrop on, but not exactly enter, the conversation.

“Come on, Captain Keel! Sell me that iron already!” One of the other stallion’s said to the sailor. He was younger than the other, with a smoky gray coat and dull rusty mane and tail. On his flank was a Cutie Mark of a wrench and screwdriver cross over each other.

“No, sell it to me! Not that crook!” The other said. He had a brownish-orange coat with a white beard, mane and tail, though he didn’t look older than middle-aged. His Cutie Mark was a pressure gauge.

“I aint the crook, you’re the crook!” The younger stallion angrily yelled at him.

“You stole my special state of the art plans for a new kind of boat and ran out to start up your own business!”

“That was my idea that you tried taking credit for!”

“Thief!”

“Scoundrel!”

“Liar!”

“Nincompoop!”

“Would you both shut up?!” Captain Keel roared. “I don’t got time for any of this nonsense! Time is money and me and my crew need to get back out on the open seas already. Do you have any idea what’s going on in Ullsorth right now? They’re paying top coin for coal and that’s what I’m going out to get next. So I couldn’t care less if either of you are a crook, I just want to know which one of ya is going to pay the most for this shipment of iron? And iron of this quality doesn’t come cheap.”

The two stallions then started arguing with and yelling over each other some more, each trying to outbid the other.

Rainbow Dash just shrugged and left them behind. Cutthroat business maybe, but not exactly anything that interested her. She still had more of this port to explore. And now she was starting to get pretty hungry and thirsty.

How Many Pegasi Go Sailing?

Rainbow Dash woke up the following morning in an alleyway spread like a pancake over a pile of rolled up rope and surrounded by other junk and garbage. She shivered in the cold morning breeze and sat up, rubbing her pained head. Sighing in annoyance she reached up to the pouch around her neck to make sure her one gold coin was still there. Thankfully it was, so she at least had something good going on. But she had gotten way too carried away having fun with Godfrey last night. It was awesome getting to meet with and trade stories with him, but she probably could’ve spent the time learning about the Kingdoms and the Grand Ocean instead. Obviously he would’ve known a lot but now he was already gone. The coin was her one prize for the night of carefree fun. She wouldn’t squander it or this new day now too.

She hopped off the makeshift bed she had found in this back alley and got her bearings. Looking up at the sky it seemed like it was probably still early morning, but it was overcast and didn’t look great out. Combined with the natural cold breeze from the ocean and she ended up shivering a few more times. She was still in the seedier part of the port too, so it was probably a good idea to head back out of here. Hangovers weren’t new to her, she’d walk it off.

Her hoof naturally came up to feel the solid gold coin in her pouch. Might as well get the intended use out of it and make herself feel better. She needed it if she was going to take on the rest of this day.

In a much nicer part of the port, Rainbow Dash was chowing down on a healthy breakfast and staring out the front window of the restaurant and towards the wide open ocean. A stack of pancakes with syrup and butter, a bowl of hot oatmeal, a slice of cantaloupe, and a nice glass of ice water was what she was using to get back in shape for the day. No more beer for a while.

She was already feeling a lot better as she slowly ate her breakfast in the busy restaurant, it did a good morning business as a lot of sailors got to work bright and early, and pondered on what to do next. The ocean had a lot out there, she knew that for a fact after talking to Godfrey and hearing from others. But she couldn’t just fly out there the same way she did with the Great Camel Desert or True North. It was a huge place and if she ran out of steam somewhere in the middle of nowhere, then that was it. Nowhere to land, no water to drink, she was done. She probably at least needed to have a map of the ocean to know where to go—even if that made the adventure slightly lamer—or have a boat, or be traveling on someone else’s boat.

“Should’ve asked Godfrey if he had a map. Or where the closest inhabited island is,” Rainbow said as she chewed on a piece of her pancakes. Since there was likely going to be gaps between islands too large for her to fly over in one go without getting tired though, traveling by boat was probably going to be a necessity in some way or the other.

Rainbow guzzled down some water and sat back in her chair, rocking back and forth on its legs. It was more exciting to just fly out there and figure things out for herself. But she wanted to be smart, and maybe prove she had grown a little, since the last few times she had just dashed ahead. So for the ocean she’d come up with a plan, or an itinerary, or at least some way to travel it in a safer way. There was still bound to be plenty of adventure out there, and ponies that needed help or villains that needed defeating. She didn’t have to be stupid about it.

The problem though—was that she was now completely broke again. And if she wanted to not be stupid about this she was going to need to get some more money first instead of shooting off south into the wide open ocean. Getting some good food now was definitely the right way to spend Godfrey’s gift, but now she really needed to be looking ahead some more.

“Better get looking for what I need then...” Rainbow said. She then looked upon the delicious food she still had to eat. “Right after I finish breakfast.”

Rainbow Dash finished off the rest of her breakfast—practically licking the various plates clean since it may be a while until she has such a nice meal again. And with that done her objective was now to either learn more about the ocean or surrounding Kingdoms. If she could at least get the name and location of an island south of here she could potentially fly out to it as well. Maybe even ask around for any rumors of disturbances, or conflicts, or even if there’s any kind of lost treasure or myths like that Old Diver guy was talking about. She didn’t care about the treasure itself but the finding it part would probably be a nice adventure.

But. She was likely going to need money most every place she went. Godfey being a sailor who had been all over and using the same kind of gold coin here was proof enough of that. It was probably a bad idea to just start out poor and empty-hoofed at every island she traveled to and she really couldn’t expect to rely on the generosity of strangers forever.

“So a job. Any kind of small job here to get a little bit of money,” Rainbow said to herself. “Or take a shortcut and get a job on one of the ships in port to begin with. Find one that travels all over the ocean and sign up… if they’ll take me.” She frowned. “Who’s going to let a pegasus with zero-sailing experience onto their ship where they need to ration fresh water and food?”

She dragged a hood down her face. “Ugh, nobody, that’s who. Maybe if I’m lucky someone will need a strong pair of wings or something… but I seriously have no idea what kind of work or jobs even need to be done on a big sailing ship!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and stood up out of her chair. “Or I could forget all this and randomly wander around until some adventure comes and smacks me in the face. That’s happened before.”

Still, she wanted to be more proactive and not passive when it came to getting things done. That was why now that she was finished with her breakfast she was going to do some research on what she’d need to do to get sailing on her own. So her first order of business was walking up to some of the sailors that were eating breakfast here as well. They noticed her approach and stopped to stare at her with harsh, wind-blown faces. One of them had a tattoo of an anchor on his upper front leg.

“What do you want?” One of the sailors asked her as Rainbow stood in front of their table.

“Well… I’m new to this place… and new to ocean travel. I had a few questions about sailing and some general ones about the Grand Ocean,” she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head.

“Out with em then,” the tattooed sailor said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Alright, well first of all, how far away is the nearest civilized island? Can I get there in a day or two by flying?”

The sailors just looked out her for a moment.

Then broke out into raucous laughter.

“Y-You pulling our legs, lady? Do you have any idea how big the ocean is?” The tattooed sailor asked.

“Apparently she doesn’t!” Another laughed.

“I said I was new, didn’t I?” Rainbow said with an annoyed shrug.

“Heh,” the tattooed sailor grunted and shook his head. “The nearest islands here from Malkonrik’s coast that aint just some mound of sand and a few palm trees is four days away. The weather can turn at a moment’s notice too, there are pirates ready to prey on smaller ships or lone ponies on you as well. Trying to get anywhere in the Grand Ocean just flying on your own? Might as well be signing your own death warrant. Even if you’re a good flier, those small little islands are mostly uncharted and difficult to find on purpose. Take it from an experienced sailor, you can’t fly across the Grand Ocean.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. She wanted to tell him that she was an experienced flier, and she could probably handle herself way better than any pegasus he knew, but there didn’t seem to be a point to that. “Okay then… next question. Where can I get a boat?”

She found herself at a small public marina going off the pier, between some of the larger docks. A circular building was constructed right on top of the water with a wooden bridge leading out to it. Behind it was a long dock with a number of berths for smaller boats. Rowboats, and small sailboats meant for just one or two ponies, some not even covered to protect against the elements or at most with only a very small interior or lower deck you could go into. If she had to sail on her own, these were the only kinds of boats she could use. Everything else would take too much work she didn’t know how to do.

Even this was stretching it.

Rainbow Dash walked through the front door of the building and looked around. The walls were covered in paintings of ships and the ocean, anchors, ropes, and other equipment scattered around for decoration, and even a few model ships in glass cases stood on stands. The floor was surprisingly covered in a blue carpet as well and not just left as bare floorboards. In the center of the building sat a circular desk with a tall earth pony stallion behind it.

He stood up from his seat the moment she came in and put his hooves on the desk, greeting her with a big smile from behind a pair of reading glasses. “Hello, hello! Welcome to Happy Deals Boat Sales and Rentals! How can I help you?”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash grimaced as she walked up to his desk. “I was wondering about your prices. I’m looking for a boat just for me, don’t need anything big or extravagant.”

“Well we have a number of personal boats, is it a purchase or a rental you’re looking for?” He asked.

“Uh, purchase,” Rainbow said. She somehow doubted she’d be able to return any boat she took from here.

“Well our smallest rowboats go for 50 gold coins. They’ve got plenty of room for storage and supplies and they’re guaranteed safe outside of the deep ocean. Our sailboats are larger and more expensive at 250 gold coins, but each one at least has a small below decks area,” he told her.

“Uhuh,” Rainbow Dash nodded along. “So if I wanted to buy one now, but didn’t have the money, what sort of payment plans do you offer?”

“Ahahahaha!” The stallion started laughing and laughing, smiling as he shook his head at her and even slapped his hoof against the desk a few times. While Rainbow Dash just stood there with an uncomfortable grin on her face his laughter continued on and on. All the way to the point he even started crying a little. “Hahaha… haha...” He slowed down and reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes. “Ahh… get out of my store.”

“We don’t need another mouth to feed. Specially not one who doesn’t know aft from bow,” the salty Captain Peg Leg said to Rainbow Dash after she tried to see if she could get a place on his large merchant galleon.

“Come on, dude,” Rainbow Dash frowned and tried to persuade him. “I’m a quick learner, I’m in great shape, and I’m the best flier you’ll ever see. You couldn’t just use a scout or something?”

“We already have pegasi onboard that can do that. And these nifty little things called telescopes to see far away. Stowaways get thrown overboard too for that matter,” Peg Leg scoffed, trying to intimidate Dash into not doing anything dumb. “Besides, it’s only stallions allowed to be part of the crew. They don’t need mares distracting them from their duty.”

“Ugh! Is every big ship going to be like that?” Rainbow Dash asked, throwing her hooves open in exasperation.

“Every commercial one,” Peg Leg nodded. A leery grin then came to his face as he looked her up and down. “Of course… if you really want to come aboard that badly, then maybe I can let you be my personal cabin mare. The crew doesn’t need any distractions, but being the captain gives me some special privileges. What do you say?”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes.

After kicking Captain Peg Leg right where the sun doesn’t shine, Rainbow Dash had to fly away to avoid any reprisal from his angry crew. She was now lying on her back, on the roof of one of the port’s buildings, staring up at the sky with a frown on her face. She was briefly at a loss as to what to do next. There was definitely a lot going on in the Hundred Kingdoms, on their coastlines, and out in the Grand Ocean. But she couldn’t for the life of her figure out how to get to any of it.

“Can’t just give up though. Even if I didn’t get up to any adventuring out here I’d still need to fly over the ocean just to make it back home,” she said. “Tch, and I’m not throwing in the towel yet either. I’m not a quitter.”

The day had already turned over to noon though and she hadn’t really made any progress. She had learned a few things—but they were mostly about how out of luck and incapable she was. At this point her best idea was still looking for a temporary job or ship she could work on. Maybe something a little more small time than one of the big trading vessels.

“I don’t even have money for dinner or a place to stay tonight again…” Rainbow Dash sighed and closed her eyes. The place she had eaten breakfast at this morning was good though, maybe she could offer to clean tables and wash dishes for a few days as payment for food. And sleep in a broom closet or something.

Since there was still so much daylight left though she didn’t want to go back to the restaurant just yet. That was her fall back plan. The port was a big place and there was still more to check out, if she came up empty by evening, then she could see what washing dishes for a living was like.

Familiar Faces

Rainbow Dash whistled to herself as she flew down the row of buildings along the pier. She was doing her best to keep optimistic despite the repeated failures and dead ends she had reached today. There was still plenty of hours in the day left anyways and right now she was scouring between the seedier part of the port and the busier, more touristy, sections. Like yesterday there were a lot of ponies out on the street and the sidewalk, and more walking around the harbor and out on the docks themselves. She had sort of lost track of the days but maybe now it was a weekend and there were more ponies here having fun?

There was also something else she was seeing now that she had missed yesterday because she stayed mostly on hoof. A second street existed back behind the first row of buildings, built between them and the hilly forest that led into Malkonrik’s interior. It looked like an entire marketplace squeezed into that narrow strip. Rainbow Dash could see an alley from the main street and sidewalk that led down into it between the walls of two large buildings. And it was busy, really busy and crowded with ponies. As Rainbow Dash circled from above she saw it was mostly families too—there were less hard-faced sailors milling about and the atmosphere seemed pretty jovial.

Since she hadn’t been there before, she figured it was a better place to check out than elsewhere along the port city.

Rainbow Dash dropped down and landed in the middle of the busy street, taking a look around at the ponies and sort of businesses that were here. Definitely a jovial place. Almost every shop she saw was an eatery or candy store of some sort, from caramel apples, to ice cream, to taffy, they had a lot of different stuff available and the families down here were enjoying themselves. Aside from food there were some gift shops and even toy stores as well. She had found a really happy spot in this port city, dominated by families just having a good time.

Unfortunately that meant it probably wasn’t the kind of place she needed to be right now. But even then… Rainbow Dash still kind of wanted to just look around. She could use a fun place like this with a lot of happy ponies around to pick up her mood. Not like she had never gone off on a side-adventure before. If only she had a little money for a snack too. Maybe she could even find a family on vacation that had traveled by boat from a far away island and she could come onboard with them when they left…

She stood outside the window of an ice cream shop and looked inside to see a lot of ponies just casually sitting there and eating without a care in the world. A grin came to her face despite everything.

Her mind flashed to Sugarcube Corner—seeing herself eating inside there with her friends while she regaled them about everything she had done on this long journey.

“Yeah, that’ll be a good day,” Rainbow Dash said and walked away from the ice cream shop.

There was an outdoor cafe in the eastern corner of this little strip, the last building pressed up against the forests had its entire back patio open and the whole place was covered in tables with large umbrellas over them for shade. Potentially another place she could get work if the restaurant she was planning to go back to refused her. Because of that she decided to go over and check it out, it didn’t look as busy as some of the other places here that were mostly in the sweets or snack trade. Not every table was occupied.

Maybe if she was lucky she could even get some lunch or a snack if the proprietor is willing to let her pay later. Her eyes scanned over the crowd in the back patio, seeing a couple of families, but also a fair number of ponies on their own sitting and eating there. She was going to go straight to the front door of the establishment and talk to the waiters inside, but her eyes caught a flash of green and feathers. Rainbow Dash did a double-take, seeing a griffon sitting at the farthest table at the back corner of the café. Her eyes lit up and she smiled, thinking it was Godfrey, and she took a step towards him.

Wait. No. That wasn’t Godfrey sitting there, he was way smaller than the large griffon she had met yesterday. There were two other ponies sitting with him as well… or at least one pony and another creature that looked similar to a pony. They seemed to be in a fairly intense conversation with each other.

Rainbow Dash’s head tilted to the right as she stared at them through the tables. “Hold on a second…”

“Gilbert, please tell me you didn’t actually lose all our money in such a stupid way. Please tell me I’m daydreaming, and I’m actually someone else, and not the pony stuck in such an idiotic situation,” Daylight Gleam said to Gilbert the griffon as her exasperation poured through her eyes. She was drilling him with an intense gaze while a vein practically throbbed in her forehead.

“Daylight, maybe-” the other creature at the table started to say in an attempt to calm things down.

“No, Senax-” Daylight interrupted her and held up a hoof. “I want to hear from Gilbert’s own beak why he thought it was a good idea to bet all our money on a game of Three-Card Monte!”

“Well how was I supposed to know it was rigged?” Gilbert shrugged in defense.

“It’s Three-Card Monte! It’s always rigged!” Daylight yelled at him and yanked at her mane before slamming her face into the table.

“The ponies running the game seemed like nice folk when I met them…” Gilbert said.

Daylight poked one eye up to glare at him with.

Gilbert gulped and shrank down in his seat. “I’ll be shutting up now.”

“In his defense I don’t know why you entrusted Gilbert with the money in the first place,” Senax said to Daylight.

“I don’t know either!” Daylight shouted up before slamming her head back into the table.

“Breakwater is not going to be happy that we lost his money… again…” Senax sighed.

“Well if we’re in dire enough straits we could finally sell your magical Horn of Listening,” Daylight shrugged.

“We are not selling the sacred artifact of my people,” Senax frowned.

“Just joking…” Daylight shook her head and propped her elbows up on the table, rubbing her temples with her hooves to try and ward off the impending headache.

“I’m sure we can scrounge up some more money some way. Either that or just dip into Breakwater’s emergency supplies for our next trip,” Senax said.

“He’s not going to be fond of any of these suggestions,” Daylight grumbled.

“Uhh…” a raspy voice cut into their conversation.

The three at the table looked over to see that a pegasus mare with a very vibrant and distinct rainbow mane had walked up to them.

“Did I meet you guys once at an old Yak outpost north of Equestria? Cause you were a pretty memorable trio,” she said to them.

Gilbert’s eyes almost immediately flashed in recognition and he smiled. “Well if it isn’t Rainbow Dash!” He stood up while his wings shot open in excitement—one of them smacking Daylight Gleam in the face across the table and knocking her out of her chair. Gilbert nervously brought a talon up to his chin and grimaced. “Oops.”

“Rainbow Dash?” Senax said as she politely stood out of her chair and smiled. “Yes—I remember you, it’s nice to see you again. It’s far warmer than the last time we met.”

Daylight Gleam stood up and glared at Gilbert briefly before looking over at Rainbow and raising an eyebrow. “Hello, that was a while back now but I remember what happened up there. I’ll say I’m surprised to see you here. I didn’t think our paths would cross again after we went in completely different directions. Didn’t you go straight north?”

Rainbow Dash smiled at them all and rubbed the back of her head. “I did, yeah, and it’s a long story to tell. Believe me. Normally I’d be all for telling it and catching up but… I kind of sort of overheard your conversation just now. You guys in trouble?”

“Yes,” Daylight Gleam frowned and glanced over at Gilbert. “I’d like to catch up too but we don’t exactly have the time for something like that right now. Forgive me if I’m not exactly in the best mood for talk.”

“I hope you’ve had a lot of fun in the time since we’ve seen each other,” Gilbert said to Dash, not seeming to be as concerned with things as Daylight.

“Heh, I have,” Rainbow grinned.

“What brings you all the way to the Grand Ocean then?” Senax asked.

Daylight Gleam dragged a hoof down her face. “You guys—we have a bit of a situation here. We can catch up with Rainbow Dash later.”

“Sorry…” Senax blushed in embarrassment and smiled at Rainbow. “Another time, as you heard.”

“Yes, we are in a bit of a pickle at the moment,” Gilbert nodded.

“Thanks to you,” Daylight snorted.

“Yeah I know what money problems are like,” Rainbow Dash said to them and sighed. “Kind of dealing with that myself right now. This port isn’t exactly a good place to be stuck without any coins.” She idly flicked the empty pouch hanging around her neck. A thought came to her head and she raised an eyebrow at the trio. “You know though… maybe I can help you guys out? If you’re in trouble I’d like to do something about it.”

She blinked. “N-Not even for any money! I’m not thinking about, I just want to help, seriously.”

A brief smirk came to Daylight’s face before it disappeared. “Well I believe you’re being honest enough about that, but I’m not really sure how you could help us.”

“You said you got scammed out of your money?” Rainbow asked.

Gilbert coughed. “T-That’s right. It was a group of ponies running what appeared to be a perfectly honest and legitimate card game-”

“In the bad part of town,” Daylight frowned.

“-but in actuality was anything but. I was unfortunately deceived and cheated out of the money I had been entrusted with.”

“Why were you even in that part of the port in the first place?” Senax asked him.

“I was bored,” he shrugged.

“One of these days, Gilbert. One of these days…” Daylight growled.

“Card game, huh?” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin in thought.

“It’s a game in name only. It’s nothing more than a scam, there’s no way to win it, it’s just made to prey on stupid people who don’t know any better. They make you think it’s a simple guessing game but the whole thing is rigged,” Daylight said.

“I see… but they’re still ponies putting on card games, and acting like they’re just gamblers? If all they care about is money then maybe we can convince them to do something out of greed,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Like what?” Daylight asked.

“Like get them to play a real card game—double or nothing. Come up to them and offer to play them for real to try and get back the money Gilbert lost. If they’re greedy enough to run a cheap scam like that I bet they’ll be greedy enough to let themselves get roped in by us,” Rainbow explained.

“They might be smart enough to not agree to something like that,” Senax said.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, maybe, but is there a better option? I’m assuming you don’t want to just go beat on them and take the money back by force?”

“Considering we technically lost it fair and square and have no evidence of them cheating then no. The port authority wouldn’t take kindly to that and it would also trouble our friends,” Daylight said. “Unless we actually caught them cheating in the act then physical force isn’t an option. They’re unfortunately still citizens of Malkonrik and not the serious kind of criminal one can just use violence against.”

“If we just get them involved in a typical game of chance though there’s no guarantee that we’ll win either...” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Now you leave that part to me. I’ll do everything when it comes to playing cards. I’ve already got a nice and simple idea for straightening this out.”

“There’s another problem though,” Daylight Gleam said with a frown. “We don’t have the money to wager and convince them to play against us again.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash cracked her hooves and flashed her an even cockier grin than normal. “But they don’t know that.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I heard you right.”

“My money against the money you took from Gilbert here. One simple game, winner take all,” Rainbow Dash said to the pony.

They were now all in a dark back alley behind a merchant’s general store in the seedy part of Malkonrik’s port. The merchant himself was known to trade in goods that may not have been entirely acquired through legal means, and he allowed this “game” to go on as long as he got some of the profit. The whole alley was grungy and there was a lookout posted around the corner of the building to alert everyone if unwanted guests were coming. Right now the scammers and Rainbow Dash’s group were standing on opposite sides of a scratched up coffee table. Seven to four.

Daylight Gleam frowned as she looked around. “Gilbert, you actually came to a place like this to gamble? It didn’t give you any warning signs?”

“They were all very friendly… I thought they were decent fellows,” Gilbert shrugged.

Beside him, Senax sighed and shook her head.

“So another game of Three-Card Monte then?” The lead stallion, a unicorn with green eyes and a rough and short yellow mane said as he grinned at Rainbow Dash from across the table.

“No,” Rainbow Dash glared. “A real game. No tricks, no scams, nothing like that. We bet for real.”

The stallion scoffed. “And why should I agree to that? No reason to maybe lose the money we rightfully got already.”

“Two reasons,” Rainbow Dash said and pulled off the pouch from around her neck. She dropped it on the table where it landed with a loud thud thanks to the heavy contents. The greedy eyes of the scammers all fell towards it. “The first is that you’ll have the chance to get all of that. Which from what my friends have told me is more than what they lost in the first place. And the second reason is that the game is going to be balanced way in your favor.”

“How so?” The leader asked her.

“It’s going to be a very simple game. You’re going to get a deck of cards, and both you and me are going to draw five cards, one at a time. If I draw five higher cards than you in a row, we get the money back. If even one time you draw a higher card, you get all the money and we leave,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Wait. What?” Daylight blinked. “That’s what you’re doing? That’s absurd—why would you make the game so unfair to yourself? And with their own deck? Relying on that sort of luck is crazy!”

“Relax, Daylight. I’ve got this,” Rainbow said to her and then raised an eyebrow at the scammers. “Well? Are you going to ignore that good of a deal? The deck’s stacked in your favor.”

“Perhaps too stacked,” Senax gulped.

The lead scammer rubbed his chin as he stared at the heavy bag Rainbow Dash had plopped on the table. “So I just need to draw a higher card than you once?”

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded. “We’ll even draw from your deck so you know I’m not cheating you.”

“This is a bad idea...” Daylight groaned.

“Really? I think it sounds like a rather fun gamble,” Gilbert smiled.

“That means it’s an even worse idea,” Daylight glared at him.

“You’re pretty confident for a pony who’s putting herself in such an unfair position,” the scammer said to Rainbow. “How do I know you don’t have something up your sleeve?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I just believe in myself—and we’re desperate for that money. You can tell just by looking that there’s no way for any of us to cheat at this either.”

“Heh, true enough. Alright then, a simple game of chance, let’s do this,” the scammer grinned and motioned to one of his underlings to bring out a deck of cards. It was put in the center of table, and both he and Rainbow Dash reached their hooves out towards it to draw their first card.

“Well that was a lot easier than I expected,” Senax said as the group walked down the nearby pier after getting their money back.

Money that was now being held in a bag by Daylight, since they certainly weren’t letting Gilbert hold onto it anymore.

“I told you,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as her own heavy pouch was once more safely around her neck.

“How did you do that anyways? What was the trick?” Daylight asked Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash looked at her as if she had said the sky is red. “No trick, I just knew I’d win.”

“Remarkable,” Gilbert twirled his mustache and nodded in respect.

Daylight was far less impressed. “Wait… so there actually wasn’t a plan at all? You just left everything up to dumb luck?”

“I mean—I know it might be hard for you to believe but I never lose at games of chance. Don’t worry, I didn’t really risk anything. I wouldn’t have done that to you guys,” Rainbow Dash smiled, genuinely, to Daylight. “Even if it hadn’t worked out I wouldn’t have left you high and dry either.”

She walked over to the railing at the edge of the pier and pulled off her pouch before opening it up. “Guess I can get rid of these now too.” She said as she turned the pouch over and dumped the contents into the harbor water—dozens of pebbles she had gathered and put inside it earlier. “Good thing I’m not the Element of Honesty.”

“An excellent ploy overall, I must say,” Gilbert grinned.

“I guess I should be glad it all turned out well…” Daylight shook her head.

“And Breakwater doesn’t need to know about any of this,” Senax said. “We can head back to the shop anytime.”

“Right,” Daylight nodded. She looked over at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Thank you for helping us, and it was nice seeing you again, but we’ve got to get back to our other associates now. Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”

“Whoa, hold on!” Rainbow Dash reached out a hoof and grabbed her shoulder.

“What?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“I mean…” Rainbow grinned at the three of them and puffed out her chest. “I was wondering if maybe that offer you made me a while back to come adventuring with you is still on the table?”

Welcome Aboard

Daylight Gleam reached up and adjusted the small black bow she wore on her head as she affixed Rainbow Dash with a questioning look. “You want to come with us? Weren’t you on an adventure of your own?”

“I’m still on that adventure—it’s just changed. Or now it’s more like we’re both finally adventuring in the same spot. Either way uh, I’ve kind of been looking for what to do next lately anyways. And I remember you were up to something big when you sailed off for this ocean the last time we met,” Rainbow said.

“Indeed we are,” Gilbert nodded. “We’re still on that same business, unfortunately. Our own adventure hasn’t really panned out all that much yet.”

“Yes...” Senax said, glumly looking down at the ground.

“So yeah,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Let me come with you. You guys are cool, I’m awesome, you could clearly use someone like me, and I need an epic ocean adventure. We all win. Now I don’t have anything else that I want to do first, we can just… have fun together. So it’s a little late but yeah, let’s join up!”

Daylight looked at Gilbert, getting a smile in return. She then looked at Senax. “Senax? In the end it’s your call, not mine or Gilbert’s.”

The merpony looked up at Rainbow Dash and smiled warmly as her morose expression left her face. “I think it would be wonderful to have Rainbow Dash with us.”

“Splendid!” Gilbert clenched a talon and pumped it into the air.

“Heh, thanks a lot!” Rainbow smiled and reached a hoof forward, Senax extending her own and giving her a friendly shake.

“Well then-” Daylight Gleam smiled as well. “Welcome aboard.”

“So who’s this Breakwater guy you’ve been mentioning?” Rainbow Dash asked as they walked along the pier.

“Captain Breakwater. He’s our friend, we’ve been using his boat to travel while we’ve been here in The Hundred Kingdoms and on the Grand Ocean,” Daylight explained.

“Right now we’re docked privately inside the boat repair and construction shop of another friend of ours,” Gilbert said.

“Friend of Breakwater’s, more accurately. We haven’t gotten to know Ballast as well,” Senax said. “Though he’s a good pony too.”

“Ballast… I feel like I’ve heard that name before,” Rainbow Dash pondered.

“We’ll be to his place shortly. It’s not far away,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Lead the way. I’m the newbie here—in more ways than one.”

The group of four continued their walk up the pier, heading west from the seedier part of the port and getting back to the more business and merchant-controlled spots. Along the way Rainbow Dash realized that Gilbert apparently liked to hum to himself, since he wasn’t quiet the entire time. Senax kept her eyes on the ocean—a small smile gracing her face as she looked at the deep blue water, the rolling waves, and the ships faintly bobbing in harbor. Daylight was the only one that appeared serious, her face naturally seeming to frown even without her trying to, she kept her eyes dead ahead. Even though she had only just met them again earlier it still felt pretty nice to walk as a group with these three together.

As far as the port itself went there were still mostly just a bunch of sailors bringing crates and boxes from large ships and taking them to the street. New ships had probably come in overnight or earlier this morning. With how big the port was she doubted the movement of goods ever really stopped.

“There we are, Ballast’s shop is just right ahead,” Daylight said and pointed.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw a familiar building popping up on the pier. “Oh. I walked by this place yesterday. He’s like a shipwright or something? That’s a pony who builds and repairs ships?”

“That’s correct but Ballast isn’t just any shipwright. He’s the greatest in the entire Hundred Kingdoms!” Gilbert exclaimed.

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “That’s just an advertisement, Gilbert. It’s puff.”

“He is very skilled at his work though,” Senax smiled. “He’s got quite the gift for his job and a very creative and inventive mind when it comes to all things nautical.”

“I think I might’ve seen him yesterday...” Rainbow muttered.

The four of them walked towards the front of the building and eventually reached the same door Rainbow Dash had seen yesterday. Daylight Gleam walked right up to it and knocked a few times.

“He keeps it locked,” she explained to Rainbow. “He doesn’t just take on any job or let ponies in without an appointment.”

The door was fairly heavy and Rainbow Dash couldn’t hear through it—right up until she heard something slide behind it and the door was opened a crack, a chain still on it to keep anyone from barging right in. A hazel eye peeked out of the crack and saw them all standing there. “Oh, you’re back!” Ballast’s voice said to them, he then closed the door back up and removed the chain as well to open it fully and let them in.

Just as Rainbow had expected, he was one of the two ponies she had seen arguing the previous day. The middle-aged one with a brownish-orange coat and white mane and beard with a pressure gauge Cutie Mark. As opposed to that previous time, a friendly smile now stretched on his face.

“Come in, come in, Breakwater’s here too,” Ballast said. He then looked over at Rainbow Dash, maybe noticing her for the first time. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert gleefully introduced her. “She helped us-”

Daylight silenced him with an elbow to the ribs.

“Oof! S-She’s a pony we met a while back before we came here… we had the luck of meeting up with her again,” Gilbert finished.

“She’ll be joining us on our search,” Senax said to him.

“Well alright, nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash,” Ballast said and stuck out his hoof for her.

“Nice to meet you too,” Rainbow Dash smiled and shook it.

As they all stepped inside his large office—that was more like a big warehouse halfway built over the water—Rainbow Dash took a look around. The front part of it was a normal business place with several desks and cabinets overflowing with large rolls of papers and blueprints. The entire place was actually all one big room but there was a loft built above them where Rainbow Dash could see a bed and some other furniture, and above that there was another platform built right below the ceiling that had a few hammocks stretched across it. Behind the more office-like portion of the building was a work area, the floor was metal and there were several workbenches, boxes of supplies and tools were crammed against the walls along with nuts, bolts, boards of wood and strips of metal.

And of course the back half of the room was what really got her attention. A dock that let in the water from the harbor outside through openings in the side of the warehouses’ walls, the back wall taken up by a large pair of metal doors. More than anything though, Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she looked at the ship docked inside the large building. It sat, tied up by a rope leading from the stern and wrapped around a large metal cleat, with its anchor over the side and resting at the bottom of the water to keep it safe and secure.

The boat was a simple construction, not nearly as large as the huge merchant vessels she had seen but bigger than the rowboats and sailboats for personal or family use. It was maybe about sixty feet long from bow to stern, with a single mast that had a square sail currently furled up at the top, and a crow’s nest atop the mast. It was a fairly low set boat with the hull not rising too far out of the water but far enough for Rainbow to think there might have been another deck or at least a storage area below. The stern was raised up at the back and a cabin sat below it, Rainbow Dash could see the windows at the back of the boat for it. On the raised stern as well was the ship’s large steering wheel.

Surprisingly enough though, the boat only took up the left side of the private dock inside Ballast’s building. The other side had something else entirely above it—a metal skeleton of some other kind of ship vaguely in a tube shape, suspended on chains above the water. Rainbow Dash couldn’t really tell what it was supposed to be.

“Wow, quite the place you’ve got here,” Rainbow Dash said to Ballast as she continued to look around.

“Thank you… sorry that it’s a mess but I’ve also had a few guests moving in and out over the past few months,” Ballast said.

“Your hospitality is very appreciated,” Senax told him with a giggle.

“You said Breakwater was in?” Daylight asked him.

“Yeah, he’s on the boat right now—hey, Breakwater!” Ballast suddenly shouted out towards the moored boat, cupping his hooves over his mouth. “Your friends are back, get out here!”

Rainbow Dash heard a door being opened on the boat—likely the one that led into the captain’s cabin at the stern—and right after that a pony hopped up onto the back of the boat and looked out over the railing at them. An earth pony stallion maybe a decade older than the middle-aged Ballast, he had a peach colored coat, blue eyes, and a short seaweed green mane and tail that was just a shade lighter than Senax’s mane. He wore a small black cap on top of his head that covered most of his mane and on his flank was a Cutie Mark of a breaking wave. Without taking a break, he jumped off the back of the boat and landed on the metal dock.

“You’re later getting back than I expected. Did something happen?” Breakwater asked them, his eyes silently regarding Rainbow Dash for now. Up close she could see the lines on his face that betrayed his age and rough life at sea.

“No, not really, we just ran into an old acquaintance and lost track as we caught up,” Daylight Gleam easily lied with a weak smile on her face.

“Oh yeah?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Well I’m Captain Breakwater—like you’ve probably already heard.”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you,” she nodded to him.

“How do you know these fellows?” He asked her.

“Heh, met these three back on the other side of the world, a long time back. They asked if I wanted to come with them but I had my own adventuring to go on back then. Now though...” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’m free.”

“Adventuring, huh? So you’re just out looking for fun and excitement on the Grand Ocean?” Breakwater rubbed his bandanna-clad head.

“And helping out any ponies in need I come across,” Rainbow said.

Breakwater shrugged. “Fair enough. A pony out looking for adventure is no different from hundreds I’ve met in my life sailing the Grand Ocean.” He then looked past her at the other three. “Since you all got back later we have to postpone leaving until tomorrow by the way.”

Daylight sighed. “I was worried about that, oh well.”

“That’s perfectly fine though isn’t it? It gives Rainbow Dash here time to settle in and get acquainted,” Gilbert said, ever positive.

“There are still extra hammocks up top, just use whichever you like,” Ballast said.

“Hold on—they aren’t getting to rest so easily. You were supposed to buy some extra supplies for our next voyage, did you forget to do that too?” Breakwater asked them.

“Uhh… it was a really engaging conversation?” Daylight Gleam nervously answered.

Breakwater frowned, clearly suspicious of what had actually gone on today, but he let it pass. “Well, whatever, just get on back out there before the stores close tonight. It’s not the end of the world if we don’t get that stuff but I don’t want to have to borrow more from Ballast.”

“I’ve told you before you don’t need to worry about something like that. What’s mine is yours,” Ballast said to the captain.

Rainbow Dash looked between the two of them. “So how do you two know each other then?”

Ballast smiled. “Breakwater here saved my life when I was younger. Out on one of my first voyages when I was a deckhoof on a merchant ship. We were attacked by pirates, if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be standing here today. I’ve owed him since.”

“I’m grateful for you letting us use your facilities like this but any debt’s already been paid in full. I don’t like being a drain on you,” Breakwater scowled.

“Call it me just being generous or kind then,” Ballast shook his head. “Either way you’re just going to have to live with it—you old coot.”

Breakwater clicked his tongue. “I aint that old.”

“Anyways, Gilbert and I will handle getting the supplies,” Daylight said. “Senax, you and Rainbow Dash can stay here, Gilbert’s all I’ll need to help me carry stuff.”

“I suppose I can’t exactly argue about being roped into that,” Gilbert shrugged.

“No. You can’t,” Daylight frowned at him.

“Alright, the rest of us will be waiting for you to get back,” Senax said.

Daylight Gleam smiled to her and Rainbow Dash before grabbing Gilbert, who waved goodbye, and heading back out. Outside it had started to get closer to sundown but there was still enough time left in the day to get around. From what Rainbow had seen of the port they would have dozens of choices of where to buy any seafaring related supplies. And with Daylight in charge of the money there was far less chance of something stupid happening.

“I’ll get settled in I guess. There any food around here?” Rainbow Dash asked Ballast.

He nodded. “I’ve got some stuff around. Later tonight we can all eat dinner, though it’s not going to be a fancy meal or anything. Just porridge mostly.”

“Trying to keep costs low,” Breakwater muttered.

“That’s fine, I don’t need to eat anything right now, I was just wondering,” Rainbow said as she looked up towards the high ceiling of Ballast’s shop. She saw the higher loft there with the hammocks again. “So that’s where everyone else is sleeping?”

“The bed on the other loft is mine of course, and Breakwater just sleeps on his ship, the hammocks have been what Daylight, Gilbert, and Senax have been using yeah,” Ballast said to her.

“I’m fine with hammocks. Looks like you’ve got plenty of space,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Need it for my work. Not used to all the guests, like I’ve said, but the extra space has certainly helped,” Ballast said.

Rainbow Dash flew up high to the ceiling, there was a ladder for everyone who couldn’t fly to use, and landed in the high loft. It was cold. But not really any colder than sleeping outside would’ve been. Everyone had probably gotten used to chilly and drafty weather and nights while out sailing on the ocean. Just as she had gotten used to extreme cold (and extreme heat) on her own journey. She could deal with it.

Again her eyes drifted over to the other thing hanging in the shop above the water. Unlike all the other boats she had seen it looked like whatever it was was going to be made entirely out of metal.

“Hey Ballast, what’s this thing?” She pointed towards it.

“Oh that? Just a special marine project of mine I’ve been working on for… well years if you count when I first drew up the plans. Still a long ways from finishing it though,” he said, looking at it.

“Alright, good luck on it then,” Rainbow said to him.

“Thank you,” he smiled.

“I’m getting back on my boat then,” Breakwater said. “Got stuff to do—just holler when those other two are back and we’re ready to eat.”

“I will,” Senax nodded. She then looked up at Rainbow Dash as well. “If you want to take a break and catch some shuteye then go ahead, I’ll be working with Ballast to get dinner prepared as soon as Daylight and Gilbert come back.”

Rainbow Dash stretched her body like a cat and yawned. “Honestly, yeah, I think I could use that.”

She grinned and hopped right into one of the hammocks. Cold as things were, she was way more comfortable in it than she had been on that pile of rope.

Voyage on the Grand Ocean

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure exactly when she had accidentally fallen asleep in the hammock, but her peaceful rest (and loud snoring) were soon interrupted by the pain of something sharp poking into her side. Her eyes snapped open and her pupils turned to see Gilbert standing right next to her hammock, poking away at her with one of his talons.

He smiled as soon as he noticed she had woken up. “Oh! You’re awake!”

“Yeah. I’m awake,” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“Daylight and I got back just a few minutes ago and we’re all getting ready for dinner. They asked me to see if you wanted to come down?” Gilbert said.

“Yeah—yeah, give me a second,” Rainbow Dash said as she sat up in her hammock and rubbed her face, blinking and trying to get the sleep out. “Could’ve just called up for me...”

“Well I didn’t want to startle you.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Thank you for being so thoughtful.”

“You’re welcome! Now let’s have some dinner!” He beamed.

Rainbow was beginning to understand Daylight’s complete lack of patience with their griffon friend.

“Senax and Ballast have cooked up some delicious porridge,” Gilbert continued to say as he turned around and jumped off the loft, gliding to the shop’s floor below.

“Sounds good...” Rainbow Dash yawned once and followed him down. Once she landed on the metal floor she looked and saw that everybody else was already gathered over in the office space, one of Ballast’s desks transformed into a temporary dinner table. Six bowls of porridge were already out and two open seats remained for her and Gilbert.

“We haven’t started eating yet. We were waiting for you,” Senax said to her and smiled.

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash smiled and quickly took her seat with Gilbert, right next to Daylight. The porridge was pretty simple looking but it smelled great.

“One last meal tonight and then I’ll see you all off tomorrow morning,” Ballast said. “Because it’s any guess as to when I might see you again after that.”

“Could be a long time… or not at all,” Daylight nodded.

“So let’s eat while we can,” Breakwater said and scooped up a spoonful of porridge.

“Amen to that,” Rainbow Dash agreed and started eating as well.

“Righto!” Gilbert cheered. He brought his spoon down (and his face) and started shoveling in as much porridge as quickly as possible. Upon noticing the raised eyebrow from Rainbow Dash he chuckled in embarrassment. “Living for years in the frozen wilds north of Griffonstone did a number on my table manners...”

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked over at Daylight as the unicorn quietly ate her own porridge. “So what did you need to go buy anyways?”

Daylight looked up at her. “Just a few normal extra supplies for making sure we’re prepared for any emergencies. Nails, rope, tar, medicine, sail repair kit. And a new compass after someone accidentally dropped the last one into the ocean.”

Gilbert whistled innocently.

“Makes sense,” Rainbow said.

“Meanwhile I’ve got everything else safely secured onboard and Ballast and I have been looking over the ship and fixing up any little issues while we’ve been docked here,” Breakwater said. “We were ready to leave today.”

“It’s fine,” Daylight said. “I think getting a new crew member is worth waiting an extra day.”

“Especially one as charming and capable as Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert clapped her on the back.

“Thanks...” Rainbow said to him.

Breakwater shrugged. “I suppose. Considering what we’ve gotten into already we can probably use another set of hooves, and wings.”

Rainbow nodded and went back to eating dinner. She had had a big breakfast but it was always nice to get something to eat. After going through a couple of moments in her journey without having anything to eat for several days at a time, any day like this was nice. Seemed Gilbert understood that too. Senax ate probably the slowest out of all of them, seeming conscious about not wanting to get any porridge on her face.

Eating like this with some new friends was pretty heartwarming in a way. She hadn’t really done it since Vissidia. She wasn’t being rushed out the door after eating either. It gave her a good feeling for what would come next in her journey.

“Once we finish eating I think we should turn in for the night,” Senax said. “We’re going to need to get up very early to prepare for leaving port. And we want to be on the ocean right as dawn breaks in the first place.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I don’t mind getting right back to sleep...”

“And I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting to really see the Grand Ocean for the first time,” Daylight smirked.

“Oh yeah, I really want to get out there,” Rainbow smiled.

“I can’t wait for you to join us out there, you’ll love it!” Gilbert said.

“So let’s finish eating then,” Breakwater said and scowled at the loud griffon.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash chuckled and dipped her spoon into the porridge once more.

An hour before even the crack of dawn and Rainbow Dash was woken up again. This time though it was simply by the gentle prodding of Daylight Gleam. Truth be told, Rainbow could’ve used a couple more hours of sleep, but she was excited enough to get out there on the ocean to quickly blink away her exhaustion. The others up in the loft were already wide awake and getting ready to head down to the ship. Rainbow looked below and saw both Ballast and Breakwater already preparing to send the ship off.

She looked over at Daylight Gleam and her sunrise Cutie Mark. “You an early riser?”

“Yes. Why?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

“No reason,” Rainbow smirked and flew off the loft to join the stallions below.

“We ready to go?” She asked the two of them.

“Just about,” Ballast said. “I’ve been giving the ship one last once-over to make sure I haven’t missed anything, then we can open up the doors, untie her, and you’ll be off.”

“And I can welcome you aboard Heart of Azure for real,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash looked over at Breakwater’s sloop. Now she had a name for it too. He obviously loved that ship and took a great deal of care in maintaining it. The paint job looked fresh, she saw no cracks in the wood, it looked pristine even though by all accounts he had been sailing for a long time. That’s what she would be traveling on with her new friends for the near future. She didn’t know much about sailing or ships in general—but she knew she was in good hooves if her captain cared this much about his vessel.

Gilbert flew down and joined her while Senax and Daylight also climbed down.

“Alright, Senax and I will check the hold to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything,” Daylight said. “Gilbert… just stand there and don’t break anything.”

“Can do!” The griffon saluted.

“And Rainbow Dash...” Daylight blinked and glanced over at Breakwater. “Do you have anything for her to check before we get out of here?”

“If she wants she can check the crow’s nest and be the one to unfurl the sail when we’re ready to leave,” Breakwater shrugged. “Once we get out on the ocean I can teach her a bit more about sailing.”

Daylight shot a questioning glance to Rainbow. “Sound good to you?”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the crow’s nest atop the mast. “I think if I’m not just flying on my own anyways I’d probably like to be up at the highest spot, yeah.”

“Go on then. We’ve got just a little bit left to do and then we can finally get out of here,” Breakwater said.

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash said and quickly flew up to the crow’s nest. Checking it out, it would’ve been big enough for her to sleep inside it if she wanted to. But most night’s would probably be too cold for something like that. There was also a spyglass on the inside of it, the cylinder held in place by a hook that you could click the spyglass into when you weren’t using it. Naturally Rainbow grabbed it to see how good it was, pulling it off the hook and letting the bottom telescope out before taking a quick look through it. Her eyes were already top-tier but with this she’d be an even better scout up in the skies.

Since she didn’t want to pull a Gilbert she put the spyglass back and waved down to the others. “Everything’s good up here!”

“Alright! You just wait a minute for the rest of us and I’ll tell you how to let the sails down!” Breakwater called up to her.

Daylight Gleam and Senax then hopped up on a wooden plank that was stretched from the dock to the back railing of she ship. They easily walked across it and got aboard the Heart of Azure. An open hatch on the deck near the middle of the ship waited for them and the two walked down inside of it to check their supplies. Meanwhile Gilbert stayed right where he was for the moment.

“I guess I’ll go and open the doors then,” Ballast said and walked over to the side of the building. Along the wall was a large wheel that several chains fed into, chains that stretched across the wall and to the two doors that blocked off the interior of the building from the rest of the harbor. Ballast didn’t need to turn the wheel himself, a simple lever next to it was all that needed to be pulled and the wheel turned automatically, pulling the chains back and opening up the doors.

Beyond them, the rest of the harbor and all the docks appeared, still cold and almost dark with only the barest hints of morning sunlight breaking through the clouds.

Rainbow Dash now watched from her perch as Captain Breakwater also got aboard and stood at the ship’s wheel. Shortly after, Daylight and Senax came back out of the hold and closed the hatch up.

“We’re all good here,” Daylight said to Breakwater.

The captain nodded. “Good. Ballast? Come over here now and take this board away and untie us.”

“On it,” Ballast said and walked away from his door controls, first taking the board and pulling it away, dropping it onto the metal dock, and then working on untying the rope from the cleat.

Standing in the crow’s nest, Rainbow Dash could feel the slight rocking and bobbing of the boat in the calm harbor waters. Even with it tied and anchored down it still moved like this. She wondered what it would be like out in the open ocean. Ballast soon finished untying the rope and he tossed the end up to Breakwater, who grabbed it and pulled the whole length over the railing and onto the deck.

Breakwater whistled to Gilbert. “Alright, Gilbert! Get over here now and help Daylight pull up the anchor!”

The griffon smiled and flew over to land on the deck of the boat, right by the heavy chain of the anchor that was currently tossed over the side. Daylight joined him with a smirk and her horn lit up in a powder blue aura. With his muscles and her magic, the two of them worked together to foist the heavy metal object out of the water. Rainbow Dash could feel the ship getting ready to move all on its own the more the chain came up until finally the big anchor at the end of it was pulled over and dropped onto the deck. Carefully dropped. It was obvious by the way Daylight and Gilbert behaved that they had probably accidentally cracked the wood a couple of times.

Then without even Rainbow Dash having to let the sails down and blow some wind into them, the Heart of Azure started to drift forward, carried by the current. With Breakwater behind the wheel he guided it gently and kept it straight as the bow broke past the formerly closed doors and they started to leave Ballast’s shop behind.

“Bon voyage!” Ballast shouted to them, waving from the metal dock.

“Bye!” Rainbow Dash waved right back.

“Goodbye!” Daylight and the others also waved from the stern, all four of them together down there with Rainbow Dash in the crow’s nest.

Slowly the boat left Ballast’s personal dock behind entirely, exiting the building and reaching the open harbor. Ballast gave one last wave before Rainbow saw him going back over to the wheel and preparing to close up.

“How are you doing up there, Rainbow Dash?” Senax called out to her.

Rainbow Dash looked down and grinned. “Doing great!”

“Why don’t you take a first look at the ocean ahead while we get out of the harbor?” Breakwater suggested. “After that I’ll tell you how to drop the sail.”

“Well I’ve already looked at it before but I guess it’ll be different like this. Since now I’m actually sailing on it. Now I’m actually… now I’m actually taking the first step on the next part of my journey,” Rainbow said and turned around to look out the other side of the crow’s nest. Out past the bowsprit of the ship as it quickly drifted its way past the docks and other anchored ships.

Dawn was breaking through the clouds and over the deep ocean water. The light was just starting to reflect and shine on the surface of the ocean, Rainbow was hardly a poet but it still made for a beautiful sight out there.

The ocean was so big, so expansive, the wonder and adventure it held was almost making her shake in anticipation.

“You can drop the sails now! See the four square knots up there on the yard?” Breakwater said to her, having to raise his voice a bit more now that the sounds from the docks around them weren’t being blocked out.

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked down at him in confusion. “Yard?”

“The other beam of wood up there on the mast! The one going horizontal!” Breakwater explained.

“Ohhhh,” Rainbow Dash nodded in realization and flew out of the crow’s nest. One by one she undid each knot on the long bar of wood.

“Now the center one below the crow’s nest!” Breakwater shouted.

“Right!” Rainbow saluted and went over it. It was bigger than the other knots but all it took was one swift pull and it came undone.

The sail then fell down and opened up, a large white canvas expanding over the mast of the ship. Rainbow Dash grinned as a breeze from behind them already caught it and they started to sail faster over the waters. They broke out from the last of the longer reaching docks of the pier, made it farther out than the rock with the lighthouse built on it, and truly now reached the open ocean. A slight bump came as they hit their first small wave but the Heart of Azure with Breakwater at the helm continued straight and true. In the corner of her eyes she could see the last vestiges of Malkonrik’s port disappearing. If she kept her face facing forward all she saw now was the deep blue Grand Ocean.

“And we’re off!” Gilbert cheered from below.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Yes we are.”

Through the peering eye of a long spyglass, a pegasus atop a building at the port of Malkonrik watched the Heart of Azure as it left port. He could clearly see everyone on the ship, including the new rainbow pegasus he hadn’t heard about from his captain. Didn’t matter. The captain only cared about knowing when they—his quarry that others in the crew were starting to say he was practically obsessed with—were setting sail and going back onto the ocean.

The pegasus let out a sigh of relief knowing now that his job was done and he didn’t have to stay up here in the cold anymore. He closed up the spyglass and tossed it into his bag before spreading his wings and flying away. The ship he was crew on wasn’t docked in the main port so he had a fair distance to travel.

They couldn’t dock there and let others see them after all. Not with the black sails and Jolly Roger they flew.

Author's Note

Mother Ocean

The blue ocean stretched all around Captain Breakwater’s Heart of Azure. The sapphire waters shimmered in the early light of the morning, deep and impenetrable, Rainbow Dash’s eyes could hardly see into them any further than a few feet. Already the coastline behind them had vanished and now if Rainbow Dash didn’t know any better, she’d think the entire world was one big ocean without any land whatsoever.

She was lying down on the end of the bowsprit, intensely staring at the water as the Heart of Azure gently cruised over it. The sea was calm today it seemed, no sign of real waves on the horizon at all. Right now it was a pleasant cruise—something she should probably be thankful for. It was good that she could get used to sailing, learn the ropes, at a calm time like this instead of having to deal with huge waves and stormy winds.

Judging by her luck when it came to weather there was definitely going to be a time that they got stuck in a big storm.

Everyone else was letting her have her leisure time too and just get accustomed to what ocean travel felt like. Breakwater hadn’t pushed for her to learn anything yet or watch him or help the others out with something. In the end it was still early in the morning and the five of them were relaxing before anything else had to be done. Senax and Daylight were staring off the starboard side of the ship, standing together silently, while Gilbert was at the bow, just behind Rainbow Dash, and gazing ahead. Even he was quiet right now and simply enjoying the beautiful wide open blue.

Cawing overhead got her attention and Rainbow Dash looked into the sky to see seagulls flying overhead. Still close enough to land to see them, but for how much longer? The sky itself now was just as blue as the ocean as the sun had fully come out and hardly any clouds blocked its light. Below in the deep water there were probably all sorts of fish, sharks, sea turtles, and whales, but they were hidden to Rainbow Dash right now. She kind of wanted Fluttershy here to tell her about what she’d be seeing if the water was a little clearer.

Movement ahead caught her eye and Rainbow Dash looked to see a seagull—no wait, this was a pelican—dropping down from the sky and skimming over the water. It dipped its beak in for just a second and came up with a fish before flying back up. Well, that was easy for it.

Rainbow Dash let out a brief chuckle and shook her head. Out here they wouldn’t be able to just find new food so easily, since they couldn’t fish like that pelican. But Breakwater and the others had to have brought more than enough for any journey. The captain seemed way too experienced with ocean travel not to. At some point she should probably go down into the hold just to see what they all had.

A sudden splash from behind and Rainbow turned her head to see that Senax had dove into the water off the side of the ship. The merpony was going for a swim. Her pale yellow scales shimmered beneath the water, making her appear as a bright fish or sea serpent traveling beneath the waves. Rainbow Dash watched her, how easily she swam, how she didn’t need to come up for air, how she didn’t seem to disturb or move the water at all. The merpony took to the sea with her flippered tail as naturally as Rainbow Dash took to the sky with her wings.

Rainbow had a smile on her face the more she watched. Maybe when they got to warmer water she’d join Senax down there for a time. Daylight watched their merpony companion as well with a small smile. Though she seemed more than content to stay onboard.

Swimming was alright. Not Rainbow Dash’s favorite thing in the world of course but not bad. Good exercise, you could race other ponies, she could still use her wings for it, and so long as the water wasn’t freezing it just felt pretty good.

But right now she just really didn’t feel like doing anything. A lazy day is what it was. A napping day where she could finally relax knowing she had embarked on a new journey. She didn’t need to keep crawling around some port city or try and force things anymore. The adventure was already coming to her. That relaxed nature was reflected in her posture and her lying about on the bowsprit with her legs dangling beneath her and swaying in the breeze.

A shark might think she was bait on a hook if it saw her.

Rainbow was confident enough even in her relaxed state that she could jump away from any daring shark that got courageous. And if Senax was swimming out there right now there probably wasn’t anything to worry about anyways.

Behind her she heard Gilbert yawn and stretch his wings, he took to the air soon after and circled around the Heart of Azure a few times. Every now and then she saw his shadow pass over the water. Gilbert didn’t seem to care as much for flying as her but apparently even he needed to get into the air every now and then.

Rainbow herself ended up yawning and she closed her eyes while lying right there on the bowsprit, getting a little more rest, trying to get used to the gentle rocking of the boat. With the wide open sail and the easy breeze in the air, along with the current, their ship was making good progress across the water. Not as fast as she could make on her own of course but it was faster than wagon travel or just walking on land. The train out of Ponyville likely beat it or could at higher speeds but Rainbow Dash never really bothered to figure out how fast it could run.

Everything that weren’t her own wings just seemed the same type of “slow” to her.

For now though she stopped thinking, about anything, and just rested. Her eyes were closed, the ocean was all around her, and things were peaceful. Rainbow took in the feeling of the whole world. Just letting it all in without anything else. The cries of seagulls above, the water lapping against the hull of Heart of Azure, the sound of Gilbert flying, the smell of seawater. It all joined together.

“Are you enjoying yourself?”

Rainbow slowly opened her eyes and turned her head to see Daylight standing at the bow behind her now.

The unicorn smiled. “How’s your first day on the ocean going?”

“Mm… going pretty well,” Rainbow said and yawned. “Just… just relaxing.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Daylight said and looked up at the circling Gilbert. “Surprised you aren’t flying up there like he is.”

“I’m used to flying, not so much to floating.”

“Heh.”

Rainbow shrugged from her prone position. “Yeah, just figured I’d try something new, you know?”

“I understand. I had been on boats a few times before I started this trip with Senax and Gilbert, but sailing for so long was still a new experience,” Daylight said. “The novelty lasts a while.”

The sound of something shooting out of the water from the port side of the ship reached their ears and they looked over to see Senax jumping over the side and back onto the deck. The water slid off her slick, scaly, body in a way it never would have if she was a normal pony. There was no need for her to shake or even towel herself off. She noticed the two of them at the bow and let the water completely drip off her before smiling and walking over as well.

Rainbow Dash changed positions on the bowsprit, no longer lying over it like a lazy cat but turning around and sitting on it with her back turned to the open ocean.

“How was your swim?” She asked Senax.

“Refreshing,” the merpony sighed in pleasure. “I always love the opportunity to dive in the ocean. For so much of my life I never could, only having small rivers or ponds around to swim through instead. Being out here now I almost never want to come back out every time I go in.” She looked between the two of them. “What were you two talking about.”

“Nothing really,” Daylight shrugged. “We’re just passing the time.”

“Doesn’t seem like much else is going to happen today,” Rainbow said.

“You should be grateful for that, truthfully. Sea travel can be rough, especially with a bad storm or pirates,” Senax said.

“Well… I guess I’m grateful that I’m at least getting the opportunity to get used to sailing before anything crazy happens,” Rainbow said. She didn’t need to mention how she thought a pirate attack might be kind of cool to deal with.

“I’d say starting tomorrow Breakwater will teach you some of the specifics of sailing. Just enough so you can help out in a pinch or give yourself something to do while we’re out here. If we ever do get in trouble, everyone will need to be able to pull their own weight,” Daylight said.

“And I’ve gotten adept at manning the helm while he’s busy with other things, so I’ll get to practice something too,” Senax proudly smiled.

“No kidding? That’s pretty cool. I wonder if-”

“I say! I say down there!” The loud voice of Gilbert cut Rainbow Dash off.

They all looked up at him and Daylight shouted up. “What’s the matter, Gilbert!”

“Could Miss Rainbow Dash come up here?” He asked. “I’ve spotted something a bit odd looking in the water and I wanted her to see it as well!”

Daylight and Senax looked at her and Rainbow Dash just shrugged.

“Guess I should see what’s got him so interested,” she said and flapped her wings, leaving the bowsprit and quickly flying up to Gilbert. He was flying well over the mast, one of his talons over his eyes to block out the sun as he gazed far ahead at the ocean before them. He was squinting and he had a somewhat more serious expression than normal.

“What do you see, Gilbert?” Rainbow Dash asked as she reached him and started to follow his eyes.

“A shadow. Beneath the water,” he said and pointed out to it.

Rainbow looked and saw what had apparently concerned Gilbert. A gigantic shadow, a black spot in the otherwise deep blue ocean, was off to the front and port side of their ship. They were almost about to sail right past it. Rainbow didn’t really know what to make of it, she figured incredibly deep spots might look black from above, but this didn’t seem like the same kind of thing. And Gilbert had sailed out here before so he would’ve seen it before.

“It reminds me of seeing a whale before it breaks the water’s surface,” Gilbert said. “But it’s just… huge.”

“Do you two see something up there? It’s not pirates is it?” Breakwater called up from the helm.

“No! It’s this big shadow beneath the water off the port side and—and I think it’s getting bigger,” Rainbow shouted down to him.

“Huge shadow? Can’t be...” Breakwater whispered and a smile slowly tugged up his lips. “But it’s about the right time of year… I can’t believe it.” He started laughing and turned the ship slightly to starboard to give them more room from the shadow. “Hey! You two get back down on deck! The four of you are about to see something amazing!”

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert shared a look with each other before shrugging and coming back down. They joined Daylight and Senax, who were already by the port side of the ship.

“So what’s going on, Captain? What’s that shadow?” Daylight asked him.

“Just keep your eyes on it,” he said with a barely contained giddiness that Rainbow Dash was surprised to see from him.

The four others were still confused but they did as instructed. Now even from here on deck they could see the dark spot in the water growing bigger and bigger. Something was right below the surface—coming to breach it any moment.

They watched as the water started to rise, like a bump forming beneath the waves, as the shadow finally made its way to the surface. At last the water broke and a dark blue ridge appeared from out of the water along with a massive spout of water shooting into the sky. More and more of the great back of whatever this thing was rolled along, pushing out of the water before diving back down.

“It is a whale,” Gilbert said in awe. “But... but it’s gigantic. It’s the size of an island.”

“Mother Ocean,” Breakwater said.

The four turned to look at them, seeing a peaceful smile on the captain’s face as he watched the whale rising to the ocean’s surface.

“She only comes up once a year, maybe even once every two years, for air. Some sailors go their entire lives without ever seeing her even if they spend every day at sea,” he told them. “We don’t know how long she’s been alive but it’s been hundreds of years at least that she’s been swimming through the Grand Ocean. Seeing her at the start of any voyage is considered a blessing.” His eyes looked to Rainbow Dash. “And you, Rainbow Dash, getting to see her on your very first voyage at sea, on your first day of being out here? You’re one lucky pony.”

“No kidding...” Rainbow said as the whale’s large body kept going by, now its huge fins in view as it started to dive back down after taking a deep enough breath.

“It’s our first time seeing it too. I didn’t even know about this creature...” Daylight Gleam said.

“Didn’t think we’d ever see her come up for air,” Breakwater said. “Or I would’ve at least mentioned her sooner.”

At last as Mother Ocean went back down into the ocean’s depths, her tail rose up out of the water. Waterfalls of ocean water fell off it, the tail itself was so broad that it could’ve covered most of Ponyville in shadow. There was no question about it at all as Rainbow Dash stared at it in awe, it was the largest living thing she had ever seen in her life. Bigger than any dragon, bigger than the hurricane-creating pegasus, bigger than an Ursa Major. To think something like that lived in the ocean, that it swam for a year without needing to come up for air. It was incredible.

“She’s usually in the deeper parts of the ocean, so deep you’d never find her. You only ever get a glimpse of her like this,” Breakwater said.

Mother Ocean’s tail came back down and subsumed into the ocean water, leaving nothing more than faint ripples and waves behind. Though it could’ve easily created a tidal wave if it wanted, its actions were all far too gentle for such a thing. Quickly enough the dark shadow under the water disappeared until it was gone completely and the ocean was its normal deep blue all over once again. The whale had gone back down to where it would presumably stay for another year.

“What a creature,” Gilbert said.

“Yeah,” Senax nodded.

“I’m glad you could all see her. Everyone should be blessed enough to see Mother Ocean at least once in their lives,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash kept staring out at where the whale had gone back down, an impressed smile on her face. What else would she see out here?

At Sea

“Alright now, tell me what that is,” Breakwater said as he pointed to the left side of the ship.

“Port,” Rainbow answered.

“And this?” He pointed to the right side.

“Starboard.”

“The front?”

“Bow.”

“And the back?”

“Stern.”

“Or aft, really. But I won’t rake you across the coals for that,” Breakwater said.

“I think I’ve got most of the general stuff down. Already knew what a mast, sail and anchor were of course. I’ve been on air ships constructed in similar ways but… they sailed in the sky obviously,” Rainbow said.

“Probably a different experience,” Breakwater chuckled. “Do you know how to read a compass and a map?”

“Uhh not really? I kind of just know where to go by instinct. Got a knack for figuring out directions I guess,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Hm, we should probably still work on that.”

The second day of Rainbow Dash’s travel on the ocean had gone swimmingly so far. Breakwater had been giving a rundown of most of the important stuff so far while Senax took over at the helm and steered the ship. Gilbert was asleep up in the crow’s nest, they could see his wings hanging out over the sides, and Daylight Gleam was by the bow, watching the water. Another quiet day at sea by the look of things.

“Senax! How are you doing with the wheel?” Breakwater asked the merpony.

“Doing good! No problems here!” Senax said and smiled at the both of them.

“Alright just keep her steady, you’re getting better every day!” Breakwater complimented her.

“I can hardly feel the difference from when Breakwater’s at the helm!” Daylight shouted from the bow.

Breakwater frowned at her. “Now let’s not get too crazy here...”

“Heh,” Daylight smirked and got back to looking at the ocean.

The waters were still fairly calm but Rainbow Dash was starting to see larger waves and swells in the distance. Maybe that was a sign of them being further away from land. Or maybe it worked the opposite way. She honestly had no idea how the ocean worked—which was part of why she was doing this stuff now with Breakwater.

“Hey, so do waves get bigger in the open ocean or closer to land?” She asked Breakwater.

“Closer to land, generally. You can have a big storm that causes huge waves, and there are always rogue waves to worry about, but mostly the waves tend to get biggest when they’re close to breaking on the shoreline,” he told her. “When it comes to the big tidal waves that hit land, those are mostly caused by earthquakes too in the first place. It was… oh, fifty years ago maybe? That an earthquake caused a tidal wave that practically wiped out the island of Moohutu.”

“Volcanic eruptions can do that too but there aren’t any active volcanoes in this part of the ocean,” Breakwater said as he looked to the east with a far off look in his eyes.

“Uh huh… maybe avoid those spots then,” Rainbow said.

“Right, anyways, let’s get back to teaching you about some of the correct sailing terms—and also what each of these ropes going up the mast is for. If you’re going sailing you’ve got to understand the rigging,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in resignation. “Yeah alright...”

There wasn’t a further second wasted as Breakwater gave her a crash course in pretty much everything he knew about boating. At least everything important enough to learn on her first day. By the end of it he wanted Rainbow Dash to be able to memorize and repeat the name for everything and its purpose. It was a dizzying amount of nautical turns swimming inside her head now and he was also sure to remind her that she was lucky they weren’t on a larger vessel.

“If this was a galleon you’d have far more to remember, got it?” He told her.

“I get it,” Rainbow Dash defiantly stated.

He smirked at her. “At least you’re taking it seriously. This is just your first day of lessons though, we’ll have more to do tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day. Right now you still cant tell a keel from a rudder.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t want to say anything and prove him correct.

“Well we can take a break in a second, it’s almost time for lunch anyways,” Breakwater said.

“Got any beer?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, half-joking. She knew it was definitely smarter to just drink water now but she wouldn’t have minded something more fun either.

He snorted. “I’ve got three barrels of rum down below. They’re for trading and bribing only. No touching.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Since we’ve got a small crew I’d like to keep all of us sober when we’re out at sea. If you want to get drunk do it when we’re ashore.”

“Also fair.”

“Maybe if we’ve got the time and are ever in the area we can stop at Rum Haven...”

“Rum Haven?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Breakwater good-naturedly shook his head and grinned. “Pretty much what it sounds like, it’s a city on the island of East Light and it’s where most of the rum circling through the Grand Ocean is produced. You’ll see big merchant ships going in and out of there every day. It’s a nice place to spend a day or two… any longer than that and you’re going to find your pockets empty.”

“We’ve been there once already,” Daylight called from the bow.

“Sounds like I’m missing out then,” Rainbow muttered.

“There are plenty of other fun islands on the ocean, you’re bound to see one or two while we’re out here,” Breakwater said. “They even hold kayaking competitions on Terandil. Even a few of the Hundred Kingdoms are decent places to visit or have some interesting parties during holidays and special occasions.”

“Huh… you know speaking of special occasions, you said seeing Mother Ocean is a blessing? She’s really that special to the ponies living in the Grand Ocean?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh yes,” Breakwater nodded. “To the average sailor she’s a good omen. But to some island civilizations—and even one or two of the Hundred Kingdoms—she’s practically worshiped. Some see her as a godlike existence that blesses all the waters of the ocean. Like Meer, the furthest east Kingdom on the continent, they pay tribute to her and celebrate her life every year. You’ll find all sorts of religious symbols with her figure on them if you go to Meer. I think they view her as the progenitor of all life, but don’t quote me on that. It’s just something about all life starting in the ocean and Mother Ocean being the oldest and grandest life of them all. That’s the story I think.”

“Islanders mostly will leave a small tribute for her on the shores around the time she’s supposed to come up for air. Or they’ll burn an offering in the colder seasons to appease her and pray for warmer weather to come faster,” he shrugged. “Mostly superstitious stuff if you ask me, but hey, live and let live.”

“Yeah, I can understand that stuff at least,” Rainbow said, looking up at the sky. Knowing there were two real-life ponies who moved the sun and the moon kind of put a damper on developing that sort of “religion”, but Rainbow wouldn’t fault anyone for believing in something greater.

You couldn’t see friendship and harmony after all.

And seeing some gigantic whale, even if it didn’t talk with you or do anything, would probably make ponies who had seen less of the world than she had feel an even greater sense of wonder. Even with all Rainbow had been through, there was still a sense of awe when she had seen Mother Ocean. If ponies wanted to worship her and believe she could make travel over the ocean safer, then so be it. She didn’t judge the swamp ponies for what they believed either.

“There are some who believe there’s another creature like Mother Ocean down at the bottom of the sea too. Apparently rumors from some deep divers exploring for treasure who might’ve seen something. Supposedly they found what they thought was Mother Ocean but ended up being something else entirely, something not so beautiful and majestic looking,” Breakwater chuckled. “Heh, they call it Leviathan nowadays. I doubt that it’s even a real creature though, others would’ve seen it by now. Everyone’s got their own “big fish” story on this ocean.”

“Not like we can go that deep to check anyways,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s the truth,” Breakwater nodded.

Rainbow stretched and yawned, looking out at the wide open ocean once more. “How many times have you seen Mother Ocean anyways?”

“I’m a pretty lucky pony I guess—that was my third time. The first time happened when I was just a kid, sailing with my father. The second… about a decade ago. Heh, it’s always a great sight,” Breakwater smiled.

Rainbow Dash smiled too. “Yeah, seems like it.”

A coughing fit came from above and the two ponies looked to see Gilbert’s wings convulsing before the griffon sat up in the crow’s nest and looked around dazedly.

“I think I just accidentally woke myself up,” he said. “What time is it?”

“About noon, come on down here and we’ll get some lunch going!” Breakwater yelled up to him.

“Excellent!” Gilbert gave him a thumbs up.

Daylight Gleam also heard the news and walked over to them from where she had been standing by the bow just as Gilbert hopped down from the crow’s nest. The griffon landed between Breakwater and Rainbow Dash and stretched, yawning and taking a deep breath.

“Ahhhh, well I for one could really go for a frothy cool beverage right now,” Gilbert said.

“Not you too...” Breakwater shook his head in exasperation.

“If you two are really so obsessed with getting a drink, then if we ever have to go back to the Hundred Kingdoms at some point we can dock at Alth-Verika far to the west of Malkonrik. They produce a lot of barley and hops there—and the northern interior is full of grape vineyards for making all sorts of wines,” Daylight said.

Breakwater shot her a surprised look.

“Ballast told me about it,” she shrugged.

“Of course he did… well anyways, Alth-Verika is too out of the way, I can’t think of any reason we’d ever go there instead of just keeping to our usual port at Malkonrik. Sides, I don’t have any contacts in that kingdom. With the constant regime changes I’m finding myself with less contacts everyday as a matter of fact,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah I heard that “The Hundred Kingdoms” are constantly changing and stuff…” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“They’re nutty up there,” Breakwater shook his head. “The leaders and land-dwellers further north look down on the coastline and all the island civilizations in the Grand Ocean. Bunch of fatheads if you ask me. I’ve never been to a single Kingdom that I’d like to settle down in for good, or one that compares to some of the nicer islands out here.”

“I’ll have to share in that sentiment,” Daylight said. “In the brief time I’ve been here I’ll have to say that there’s a much more positive attitude at the islands. And they’re more receptive to travelers like us.”

“Indeed. And you don’t have to worry about an island’s ruler suddenly being overthrown and replaced with a despot or cluttered bureaucracy,” Gilbert said as he stroked his mustache.

“Huh. Sounds like there’s still a lot for me to experience out here,” Rainbow said.

“Yes, unfortunately it’s probably not all going to be the sort of adventure stuff you’re interested in,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Happened before. I’ll make do.”

“You know there’s another reason why I wouldn’t want us to go to Alth-Verika now that I think about it. The waters there are very rough, strong currents, lots of waves, reefs right below the water’s surface that will gouge out the hull of your boat, even some whirlpools that show up in spots. Has something to do with underwater rock formations and straits formed from some nearby islands off the coast that mess with the currents. There isn’t really a large port there like Malkonrik has. It’s better to dock at an adjacent Kingdom and travel by land to actually get into Alth-Verika. But that costs money and takes time,” Breakwater explained.

“Two things we’re not in abundance of,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“Exactly.”

“We’re not in a race,” Senax said from the helm. “We can afford to take things leisurely sometimes. As long as we don’t lose focus too much, sometimes you need to take a break. The Grand Ocean is a big place—we always knew this. We always knew most of our adventure here would be spent sailing from place to place, ending up with empty hooves before going to our next destination. We just have to take what the world gives us. And I don't mind a stop for some fun every now and then,” She finished with a smile.

Rainbow Dash blinked up at her before tilting her head. “That reminds me, what-“

“Ehhhhh… ehhhhh.”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sound of the loud, braying, call and saw a particularly large seabird flying above the Heart of Azure.

“Woah. That’s pretty big for a seagull,” she said.

“That’s because it’s not a seagull, it’s an albatross,” Breakwater said.

“What’s the difference?”

“Well the size for one,” Breakwater rolled his eyes. “Aside from that obvious part, they also cover a wider area and can fly much longer distances, they fly across the open ocean instead of staying near land like seagulls do. You’d never find a seagull this far out to sea. In fact, that albatross being up there is proof that we’ve really reached the open ocean for real. Even more than seeing Mother Ocean. Sometimes they stop at islands but for the most part they just soar and soar over the water, unless it’s time to breed of course.”

He glanced at her with a smirk. “Want me to teach you the difference between swordfish and marlins next?”

“Showoff. Want me to teach you the difference between every type of cloud?” Rainbow Dash challenged.

“No, I’m sure you don’t need to do that. We were just about to get lunch started, weren’t we?” Breakwater said and looked up at Senax. “Hey, Senax! I’ll take over while the four of you get some grub ready and eat. You can just bring me up my share later.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” Senax saluted.

“And don’t do that,” Breakwater shook his head while Gilbert chuckled.

Senax giggled as well and stepped away from the wheel while Breakwater walked up to the stern and took control. Now with him doing that, Daylight led the four of them down into the hold to get their food together. It was just like yesterday, they’d get their food from there and then eat in the main cabin right beneath the wheel. Their meals were kept simple and healthy—rationed—to make sure they wouldn’t run out while on their trips. According to Breakwater they carried twice as much food as they actually needed to make a planned trip. It was just being safe.

“So what’s for lunch today?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Daylight popped off the lid of a box with her magic. “Cheese and vegetables. We’ve gotta get through the perishable foods first.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Decent enough.”

“And milk before it spoils,” Gilbert said.

“Also we’ll slice up a couple oranges. Don’t want to get scurvy,” Senax chimed in.

“There are eggs too, we can have those tomorrow. Umm… what sounds better right now, carrots or broccoli?” Daylight asked.

“Carrots,” Senax said.

“Broccoli,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Meat,” Gilbert said.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Whatever, we’ll flip a coin.”

They each came out of the hold with a slice of cheese, slice of an orange, and a few small carrots. Gilbert was the most dejected of all, but it’s not like he wasn’t used to it. Maybe some ponies here on the Grand Ocean ate meat or at least fish, but the ones onboard the Heart of Azure didn’t. All of them probably wanted to eat a heartier meal than what they had, but this would have to do. Breakwater was adamant about not being wasteful. This was still more than enough to fill their stomachs and Rainbow Dash was used to eating a little less on her journey.

She just liked to be able to fill her face whenever she had the chance.

“Captain? I brought your lunch as well,” Senax said to him as they walked to the cabin.

“Just leave it in the cabin, let me sail while you eat,” he said.

“Alright, but for dinner you can eat with everyone and I’ll take the wheel again,” she smiled.

“Fine, fine...” Breakwater shook his head.

Before even entering the cabin, Rainbow Dash stopped by the side of the ship as they left the hold and looked out across the deep blue sea.

Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “Did something catch your eye out there?”

“No. Just thinking that I think this is actually the longest I’ve ever gone without seeing dry land.”

“It’s only been two days, you’ve really never been on a longer trip across the water?”

“Not really. I’ve traveled across, or at least onto, a couple seas before, but I’m usually flying fast for them or something. It’s never been just like… blue everywhere for so long.”

“You’ll have to get used to it. It’s still a few more days before we’ll see any islands at all,” Daylight said as she joined her in looking.

“Just enjoy it as a new experience. Your adventuring has taken you so many other places, something like this should be a joy!” The ever positive Gilbert said.

“As for me, I just feel at home,” Senax said.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. It’s strange, just a different feeling. Maybe cause I’m not flying on my own,” Rainbow Dash blinked, silent for a moment. “Meh.” She shrugged. “Let’s go eat.”

Catching Up

Breakwater’s cabin, which was also doubling as their dining cabin and general meeting area, was kind of crowded with four or five creatures in it. Even though it was fairly sparse to begin with there wasn’t a lot of room for them. He had a small cot in one corner, a desk in the middle, and a few chests lining the sides of it. A couple of small windows at the back gave them a decent view of the water they were passing by, but not much else. Generally, it kind of fit with Breakwater’s personality and nature.

If Applejack was captain of a ship, Rainbow imagined she’d have a similarly simplistic cabin for herself.

They didn’t even actually have enough chairs for everyone so instead they all stood around the desk and started eating like that. An oil lantern overhead was currently unlit, but having something enclosed like it to give them light when the sun went down was a lot safer than using simple candles. Breakwater had also drilled it into her skull how dangerous any sort of flame could be for a ship.

The only other things of real note in the entire cabin were a painting on the starboard wall of a much larger ship traversing rough waves in the middle of a storm. And on the opposite wall a wooden plaque with the words “My gift to you” carved into it was nailed up. Breakwater hadn’t told her what that was about.

Rainbow Dash figured she’d have plenty of time to ask him about his personal belongings later, right now it was time to eat. The cheese was tasty—she had absolutely no idea what kind of cheese it was, but it was yellow. That was good enough. The milk as well was surprisingly still fresh and tasty despite being at least a few days old now. However it was stored in that barrel down there it did a good job of keeping it from going bad.

She vaguely recalled learning about the Aux-Lemm corporation and Vissidians using magic spells to keep fruit and vegetables fresh while they were transported long distances. For all she knew magic was involved with this too. If that was the case though they shouldn’t really have to worry about the perishable food spoiling in the first place. The lack of preservation might’ve been a cost of the divide between The Hundred Kingdoms and the northern reaches of the continent.

Finishing up the carrots and slice of orange she had (making for a very orange meal), Rainbow cracked her neck and watched the others as they finished. Later today after Breakwater ate his lunch she’d probably be right back to learning sailing stuff. Before that though there was a decent amount of stuff on her mind, and now seemed like the best time to talk about.

“So anyways, I kind of had a question to ask,” Rainbow Dash said to the others.

“Yeah?” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow at her as she swallowed a bite of cheese.

“What are we doing?”

“What?”

“I mean—what are we doing?” Rainbow repeated. “I got caught up in the moment and never asked before coming aboard, and kept forgetting or getting distracted, or interrupted, but I never found out just what you guys are looking for and doing out here on the Grand Ocean.”

“Ohhh… that would be important to know,” Gilbert nodded.

“I’m pretty sure we told you about why we were coming here back when we met in the north at the Yak checkpoint...” Daylight Gleam rubbed her chin and thought back.

“Well maybe you did but I totally forgot,” Rainbow shrugged. “That was a pretty long time ago after all.”

“True,” Daylight agreed.

“Now that you mention it, with the frantic nature of our reunion and then the quick pace we set on getting back out onto the ocean, we haven’t really had a time for us to just sit down and talk to each other,” Gilbert said. “I’m sure there’s much more to discuss than simply filling Rainbow Dash in on the purpose of our journey again. You must have quite a few tales you’d like to tell as well.”

“You’ve got that right,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well then how about we catch up? After all we’re already taking a lunch break,” Gilbert suggested.

Daylight and Senax shared a look with each other and shrugged.

“That sounds fine to me,” Senax said.

“I suppose the first order of business then is to fill you in on why we’re out here in the first place,” Daylight said. “Re-fill you in, that is.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh just go ahead already.”

“Well you remember how I deferred to Senax about deciding on whether or not to bring you with us? That’s because despite me doing most of the talking when it comes to our little group—this is her adventure we’re on. Not mine or Gilbert’s anymore,” Daylight looked over at her merpony friend. “Do you want to take over?”

Senax nodded with a polite smile on her face. “Yes, thank you.”

The merpony took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts. “Essentially, the reason the three of us came to the Grand Ocean was to search for the long lost home of my people. The lost throne of the merponies that exists somewhere on the ocean floor, the city created by the great Ponyseidon, ancestor of all merponies. Merlantis. Ages ago, for reasons lost to time, my people were cast out of the Grand Ocean and our ancestral home was lost to us. After generation upon generation of my people forced to live elsewhere, I finally decided to take our reclamation into my own hooves. I joined with Daylight Gleam here and then we found Gilbert before traveling to the ocean.”

“There was another reason we came here,” Daylight frowned and shook her head. “But, ugh, just forget about that.”

“Indeed,” Gilbert snorted in annoyance.

“We joined up with Breakwater quickly and started searching for any possible clue to Merlantis’s location before we realized that we needed to search for something else first,” Senax said.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“As it turned out, there were many rumors, old tales, and legends among the societies and civilizations out here on the Grand Ocean and even some up in The Hundred Kingdoms pertaining to Ponyseidon and Merlantis. Most had forgotten about what merponies were specifically—fortunate for us since we didn’t need that sort of attention—or that Ponyseidon was one, but they hadn’t forgotten about the three ancient and mystical treasures of my people. While no one knew the location of Merlantis… or had any supposed map leading there, there was a common legend that had been passed down from generation to generation,” Senax sighed and took another deep breath. “That the Trident of Ponyseidon, his greatest and most powerful treasure that gave him control of the ocean itself, is still locked away deep below in the heart of Merlantis. And that the only way to find it is to first find the Necklace of Knowledge, which leads the way to it when worn.”

Senax closed her eyes and shook her head, rubbing at her forehead in exasperation. “I had no idea that things were so complicated… but this legend has persisted for centuries here. Perhaps now you’ll recall, but I did tell you about these sacred treasures when we met—but I had thought that when my people were originally scattered that other tribes had taken the Trident and Necklace. It seems I was wrong. Furthermore I had no idea that the Necklace had that sort of power...”

“And of course because of these legends, pirates and other adventurers have been searching for the treasures for hundreds of years,” Daylight scowled.

“So we have some competition,” Gilbert added.

“We’ve now followed dead end after dead end trying to find the Necklace. Any rumor of golden treasure, no matter how small or unlikely, but its all ended in empty hooves. I never even cared about any sort of treasure to begin with...” Senax sadly looked down at the table. “All I wanted was to find the home of my people—to return us to where we should have always been. The Trident that controls the seas? No, unlike the pirates searching for it, I would only ever want it as a memento of our great leader and progenitor. Merlantis is my goal, so I can go back and get the rest of my fellow merpony tribe and bring us all home.”

“I hope we can find it then...” Rainbow Dash said.

“Me too. It’s been so long that we’ve been out here looking though. Right now we’re on what may turn out to be just one more wild goose chase… but I hope not,” Senax said.

“There are still rumors to follow, and old treasures to discover. We haven’t run out of those,” Daylight said.

“Considering how long its been I have to admit to being surprised that the Necklace hasn’t already been found. The ocean is a big place but it seems there are only so many islands where it could’ve been taken to,” Gilbert said.

“There are plenty of other legends of the Grand Ocean that have nothing to do with Merlantis and Ponyseidon. Legends of vanishing islands and other ancient civilizations. No one has discovered those either, have they?” Daylight shrugged. “I believe the Necklace must be somewhere special and not just randomly plopped somewhere, otherwise such legends likely would’ve never formed. But who knows, as Senax has said we haven’t had much luck.”

“Maybe the winds of fortune blow for us now that we’ve joined up with our friend here. Perhaps we’ll get lucky?” The optimistic Gilbert said as he clapped Rainbow Dash on the back.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Hey, it’d be pretty cool if it works out like that.”

Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes. “Indeed it would be.”

“Either way that’s how things are at the moment. We keep searching and searching for the Necklace or any sort of clue about Merlantis. That’s what we’ve always been doing,” Senax said.

“Are you sure those treasures are even real? Like just saying, not trying to be a jerk, but its been so long and you even admitted you didn’t actually know what happened back then. Are the Necklace and Trident really out there?” Rainbow asked.

Senax and Daylight shared a brief look and Senax nodded to her unicorn friend.

“She said how there were three artifacts of Ponyseidon’s, didn’t she? Were you maybe wondering what the third one was?” Daylight said.

Senax stood up and moved to one of the chests in Breakwater’s cabin. Smaller than the others, it had a combination lock on it as well. Her scaly hooves moved quickly over it to enter the correct combination and it popped unlocked. Removing the lock, she opened the latch on the chest. There seemed to almost be a sort of golden glow coming from inside. Senax looked deeply at what was inside the chest before she reached her hooves in and took it out.

“This has been passed down in my tribe for as long as anyone could remember. Since the beginning when we had to live away from Merlantis,” Senax turned and showed Rainbow Dash the thing she was holding.

It was a spiral bronze-metal horn of some sort that glowed with golden runes Rainbow couldn’t begin to decipher. The wider end open enough that you could stick your hoof in it, it tapered down to a point at the other end where it looked like you could fit it into your ear.

“This is the Horn of Listening. The third treasure of Ponyseidon,” Senax explained. “It’s a magical artifact that allows you to hear far off into the distance wherever it’s pointed.”

“Huh,” Rainbow Dash blinked at the proof of the legends being held before her. She was used to magical artifacts and ancient treasures, from the Elements to the Crystal Heart to everything she read about in the Daring Do books. While this wasn’t quite as grand as those, it had the same kind of mystical aura. She didn’t doubt its power at all.

“It’s also exceptionally good as a makeshift club for braining your enemies over the head with,” Gilbert nodded.

Senax frowned. “I am very unhappy with how many times my people’s sacred artifact has been used that way...”

“Well, uh, I’ll try not to do that with it either,” Rainbow grinned.

“As far as we can tell it’s indestructible anyways,” Daylight shrugged.

“Still...” Senax pouted.

“Anyways-” Daylight continued. “That’s why we’re out here and that’s what we’ve been up to pretty much from the moment we passed the south of Griffonstone and the Dragon Lands and came to the Grand Ocean. Our journey doesn’t stop until we find Senax’s home.”

“That’s a pretty awesome journey to be on. I’m glad I joined up with you for it—not just for me but because I think I can really help you,” Rainbow said.

“Thank you,” Senax smiled.

“You’re already on quite the journey of your own too, aren’t you?” Gilbert asked her.

“Yeah, I am, but that’s just the thing. For me it’s about the journey and all the fun I can have and awesome stuff I can do on it more than the destination. And all the ponies in need I can help. So even though I’ve got my own future goal—it wouldn’t be half as awesome of an accomplishment if I didn’t do stuff like this on the way,” Rainbow looked out the back windows of the cabin at the open ocean.

“What is your true goal then if you don’t mind me asking?” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash didn’t. Am even bigger grin stretched across her face.

“My goal? I’m aiming to be the first pony to ever fly all the way around the world. I started back in the middle of Equestria, went north, went over the north pole and have been traveling south since. I’ve seen… a lot of stuff on the way. I’ve dealt with… a lot of problems and fought a lot of villains. I’ve made mistakes, and done things I regret, but I’ve also met so many amazing ponies and saved the lives of a ton of others. I’m doing something that no one has ever done before and for a long time I didn’t even know I was going to do it. I just wanted adventure. Now I’ve got a goal and once I’ve reached it it’s going to be something ponies remember for a thousand years.”

She finished with clapping a hoof to her chest and looking forward with the most gallant expression and pose she could manage.

“Impressive,” Daylight Gleam slowly clapped her hooves together with a wry smirk on her face.

“Pff, yeah, yeah...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Well seriously—it is. You’ve just got an even more grandiose way of putting it,” Daylight said. “Flying around the entire world… that’s really something. I had never even thought if that had been done by anyone before.”

“An awesome goal for an awesome pony,” Rainbow shrugged.

“As something of an adventurer myself, I would be quite interested to hear about what you’ve been through since we parted ways back in the north in more detail,” Gilbert said. “What did you find up there exactly? And what have you found so far on this side of the world?”

Rainbow Dash let out a deep sigh. “This is going to take a while if you really want the full story, Gilbert.” She smirked. “Fortunately for you, I love giving the full story. So as it turns out… the north is a big place, and a lot of different ponies and creatures live up there. A lot. And the first thing I met when I flew into the True North was a really nasty monster called an Ice Sentinel...”

“And I said goodbye to her… and left her there in Arondel with Rosalie and the others...” Rainbow Dash said, a few tears gathering at her eyes. “I’m sure she’s doing great but… yeah, yeah I miss her.”

“Oh, Rainbow Dash...” Senax stepped forward and wrapped her in a warm embrace. “You’ve been through a lot.”

“I tried to keep to the cool stuff but at the end there I just… just needed to talk about that,” Rainbow returned the hug.

“Saying goodbye to my own beloved companions is something I don’t look forward to,” Gilbert smiled sadly at the others.

Daylight Gleam was meanwhile thinking to herself. “Harlequin Grey… why does that name sound so familiar?”

“That wasn’t the last part though. Before I made it to The Hundred Kingdoms and then found you guys again I stopped by in a swamp,” she chuckled. “Heh, and I kind of promised one of the ponies living there that I’d share their culture and what they believed in with other ponies so it’s not forgotten. You mind hearing about the religion of a bunch of ponies who live in a really big swamp?”

“I’d love to hear about it actually!” Gilbert enthusiastically stated.

“Okay… swamp education is a go...” Rainbow Dash smirked.

In Rainbow Dash’s recitation of her travels, she had told them pretty much everything she had been through and every important soul she had met. Even her sadder tales in Oreville and Pinetree Warren. The one thing she hadn’t brought up was her. Because… yeah. They had all pretty much lost track of time while Rainbow was telling them of her travels and only Senax remembered midway through it that she should probably bring Breakwater’s lunch up to him.

Now with Rainbow Dash done with filling them all in on what she had been through and where, it was practically closer to dinner already.

“Though we’ve been in her talking for far too long I’m glad we could catch up,” Gilbert said. “Breakwater will want us to get busy again though. Especially you.”

“Yeah I know,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Your stories were rather amazing though. And I thought I was a well-traveled pony,” Daylight Gleam said.

“What can I tell you, I like being special,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Certainly seems so,” Senax smiled. “I’ll go up and take over at the helm again now, and you can get back to your lessons with the captain.”

“Thanks. Just what I wanted.”

“We all had to go through it,” Daylight smirked.

“I know, geez,” Rainbow Dash playfully punched the unicorn in the shoulder. She then blinked and tilted her head to the side. “Err… come to think of it, I have another question.”

“Well what is it this time?” Daylight asked.

“Where are we going?”

Three Spears

“That… that is certainly a very fair question to ask,” Daylight Gleam nodded.

“Yeah I never exactly got a copy of the itinerary,” Rainbow Dash flatly looked back at her.

“I suppose it’s another thing we forgot to clue you in on,” Gilbert said.

“Then perhaps instead of you continuing your maritime lessons with Captain Breakwater, he can come down here and fill you in on exactly where we’re going—as well as the other important islands and places in the Grand Ocean. He has quite a few maps,” Senax said.

“It’d be useful. I only ever got vague directions and saw a map that only really went as far south as the coastline of The Hundred Kingdoms. If he’s got a map of the whole ocean, then hit me with it,” Rainbow said.

“I’ll get him now. See the rest of you later,” Senax smiled and left the cabin, both to get Breakwater and to take his position at the helm.

“Actually I also wanted to get some fresh air and go for a glide,” Gilbert said. “I’ll come back around dinner time but for now the salty sea air calls to me.”

With a polite salute he sauntered out of the cabin as well, leaving the two ponies behind.

Daylight shook her head. “That clown… always trying to sound poetic about everything.”

“Heh,” Rainbow snorted.

The pony from Equestria took the short moment to walk behind Breakwater’s desk and to one of the back windows on Heart of Azure. Orange sunlight from the late afternoon sun as it went lower in the sky washed over the ocean water. It gave such a contrast to the blue ocean and the now dusky orange sky, Rainbow Dash almost didn’t want to stop watching it. It certainly was an obstacle for her to travel through, but compared to the snowy ice fields of the north, the hot desert, and the muddy swamp, this was just beautiful. Beautiful and alive.

And somewhere below those waters was Senax and her people’s ancestral home. Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait to see it too. That would be a great accomplishment, helping Senax and the other merponies, wherever they were, get back home. That was something Rainbow could be really proud of on this journey. Then she’d get back on her way south and probably get into the last leg of her journey pretty quickly. After all from what she knew of Griffonstone’s geography, the Dragon Lands, and the ocean south of Equestria, she was able to generally place where she was on this side of the world now and there wasn’t any gigantic walled off “True South” like there was True North. There should just be water until the south pole itself.

Flying past that and she’d be… practically home.

Rainbow Dash turned around and raised an eyebrow at Daylight Gleam. “You didn’t have anything to do?”

“Not really,” the unicorn shrugged. “And I figured I could help answer questions you might have or flll you in on things Breakwater might gloss over. I’m a relative newcomer to the ocean as well. He might forget that not everything is obvious to you.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

A second later and the door to the cabin was thrown open by Captain Breakwater, who strode on in and gave Rainbow Dash a questioning look. “Senax told me you had a question about our trip?”

“Yeah—namely how I have no idea where we’re actually headed,” Rainbow said.

Breakwater frowned and glanced at Daylight. “None of you told her?”

“We kind of forgot,” Daylight shrugged.

Breakwater rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let me get a map.”

Now it was his turn to walk over to his chests, of course a different one than the Horn of Listening currently resided in after Senax put it back, and started digging through them. In a second he pulled out a large, rolled up, parchment and brought it over to his desk. When he slammed it down and unrolled it, it covered the entire desk and then some, the edges of it dangling off the sides.

“There we go,” he said.

Rainbow Dash took her first look at it and was immediately struck by the sheer size of the Grand Ocean compared to other places she had been. The Great Camel Desert wouldn’t have covered half as much area as this ocean. And thankfully, the map was not only much bigger but also far more detailed than the map Early Riser had shown her in Clay Tower. Longitudinal and latitudinal lines separated the map into even squares, cities and islands were labeled, hoof-written notes on weather patterns and phenomena were scrawled across it, and the geography of the islands were also drawn in. The very top of the map, showing the southern coasts of The Hundred Kingdoms, was three-quarters land with water going up to the far east and far west of the coast, likely bordering the disputed lands as well as the edges of the continents on the other side of the world. Her side.

Speaking of that, on the left and right edges of the map, showing the west and east, there were landmasses. Cliffs. Going up and down most of it. On the west side of the map, there was only a small break in that land to the south, where the ocean continued between what must’ve been the bottom of Griffonstone, or perhaps the Dragon Lands, and the south pole. On the east side, to the north and south of the cliffs labeled on the map, the ocean continued on further to the east. Which if Rainbow Dash remembered right, that meant it should continue into the North Luna Ocean and South Luna Ocean.

The bottom of the map was covered in white ice to signify the south pole. Meaning her earlier assumption was correct. Nothing was blocking her off from traveling there when this adventure was done.

“Big place...” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Certainly is. I was floored when I first saw this too,” Daylight said. She pointed to the cliffs on the west side of the map, about halfway up them. “See this spot? That’s right where Senax lived, and where I spent some time at. It’s a small town called East Glade that was built in the desolate mountains east of Griffonstone.” She smirked. “But thanks to what side of the world we’re on it’s to the west now. Just like how this-” She pointed to the cliffs on the east side. “Is the very furthest edge of what you and other Equestrians would know as the Undiscovered West.”

“Wow...” Rainbow Dash was still taking it all in.

“Yeah, yeah, look however long you want,” Breakwater said and pointed at a part of the open ocean south of the Malkonrik coast. “Right now we’re just about here.”

Rainbow Dash looked, seeing that they were still in a wide open spot with seemingly no notable islands around. They were maybe halfway between the port and a cluster of three small islands directly south of it. From where Breakwater was pointing, it looked like they were going towards those islands.

“Is that where we’re headed?” Rainbow Dash pointed at them.

Breakwater nodded. “That’s our first stop on this trip, yep. That trio of islands is called the Three Spears. It’s three narrow mountains that shoot straight up out of the water. There are a few lagoons and coves scattered around them, some small beaches, but not much livable land. However, there are some fresh water springs that drip down from the tops of the mountains, making it a popular stopping point for ships to restock on freshwater at. However I picked us a time to go there that no major shipping vessels or companies should be stopping there, so we might not see anybody else. Tropical fruit grows there too so we can get our fill of that as well.”

Rainbow Dash licked her lips. “Nice.”

“I’ve been there a couple of times now as well with Breakwater. Hope you like coconuts,” Daylight smiled.

“Should just be an uneventful stop. We’ll drop anchor in one of the coves and stay there for a day to stretch our legs and resupply. I can teach you mooring and unmooring procedure too,” Breakwater said.

“It’ll be nice for you to see your first island in the Grand Ocean too. Call it a special occasion,” Daylight said.

“Yeah. But we’re not just going there then? It’s just a stop along the way for wherever the next possible location you’ve heard Senax’s Necklace might be,” Rainbow asked.

“That’s right. Our actual destination is a place called the Sea Lion Reefs, to the southwest of the Three Spears. It’s a series of, well—reefs, shoals, and atolls in a relatively shallow portion of the ocean populated mainly by foraging tribes of islanders. They move from small island to small island across the seasons, avoiding storms, with no permanent buildings of any sort. Lately a rumor has come from other ships visiting the reefs, the locals have mentioned seeing an ancient looking treasure chest stuck underwater in the central reefs. We’re going to see if it might be just what we’re looking for,” Daylight explained.

“It’s a longshot, but...” Breakwater shrugged.

“At this point we really can’t pick and choose,” Daylight said.

“The good thing again is that the Sea Lion Reefs have never been a… wealthy place. So we at least wont have to worry about pirates or too many prying eyes. Hopefully,” Breakwater said.

“Got it,” Rainbow nodded. “So where are the Reefs on this map?”

Breakwater pointed to a set of small ring-like islands and rock formations (that may have signified actual reefs) a little southwest of where the Three Spears were. They were drawn so thin and narrow that Rainbow was surprised anyone could live there at all. Appropriately, the blue paint used to color the ocean was a much lighter color around it as well then most of the rest of the ocean.

“There you go. The reefs and sandbars all around it make it tough for bigger ships to travel through it as well, so there’s another reason for why I’m not expecting much other traffic,” Breakwater said. He rubbed the back of his neck. “And while we’re here… I’ll let you know about some of the other important places on the ocean. Though most it’s doubtful we’ll ever travel to them.”

“Hit me with it. No offense but if I have to learn anything, I think it’s more fun to learn this kind of stuff than what side of the ship is called what,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Breakwater snorted. “Fair enough.”

With a stretch and a yawn, Breakwater prepared to give her a crash-course on the great islands of the Grand Ocean. “Okay… well first of all, you see this island that looks like a shark tooth?”

Rainbow Dash looked at the large triangular island he was pointing out. It sat in the southwest area of the ocean, pretty much right in the mouth of where you would need to go if you were traveling south of Griffonstone. “Yeah.”

“That’s the aptly named Sharktooth Island. It’s a den of pirates and thieves—we won’t be going there,” Breakwater scowled and then pointed over to a crescent-shaped island. It was almost as south as Sharktooth Island but more in the mid-east of the ocean. “And this? This is Bosche.” Breakwater shook his head in disgust. “Ugh—the less spoken about them the better.”

Bosche… that sounded familiar but Rainbow Dash couldn’t remember from where. She stared a bit at the crescent island, from how it was drawn she could tell it was mostly mountains with very little flat land. “Okay.”

“Now a nicer place...” Breakwater moved his hoof to a series of islands, several dozen, that were only a little south of the far west coastline of The Hundred Kingdoms. “See this? It’s the Sarrarocco Archipelago. Directly south of Alth-Verika-”

“The alcohol kingdom?”

Breakwater rolled his eyes. “Yes. That one. Anyways, the Sarrarocco Archipelago is overall one of the most heavily populated countries south of the Kingdoms. It’s ruled by a religious order called the Sarraroccons. Obviously. They’re… I wouldn’t say they’re either unfriendly or friendly, but the archipelago itself is a nice place to visit. Great for trade, great weather, great waters, you can even own land and have a home there even if you’re not a native. The religion’s priests mostly keep to themselves and don’t proselytize or push their religion on other inhabitants or visitors. There are a few islands off-limits to non-natives, sacred islands or something, I dunno, but overall it’s a good place with a lot to see if you’re a tourist. Heh, you know the natives don’t even use boats there? They travel around on the backs of giant Manta Rays. You’d never believe it until you see it.”

“Sheesh, now you’re making me really curious...” Rainbow said.

“Me too,” Daylight said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up there at one point. The Sarraroccons have been there a long time, they probably have a lot of old legends and stories too. Some that might pertain to Merlantis,” Breakwater shrugged. “Now there’s this place too-”

Breakwater pointed to a dark strip on the map, mostly southeast of the Three Spears but the northern tip of it just barely reached them as well, it wasn’t an island but a long and narrow part of the ocean with storm clouds and whirlpools drawn on it.

“That’s the Strip of Storms. From north to south it’s a narrow strip of ocean that constantly has stormy weather. Scientists and sailors have been studying it for years but nobody knows for sure why it’s like that. Makes travel a pain in the flank. If the treasure Senax is looking for isn’t at the Sea Lion Reefs we’ll probably have to travel back and forth around the Strip of Storms a couple of times as we navigate the ocean.” He scratched his head. “There are of course many other islands here in the Grand Ocean, but nothing I think I really need to tell you about right now. Some of the old legends like the Lost Island of the Lizard People might be important… but it’s called a lost island for a reason. Couldn’t point it out if I wanted to.”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash nodded a couple of times. “Now which one is Rum Haven?”

“East Light. That’s the island. Rum Haven is just the city on it. And it’s this one,” Breakwater said and pointed to a small island on the east side of the map, almost at the cliffs of the far end of the Undiscovered West.

“And just to let you know—if we come up empty at the Sea Lion Reefs, the next island we’re going to is called the Smoking Island,” Daylight said.

“Why’s it called that?”

“It has an active volcano on it.”

“Oh. Sweet.”

Breakwater sighed. “Yeah, most ponies avoid it because of that. But we’re not most ponies now, are we? Either way just because it’s active doesn’t mean it’s going to erupt anytime soon. Here-” he pointed at a medium-sized island just east of the Strip of Storms. “That’s the Smoking Island. There are also old rumors of some kind of “golden treasure” or something like that that can be found there. Other treasure hunters who have gone there have all come up short… or didn’t come back.”

“We can’t exactly allow ourselves to be dissuaded though,” Daylight shrugged.

“Not at all,” Breakwater agreed.

“It’s still possible we don’t even have to go there. But I can’t afford to rely on luck after how long we’ve been here,” Daylight said.

“I’d welcome the opportunity to treasure hunt on a volcanic island anyways,” Rainbow Dash said. She looked at the icy bottom of the map. “So that’s the south pole then, huh? Nobody lives there?”

“Not that I know of. I’ve sailed far enough to where you start seeing icebergs in the water, but I haven’t gone ashore there. If there is any sort of civilization living all the way down there then they don’t trade or sail up north,” Breakwater said.

“Guess I’ll figure it out in the future...” Rainbow trailed off.

“Anyways-” Daylight said. “I think it’s actually close to dinner already. If you don’t mind I’ll go let Gilbert and Senax know?”

“Go right ahead. Teaching Rainbow Dash here more about sailing can wait till after dinner I suppose,” Breakwater said.

“Great,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “So when are we getting to the Three Spears anyways?”

“We’ll be there in two days.”

Clear Skies and Calm Waters

In the crow’s nest of Heart of Azure, Rainbow Dash stood with her front hooves draped over the side, lazily looking ahead at the cool ocean water. Another ordinary day out on the ocean. One more full day after this and they should get to the Three Spears. But for now, Rainbow Dash was having to deal with a certain issue that had come up for her lately after being stuck out here on this boat.

“I’m so booooored,” Rainbow Dash slumped down and rested her chin on the side of the crow’s nest as well. “Seriously, why can’t this boat go any faster? Me and Gilbert could flap some wind into it… or pull it with some ropes attached to us. I’m just so tired of seeing nothing but water.”

The reality was she knew it didn’t really matter that much. The boat could only go so fast even if she helped out and they had to travel with it since it’s not like she and Gilbert could carry the other three from island to island. It was just the initial excitement of making it out onto the open ocean was starting to wear off. Not only that but she had finally been filled in on what the purpose of all this was—there was simply nothing else going on for her right now. Not unless she wanted to start learning even more random nautical terms and facts. She had put a hold on those lessons after learning the important things. Her mind could only take so much boring knowledge being crammed inside it.

“Blehhhh,” Rainbow Dash flapped her lips.

She had tried counting birds she saw. But there had barely been anymore since that one Albatross. So she started counting clouds instead, but that also got boring quickly and soon enough they even started sailing under a completely clear sky. So all she had to look at both up and down was just clear blue. The easy waves they traveled over gave her no excitement, and neither did the slight winds just calmly pushing their boat along.

“How do ponies deal with long ocean voyages like this? No wonder I don’t know many pegasi that have gone sailing...” she dropped away from the side and fell back inside the crow’s nest, lying on her back and looking up at the blue sky.

The crow’s nest had still quickly become her favorite place to stay on the ship when she wasn’t just flying off on her own. It was the highest point, go figure. She and Gilbert often traded it off, and right now he was flying off somewhere.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t even really gather the enthusiasm to do that though.

If they just got to the Three Spears soon she’d at least have something new to see and explore. She could fly all around those islands and check out every last bit of them. Mountains sticking right up out of the water with tropical fruits growing everywhere? Yeah, she’d take that compared to staying on a small boat surrounded by nothing but clear blue water in every direction. Her wings needed that, and everything else was craving something new and exciting. Maybe they’d even meet other ponies there she could talk to.

Like Daylight had said, it would kind of just be a cool thing to celebrate getting to see and step on her first island out here. It was a big deal. She could jump right off the boat and into the lagoon water, or onto a sandy beach. It would be awesome. Her first, her very first stop out here on an ocean that was bigger than any other place she had traveled to on her journey so far.

Rainbow Dash almost considered that sort of momentous occasion the real start to her ocean adventure.

And even then it was just a brief stop. The Sea Lion Reefs was where they were actually going for real.

...which made Rainbow Dash worried that she might have to wait even longer before anything exciting happened. The Reefs didn’t look too far from the Three Spears on that map but it had to still be at least a couple of days by boat. So right after her first island she was going to be back to nothing but trudging over the calm ocean waves again.

She had to fly more or she was going to go insane.

Closing her eyes as she lied there in the crow’s nest, she allowed herself to simply feel the gentle rocking and movement of the boat once more. Maybe a nap would do her some good if she wasn’t going to do anything else. A nap was always good.

“I say, Rainbow Dash, you look positively bored out of your mind!”

Rainbow’s eyes slowly opened back up to see Gilbert peering into the crow’s nest at her.

“Thanks, Gilbert. I didn’t think I looked exactly like I felt. So thanks for informing me.”

“You’re welcome! But why so bored? It’s a beautiful day out here, the smell of the ocean is in the air, doesn’t it just make you delighted?” He took a deep breath and held a talon to his chest. “Ahhh… the ocean.”

“I need a little more activity to not get bored,” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up, once more placing her hooves on the edge of the crow’s nest and looking out at the great expanse of water.

Gilbert perched on the horizontal beam of the mast and looked with her. “I see, I see.”

“Do you?”

“But of course! Though I seem to have a far easier time dealing with the quiet moments than you do, don’t forget that I left Griffonstone searching for fun and adventure in the first place as well.”

“I guess that’s true… funny how we started off just wanting the same thing and now here we are on an adventure together. You seemed to have left on a whim just as much as I did.”

“A flight of passion,” Gilbert nodded.

Rainbow grinned. “Heh—yeah. I guess you would be pretty good at seeing eye to eye with me, Gilbert.”

“So then perhaps an idea I have now might be something you’d be interested in?”

She looked over at him. “What idea?”

“Care for a race?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and she stood up straighter, her wings unconsciously fluttering at her sides. “A race?”

“Well from what you’ve told us about yourself you seem to love a good race. A good competition of any sort. You’re quite the flier, right? I myself can’t say I’m anything special but I’m up for a fun contest between friends if it’ll give you something to enjoy.”

“A race...” Rainbow Dash hopped up so she was standing on the rim of the crow’s nest. “Yeah… that’s good… that’s exactly what I need right now!” She grinned. “Good thinking, Gilbert!”

He chuckled awkwardly. “Like I said though it won’t be much of a contest for you if you’re going all out, not if you’re half as fast as you’ve said you are.”

“I’m probably even better than I’ve said I am, but don’t worry about it. I’ll hold back, or even if I go full speed then so what? We’re just having fun!” Rainbow Dash.

“Very true.”

“I already know I can beat anybody else in a race, but flying is still more fun when you’re doing it for a reason,” Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air and flapped her wings, ascending high over the Heart of Azure. She raised a teasing eyebrow down at the griffon. “You coming or what?”

“Haha! Of course!” Gilbert spread his larger wings and took to the air with her.

From down below, Daylight Gleam peered up at them, putting a hoof over her eyes to block out the sun. “What are you two doing?”

“Having a race!” Rainbow yelled.

Daylight shrugged. “Have fun I guess.”

“Not everyone is as allergic to fun as you are,” Senax snickered from beside her.

“Oh whatever...”

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flew up and up until the Heart of Azure was no more than the size of a pebble in their vision. So high up they could see for miles in every direction, see the deep blue ocean water, see the sun glimmering on its surface. There was no sign of any islands just yet, but Gilbert was at least right about it being a beautiful day. With some more positivity running through her head, Rainbow Dash could appreciate it better.

“How do we decide where we’re racing too?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Hmm...” Gilbert looked around with his sharp eyes before he smirked. “Ah! There aren’t hardly any clouds around, but I spot one out there!”

Rainbow followed his gaze and saw a low-flying puffy cloud out in the distance. Most of the sky was so clear it stuck out pretty well. She punched her hooves together and licked her lips in anticipation. “Alright! There and back it is.”

“I’ll count to three and then we’re off!”

“Go for it!”

“One… two… three!”

As soon as the final word left Gilbert’s beak, both of the winged friends shot off at high-speed towards the far away cloud. Rainbow Dash didn’t even remotely go at full speed right from the start, she wanted to ease into it. And she didn’t want to leave Gilbert in the dust that quickly. As the wind billowed past her face she looked to her side to see how he was doing. For the moment he was doing decently at keeping up with her—actually flying pretty fast for a griffon.

Rainbow Dash grinned, knowing she wasn’t in any danger of actually losing this race. She hadn’t had a real race since… that time in the Metal Mountain? Every other time she flew was just for leisure, travel, or part of a fight.

“How you feeling, Gilbert?” She shouted to him as the wind whipped by.

“Haha, I can at least still keep up for this!” He shouted back to her.

Rainbow glanced ahead and saw they were about halfway to the cloud already. “Let’s pick up the speed then!”

With a strong flap of her wings she shot ahead of him with complete ease, even creating a blast of air pressure that shook Gilbert. He recovered in a second but she was already far ahead of him—and flying faster than he could ever match.

“Not unexpected...” Gilbert smiled and still flew forward as fast as he could.

“Come on, Gilbert! Don’t give up so quickly!”

“I’m not giving up, I’m just pacing myself!”

“Hahahaha!” Rainbow laughed at his excuse. The cloud was coming up and she could easily slingshot around it and start heading right back to Heart of Azure. She was willing to bet that if she had gone all out from the beginning that she could finished the race before Gilbert even made it to the cloud.

She hoped Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater were all watching this too. It was even better when there was an audience. Victory was a good enough prize, and cheers only sweetened it.

In a second she had reached the cloud and with a sharp turn she rocketed around it. Her body blurred a mix of blue and rainbow as she completed the first half of the race and started on her way back to the boat. It was a split-second that she flew past Gilbert at lightning speed, getting to see his shocked face and hearing a squawk of surprise from his beak. Now he was getting a front row seat to just how fast she could really fly. Rainbow was hoping her words couldn’t do it justice. There were some things you just needed to see and experience for yourself.

Now she was angling down and going fast for the Heart of Azure. The only thing not just deep blue out on the ocean, it was easy to spot. If she didn’t slow down before she reached it, the tornado she was practically brewing behind her might blow it off course. Considering she was sure Gilbert was nowhere near her she probably didn’t need to put this much effort into winning the race. But it was fun to just push herself too.

“Guess who the gold metal is about to go to!” She shouted to the wind as the ship grew bigger and bigger in her vision. She didn’t even know or care how far ahead of Gilbert she was at this point.

She could see the figures of Daylight, Senax and Breakwater down there but none of them seemed to be actually watching her and Gilbert. Their loss. Next time she and Gilbert really needed to get them involved too.

Hopefully his spirit wasn’t too broken by how badly she could beat him—another race would be awesome.

Rainbow Dash was coming down fast and would land on the Heart of Azure in seconds, so she put on the breaks and glided down over the main deck’s railing, skidding to a stop just in front of the mast.

“Have you ever seen a landing as clean as that?” She grinned at the others.

“Eh, seen a few seagulls land just as well,” Breakwater shrugged from the helm.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Liar.”

“It was very impressive,” Daylight clapped her hooves together with a smirk on her face.

“You’re very fast,” Senax giggled and nodded.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Ugh… your guys’s congratulations and cheers could use a lot of work. Next time I’ll show you how to do it.”

“I-I say… I say you are indeed quite fast!” A breathless voice came from above.

They looked up to see a tired looking Gilbert descending to the deck. He landed with a heavy plop and brought a talon up to wipe away the sweat that had gathered on his forehead.

“You became nothing more than a blur, I couldn’t keep up at all!” Gilbert said.

“Racing’s just my specialty,” Rainbow shrugged. “Was fast as a kid and I’ve gotten better and better as time goes by. I’m the fastest thing you’ll see on wings.” She glanced over at Daylight and Senax. “Hey, one of you should totally time me next time me and Gilbert race, then I can try and break my old time.”

“I w-wouldn’t mind that either. Nothing wrong with a little… a little self-improvement,” Gilbert said. He was still a bit winded.

“Fine, fine, I’ll take care of that,” Daylight said. “You two featherbrains...”

“Just don’t go too fast and start a hurricane around us!” Breakwater shouted.

“Hey don’t worry, I’ll be careful when it comes to the boat. Not like I capsized it just now, right?” Rainbow Dash saluted him.

“Perhaps next time instead of an aerial race with Gilbert or a test of your own speed you’d like to have a swimming race with me?” Senax proposed.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. Senax was fast underwater, she had seen that already. Rainbow was certain she could swim pretty fast as well but she doubted she could match Senax’s speed in the water. But so what? Even if it wasn’t her forte she wasn’t going to turn down what could be a fun race. Especially since more swimming would probably be good for her. A grin spread across her face. “Heh, alright, you’re on too!”

“I...I still want a rematch as well!” Gilbert said, panting.

Rainbow looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. “Sure. But how big of a handicap do you want me to give you this time?”

“Hardy-har-har...”

Pirate

Rainbow Dash sat down in the crow’s nest with her tail swishing about behind her in excitement. Today was the day they finally arrived at the Three Spears. According to Breakwater she should even be able to see the trio of islands on the horizon soon. She couldn’t wait. She just couldn’t wait at all. Down below, Gilbert was sleeping in the hold while Senax was at the helm with Breakwater watching over her and Daylight was in the cabin doing who knows what. She thought Gilbert kind of had the right idea, taking a midday nap, but she was a little too wired for something like that.

She wanted to be up here when the islands first came into view. She wanted to be able to whistle down to the others that she saw them so maybe they could speed up in the last leg of their journey. Maybe then she could even fly ahead and arrive at the islands well before they did. Just to give herself something to do and a place to explore.

The spyglass in the crow’s nest was sitting there for her but at this point it wouldn’t be any help. Her eyes were already good enough to see as far ahead to the horizon as possible. Until the islands were actually in view she had no need for it. When they were she could use it to get a more up-close and detailed first look at the islands.

Idly she thought about how she probably could’ve used that spyglass to maybe help herself be a little less bored over the previous few days. She could’ve used it to spot any small islands, clouds, schools of fish below the water, or just spin around and see if anything random was out there when she stopped. After all, even after the lesson, she hardly knew anything about this ocean. She may have found something fun and interesting that she was never expecting at all. Maybe she could’ve found another gigantic whale. Or discovered another ship sailing out here going off on its own journey. This huge ocean had to contain all sorts of ordinary and extraordinary wonders.

With a yawn, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a big stretch. She opened and closed her mouth a few times to get the kinks out and looked across the deep blue waters and the calm skies to the south.

Dead ahead, in the direction of the Three Spears, everything looked perfect. But a frown slowly came to Rainbow Dash’s face as she began to notice something else. The sky was becoming darker to the east, it was the tell-tale sign of an early storm. From what she remembered, the Strip of Storms was in that direction, was this a consequence of it? Perhaps storms occasionally moved away from it and blew elsewhere into the ocean.

Maybe she did have another use for that spyglass right now.

Rainbow Dash unclipped it from its spot and extended it out, looking through the scope at the darker sky to the east. However much this increased her vision by, it was enough for her to see black clouds full of thunder and lightning forming over the ocean, with brackish waves already rolling about beneath, at the mercy of the young storm’s strong winds. While it didn’t look like the storm covered much area it was fairly intense for its size. She studied it as intently as she could—being absolutely no stranger to storms. In fact, she could even be said to be an expert on them.

Going by the winds… the way the ocean is moving…

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue. “Well that’s just great…”

“Aye, you’re right about that, Rainbow Dash.” Breakwater said as he looked through the spyglass on the aft of the boat, peering through it at the dark storm far off in the distance. He sighed and folded the spyglass up. “Big storm brewing there… and it’s going the same direction we are.”

“Do we have to change course? We still need to stop at the Three Spears for fresh water don’t we?” Daylight Gleam asked him.

Breakwater shook his head. “Actually we’re lucky. I know storms pretty well, it’s true that that one’s going to hit the Three Spears but at the speed it’s moving it won’t arrive there until tomorrow. We won’t have any time to relax like we wanted but we’ll still have plenty of time to do what we need to.” He glanced at Rainbow. “Sorry you won’t get to have as much fun at your first island as we were promising, it’ll just be a quick stop and go.”

“I can deal. Just glad that storm’s not as big a problem as I was worried it might be,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Yep,” Breakwater nodded.

“I’m going to go wake Gilbert up and tell him the news,” Daylight said and began walking down to get into the hold.

“So I’m not going to have to sail through a storm?” Senax asked.

Breakwater scoffed. “No, you certainly aren’t going to have to do that. Even if we couldn’t avoid it I don’t exactly trust you with the Heart in a situation like that. No offense.”

“None taken,” Senax said in relief.

Rainbow Dash looked to the east at the approaching storm that was already becoming more visible with just the naked eye. Stupid storm out here trying to ruin her fun. “I’m gonna stay up in the crow’s nest and keep an eye on it or whatever. How much longer until we get to the Three Spears?”

“Two hours give or take,” Breakwater said and hoofed the spyglass back to her. “You’ll see em soon.”

“Not much longer then, cool,” Rainbow said and took the spyglass. “How many bad storms have you been through anyways?”

“Too many. Most were when I wasn’t the captain, I’ll have you know. Dumb bravados thinking they have nothing to fear, or greedy ponies not wanting to be late for a delivery, and sometimes it’s just ponies being unlucky and having a storm bear down on them from out of nowhere. Can’t always avoid it. I’ve been in a couple of wrecks, had one galleon I was a deckhoof on flat out capsize from a big wave even. Yeah I still remember the heavy rain and the howling winds from that night… that’s just how the ocean is.” Breakwater took a moment of silence and breathed in deeply before continuing. “I’m a good captain though, I won’t be sailing us into anything stupid or dangerous that we can avoid. And you don’t have a better pony with you to steer a ship if we ever are stuck in the middle of a bad storm.”

Rainbow grinned. “I kind of felt that way since getting to know you.”

“Yeah, yeah, enough with all that. On the other hoof I still don’t know entirely what to make of you. You’re a weird one no doubt, good, capable, but weird.”

“I prefer the term “awesome” but anything’s better than boring I guess.”

“I don’t think you need anymore flattering.”

“Nothing wrong with some flattery if you’re being honest about it…” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and ascended back up to the crow’s nest. Quietly she spoke to herself: “And even I could use some encouragement sometimes after some of the stuff I’ve been through on this side of the world…”

“What was that?” Breakwater called up after her.

She smirked and shook her head. “Nothing. Just talking to myself, you and Senax have fun steering the ship.”

She saw Breakwater shrug and get back to watching over Senax, cutting in and instructing her whenever she made even a tiny mistake or didn’t keep the wheel steady. Senax to her credit took everything in stride, knowing it was all for a good reason. In a short second, Gilbert came out of the hold with Daylight trailing right behind. The griffon took a huge stretch the moment he stepped onto the deck and ended up whacking the unicorn in the face with his big wings. Rainbow Dash bit back a laugh when she saw that. Daylight certainly didn’t find it amusing, nor did Gilbert’s practiced apology do much to assuage her mood. With an amused shake of her head, Rainbow turned her attention away from them and opened up the spyglass once more to keep an eye on the storm. It was still moving southwest to the Three Spears. Nothing had changed its course.

Putting the spyglass down, Rainbow Dash whistled as she looked up at the sun too, it was still early afternoon so they’d hit the Three Spears well before it was dark. That was at least one more positive thing to note, since they weren’t going to be spending as much time there now. Her eyes kept shifting between south as she hoped to get a glimpse of their destination at any moment and at the growing storm to the east. Though it was too far for the sounds of thunder to reach them yet, Rainbow Dash could see a few bolts of lightning going off in the black clouds every now and then.

She twirled the spyglass around in her hooves out of boredom. For a moment she thought about flying off for a bit just to move around, or even get closer to that storm to see how impressive storms out on the ocean could be. But rationality won out in the end—she should probably just relax till they got to the Three Spears. Instead she took a gander to the west to see if there was anything out there either. Seeing nothing but open ocean, she turned around to watch over the waters they had traveled through.

Nothing there ei-

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash blinked. She completely moved around the crow’s nest and stretched her head over the backside, peering out back north and squinting her eyes to see as best she could.

There was a dot along the horizon. Directly behind them.

That didn’t make any sense. Obviously they hadn’t passed by anything, she would’ve seen it.

She tilted her head as an obvious realization came to mind. Ohhh… that was another ship. Duh. There was just another ship trailing behind them, probably also on their way to the Three Spears. Made sense.

Rainbow Dash nodded her head a few times and plopped back down in the crow’s nest. Obviously some other ships probably from Malkonrik’s port had the Three Spears as an easy stop to make when they were going further into the ocean. She rubbed her chin and looked over at the large storm to the east. This other ship had to have seen it already too, even though they were far back, were they still coming even though they might get caught in it now? It made her a little concerned for them. Depending on how fast their ship was actually sailing they might still get to the Three Spears and leave before the storm actually hit too though.

Wanting to check it out, she got the spyglass again and aimed it right at the ship to the north. Now it was more than just a dot out there.

Instantly she could tell that what she was looking at was much bigger than Heart of Azure. It not only rose out of the water much higher, but it was wider, there were multiple sails on just the one mast she could see, and she was pretty certain there were multiple other masts on it as well. The bowsprit was carved with the head of a roaring dragon at the end as well. Rainbow Dash bit her lip, she hadn’t seen any ships at Malkonrik’s port with something like that. Another thing… the sails were all jet-black. Why? That was different from all the other ships she had seen too. Glancing up at the opposing crow’s nest, she saw a flag waving from the very top of the mast: a black flag with a pair of golden wings flanking some kind of skull in the middle.

Looking at how the waves were breaking at the front of the ship it was moving pretty fast too. It was cruising over the water at a speed much faster than their own.

Rainbow Dash was getting a bad feeling from all of this.

“Uh… hey down there!” She shouted to the others. When they looked up at her she continued. “How common is it for other ships to come from Malkonrik to the Three Spears?”

“You see one?” Breakwater asked. “That’s nothing strange, we’re on a common route.”

“Okay...” Rainbow Dash nodded. “But how many of those ships have black sails and strange flags flying above them?”

“What?!” Breakwater shouted while the other three all paled and shared a worried look.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew down from the crow’s nest with the spyglass in hoof and gave it over to Breakwater, pointing over the back of the ship to the north. She, Breakwater, Daylight, and Gilbert all moved to the back of the boat and looked out over it while Senax stayed at the wheel. The merpony though was also looking over her shoulder at the rest of them with a concerned look of fear on her face.

Breakwater looked through the spyglass towards where Rainbow Dash was pointing and quickly zeroed in on the large ship directly behind him. A sharp intake of breath soon followed.

“Is it him?” Daylight asked, frowning.

“It’s The Scourge. It’s him,” Breakwater nodded while lowering the spyglass.

“Who?” Rainbow asked.

No one answered her, Breakwater immediately turned around and tossed the spyglass to the deck.

“Senax! Give me the wheel!” He shouted.

“Y-Yes, Captain!” The merpony bowed right out of the way.

“They’re still far back but they’ll gain on us quickly… we can’t match their speed at all. I think we’ll still get to the Three Spears before we come in range of their cannons though,” Breakwater said as he steered the ship onward. “But that’s just going to delay things...”

“I doubt they’ll fall for the same trick as last time either...” Daylight muttered.

“How did he find us again so quickly?” Gilbert asked, stroking his mustache as he continued to gaze back at the approaching ship. “Are we truly so unlucky or is it a sixth sense he has?”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash looked back and forth between them all with a frown on her face. “Could I get clued in here a little? I take it that ship—The Scourge—is bad news?”

“That’s putting it very lightly,” Daylight bit her lip. “It’s an… adversary we’ve had a few run ins with before.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up. “Pirates? Is that a pirate ship coming after us?”

“Not just any pirate ship...” Senax said.

Rainbow Dash looked at the merpony and saw that she was practically shaking in fright.

“There might still be some hope for us—if we can get to the Three Spears quickly and hide in an out of the way cove or some hidden spot, we can stay until nightfall and then get out of there!” Breakwater said. “Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, I want you to fly ahead of us and go to the islands. Find what we need and get back here as quick as you can!”

“You got it!” Rainbow saluted with a grin. She was excited, excited that she might get a chance to fight some pirates too.

Gilbert seemed a fair bit less excited but he still prepared to join her, the two of them prepared to jump down the raised aft of the ship while Daylight took Senax by the hoof to walk her down as well.

“Come on Senax, you can stay in the cabin… but I’m going to get the Horn of Listening for now,” Daylight said.

Hearing that word “Listening”. It ticked something in Rainbow’s brain. They had all been panicking and moving around so much that she didn’t notice it until now, but she could hear something against the backdrop of their ship and the ocean winds. She stopped right before jumping up with Gilbert and instead grabbed his front arm to keep him down as well.

“Rainbow Dash?” He glanced at her in confusion.

“I hear something… whistling...” Rainbow Dash frowned. “What is that?”

“Whistling?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, just give me a second. It’s like something moving really fast through the air… or… falling through the air.” Her eyes shot wide open and she looked up into the sky, the sun still coming down almost directly overhead at them and practically blinding her. But she still saw a shadow diving right towards them. “LOOK OUT!”

Her shout came a second too late. Everyone else looked up into the sky just as the thing she saw crashed down onto the Heart of Azure, right on the aft deck behind Breakwater and the wheel. The shockwave from the rough landing rocked the boat and kicked up a cloud of dust. Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, Senax, and Daylight were all knocked away and fell onto the main deck below.

Rainbow Dash stood up quickly and blinked the confusion away, hearing a sharp gasp from Senax to her side she looked up at the helm to see a large figure holding Captain Breakwater.

“C-Captain!” Senax cried.

Breakwater found himself in the grip of a large griffon—with a sharp cutlass placed directly up against his throat. He kept himself as calm and still as he could, but a bead of sweat was still making its way down the side of his head. The familiar griffon himself had a grin on his beak and his golden eyes twinkled as he looked down at the others.

“Well now,” Godfrey said. “I think we’ve been through this enough times for you to know how it goes. So for the sake of Captain Breakwater here, why don’t you all tell me where it is you’re going, and whatever new information you’ve learned about the Necklace and Trident of Ponyseidon.”

“G-Godfrey?” Rainbow Dash looked up at him with an open jaw. “What are you doing?”

Daylight Gleam and Gilbert both shot her a surprised look.

“You know him?” Daylight asked.

Godfrey on the other hoof seemed just as surprised to see Rainbow Dash there as well, an even bigger smile split his beak as his eyes met hers. “Hah! Well I’ll be, I didn’t know you joined up with these guys, Rainbow Dash. Talk about a fun coincidence.”

Her eyes narrowed at him, at the cutlass he was holding to Breakwater’s neck. “You’re a pirate…”

“He’s not just any pirate,” Gilbert said, also glaring up at the other griffon. “Since you’ve seemingly already met, allow me to give you a more formal introduction to him. The Griffon from Griffonstone, Captain of The Scourge, greatest terror of the Grand Ocean for years. The one who smashed the pirate alliance of Sharktooth Island. The one who drowned the Warrior Queen of Turtle Beach. The one who besieged and ransacked the rivers of Ullsorth till they caved to his demands, and the one who tied the tails of Bosche’s navy in knots.” Gilbert’s talons balled into angry fists. “The other reason we came here to the Grand Ocean—and the fiercest and most dangerous obstacle we’ve faced in our journey for Merlantis since. My brother—Godfrey Goldenwing!”

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX-ZGzVXohs

Godfrey Goldenwing

“Thank you, Gilbert. As your brother it really does warm my heart to know that you’ve kept up with my exploits. Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed as he continued to hold Breakwater in his threatening grip.

“Seriously?!” Rainbow Dash threw her hooves up in frustration. “I thought you were cool, Godfrey!”

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash. I had fun drinking with you that night but hey—what are you gonna do?” He mockingly smirked at her. “To be honest I was trying to scope you out and see if you had anything valuable at first, but that was a bust. Then you just became a fun pony to trade stories with, geha! I like you, but knowing who you are there was no way you’d join me on my ship once you learned who I was. Just rotten luck you had to join up with my brother and his friends instead and wind up as my enemy.”

“Grr—Let Breakwater go!” Rainbow Dash demanded, stomping a hoof down.

“I’ll think about it,” Godfrey chuckled before looking over at Daylight Gleam. “And if it isn’t the unicorn. I’ve got a bone to pick with you after that mirage trick you pulled last time.”

Daylight gulped and took a step back.

“Keep that horn dark if you don’t want Breakwater’s blood on your hooves,” Godfrey threatened. “Heh. I knew that you’d see The Scourge tailing you well before we got in range to use our cannons. And then you’d just try sneaking away again. So I flew up and out of sight to come aboard personally this time. Now my ship will be here soon and I can take you with me. Until then let’s all be nice and friendly while I’ve got Breakwater here.”

“Don’t kid around with us, Godfrey. You don’t take prisoners,” Gilbert said to him.

“Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert,” Godfrey shook his head. “You’re my brother, and killing you is the one line I don’t want to cross. But I will if you make me. And can’t you see that this is a good will offering? I wouldn’t know half as much about Merlantis and Ponyseidon’s treasures if it wasn’t for your friends. So I’m willing to let you live on The Scourge—in chains to be fair—until we’ve found those treasures.”

“Your word floats as well as an anchor,” Gilbert shook his head.

“Take your offer and shove it. Senax and her people deserve to have their home and artifacts back,” Daylight said.

“Is that right? You’ll say the same thing, merpony?” Godfrey raised an eyebrow at the frightened Senax.

Senax was shivering and hesitant, but shortly after she nodded. “Y-Yes. We won’t let you have the Trident. I know that’s all you care about… b-but you wont get the Necklace, the Horn, or be allowed to ransack my ancestral home either!”

“Heh, you tell him,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Hah!” Godfrey laughed at their defiance. “You know what? I’m glad you’re all showing some backbone! Getting anything so easily… without any struggle? Without a fight? It’s boring. That’s not why I came out to the Grand Ocean.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him and smirked at the large griffon, an idea forming in her head. “You know, I get that, Godfrey. Where’s the fun in doing something if there’s no challenge to it? Adventures, races, treasure hunts, it’s boring if you don’t have to fight or push yourself for any of it. I think you and me see eye to eye on that… so I’m just a little confused about something.”

“What would that be?” Godfrey asked, genuinely curious.

“Why would you do something so lame as take a hostage so we can’t even fight back?” Rainbow pointed at Breakwater. “Your brother makes you sound pretty tough. So what’s the deal? Didn’t think you could take us all in a fair fight? Instead of hiding behind a hostage, how about you act like a real griffon and show me what you’re made of.”

Godfrey looked down at her with a grin still on his beak while her friends also stared at her, clearly aware of what she was trying to do.

Suddenly the large griffon threw his head back and brayed with laughter. “Gehahahaha! That’s good, Rainbow Dash!” He narrowed his eyes in amusement at her. “You’re right, I don’t find much fun doing this. No challenge or anything to celebrate when winning like this. Oh sure, I have no problem being as merciless and cruel as I feel like, don’t underestimate me there, but hostage taking is still pretty boring.” His expression darkened and he strengthened his grip on his cutlass. “But I know you’re just trying to egg me on into doing something stupid. You’re a little behind though—since I already planned on making things more exciting!”

As soon as he finished speaking and before the others could even react, Godfrey jumped down with Breakwater still in his grip. He took his cutlass from the Captain’s throat and threw the earth pony directly at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow’s eyes widened as the heavy body of Breakwater smashed into her and knocked her over. Gilbert gasped with a start and went over to help the two of them up while Senax completely froze up in fear.

Meanwhile—Godfrey went straight for Daylight.

“You’re not using that troublesome magic today—or ever again!” Godfrey grinned and swung his cutlass in a wide arc at her head.

Daylight Gleam’s breath caught in her throat as the sharp blade came at her. Her horn glowed powder blue but she didn’t have any time to actually use a spell. On reflex, she stepped back half an inch just as the cutlass blade reached her.

A spurt of blood arced through the air and splattered on the deck next to them and Daylight cried out in pain while collapsing to the deck.

“Daylight!” Rainbow Dash and Gilbert yelled.

“Hah!” Godfrey grinned and lifted the cutlass up, blood dripping from its edge.

“I-I’m okay...” The white unicorn sat up, pushing herself away from Godfrey with one hoof while her other covered her forehead and left eye. A shallow, but profusely bleeding, cut had been made on her forehead right above the left eye.

“Good job not getting the top of your head lopped off. Where would the fun be if things ended so soon? Now stay down and let me teach my brother and your other friends a lesson,” Godfrey sneered.

“You-?!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t even finish her own sentence as she flew at the griffon pirate in a rage.

Gilbert flew right after her and Breakwater ran as well, Senax had managed to get over her immediate fear and made her way to pick Daylight up and keep her safe. Godfrey flicked the blood off his cutlass and then flew towards Rainbow Dash to meet her midway. She wasn’t expecting him to just charge directly at her or move so swiftly. His cutlass came swinging at her head, the speed and sharpness of the blade cutting through the air was audible, and Rainbow Dash barely ducked under it—she prepared to lunge at his chest only for him to swiftly bring the cutlass back down at her in an overhand blow. This time she jumped to the side right as it came down and smashed into the wooden planks of the deck.

She thought he might’ve accidentally gotten it stuck there and she jumped at him, pulling her hoof back to sock him in the face.

Godfrey though effortlessly yanked the cutlass loose and brought his arm swinging at her again. She was inside the range of the blade but he was still able to slam his closed talon and the pommel of the sword into her side.

“Guh!” Rainbow Dash coughed at the heavy hit and was sent flying backwards towards the mast of the vessel, the wind temporarily knocked out of her.

At the same time, Gilbert had jumped at Godfrey while Breakwater tried to attack him from the side where he wasn’t holding his cutlass. A swift kick from Godfrey caught Breakwater in the chest and knocked him back into the wall right under the helm. While with his free hand he reached up and grabbed Gilbert by the throat—stopping him cold in midair.

Rainbow Dash looked up as she rubbed the already bruising spot on her body. Wincing in pain she could see right there just how different the two brothers actually were. There were similarities to be sure, the green coloring of their headfeathers and golden sheen of the rest of their feathers for one, but Godfrey’s size and strength truly put Gilbert’s to shame. His thick arms, broad chest, and large head were a marked difference from Gilbert’s lithe form and narrow face.

Godfrey gave a brief snort of amusement and headbutted Gilbert with possibly enough force to break bone. He dropped his brother to the deck as Gilbert twitched in pain, and then turned his eyes to Senax and Daylight.

“Soon cannon fire is going to rain down on this pathetic little boat. All I need is to take the merpony with me and I don’t care what happens to the rest. You’re out of luck,” Godfrey said.

“Stop, Godfrey!” Rainbow Dash yelled at him. “Didn’t you say you wanted a real challenge instead of just picking on helpless ponies? I’m still here!”

“Hero of Equestria you may be but you don’t seem very special,” Godfrey shrugged.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh yeah? Want me to show you just how wrong you are? Come at me. See if you can keep up. Cause I’ve dealt with way worse things than some griffon-turned-pirate who thinks he’s hot stuff.”

“Don’t, Rainbow Dash! He’s-” Breakwater said before Godfrey interrupted.

“Really then? If you want to decide which one of us is just talk then that’s fine with me,” Godfrey smirked and pointed his blade at her. “So come on, Rainbow Dash, show me what you can do.”

“Heh. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. But let’s move somewhere with a little more room, huh? Unless you’re scared to not have any hostages around to threaten,” Rainbow said and flapped her wings, ascending up a few feet and getting ready to shoot off into the sky.

“Gehahaha… not at all,” Godfrey chuckled and flapped his large wings to join her.

“Cool. Let’s do this,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him and with one powerful flap of her wings she blasted up into the sky, creating a whirlwind of wind that ruffled the others on the boat. She went high above the mast—seeking to draw Godfrey far away from the others. She wanted to be able to move freely and not have to worry about accidentally doing any damage to the Heart of Azure. In an instant she was a hundred feet up above the ocean and ready to fight. The pain in her side was nothing that she hadn’t felt before, she took a deep breath and prepared herself. Looking back down she expected to see Godfrey making his way towards her.

What she got instead was a griffon barreling through the sky at such high speed he was practically upon her already.

Godfrey had a wide grin across his beak and his cutlass was held out and ready to slice through her once again.

What? Rainbow Dash thought as she saw him right there. He was a lot faster than she expected. Though considering how he entered earlier… he must’ve been a very powerful flier, she was underestimating him. She just didn’t expect anybody, pony, griffon, dragon, to be able to fly as good and as fast as she did.

“Hah!” Godfrey yelled and swung his cutlass right at her neck in an attempt to cut her head off all at once.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew backwards a step to avoid it completely—though she could still feel the wind from the swing pass right by her.

“Good dodge! I would’ve been disappointed to be honest if you died already,” Godfrey taunted.

“Thanks...” Rainbow Dash frowned at him and rubbed her neck. “So it’s really got to be this way I guess.”

“I aint complaining,” Godfrey shrugged.

“I enjoy a good fight too… but not with someone who I thought could be a friend.”

Godfrey nodded. “I suppose that’s the difference between us then. Cause I don’t care about that one bit.”

He lunged forward with his sword, swinging at Rainbow Dash with wild abandon and trying to cut her to ribbons. Slashing and slicing from every direction—his cutlass and arm were a total blur. Any other pony might have been overwhelmed or unable to follow his movements. But Rainbow’s eyes were top-notch, and her reflexes were even sharper. The speed of Godfrey’s attacks were impressive and surprising, but Rainbow Dash was still able to keep up with and react to them.

It didn’t matter to Godfrey though that he hadn’t been able to cut her yet, a happy grin was still on his face. A slash to the face, to the neck, her wings, horizontally, vertically, diagonally, he pressed the attack continuously and forced Rainbow to keep flying backwards as she juked and dodged the deadly cuts.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash! Where’s that spark? Where’s that dynamic spirit you were showing me? Stop just dodging and flying away and try and do something!”

She ducked under another slash going right for her head and shrugged. “Alright.”

With almost blinding speed she shot away from his sword, catching him by surprise, and flew around to his unguarded left. She extended a leg out and tried kicking him in the head right as she flew by, her wings propelling her at high speed.

Godfrey’s just as sharp eyes still caught her though. He flew out of the way and Rainbows hoof and body went flying past him. Trying to counter, he turned and brought his sword towards her in a wide slash but Rainbow was already flapping her wings to shoot up and over him. She flew in a loop and tried to get beneath him but Godfrey flew backwards and dropped down at the same time to keep level with her. This time though, Rainbow Dash still didn’t let him stay on offense. She could see his muscles tense in his arms and wings—he wanted to come at her—and with him having a weapon he probably thought she would want to keep him at bay instead of getting in close.

Well, Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let strategy or common sense stop her.

She rocketed straight at him to keep him off-balance and not let him keep this fight going at his pace. She could see the brief look of surprise as she came at him before it switched back to amusement. He liked that she wasn’t a coward, that much was certain.

Godfrey brought his cutlass up as she flew at him and aimed to practically cut her in half lengthwise with his latest slash.

Rainbow Dash minutely adjusted her flight. The slightest change in her wings, just barely twitching and moving them up, carried her over his blade at the last second. Her hooves only barely cleared it and she almost got her entire belly shaved of hair. But she still avoided being cut.

And now she was once again in prime position to knock his block off.

Rainbow Dash’s hoof came up, aimed right between his eyes.

Godfrey’s reflexes turned out to be extraordinary as well though—Rainbow’s hoof was but an inch from hitting him when he moved his head out of the way. She just barely managed to nudge his hat. As she grit her teeth in frustration she became acutely aware of his balled up fist coming at her in retaliation. Rainbow flapped her wings backwards and scooted out of the way of his powerful hook, which practically blew a just as powerful gust of wind into her face, but that left her open to a stab from his cutlass.

She couldn’t maneuver or adjust in time. Godfrey’s right arm shot out at her, the cutlass gripped tightly in his talon, its blade going right for her exposed midsection with a thrust that could surely skewer through armor and chain-mail.

“Die!” Godfrey yelled as the blade went right into her and Rainbow Dash’s body bent and doubled over, her head swinging down.

From below, those on the boat saw the shadows of the two silhouetted by the sun connect.

“Rainbow Dash!” Daylight Gleam screamed in horror.

“Hah,” Godfrey smirked… and then blinked as the smirk fell off his face. “Huh?”

“Grrr...” Rainbow Dash raised her head, a vein throbbing in her neck and her angry eyes glaring right at him. Right at her stomach where Godfrey had tried stabbing her, her hooves were clasped against the broad sides of the blade—stopping it a hair’s breadth from hitting her. She had only barely sucked in her gut and bent back enough to avoid it impaling her. Every ounce of strength she had was being put into her front hooves to stop the cutlass. Her muscles trembled and rippled in struggle with Godfrey’s.

“You think that’s gonna work?!” Rainbow yelled and flipped backwards. She yanked the cutlass away with everything she had and kicked his talon with her back hooves all in the same movement as she flipped.

Godfrey grunted from the kick and released his grip on the sword as Rainbow Dash managed to tear it away from him. She didn’t stop there, tossing the sword behind her and throwing it end over end to the ocean below where it landed with a splash and sunk down beneath the waves.

Rainbow grinned. “What are you going to do without your-”

A heavy fist smashed into her face and sent her spinning around before she came to a wobbly and dizzy stop. Rainbow Dash blinked a few times—her vision blurry—and rubbed her head.

“That’s what I’m going to do,” Godfrey smiled. “That was my favorite sword by the way.”

“M-Makes sense...” Rainbow shook her head to try and get over the double-vision. He was just as strong as he was fast, that single punch almost floored her.

Godfrey raised his dukes and got into something resembling a floating boxing stance as the two faced off in the sky. “Come on, come on, I’m plenty used to fighting like this too.”

“I bet,” Rainbow scowled and rotated her jaw, finally feeling okay to move again.

She made a few jabs with her hooves to loosen herself up before taking a deep breath and getting ready to move in.

“Rainbow Dash, forget about it!” Breakwater yelled from below, interrupting them. “His ship is getting closer, they’ll be able to bombard us soon!”

Rainbow Dash looked past Godfrey briefly and saw that his large galleon was indeed closing in on them. She didn’t need the spyglass anymore to make out the dark details of the ship. “Tch.”

“Oh? Gonna just run away?” Godfrey taunted her.

“Come on, there’s no reason to fight anymore right now! He can’t take us all down quickly enough with you here now and he knows it! He’s just stalling for time now. Get down here and Daylight can help get us to safety!” Breakwater told her.

“You’re not going to be able to lose me with the same trick again!” Godfrey shouted down to them. “I know you’ll be stopping at the Three Spears, you can’t get away that easily. Your mirages and illusions aren’t perfect, on a clear day like this I can still see the trail your boat leaves in the water.”

Gilbert then flew up from the Heart of Azure. He was flying a little sloppily after that headbutt, but he still reached the two of them and floated right next to Rainbow Dash.

“Fly back to your ship, Godfrey,” Gilbert said to his brother.

“Gehahahaha! Or what?” Godfrey laughed. “The Scourge will fire on you. Maybe I don’t care if you all go down with your little dingy. Maybe I can find the Trident myself?”

“No—he’s right. The fight was fun, Godfrey, but it’s over for now. I’m not going to let myself get caught up in something dumb like this while my friends are in danger,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. A part of her wanted to taunt him, tell him that he couldn’t win now without his sword and against all five of them at once, but that would probably have the opposite reaction. “You still want a challenge? Come back later, but right now I’m making sure we get to those islands safely.”

A grin split Godfrey’s beak as he kept his fists raised… before lowering them and shrugging. “Meh, alright. We’ve still got you dead to rights. Even if you disguise your ship so we can’t fire on you we’ll still find you at those islands. That’s a promise. It was fun getting to see you all again, heh.” He laughed and turned around flying away quickly towards his large ship. He looked over his shoulder at Rainbow Dash. “Especially you, Rainbow Dash!”

She frowned as he left, his golden wings flapping hard in the air. “That’s not the word I would use...”

Pursuit

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert landed on the deck of the Heart of Azure. Breakwater was once again behind the wheel, and Senax had put a bandage over Daylight’s cut. The bandage had already been soaked through with red, and blood still covered a lot of the unicorn’s face, but she at least looked stable.

“It’s good you convinced him to leave, otherwise this distraction would never work,” Daylight said to Rainbow.

“He’s a thrillseeker,” Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance. “I just had to make it seem like nothing he could do would give him a fun fight anymore from me. I… I think he definitely knew he could’ve made things worse for us if he stayed around. He really had us in a bind if he just kept occupying me. Instead he practically let us go free.”

“We’ll make him regret that decision when we slip away from him again,” Daylight scowled.

“So how does your illusion or whatever work then? He said you tricked him once?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her. “Why’d you need me to come back down here?”

“When it comes to magic, my specialty is manipulating light. I can create mirages or make us look invisible out here on the open ocean by bending light. It’s difficult to maintain such a big spell… but I’ve done it before.”

“And you knocked yourself out for a day after,” Gilbert said to her.

“And you didn’t have a head injury last time,” a panicked Senax said as she looked at Daylight’s wound.

“I can do it. I just need to concentrate,” Daylight frowned. “We’re just lucky Godfrey isn’t here to interfere. I’d never be able to maintain the spell with him around… and with his eyes he’d probably be able to pick out any minor inconsistencies around it to see where we were anyways. Or just hear us.” She took a deep sigh. “That’s why we needed you back onboard, Rainbow Dash. We couldn’t have you lose sight of us—you have to be on the ship as well when I put my camouflage spell around it.”

“But Godfrey said they can still follow the trail in the water that out boat leaves...” Rainbow said.

“Doesn’t matter,” Breakwater said from the helm. “As long as we can get to the Three Spears before The Scourge is on top of us, we’ll be obscured from their direct view and the different waves and currents around the islands will wash away our trail. All he’ll know for sure is that we’ve decided to lay anchor somewhere at the Spears. We just need to get there quickly and find a spot to hide at.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Alright, you guys are the experts at sailing. Guess I’m not scouting ahead anymore?”

“No. We can’t have you going in and out of the camouflage spell—not while they’re in firing range,” Daylight said.

“It’s not all so bad though—look!” Breakwater said and pointed ahead.

Rainbow Dash did and on the horizon she and the others saw a trio of sharp mountains shooting right up out of the water in the distance. She could already see the rocky cliffs rising straight from the water, it didn’t look like there were any beaches or coves to dock at on this side, not that they would want to anyways with Godfrey right behind them. The water passages in between the three islands looked relatively narrow, but still easily wide enough for either their ship or his to pass through. White waves washed up along the cliffs and Rainbow could spot greenery like trees and other vegetation higher up on the Spears.

“Can you think of any good place to hide there without me going to look?” Rainbow Dash asked Breakwater.

“I know the southern sides of the islands have a lot of small coves and inlets carved into them by the ocean and winds over time. So I’ve got a general idea at least,” Breakwater said.

“Good enough,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I’m going to activate my camouflage spell now, everybody stay still, I don’t need this boat rocking anymore than it already is,” Daylight Gleam said and steadied herself, Senax helping to support her while Gilbert stood by the mast and rubbed his forehead. Rainbow Dash watched to see exactly what she needed to do. Magic spells were no stranger to her, but her primary experience with them was from super experts like Twilight and Starlight—who she knew were a million times more powerful than regular unicorns.

Daylight took a deep breath and her horn started to glow with a powder blue aura. Her face was already sweaty and pale even before she did anything, probably a result of blood loss, and Rainbow Dash bit her lip in concern.

“Okay… here goes!” Daylight said and a blue beam of magic shot up from her horn. The moment it reached just higher than the mast it expanded outward like a canopy or tent coming down like a dome over the entire boat. Daylight had to grit her teeth and focus extra hard at this point as the dome covered everything on its way to touching down against the water. Shimmering in the air, it hit the water and then extended under it as well, before making a perfect sphere around the entire ship. Daylight was practically shaking as she finished, but she finally nodded her head. “T-There… the camouflage is up. They shouldn’t be able to see us from the outside...”

Rainbow Dash looked at the dome around them, it was like looking out from inside of a bubble, light was bending in a weird way. “Huh...”

“This is very troublesome right now...” Daylight grunted, standing stock still with her horn still glowing.

“Keep it up! I think you’re doing a great job!” Rainbow grinned at her. “Er… at least I bet you are… since I can’t exactly see what it looks like on the outside.”

Daylight rolled her eyes and ignored her.

“It’s far easier to do this on a smaller scale and on stable ground. Water warps and reflects light as well, so Daylight’s spells have to be extra-refined,” Gilbert explained to Rainbow Dash as he walked over. “There’s no way to actually make the camouflage perfect in a situation like this—but she can come close.”

“We’re still not out of the woods until we get to the Three Spears,” Breakwater said. “I wouldn’t put it past Godfrey to open fire on our location anyways...”

Rainbow Dash frowned and gently flew up to the aft of the ship. Looking out, she could see The Scourge coming down hard at them, gaining distance every second. It was certain that there was absolutely no way Godfrey would be letting up. She couldn’t help but clench her hooves in anticipation of getting to meet him face to face again.

Godfrey landed on the bow of his huge pirate ship and tucked his wings in, a grin still spread across his beak as his subordinates ran up to him. The main deck was busy with activity—ponies worked the sails and others had been bringing cannonballs up from the hold and stacking them by the top level cannons. One large earth pony cracked a whip at some of the lower-ranked pirates, trying to get them to move faster and work harder. At the bridge near the back of the ship, his helmsman kept the large ship steady as it crushed over the ocean waves. Ponies climbed up and down the masts, pulling ropes and adjusting the rigging to get as much out of the sails as they could. A unicorn halfway up the mainmast beat anyone working too slowly with a leather strap.

“Ahhh,” Godfrey sighed in joy as he stood proudly on the bow.

“Captain! Welcome back aboard!” His first mate—a red unicorn with a nasty scar on his face and a peg leg replacing his left back leg—said as he reached him. “Did you…?”

“Heh, no I didn’t get anything from them, Shanty. They have a new crewmate who gave me a fun time instead. We’ll just chase em down and corner them the old fashioned way,” Godfrey said.

“Yes, Captain. But I’ve been watching and… that unicorn of theirs has already made them disappear,” Sea Shanty pointed off the bow towards where the Heart of Azure had been.

Godfrey looked over his shoulder briefly and raised an eyebrow at the now “empty” sea between them and the Three Spears. He shrugged and looked back at Sea Shanty. “Eh, we always knew they would do that. If you and Thunder Wing up in the crow’s nest were keeping watch then you should still know about where they are, right?”

“Yes, we didn’t blink, Captain. Just like you said,” Sea Shanty nodded.

“Good, otherwise I’d have to cut off another one of your legs. Get the long guns ready and send them a volley. I wouldn’t want things to be boring for them on their way to the Three Spears,” Godfrey said and stepped past his first mate. Idly his talons twitched and ran across his now empty scabbard hanging at his side. “I’ll be in my cabin until we reach the Spears… and I need to grab myself a new sword.”

Sea Shanty nodded and sped off to the stairs leading below decks while Godfrey marched past the rest of his crew to the captain’s cabin at the back of The Scourge. An amused smirk danced on his beak the entire time.

Down below, on the gun deck right below the main deck, ponies were now moving briskly according to Sea Shanty’s orders. While on the port and starboard sides of the vessel there were numerous cannons lined up, their barrels already protruding from their gun ports in the ship, those weren’t the ones that were going to be used now. After all, their quarry was directly ahead of them. Another fat earth pony who had half his teeth missing was whipping the lowly workers forwards to the bow of the ship.

At the bow were the two largest cannons The Scourge had. Twin 12-pound long guns. The barrels were elongated compared to the others, giving them a far superior firing range. Ponies pulled away at a set of chains to remove the wooden boards that concealed them, and the two large cannons were wheeled forwards until their barrels ran parallel to the draconic bowsprit. Others brought forward the heavy cannonballs one by one until a pyramidal pile was sitting next to both of them. Now they were ready to open fire at the Heart of Azure.

In reality, Sea Shanty knew that Godfrey probably didn’t expect them to actually hit the other ship. Not at this range and not with them being unable to actually see the vessel. He just wanted them harried.

And far be it for him to disobey any order his captain gave.

Sea Shanty shivered as a phantom pain wormed its way up his missing leg. “Get ready to fire!”

The gunners opened up the back of the cannons and the loaders put the first of many cannonballs into the big guns. The cannons were then closed and locked while a pony came forward with the matches for their fuses. Something that needed to be handled very carefully considering all the explosives down here. A pair of ponies struck their matches and held them by the short fuses, before looking to Sea Shanty for the order.

The first mate nodded. “Fire!”

Rainbow Dash stood at the bow of the Heart of Azure with a hard frown set on her face. She was staring straight ahead at the Three Spears—the trio of mountain islands getting closer and closer. By the look of things, at this point they should arrive there in about half an hour. Then they could navigate to the southern faces of one of the islands and find a place to hide. Thankfully, they could use the islands themselves to block The Scourge from directly seeing them fairly soon, and then Daylight could relax her spell.

A thunderclap erupted over the ocean and Rainbow Dash briefly looked east at the approaching storm.

“Wait… that’s not the direction it came from.”

The next thing she heard was a high-pitched whistling sound and then an explosion of water off the starboard side of the boat. Two huge jets of water shot up into the air and rained down on the rest of the ocean.

“Cannonfire!” Breakwater yelled.

“Well that’s not a surprise...” Gilbert grimaced.

“What do we do? What if he hits us?” Rainbow Dash asked, her body shaking—not in fear but in the need to do something.

“We just have to hope he doesn’t,” Senax said as she continued to support Daylight, wiping sweat and blood from the unicorn and giving her sips of water.

Rainbow Dash looked at Daylight’s face. She was getting redder, almost like a fever was breaking out.

“Just gotta keep our heads down low...” Breakwater grumbled from the helm.

The thunderclap came again and was soon followed by two more explosions in the water, close enough that seawater splashed onto the deck of the Heart of Azure and drenched the five of them.

“That’s really not what I need right now,” Daylight said through clenched teeth.

More and more thunderclaps rang out followed closely by explosive spouts of water around them. Godfrey wasn’t letting up at all in his barrage of their boat. Thankfully they only had a general location to fire at, otherwise their boat probably would’ve been blown to smithereens at this point. Rainbow Dash paced back and forth, grinding her teeth in frustration, it bothered her so much to just be sitting here unable to do anything. Every now and then she glanced north, seeing the large black sails and the happily flying jolly-roger of The Scourge now maybe less than a mile back. Twin flashes from the bow signaled its canons firing once more and Rainbow Dash ducked just in case—but the cannonballs smashed into the ocean in the wake of their ship.

“Is there seriously nothing else to do?” Rainbow asked Breakwater.

“Do you see any cannons onboard my ship? Or any weapons for that matter?” He frowned at her.

“Uhh...”

“Exactly. I’m not some swashbuckler who engages in fancy duels and ship-to-ship combat. We’ve just got to run and hide.”

“I’m just worried for you guys if something happens. I don’t need to fight Godfrey right now, I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Appreciate it, but you can be a lot more help once we actually reach the Three Spears.”

Another thunderclap rang and Rainbow Dash this time looked up to see both of the cannonballs shoot directly over their ship. One went to the right of the sail and landed in the water off the bow… but before the other did the same, it tore a hole straight through their main and only sail. The circular hole ripped further thanks to the wind and strain on it and it created a long and thin tear almost going from top to bottom of the sail. Already Rainbow could feel the steering and momentum of the ship go a little off.

“Uh oh...” Gilbert gulped.

“Uh oh is right,” Breakwater swallowed and knitted his brow in frustration. “We can still make it to the Spears and coast around the islands on the currents, but we’ll need that fixed before we set off again.”

“This is getting better and better...” Rainbow shook her head.

“I have plenty of spare supplies for fixing that—but I think we’re going to need to stay at the Spears longer than we thought,” Breakwater said.

“Just keep the ship as steady as possible. I can still keep up the camouflage...” Daylight said, though she was looking worse and worse.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and continued to pace about—behind them, another thunderclap rang.

Hideout

Two cannonballs sailed through the air at high-speed. One of them landed in the water and kicked up a huge spout and the other crashed into the rocky cliffs of one of the Three Spears and blew off chunks of rock that fell into the ocean. The waves caused by that rocked the Heart of Azure as it at last sailed its way into the currents and waves that made up the straits between the three islands. In a second they could start going around the curve of the nearest island and at least would no longer have to worry about getting blown to pieces by the cannons of Godfrey’s Scourge.

In all the confusion and struggle of Godfrey’s attack, it had taken them longer to reach the Three Spears than any of them had thought it would. The sun in the sky was starting to go down, by the time they had found a place to hide it would probably be well into evening or night. Both a bad and a good thing for them.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the towering mountains climbing out of the ocean. They were bigger than they looked from a distance, and not just simple peaks like the map had made them seen. There were a lot of individual cliffs, summits at multiple elevations, and rocky paths up and down them that she could see. Along with the trees and other vegetation she had spotted earlier. There was definitely fresh water hiding up in them somewhere.

Captain Breakwater turned the wheel hard to starboard and Rainbow Dash felt their ship start be carried by a powerful current between the islands. The torn sail not so much of an issue right now.

“You can drop your camouflage, Daylight. Get some rest,” Senax told the unicorn.

Daylight vehemently shook her head. “Not till we’ve found a place to hide. Not taking any chances.”

Rainbow glanced over at the unicorn. She was looking red and sickly as she over-exerted herself to keep up the camouflage spell. Rainbow could appreciate the guts and drive to do that, but she was worried for her.

“I’m going to bring us to the southernmost island,” Breakwater said. “Sorry, Daylight, but if you really aren’t planning to drop the spell just yet you’re going to have to hold onto it for longer.”

They were now practically right in the middle of the three islands, with waves crashing up against the rocks thanks to the myriad of currents down below the surface. She was surprised this wasn’t considered a more treacherous place to sail. Maybe it just looked worse than it actually was, since Breakwater didn’t seem to have a ton of trouble navigating the waters. As Rainbow Dash looked, she saw on the “insides” of the islands that there were several docks that had been constructed, leading to spots you could land at and walk onto the Three Spears. Some were made of wood while others were carved right out of the rocky cliffs themselves. None were occupied at the moment—they’d be getting no help when it came to dealing with Godfrey.

She breathed out her nose and looked behind them, the open ocean now blocked off by the first of the Three Spears they had started traveling around. She hadn’t heard any cannonfire since that last blast either. Godfrey and his crew must’ve realized they would be out of range for the moment. Any other shots they fired would be going straight into the mountain. Good that they had avoided anymore damage than a torn sail. If a cannonball hit the mast itself or directly smashed into the deck… that would be it for their escape.

In a second, Rainbow Dash felt a shift in the ocean currents.

The wide turn they were making around the first mountain changed to Breakwater pulling the ship hard to port and going towards the southern mountain of the trio. They were carried along by the current and Rainbow Dash was shortly able to see the south side of the last island that made up the Three Spears. While the northern half was mostly just a big mountain, with sheer cliffs rising from the water, the south side tapered off into several small beaches and rocky lagoons. There was even sand—or at the least some kind of sediment—and palm trees on some of the beaches. A few huts and some more docks had been built as well, and Rainbow Dash could see roads and pathways leading up deeper into the mountain. Further on were some rock-sided inlets and water passages that looked like they might have led into the mountain itself, potentially making sea-caves or leading to some interior pools.

“Time to look for someplace that you can’t see from the sea. Needs to be a spot really out of the way… gotta think like a smuggler,” Breakwater said as he steered the ship on.

“Could I go out and look now?” Rainbow asked.

“Don’t leave. No chances,” Daylight grunted.

“You’re going to short-circuit your horn at this rate,” Rainbow frowned at the unicorn.

“It doesn’t matter anyways. Since we’re already here, you would barely be saving us any time after going out and coming back to us. I’ll find something,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash sighed and continued to pace around. “Fine…”

“It’s nothing to get agitated over, Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert said as he walked up to her. “Take this time to rest. My brother gave you a couple of decent hits, didn’t he? Do you need anything?”

Of course being reminded of that just worsened her mood and feelings of helplessness. “No, Gilbert, I’m fine. What about you? That headbutt looked pretty nasty.”

“Yes, but I’m used to getting hit in the face by things,” Gilbert nodded.

“Fair.”

“Well I’m at least going to get us a couple of snacks. We oughta keep our energy up in a situation like this!” Gilbert smiled before heading below into the hold.

“Nothing bothers you for more than a second, does it?” Rainbow said after him.

“Nope!”

“Also fair… I think a lot of my friends would say I’m kind of like that too.”

“Less talking please…” Daylight Gleam muttered from her frozen position.

Senax frowned and dabbed a wet cloth on her forehead and then on the tip of her horn as well. Steam came away the moment the moisture touched it. It was clear that Senax wanted to tell her to stop, or at the very least offer some encouragement, but she was respecting Daylight’s choice too much. Daylight still unfortunately looked like a complete mess and probably would until she somehow got to a shower or bath. But that unicorn had enough willpower to keep her spell going—even if it knocked her out afterwards.

Rainbow Dash gently flew over to the bow of the Heart. If she couldn’t do anything right now she at least wanted to be looking directly ahead to where they were going. Breakwater could use another set of eyes to find a good spot to hide away at too. Meanwhile the sun was continuing to go down and down, a bright and sunny day was turning into orange twilight and sunset. Still plenty easy for them to see where they were going, but it meant they might not be able to do anything but sit and wait for tomorrow morning to do anything else.

The Heart of Azure passed by an artificial bight that looked like it had been made by some ponies carefully stacking large rocks in parallel rows leading away from one of the island’s beaches. It would’ve been a good place to stop if they weren’t looking to hide. But Breakwater spied something else that looked inviting about the bight. A small inlet that was only barely wide enough for their ship to travel down led deeper inside the mountain island. Rainbow Dash saw the water passage turn at a sharp right not too deeply in, it might’ve led to nothing or it might’ve led to a place they could hide. Breakwater was going to take the chance it presented.

“Here we go...” Breakwater said as he turned the ship into the bight and then the inlet.

The further they went the higher the cliff faces rose up around the Heart of Azure until the crow’s nest itself didn’t even reach up out of the inlet. Then came the turn deeper into the core of the mountain and the crew found themselves traveling down a broken series of waterways divided by cliffs and solitary rocks. Breakwater chose one at random to travel down and the Heart slowly drifted on until it came to a stop inside a secluded pool of ocean water. Only the slightest push and pull from the current was coming from the open ocean, for the most part it was fairly placid in here.

Rainbow Dash looked up, steep walls overhead completely boxed them in, nobody from outside would be able to see the Heart of Azure unless they came from directly above.

“Daylight, please stop now,” Senax pleaded with her friend.

“She’s right, you can stop, we’ve found our spot.” Breakwater said.

With a heavy exhale and shudder, Daylight’s horn cut out and the mare slumped over immediately into the hooves of Senax. The bubble of magic around them popped and once more they were visible to the outside world. A new sheen of sweat and redness broke out across Daylight’s face and she shivered a few times as Rainbow Dash came over to help her out as well.

“I need to-” Daylight tried to say before she collapsed completely, only held up by Senax.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash said and jumped to try and hold her up. “Are you okay?!”

There was no answer from the unicorn, Daylight had already passed out.

“She’ll be okay… I think,” Senax said with a worried look. “She’s overexerted herself before but not when already injured… we should get her some water and fruit.”

“She looks like she has a bad fever,” Rainbow said.

“Yes. The other times she merely passed out, this might be because of her blood loss,” Senax nodded.

“Gotta get that stitched up too.”

“Rainbow Dash! Let Senax take care of Daylight and help me toss the anchor over!” Breakwater called out as he came down from the helm and went over to the anchor.

“A-Alright,” Rainbow gave a look to the unicorn to make sure she was okay before going over to help Breakwater.

Gilbert came right out of the hold with a block of cheese in his talons. “I take it we’ve found a place to stop?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry Gilbert but can you go back down there and get some water for Daylight too?” Senax asked him.

“Roger!” Gilbert saluted and turned right back around.

The Heart of Azure was still moving slightly, at the mercy of the current and tide. That was at least partly remedied when Rainbow Dash and Breakwater tossed the anchor into the pool of ocean water. Now they at least didn’t have to worry about accidentally floating somewhere else—they were more or less safely “docked” here.

“So is this okay? We’re kind of boxed in,” Rainbow said as she looked around at the rocky cliffs that enclosed the pool.

“It’s fine. The Scourge can never get close to these inner passages thanks to its size and if we end up surrounded then we’re pretty much done for anyways. It’s more important to just be someplace hidden,” Breakwater said.

“If you say so,” Rainbow nodded. “So now what do we do?”

“Well we’re definitely going to be here over night. Too risky to go back out now, or try to navigate away in darkness, and we needed stuff from the Three Spears to begin with,” Breakwater frowned and glanced up at the torn sail. “And that needs to be fixed for sure or we’re not getting anywhere once we hit open water. Daylight needs to sleep things off too. I’d say… all of us should get a night of rest and then we’ve gotta wake up bright and early tomorrow morning.”

Gilbert emerged from the hold again with a small mug of water for Daylight to drink. When he brought it to the unconscious mare’s lips he was able to tilt it in and she started drinking on reflex.

“That’s one of the issues. We came here to restock on fresh water,” Breakwater said.

“From the mountain springs?” Rainbow said.

Breakwater nodded. “That’s right. Tomorrow morning I think you and Gilbert should fly off to do that, while I fix the sail and Senax stays here and looks after Daylight. That’s probably all we can do. Then… may have to wait until later in the evening before leaving to make it harder for Godfrey to see us if his ship is around.”

“But that storm is coming too...”

“Yep. That’s another thing. We’ve got a few problems on our hooves,” Breakwater agreed.

“If… if we stayed until the storm was close to the island. Maybe we could leave right before it actually hit, and then Godfrey would be stuck in it or forced to stay at the Three Spears?” Rainbow suggested.

“Dangerous. But possible. We’ll have to see how tomorrow goes.”

“I’m totally going to be way too wired to sleep well tonight with everything going on...”

“You still need to get some rest. That’s the most important thing right now after all we were put through. Gotta save that energy for tomorrow when we can all do something. Speaking of which-” Breakwater looked over to Senax and Gilbert. “You two hear us? Know what you’re doing tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Senax nodded while Gilbert gave a thumbs up.

“Alright. Take Daylight into the cabin then and let’s get some sleep.”

The captain’s cabin of The Scourge was a large and opulent chamber overflowing with treasures Godfrey had procured from all around the Grand Ocean. A lavish red carpet covered the middle of the cabin while golden decorations and ornaments covered the walls or even just lied in carelessly created piles. A crystalline mirror with a golden rim worth a fortune sat in the corner, candlesticks, a grandfather clock, jewelry, pieces of art, ivory carvings, statues, and piles of gold coins and precious gems filled the cabin. Several treasure chests were used to hold things like royal crowns and scepters but for the most part Godfrey seemed to enjoy having his hoard just out in the open for anyone to see if they walked in. More than just normal treasures, there were mounted and stuffed heads of lions, sharks, and other fearsome beasts on the walls. And then… next to the expensive walnut desk that Godfrey sat behind, was a gibbet hanging from the ceiling that held several polished and gilded pony skulls.

Godfrey was lazily reclining in his just as expensive chair while he held a red apple in his talons. One claw sliced down it, then made another slice an inch away, and then stabbed into it and plucked the wedge of apple free.

A heavy knock came on his cabin door.

“Enter,” Godfrey said and plopped the piece of apple into his mouth, eating it down quickly.

Sea Shanty walked inside and stopped in front of Godfrey’s desk. “C-Captain, we’ve arrived at the Three Spears. There’s no sign of their ship at all.”

Godfrey shrugged. “Figured as much. Just drop anchor somewhere around the southern island. That unicorn can’t manage a spell like that twice in one day, and they wouldn’t risk leaving in the middle of the night. We won’t miss them tonight.”

“But what if they try sailing away tomorrow?”

“Obviously they’re going to,” Godfrey smiled. “Just a matter of when—and how long it takes them to finish up their business here. For all I know they might even be looking for some kind of treasure here. We’ve at least got enough time to go looking for them.”

“So should we-?”

“Yep. Get a few crews together, get em to the boats, and have them sail and search the islands. All of them—and I don’t care if they have to be up all night doing it. They can rest when they’re dead. My brother and his friends… there’s only five of them and I bet all of them are going to take this night to rest up. But you and the rest of the crew aren’t going to be wasting any time, first mate. Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed.

“Y-Yes, Captain,” Sea Shanty nodded.

Godfrey flicked his talon at him like he was waving away dirt. “Now go on, get our best sailors together and have them get out there already.”

As soon as Sea Shanty swiftly departed, Godfrey looked to the right wall of his extravagant cabin/treasure room. Unlike everything else, all that was up there was an especially large and detailed map of the Grand Ocean. Several islands and kingdoms were crossed off with big red X’s, but many more were untouched. Waiting for him.

“Heh,” Godfrey grinned and cut himself another slice of apple.

A Brief History Lesson

Before dawn had even broke the next morning, Rainbow Dash and Gilbert were up and searching their mountain island for a freshwater spring. Daylight was still passed out with Senax nursing her back to health, and Breakwater had started on repairing their sail. Everybody had a job to do and they wanted to get things done as quickly as possible. Rainbow and the others knew Godfrey would have his pirates out looking for them. They had to be careful not to be seen.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t worried about dealing with any of them herself, but if one escaped or ran off in the middle of a fight and reported back to Godfrey it would be very bad for them.

She had an empty barrel clutched in her hooves now that needed filling, both she and Gilbert had been given them. After searching for a bit, the sun had just started to come up. But it wasn’t as warm and nice of a day as yesterday had been. Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked to the east. The storm was still approaching. Thunder and lightning from it were becoming much easier to see and hear and the ocean was becoming more wild with white-tipped waves starting to bear down towards the Three Spears. It annoyed her in another way as well—if it was here right now it would be raining and they could just get all the freshwater they needed like that.

“If Godfrey would just come out here and face me one on one again I could totally finish all of this...” Rainbow mumbled in annoyance.

She passed by a pineapple bush growing on the dirt path up the mountain but just had to leave it be. They weren’t wasting time picking fruit anymore. Their only focus was on getting water. The fact something was growing right here though meant there probably had to be a source of water nearby. Maybe a stream or small pool that trickled down after a heavy rain.

In the end she just had to follow the greenery and she knew she’d eventually find whatever source of water was feeding it. She also kept her ears out for the possibility that she’d hear some flowing water too.

Rainbow wasn’t sure where Gilbert was, the two of them had gone up different sides of the mountain to cover as much ground as possible. She hoped he was doing alright—the griffon seemed monumentally predisposed to somehow getting himself into trouble or doing something dumb. Not that she was really one to talk. It’s just that she was pretty sure she was better at handling herself whenever she actually did get herself into trouble.

Gilbert… he was a good guy. That’s all she would say.

She sighed and took a deep breath, shaking her head and looking out at the approaching storm again. “Gotta beat that if nothing else. Stupid cannons… can’t even leave safely if Godfrey’s ship is facing us. He’d have to not know where we were at all or not be in a position to fire at us this time...”

Rainbow Dash decided to think about that kind of stuff later, right now getting water was still way more important.

Rainbow Dash reached a level part of the mountain between two broken peaks on the southern face of the mountain. She looked around and saw not just worn paths from ponies traveling down them over the years, but several wooden benches and railings that had been constructed by the edge of the cliffs. There had to be some reason to walk up all the way here. She couldn’t imagine sailors on the Grand Ocean would build stuff like this just because they wanted to walk up the mountain and sight-see. So Rainbow decided to follow the path leading further up the mountain instead of just blindly searching.

There was more grass and dirt along the path but less of any fruit-bearing trees or plants. And a series of wooden boards were nailed down into the ground, acting like “steps” between the dirt and grass as they curved up the side of the mountain.

“Come on already, how tough can it be to find some mountain spring? It’s not like it’s even supposed to be hidden here or anything.”

Perhaps Celestia or some even higher power heard her whining, because soon after she had traveled up the latest steps she emerged onto another small summit with an arch of stone ahead of her and the sound of running water coming from beyond it.

“Please let this not be some sort of cruel joke…” Rainbow rolled her eyes and flitted through the stone arch.

A short while later and Rainbow Dash was carrying a full barrel of water back to where the Heart of Azure was hidden. Heavy, but nothing she couldn’t handle. It took her longer to get back than normal since she was on the lookout for Godfrey and whatever other pirates made up his crew the whole way back. She didn’t need to accidentally give away where they were anchored. The islands—especially their lower reaches and beaches—were surprisingly big though, with plenty of different places one would have to check out if you were trying to find a hidden boat. And Godfrey didn’t even know for sure which island they had stopped at, so unless he got lucky his pirates had a lot of ground and water to cover.

In fact if it wasn’t for her keen sense of direction and commanding aerial view, she probably would’ve gotten lost on the way back. The broken shoreline with all its alcoves and back passages of water was a confusing mess. Inevitably though she spotted the secluded pool where the Heart of Azure had been anchored and with a grin on her face she flew down to it.

She took one last look to make sure there weren’t any pirates or Godfrey himself around before she dropped down past the smooth stone walls and came to a landing on her ship’s deck. Gilbert was already there, while Breakwater was halfway up the mast working on the sail, with Senax and an apparently now awake Daylight Gleam watching over him.

“Yo, I’m back!” She announced.

“Welcome back! Was your search for water as fortuitous as mine?” Gilbert asked with a wide smile.

“Yep—not as fast though, apparently.”

“I got quite lucky with finding a small waterfall on the eastern side of the mountain.”

“Bleh, I had to search everywhere.”

“At least you found it,” Daylight said to her, still watching Breakwater.

Rainbow Dash looked over to the unicorn. She was cleaned up, but on her forehead she had several stitches from the wound Godfrey had given her. “And you’re doing alright? When I left you were still conked out and pretty red looking in the face.”

“I’m fine. It was just a bit of overexertion, nothing serious,” Daylight said. “I’ve been helping Breakwater fix the sail since earlier. Difficult without using magic but it’s better than nothing.”

“Mm. You know that cut’s going to leave a scar, right?”

Daylight sighed and reached up towards the stitches before pulling her hoof back down. “It’s not a big deal, I’ve never cared about being a beauty queen or anything.”

Rainbow grinned. “Heh, I can appreciate that.”

“Before the two of you start talking about the weather or something-” Breakwater interrupted. “Rainbow Dash? How about taking that water down to the hold. Then you can help me fix up the sail too.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” She grinned up at him.

“I told you not to say that...”

Rainbow Dash—with the help of Gilbert—took the newly acquired water down into the hold. Then the two of them came back out so hopefully they could get the sail fixed and maybe look towards getting out of here. Breakwater honestly looked to be mostly done even without their help already. He was hanging from the top beam of the mast and sewing the top of the tear together. Meanwhile the bottom was already done and a large patch of cloth to close up the rest of the hole was already halfway sewn on one side. It looked like what he was doing was just a quick-fix until they could actually get an entire replacement sail, but it would work for now. At least Rainbow Dash had to assume it would.

“Come up here and hold the patch down for me!” Breakwater said to Rainbow Dash.

“On it!” Rainbow flew up and listened to his directions, she wanted this done just as quickly.

“Are we going to leave as soon as it’s finished?” Senax asked.

“I don’t think we can,” Daylight shook her head. “Middle of the day? When I don’t have the energy for a long-lasting camouflage spell? If Godfrey sees us he can run us down and blow us to pieces and there’s nothing we could do about it.”

“I could go beat the crud out of Godfrey myself...” Rainbow mumbled.

Daylight raised an unamused eyebrow at her. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Rainbow Dash. But that wouldn’t end well and I think even you know it.”

“I can take him one on one,” Rainbow huffed defiantly.

“Be that as it may, this isn’t such a simple situation.”

“Do you suggest we wait until dark? Won’t the storm be upon the island by then?” Gilbert questioned.

“Leaving right before or during the storm is probably our only bet, as crazy as that sounds,” Daylight said.

“Daylight’s right, we need to sneak out,” Breakwater said. “It’s about the only way to get out of his sight and make sure he can’t just chase us down again the next day. We can’t just leave we need to make sure he doesn’t know where we’re going when we leave. The Scourge is faster than our vessel. So we have to leave like that or do something else to make sure he can’t follow us anytime soon.”

“Like potentially leaving right before the storm hits the Spears so Godfrey gets stuck in it and can’t sail away until the storm actually passes,” Gilbert said.

“Possibly. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to sail right through a storm anyways,” Breakwater said.

“I admit that sounds like something he would do.”

“Hey so—while we’ve got some time and are just fixing up the sail—can you guys fill me in on what’s up between you and Godfrey?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asked them. “When I met him he told me why he came out here, and I kind of figured some stuff on my own, but how did he start chasing you down? And you said he’s one of the reasons you came to the Grand Ocean in the first place? Also I’m still kind of surprised you and him are brothers, Gilbert.”

“You’re certainly not the first to say that,” Gilbert nodded.

“Well… if you’re curious about all of that stuff, Rainbow Dash, I suppose the story starts with me.” Daylight said, rubbing her head. “You see—a long while ago at this point—I met Gilbert and Godfrey’s sister and became friends with her. She hadn’t seen her brothers in a long time, and knowing I was a pony who traveled extensively she asked me to find and check up on them.” She glanced at Senax. “I met Senax here when I was initially searching for Godfrey. And Senax decided to join me on my trip while also beginning her own, since we knew Godfrey had gone to the Grand Ocean so we had a common destination.”

“And I was worried about traveling on my own,” Senax smiled.

“Gilbert also tagged along when we told him the full story too and you mostly know the rest about us coming here in search of Merlantis,” Daylight continued. “But yes, we never exactly told you about the fact that a psychotic griffon pirate is after us. We first met Godfrey months ago—not even that long after reaching the Grand Ocean actually. He’s quite the famous individual after all and getting his attention wasn’t difficult.”

“Godfrey and The Scourge have been feared on the Grand Ocean for a long time now. They say when you see those golden wings, you better pray. He’s not in the business of leaving survivors or taking captives, only the luckiest and most resourceful escape from him at sea.” Breakwater said.

“Alright, but how come he’s even chasing you so much? I mean—I know why, yeah, he’s looking for Merlantis or the Trident and knows you’re hunting it down too. But how did he figure out that’s what you’re doing in the first place? I mean it’s not like you’d just tell a dangerous pirate that,” Rainbow Dash asked.

Daylight and Senax both slowly turned to look at Gilbert.

“Ehehe… I may have, er, mentioned it to my brother when we first met back up. And I may have also let slip the fact we already have the magical Horn of Listening with us...” Gilbert said, smiling awkwardly in embarrassment.

“Gilbert… dude...”

“Well I didn’t know he was as bad as he is just yet! I mean, I always knew my brother was a bad griffon, and the rumors we had heard since coming to the Grand Ocean just made it worse, but I didn’t think he was actually downright evil! So I was… somewhat unguarded when it came to him. Just one time though! I knew it would never be a good reunion but he’s still my brother… I didn’t think he’d actually be even worse than what the rumors and stories said,” Gilbert told her.

“Godfrey has wanted all the knowledge we have on Merlantis and the treasures, and the Horn of Listening itself, ever since. And he’s even mentioned a few times he wouldn’t mind taking me alive,” Senax shivered. “B-But I refuse to let that happen. I wouldn’t let myself be a prisoner to him, being used to find the treasures of my ancestors just for his selfish desires.”

“Of course as you’ve seen he doesn’t exactly have a problem with blowing us all up either,” Daylight shrugged.

“My brother has quite the volatile temperament...”

“No kidding,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“It’s really why he left Griffonstone in the first place. All the trouble he used to get into before finally becoming bored of it all and going off in search of more excitement. Not in the pure-hearted sense like you and me either,” Gilbert said.

A sharp whistle came from Breakwater. “Hey! Eyes on your work!”

“Sorry!” Rainbow said and made sure she was holding the cloth right.

“To be honest I don’t think Godfrey really even cares about the value of Ponyseidon’s treasures, nor the discovery of Merlantis. He’s already plundered so much, and he could practically rule Sharktooth Island if he wanted, he doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks so it’s not about glory either, he’s just out to have fun and make things difficult for others,” Daylight said.

“He enjoys tormenting the weak and helpless,” Senax scowled. “I do think that perhaps he wants the Trident to control the seas, so he can truly do whatever he wants, and that’s why he’s so adamant about chasing us. It’s a treasure unlike anything else for him.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “We won’t let him get it then.”

“Absolutely,” Gilbert nodded.

“You know that’s wonderful and all, but first can we FIX THE SAIL?!”

Pirate Attack

Godfrey turned his newly procured cutlass over in his talon, inspecting it closely. The blade was sharp and free of dust or rust thanks to being stored and cared for properly in the armory of The Scourge. It was just an average sword with nothing much special about, just a placeholder to replace the one Rainbow Dash had tossed into the drink until he could find one he liked more. He didn’t consider himself a sword aficionado or anything but some were definitely made of a higher quality than others.

“Eh, this’ll work,” Godfrey said and stuck the blade into his scabbard. He couldn’t wait to get the opportunity to use it.

Walking over to his desk he slammed his talon down on a white plate and stabbed his claws into a cooked steak, grabbing it and bringing it up to his beak so he could start tearing it to shreds. They had a lot of meat stored and preserved in barrels of salt onboard. The ponies here didn’t care for red meat, fish sometimes, but it was all for Godfrey anyways.

He took a deep stretch after swallowing down the tasty meat and looked out the back windows of his cabin. It was starting to get later in the day.

“I wonder if they’ve been found yet… for my crew’s own sake they better have,” Godfrey grinned.

Briney was a large, muscular, yellow earth pony with exceedingly bad teeth who could normally be found on the gun deck of The Scourge barking orders and whipping other ponies into shape. Now he was paddling on a boat with five others in search of their prey. It wasn’t something he liked, but no one was dumb enough to disobey the Captain. A few crewmates who did were now wearing eyepatches or worse. At least he was put in charge of the rest of these scallywags by Sea Shanty.

Their boat was searching through the many inlets of the island’s scarred and broken coastline that The Scourge was too large to travel down. Quietly they paddled so as to not make a ruckus and get themselves found out first.

Sea Shanty had told them to just find where the ship was hiding and report back to Godfrey. But Briney had bigger ideas. He wanted to show up their first mate, maybe get promoted to that position himself, and to do that he had to make the Captain happy—not only that but show he was tough and could handle any situation. The Captain appreciated strength and nothing else. Everyone on The Scourge knew that.

Briney grinned to himself and licked his lips, he’d be cracking his whip at everyone onboard The Scourge soon enough.

Nobody spoke just yet as their longboat turned a corner leading further into the island from the beachhead they had explored earlier. Briney kept his eyes open, this was the perfect place for a smaller boat like their prey’s to hide. A large galleon like the The Scourge could never get here, and there were a lot of different routes and waterways to take by the look of things. He had to make sure their boat slowed down even more as he inched towards the front of it so he could look around the corners that the cliffs made before the boat itself was visible.

The latest corner they reached and Briney just barely stuck his big face past it to see where this water passage led.

He practically had to bite his lip to keep from cheering when he saw the small, single-mast ship calmly sitting in the secluded pool of water, protected on all other sides but this one by smooth walls of rock.

“Shh, stop!” Briney whispered and had the others on the longboat stop paddling. “It’s there, right in this pool. Get ready you landlubbers.”

Some of the other pirates shared a few looks before one with an eyepatch frowned at Briney.

“Get ready for what? Aint we just turning back and telling the Captain we found where they’re hiding?”

“You backtalking me? What we’re doing is getting that merpony and her treasure and gutting the rest of them!” Briney fidgeted in anticipation, his tongue coursing over the missing teeth in his mouth. If things went well he could get some gold teeth to replace them.

“But-“

Briney smacked him in the mouth with the back of his hoof. “Shut the deep up, I’m the one in charge here so listen to me. Unless you want to go meet the Leviathan early in your sorry life.” He grabbed a knife from inside the boat and peered around the corner at the ship again. “On my signal we go out there and take em by surprise.” He put the knife in his mouth and got ready.

“I dunno, I kind of think you should listen to the other guy.”

Briney blinked. He turned around with the knife still in his mouth, gripped between two rows of teeth with quite a few of their number missing, and looked at the pegasus mare that was sitting in the back of their boat. All the other pirates in the longboat had turned to look at the pony who had come from out of nowhere as well. They were all quite confused.

She smiled at him and shrugged. “You’re kind of picking a fight with someone out of your league. So if you want to just go back quietly I’ll let you, otherwise...”

“Who the—where did you come from?” A still stunned Briney asked as the knife dropped out of his mouth.

“Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you. And I just dropped in cause I saw some dumb pirates trying to sneak up on us. You guys mind letting us get out of here peacefully? I mean, a big storm is coming too and if you get caught in it then that’s not going to be any fun. So if you went back to Godfrey and told him you found nothing—that’d be awesome. Then we could get out of here and you could weather out the storm on the island instead of getting caught in it when you try and chase after us. Would you do that for me?”

Briney stared at the colorful pegasus, dumbstruck. “You can’t possibly be serious.”

“I am. But I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen next...”

“What’s going to happen next is we skin ya and bring your head back to Godfrey, you crazy flying rat!” Briney yelled and grabbed his knife. “Get her!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Figured.”

The two pirates nearest to her lunged at Rainbow Dash, not even giving themselves time to grab any of the swords or knives they had brought along with them. After all, she was right there, and she was just some dainty pegasus mare. What was she going to do?

They got their answers as a swift elbow apiece knocked them into the drink.

“No wonder Godfrey’s the one in charge,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“I’mma gut you like a fish!” Briney roared and ran across the length of the boat at her, knife in hoof. With every heavy step he took he rocked the boat from side to side.

“I thought you were gonna skin me?” Rainbow said as she got up and hovered slightly above the boat, the other pirates making room for their charging leader.

Briney swung his knife right at her throat as soon as he got close enough, but to Rainbow’s eyes and reflexes it was slow and clumsy. Nothing compared to the savagely fast slashes and thrusts that Godfrey had sent her way. Nothing would probably come close to him on this ocean. She easily ducked under the blade and kicked the knife right out of his hoof. It flipped through the air before landing blade first back into the boat—right between the legs of another pirate.

“Ouch. Close call,” Rainbow snickered.

“Ragh!” Briney attempted to jump on her but Rainbow Dash flitted away and he just ended up flopping onto the bottom of his boat. He slammed his hoof down and yelled up to the other pirates. “Come on, get her!”

Two of the other pirates on the longboat were pegasi, they grabbed cutlasses of their own and flew up to jointly attack Rainbow Dash. The first to reach her thrust his blade right towards her stomach, so Rainbow Dash sucked in her gut and dodged to the left before stiffly punching him in the face and knocking him away for the moment. The other one came at her from behind while she was “distracted” and tried to lop off her head. A very fast kick behind her without even looking caught him in the chest and made him double in pain, wheezing with the air knocked out of his lungs.

A unicorn from below threw a harpoon up at her that she spun away from and let sail away into the water of the inlet.

Briney as well grabbed the knife that had impaled itself into the boat and pulled it loose, flipping it around before throwing it right at Rainbow Dash as well. That came at her a lot faster, so Rainbow decided to do something a little special with it to show these pirates just how outmatched they were. The knife was coming right at her face so Rainbow Dash turned ever so slightly and right as it went by her mouth she bit down on the blade and caught it with her teeth. Right out of the air.

She then went green in the face and dropped it into the water.

“Bleghh! I just remembered you were holding it in your mouth too, gross!” She started frantically wiping her tongue with her hooves. “Ugh, why’d I have to try and do something cool?”

The two pegasi with swords had recovered and came at her again while she was busy trying to wipe the disgust out of her mouth. This time they tried to coordinate their attacks as best they could—coming at her from the right and left and attacking her at the same time. She flew backwards to avoid them both together and force them to come at her from the front, where she could see both of them at all times. They flew at her with their cutlasses and both tried to disembowel her, but they just as often got in the way of each other as anything. Rainbow Dash quickly flitted about up and down, right and left, avoiding their slashes and waiting to tire them out.

“Geez, does Godfrey not give you any lessons on how to fight with a sword?” She said to the two of them.

As soon as one of them started to breathe heavier, Rainbow Dash moved in and punched him in the gut, then kicking him down and into the water. The other gave one last heaving thrust towards her that she ducked under before headbutting him in the face. He dropped his cutlass and crashed down along with the other.

“I could’ve taken your whole ship on my own...” Rainbow grumbled.

“Oh yeah?!” Briney yelled up at her. “Come down here and say that!”

“Alright,” Rainbow shrugged and dropped to the boat, rocking it when she landed and tucking her wings in. There was still one other pirate on the boat but he was keeping well away from the two of them.

Briney charged again and threw a heavy punch at her head. Rainbow saw the muscles in his limbs and realized that despite him being slow (both in mind and body) she definitely couldn’t let him actually land a solid blow on her. She easily juked out of the way of his punch and sent one across his outstretched hoof to smack him right in the mouth. His head whipped back but just as quickly he turned back to glare at her, looking none the worse for wear. Slow but strong for sure.

More powerful hooks came from him, absolute haymakers that would’ve sent her into next week if they hit, but Rainbow Dash ducked and dipped around all of them. Still, Briney’s muscles weren’t for show and there weren’t any signs that he was tiring himself out even after overextending himself every time he tried to punch her. Even when Rainbow Dash punched him back in the face, the throat, the chest, he did nothing more than grunt and keep on pressing the attack at her. Sitting in this boat, with her lithe body, she just didn’t have the mass or force behind her attacks to really hurt a pony like this.

An uppercut delivered to his chin made Briney stagger back a step but he quickly wiped the soreness away and snarled at her. “If you knock out another tooth I’ll make you pay!”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “You already said you were going to skin me and gut me, what else could possibly be worse? Kiss me?”

Briney lunged at her so with a wing assisted jump, Rainbow hopped onto and over his back, kicking him in the back of the head as she went and making him stumble down into the back of the boat. The big earth pony growled and picked up a harpoon, turning around and swinging it at Rainbow Dash. Not simply throwing it at her he kept ahold of it and repeatedly tried stabbing at her with it.

She ducked under the initial swing and quickly moved her head to the left and right to avoid the follow up stabs. He could attack her like this must faster than just with his big clumsy hooves.

“Stand still!” Briney shouted.

“Make me,” Rainbow taunted.

One more thrust that went right past her ear and Rainbow Dash felt she had enough of almost being made into shishkabob. She grabbed the handle of one of the longboat’s oars and pulled it up, swiftly batting away the harpoon on Briney’s next attack. When he stabbed at her again she hit the shaft of the harpoon down with the broad end of the oar and snapped it in half. Briney’s eyes widened in surprise, so Rainbow Dash took the initiative and ran forward with her oar, smacking it into the now broken harpoon and knocking the shaft of wood completely out of his hooves.

Briney reared back in anger and prepared to punch her but Rainbow Dash was so much faster and now had greater reach with her oar it was almost comical for him to even try. She jabbed the oar right into his stomach and made him double over in pain. Then without letting up she smashed it into the right side of his face, then the left side, before finally lifting it up and smacking him on the top of his head.

The oar shattered into pieces when it hit his hard skull but Briney was swaying on wobbly knees, his eyes spinning about in his head.

“Did that do it?” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Briney teetered back and forth… before finally tipping over the side of the boat and falling into the water with a big splash.

“Seems like it.”

Rainbow Dash yawned and cracked her back—before blinking and turning around, seeing the last eyepatch-wearing pirate remaining sitting down and staring at her.

She frowned at him. “Take a hike.”

He nodded and jumped off the boat and into the water, swiftly swimming away.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her head. With her business done here, she jumped up from the boat and started flying back to the Heart of Azure. Quickly down the narrow passage she came right back into the ocean water pool that their boat was safely—for now—anchored in. She dropped down on the deck where the others were waiting for her, Breakwater still going through the final touches needed for the sail.

“Are the pirates taken care of?” Daylight asked her.

“For now, but uh, we should probably leave soon,” Rainbow said.

“Can’t,” Breakwater said. “Have to make absolutely sure the sail wont tear or let any air through again. And it’s still too early—we have to wait for the storm to get closer.”

Rainbow Dash listened, hearing the sound of rumbling thunder in the distance. But much closer than it had been before.

“Godfrey is going to know where we are soon…” Rainbow frowned. “If we don’t go now we’re going to be trapped here.”

“If we do go now he’ll see us and blow us up with this cannons, or at the very least track us down and know where we’re going.”

“This is not an enviable situation to be in,” Gilbert mused, twiddling with his mustache.

“If only I was stronger when it came to magic...” Daylight sighed.

“Don’t be down on yourself, you’re the only reason we’ve lasted this far,” Senax said to her.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin, looking at the unicorn and the horn on her head. She furrowed her brow and forced her brain to work harder than it normally did. “Daylight… you said that you couldn’t do a big camouflage spell like that again today?”

Daylight Gleam shook her head. “No chance. I wouldn’t be able to even activate the spell, much less keep it up. I need at least another full day of rest before doing something that big and intensive.”

“Then what about… what about doing something not so big?” Rainbow asked.

Daylight looked at her curiously. “What did you have in mind?”

Plan B

The sound of several sets of hooves running over a wooden deck was like music to Godfrey’s ear. Frantic, fast-paced, panicked, it reminded him of dozens of raids and attacks he had led on merchant ships, trading vessels, and even royal liners. The yells that mixed together with the frenzied movements of ponies who realized just who it was that had attacked them as they prepared for battle. They ran for spears, they ran to alert their superior officers, they ran to ready the cannons, they ran for their lives.

This time though, it was his own crew running over the deck of The Scourge towards his luxurious cabin.

Sea Shanty didn’t knock this time either. Instead he opened up the door while panting, several other ponies behind him, and immediately began to speak. “Captain! We’ve found where they’re hiding!”

“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed in amusement and looked past his first mate at the other ponies who had come in with him. Briney and a few others, who mostly looked beat up and exhausted. Godfrey grinned and raised an eyebrow at them. “Did some ponies have a little fun on their search mission?”

“Briney here got it into his dumb head to disobey orders and get in a fight. Now they know that we know where they are, they might be on the move already!” Sea Shanty said as he glared at Briney.

“I just wanted to-” Briney started.

“Shut up,” Godfrey interrupted. “I couldn’t care less. Just tell me where they are, there’s no way for them to actually escape from us. Even if they had a head start we’ll still be able to see them and catch up. After all, they can only be going west or south and there’s nothing for them to hide behind out there. They were probably planning on waiting until dark so they could slip away, but the storm and getting found out by you forces their hoof. We’ll get out of here right before the storm arrives too by the sound of it.”

“If we’re going to be leaving now to attack their ship then what about our crewmates that are still out searching the other islands?” Sea Shanty asked.

Godfrey shrugged, chuckling slightly. “They’re pretty unlucky, aren’t they? We can always get replacements. For ponies and boats.”

“R-Right… I’ll inform the rest of the crew onboard that we’re going to be pulling up anchor and heading out immediately,” Sea Shanty nodded.

“You do that,” Godfrey waved his talon dismissively and leveled Briney with a hard stare. “Now, Briney, where’s that little ship of theirs?”

“It’s tucked away in an inlet on the southern shore of this island! I can lead you right to it, Boss!” Briney eagerly responded.

“Uh huh… and the others who went with you. Can they lead me to Breakwater’s ship too?” Godfrey asked.

Briney blinked and looked at the other confused and beaten up ponies behind him. “Uh… well… yeah. They were all there, they know how to get back and all I suppose.”

“Thanks for letting me know, Briney.”

Briney walked backwards along the plank in abject terror, a cannonball chained to one of his legs. “B-But, Captain! I only—I just wanted-”

A single backhanded talon across the face sent him off the wooden plank, the cannonball falling right after him. He didn’t even have time to scream before he hit the water and the metal cannonball hit right after, dragging him down into the deep with a splash. Godfrey watched while standing on the plank, looking down at the bubbling water… until the bubbles disappeared entirely.

With a smile he turned around and faced his watching crew.

“Gentlecolts of The Scourge. I would sincerely like you to take the lesson you’ve just learned from your recently departed friend Briney to heart. I can tolerate stupidity sometimes. I can even tolerate disobeying orders if you think it’s for the best. But what I can’t tolerate is incompetence. So please remember, if you’re thinking about doing something stupid, at least make sure to do a good job of it. Otherwise there’s no place for you on my crew. Understood?”

A chorus of fearful “Yes Captain!”s rang out across the deck of The Scourge, eliciting another amused laugh from Godfrey.

“Alright! Then let’s get back on the hunt!” He walked back onto deck and his eyes wandered over to the group that had gone with Briney. “Hmmm...” He scratched his beak and pointed at the one wearing an eyepatch. “You—you’re the new chief of the gun deck, got it?”

The pony’s eye lit up and he happily saluted. “Yes, Captain!”

“Heh, enough about that. For now you’re the navigator.”

“Hey, Gilbert? Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Rainbow Dash! It’s no bother at all. What’s on your mind?”

“Why is your brother such a jerk?”

“Oh… if only I knew.”

“Excuse me? Can you two clowns try and take this a little more seriously? We’re about to set sail!” Daylight Gleam said, stomping her hoof on the deck in annoyance.

“Sorry,” Rainbow said and got up from where she was lying down. She glanced at the sky to the east—the darkness from the approaching storm now visible. “Just getting a moment of rest since things might get a little… testy soon.”

“I was gathering my thoughts as well. The idea of seeing my brother again so soon gives me shivers,” Gilbert shuddered for emphasis.

“Me as well,” Senax said.

“Well if we’re lucky we won’t be seeing him,” Daylight said, looking to Rainbow Dash. “That is if everything goes as planned.”

“Are you confident in yourself? That’s the key thing here,” Rainbow asked her.

Daylight frowned and looked up at her own horn, pushing a little magic into it to get that familiar powdery blue glow. “Seventy-five percent.” She then grinned at Rainbow Dash. “That’s an improvement actually, since I’m usually not optimistic about anything going well.”

“Glad I’ve been able to make you a more positive pony with my presence,” Rainbow grinned.

“And hopefully you can keep all of us as “still living” ponies too,” Breakwater said as he slid down the mast. “Sail’s good. Storm’s right on time. Time to pull up the anchor and get out of here. Or get blown up by Godfrey. Whichever.”

“I promise that won’t happen,” Rainbow said.

“Everything else is stored and taken care of, we really need to move now and get out to the open ocean,” Senax said.

Breakwater shook his head. “This is an awful risk… but I guess we don’t have a better choice right now. Rainbow? Gilbert? Help me pull up the anchor.”

“And I’ll get ready—I’m going to need to concentrate a lot, my head still hurts,” Daylight said as she moved to sit down in the middle of the ship, right by the mast.

“I’ll make sure to get you any water or food you need,” Senax said.

“It shouldn’t be as bad as the other spell, but thank you.”

“So let’s move and finally show one up on Godfrey!” Rainbow Dash shouted and went to join Gilbert and Breakwater to bring up the anchor.

Thunder from the storm roared overhead at the same time the heavy anchor landed back on the deck. Above them, dark clouds and flashes of lightning were now far more readily visible than ever, the sounds of wild biting winds and downpours of rain accompanied them as well. They were cutting it close, intentionally so.

Breakwater made his way to the helm now and turned the ship to face their way back out of this pool that had been their haven. Rainbow Dash and Gilbert then joined together to blow some wind into the sail so they could push their way against the current and get back to the open ocean. The Heart of Azure slowly lurched forward and passed through the smooth cliffs around the water passage. Senax bit her lip in worry as they went, while Daylight concentrated and Breakwater frowned, only thinking about what he had to do as the Captain of the ship. Lead everyone to safety.

“This is so risky… it’s not going to work if we’re too slow and Godfrey can see us before-” Senax started.

“Relax, Senax. We’ve got this,” Rainbow grinned down at her. “Just trust me.”

“You’ve certainly helped us out a couple of times already...”

“I trust in Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert smiled.

“That is not entirely reassuring.”

“Look, could you all just pay attention to your own business right now?” Breakwater said. “We’ve still got some space to make and I don’t want to accidentally bump us into some rock or reef out there.”

“I also recommend quiet,” Daylight said, her eyes shut tightly.

The Heart of Azure made its way slowly back out the way it had come in just yesterday, going past rocks, past the walls of the broken beach, and out to the initial inlet where they could see the deep blue ocean from in the distance. The fact that there wasn’t a huge galleon with black sails sitting out there waiting for them was already a good sign. Still with Rainbow Dash and Gilbert blowing wind into its sail, the Heart of Azure now moved out to the coast, into the bight and the shallow waters that surrounded the Three Spears.

Rainbow Dash stared into the wide open ocean, no place to run or hide out there if things didn’t go well. But she could now more plainly see the storm for the east bearing down on them, and that would be all the cover they needed. She had to assume The Scourge was close to reaching them though—she wasn’t going to be stupid and hope that Godfrey was slow on the uptake. There was absolutely no time to waste. She looked off the starboard side of the ship to the western side of this southernmost island. The plan hinged on Godfrey coming from the same direction they initially did—she was gambling that he would. It was the closest to where they had been hidden, and the storm was coming from the east, he had to come from the west.

With open water reached there was no longer a need for Rainbow and Gilbert’s flapping. The current now would carry them out and then they’d be on their way. So the two of them nodded to each other and dropped down to the deck.

Rainbow Dash moved over to Daylight as soon as they made it out of the reaches of the bight and tapped her on the shoulder. “Okay, you’re up.”

Daylight took a deep breath and nodded, opening up her eyes and standing up. “I would’ve like another full day of rest.”

“How’s your head?” Rainbow asked as she looked at the scar, the stitches still in.

“Hurts a bit. It’s fine.”

“Good luck, Daylight. Don’t push yourself again,” Senax said.

“We wouldn’t want you knocked out again, you shouldn’t have to use so much power this time,” Gilbert said.

“I’ll do what needs to be done,” Daylight said and took another few calming breaths. “Just give me a moment.”

She walked over to the starboard side of the boat and concentrated, staring intently at a certain spot around the island. The others watched as her horn lit up with its powder blue aura and Daylight began to strain. A frown settled across her face and sweat already coalesced on her forehead. Rainbow had to imagine that if it wasn’t for her injury or the massive and complex camouflage spell she had done yesterday that she wouldn’t be having so much trouble right now. Yet she was still doing her best for them right now, cause they needed her.

The powder blue magic glowed brightly and Daylight Gleam grunted while her legs shook. She sucked in another deep breath as the glow from her horn reached its apex before it finally dimmed and disappeared. Daylight exhaled and closed her eyes, her entire body relaxing.

“There. It’s done. Don’t expect anything more than raw magic blasts at best from me for the next day or two,” the unicorn said as she practically slumped against Senax.

“All good,” Rainbow Dash grinned and lightly bumped her elbow against Daylight. “If this goes like it should then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Let’s go and get back on the open ocean!”

“I’m the Captain, Rainbow Dash. It’s my ship, remember?” Breakwater said from the helm. “That being said… we really couldn’t be leaving a moment sooner.”

All of them looked to the east to see that the black clouds of the storm had already reached the edges of the Three Spears. Lightning crackled in the clouds and Rainbow Dash saw how violent the waters directly underneath them were. But it wasn’t something they needed to worry about anymore. Rainbow Dash could already see that they were getting away from it, in just a few minutes of sailing from the Three Spears they’d be completely out of its path. So as long as their escape from Godfrey went well, their escape from the storm was assured as well.

“E-Everyone! Behind us!” Gilbert suddenly shouted, pointing past the aft of the boat.

Breakwater turned his head, Rainbow Dash flew up, and Senax and Daylight looked over the side of the ship.

The Scourge was rounding the southern island, hugging close to the rocky edge and beaches. It was coming right at them and soon would have them dead in the sights of its forward-facing cannons.

But that didn’t frighten Rainbow Dash at all. In fact she only grinned—because it was sailing right where she wanted it to.

Godfrey stood at the bow of his ship with his temporary navigator/gun deck officer by his side. They had just rounded the island and were close to emerging into the ocean south of it. Somewhat surprising to Godfrey, his prey hadn’t stayed still and waited for dark or the storm to try and leave. They were already plainly out there on the open ocean, easy for him and his crew to see.

“I suppose they didn’t want to get trapped, but now you’re just doomed for a different reason,” Godfrey grinned as he saw them. He chuckled and turned to his new officer. “Guess I don’t need you up here anymore. So get down below and get the long guns ready. We’ll blow them right out of the water.”

“Uh, yes sir!” The eyepatch pony saluted. His one eye then glanced off the bow down at the water below, and a confused look settled on his face.

Godfrey noticed it and raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s the matter with you? Get down to the gun deck.”

“It’s just… when we came out earlier in the longboat with Briney I could’ve sworn we had to paddle around a big sand bar right around here,” he said.

Godfrey’s golden eyes blinked and he looked down at the water right in front of his ship. To his sharp eyes the air shimmered and wavered ever so slightly in an unnatural way. His talons clenched and dug in deeply to the railing, swiftly he turned his head around with a distressed look on his face and shouted to his helmspony. “TURN, TURN! STARBOARD, STARBOARD!”

The helmspony was startled—caught off guard—but he quickly obeyed the order from his Captain and swung the ship’s wheel to the right.

But The Scourge was a large ship and it took time for the vessel to make any big changes. It had only just started leaning to starboard when the bow stem crashed into something. The entire huge galleon lurched and many of the ponies onboard were thrown to the deck, some falling from the masts and others close by the railings even being tossed overboard. Belowdecks was similarly nothing but chaos as every pirate and cabin pony working had no idea what had just happened. Boxes, crates, barrels, cannons and cannonballs not properly secured, they all went sprawling everywhere.

With a heavy creak The Scourge came to a stop, tilted at an angle, stuck on something below its wide body.

Godfrey clenched his beak tightly shut in anger and looked over the bow, seeing a large sandbar right below them that The Scourge had been tricked into running aground on. He looked south to see the Heart of Azure still sailing almost directly ahead, but then another look to the tilted position of his ship told him that the long guns weren’t going to be able to fire at them. The angle just wasn’t right. And each passing second his prey was getting farther and farther away…

Thunder blasted overhead and Godfrey looked up to see the large storm had practically made it completely to the Three Spears.

For a moment all he did was look up at the dark clouds.

“Heh… hehehe… hahahaha!” Godfrey started laughing loudly, much to the confusion and fear of his crew. A great smile spread across his beak and he looked back down to stare at the ship sailing off into the distance. He brought his talons together and started to slowly clap. “Well done… well done. But it’s not over yet.”

“It worked! It seriously worked! They didn’t see the sandbar at all until they hit it!” Rainbow Dash cheered as she hovered above the Heart of Azure, her eyes squinting as she watched what happened to The Scourge. “The ship’s all tilted and messed up, by the time they get it right I bet the storm will be right over them!”

“A simple mirage to hide a sandbar… my brother must be furious,” Gilbert smirked.

“Forget him! We’re in the clear now, good job, Daylight!” Rainbow said to the unicorn, dropping down to join everyone else on the back of the boat.

“I’m just glad it actually worked...” Daylight shook her head.

“I think… I think I’m going to get something to eat. I need to calm my nerves,” Senax said. “Does anyone else want to eat?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Oh yeah, I could go for some food. We can make it a celebration. That good with you too, Captain?”

Breakwater snorted but a grin was on his face anyways. “Yeah that sounds pretty good to be honest. We’ve got a lot to celebrate.”

To the north now, Rainbow Dash took one last look, dark clouds full of thunder and lightning were now covering more than half of the Three Spears. Violent winds and waves were already turning the waters into a death trap for any ship caught unmoored in them. And The Scourge and Godfrey were stuck and unable to follow. Definitely something to celebrate.

Rivals

“If what you want is a fun fight then I’ll be more than happy to give it to you,” Rainbow Dash said as she flapped her wings and rose to meet Godfrey in the sky. They were both flying slightly south as well to keep up with the Heart of Azure as it slowly sailed on.

“Rainbow Dash, are you crazy?! Get down here and stick with us!” Daylight Gleam yelled up at her.

“Daylight is right, you don’t need to do this,” Gilbert said.

“Gehahahahaha!” Godfrey loudly laughed over them, even holding his stomach. “See? Just like I said. They don’t get it.” He lifted up a talon to wipe a tear away from his eyes and grinned at his brother. “Gilbert, she wants to fight too. She wasn’t fine with the way things were settled back there, just like me. Doesn’t matter if it’s dangerous or dumb—that makes it even more exciting, right?”

Rainbow Dash found herself grinning as well. “Yeah, you’re right about that. I wasn’t about to just abandon my friends for it or anything, but the fact that you came to me? Finishing our fight sounds real good to me.”

“He’s dangerous, Rainbow Dash! We should just deal with him together or force him to go back!” Daylight frowned angrily. “There’s no reason for this, we’re not at his mercy, he threw away his sword, and he doesn’t have his ship to threaten us with!”

“Yep, all true,” Godfrey nodded. “I mean—I could still handle all of you by myself anyways though. But you’re not good sport aside from my new friend here so it just wouldn’t be much fun. And that’s the key thing you’re still not understanding, unicorn. Fun. So what if you don’t need to do something? Stuff you don’t need to do is usually the most fun of all! That’s practically what my entire time as a pirate has been about! Rainbow Dash gets it, even if she might not agree on what I find fun. That’s why she wants to fight again.”

“And to knock your block off and down a peg. That’s another big reason,” Rainbow said to him.

“And you wouldn’t find that fun too?” Godfrey smirked.

“Well… good point,” Rainbow laughed a little back at him. “It’s also the challenge too. Pushing myself, beating someone tough, competing. Proving to myself and everyone else that I can beat you. You better believe how badly I need to do that after things got cut off the first time. That’s something you understand too, isn’t it?”

“Oh yes. Nothing’s worth doing if it doesn’t make you sweat and push yourself further than you ever thought you could go,” Godfrey nodded. “So here I am. All alone, no weapon either this time, just to fight you one on one. My brother and his friends can be the peanut gallery. You up for it?” He balled up his talons and raised them in front of his face.

“Didn’t I already say I was?” Rainbow Dash raised her hooves and got ready.

“Are you serious right now?!” Daylight threw her hooves out in disbelief.

“Daylight, enough, it’s clear that Rainbow Dash isn’t going to back down from this challenge,” Gilbert said. “Her heart beats too strongly.”

“B-But will she be okay?” Senax asked.

Rainbow Dash looked down at the merpony. “I promise I’ll be fine. I’m awesome. And I’m about to show this griffon he’s way out of his league.”

“There we go… that’s just what we’ll have to accept,” Breakwater sighed, concern still written on his face.

“Ughhhh!” Daylight yanked on her mane and sat down in frustration.

“Then let’s get this started right now!” Godfrey shouted and shot towards Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash!” Senax yelled.

“Be careful, my brother will not hesitate to kill!” Gilbert shouted.

“I’m aware!” Rainbow shouted back and inhaled as Godfrey got within range to attack.

He had range on her for sure thanks to his longer limbs and combined with his aggressive nature naturally he threw the first punch. It was as fast as any punch she had ever had to dodge in her life, Godfrey wasn’t pulling any or messing around at all, and it was aimed squarely at her jaw. He wasn’t just some common thug or ruffian, overextending himself, being too eager, leaving himself open, this was a griffon who knew how to fight and had trained his body intensely to be able to attack with the blinding speed he could. She could see the experience he had gotten from his pirate escapades in his eyes and the way he moved. Even then—no simple exercise or training could explain all of it. He had to have been naturally stronger and faster than most other griffons to be able to have comparable speed to herself. Gifted compared to others just like she was with her fellow pegasi. With the powerful muscles she knew he had, his punches certainly packed more of a wallop than the strikes from her hooves ever could. Blocking directly or taking one to the face was way out. Countering, parrying, and outright dodging were her only ways to win.

So she flitted back to let his balled up talon sail across her muzzle, wind from the force and speed of the blow ruffling her hair. There was no opportunity for her to counterattack as his other fist came at her in a straight jab—aimed at her midsection. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and flew above it entirely, now over his head. They could both fly and she had absolutely no intention of not utilizing her wings and the three-dimensional space to its fullest. That was her favorite way to fight. She knew that after all her adventures, nothing beat an aerial battle.

Godfrey still desired to keep on the offensive and not give her any moment to rest so he flew right up from underneath her and made two more speedy punches at her body. Thanks to their size difference his two talons alone almost took up as much area as her entire body. It was tough for her to dodge attacks with such width that were delivered at such intense speed.

So instead of letting him set the tempo, she kicked one of his talons with her back leg before it fully reached her, diverting it slightly, and then fully twisted away from his other punch before flitting off with a powerful flap of her wings and creating some more distance between them.

“Nice!” Godfrey congratulated as he turned to face her with a grin, not bothered at all by her dodging and getting away from him.

She bit her tongue to keep from saying “Thanks” and instead shrugged her shoulders. “Come on, that was easy.”

“Hah, so it was, so it was,” he nodded. “Gotta change that though. After all I can’t have you keep thinking that you’re out of my league. So enough with the simple stuff. Forget the boxing lessons, forget playing around and just throwing a few punches your way. Let’s fly. Then we’ll see what you think.”

“Someone hates being underestimated,” Rainbow grinned.

“Oh come on, don’t even try and pretend that you wouldn’t hate it too,” Godfrey grinned right back.

The griffon pirate then took a deep breath, his chest puffed out, and he fully opened his wings to show off his impressive wingspan. Rainbow Dash tensed up and steeled herself for whatever he was going to do next, confident in her own speed and reflexes to not be worried. At first he merely rose up slightly to gain a little more height over the Heart of Azure. Down below on deck the others continued to watch him and Rainbow Dash both, wondering what the temporary pause in the fight meant.

Then with a dizzying speed that even impressed her, Godfrey flew in a ring over the ship like he was trying to form a griffon tornado. His body became a golden blur as he built up more and more speed. Probably all just to show off.

And just as quickly he ended his circular flight and came shooting towards Rainbow Dash with enough force to create a small blast of air that ruffled the sail of the Heart of Azure below, his powerful fist pulled back and ready to shatter her skull. But with just as quick movements as his own, Rainbow Dash shot up higher into the sky, becoming a blue blur and leaving a rainbow trail behind.

Godfrey’s fist ended up hitting nothing but empty air—however, he didn’t stop or seem to be bothered by Rainbow’s dodge. Godfrey flapped his wings and flew up after her, matching her speed at once. The two of them were like twin rockets flying in the sky. Cones of air were created around them due to the great force and speed they were flying at. The pirate soon reached her altitude and flew right beside her, this time not attacking just yet, content to merely fly with her and leave hurricane-force winds billowing behind them.

Rainbow Dash looked over at him and found him to be grinning right at her even as they fought for dominance and “first place” after the fight had apparently turned into an impromptu race and flying competition. His talons reached ahead of her hooves for a split second before Dash once again pushed ahead, this happening back and forth practically every second.

Surprisingly, she found herself grinning right back at him.

Getting slightly ahead of him again, Rainbow Dash suddenly banked to the left, turning so sharply and so quickly a lesser flier would’ve never been able to follow and probably would’ve just hurt themselves trying. She watched Godfrey out of the corner of her eye the entire time to see how he would handle it. And he matched her turn so effortlessly, complete with even a slight blast of wind from his wings, it made her nod her head in acknowledgment. Her heart was pounding in excitement as the flying battle continued.

I can’t believe it, but he’s actually just as fast as me. Rainbow thought as she and Godfrey remained head to head with each other.

A sudden sharp bank to the right, then the left, then down, then up, the two of them blasted all across the sky like that at speeds that most pegasi and griffons couldn’t even dream about. Two blurs leaving behind a rainbow and golden trail respectively. It would’ve been even more impressive to see in full daylight instead of the graying darkness of the approaching night, but even then they were colorful and noticeable enough.

Rainbow Dash turned into a diagonal dive towards the ocean that Godfrey matched, the both of them pulling up at the last millisecond and getting their feathers just slightly wet. Godfrey then did a series of loops that Rainbow Dash followed—the g-forces from it being intense but still manageable for the two of them. Once they were done with that, Rainbow Dash went into a tight corkscrew and Godfrey almost seamlessly melded into it, the two of them spiraling around each other and making a double helix in the sky.

Rainbow pushed herself even harder, to fly even faster. And she found herself happy to see that Godfrey actually kept up. He managed to push himself to fly even faster too and the two of them still kept neck and neck with each other. The both of them were at the peak of flying ability, both speed and maneuverability. Their race to nowhere, full of sudden turns, continued on.

Down below, the crew of the Heart of Azure gawked up at them. None of them had ever seen anyone or anything fly like Rainbow Dash and Godfrey were right now.

“The way they’re pushing each other is incredible… pegasi and griffons shouldn’t be able to fly like that,” Gilbert said.

“I’ve seen some impressive feats of strength and magic in my life but yeah, this is something else,” Daylight nodded.

Rainbow Dash and Godfrey suddenly shot up together, both of them aiming for a gray cloud directly overhead. Going vertical at high enough speeds to make tornado winds blush they soon burst into and through the cloud at the same time. At the exact moment they did that, Godfrey came at Rainbow Dash with another punch ready.

She grinned, she knew he was going to try that.

Despite the speed and accuracy of his punches she was still confident that she could dodge any he threw. It was coming right at her head and Rainbow Dash’s wings were already in the motion of pulling her away. But as Godfrey’s balled up fist reached the apex of its swing, he opened it and spread his talon wide, the sharp claws at the end of it now reaching for her. Rainbow’s eyes opened in surprise and worry and she forced herself backwards as fast as she could.

Luckily it was just enough to avoid his claws rending her face. Unluckily the small pouch she was carrying around her neck got torn to pieces. The shredded remains of Gold Jackpot’s gift to her falling down to the ocean.

“Oops,” Godfrey smirked at her.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “So it’s going to be like that?”

This time it was her who blasted towards him, not letting Godfrey keep attacking. Rainbow sent a blue hoof that was nothing more than a blur at his face. Then another, and another, and another as Godfrey dodged and dipped around her strikes. Fighting him… more than any of her other fights on this side of the world, it reminded her of her fight with Sia’Lorna at the north pole. But Godfrey was far stronger and faster than she was. This was no mere sporting event either.

A lot of her attacks came close to hitting him but in the end he was still able to dodge and parry all of them. Despite the fact that unlike with his punches it was unlikely that a single solid blow from her would be able to knock him out or anything.

Rainbow Dash tried something a little flashy and spun in the air, stretching out her wings and swiping her tail at him to distract him and maybe get him to blink when her feathers dragged across his eyes. Then coming around from the spin she lashed out with her back legs and delivered a kick to his chest.

Wham!

The solid sound and feeling of her hooves striking his muscular chest made Rainbow Dash grin. Godfrey was pushed back slightly in the air and Rainbow immediately turned to bring another barrage of punches at his face.

She had to stop when she saw him grinning in anticipation at her with his own fist already pulled back—looking no worse for wear after her kick.

“What a light kick,” he mocked and punched her in the chest.

Rainbow Dash at the last second crossed her front legs over her chest so they could take the brunt of the blow. Even then she was knocked down dozens of feet through the air and her legs screamed in pain. Her bones were shaking inside them and they felt heavy—almost numb.

One punch almost broke my legs, are you kidding me?! Rainbow Dash felt a drop of sweat go down the side of her head.

While Godfrey came at her again, Rainbow Dash lifted her hooves but found they wouldn’t stop shaking. She was forced to dart around like a fly avoiding his onslaught and occasionally kicking out with her back hooves to try and knock some of his punches away.

“Not hurt are you?” Godfrey laughed.

“Y-You kidding?” Rainbow said, putting on the best front she could. Thanks to being smaller she was still slightly more maneuverable than him and when he threw out another wide swing she flew around it and kicked him in the side, getting a grunt from the griffon. She flew over his back to the other side and kicked right at his wing joint, getting another grunt and twitch from the pirate.

But when she went to move away, Godfrey’s talon lashed out and grabbed her leg that had delivered the kick. Before Rainbow Dash could do anything else he swung her around and threw her as hard as he could. She went spinning away from him and it took a second for her to stop herself and readjust. By the time she did, Godfrey was right there.

A strong punch to her gut knocked the wind out of Rainbow Dash. But Godfrey was overconfident. He didn’t expect her to be able to retaliate after a hit like that. While he was grinning and expecting her to drop from the sky, Rainbow Dash backflipped in the air and kicked him in the chin as she went, then continuing to flip a little to put some distance between them. Her stomach hurt tremendously and she was having trouble breathing when she finished, but at least she hadn’t passed out.

Godfrey was rubbing his chin. “Alright, nice job again. But I think you’re feeling it a little more than me.”

“Don’t count on it,” Rainbow Dash frowned and forced herself to raise her aching hooves. A sharp stab of pain in her stomach made her double over but she quickly straightened herself back out. “I’m not letting you torment and chase my friends.”

“Then let’s-” Godfrey didn’t get to finish his sentence as another griffon slammed into him from below.

“Gilbert?!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“I’m here to help!” Gilbert announced, grabbing Godfrey and punching him in the head.

Godfrey snarled at his brother and quickly tore Gilbert off of him, a talon squeezing his neck and holding him away. “Don’t make me laugh, Gilbert!”

“Ack!” Gilbert coughed as Godfrey squeeze his neck harder.

Rainbow Dash started to fly towards them but another stabbing pain in her stomach forced her to stop and grab it out of reflex. “Erghhh...”

“Well then, if you really want to do this-” Godfrey pulled back his fist and got ready to punch his brother.

This time though, he was interrupted by a bright powder blue light coming from below. Godfrey’s eyes widened and he let go of his brother, flying backwards with a quick flap of his wings to avoid the beam of magic from Daylight Gleam. It went right through the air where his head had just been. Looking down he could see her horn lit up and the unicorn well ready to fire another blast at him.

“Tch,” Godfrey clicked his tongue.

Rainbow Dash ignored the pain in her stomach and flew over to help steady Gilbert, who was still coughing. “You okay?”

“Y-Yes… I’m sorry, but when we saw you get hit again...”

“I guess that’s it then. I suppose I should be getting back to my ship anyways,” Godfrey shrugged. “Fine by me, since I was winning.”

Rainbow Dash glared at him. “You-?!”

“Gehahahaha! It was just me up here, Rainbow Dash, but you had to rely on your friends.” Godfrey laughed. “Another time, Rainbow Dash. It’s a big ocean, but we’ll be seeing each other again. That’s a promise.” He pointed at her. “It was a lot of fun, consider yourself having acquired a… rival while you’re out here. Fighting, or flying, I can’t wait to challenge you again.”

With one last mocking “Heh!”, Godfrey turned and started flying away at high speed. Going back north to the Three Spears.

Rainbow Dash watched him go with an annoyed glare and soon she and Gilbert both descended back down to the Heart of Azure. They cradled each other thanks to the injuries Godfrey had given them. When they touched down, Senax came up to check on Gilbert while Daylight with a face that was a mixture of apologetic and irked walked up to Rainbow Dash.

“Look—I know you’re probably annoyed Gilbert and I interrupted back there but-”

A raised hoof from Rainbow Dash silenced her. “Thank you. I’m not going to get mad at you for helping me. I… needed it.” That hurt to admit. More than the physical injuries she had received. “We’re friends. Friends help each other out.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and walked to the back of the ship—past the quiet Captain Breakwater as he sailed on. From there, with the others now staring at her back, she looked to the ocean north of them and narrowed her eyes, frowning. She stomped a hoof on the deck and clenched her jaw tightly. “Darn it...”

Author's Note

Five day break.

Back to the Open Ocean

Rainbow Dash winced as Senax’s hoof roamed over the huge bruise on her stomach. “Ow!”

“Sorry! I guess that’s where it hurts the most,” the merpony apologized. Her small hoof now directly over the darkest part of the bruise.

“You think?” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Oh quit being a baby. You’re the tough adventurer, aren’t you?” Daylight Gleam grinned.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yes, I am. How’s your head by the way?”

“Better,” Daylight frowned. “A slight headache, but I think it’ll be completely gone by tomorrow and my magic should be back to full capacity. Firing that laser to help you didn’t do me any favors though.”

Before Rainbow could retort, Senax spoke up.

“Nothing’s broken—or ruptured for that matter,” she said with heavy relief after finishing her examination. “You’ve got a very tough body.”

“It’s been through a lot,” Rainbow grinned.

“I’d still recommend resting a bit and rubbing some healing salve on your bruises, but that’s all,” Senax said.

“And don’t sleep on my stomach,” Rainbow said. Grimacing, she also looked at the dark bruises on her front legs. They were still painfully throbbing but her legs at least weren’t shaking so much anymore. Godfrey was just as fast as she was but so much stronger too—it was annoying.

“My throat is feeling quite a bit better already too,” Gilbert said.

“He only choked you for a second,” Daylight Gleam huffed at him, unimpressed.

The four of them were still just out on deck, Senax had gotten some medical supplies (that were mostly unnecessary) and Breakwater had continued to sail while true night came upon them. They wanted to get very far away from Godfrey and The Scourge after all. Overall the day had still gone well for them, Rainbow Dash was merely in a sour mood now thanks to being shown up by Godfrey. She hated losing. That was something that was never going to change about her. One day she really wanted the opportunity to settle things with him for good. He was tough, but she had faced tough opponents before, she was still sure she could beat him on her own terms.

Right now though it was getting time to rest up and continue on their planned journey. No more interruptions from any griffon pirates, or any other sort of pirates hopefully.

Since they both hadn’t managed to stock up on as much stuff as they wanted at the Three Spears and had to use some extra things on their boat, Breakwater was going to have Senax and Gilbert do an inventory as well. Rainbow was happy she was “injured” and got to relax through that. No boring inventory taking for her. Daylight as well still needed more rest compared to the other two passengers.

“Here, Rainbow Dash, let me help you with this,” Senax said and opened up some kind of small container. Inside was some kind of white cream. Senax scooped some out with her hoof and rubbed it on the bruises on Rainbow’s legs. It was cold as ice at first but then quickly gained heat until it almost burned a little.

Rainbow Dash frowned through it. “That’s going to feel great on my stomach… by the way, I can apply it to my stomach on my own.”

“Of course,” Senax hoofed the whole small container to her.

Despite her reservations, Rainbow Dash did as the doctor ordered and rubbed the cream on her belly. It was horribly uncomfortable and she shuddered as soon as she finished up. She wanted to wipe it all away and take a bath. But for now she fought the urges to clean it off. It was going to make sleeping a little tough for a bit, but in the long run it would help her out.

“Hey Gilbert, how about rubbing some of this on your neck?” She offered to the griffon.

“Ehehe… no thank you.”

“Well if that’s it then I think I’m going to retire for the evening,” Daylight said and began walking back to the Captain’s cabin. “I’ve had enough excitement for the day. Wake me when you need me.” She pulled open the door but then first took a step back so she could look up at and talk to Breakwater. “Thanks for keeping at the wheel through the night, I know that’s not going to be easy on you.”

“So long as Senax takes over early it’ll be fine. I’ve done plenty of night sailing before and the weather aint bad or anything either,” Breakwater said.

Daylight nodded and stepped inside the cabin to retire for the evening. Senax and Gilbert got ready to go down into the hold and so Rainbow Dash tossed the cream back to Senax and was left to walk or fly around however she wished. Her legs hurt a little with even light steps so she resolved to simply hover around on her wings unless she was sitting down. Once the cream had stopped bothering her she was planning to go up to the crow’s nest and conk out. She needed a night of sleep too.

Hovering just in front of the bowsprit gave her a nice view of the dark ocean waters they were gliding through. The moon was hanging up in the sky as well, bright as ever, and reflecting off the surface of the water. The clouds had mostly cleared away to give Rainbow Dash an unobstructed view of it and the stars. Those heavenly bodies combining with the wide open ocean gave the whole world out a beautiful look. Dark, but peaceful and pretty. A cool wind also breezed across the ocean, only strong enough to make Rainbow’s mane and tail slightly wave around. It was refreshing for her to just bask there and relax for now.

Off the port bow, a fish jumped out of the water and splashed back in. Rainbow Dash smiled when she saw it. As always, life went on.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Breakwater steering the ship, a small wave was given to him and a small wave was returned. Deciding she might as well get ready for sleep—and doing her best to completely ignore the burning on her belly—she flew up to the crow’s nest. After all, it gave her a nice view too.

“I say, I think we’ve had a tad too much cheese and carrots lately, we oughta look into eating something else before we run out,” Gilbert said to Senax as he looked into a half-empty crate of food while the two were right below the main deck in the cramped hold. “My… the bread is getting close to molding over completely. I’m quite happy that my meat is safely preserved in salt.”

“And that no one else here eats meat?” Senax raised an eyebrow at him.

“Well… I didn’t want to sound selfish.”

“No one thinks you’re selfish, Gilbert. You just put your talon in your mouth sometimes. A lot of the time.”

“Yes, to be perfectly honest that’s something my sister told me plenty of times back when I was still living in Griffonstone.”

“I’m shocked...”

“Yes, well, how are we doing on medical supplies?”

Senax looked into the box she had retrieved the healing cream from. There was an array of bandages, medicine, emergency tools, a mercury thermometer, rubbing alcohol, and more. While they had to use some of this stuff for Daylight and Rainbow there was still plenty left. Though considering the danger of their journey and what had already happened in a brief amount of time they should probably look to stock up on even more whenever they could.

“We’re okay for now but next time we’re in port I think we should definitely refill on a few things.”

“Agreed, Breakwater has a few patches and other supplies left for fixing up the sail in case of another tear but we really should get that replaced too...” Gilbert said as he rooted around through another barrel.

“I had almost forgotten about that...”

“Was nearly a far more nasty experience than it was.”

The two of them spent a little more time going through the various crates of supplies and barrels of food to make sure everything was as it should be. Gilbert then spotted something else lying on top of a crate in the back. His feathers ruffled and his eyes widened in joy as he picked it up.

“My journal! I forgot I had this, I haven’t written any entries since before we met up with Rainbow Dash!” He opened it up and started flipping through the pages.

“I forgot about that too,” Senax said as she walked up to him and peered at the random pages. “Are you finished going through our supplies though?”

“Yes, yes, I think we’ve covered everything,” Gilbert nodded.

“Alright, let’s go back up and tell the Captain,” Senax smiled.

“You go ahead—I want to read more of my journal, maybe write down another entry,” Gilbert said as he looked around the floor. “Where’s the pencil I was using?”

Senax shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. “Just don’t forget to get some rest.”

“I won’t!”

Senax soon left him alone in the hold and Gilbert shortly after that found the old pencil he had been using had rolled towards the front of the hold. Now he hummed in joy to himself while twirling the pencil around and flipping to the last page in the journal that actually had an entry. It would be interesting to see what his last entry was—and now he had so much more to put down as well! He should ask Rainbow Dash if she wanted to join him in writing in it as well… Daylight kept refusing.

Gilbert grinned as he saw his last entry-

Dear Journal,

I dropped my sandwich outside the diner at the port of Malkonrik we stopped at today. For shame!

“Hah! I remember that!” Gilbert laughed. “Hmm… where should I start this next entry?”

...

Dear Journal,

It has been quite some time since I last wrote an entry in you. Since that day I unfortunately lost my sandwich a lot has happened. I almost lost all our money, I became reunited with an old friend I had met much earlier on this journey, we came across my brother again, and everyone almost died! It was most hectic. That said, things are quiet now and we are currently sailing to our next destination as we try and find the treasures of Senax’s people.

Rainbow Dash is a remarkable pony. In truth I believe I knew this since that first time meeting her in the north on the other side of the world. Not many ponies can beat a Yak in a wrestling match. Rather impressive. But it’s not just things like that, it’s her attitude, the way she carries herself, I feel myself swallowed up around her. There’s certainly something special about her. And she’d be very happy to agree with you on that if you ever mentioned it. Daylight, Senax, and Captain Breakwater all get along with her as well, I say the ship has become a far happier and livelier vessel since she came aboard.

Daylight of course continues to hate fun and refuse to just enjoy herself, but that isn’t anything new.

Senax, her mood is harder to place. She puts on a happy face most of the time but I believe the journey is wearing her down, we’ve spent so much time on the ocean and still have nothing to show for it. Daylight and I promise to not let her down but I wonder if she’ll end up giving up before we do. That said I still adore her, I believe her to be a naturally positive pony, but unlike the rest of us there’s more on her shoulders.

Note to self, erase most of what I just wrote about Senax before asking her to write an entry of her own in this journal.

The Captain as always is a stalwart presence. He keeps us focused and can always be counted on in a sticky situation. His knowledge and connections on the Grand Ocean have proven to be invaluable.

And as for seeing my brother again. I don’t even want to talk about him really, I’m still shaken up by how awful he’s become. Oh sure, he was always a bully, a bad bully, to begin with back at Griffonstone. But the vicious monster he’s become in the time since I had last seen him is a difficult pill to swallow. He is utterly heartless and merciless. Everything bad about him as a young teenager has been amplified to an insane degree, every shred of morality or care has been tossed aside by him. Godfrey always did things his own way. I suppose now with all the freedom he has on the Grand Ocean, without anyone to tell him no, his truest and purest self has been unleashed.

I wish I could just talk to him. Even after everything he’s said and done I wish I could bring him back to Griffonstone and have us be a happy family with our sister. He’s still my brother after all. I know it’s a pipe dream but a griffon can still wish, can’t he?

I sighed just now, figured I should write that down.

Well in any sense I’m not the type to stay down for longer than a minute or two. I’m sure things will work out all fine and dandy. It’s such a magical journey we’re on, how could it not have a happy ending?

...

Gilbert looked over his entry in the journal and nodded happily. Perfectly optimistic and bereft of most details that would be normal for a more... standard record of such a big trip. The others would probably have a different way of writing their own entries but this was pretty average for him. He smiled and put the journal and pencil down on one of the barrels in the hold, leaving it in an easy place to retrieve.

“Splendid, just splendid! I should add another entry when we get to the Sea Lion Reefs,” Gilbert said and suddenly yawned. “My, it’s getting late though isn’t it? I suppose I should rest some for the night... then perhaps I can see if anyone else wants to write their own entry first? Daylight keeps refusing but it never hurts to try again! And Rainbow seems like the type who’d love to write about how awesome she is...”

He nodded some more as he scratched his beak. “Yes, yes, that’s it!”

...

Dear Gilbert,

Stop asking me to write an entry in your dumb journal. And stop telling everyone we meet that I hate fun.

...

I have my own Captain’s Log, Gilbert. I don’t have anything to write here. It’s mostly nautical notes and records detailing how many miles we travel each day anyways.

...

Dear Journal,

Despite everything that’s happened, I’ve never felt as calm or happy in my entire life as when I’m swimming in the waters of the ocean. I know one day we’ll find my home, I just know.

I owe so much to everyone on the Heart of Azure. Thank you. Thank you all.

...

Uh, I’m not writing “Dear Journal” cause that’s kind of, like, girly. Sorry Gilbert.

But anyways, I’m here now on this big Grand Ocean or whatever. Even with the huge adventure I’ve been on, it suddenly feels even huger. It’s a big place, it’s a place that clearly has a lot of stuff to see and a ton of history to it. But it’s still a place that’s never seen a pony like me.

I don’t have much else to say right now, I’m not really that type of pony, but I wanted to say that I’m definitely never stopping either when it comes to helping out Senax. We’re getting those treasures and we’re finding Merlantis. You know why? Cause it wouldn’t be awesome otherwise.

And next time Godfrey better watch out for himself. That’s another promise. He’s not getting the better of me again.

Author's Note

For the next month or two, chapters will be released every other day instead of every day.

En Route to the Sea Lion Reefs

Snooore

Snooooore

SNOOOOOOORE

“For the love of—I’ve never heard a pony snore so loudly before! Wake up, Rainbow Dash!”

“Huh—wha?” Rainbow Dash rapidly blinked and flailed her hooves around, startled out of her slumber. She sat up and looked her head around, realizing she was inside the crow’s nest of the Heart of Azure. Lastly she looked up and saw the unamused face of Daylight Gleam peering down at her from the rim.

“It’s time for breakfast, sheesh,” the unicorn rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised you don’t wake yourself up with snoring like that.”

Rainbow Dash frowned and stood up. “Sleeping up here it’s not like it would normally bother you anyways...”

“The entire boat was being rocked by your snoring.”

“Pff, liar,” Rainbow snorted. She then flapped her wings and flew out of the crow’s nest, wincing slightly at a minor pain she still felt every now and then in her stomach. Ignoring that, she looked around at the dawn ocean, the sun shimmering across the waters, and the perfectly clear blue sky above them. “We close to the Sea Lion Reefs?”

Daylight scoffed. “We’re still four days away.”

“Ugh, seriously?” Rainbow groaned, an unhappy grimace on her face.

“Welcome to ocean travel,” Daylight looked at Rainbow’s wings and smirked. “Or any kind of travel for those who don’t have wings.”

“Yeah, great, like I really needed to be humbled.” Rainbow folded her legs in front of her chest.

Daylight just raised an eyebrow at her.

“...okay I get your point.”

“Just come down for breakfast, okay?”

Rainbow Dash immediately darted down to the deck, landing on it and grinning back up at the unicorn now standing by herself up by the crow’s nest. “You were saying?”

“You really know how to be insufferable,” Daylight said as she grabbed a rope and slid right down the mast, jumping off at the end and landing with a thump.

“I know how to be-”

Daylight immediately clamped a hoof over her mouth. “Don’t say fun.”

The two of them walked into the Captain’s cabin together and found everybody else already there—including Breakwater himself. Currently the Heart of Azure had its sail up and its anchor in the water, stopping it out here in the middle of nowhere. Just for the morning though so they could have breakfast together. If their next destination really was four days away then Breakwater was going to want to get as much sailing in as he could every single day.

Four days though… Rainbow Dash was getting a sense for just how huge this ocean was. The Heart of Azure wasn’t even slow when the winds were in their favor, she could tell, there was just so much water to cover. And despite her friends having traveled all over it before she even showed up here, they had come up empty in all their searching. And it sounded like they still had a lot of places to check and had never been to. The Sea Lion Reefs sounded like a pretty out of the way—or at least not very important—place and Rainbow still didn’t know a lot about it. Now might’ve been a good time to ask.

First though, it was still time for breakfast. Water, broccoli, and some kind of really tough bread that almost felt stale but was apparently supposed to be like that. Made specifically for long travels.

“Uhhh… I’m just gonna assume that this stuff isn’t going to taste good,” Rainbow said as she turned the square piece of hard bread over in her hooves.

“You would assume correctly,” Captain Breakwater said. “They don’t make it for the taste.”

“If it does make you feel better there should be plenty of tasty fruit to trade for once we reach the Sea Lion Reefs,” Gilbert said.

“It’ll be nice to have that after we were… interrupted at the Three Spears,” Senax said.

“Still four days away though, so don’t let your mouths water too much,” Breakwater said.

“It really is four days until we’ll get there?” Rainbow asked, dismay evident on her face.

“Yep. You should try spending a year out at sea like I have,” Breakwater said.

“And there’s nothing to really see or do until we get there?”

“Sorry, we’re just not in a part of the ocean like that. We’re away from major shipping routes, going to a place that practically has no resource value or anything interesting about it. You’re just not going to see a lot on the way. Leviathan’s sake, even most of the pirates that would’ve normally terrorized out of the way spots like this are gone because Godfrey already sunk them all.”

“Blehhh...” Rainbow Dash slumped down and laid her hooves out along the table. “Leviathan’s sake...”

“Pick up a few more phrases and you’ll start sounding like a seasoned sailor at least,” Breakwater grinned.

“Yeah just what I want, to go back to Equestria and say stuff like “Shiver me timbers” randomly,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“We’ve been out here plenty long and we haven’t lost our minds when it comes to picking up new vocabulary. Also we’ve had to spend far more time sitting around the ship doing nothing than you, Rainbow Dash. It’s only a four day trip, that’s nothing,” Daylight said.

“Look—I’m not saying anything like that. But you know how fast I am. And how fast I usually travel, and how I usually fly on my own. So not getting to do all that is making me antsy. I like having my own pace, you know?” Rainbow said to her.

“Fly out with me later today, we can go off anywhere you want and come back here later,” Gilbert suggested. “Together we can get that urge out of you and you won’t be so agitated anymore.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that sounds alright.”

“There still isn’t really anything around to see, just saying,” Breakwater said. “It’s just miles of open ocean all around. The next closest major island is… Turtle Beach, a fair distance south of here. No reason for us to head there unless we get a Trident or Necklace rumor to go on.”

Rainbow Dash took a bite out of her “stale” bread and nearly retched, forcing it down and shaking her head in disgust. “Eugh… I can’t wait till we get to those Reefs.”

“Me too but my reason is just slightly different,” Senax smiled.

“I’ll admit I’m looking forward to it too—though I’m not going to whine about it—I’m just curious about seeing a new place,” Daylight said. “We’ve been to so many odd places, strange islands, countries and civilizations with their own unique cultures, and there are still so many out on the ocean that are just unknown to me. My old explorer self is calling out to me.”

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash sat back and thought, shooting a glance to Breakwater. “You’ve been to the Sea Lion Reefs before, obviously. You told me a little bit about the place before, but what are the ponies who live there really like?”

Breakwater rubbed his chin, mulling his thoughts over for a second. “In a word? Carefree. They don’t have a lot going on at their atolls and reefs other than fishing, surfing, grabbing coconuts, and moving about to keep ahead of storms. In a place like that where there’s nothing valuable, no reason for big ships or companies to visit, the locals are naturally going to be pretty laid-back. They don’t have to pay attention to time or work like others do. No big worries or nothing like that for them. The ponies that live there don’t want for anything more than they already have, they have no ambition… er, I don’t mean that in a bad way. They’re just, simple, friendly folk.”

“Naw, I get it,” Rainbow said. “Sounds like we’ll at least get a nice welcome.”

“We should,” Breakwater nodded.

“Aaaaaand… you mentioned surfing?” Rainbow asked, intrigued.

“Yeah,” Breakwater snorted. “Figured you’d find that interesting… they get decent waves there most of the time. They use driftwood carved surfboards to make the most of them. Every time I’ve been to the Reefs I’ve seen a lot of ponies out surfing the waves. I think it’s part of their culture, every child has to learn how to surf. The ponies that live there kind of got a religion of their own and everything, I think they worship the ocean itself or something. It’s not as serious as the Sarraroccon Priests or anything but there’s definitely a spiritual touch to their lives.”

“They sound like an engaging group of ponies to meet,” Gilbert smiled.

“You would literally say that about any group of ponies,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“I agree with Gilbert though,” Senax said. “Any ponies who see more to life and the ocean than just trading money or goods across it must be a very warm and genuine people. I think it’s special to really believe in something greater.” She nervously glanced at Breakwater. “Er, no offense.”

He scoffed. “None taken.”

“I think it would just be cool to meet some ponies who’ve got the time to live a little,” Rainbow shrugged. “I know we’re probably not going to have the time—and we’ve got more important stuff going on—but if the opportunity comes up… maybe a little surfing or hanging out with the locals?”

Daylight sighed in exasperation. “Truth be told, it will probably take us no time at all to find the supposed treasure chest and see if anything’s inside. So we’ll more than likely have plenty of extra time to stay at the Reefs if everyone feels the need to. And after our incursion with Godfrey… even I can see the benefits of just relaxing a little bit.” She looked over at Senax. “But. That’s your call, Senax.”

“I see no reason why we can’t spend an extra afternoon relaxing. We hardly ever do anything like that lately,” the merpony smiled.

“If we’re deciding on a place to have fun then the Sea Lion Reefs are one of the best places for that,” Breakwater nodded. “I met a mare there once and… ahem… probably should only talk about that with Gilbert actually...” He actually blushed slightly in embarrassment.

“Glad that Senax sees the value of fun,” Rainbow Dash grinned and patted her on the shoulder. “Can’t wait till we get there now.”

“Yes, it’s only four more days, not long at all,” Daylight smirked and winked at her.

“Ugh… you killjoy.”

“No, Gilbert, I’m not secretly an alicorn or some kind of magically enhanced pegasus or freak mutation. I’m just the best flier in the world. It’s really simple.”

“Well I’m sorry, I’ve never seen a pegasus fly like that before. I didn’t even know it was possible to move like that.”

“I’m just awesome. That’s seriously it.”

“Then what does it say about my brother that-”

“He’s a jerk. That’s what it says.”

“I see… well that is true.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled with amusement as she flew through the air with Gilbert. The two of them had taken a break from the Heart of Azure like he had earlier suggested and were now pretty much just messing around over the waters to the south. Gilbert had a few “questions” for her that made sure there was never a moment of silence between them while they flew. Not that she really minded. Quiet was the thing she didn’t want right now, not with four full days still between them and their next destination. Humoring Gilbert was way more enjoyable, even if the majority of his questions were dumb, than just flying silently over the open ocean.

Especially since like Breakwater had mentioned, there wasn’t a lot to see out here. They were truly in the “open” ocean. Not an island or nary a sea rock was jutting up out of the water. The one thing the both of them had spotted was a pod of dolphins that were happily jumping through the water, going in a different direction than their ship. Rainbow was keeping her eyes open for more, maybe to spot a whale too. There had to be all sorts of life down there, teeming under the surface of the water. The Sea Lion Reefs sounded like a colorful place to explore and see too for that reason.

Fluttershy had once attempted to teach her about various animal ecosystems and how some places could hold hundreds of different species of animals all living together. Coral reefs were something like that. Fluttershy and Twilight would probably have a more fun time when it came to that—Rainbow was definitely more interested in finding the coconut trees and other tropical fruits up on the surface of the islands that made up the Sea Lion Reefs. She wasn’t a huge fan of coconuts actually, but any kind of fruit or thing like that would be great. Coconuts were just like, the most common tropical island fruit weren’t they? Or maybe that was bananas? Or pineapples? She blinked as she realized that she actually had no idea. Either way, after getting her fill of fruit, and stocking plenty onto their ship, she planned to mess around with the locals and have some more exciting fun.

“Ooh, Rainbow Dash! Look below right there!” Gilbert suddenly said.

Rainbow looked down and saw something weird at the surface of the water. She had no idea what she was looking at at first until she noticed some small fins. It must’ve been some kind of fish, but a really odd looking one, it was just lying there flat right on the surface of the water. Wide, stocky, and somewhat oval-shaped. She scratched her head looking at it. “What is that?”

“It’s a Sun Fish!” Gilbert exclaimed. “You hardly ever see them basking like that, they’re a rare sight.”

“Huh,” Rainbow took a second look at it, it was way bigger than she was. She could’ve dropped down and landed on its side by the look of it.

“I certainly hope there aren’t any sharks around, Sun Fish are such majestic creatures.”

Rainbow tilted her head as she looked at it. Majestic might not have been the word she would use.

Actually majestic was probably a word she would never use. Awesome and cool were better words. Those would be saved for like… a swordfish or something.

“Don’t you eat fish, Gilbert?” Rainbow asked him.

“I do indeed, they’re delicious!” He smiled.

“Don’t see an issue with calling a fish majestic, not wanting it to get eaten by sharks, but then turning around and eating tuna or whatever?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“None whatsoever!” He gave her a thumbs up.

“You’re a real treasure, Gilbert...” Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.

“I hope my eating of fish doesn’t bother you too much. You’re not actually upset by it, are you?” An apologetic look came across his face as he nervously tapped his talons together.

Rainbow Dash just grinned. “No, dude, I’m not. Been to plenty of places where fish and meat get eaten. And I knew a lot of griffons and dragons before I even left Equestria. Just making an observation. And maybe having a little fun at your expense.”

“Haha! Well I’m certainly used to having fun made at my expense, so no problem there!” Gilbert smiled again.

This time Rainbow Dash grimaced. “You ever… uh, if you ever wanna talk about that, I’m all ears by the way. You’re a nice guy, Gilbert.”

“Oh don’t worry about it, I’ve gotten over everything that’s happened in the past, since before I even left Griffonstone. I don’t let anything keep me down for long.”

“Yeah… did kind of figure that out about you.”

“Mmm...” Gilbert hummed and looked back over his shoulder, the Heart of Azure no longer actually in sight. “Do you think we should head back? It’s about time for lunch.”

Rainbow looked back too, noticing for the first time how far the two of them had actually flown. “Guess so. Mom might get mad at us if we’re not back for supper.”

“Bwahahahaha!”

Fishing

Griffon eyes—sharp and piercing—scanned the ocean and the shadows swimming just below its surface. A griffon’s eyes were generally sharper than a pony’s, even a pegasus’s, and they could pick out movement better. Gilbert was using his gifted eyes to pick out which unfortunate fish was going to be his dinner. His wings were not flapping so as not to create a disturbance on the surface of the water. Instead he glided along, letting the wind carry him, directly above a school of tuna he could see below.

It was by far the quietest and stillest Rainbow Dash had ever seen the griffon as she watched him from aboard the Heart of Azure.

His talons slowly, slowly, descended towards the surface of the water until they were almost touching it. Right below him was a tuna they were following. He was keeping up with it, not going against it or blocking its way, instead waiting for the perfect moment he could put his talons into the water and already have them around the fish. It wouldn’t feel or sense any disturbance in the water until it was too late.

With a calm but deep breath, Gilbert’s talons shot into the clear water and came out with a flailing tuna grasped in them.

“Haha! Lunch!” He shouted in victory as he raised the tuna over his head.

“Nice job!” Senax clapped and cheered for him as she stood beside Rainbow Dash.

Gilbert flew with the tuna in his grip over to the boat and landed right next to the two of them. “Ah, something freshly caught will taste much better than the meat stored down below. Or any of that cheese for that matter.”

Rainbow grimaced and stepped away from him. The still alive tuna attempting to wriggle out from his talons. “You’re going to just eat that fish raw, like right now?”

“I don’t see how else I’d eat it,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Eugh, call me back down when you’re finished,” Rainbow said and flew up to the crow’s nest.

“Can do! Won’t take me long,” Gilbert smiled.

“It’s going to smell like fish the rest of the day...” Rainbow grumbled.

To avoid the sounds and smells of Gilbert eating his freshly caught tuna as best she could, Rainbow Dash plopped herself down inside the crow’s nest. She rubbed her stomach, noting that the bruising and pain from where Godfrey had punched her was pretty much completely gone. She then laid on her back, put her hooves behind her head, and stared up at the sky. There just still wasn’t a ton to do right now as they continued to sail on to the Sea Lion Reefs and Rainbow Dash had never been good at dealing with boredom and quiet moments.

What they really needed to do next time they stopped in port, or at some other island, was buy a deck of cards or some board games. From what she had heard about the Sea Lion Reefs she wasn’t expecting any of that kind of stuff there unless it had been traded by other ships previously. But if Rainbow just had a deck of cards that would at least be something she could do with the others as they sailed to keep her from being bored out of her mind.

Until they stopped playing with her because she always won.

The screeching of a bird reached her ears and Rainbow Dash focused her gaze harder on the sky. She saw a bird up there, a seagull—no, not a seagull—an albatross, flying high above the Heart of Azure. She was able to tell them apart now, she was happy to say. Her eyes followed it until it disappeared past the rim of the crow’s nest and she had to stand up to keep looking at it. What was it doing? Did it think their ship was interesting and wanted to check them out? She placed her hooves on the rim of the nest and stared at it the entire time it was flying. After a short minute it started to sway back and forth, and then circled above a particular section of the water.

Rainbow Dash tilted her head, wondering what was up with its movements.

Suddenly it folded its wings in to its sides and shot down, falling faster than a rock and sharper than a spear. It dove right into the water, not merely skimming it, at least several feet deep. As Rainbow Dash watched it came up a second later with a fish grasped tightly in its beak and its wings flapping hard to shed any water. Just as quickly as it went down it flew back into the sky and went off back its own way.

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over the side of the crow’s nest. Down below she saw Gilbert had already skeletonized the tuna he had caught and was now picking the bones clean.

“Hey, Gilbert!” She shouted to him.

He paused from his dining and looked up at her, cocking his head. “Yes?”

“Let’s go fishing.”

“Excuse me?”

Rainbow Dash grinned and jumped down from the crow’s nest, gliding to a stop right in front of him. “Fishing. Let’s do it. I just saw how it could be way more fun than I thought.”

He blinked at her a few times, clearly confused. “I… obviously have no problem with doing some more fishing, but I can’t imagine that you would now like to.” His eyes roamed over to the tuna skeleton he was holding.

“I’m not going to eat whatever I catch, it’ll be totally catch and release, just for fun,” Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Even then I’m surprised you would partake in fishing.”

“Look—I’ve got my best friend who takes care of bears and snakes and all kinds of other stuff and she’s the sweetest, most gentlest pony ever. She knows about the food chain, I know about the food chain, we both deal with it. It’s no big deal. It’s why even though I don’t want to be around when you’re eating I’m not flipping out at you when you’re gorging yourself on tuna.”

Gilbert coughed. “Eheh, thank you for that.” He tossed the skeleton of the tuna fish off the side of the boat.

“So come on—it’s time to dive bomb.”

“You can still spot the schools of fish from this high up, right?”

“Oh yes, the water’s definitely clear enough to.”

“Good. I’d never want to give up eyes so good. Pegasus eyes are amazing, and—heh—I bet mine are way more amazing than average, but griffon eyes are super sharp too aren’t they?”

“Unlike ponies we are predators after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry but the word predator just doesn’t really fit you.”

“That is a fair jab...”

The two were circling the water off the starboard side of the Heart of Azure, with enough distance from the boat that they weren’t on a spot disturbed by its wake. The clear water below was the biggest blessing they had—it was much clearer than the rest of the ocean they had traveled over had been, if not for that they couldn’t fish like this. And the way Gilbert had originally done it didn’t seem fun enough to Rainbow Dash. Not only was this a test of her flight skills and reflexes but it was a great way she had thought of to kill her boredom.

And it had been long enough since she had a swim.

“Do you think we can dive in and grab one before they all scatter?” Gilbert asked her.

“Don’t know, that’s part of the fun,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Well I must say I’m quite excited to try!” Gilbert smiled.

Rainbow grinned right back. “You and me both.”

“I could even show you what hunting is like in Griffonstone-”

“Heh, no need, I’ve already gotten those lessons. Had plenty of griffon friends, remember?”

“Ah yes, but of course,” Gilbert nodded.

“So tell me though—before we dive down there—since you’ve been to a lot of different places too, have you ever met any groups or creatures that are really against eating meat? How’d you deal with them?”

“The Yaks of course don’t eat meat but I wasn’t there with them for too long. I’m not even sure if I mentioned how much I’d like some meat around them. But yes, occasionally when out traveling the Grand Ocean we’ve come across ponies who have… er, shall we say, taken offense at my dietary habits and preferences. Including one such small island that had a particular culture revolving around the worship of eels. When I told them how tasty freshwater eels were and wondered if saltwater ones were the same… they reacted poorly.”

“Ouch.”

“Yes. Very much so. Daylight told me I wasn’t allowed to speak without her permission whenever we meet new cultures after that.”

“Yeah… kind of can’t say I blame her.”

“I really don’t see what the big deal about eating meat is though. But I suppose what’s savory to some is sacred to others,” Gilbert shrugged. “Or sacrilege. Would that have been better?”

“Ask Twilight,” Rainbow snorted. “Now come on, let’s just do this.”

After saying that, Rainbow started to form a tighter circle as she dove down at the same time towards the school of fish she and Gilbert could see. He followed along with her, the both of them gaining speed and preparing to rocket into the water. They’d hit the water completely vertically and go down as fast and deep as possible. Rainbow Dash saw the perfect way to dive into water from that albatross earlier, it was just like diving into a pool, only from much higher up and going much faster.

She kept her eyes on a couple shadowy forms of fish in particular—aiming for a few instead of just randomly going down into the pool of them. This way she was sure she was going to at least come down right on top of some. At the same time, she and Gilbert took a deep breath and folded their wings in, now fully diving down to the water. She did her very best to not close her eyes on reflex the moment she hit the surface.

The water and the fish in her vision rushed up immediately.

Her hooves were pointed in a V in front of her body to break the surface of the water and shoot below it as quickly and easily as possible. Cold wetness and a splashing sound erupted all around her the moment she hit the deep blue. Bubbles covered her vision for a split second—but the fish she was aiming for were practically right there within her grasp. It was all happening so fast, Rainbow Dash’s mind and senses working extra quick, processing everything at light speed. She got like this sometimes when she was flying especially fast.

There was a fish right in front of her. Right in reach of her hooves. It had clearly sensed her sudden arrival in the water and she could see it getting ready to speed far away. Her hooves reached out towards it, her momentum still carrying herself into the water.

But as her hooves grasped at the fish, she realized an important difference between herself and both Gilbert and the albatross. She didn’t have claws or a sharp beak to grab the fish with. The fish’s slimy scales slid right out of her hooves even as she attempted to squeeze and grab it. It went darting down far and away and Rainbow Dash missed her opportunity. The other fish had also all scattered and now she had also reached the bottom of her dive, coming to a slow stop in the water. She was able to initially ignore the coldness thanks to her adrenaline, but now it was all rushing into her, and the current of the ocean was pulling at her as well.

Bubbles leaked from the sides of her mouth and Rainbow Dash spread her wings and turned to look back up at the surface. With a single thrust from her wings and legs she was quickly ascending to get her head above the water and take a breath of fresh air.

She broke the surf not half a second later and took a deep lungful of ocean air, her heart beating faster than she had expected and her lungs grateful for the sudden influx of oxygen. Her soaking wet mane fell across her face and the back of her head as she tread water beside the Heart of Azure.

“Haha, that was quite excellent!” The loud voice of Gilbert came from behind.

Rainbow Dash turned to look and saw him proudly holding another large fish over his head, his dive clearly much more fortuitous than her own had been. “G-Good job...”

“Cold?” He asked her.

“I don’t know why I thought the ocean would be warmer here than it is… maybe because it’s so c-clear,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Hm,” Gilbert had a thoughtful look on his face before he tossed the fish he caught into the water. “Who knows?”

Rainbow Dash watched as the fish swiftly swam away and raised an eyebrow at him. “Not saving it for dinner?”

“If you were just going to catch and release I figured I could do the same,” Gilbert smiled.

“Heh. L-Let’s get back on board then before I get sick from staying in the water for too long.”

“Can do! I don’t think we deal with being wet as well as Senax.”

The two flew right up out of the water, Rainbow Dash immediately feeling better as soon as she was out of it, and plopped back onboard their ship. Together they both grinned at each other and shook their entire bodies like a pair of wet dogs. Water went everywhere, soaking the deck around them. Even after that though they weren’t even halfway dry. Cold water kept her mane and tail from regaining their normal style and her feathers dripped with heavy droplets to create an endless pitter-patter on the wooden deck.

Rainbow Dash looked towards Senax, up by the helm. “I’m seriously jealous of how water just slides off of you like nothing right now.”

“I’m seriously jealous of how you can fly!” She called back.

“Yeah well—well… I can’t blame you for that,” Rainbow grinned, fluttering her wings to get some excess water off them.

“Perhaps another time we can go fishing again if you’re ever bored?” Gilbert suggested. “Perhaps when we actually do get to warmer waters? As a matter of fact, the waters around the Sea Lion Reefs are much shallower, more tropical, and should be warmer as well.”

“Then maybe I’ll at least do some diving—along with surfing—but fishing is probably gonna still be a rare thing for me to do,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Is that because you’re upset that you were unable to catch a fish but I was?”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay let’s get back out there.”

You Get Used to It

Rainbow Dash was green in the face, her hoof pressed against her mouth to keep herself from hurling as she draped herself over the side of the boat.

It had come on so suddenly. One minute she was fine, and then it felt like every minute rocking of the boat was treating her insides like she had just swallowed a pie along with a gallon of beer. The more the boat went up and down the waves the more she was certain that the next one would finally cause her to completely lose the contents of her stomach. Her entire body felt nauseous, her vision was all tilted and she had no balance.

“Yeah I remember that look,” Daylight Gleam said from beside her. “That’s classic seasickness.”

“I feel like a pair of Yaks are jumping up and down in my stomach...”

“Yep. Seasickness,” Daylight nodded.

“Why now? I was feeling fine… this has never happened before,” Rainbow Dash managed to say before clamping her hoof over her mouth again as her green cheeks expanded. With difficulty she swallowed it down and kept from puking.

“Your body must finally be feeling the effects of sea travel,” Daylight shrugged. “Maybe you spent too much time sitting on the boat all at once instead of flying. Maybe the smells and the constant movement finally got to you.”

“I fly. How can a pony who flies get seasick?”

“I dunno, Gilbert got seasick too at first.”

“It’s true!” The griffon shouted from the bow where he was watching their boat go up and down over the waves.”

“These waves are a little rougher than what we’ve gotten so far too… maybe that’s why?” Daylight mused.

“Don’t care… just don’t want to be sick anymore...” Rainbow groaned.

“I never got seasick while we’ve been traveling,” Senax said with a shrug as she walked up to them as well.

“You’re a merpony. It would be weird if you got seasick,” Daylight frowned at her.

“You’ve just gotta get it out of your system, Rainbow Dash!” Breakwater called from the helm. “Once that’s done, you’ll get your sea legs! And sea wings too!”

“By getting it out of my system do you mean puking all over the side of your ship?” Rainbow groggily yelled to him.

“No… I mean giving it a couple days of rest for your body to adjust. But once that’s done I’m sure the swaying of the ship won’t affect you so badly anymore,” he said.

“Couple of days… I’m going to be feeling miserable for a couple more days...” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Even I used to get seasick when I was younger. It’s something a lot of ponies go through when they first start sailing. The rocking of the boat, especially smaller ones like my Heart of Azure, can just make you sick until you’re really used to it.”

“Thanks for letting me know...”

Daylight started rubbing her back. “That help?”

“It might be better for you to go below where you can’t see the ocean or smell it as much… or that might make it worse. It depends,” Senax said.

“Don’t we have any medicine?” Rainbow asked.

“Not for this. It’s just seasickness, it’ll pass,” Senax said.

“Oh, easy for you to say...”

Daylight continued to rub her hoof in circular motions across Rainbow Dash’s back. “Just relax, close your eyes, try not to think about how your stomach feels right now. Just think about walking along the grass, the nice stable ground, or maybe even flying. Thinking about flying, being in your natural element, might work best for you.”

“Mrmmm...” Rainbow Dash grumbled but closed her eyes all the same and just tried to focus on Daylight’s attempts to soothe her.

“Maybe swimming more will help you get used to the ocean quicker? After you get over this bout of seasickness we should go for a swim together. You’ve already flown with Gilbert enough,” Senax said.

Rainbow Dash weakly nodded. “Alright… sounds good.”

“I don’t exactly think that’s the best idea,” Daylight frowned. “Do you just want another pony to go swimming with?”

“Nooo...” Senax averted her eyes.

“That cold saltwater, the fishy smell, I think she should avoid it for the time being until she’s fully gotten over her seasickness.”

“That could take forever though. Rainbow Dash isn’t the type to let something like this slow her down or beat her. She’d want to get right back out there and tackle any problem.”

“What problem? You’re acting like there’s some big deal about going swimming together. I just don’t want her to get sick—er.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, I just think she’d like to learn how to be the best swimmer she can be and she wouldn’t want to put it off or see it delayed just cause she got a little sick.”

“How come you’re being so impatient with this? If you want I can go swimming with you more often. Are you upset because neither Gilbert or I have swam with you much lately.”

“...maybe.”

“Please,” Rainbow Dash suddenly groaned. “Please, just a little quieter.”

“Sorry,” both unicorn and merpony said at once.

“Ugh… forget this,” Rainbow Dash pushed Daylight’s hoof away and got up from the side of the boat. Her legs were wobbly and she still had dizzy vision almost like vertigo, but she managed to keep on her hooves. Her stomach did a few backflips but Rainbow kept it down for the moment. “If the boat is causing this, then I’m getting off the boat.”

“Wait—you’re not going to go up and fly are you?” Daylight asked her.

“Bingo,” Rainbow said and spread her wings.

“That’s not a good idea, you’re just going to make yourself sicker, you’ll end up tumbling out of the sky before anything.”

Rainbow would’ve rolled her eyes if they would stop spinning. “I know what my body needs, Daylight.”

“Gilbert has tried the same thing you’re about to. Do you want me to tell you how that ended?” Daylight frowned.

“I’m not Gilbert—no offense,” Rainbow glanced towards him.

“None taken!”

“Rainbow, I think Daylight is right about this. You’re not going to have a good time,” Senax said, looking worried for her.

“Well if that’s the case then the joke’s on me,” Rainbow said and started flying up from the deck.

“Don’t puke while you’re flying over the ship!” Breakwater shouted at her.

Rainbow Dash didn’t bother replying as she went over the mast and the crow’s nest, flying out to the port side of the ship. Now it was just the rocky waves beneath her and she was flying and moving entirely under her own power. No more tilting, no more swaying, it was her wings keeping her afloat and flying smoothly. Mostly smoothly. Not very smoothly. Unsteady. Uh oh.

“I do not feel good...” Rainbow Dash said to herself. Her vision was swimming like a fish and the queasy feeling from her stomach hadn’t abated at all despite leaving the boat. The green discoloration of her face had surely gotten worse and Rainbow Dash lifted both her hooves to her mouth as her cheeks puffed out once again. Maybe flying up here and moving around so much with a nauseous stomach was a bad idea after all?

“Uh oh,” Rainbow Dash felt her bile in her throat rising as she shook and wobbled about in the air.

Down below, Daylight Gleam and Senax both watched her jerky movements.

“Better get an umbrella,” Daylight sighed. She glanced over to her merpony friend. “Are you ready to go out there and grab her once she falls in?”

“Mhm,” Senax nodded.

Rainbow Dash’s entire stomach was rising up into her mouth, her once blue face now completely green and an all new wave of nausea and dizziness running through her. Her wings became frazzled as her body seized up and- “BLEEEEGGHHHH!”

“Oof. That is not pretty,” Daylight winced from below.

“No it is not,” Senax shook her head.

After that unpleasant event, the blue and rainbow body of Rainbow Dash went into a lazy spiral before plonking right down into the ocean. The two mares on the boat who had been watching merely shrugged at each other before Senax jumped over the side and swam out to retrieve their fallen comrade. Gilbert then waddled over to Daylight and raised a talon above his eyes, peering out to where Rainbow Dash was floating and watching Senax quickly reach her.

“Perhaps we should’ve done a better job of, um, not letting Rainbow Dash do something like that?” Gilbert said.

“Considering the pony in question—I’d say this is kind of good for her,” Daylight smirked.

“Ah, now she might listen better?”

“Unlikely. But possible.”

“I think she’ll more than likely just continue to be annoyed and act before thinking. Like me,” Gilbert nodded a few times.

“Well at the very least, for the moment we’ll have her rest down in the hold and keep her from flying out again until the seasickness is gone. I think even Rainbow Dash will accept that.”

“Agreed.”

Senax meanwhile had reached Rainbow Dash’s bobbing form and wrapped her thin hooves around the pegasus’s body, swimming back with her to the boat. Rainbow Dash grumbled and groaned the whole way until Daylight and Gilbert helped pull the two of them back onboard. She was a wet doll on the deck after that, cold and tired with both her stomach and head feeling like garbage dumps. Senax retrieved a towel from down below and dried her off while Daylight admonished her.

“Are you perhaps going to get some rest now?” The unicorn asked.

“Yes, mom, I’m going to get some rest,” Rainbow growled.

Gilbert snickered.

“Oh, very funny. Yes the one looking out for you is the mom.” Daylight slowly clapped her hooves together.

“You don’t do yourself any favors when it comes to the label you know...” Rainbow Dash groaned and rolled over onto her back as soon as Senax was finished drying her off.

“She’s right you know,” Gilbert said.

Daylight glared at him hard enough for the griffon to cough and turn away.

“Enough you two, let’s just give Rainbow Dash some air now,” Senax said. She then leaned down to whisper into Rainbow’s ear. “Let’s go swimming tomorrow.”

Rainbow Dash weakly nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

While the rainbow pegasus was safely laid down in the hold with a blanket (and a bucket) the others stayed up above deck. Senax took over from Captain Breakwater when it came to manning the wheel, both giving him a break and giving herself something to do. The Captain then retreated into his cabin for some rest, and to properly map out where they were. That left Daylight Gleam and Gilbert together by the bow of the ship as they continued to sail west towards the Sea Lion Reefs.

“If all goes well it shouldn’t be much longer before we arrive,” Daylight said.

“And perhaps we’ll even be lucky enough to finally find one of Senax’s treasures,” Gilbert said, as optimistic as ever.

“It would be nice but I’m not holding out hope,” Daylight sighed, as pessimistic as ever. “I can’t imagine things would end up being this simple for us.”

“Well… I do see what you mean. The sort of treasures that we’re looking for can’t just be sitting out there. But that’s what this rumor about the treasure chest at the Sea Lion Reefs sounds like,” Gilbert acknowledged.

Daylight glanced back to Senax at the helm for a brief moment. “It just.. it seems hopeless sometimes. We have nothing to go on, Gilbert. Nothing at all. It’s only these little rumors that always end up being the same dead end.”

“Well we can’t just give up, can we? The fact you’re still here searching means you won’t, right? After all it’s not like you have any true stake in this. You’re not looking for anything. You’re merely helping a friend, as am I. There’s nothing keeping you here except your word and your bonds… something that I feel is stronger than any physical reason or reward,” Gilbert smiled.

“Heh. Same as you, huh?”

“In the end we’re just tagging along and helping out. And I know that as much as you complain and get dejected that we haven’t found anything yet, that you’d still never give up and leave. Not until Senax has found her home. You’re a good pony. You and Rainbow Dash both. And I’m just a lunkhead who doesn’t recognize danger when it comes up and bites him in the butt.”

“As annoying as you can be you’re still selling yourself short, Gilbert…”

“A word of praise from my dear Daylight Gleam? Truly this is a happy day!” He grinned and reached out to pat her shoulders.

“Ugh… yeah… don’t get used to it.”

As they both stood at the bow while the Heart of Azure went up and down over the oncoming waves, it reminded them of their own first bouts of seasickness and how unpleasant it was. They didn’t envy what Rainbow Dash was going through. In the end though, their pegasus friend would get over it. She was certainly tough enough to quickly adjust to life at sea, the both of them fully believed that. Gilbert was still monumentally impressed by her thanks to how she fought against his brother. For Daylight, she reminded her of several other very impressive and extraordinary ponies she had met in her previous journeys.

“I still think it’s relaxing, you know?”

Daylight Gleam looked up at Gilbert. “Huh?”

“Just being out here. Our lives, even with what we’re searching for, even with my brother chasing us, we’re so free. Standing here and seeing how big the ocean is—watching as we sail over it—I feel more relaxed than I practically ever have in my life.”

Daylight slowly turned her head and stared out at the ocean too. It was still so endless looking. “I think I get what you mean. My life has… always kind of been like this… but doing something good, something selfless, at the same time. It just… feels nicer.”

“I’d say I enjoy having an actual purpose too.”

The two friends looked behind them as Breakwater strode up and joined them.

“Been too long that I’ve just been aimlessly sailing around, with nothing to do except see how far I can go,” the captain said. “This is the first time in a while I’ve done something important. For ages my dream was just to get my own ship. Then I got one and, well, haven’t done nearly enough with it when it comes to things that actually matter.”

The trio stood there contemplatively together for a moment, until Breakwater glanced down at the deck.

“Hm. Was thinking how this might be the only time that crazy pegasus isn’t going to want some of the rum we’re storing down in the hold. On any other occasion I’d be worried about her cracking one of the barrels open and taking a drink.”

“I dunno… knowing her I wouldn’t put it past her,” Daylight grinned.

“Well, either way I expect her to be better by tomorrow. After all she already cleaned her stomach out earlier…”

“She’s indeed a tough mare. She’ll recover quickly,” Gilbert said.

“Just so long as you don’t go down there and start eating more fish in front of her,” Daylight said.

“I promise I won’t do that. On purpose. Today.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Best I can hope for from you.”

For the next few hours until the sun went down, the rest of the crew of the Heart of Azure were on deck, appreciating the world and the blue ocean they sailed on. Senax near the stern was keeping them on a steady path and planned to keep to the wheel all through the night. While down below… a green-faced pegasus was currently thinking about how she might start to hate oceans almost as much as deserts and the snow. Rainbow Dash groaned in discomfort, any thought of food or drink just making things worse. Her stomach feeling like a broken washing machine right up until she finally managed to fall asleep.

First Storm

“One day out from the Sea Lion Reefs and we get stuck in this. That’s just our luck, isn’t it?” Daylight Gleam said as the Heart of Azure made its way through the sudden ocean storm that had fallen upon them.

The waters raged violently all around them, large waves threatening to capsize the ship if they hit it the wrong way, while powerful winds buffeted all of them onboard and made the sail billow about wildly. Thunder and lightning crashed together in the sky to create a cacophonous light show while heavy rain poured down below. The rain was being blown every which way by the wind as well. At times it felt like it was coming straight down, other times it felt like it was assaulting them from the right, then the left, and sometimes straight up at their faces.

Through it all, Breakwater had the wheel, fighting the storm and doing his best to keep his ship afloat. The bow crashed through a large wave and the top half of the water smashed down onto the deck, flooding half of it before it started draining through the side rails. They then went down, between the swells and waiting for the next big wave to crash upon their ship and flood them all over again.

Gilbert and Rainbow Dash were in the air around the ship, doing their best to fend off the winds and keep the sail from rupturing or the ship being blown off course. Senax was by the wheel with Breakwater, ready to help him with anything he needed or take over if he was incapacitated. Daylight’s duty was to dampen the effects of any waves striking them—but she was already near the end of her rope when it came to magical power. Any kind of use that didn’t directly involve her Cutie Mark talent tended to take a decent amount of energy out of her.

Rainbow Dash found the winds were doing their best to carry her off into the storm like a rag doll or throw her into the violent ocean, but she had been in worse storms than this.

“I’ve been in worse storms than this!” She shouted to make sure she was heard. “We’ll get out of this, just everybody work together!”

“Can do, Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert shouted from the port side—flying practically parallel with the mast and using his body and heavy wings to change the course of some of the wind. “Although not being an actual pegasus like yourself I’m unsure of the use I’ll be up here!”

“Just cause you don’t have pegasus weather magic doesn’t mean you can’t do anything! Stick with what you’re doing right now, you’re doing a great job!” She reassured him.

It was true that her innate pegasus magic made her the most useful member of the crew right now. It was practically why any major shipping vessel or other large ship wanted at least one pegasus with them. Even if they couldn’t fully break up a large ocean storm they could at least weaken it around the ship or do something else to help. And Rainbow Dash had a lot of experience dealing with storms thanks to her history. She was putting all of it to good use.

“The both of you just be careful! We don’t want one of you getting blown away!” Breakwater shouted.

“Don’t even worry about that! I’m way too good of a flier for that to happen!” Rainbow grinned.

Down below, another wave came from the front, hitting the bow at an angle. Daylight Gleam grit her teeth and created the best magical barrier she could at the moment to dampen the blow and keep too much water from washing aboard. The force and strain caused her to stumble back until she accidentally bumped into the mast and fell over. As if the boat wasn’t moving around enough she had to be stumbling about too thanks to overusing her magic.

“Are you okay, Daylight?” Senax shouted.

“I’m fine! I can handle it!” The unicorn replied.

Senax grimaced, watching as everyone else worked hard to get them through the storm. “If only it hadn’t come upon us so suddenly...”

Rainbow Dash was napping in the crow’s nest earlier in the day. The weather out was fair, not too cold or too hot, with a mild breeze to accompany it all. She found it pretty easy to just relax and let herself fall asleep at times like this—still bored on their “long” trip to the Sea Lion Reefs. The others could look up and see her long, rainbow tail draped over the side of the nest.

Gilbert was below at the bow, squinting out to see if there was any visible land in front of them yet. He came up with absolutely nothing, they were simply too far away. Even if he flew up to the crow’s nest or higher it would be unlikely he saw anything. Bored, he turned his eyes to the water instead, and tried to see if he could spot any fish swimming down there…

Daylight Gleam was asleep in the hold after deciding not to tear Gilbert’s dumb journal that he kept bothering her about to pieces. Instead she decided to nap and hope he might stop annoying her about it by the time she woke up. Unlikely. She did find though that the steady rocking and swaying of the boat from inside the hold felt very comfortable to her nowadays when she was trying to sleep. It was easy to nod off down here.

Captain Breakwater was standing beside Senax at the wheel, watching the merpony again as she directed them over the waves. She had improved greatly in his eyes in just a brief amount of time. Like she had a natural talent for seafaring. Considering her blood and heritage, maybe she did. Although at the same time, using ships might’ve been kind of irrelevant for a species that could breathe underwater and swim like merponies.

Senax had a focused look on her face. But on the inside she was thinking about the recent conflict with Godfrey and how useless she had been. A caretaker at best, she couldn’t fight or do anything else. And she wanted that to change. That’s why she had been throwing herself into learning how to pilot the ship even harder than before. Everyone was on this adventure because of her in the first place, if she got them in danger and couldn’t even help them…

A drop of water fell onto the merpony’s snout.

Senax blinked and looked up at the sky, noticing that a series of gray clouds had formed, practically coming out of nowhere. With each passing second it was getting darker and darker and more drops of rain came down to splash on her and the boat.

“Uh oh...” Breakwater grimaced as he watched the sky and the storm forming directly over them. “Sudden storm. All the checking I did earlier for our route didn’t show anything like this.”

“More crazy ocean weather?” Senax said.

“Yep. Let’s hope it’s just a mild storm and it doesn’t get too bad.”

The wind started picking up more and more each passing second, complementing the heavy rain that was now falling on their boat and the ocean around them. Bigger waves started to form thanks to those winds and shortly the Heart of Azure was rocking quite a bit more than usual. Gilbert quickly realized this was no mere squall they had gotten stuck in and he started walking from the bow over to the two of them to see if Breakwater had anything to say. And meanwhile Rainbow Dash was tossing and turning in her sleep—dreaming of her tail being stuck in the shower drain.

“I say, do you think this storm is going to keep getting worse?” Gilbert asked Breakwater and Senax, the wind howling now and ruffling his feathers.

“Looks like it,” Breakwater nodded. “Sky’s already gone dark. Rain keeps coming down harder and those thunder clouds are looking pretty bad.”

Gilbert looked up—the gray clouds had already given away entirely to black storm clouds that rumbled with thunder and lightning. “Yes… those very much don’t look good.”

Some sputtering then came from the crow’s nest and the others looked up to see a wet and confused Rainbow Dash clambering over the side of it and looking every which way through half-lidded eyes. “W-What? What’s going on? I was punching a Reindeer and then… huh?”

“Welcome back to the waking world, Rainbow Dash! We’re in the middle of a storm!” Gilbert shouted to her.

Rainbow Dash blinked and now with a little more sense she looked around at what was happening. “Oh.”

“Enjoy sailing through your first storm on the Grand Ocean!” Breakwater said.

“Well at least storms are something I’m familiar with...” Rainbow said as she fully jumped out of the crow’s nest and glided down to the stern with the others. The wind not quite as vicious yet to knock her around. At this point though she was already drenched by the rain and the parts of her body that were laying in the bottom of the crow’s nest were especially soggy.

“What do we do? Do we just try and sail through it like normal? Keeping to the same course?” Rainbow asked.

“That’s about all we can do. Since we don’t know how big it is or how long it’ll last,” Breakwater said and took over the wheel from Senax. “Sorry, Senax, but I should be steering us for this.”

“R-Right,” Senax bowed out of the way, her mouth open and closed a few times but in the end she didn’t speak up.

“I’m going to wake Daylight up,” Gilbert said and walked down to the hold.

“I’m gonna keep on my wings, see what I can do to break up the storm as much as possible. Maybe I can make an easy path for us,” Rainbow Dash said. She squinted out at the dark clouds and drowned. “Although… it’s kind of a big looking storm so I’m not sure I’ll be able to do a whole lot.”

“Anything would be a big help,” Breakwater said as a series of larger waves started coming at them.

“I’ll watch you, Captain. Just tell me if you need anything,” Senax said as Breakwater’s hooves tightened on the wheel.

Everyone got into position as the storm’s ferocity grew around their small boat. Gilbert brought up a groggy Daylight from the hold and she only needed to take a single look around to understand the situation. Without direction from anyone else she went to the bow of the ship. Gilbert flew up to join Rainbow Dash, and thus they were all in position…

...Now that the storm had raged for hours with them still stuck well inside it with no end in sight, Breakwater kept a steady eye on the sail. He was worried about it. Worried that with the strong winds and the quick patch job that it might tear again. It would be a big pain if that happened once they were out of the storm and still trying to make their way across the ocean.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash, Gilbert!” He shouted to the two fliers.

They both looked back down at him as they fought to keep steady in the gale-force winds.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Rainbow Dash yelled back.

“I want you to fold up and tie up the sail! We can’t leave it open in winds like this anymore, it might tear or get completely torn off the mast all at once!”

“But how are we going to get out of the storm then?”

“We’re just going to have to drift across the waves for now. There’s too much wind pushing from every which way anyways! We’ll get out eventually.”

“Alright,” Rainbow shrugged. “If it comes down to it just tie a rope around me and I’ll pull us the rest of the way.”

She and Gilbert fought against the cyclone winds of the storm as they went to the bottom of the sail together. They both had knowledge of the sail thanks to Breakwater’s lessons, something that made this much easier, and made Rainbow grumble in annoyance that he was actually right to force her to learn all this stuff. Still, even with them knowing what to do, the constant pouring rain and the strong winds made it difficult to work the sail. They were in the middle of tying it up when another large wave struck the starboard side, not fully weakened by Daylight, and made the Heart of Azure list to the side.

Rainbow’s hooves slipped on one of the wet ropes and the know she was tying came undone, her half of the sail now dragging down and partially open. “Dang it!”

“Let me help! My talons are a bit better built for things such as this!” Gilbert said and flew over to take Rainbow’s place.

While she held up the bottom beam of the sail, Gilbert dexterously got every rope tied and the two of them together had finally rolled it all up.

“One problem dealt with,” Rainbow said.

“We’ll just have to hold out hope that no exceptionally large wave comes to capsize us now,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “You have a really special knack for tempting fate, you know?”

“Very much so!” Gilbert fervently nodded.

“Hey you two, get back to diverting the winds! The storm isn’t taking any breaks!” Breakwater ordered.

“Right!” Rainbow saluted and went back out to try and beat down the storm’s winds with her natural magic. She could feel every trained motion in her muscles as she flapped her wings and created wind of her own and pushed the harshest blasts from the storm from striking their ship directly. There were times back in Ponyville where she had been out during a big storm, doing her best to make sure windows weren’t broken and things weren’t knocked over. It wasn’t a whole lot different from this. Wind was something she knew as well as the back of her own wings. There were only a few times where stormy weather had gotten the better of her, and there was usually a magical reason for that.

The Heart of Azure climbed over a large wave and fell down the backside while another large wave came and washed over the bow. This time Daylight managed to create a small half dome to divert most of the water away, but it broke pretty much immediately after it was formed and the unicorn was clearly spent for good this time until she got some rest. They were just going to have to handle things normally from then on.

Thunder and lightning crashed around them and the torrent of rain temporarily strengthened. The sheer downpour almost had enough force to knock both Rainbow Dash and Gilbert out of the sky, but the two refused to take refuge on the ship while they still had work to do. Short of being directly struck by lightning, no one was giving up.

Rainbow Dash looked at the dark ocean around them during a brief moment when she wasn’t having rain blown into her face. The black water reflected the black clouds—it was a sharp contrast from how peaceful and bright things had looked earlier in the day. A reminder how serious ocean travel was, and a warning that the weather could change at a moment’s notice. More violent waves, larger than the ones around them, could be seen in the distance. It was likely they were the largest waves she had ever actually seen in her life. Perhaps that was the strongest part of the storm. If that was true then they were luckily well away from it. Lightning flashed, followed by the growling roar of thunder, and Rainbow Dash returned to her crucial duty.

Almost as Bad

The Heart of Azure drifted along the calm waters of the Grand Ocean only a few miles from its destination of the Sea Lion Reefs. The vessel was a little beaten up looking, and its sail hadn’t been unfurled yet, but it was still afloat. It had made it through the sudden storm with only minor wounds to show for it. The same could be said of its crew. They were most certainly tired—exhausted even—but everyone was okay.

Part of the reason why the sail hadn’t been opened again was because they wanted to take it slow for a bit. They needed the extra rest before they actually landed and dropped anchor at the Reefs.

It was ironic to Rainbow Dash as she laid down on the bowsprit, she had been aching to get there for days and yet now when she could actually see land on the horizon showing her they were close, she really just wanted to take a nap for a few hours. Flying out there in excitement was simply not happening today. Her eyes blinked a few times, her lids heavy, the strips of land in the distance still just that—strips. She couldn’t really tell anything else about them except some spots were darker and some spots were lighter than others. No tall buildings or any mountains or hills she could see, it all looked really flat.

Made sense cause these weren’t normal large islands, just reefs, rocks, and atolls with some trees on them.

Rainbow Dash blew a tired breath out her nose and closed her eyes for the moment. Close to a nap.

Dear Journal.

We just got through a monster of a storm. It was quite the event, we were sailing and drifting for hours through it before it finally let up and now we’re back on course to the Sea Lion Reefs. We’re quite close now, I know how antsy Rainbow Dash has been for us to finally get there. But we’re all so exhausted after fighting through the storm. No one is in a hurry at the moment.

I myself am tired and would like to have something to eat, but I can wait till we arrive.

The powerful rains and winds did a number on Rainbow Dash and I as we flew over the ship to try and protect it from the worst of the storm. Even then the Heart of Azure looks like it has taken quite the beating after going through the heart of that storm. Everything is wet, drenched, and looks almost torn up by wind. We’re lucky lightning didn’t hit us, nor that any large wave washed over us. My wonderful friend Daylight did a good job of protecting us as well.

She is of course also exhausted, her horn has been taxed considerably over the past week. She’s simply not used to having to exert herself and use magic that much. Right now she’s resting right next to me in the hold while I write this.

She told me no, she doesn’t want to write an entry as well. Oh well.

At least it’s finally nice out again. Very nice out, warmer too. I think in a few hours we’ll be “docking” at the Reefs. Hopefully we find what we’ve been looking for.

“You see how much clearer and shallower the water already is compared to where we had just been sailing?” Breakwater asked Rainbow Dash as he pointed over the side. “You can actually see the bottom already.”

Rainbow Dash looked down and saw he was indeed correct. Now that they were a mere hour, maybe less, from arriving at the Reefs, things had changed considerably. A tropically warm breeze was in the air, the waters were a clear light blue, and she could see the sands below them along with all kinds of colorful fish and even the occasional sea turtle or eel. The sky above was an equally clear blue with a very bright sun beaming down on them. No more storms to worry about for now.

“In a second we’ll get to some of the shoals and underwater reefs and rock formations that make it impossible for larger ships to travel further, but we’ll be fine,” Breakwater said.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Rainbow said.

She looked down across the deck, seeing Senax at the wheel but not seeing Gilbert or Daylight Gleam. The both of them were down below in the hold, resting. Looking back beyond the bow, she could make out more of the “islands” ahead. There were clearly a lot of palm trees out there along with other tropical plants, seeming to rise practically right out of the sand because the various little sandbars and atolls were so flat. It all covered a much wider area than the Three Spears did, which were just a trio of large but secluded islands with nothing else around them. From what Rainbow Dash could see about the Sea Lion Reefs they covered a very large area—made up of numerous, hundreds, of tiny little islands and reefs scattered in these tropical waters.

Any signs of civilization couldn’t be seen yet. Because the locals apparently roamed around the Reefs they very well could’ve been entirely on the other side at the moment. Rainbow certainly didn’t see any small boats out there, or any ponies surfing. But it was possible they were still a little too far away for her to actually see that kind of stuff. As good as her eyes were.

Rainbow Dash stretched, her body a little sore from the awkward position she had been lying in earlier in the day. Her eyes glanced up to the crow’s nest—her usual spot—and she nodded to herself.

“Well, I’m gonna go rest up there again. Maybe see if I can see anything better from up there too,” Rainbow said.

“Get as much rest as you need. Soon I’ll be taking over the wheel again to guide us through the reefs, I’ll call you down once we’re ready to drop the anchor.”

“Can do,” Rainbow saluted and flew right up to the crow’s nest. She plopped down and curled up inside it immediately—deciding that she could take another look when they were actually closer. For the moment some shuteye still sounded better. Her mane, tail, feathers, and coat were all ravaged by the wind. Thought she didn’t care much for appearances, she had to admit that this was one of the few times where she actually wouldn’t have minded having a comb to fix herself up… or let Rarity fix her up. Even though that mare would definitely go overboard.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and let it all out in a big shudder. “I’ll find a mane stylist on the atoll...”

Down below, Breakwater walked up and down his ship, inspecting the deck, inspecting the sides, it didn’t look great to him but nothing was especially badly damaged. A short check up at Ballast’s next time they visited the port of Malkonrik would easily get the Heart of Azure looking as good as new. That was one of the benefits of using a smaller ship, it was easier to fix and spruce up. At this point he had no idea when he’d be back at Malkonrik though, or if the current crew he was traveling with would be with him. This job—this adventure—had turned out to be far crazier than he ever expected it to be.

Making his way back to the helm, he walked up and smiled at Senax. “Hey Senax, I’ll take over from here since we’re getting close to the reefs.”

“No!” Senax shouted in surprise, making Breakwater flinch and take a step back.

The merpony blushed and nervously chuckled. “Ehehe… I mean… can you just guide me instead? I’d still like to be the one steering the ship. I-I want to learn more, and get some more practical experience. I mean what if you’re sick one day and only I can take over?! Or what if—um—something else happens! I simply want to be useful, and well, I can’t if… you know I-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Breakwater waved his hooves around to calm her down. “It’s alright, Senax. You want to keep steering then alright, I’ll guide you through the reefs and shoals. Just be careful and attentive, okay?”

“Thank you… s-sorry,” Senax smiled.

“Nothing to apologize for,” Breakwater patted her on the shoulder. He raised a concerned eyebrow at her. “You know… no one thinks you aren’t useful right? We all appreciate you, we wouldn’t still be doing this if none of us cared about or respected you.”

“And that’s why I need to make myself more useful. To pay back everything you’re all doing for me,” Senax said. “So long as I have this I can at least feel like I’m contributing instead of just letting everyone else carry me along. If something happened to any of you while we’re out here searching for my home… out here because of me… I just couldn’t...”

“It’s alright. We all get it,” Breakwater affectionately squeezed her shoulder. “Now come on, show me what you can do with this ship.”

The Heart of Azure slowly made its way towards the Sea Lion Reefs, going with the current and carefully navigating the masses of underwater rock formations, reefs, and the sandbars that peeked out just past the surface. Halfway through that, and both Gilbert and Daylight Gleam came out of the hold to join the others. The unicorn took a big yawn and waved to Breakwater and Senax before walking towards the bow while Gilbert stepped over to the starboard side of the ship and looked into the clear waters there. He seemed to be intently following the fish that looked tastiest to him.

“Never been to a place like this before,” Daylight said from her position by the bow. She reached up and touched her horn, the extra appendage still a little sore. At least it looked like a far more relaxing place than where they had just been so hopefully she could go without using her magic for a day or two.

Gilbert saw a stingray swimming through the rocks and sands in the water below their ship, and he also thought he saw the tell-tale tentacles of an octopus as it retreated into its den. “My, such an extravagant variety of sea life.”

“Don’t jump overboard and try to eat anything right now!” Daylight called back to him.

“I was merely admiring them, not thinking about eating them!”

Daylight rolled her eyes and turned around to smile at Senax and Breakwater. “How much longer before we actually get somewhere we can land and meet up with the locals?”

“Thirty minutes maybe?” Breakwater said. “Of course we may have to explore the atolls and reefs on hoof for a bit.”

“I’ll be happy to fly out and search for the locals,” Gilbert volunteered.

“I imagine Rainbow Dash would be too,” Daylight said and looked up at the crow’s nest, thinking the pegasus had to be up there if she couldn’t see her anywhere else. “Gilbert, will you go and wake her up? She must be asleep again.”

Gilbert shot up to the crow’s nest and peered inside to find that Rainbow Dash had indeed fallen asleep inside it. “Wakey wakey, Rainbow Dash!” He loudly said while poking her flank.

Rainbow’s eyes shot open quickly and with an annoyed glare directed at the griffon she sat up. “Thanks, Gilbert. Are we there?”

“Just about. The two of us may need to go flying on some reconnaissance duty to find the locals soon, so I woke you up for that.”

“Oh. Alright then,” Rainbow shrugged. “I’m up for that.”

“For now we’re still sailing, but just keep that in mind!” Gilbert said and dropped back down to the main deck.

Rainbow Dash now once more had the time to peer ahead at the large series of atolls and flat sandy islands spread out before them. There was a lot more to see now and she could make out the details of the larger ones. Some even had an impressive amount of vegetation (still mostly palm trees) on their interiors that blocked her from seeing further. She thought she might have seen a few small leafy huts on some of the larger islands, meshed in with the threes, but she couldn’t tell for sure. Turning her attention to the ocean she took appreciation of how calm the waters still were even now with so many little islands and rocks to disrupt them. There must’ve been something extra missing right now for there to be waves that ponies regularly surfed on. Maybe it was the wrong season or time of day, or just the wrong side of the Reefs.

Out of boredom, she turned around and looked at the waters to the east behind them, not expecting to see anything.

And yet, the unexpected still kept happening.

Rainbow Dash blinked to make sure she was seeing right and then squinted her eyes to make sure that—yes—there was indeed something coming up behind them. A dark object going the same direction they were. She frowned, worrying that somehow Godfrey had gotten back on their tails, and she grabbed the spyglass to open it up and look through. She was temporarily relieved to see that it definitely wasn’t The Scourge. Whatever ship this was, it was something different entirely. It looked different from anything else she had seen on the ocean or docked at Malkonrik.

It wasn’t as large as The Scourge but it was still considerably larger than the Heart of Azure. Long and narrow, with a low-swung appearance and two masts with sails reaching up out of it. The sails themselves were oddly ribbed and triangular. And the color of the ship really got her attention. It looked like it was made out of some kind of dark, ebony, wood that made it as black as the night, while the sails were a threatening deep red color. On the higher mast there was no flag of any sort, but instead a long piece of red fabric that trailed in the wind.

“What the?” Rainbow Dash said to herself and frowned, flying out from the crow’s nest with the spyglass and going right down to Breakwater. “Yo!”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Something the matter?”

“There’s a ship coming from behind, looks like they’re going to the Sea Lion Reefs just like we are. It’s not Godfrey but it’s kind of weird looking. Not sure what’s up with it,” she tossed the spyglass to him.

“I’ll check it out,” Breakwater said and turned around with it, looking out over the stern. Senax wanted to look as well but she was too busy on getting them through the shallow waters.

“There’s a ship behind us?” Daylight asked as she and Gilbert joined the others.

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “Breakwater’s checking it out right now.”

A sharp intake of breath from Breakwater grabbed their attention and they all looked to him.

“That’s a great find you’ve made, Rainbow Dash...” Breakwater quietly said as he lowered the spyglass.

“Uh… is that ship bad news?”

“Not as bad as Godfrey, but almost,” Breakwater’s face was an angry frown as he stared across the ocean at the dark vessel. “That’s a Boschese Junk.”

“Bosche,” Daylight’s eyes narrowed as she spat out that word like it was poison. Gilbert and Senax looked just as mad.

“Bosche...” Rainbow Dash repeated. “I remember that. It’s an island country to the south, you showed me on your map.”

“That’s right. And that Junk is just one of hundreds like it that sails the Grand Ocean. All part of the Boschese Slaving Fleet.” Breakwater told her.

“Slaving?” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. That word sent a cold spike into her heart.

“You heard me right,” Breakwater sighed deeply. “Our luck really is bad lately, we’ve gotten to the Sea Lion Reefs just in time to intercept a Bosche slave run.”

Why Everyone Hates Bosche

“A slave run? You’re telling me these guys have come all the way out here to enslave the locals?” Rainbow Dash asked as she kept her eyes on the steadily approaching vessel.

“It’s what Bosche does,” Breakwater said. “They raid other islands and sometimes even the more vulnerable Hundred Kingdoms. For food, valuables, and slaves most of all that they then put to work doing hard labor on their ships or back in their own country. They’re a slave country. Bosche is a relatively large island but it’s a rough place that was never supposed to support such a large population and society, it bred a culture of greed and selfishness as the ponies from there started to spread out and search the rest of the Grand Ocean. Slaves brought back there get put into mineral mines, or work on building ships at port, or become servants for wealthy Boschese.”

“A country of wicked ponies,” Gilbert said with a slow shake of his head.

“They’re not just simple pirates or have only one ship like Godfrey either. They have a full regimented navy with many ships. It’s why despite being the most hated country in the Grand Ocean no one has managed to do anything about them,” Breakwater said.

“Now that you mention it I remember seeing a sign on a bar back in Malkonrik saying “No Boschese Allowed”. So that explains that I guess,” Rainbow snorted.

“Not an uncommon sign in the Hundred Kingdoms,” Breakwater nodded.

“Boschese ships have given us trouble in the past too. Despite technically not being pirates they act the same way that Godfrey or other pirates would when they come across small ships like ours. We’re just another target and group of potential slaves to them,” Daylight said.

“So what do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “We can’t just let them go and enslave the ponies here!”

“I concur,” Breakwater said. “Even if we didn’t need to ask around we certainly can’t let Bosche get away with this.”

“At least they only brought one vessel out here on this run. Obviously they didn’t expect much resistance from the locals,” Gilbert said.

“Even if it’s just one ship it’s going to have a full company of soldiers onboard. And they’ve definitely spotted us so its not like we can sneak up on them or anything,” Breakwater said.

“The Boschese won’t be convinced to just leave either,” Daylight said. “There’s not going to be any bartering or persuading when it comes to them. If they’re out here at the Sea Lion Reefs then they’re here for slaves and nothing else. And we’re just going to look like five more slaves to them.”

Senax shuddered, her hooves tightening around the wheel. “S-So what do we do? We’re completely outnumbered…”

“Well what are we dealing with?” Rainbow Dash asked. “They’ve got trained soldiers, but so what? I’ve fought soldiers before. What weapons do they fight with? I’m still the one in the dark here. Fill me in and I’ll come up with something.”

“They don’t have cannons at least—not on these types of Junks. Black powder is difficult for Bosche to manufacture, so they mostly have ballista’s on their ships,” Breakwater said.

“Ballista?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“Think of it like a giant mounted crossbow.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Great. Well, that’s easier to dodge and deal with than a cannonball being shot at me…”

“Their soldiers wear leather armor and chainmail beneath for protection. I always thought it sounded kind of crazy to wear that kind of stuff at sea. If you fall overboard there’s no way for you to swim and stay afloat with that stuff weighing you down. But apparently they’re either too stupid or too fearless to worry about that,” Breakwater shrugged. “As for personal weaponry I think they mostly fight with spears and other polearms. A Junk like that should have… 20 to 30 soldiers on it. And the rest of the crew won’t just sit around if it comes to a fight either.”

“Alright… only that many? I was almost scared for a second,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Breakwater frowned. “You’re not thinking of fighting them all on your own like you were with Godfrey’s crew, right?”

“Of course not, heh.” Rainbow Dash’s grin widened and she winked at him. “I know the value of teamwork.”

“So what’s the plan then? It seems like you’ve come up with something,” Daylight asked.

“Well if they’re after slaves then they’re not going to just fire at us and attack us, right? They’ll want us to surrender peacefully so we aren’t injured or killed.” Rainbow shrugged.

“That’s right,” Breakwater nodded.

“So if they’re coming after us… let’s slow down and make it easy for them,” Rainbow said. “That’s how we can take them by surprise. I’ve got a few ideas on how to deal with them…”

"A moment, please,” Gilbert interjected. “But won’t their ship also be carrying a number of slaves already? What do we do about them?”

“That’s true. If they’re out here to catch more slaves I doubt there will be too many onboard that one so they could make room for soldiers and the ones they plan to catch, but there will definitely be some on it. Probably servants forced to do the tougher, more menial work on deck. We’ll just have to rescue them and bring them onto the Heart of Azure while dealing with the soldiers.” Breakwater said.

“And drop them off at the Reefs I suppose,” Daylight sighed. “That’s really the best we can do for them…”

“It’s already a vast improvement over being stuck on a Bosche ship,” Breakwater said.

“Very true. We shouldn’t forget that,” Gilbert nodded along.

“So do I stop us here then if we’re not going further into the reefs?” Senax asked.

“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash shouted before Breakwater could answer. “I’ll tell you all what we’re going to do—now it’s time for us to get ready and kick some butt!”

Vessels in the Bosche Fleet did not have individual names. They were given mere number designations to keep the various captains and other sailors from developing attachments. The Junk sailing to the Sea Lion Reefs in search of slaves was #152 and it was commanded by Captain Calhoun, who answered directly to Admiral Bin’Tavy, the highest voice and most decorated officer of Bosche’s navy. What was a routine raid had changed slightly when word came from their barrelpony in the crow’s nest that a ship had been spotted ahead of them. They weren’t expecting any others to be here at the Reefs, but Captain Calhoun merely saw it as a pleasant surprise when word came back about the size of the vessel.

Junk #152 boasted a regiment of 24 highly trained and well-armed soldiers, such a small vessel couldn’t hope to compete with the Boschese soldiers under his command.

And besides them there were a dozen other members of the crew and a dozen slaves onboard working as deck hooves. There was surely nothing to fear from one small ship. That’s why Captain Calhoun was still relaxing inside his personal chambers, where the scent of tea and incense hung in the air. His elaborate red and black uniform fit him snugly and the silk, embroidered, coat he wore over it dropped down to his brown fetlocks. A monocle sat over his right eye to help his vision, while a red dome-shaped cap fit over his head and let his orange mane fall down the backside of his head.

In his hooves he held a teapot that he poured the pungent drink from and into a ceramic cup. The leaves were some of the highest quality that a Boschese could find, only the Admirals and higher nobility could get better. Steam came up from the hot beverage, he put his nose above the cup and inhaled deeply to take in the wondrous scent.

But before he could lift the cup and take a drink, a light knock came to the door of his chambers. A single knock and no more.

Captain Calhoun’s eyes narrowed in annoyance, but in the end he grabbed a bell on his table and rang it—the sign for the visitor to come in.

A young stallion came in, his head bowed in respect, eyes never once leaving the floor, and he stopped ten feet from the Captain’s table. “A thousand pardons, Captain, but I bring news from the Commander on the vessel that was spotted.”

“Oh?” Calhoun smiled but did not even look at the stallion.

“Yes, Captain, the vessel has stopped and dropped anchor in the water’s close to the Sea Lion Reefs. It seems they are waiting for us to reach them. The Commander believes they wish to surrender peacefully and without loss of life. We’ll be upon them in only five minutes, he asked that you come to facilitate the capture of the vessel and whomever may be aboard.”

“Excellent then!” Calhoun chuckled to himself and rose from his desk, momentarily putting his tea time on hold. “We haven’t even reached our true destination and things are going even more splendidly than planned. You are dismissed, report to the Commander that I will be with him shortly.”

“Yes, Captain,” the stallion made a sharp about face and left. Still not having once made eye-contact with his Captain.

As soon as the door closed, Calhoun reached for his tea cup and took a small sip. He could at least have that much.

And a moment later he was walking out on deck, head held high and chest puffed out, the very model of a Boschese Captain. The ship under his command was coming to a stop in the waters, the various workers and slaves in charge of the rigging and sails slowing it down. His lip nearly curled when he saw a couple of manacled slaves out of the corner of his eyes but he restrained himself. As Captain he was above such things. Overhead a large net full of barrels was being moved from one side of the ship to the other, while more ropes ladders and winches allowed practically any pony to crawl up and down the masts and sails. It always brought a smile to his face to see so many working in unison to keep a ship functioning. All for the glory and wealth of Bosche.

There were also six deadly ballistas, three on each side of the Junk, which were kept in excellent working condition. Currently the three on the port side were manned and pointed at their quarry.

His soldiers were gathered up in three lines of eight, all of them wielding spears they kept pointed up to the sky. They stood in the middle of the ship, facing to the port side where they were now coming up alongside this other small vessel. All of them were motionless and expressionless, perfect soldiers of Bosche who obeyed their orders without question or hesitation.

Commander Grigor was standing beside the soldiers and he swiftly walked over to his Captain and saluted as soon as he noticed his approach.

“Sir!” Grigor said. Like Calhoun he wore the same red and black uniform, but without the silken overcoat.

“What do we have, Commander?” Calhoun asked.

“Small recreational vessel, looks like something for personal travel, I spotted four on deck. Right now they’re all waiting at the side of their ship for us. No weapons, but one is a unicorn and another is a griffon, and the third one is… some creature I don’t recognize, but it looks vaguely like a pony. The fourth appears to be the captain of the ship by the look of him, just an earth pony.”

“Well let’s say hello then,” Calhoun smiled.

Junk #152 came to a full and complete stop and one of the slavers pressed a lever on deck that released its heavy anchor into the water. They were now right next to the other vessel, it right off the port side of their ship, completely dwarfing it in both size and crew. Calhoun stared across the barely ten feet of water between the ships and smiled at the unfortunate prey that had crossed their path. At least they were smart enough to not try and fight, but they didn’t seem very afraid of the Bosche ship right next to them. As he looked he noticed that they all wore rather serious and calm expressions on their faces. Perhaps they didn’t fully realize the situation they were in and thought they could talk or barter their way out of things? He noticed that there were four barrels sitting on the deck next to them. Valuables of some kind that they thought they could use to appease them?

He kept his disarming smile on his face anyways, no need to frighten them and potentially get anyone injured or killed, a future slave was no good dead. His eyes momentarily drifted to the strange, female he was fairly sure, creature standing with the others. Her narrow face, webbed ears, and spiky green mane was an unusual sight. Perhaps she could be more valuable because of that? It was an enticing thought.

“Greetings,” Calhoun said across the water. “I take it you realize who we are and that’s why you’ve decided to surrender to us without a fight?”

“That’s right. I’m Captain Breakwater of the Heart of Azure, and we all knew better than to try and fight against a Boschese ship,” the earth pony said.

“Very good, very good,” Calhoun nodded. “Are you aware of what comes next then? I would like this to go as smoothly and comfortably as possible.”

“Actually I was hoping that perhaps we could give you something—as a gift—and you’d let us go on our way,” Breakwater said.

Ah, there it is. Calhoun thought. So many thought they could simply give tribute and avoid ending up in chains at the end of it. It was always so amusing. He figured it might be fun to play along so he kept smiling as he allowed the earth pony to continue. “And what do you have to give us then?”

“Rum. Four barrels of it, the finest you can get from Rum Haven. We were coming here in the first place to trade with the locals,” Breakwater slapped a hoof on top of one of the barrels. “It’s… it’s all we’ve got. Honest.” He nodded to the griffon. “Gilbert here can fly em right over to your ship and then we can both go our separate ways. No fuss.”

Calhoun brought a hoof up to his chin and looked at his Commander, faux thinking it over. “Well that sounds like a fair proposition. Have your griffon bring them over.”

As “Gilbert” did so, Calhoun’s eyes roamed over the two mares on the boat. The unicorn had an attractive face, though marred somewhat by a small scar over her eye and a hardset frown. She would still likely be a good catch just for being a unicorn. The other one he still didn’t know what to make of, but he was certain some wealthy noble would find her interesting when he brought her back to Bosche.

The griffon, under the watchful eyes of the patient soldiers, unloaded all four barrels of rum onto the deck, right between Calhoun and Grigor. He then flapped back to his ship to stand beside his friends.

“Ah, although I most certainly prefer the pleasant taste and aroma of tea, I will enjoy sampling this rum as well,” Calhoun said as he rubbed a hoof over the top of the nearest barrel.

“So that’s it then? You’ll let us go now, right?” Breakwater asked, gulping in nervousness.

The sudden act of fear from a pony who looked so certain and calm earlier amused Calhoun. Perhaps he realized what was coming next?

“Well… I’m afraid that rum isn’t all you have for us. Despite what you may think,” Calhoun smirked. “Now. I think you would like to do this the easy way. You will lie down, you won’t move or resist, and my soldiers will come onboard your vessel to affix shackles to your limbs. After that-”

“After that nothing,” Breakwater interrupted and rolled his eyes. By his sides the griffon and mares smirked.

Calhoun paused, mouth open. Commander Grigor looked surprised and he was certain a few of the soldiers even reacted, frowning and blinking in confusion or anger.

“Excuse me?” Captain Calhoun narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice dangerously, the veneer of affable politeness and charm totally dropped.

Breakwater narrowed his eyes right back at him. “You’re not getting anything today, you Bosche scum.”

Rainbow Dash was inside of a barrel.

She was cramped and uncomfortable, but it was all part of the plan and so far it was going well. These Boschese guys hadn’t been suspicious about the barrels at all. Maybe if one of them had carried the barrels they might’ve noticed, but with Gilbert placing them down they had no idea. And if he had placed the barrels in the right order then she should be right next to the Bosche captain or whoever was in charge of the ship. Rainbow Dash kept a smug grin on her face as she heard the muffled conversation going on. She was just waiting for her signal to act.

“-you Bosche scum.”

“How dare you, you insignificant insect! Your boat will be nothing but ash as we-!”

“Yeah, whatever, RAINBOW DASH! HE’S RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!”

Before the Bosche Captain could react or wonder what the hay Breakwater was talking about, Rainbow Dash stood up and pushed the lid off of the barrel. Yep, Gilbert and Breakwater had done their job. She was grinning right in the face of a startled, monocle-wearing, pony. She could hear the gasps and shouts of several other ponies as they began to move into action, but she was acting first. With the lid still in her hooves, she clocked the monocled pony in the back of the head with it, grabbed him by his coat, and flung him overboard.

That was a satisfying splash.

“Captain!” Another uniformed pony on the other side of the barrels yelled.

Rainbow Dash now looked at him, the soldiers, and the other ponies on deck. She noticed that all the soldiers and the others in uniform were earth ponies. Maybe all Boschese were? That made things a little easier for her. The three ballistas here were also now being aimed at Rainbow Dash, with the gunners behind them looking tense and uncertain. They probably knew they couldn’t actually fire, it was too dangerous to do something like that while aiming up and down your own deck. They were liable to hit each other from where Rainbow Dash was anyways.

The soldiers themselves had lowered their spears and were in the process of already forming up to attack Rainbow Dash when their commander spoke up again.

“Get her! Don’t let that pegasus get away!”

The soldiers glared at her and took a step forward when Rainbow Dash grinned and started shaking her hoof. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, you might want to go rescue your Captain first, cause I’m pretty sure unconscious ponies can’t swim too well.”

The Commander gasped in horror and turned to shout at the other Boschese on deck. “Deck hooves! Rescue your Captain, jump in and save him now!” As soon as those orders were given, Rainbow Dash saw a bunch of other stallions run across the deck of the Junk to the port side, jumping off and into the water. Even the ponies at the ballistas on this side jumped off and in. None of the soldiers moved to do so however, they would’ve had to remove their armor and chainmail to dive in as well.

“And soldiers!” The Commander continued. “Kill that pegasus! Kill them all!”

“There we go,” Rainbow said and fully hopped out of the barrel right as the first group of soldiers came at her.

Four soldiers shot towards Rainbow Dash and swiftly thrust their spears at her without any extra words or warning. Rainbow Dash just as swiftly grabbed the barrel she came out of and used it as a shield. When the four spearheads stabbed through one side of it she flipped the barrel over and twisted it around, yanking the spears out of the soldiers’ grips and then tossed the barrel and spears into the water behind her as well. The now weaponless soldiers didn’t recklessly press the attack against her though, instead they smartly stepped back as a new row of six soldiers came at her.

Rainbow Dash dove behind two of the barrels of actual rum to avoid the spears from the soldiers.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

Half a dozen spears stabbed into the wooden barrels and were withdrawn and just as quickly Rainbow Dash heard the rum inside start gushing out.

There goes the rum… She sighed. Quickly jumping to her hooves, she kicked the two barrels towards the soldiers.

The barrels fell over and started to roll across the deck, the Bosche soldiers though were quick on their hooves and not about to be tripped up by some simple barrels rolling at them. The ones in the back moved to the sides to avoid them entirely and the six who had attacked Rainbow Dash simply jumped over them with spears in hoof. But they didn’t account for all the rum that had leaked out. Their hooves slipped on the wet deck and the six soldiers collapsed in a messy clump. Rainbow Dash flew forward and grabbed a few spears away from them before they could react, flying up in between the two masts of the ship and then chucking them into the water on the opposite side of the ship. She then purposefully dropped down right in the middle of the soldiers. They all turned and formed a circle around her, the ones still with spears pointing them at her.

“Come on. Show me what you’ve got,” she said to them.

“Get her!” The Commander shouted.

But as soon as he finished speaking, a griffon slammed into him from behind and knocked him to the ground. Then Captain Breakwater came up behind two other soldiers and charged into them, tackling them to the deck as well. They had all been focused too much on Rainbow Dash they had forgotten about the others. Everyone was working together as distractions to help each other, because the moment that Gilbert and Breakwater intervened, the other soldiers took their eyes off Rainbow Dash.

With quick speed she blindingly shot towards the nearest one and yanked his spear out of his hooves before twirling it around and smashing the shaft into the side of his head. The soldier let out a pained yell and was knocked into the soldier next to him while the others turned their attention back to Rainbow Dash and came at her. Breakwater and Gilbert already had to back away from the couple of soldiers that came at the two of them—not as able to handle themselves against sharp spears like Rainbow Dash was.

The Bosche Commander at least was down and groaning on the deck, unable to give out orders and help direct the troops. It turned into a two-pronged fight with most of the soldiers facing off against Rainbow Dash and a few others facing off against Breakwater and Gilbert. Rainbow Dash could tell by looking at her opponents and how they hadn’t panicked or broken after what happened that they were indeed serious warriors compared to most she had fought. They moved carefully, coordinated, and kept their spears trained on her. No one was attacking out of turn or trying to get any glory here. They were simply following their orders to kill her. The armor they wore was also going to make anything but a strike to their head practically useless—even with the spear she was holding, since she had no intention to fatally stab anybody.

Without any sort of exterior sign or even a whistle, three soldiers came at her with their spears aiming at three different parts of her body. Rainbow Dash jumped up—and immediately had to deal with a spear being thrown right at her head from another soldier. She sucked in a breath and backflipped in midair, letting the spear harmlessly sail past her. Her ears perked up as the sound of another spear coming at her, and very closely, reached them. She spun and flapped up, just barely avoiding it, and flew behind the nearby mast.

Which was then impaled by another thrown spear.

“Okay. These guys know how to fight,” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she stood in momentary cover. The sounds of shuffling hooves came from around the mast and Rainbow frowned. “Can’t let them surround me.”

She flew out low to the deck with the stolen spear still in her hooves, flying around the right side of the pillar and going towards one flank of the soldiers. It was obvious with how many attacks and weapons they could throw at once, she needed to stay on offense and not let them gang up on her or press her into a corner. The speed she came out with surprised the nearest soldier but he still brought his spear up in time to block the swipe she made at his body. He then brought the tip of his spear down at her weapon and cut the pole in half right between her hooves.

Two other soldiers came up beside him as Rainbow Dash held the two ends of the spear in her hooves. She threw the blunt end as hard as she could directly at the center soldier and was rewarded with a painful sounding crunch as it nailed him in the face. He fell over backwards while the other two went to her right and left and now tried to stab her with their own weapons. Rainbow Dash sucked in her gut and jumped up, letting both spears just barely go under her, before stomping down hard on their shafts when she came back down and pressing them to the deck. The spearheads snapped off and both soldiers backpedaled as Rainbow chucked the other half of the spear she had at the soldier to her right.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he prepared to meet a gruesome end but all he heard was a thunk and barely felt something around his leg. Opening his eyes he looked down and saw she had thrown the half-spear through his leather armor around his leg and pinned him to the deck.

Rainbow Dash then picked up the snapped off spearheads and twirled them around while the rest of the soldiers all formed up back in front of her. She flapped her wings and hovered in the air so she could move at a moment’s notice, looking from soldier to soldier to see what she had to do next. A grin split her face as she realized how well this was going and how much fun she was having.

“I’m going to teach you guys a lesson,” Rainbow said to the soldiers and flew at them.

And meanwhile, near the aft cabins on the starboard side of the ship, the slaves of Bosche huddled together, frightened. They wore shackles on both pairs of their legs where the front ones were also connected by another chain to a heavy collar resting around their necks. At any moment they could be ordered around to do something, perhaps even fight against these ponies, if one of the Bosche sailors remembered they were there.

Something shot out of the water and landed on the deck behind them with a splash. The startled slaves turned around and almost yelled out in surprise to see a strange pony-like creature standing there, water falling off her like from a glass sheet.

“Shh! Don’t alert the soldiers, we’re here to rescue you,” Senax said to them. She glanced down at the shackles on their hooves. “Where are the keys to your bindings kept? Are there any other slaves onboard?”

Before the slaves could respond, one of the Bosche deck hooves still onboard noticed Senax and came running over. “Hey! What do you think you’re-”

It looked like he suddenly ran into an invisible wall, his face scrunching up. And then something equally invisible smashed down onto the top of his head before grabbing him and throwing him overboard.

The slaves just blinked in confusion until Daylight Gleam phased into existence, rubbing her forehead.

“And I already have a headache,” the unicorn sighed.

Rainbow Dash roared and knocked an incoming spear away with the two spear ends in her grasp, deflecting it towards the body of another soldier coming at her who was forced to break off his attack. She jumped over the soldier directly in front of her and kicked him in the back of the head to make him stumble forward while two more soldiers came at her from the right. Rainbow Dash twisted between their spears and flipped the weapons she held in her hooves over, jabbing them into the throats of the soldiers as she passed them.

Another soldier leaped at her and swiped his spear at her face. Rainbow Dash blocked it with her broken spear ends but it still knocked them from her hooves and the tip of his spear almost dragged across her face, instead just shaving a few hairs from her mane. The soldier kept up the attack, bringing his spear back around and making several quick and short thrusts at her to keep Rainbow constantly moving. Every attempt she made to grab or knock away his spear was met with failure as he quickly pulled it away each time.

She had to jump back and fly up momentarily to avoid him and keep the others from surrounding her while she was occupied.

The fight had been going on for a while now, but neither she nor the soldiers were showing any signs of exhaustion. A quick glance showed Gilbert and Breakwater were fighting back to back against the recovered Commander and a couple soldiers. She was worried, but she had faith in them.

Two spears were thrown up at her that she had to dart around but then two soldiers linked their hooves together and a third jumped on them, together they acted as a springboard and launched the soldier straight at her. He had his spear held over his head and angled down at her, looking to spear her like a fish. She moved her head to the side to avoid getting stabbed but he still crashed into her and they both fell to the ground. It ended with him on top of her but she quickly fixed that by bucking him in the gut and throwing him over her head and into the side of the boat.

Once she hopped back up to her hooves Rainbow Dash practically threw herself at the remaining soldiers still fighting against her.

The fight became an intense melee of one pegasus inside a group of increasingly agitated and aggressive soldiers. Her hooves and wings a blur as she struck out at them while an impenetrable flurry of spears came striking at her from every angle. Rainbow Dash was like water as she avoided the spears but so many of the attacks she made against the soldiers were also blocked or dodged. It wasn’t like fighting even Godfrey’s pirates, these soldiers were all well-trained and knew the basics of hoof to hoof combat at the least. Rainbow Dash’s speed and experience with fighting larger groups at once were her only advantages.

But strong advantages they were.

Throughout the entire fight the number of soldiers capable of standing on their hooves was whittling down, and Rainbow Dash was working hard to make that number zero. But as some time dragged on, some of the soldiers she had taken down at the start of the fight were getting back up. Tough ones they were. Always trying to regroup and gang up on the fast pegasus.

So she went into overdrive and grabbed another dropped spear, spinning it around and using the blunt shaft end to knock out a few of the nearest soldiers. Her speed, which was already impressive, became something that the soldiers could barely even react to at all.

She practically became a whirlwind on deck. Getting into such a perfect state where every spear thrust coming at her looked like it was moving in slow-motion. It wasn’t until she parried one last strong thrust aimed at her head and walloped the opposing soldier that she realized she didn’t have anymore opponents. He stumbled about on his hooves before collapsing and it left Rainbow Dash there alone in a circle of defeated Bosche soldiers.

She let out a deep breath and dropped the spear, looking over to see Gilbert and Breakwater had knocked out the Commander once more and were locked with two last soldiers. Rainbow Dash was about to run over to them when-

“You! You think you can get away with what you’ve done?! Do you have any idea who you’re insulting here?”

Rainbow turned around to see the Captain she had previously thrown into the water back on deck. He was soaking wet and his monocle was left swaying by its chain under his face. His face was absolutely twisted with rage as he glared at her.

“Yes and yes,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Pathetic insect! Bosche will not stand for this! Do you know what sort of enemy you’re making today?” The Captain repeated to yell.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and started walking towards him. “I already said yes, didn’t I?”

“S-Stop! Stay where you are!” The Captain nervously backpedaled and pointed to the other side of the ship. “Look, see the situation you’re in now!”

Rainbow Dash followed his hoof and frowned. Over by the aft cabins a squad of deck hooves that had come back out of the water after rescuing their Captain had joined with a few soldiers she lost track of. Together they faced off against a group of slaves and Senax that had tried rescuing them, pointing spears at them.

“Hah! So what are you going to do now? I’d recommended stepping away from me or your friend and those slaves will be killed. You vile brute, what’s it going to be? You can either take your anger out on me or rescue them, haha!” He smugly grinned and folded his hooves in front of his chest.

A blue hoof smashed into his face, chipping his teeth and knocking one clean out.

“Eh… huh?” The stunned Captain grunted as he wobbled backwards. Through shocked eyes he looked at the pegasus before him. “W-What are you doing?”

“Both. You told me I could either save them or beat on you. I chose both. That’s what I’m doing,” Rainbow Dash said and suddenly tugged a rope that was tied to her back leg. That rope pulled another that was connected to a winch on the Junk’s rigging, pulling a knot apart and sending the net full of heavy barrels crashing down to the deck. Not only did all those barrels smash right through the top deck and punch a hole into it, at the same time, ropes that had been tied to the back legs of the deck hooves and soldiers threatening the slaves and Senax pulled them up as the barrels came down.

They were all yanked up quickly and dropped their spears, hanging and swinging upside down, totally helpless. A lot of them yelped and shouted in fear and surprise, trying to free themselves. The slaves meanwhile just stared up at them in wonder.

Captain Calhoun gawked in disbelief. “H-How did you… w-when did you?”

“By the way-” Rainbow Dash cut him off, the Captain trembling away from her. “I’ve got a message for you to deliver to your superiors.”

“Huh?”

“I want you to tell them that they have no idea what kind of enemy they’ve made,” Rainbow grinned. “You get that, right? Tell them that they should stop doing what they’re doing—not like I think they will, but still, that’s what I want you to do. If I ever cross paths with another Bosche ship doing stuff like this? Your fleet is going to end up one ship less at the end of the day. And if I ever find you personally again on the ocean doing this? You’re not getting out of it with just one lost tooth.”

“G-Got it! I got it!” Calhoun swiftly nodded.

“Good. We’re tossing all your weapons overboard and taking your slaves now. And then it’s your turn to get lost,” Rainbow said.

“F-Fine…” Calhoun gulped.

Rainbow frowned and tapped her hoof to her chin as she looked at him. “Hmm…”

“What is it...?” Calhoun tried backing up but Rainbow Dash laid a hoof on his shoulder and grabbed his silk coat.

“Was just thinking. I knocked one tooth out of your mouth,” her eyes narrowed and her grip on him tightened. “But does that really send enough of a message to your superiors?”

“N—Wait!”

Rainbow’s other hoof smashed into his face again. And again and again and again, pulling him back each time by his silk coat after every punch. Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! At the end his face was a mess and his smile was missing half its teeth. She finally let him go and he crumpled in a heap to the deck, groaning in pain with teeth and broken bits of teeth scattered around him.

Sea Lions Are Loud

The deck of the Heart of Azure was far more crowded than usual. The slaves from the Boschese Junk took up a lot of room and most of them were still quite nervous and afraid. Senax and Daylight quickly started to get fresh food and water for all of them, even though it looked like they had been fed fairly well so they could continue to work hard. Most didn’t want to talk at all. Some seemed worried that they were somehow going to be immediately snatched up by Bosche again and Rainbow Dash and the others had to calm them down.

It wasn’t a pretty sight to her. She hated seeing ponies like this and it filled her with righteous fury after what she had done on the Bosche ship. Maybe she had even been too lenient. That was that now though, the Bosche Junk had already disappeared and the Heart of Azure was close to docking near a small sand bar island so they could slowly let their new passengers off and take them to the locals at the Sea Lion Reefs.

They had spotted one of the larger atolls that had trees ringing around it along with some small buildings built in there. Hopefully at least some of the ponies who called the Reefs their home were around and they wouldn’t have to look far. After all they had other business to attend to here.

“Thank you for saving us. Thank you so much,” a stallion suddenly said to Rainbow Dash.

She turned to him and blinked before a sheepish smile worked its way across her face. “Hey it’s no problem. We were happy to help. Really happy. I mean… I definitely couldn’t leave you stuck on there after hearing about what Bosche is like.”

“We owe you our lives… they would’ve worked us to death,” the stallion said, his head hanging low as he stared at the deck.

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Rainbow said and placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “I promise.”

“Thank you...” the stallion quietly repeated.

Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise and looked closely at him—he had fallen asleep while sitting up.

Multiple hooves walked over a sandy beach towards a series of grass and twig huts that sat on the eastern side of this large atoll. Several ponies stood outside those huts, watching in surprise as the large group made its way to them.

Rainbow Dash took her first look at the locals of the Sea Lion Reefs. They were a thin and athletic looking sort, she saw not an ounce of fat on any of the ponies. Their manes and tails were cut short but not so much to leave them “bald” and they wore body paint of any number of bright reds, yellows, and oranges on them in seemingly random patterns. A colorful bunch to be sure. Both mares and stallions she saw also wore grass skirts and grass shawls around their necks.

One of the locals, a stallion with half his body painted red and the other yellow, walked from the trees with a welcoming smile on his face and waved at the approaching party when they got close. “Hello, friends! What do you visit the Reefs for? There’s quite the number of you!”

Breakwater of course took the initiative, waving to the local leader and nodding his head in respect.

“We’re here for a couple of different reasons. First of all, I’m sure even you on these small islands are well aware of Bosche, right?” Breakwater asked.

The leader frowned and nodded his head. “Ah, yes, their name is well known to us unfortunately.”

“Well I’ve got some mixed news then… they were planning to attack the Sea Lion Reefs and gather up as many of you they could as slaves. Good news is we managed to turn them back, bad news is they might come back later, so I’d really recommend keeping an eye out for the near future,” Breakwater told them.

“We have been raided by them and pirates in the past, we have had to learn how to handle ourselves on such occasions, but I thank you greatly for telling us,” the leader bowed.

“Just being good samaritans,” Breakwater shook his head. “That brings me to something else…”

The leader looked up and past him, at the group of despondent and still tired looking ponies behind Breakwater and Rainbow Dash’s group. “Does it have anything to do with these ponies?”

“These are ponies we rescued from the Bosche ship that was planning to raid you. Former slaves. We… don’t have enough room or food capacity on our ship to take them with us anywhere else,” Breakwater said and pointed out at the Heart of Azure that was docked right off the atoll. The leader looked at it, snug in the shallow waters between several of the reefs and sandbars only a hundred feet or so away. It certainly wouldn’t be capable of ferrying so many ponies at once. “I feel bad to do this but I think it’s best if they stayed here with you. That’s not an issue, right? Ships still come by here every now and then don’t they? I just think…”

“It is no issue at all to us if these ponies with to stay here. In fact we would be happy to have them,” the leader smiled. He spread his hooves over to the palm trees and the wide open beach. “As you can see we have both plenty of room and plenty of food to spare. And yes, ships come here frequently enough. And if some feel they don’t wish to wait or know somewhere else to go, our fisherponies will be happy to take them by canoe to the nearby island kingdoms.”

“Phew…” Breakwater wiped a hoof across his brow. “That really makes things easier.”

“We ponies of the Reefs would not turn away those in need, you can all rest easy.”

As the two of them finished up their conversation, Rainbow Dash turned to the former slaves and raised an eyebrow at them. “You guys all okay with this? I know it seems like we’re kind of dumping you off here but there’s really not a whole lot else we can do for you…”

“It’s alright,” one of the former slaves said. “As long as we’re someplace where we can at least find passage off soon... anything is better than where we were. You’ve already done more than enough for us.”

“Some of us are in no hurry to get home anyways. There isn’t going to be anyone waiting for us,” another pony sighed.

“I’m sorry…” Rainbow Dash tilted her head down.

“Please, don’t be, like we said you’ve done so much for us already. Thank you for everything.”

Rainbow Dash nodded but still sighed. Sometimes it’s not enough…

And so, as many of the former slaves wandered the beach, enjoying their newly found freedom, or spoke with the locals and rested among the trees and grass huts before moving on further with their lives, Rainbow Dash was now seeing (and hearing) first hoof why this place was named the Sea Lion Reefs. She, Breakwater, and the rest of the crew sat with the island leader on the other side of the palm trees, facing inward to the lagoon in the middle of the large atoll. The lagoon was full of small sandbars and rocks and the southern interior beach of the atoll was covered in a mass of Sea Lions. There were hundreds of them lounging around there, sunning themselves without a single care in the world.

The steady and loud “ork, ork, orking” from them drowned out any other background noise. It overpowered the sound of waves or the wind blowing through the palm trees here. And the smell. Yes, she could smell the smelly Sea Lions from all the way over here too. It was a pungent seawater and fishy smell all mixed in together. She almost wanted to barf—the wharf at Malkonrik and the ocean in general had never smelled so bad. It was just these Sea Lions.

“And so what is the other reason you have come to the Reefs? Ah—before that, my name is Kai. Let me restate how much of a pleasure it is to have you,” the leader said with a smile.

“We’re pleased to be here as well. And I can tell you that our other business isn’t so pressing. Probably,” Breakwater said, with a quick glance to Senax.

Kai raised an eyebrow. “What could it be? I can’t think of anything of much importance that happens out here, it’s why the large trading vessels and merchant organizations hardly ever come here. Surely you don’t wish to merely partake in a surfing competition?”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up but she wisely kept her mouth shut for the moment.

“We’re here looking for a treasure chest that we’ve heard rumors about,” Senax said. “Do you know about it?”

Kai nodded as a look of recognition passed across his face. “Ah… yes, I’m aware of what you’re speaking of. A sunken treasure chest that was seen by some of the ponies living here. So that has spread as a rumor off the Reefs? I have not personally seen the treasure chest but I have heard other members of the tribes speak of it.”

“Other tribes?” Rainbow asked.

“We are a collection of close families here—I am but one leader among many. There are a number of tribes scattered all about the Reefs and the treasure chest was found by ponies not in my tribe. If you are looking for this treasure chest you’ll need to speak with those ponies first, I’m afraid I don’t know where it’s supposed to be located either,” Kai said.

“So where can we find the ponies who know about it?” Daylight asked.

“Yeah—don’t you guys constantly move around here?” Rainbow followed up.

“Yes, but I know where the tribes currently are. We all keep in touch with each other regularly,” Kai smiled. “Currently the ponies who found the treasure chest are gathered in the northwest reefs, the currents and waves there are more powerful at this time of year and they have a love of surfing. If any of you have such a hobby I think you will enjoy being there.”

Breakwater folded his hooves over his chest and stared at the sand. “If we went around it would take some time… we’d have a lot of shallow water and reefs to navigate…”

“Any of my ponies you come across would be more than happy to ferry you by canoe from island to island,” Kai said. “If even necessary. With two of you who can fly it should not be trouble, and the waters from here to there are warm and calm enough to swim through if you wouldn’t mind that either.”

“No sharks?” Daylight asked.

“Only little ones, haha!” Kai laughed.

“It would probably be faster than sailing on the Heart of Azure,” Breakwater mused. “But then I should probably stay here with the ship-“

“I promise that I and my ponies will watch over your ship for you. None will touch it,” Kai said, holding a hoof over his heart.

“Well that takes care of that I suppose…” Breakwater smiled.

Daylight looked from pony to pony. “Is there anything else now? Or should we get a move on?”

Senax shook her head. “I think we’ve heard everything we need to.”

“May I ask a question before you leave, however?” Kai said. “I am very curious—you don’t seem like ponies who would merely be interested in gold. What do you expect to find in that treasure chest?”

The group all shared a long look with each other before Senax answered.

“Something very important to me.”

“Might I ask why we didn’t think to ask for some coconuts or pineapples while we were being so graciously hosted by Mr. Kai?” Gilbert asked as the crew walked along the sandy beach to the northwest side of the atoll.

“Because I’m dumb and forgot,” Rainbow answered with an annoyed frown on her face.

“We’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick some fruit later. I’m almost certain we won’t have to pay or ask permission for any of it. Not in a place like this,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and despondently stayed slowly walking with everyone else for now. When they reached pretty much directly north, they came across a very small and shallow inlet leading into the atoll. They could’ve actually walked through the water easily to get to the other side, if not for the fact that it was currently in use by a large number of Sea Lions. They waddled through the water and over each other, coming from the ocean and going into the atoll’s lagoon. Most were adults much larger than any pony but some were clearly just babies and kids as well. Either way there were dozens of them moving at once and totally cutting them off from the other side of the beach.

Rainbow Dash blandly looked at them, doing her best to ignore their smell. “I don’t like Sea Lions. I’ve just decided that now.”

“They are not the most pleasant of creatures…” Gilbert nodded.

“Are we going to have to deal with being around them the entire rest of the time we’re here?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s not called the Sea Lion Reefs for nothing,” Breakwater said. “Now come on, the two of you just fly the rest of us over them and we’ll move on.”

Took two trips for Rainbow Dash since she carried both Senax and Daylight while Gilbert got Breakwater and they resumed a walk towards the northwest edge of the atoll. Far in the distance, Rainbow Dash looked past numerous small islands and rocks to see another long strip of sandy beach where it seemed large waves were starting to form off shore. That was more than likely where they needed to go but they had a fair distance to travel without a direct way to walk. Luckily, Rainbow could also see quite a few happy ponies in canoes paddling just off the short of this atoll.

“I guess there’s our ride?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow Dash and the others waved to the canoe goers to get their attention. They saw them pretty quickly and began to paddle over. While they did that, Rainbow Dash took a more detailed look of the waters and islands around the big atoll. There were a lot more Sea Lions lounging around that she could see, and in a few wider pools of water she saw more canoes with ponies doing what looked like spear-fishing and diving from here. Definitely not her kind of thing. Hopefully the other islanders would have plenty of fruit. The worst part though was she could still hear the loud braying yells of the Sea Lions coming from practically everywhere. Even though they weren’t close to any it was a constant background noise.

Two canoes landed on the sandy beach and a pony, painted in several shades of yellow with a grass skirt on their hips. jumped out of one of them and walked up with a smile.

“Greetings, visitors!” She said, genuinely happy to meet them. “What can we do for you? You seemed quite eager to get our attention.”

“Hello,” Breakwater said to them. “We spoke with one of your tribe leaders, Kai, just now. He told us you might be willing to help take us to elsewhere in the Reefs? If you don’t have anything else to do that is.”

The mare smiled even wider. “Of course not! If you need us to help you through these waters, our canoes are as good as yours. Where do you need us to take you?”

“Fantastic... we didn’t want to impose or anything but we’re looking for something important. Have you heard of the sunken treasure chest that was found here? Can you take us to the ponies who found it and know where it’s located?” Breakwater asked.

“Ah, I see, I see, yes we know of those ponies. They should all be out surfing right about now...” the mare said.

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up again and she made a happy grin in Gilbert’s direction. He held up a thumb in approval.

“My name is Leilani by the way, now please come aboard and we’ll get you to their atoll right away!” Leilani smiled and beckoned them forth.

“Let’s hope things turn out well then,” Daylight smiled and patted Senax on the shoulder.

“Wonderful! I expect we have a great time ahead of us!” Gilbert clapped his talons together and started plodding over the sand. “One question to you though, Miss Leilani?”

“Yes?” Leilani tilted her head at him.

“Would you happen to have any food with you?”

“Gilbert...” Daylight admonished.

Leilani giggled. “Oh but of course we do! Do you like coconuts?”

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert high-”fived” each other. “Score!” They said in unison.

Empty Hooves

Rainbow Dash looked over the side of the canoe she was in to see a myriad of colorful fish swimming about in the shallow waters of the reefs they were traveling over. They were making good progress, Leilani telling them that it shouldn’t take more than five minutes now to make it to the northwestern atoll the other ponies were at. She couldn’t wait for a couple different reasons. It would be cool to see the surfing and maybe do some of that herself and they might also find one of the treasures that Senax was looking for.

Breakwater, Senax and Daylight were staring straight ahead while Gilbert was helping himself to the meat of a coconut. Rainbow had already finished hers. Around them they also already passed several more sandy islands and rock formations that were covered in yet more Sea Lions. Who loudly brayed at them as they passed.

“Those big guys ever try and bother you?” Rainbow Dash asked Leilani.

“No, they make a lot of noise but they know not to attack us islanders,” Leilani smiled.

That was good enough in Rainbow’s book. Now if they could only get far enough away from them to avoid the smell...

“Look there!” Senax suddenly called out.

Rainbow and the others looked ahead to see Senax pointing at an upcoming beach where several large waves were rolling into it. They could see ponies gathered along the sands, watching and waiting. Rainbow thought she saw several out swimming in the waters or paddling along on top of boards. Seems they had found the right place. It was interesting to see though, after being through a big storm she kind of identified huge rolling waves with bad weather. But here the sun was out, nobody was worried, it was warm, and everything just looked plain nice.

When they got closer they could hear excited shouting and cheering from the ponies. Their canoe still had to land on the side of the atoll though, otherwise they’d end up going right through those rough waters and the waves might knock them over.

“This is your stop! Those ponies getting ready to surf over there are the ones you need to talk to!” Leilani happily pointed them out, despite it being obvious to them already.

“Thank you for everything,” Breakwater said as he and the others hopped out of the canoe.

Leilani shook her head. “It’s nothing you need to thank us for, goodbye now! I hope you find what you’re looking for!”

She and the other island ponies waved as they pushed their canoes off the sandy beach and went back to paddling wherever it was they needed to in the first place. Rainbow Dash waved to them and then flapped her wings to start hovering over the sand—she was tired of sitting still. Even if she still had to stay with the others she at least wanted to be flying while doing it.

“Okay! Let’s go talk to those ponies and find that treasure chest!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “And uh... if we’ve got time then maybe we’ll go surfing afterwards too!”

“Of course...” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“Come on, we could use some fun,” Rainbow said.

“Well I suppose after what we’ve been through that is true,” Daylight allowed.

“See?” Rainbow grinned. “Now come on and let’s say hello already!”

The crew quickly made their way over the hot sand, although without her hooves touching it, Rainbow had no idea about the heat, and to the large gathering on the beach. Many driftwood tables and long chairs had been set up, some with great palm leaf umbrellas hanging over them. It seemed to be a gathering entirely of brightly painted locals who were happily chatting with each other and sharing drinks held within hollowed out coconuts and pineapples. Towards the water, Rainbow Dash saw many ponies running out with boards held on their backs, diving into the water and swimming out towards the crashing waves.

Naturally as they got closer to this large surf party, quite a few of the locals came out to greet them with happy smiles and even offerings of drinks.

“Hello! Nice to meet you!”

“Who might you be? How’s your visit?”

“Come for the surfing?”

“I love your mane!”

That last one was mostly directed towards Rainbow Dash.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet all of you as well,” Breakwater said as a crowd had already formed around them. “We’re here looking for something and we heard that you ponies might be able to help us out.”

“And we might want to come surfing after, if that’s okay,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Yeah... that too,” Breakwater shook his head. “Anyways, we heard the rumor about a sunken treasure chest in these parts of the Sea Lion Reefs. If it’s no trouble, are there any ponies here who can take us to where that treasure chest is located? We’d be very grateful to you.”

One of the older stallions, possibly a tribe leader like Kai, standing around them smiled and called out to the crowd. “Makoa! Come forth and greet these visitors!”

Another stallion pushed his way through the crowd and stood before the crew. He was young, just a teenager, with his head painted red and his body painted a very bright orange. He puffed out his chest and smiled proudly at Rainbow Dash and the others. “Hello! So you are in search of the treasure chest me and my brothers found?”

“That’s right,” Breakwater said.

“Hah! I expected some ponies to come around and ask about it one of these days. Word has already traveled far, has it? Please—come with me and I will take you to the reef where it can be found! We should move quickly though, I have surfing to do later!” Makoa said.

“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Things are moving pretty fast. If you’re a surfer then maybe after we find the chest we’ll just come back with you and hang out?”

“Of course! You’d be welcome to join with us and surf if you want,” Makoa said. “Let me gather my brothers and we can get our canoes together now. That sunken chest isn’t far from here.”

Rainbow turned to the others and shrugged. “Any objections?”

“Can’t say so, this is actually turning out pretty well for us,” Daylight said.

“I must say I agree. The locals are a joy, far more polite than at most kingdoms we’ve visited on the Grand Ocean,” Gilbert said.

Senax on the other hoof looked anxious but hopeful. “I just... I just don’t want to get too excited. I’m glad things have gone so easily but... too much optimism might make things worse if the chest isn’t what we’re looking for.”

“It’s all good,” Rainbow Dash threw a hoof around her shoulders and tugged her in close. “We’ve got this.”

They were now canoeing out on the far western side of the Sea Lion Reefs, the crystal clear water below revealing a jungle of coral reefs growing from the sand. Rainbow Dash could see the entire ecosystem of the reef, from the coral, to the sea urchins and anemones, to the starfish, clams, eels, fish, octopi and sharks. There was so much life down there, all so colorful and so electric with movement. Rainbow Dash couldn’t even begin to name all the different kinds of fish she was seeing. That’s what she needed Fluttershy for right now. Idly she stuck her hoof into the water and was surprised by how warm it was, even with the tropical climate and warm air she wasn’t expecting that.

Three other small canoes were paddling along with the one she was in. Gilbert and Breakwater each having their own with two of Makoa’s other brothers while Senax and Daylight shared the canoe being driven by Makoa himself. The brother Rainbow Dash was with was a pony with red stripes painted down his body by the name of Kawehi. He was older than Makoa but still younger than Rainbow Dash by at least a couple of years.

And she noticed his eyes darting over to her every now and then but she was simply choosing to ignore that.

“I’ve been meaning to ask-” Daylight suddenly spoke up from her canoe. “But if you’ve known about this treasure chest for a while now, why haven’t you opened it up? Even if you don’t care about any treasure that might be inside it, aren’t you just curious?”

All eyes turned to Makoa as he smiled at Daylight and Senax. “Ah, a good question. It’s true that any treasure inside surely holds no interest to us, but yes, normally we’d be curious enough to at least open it up for fun. However, the treasure chest resides in a very deep pool in the reef, too deep for even our best divers to reach if they held their breath. My brothers and I only saw it by chance when competing with each other, we did not come close to reaching it ourselves.”

“We have tools that could help us retrieve the chest but why bother?” Another brother, Noa, said. “No one has cared enough to, and so it stays undisturbed.”

Daylight turned her head to Senax. “It’s a good thing we have you then, otherwise we’d have to go back and get some ropes and hooks of our own to get the treasure chest out of there.”

“But will it not also be locked?” Gilbert asked.

“Surely any lock has rusted by now, the wood must be rotted too, it can’t be difficult to open,” Daylight said and glanced at Breakwater. “Right?”

“Well if it’s a metal chest then maybe not... but the lock itself should be able to be bashed open easily enough with a rock if you can find one down there, Senax. That’s if nothing else has happened to it,” Breakwater said.

“I’ll figure it out somehow,” Senax nodded.

Only a couple of minutes later and their canoes came circling around a certain pool of water in the reefs. Rainbow Dash only had to glance at it to know it was different. From above it looked darker, showing off that the ocean floor was deeper than its surroundings. It was like some sort of hole in the ocean. The water as well wasn’t quite as clear, the coral and rocks below becoming much blurrier. There wasn’t any current or any waves, so they were able to stop their canoes and just float there, everyone aboard them now peering down into the blue hole.

“It’s at the bottom, nestled in the rocks on the north side. It looks dark from here but believe me when I say you won’t miss it during the daytime if you know what to look for,” Makoa said. He looked at Senax. “You have a way to get down to the bottom?”

Senax smiled. “I can breathe underwater. As you can see from, well, the rest of me, I’m not exactly a normal pony.”

“Breathing underwater? Haha! Something that would be of great benefit to us at the reefs!” Makoa and his brothers laughed.

Senax blushed. “Y-Yes, as a merpony it’s aided me quite well...”

Rainbow Dash flew from her canoe and came to pat Senax on the back. “You got this. I bet I could swim down there pretty far with you if you want my company?”

“No thanks, when it comes to swimming I’m the expert in our group. I can reach the treasure chest on my own,” Senax shook her head. She put her hooves on the edge of the canoe and looked into the deep pool of water. Before anyone could say anything else, she had dove off and started swimming down immediately. The others watched her as she went down, her slick yellow scales reflecting the light pretty well and allowing them to see her even as she went deep into the pool.

“Is she going to be alright?” Rainbow asked the others.

Breakwater just grinned as he watched Senax descend. “Don’t underestimate Senax’s swimming ability.”

Down in the warm tropical water, Senax’s paddle tail and streamlined form enabled her to easily dive towards the bottom of the pool where the treasure chest sat. Her eyes were designed to perfectly see in the water like this—it was as clear as it would’ve been for any of her friends above water. Her yellow hooves reached out towards the rock and coral walls of the blue hole she was traveling down, steadying herself and also checking to see how deep she was going.

It was always so calm and perfect to be under the water like this for her. Natural. Right. She almost felt sad knowing she’d have to come back up to the surface. Having lived so long in a place where she couldn’t really enjoy the ocean or being underwater all the time, it was almost intoxicating whenever she did spend time like this.

A few small fish swam by her face and she continued to go down, keeping her mind on the treasure chest. Regardless of what it contained, she’d have to go back to the surface anyways. Breathing through her gills she was certain that she had already gone deeper than any pony could’ve reached. It was darker around her but not so much that she couldn’t see, just as Makoa had said. She passed by a few lobsters hanging out on the rocks and then went deeper still, her hooves pushing through the water with a powerful breaststroke while her tail paddled behind her and propelled her. Bubbles from a large clam opening up came jetting up through the water, Senax passed them by and spiraled towards the sandy bottom of the pool. More and more colorful coral around her gave way to rocks and the circular hole started to spread out and break apart.

Senax passed into a hole of solid rock and sank down to the sand below it, having reached the bottom, and took a look around as her hooves landed on the sand. It felt almost like walking to her, maintaining her buoyancy through some sort of natural and automatic means that even she didn’t quite understand. Her eyes roamed to where the brothers said the treasure chest would be sitting and sure enough, there it was. Nestled up against the rock with seaweed clinging to it and sprouts of coral growing around it. It looked like it had been there for ages but at the same time, seeing it up close, Senax couldn’t imagine it came from as far back a time as Ponyseidon or in the early days of when the Merpony’s were driven from their ancestral time.

It looked old, but not that old.

Still, it was possible that someone had still found the necklace or trident at a later date and put it inside this treasure chest. Senax wasn’t giving up on that hope just yet.

She walked over to the treasure chest—it was bigger than she expected. Big enough where she could’ve crawled inside and laid down inside it. As she looked around it she didn’t see a lock on it, but looking down at the sand under it she saw the rusted remains of a lock, all broken up and bent, half-buried in the sand. That didn’t bode well for its contents.

Senax frowned and reached towards the lid of the treasure chest. She put her hooves on it and tried prying it up, but unsurprisingly it was a little rusty and didn’t want to budge. This was the moment she actually needed Rainbow Dash or Daylight’s magic for. But they couldn’t come down here. So Senax put all the strength she had into prying this thing open. It wasn’t locked, there was nothing holding it down, she knew she could do it.

Finally she felt it move, the top of the lid barely cracked open and more bubbles came out. That seemed to be just what she needed as with a muffled grunt from herself, Senax pushed the entire lid of the chest open and let it clatter against the rock behind it.

With expectant eyes she looked inside it-

-and saw a mere bed of sand and dirt resting on the bottom of the chest. It was empty.

Senax felt the dismay crawl up her body. Even though it was expected, it was still disappointing. Another dead end. Another nothing. Another rumor and location they could check off their list. It wasn’t the end—far from it—but it was yet another pointless trip they had made. The more things turned out like this the more pessimistic she would get, even though she didn’t really want to become like that.

She didn’t bother putting the lid back down. Instead leaving the treasure chest open like that so anyone in the future could see it was empty. It would probably be better that way.

Walking back out to the center of the sand and the pool, Senax looked up to the surface. She bent her legs and jumped from the sand, starting to swim back up.

Ocean Travel in a Nutshell

On the beach of the northwestern atoll, Rainbow Dash, Senax, Breakwater, Gilbert and Daylight Gleam sat and watched the locals surf the waves.

“I mean-” Rainbow Dash began. “It’s not the end of the world, is it? We’ve even still got another lead to go on right now.”

“No, you’re right, it’s just unfortunate. I was hoping we could raise that trident or necklace in glory,” Gilbert sighed.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Senax. “You doing alright? If you wanna like—get out of here right away we can. We don’t need to stay for surfing or anything like that you know.”

Senax only gave her a small, sad, smile. “It’s okay. I don’t think another day is going to hurt anything. And it’s probably for the best anyways. Daylight still needs to rest her horn, we need to gather up fruit and fresh water again for the next voyage, and it would be best not to rush any of that. You and Gilbert should go out and surf if you want to.”

“Well, I have no intention of surfing but I also don’t want to just sit around. Resting my horn doesn’t mean I need to sleep and put ice on it all day. I’m going to look around and ask the locals about picking some of their fruit. I’ll get us started on that,” Daylight said.

“And I should really get back to the Heart of Azure. I trust Kai but… I don’t like being away from my boat for too long. I just want to check up on her,” Breakwater said. “Obviously I’m not going to leave without any of you, but for however long the rest of you plan on staying here, I think I’m going to be back with my boat. So just want to make sure all of you know to meet up there instead of looking for me or each other. Simple enough?”

“Yeah, I’ll make it back to the ship on my own,” Daylight said.

“I’ll come back soon enough too,” Senax said. She returned her gaze to the surfers. “The locals here are very nice… I wont do any surfing of my own but I think I’d like to just stay here and watch for now.”

“Alright then,” Breakwater said with a grunt as he stood up. “I’ll be on my way back to the Heart of Azure. I’m sure I can ask Kai for some food too.”

“I’m leaving too, for now,” Daylight also got up.

“See ya,” Rainbow Dash waved. “We won’t keep you guys or anything. Not for too long.”

“Indeed, we’re just looking for a little recreation,” Gilbert smiled.

The two groups waved goodbye to each other and both Daylight and Breakwater walked off in the direction of the first atoll they had visited. They’d have to find another canoe to take them back but by the look of things here that wouldn’t take too long. That left Senax, Rainbow Dash, and Gilbert on this beach with this tribe of exuberant locals. Lots were still milling about and sharing drinks or hooting happily as they watched friends and family tackle the big waves coming in.

Rainbow Dash turned to Gilbert and grinned. “Surfing?”

Gilbert nodded. “Surfing.”

As it turned out, despite Rainbow Dash’s natural ability when it came to pretty much any physical activity, she didn’t exactly have a knack for surfing. Maybe because she had to stand still on the board with her hooves planted there instead of just using her wings, but she couldn’t get the balance right. Even when she tried to use her wings to balance herself or flap them slightly to give her a little air or push against the wave she found herself falling off and wiping out way more than she expected.

It was not awesome.

Especially since she was surrounded by other ponies at all times who glided across the waves and rode them like it was second nature. Even Gilbert hadn’t wiped out as much as she had.

“You’re forcing it too much! Stay loose!” A pony said as he paddled past her while Rainbow Dash floated in the shallows close to the beach.

She was forcing it. She knew that. It annoyed her that she couldn’t immediately get the hang of it so she might’ve been trying too hard.

The laughter of a certain griffon caught her attention and Rainbow Dash looked up to see Gilbert shooting down a wave, his wings wide open, barreling through the wave as it started to come down.

A vein throbbed in her forehead. “Okay, so he already got it. And if Gilbert can do it there’s no way I can’t.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and hopped up onto the board she had been lent by Makoa. Lying down on it she started paddling out to the waves all over again. Quitting was not in her vocabulary. Never had been, never will be.

Senax on the shore kept a steady eye on her. She had to admit that the pegasus was always a source of such energetic entertainment. She never sat still or stayed in the same spot, and it was invigorating to see her go right back out there for the largest waves after repeatedly being crushed by them. It was only surfing, but Rainbow Dash was putting as much of her willpower into it as she did anything else. Senax was envious of how she could do that. Envious but awed as well. She was trying to focus on those more positive feelings as she nursed a tasty beverage given to her by one of the locals. Something with many different fruit flavors all mixed together into a hollowed out coconut. A slice of pineapple had even been placed on the rim of the coconut.

She raised an eyebrow as she took a longer sip and stared down at the beverage. “Is there alcohol in here? I should let Rainbow Dash know when she’s back from surfing...”

“You’re pushing down too hard on the board, Rainbow Dash! Let yourself glide along!” Gilbert told her as they both rose to the top of a wave right before it started to crash down. He much more stable and her much more wobbly.

“I-I’ve got it!” She shouted.

She didn’t have it.

The board shot out from under her hooves and before she could open her wings to catch herself she was already falling into the water, the wave carried her down and down and she tumbled around like old laundry. Water fizzed about her, turning white as the wave crashed down and started spreading out towards the beach. She was carried along with it and ended up washing up on shore, her surfboard coming to a rest right next to her.

“Maybe I’m not cut out for surfing...” the pegasus groaned.

“First time, keep trying!”

“We’re all having fun watching! You don’t quit!”

“You’re making us all want to go out and surf even more!”

A group of other ponies said as they ran into the water with their own boards and went to go paddle out to the waves.

That just made Rainbow Dash roll her eyes. “Thanks.”

“Maybe a break?”

Rainbow Dash looked up at the voice to see Senax standing over her, two coconut drinks balanced on her back. She couldn’t stop the grin spreading on her face. “Yeah… yeah that sounds a little better.”

Further back on the beach now, on two long chairs with shade from some leaf umbrellas, the pair of mares relaxed together. Rainbow had to admit that it felt a lot better than repeatedly falling in the drink. Now she could just lay back and watch overs surf the waves and occasionally wipe out as well. She wasn’t quitting for good, but she was letting herself chillax a little bit to cool her head. Gilbert in the meanwhile could be spotted shredding over all sorts of waves out there. It was pretty amazing to see.

Rainbow Dash took a sip from her coconut. Then another one.

“Does this have alcohol in it?” She asked.

“I thought you would like it just because of that,” Senax laughed.

“You were right,” Rainbow nodded.

The two of them then watched as Gilbert caught a bad wave and ended up spilling off his surfboard, crashing to the water much like Rainbow Dash.

“Oof… he’s gonna feel that,” Rainbow said.

“Do you plan on getting back out there before we go?” Senax asked.

“Oh yeah. Just want to finish this drink first now,” Rainbow grinned.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and laid back, putting her hooves behind her head and fully relaxing on the island beach. From here she could hear the crashing waves and the excited yells of the local Reef ponies. Everything was crystal clear to her. As crystal clear as the water. Without even bothering to look she reached over and grabbed her coconut again, bringing it to her lips and sipping the tasty beverage. Almost done.

The drink was cool, but there was a warmth inside it as well as it poured down her throat, betraying the alcohol inside. An easy smile was kept on her face as she relaxed more thanks to it. With the rum gone she thought she wasn’t going to be able to have a drink again for a long time. A trip to Rum Haven was still something she wanted to ask Breakwater about…

Another sip and she finished the tasty beverage Senax had brought her. With a big stretch and yawn, Rainbow Dash sat up and opened her eyes. It was still a bright and beautiful day—and she had some waves to catch.

“Alright, Senax, it’s been good but I’ve got to get back out there. I’m not stopping till I’ve at least surfed one good wave,” Rainbow said as she picked up the board she had laid down next to her chair.

“Good luck!” Senax smiled and waved after her as Rainbow flapped her wings and sped off to the water again.

“Don’t need it!” Rainbow shouted back.

She flew over the rest of the beach, flew over the breaking waves at the shoreline, and went right out to the big waves. Gilbert was already back up and ready to surf some more, joined by the locals. Rainbow Dash grinned and tossed her board down onto the water, planting her hooves on it and letting the wave carry her up and up as it crested to its highest point. This was it… this was it…

“And thus as you can see, we have full stores of food that will last us weeks now,” Daylight Gleam said as Rainbow Dash, Senax, and Gilbert made it back onboard. The sun in the sky behind them going down and down further to the horizon. Nets of fresh fruit and more were bunched up on the deck, ready for everyone to take them into the hold so they could cast off and get back out to the open ocean. “The locals were just as generous as expected. The last of our cheese was all Kai asked for in return, since they usually don’t get to eat stuff like that out here. Also, Gilbert, we’ve already refilled a barrel down below with dried fish strips. Those are for you.”

“Joy!” The griffon pumped his fist.

“Yeah,” Daylight rolled her eyes. “How was surfing by the way? You were at that other atoll for a while.”

“I had a magnificent time!” Gilbert said.

“It was nice to be there and relax a little after coming up empty again,” Senax said.

“And I… heh,” Rainbow Dash laughed. “I had a good time in the end.”

Daylight raised an eyebrow at her but then just shrugged. “Alright, whatever you say. Come and help me with this stuff, we’re going to be leaving before dawn tomorrow morning.”

“Did you do anything besides gather up fruit?” Rainbow asked her. “I mean come on, you must’ve relaxed or had a little fun.”

“… I ate some pineapple skewers Kai was cooking and some of the mares gave me a massage.”

Rainbow grinned. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Next time though I’m definitely dragging you surfing too—or whatever other fun thing we can do.”

“Next time even I’ll join you!” Breakwater called out from where he was standing at the helm, a smirk on his face. “The Heart of Azure is looking great, Kai kept his word about nobody messing with it. Everything’s good and ready.”

Gilbert looked from the boat to the shore of the atoll, and the palm trees beyond it. “Are the… slaves we rescued from that Bosche ship doing alright as well? I don’t see them anymore.”

“They’re doing better than alright. Kai’s ponies have either taken them elsewhere in the Reefs where they can relax and wait for a passing ship, or have brought some of their long-range canoers to take them to the nearest other islands. And as you already learned for yourself, the locals take very good care of any visitors. They’re being treated as well as they deserve. Some might even decide on staying for a long time,” Breakwater said.

“I’m glad we could do that for them… really glad,” Rainbow said. She turned her eyes to Senax. “And you bet I’m going to do something good for you too.”

Senax just smiled back at her. “I already know. I… I don’t regret coming here just to find an empty treasure chest, because on the way we managed to do something special.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“Good way to look at it,” Daylight smiled.

“Let us hope then with every failure of our main quest we can at least succeed at something else!” Gilbert shouted.

“Or, how about just hoping we don’t have anymore failures?” Daylight snorted.

“Er… I suppose that would probably be the better thing to hope for...”

A sudden whistle from Breakwater interrupted them and the four all looked up at him. “Hey! Weren’t you all going to get that fruit stored away? You want plenty of time to rest tonight, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re on it,” Rainbow said and immediately fluttered over to a net of coconuts. “I’ve got these.”

The others grabbed nets of pineapples, papayas, bananas, kiwis, and a few things Rainbow didn’t actually recognize but was eager to try out. When they were finished taking everything below, the hold was actually much more crowded than it had been even when they first left from Malkonrik. The nets of fruit took up a lot of space. Rainbow also only realized how tired she actually was once the last net was stored away, her exhaustion from surfing, and repeatedly wiping out, having finally taken its toll on her.

“Whew… now I could go for a nap,” she said as she wiped some sweat from her brow. “In fact, might as well just sleep until morning, right? If you need me I’ll be curled up in the crow’s nest.” She started to fly up to it. “We going right to the Smoking Island now?”

“Yep,” Daylight said. “It’ll be a decently long trip from here—over a week, closer to two.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “And it’s mostly going to be sailing over the water and not having anything to do again or anything to see but water, water, everywhere? Just like the four days on the way here?”

Daylight Gleam simply shrugged. “That’s just ocean travel in a nutshell.”

A Little Goldenwinged Birdy

Rainbow Dash looked at Gilbert.

Gilbert looked back at Rainbow Dash.

Senax gulped and bit her lip, staring out the corner of her eyes at Rainbow Dash.

Daylight Gleam disinterestedly looked out the window.

“Well, Gilbert? Do you feel lucky? Is this your lucky night?” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“I believe it is. This isn’t your usual domain, Rainbow Dash,” the griffon replied with a steely look on his face.

“We’ll see about that,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at him.

“Shoot already then. If you’re so confident,” he challenged.

“Careful, Gilbert. It could end badly for you,” Senax said.

“Oh for the love of—would you all stop acting so serious already?” Daylight grabbed her mane and practically slammed her face into the table. “We’re just playing a board game! Rainbow Dash, please just throw the dice and finish your turn!”

“You’re really a killjoy sometimes you know?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shook her head.

It was true though, they were just playing a board game. It was one of several Rainbow Dash had been gifted by the crew of the Meer’s Bounty, along with some other things. She had been looking forward to trying them out and having fun with them all day. But she wasn’t sure if everyone was going to join in. The four of them—even with a whiny Daylight—was a good turnout.

They had cleared the table of all their food and other things and Rainbow Dash had grabbed one of the board games at random. It turned out to be some kind of adventure styled game where you picked a game piece and had to go around the board gathering items and avoiding monsters before returning to where you started. You could also set traps for other players or avoid them. It turned out to be an intense experience and they had all gotten really into it, aside from one of them, with it now being night time and the game still going on. The movement on the board was decided by rolling a pair of dice, which were now securely gripped in Rainbow Dash’s hoof. She was trapped by Gilbert, but with the right roll she had the opportunity to escape him and potentially win the entire game.

She shook her hoof back and forth, shaking the dice inside. Her tongue licked across her lips as she looked back down at the board and saw the slight opportunity she had. Luck was usually always in her favor when it came to games of chance and gambling. But perhaps playing a board game was slightly different than playing with cards. The fact that she was in this situation to begin with may have been proof of that. In a card game the three others at the table would’ve given up and left already.

“Sorry, Gilbert, but there’s just no way you could ever beat me,” Rainbow Dash said and threw the dice.

All eyes watched as they clattered and rolled across the board, bouncing off of some of the pieces and scenery stuck to it, before coming to a stop.

A pair of threes stared back up at the table and Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in victory.

“Yes!” She shouted.

“Bah!” Gilbert stuck his chin in his open talon and huffed. “That only gets you out of my trap, you haven’t completely won the game just yet! Senax and I have our turns next!”

“Do whatever you think you can. In my eyes, this game is already over,” Rainbow Dash smugly grinned and folded her hooves over her chest.

“Your absurd luck aids you well even if it’s not a mere card game it seems,” Daylight said to her.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I just win at everything.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “You know if that’s the case then maybe not everyone is going to want to play those other board games with you.”

“Oh come on, it’s still fun to play. You can’t say you’ve never been bored when we’re sailing out here either,” Rainbow frowned.

“That’s true, but maybe Senax and I can just play on our own without you,” Daylight teased.

“Don’t worry about her, Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert gave her a thumb’s up. “Even if I constantly lose I’ll still gladly join you for any game.”

“And who’s to say we’re even going to lose now?” Senax said as she picked up the dice. “It’s my turn now, and I’m still in a position to win this whole thing too.” She grinned over at the unicorn. “Don’t let Daylight ruin the mood for you, she’s just upset because of how badly she fell behind early.”

“Pff,” Daylight snorted and looked away from the table.

“Hehehe,” Senax giggled and tossed the dice across the board.

Her roll was decent and it carried her to the last treasure she needed. Now all there was for her to do was make it back to her starting point and she would win. The route was treacherous thanks to traps Rainbow Dash had laid though, and it was long. Overall, Rainbow Dash was still in the best position to win. Gilbert grabbed the dice next, he could potentially make things more difficult for Rainbow Dash but if his roll was poor he might end up completely out of the game.

“I still feel lucky!” Gilbert said as he shook the dice around in his talon.

“Good, when you felt lucky on my turn it worked out for me,” Rainbow Dash smirked at him.

“Pish-posh!” Gilbert stuck his tongue out at her and threw the dice.

The dice came to a stop with three pairs of eyes glued to it.

“Fudge,” Gilbert sighed.

“Hahahahahaha!” Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but release a big belly laugh. “Well, sorry Gilbert, but I think you’re out of the running now. And I bet the next time I roll I can end this whole thing.”

“Maybe a different game then after this one. We have several now…” Gilbert said, looking at the pile.

“Fine by me, but first I have to make my victory official,” Rainbow said and went to scoop up the dice.

“You’re skipping Daylight’s turn,” Senax said.

“Please-” Daylight put a hoof up. “Let her.”

Rainbow Dash just grinned before blowing on her hoof and letting the dice roll…

The next game they had picked out of the pile was something completely different. You played as a “ship” going from island to island on an ocean and conquering them. Building up resources and eventually coming into conflict with the other players. Unlike the first game, dice didn’t decide your movement, instead you drew action cards from a deck. Certain bonuses were hidden on random islands and if you left your islands undefended the other players could potentially move in and try to take them over. Even more than the first game it made for a brutal experience with four players all competing against each other.

Yes, four, they had convinced Daylight to keep playing with them despite it now being well into the night.

The board itself was huge too, more like a large mat that covered the entire table. The artistry that made up the background was also very impressive with stylized whirlpools, islands, sea serpents drawn in the corners, smashed wrecks of battleships in rocky waters, and castles drawn on some of the bigger islands. It was getting that inner child part of her worked up, the part that still made her heart beat with excitement every time she read a new Daring Do book despite having met and been on adventures with the real Daring Do before. This was a fun little adventure all in itself. She knew for a fact that a number of her friends really enjoyed games like this. Spike, Starlight, probably Twilight too if there was a trivia portion to the game.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said to the others. “How do we decide who gets to go first?”

“Well if we get the dice out from the previous game we could simply roll for it,” Gilbert suggested.

“Good idea!” Rainbow went right over to the now boxed up game and opened it up, now rooting around inside for the dice.

“Why am I still doing this… I should’ve just gone back out to enjoy the fresh air,” Daylight shook her head.

“Now, now,” Senax patted her on the head.

“Daylight I’ll make a deal with you. If you win this next game we’re playing, not only will I shut up for a week, I’ll make Gilbert shut up for a week too,” Rainbow said to her as she pulled one of the dice out. “That’s not a bad prize at all, right?”

“Hm…” Daylight mused and plucked the dice from Rainbow’s hoof with her magic. “No, that’s not a bad deal at all. I suppose the highest number goes first?”

“Go on,” Rainbow Dash gestured to the board.

Daylight grinned and tossed the dice up into the air, letting it fall back down onto the board where it bounced several times before coming up “Six”.

Rainbow Dash raised a suspicious eyebrow at her. “You didn’t use your magic to manipulate how it would land or anything, did you?”

“I would never.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Rainbow Dash stared at her with mock-seriousness. She grabbed the dice and rolled it herself, followed by Gilbert and Senax. None of them rolled a six to challenge Daylight for the first turn (something that made Rainbow Dash give her a suspicious look every role) and it ended up being Daylight followed by Rainbow Dash, followed by Senax, with Gilbert going last.

“Well your luck is still good,” Gilbert said to Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Can’t ever change that.”

“You know, I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to win this game but I think I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you lose it,” Daylight said to Rainbow.

“Way to be the bigger pony...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Maybe that’s just how I have fun. After all you’re all always accusing me of hating fun and being a grump. You wanted me to enjoy myself? Here I am doing it.” The twinkle in Daylight’s eye as she finished betrayed the good natured jabbing she was doing. It didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from still being annoyed by it though.

“I’m going to totally make you regret trying to beat me in this game. Get ready to come in last place!”

“The more you focus on me the easier it will be for Senax and Gilbert to take advantage of you and win. Are you sure you can afford to do that?”

“Don’t underestimate me. I may have never played this game before but I still win at everything when I’m really trying. Doesn’t matter how unfamiliar I am at something, any game of chance, any game I can bluff, any game of strategy, I win them all. That’s gonna be the same right here and now.” Rainbow had leaned forward across the table, Daylight rising to meet her.

As the two of them faced off with each other, the left out Senax and Gilbert just kind of sat there.

“Um...” Senax interrupted the two arguing mares. “It is getting late at night. If we want to finish this we should probably start soon.”

Rainbow and Daylight looked at her before looking back at each other. They both coughed and sat back down, rubbing their necks and grimacing in embarrassment.

“Err, yeah, probably should,” Rainbow said.

“It’s your turn then, Daylight. Just look over your starting resources and units and draw your first action card. Then we can get started,” Senax said, reading pretty much right from the directions.

“Going last might have its own benefits. I can decide which of you is the perfect to attack if you leave your islands open,” Gilbert grinned.

“Just try it, but the first person to do something like that is getting ganged up on by everyone else,” Rainbow said.

“Ahem,” Daylight coughed into her hoof. “You may want to pay attention, because I’m taking my turn now.” She said as she placed her ship on the board, by her side of the table her resource chips had been neatly stacked up, as well as a few individual tokens that represented units for when you landed your ship at an island. Starting where she wanted, she reached for her first action card to really get the game moving.

Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, and Senax all looked at their own resources and pieces and at the wide open game board. Plans and schemes were already formulating in all their minds…

In the dark night sky over the Grand Ocean, a pegasus flew with a small spyglass grasped in his hooves. He had a haggard, weather-beaten, look to him, while he wore a red and white striped shirt and a black bandanna over his head. One of his back legs was missing, replaced by an equally worn looking peg, and part of his right ear was bitten off and shredded. The one thing about him that was pristine were his eyes, which were sharp and attentive even in the dead of night with barely any light from the moon and stars to aid him. He was used to being awake and searching at night, it was practically his job as one of the scouts for The Scourge.

He had been out searching for hours, trying to keep as high up as possible to remain unseen by any ships that might’ve been traveling below. Now after all that trouble it seemed he had finally gotten lucky. He opened up the spyglass and peered down through it, down at the small ship traveling east all on its lonesome.

“It’s them… I’d recognize that ship anywhere now,” he said with a deep growl in his voice.

The single mast. The one square sail. The narrow bowsprit. Yes, after seeing it enough times there was no other vessel it could be.

Closing the spyglass and tucking it through a belt wrapped around his mid-section, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned around, flying back in the direction of The Scourge. Godfrey needed to be notified immediately. And if he didn’t go back at full speed to tell his Captain there would be a severe punishment.

A phantom pain went up his peg leg and the scout shuddered.

Thankfully it was much easier to make time across the ocean while flying than sailing. And the darkness didn’t keep his trained eyes from spotting The Scourge after an hour of travel, even with its jet-black sails and dark look. It still created a large shadow on the ocean, a darker spot than the water around it, with the dragon’s head at the front looking even more menacing in the darkness than it did during the day. Godfrey wanted the ship to be as fearsome as possible, he wanted The Scourge to terrify everyone and everything on the ocean. To make ponies whimper in fear and despair as soon as they saw it.

As he got closer he could see a few other ponies out on deck—a skeleton crew left to man the ship at night. He dropped down right at the bow of The Scourge to let everyone see he was merely a returning scout and then quickly walked towards the Night Crew Chief standing on deck. A purple unicorn with a dark blue mane and tail.

“Sir,” the scout saluted to the Chief. “Please wake the Captain at once—I’ve found them.”

Turns Out, We Are That Dumb

Godfrey yawned and stretched his arms and wide wings as he was woken up by some hurried knocking on his cabin door. A grin stretched across his face—anyone knocking on his door at this time of night had to have a good reason for doing so. Cause they knew what would happen to them if they were waking him up for nothing. And there was only one thing he could think of that his crew would decide was important enough to potentially risk his wrath over.

“Heh, so we’ve found them, have we?” Godfrey said as he got up and started walking towards the door. “Or maybe they’re coming to warn me about a tidal wave coming right for us. Hah!”

He yanked open the door and stared down his Night Crew Chief with a glint in his eye and a smirk through his beak. “Well?”

“We’ve found them, Captain,” the barest hint of a smile appeared on the Chief’s face. As if he was almost afraid to do so.

Godfrey punched a fist into his palm. “Alright! Time to wake the rest of the crew and get back on their trail. Hehehe… they’ve got nowhere to run or hide this time.”

He strode past the Chief and walked towards the large, aft-most, mast on The Scourge. It was still the dead of night and almost pitch black outside, but there was something affixed to the mast that he could see clearly. A golden bell on a post. Wrought from heavy iron and when it rang the sound was so deep it rattled the bones of all onboard. The sound of it had conditioned all the ponies of The Scourge to shiver, as there was only one soul who was allowed to touch it—Godfrey himself.

His talon grasped the bell rope and the ponies already awake and on the top deck all covered their ears and shut their eyes.

DOOONG!

DOOONG!

DOOONG!

The low bass sound was like death, the ponies gritting their teeth and shaking each time Godfrey rung the bell.

Down below—eyes shot open, his pirate crew jumped out of their beds in a fright, and everyone scrambled to wake up and get busy. The time of night mattered not. Nobody had to be told directly to get into gear. The fear had been drilled into them—it was simple routine to know that they either obeyed the ringing of the bell… or they would suffer for it at the talons of Godfrey.

Up on deck, right by the bell, he could hear the scrambling about beneath. He could feel the ship shaking as every pony aboard suddenly sprung into action.

“Well, well, well, sounds like the drills are really paying off. Shoot, I should’ve brought a watch with me to time how long it takes everyone to get to their stations,” Godfrey cracked his neck and started walking towards the bow, waiting for his first mate to come up from below deck and fill him in on what’s going on. He glanced at his Night Crew Chief and smiled. “You know what? You put me in a good mood, I’m feeling generous tonight. Gather up the rest of your crew and hit the hay. Sea Shanty and the others will take over soon enough.”

“T-Thank you, Captain!” The Chief nodded and saluted. He quickly, very quickly, ran off and gathered up the rest of the Night Crew to tell them the good news.

Godfrey just chuckled and grinned as he looked out across the bow at the open ocean. By the time the sun was up they should practically be upon their prey once more.

The following morning found Rainbow Dash sitting in the crow’s nest on the Heart of Azure alone. The other thing besides just board games she had been given from the Meer’s Bounty was a single deck of playing cards. Right now she was “enjoying” a game of solitaire since no one, not even Gilbert, wanted to play cards with her right now after how all the games had gone last night. However, she was quickly finding that solitaire wasn’t exactly to her speed. It was almost like a chore and it was having the opposite effect when it came to being a way to fight boredom. This was like, the very, very, last thing she would ever want to do to try and kill time.

She almost felt like swiping all the cards away and just quitting. “Ughhhh… so bored.”

But it was still just early in the morning. If she quit at solitaire now she’d have nothing to do for the rest of the day, so Rainbow Dash kept at it. Making her columns and drawing cards to try and finish things up. Maybe after enough time she’d even come to enjoy it?

Maybe.

Down below it was Senax at the wheel while Daylight Gleam and Breakwater talked with each other and Gilbert stood at the bow. The griffon though was not looking straight ahead, but instead to the northeast where not too far away the sky was dark and the waters were rough.

They were about to sail directly south of the Strip of Storms. Here, Gilbert could see lightning crashing down from the storm clouds to the water, and darkness that hung low and made it impossible to see too deeply inside the ocean weather catastrophe. It was crazy to think how big that single storm actually was, how much distance it covered. Like a hurricane that was in the shape of a sword or spear instead of a revolving circle. Gilbert had seen it before while sailing out here and they had never gotten closer than this. The wind and waves it must kick up had to be dangerous at any closer distance. And they knew from experience that smaller storms sometimes split off from the Strip and caused havoc nearby.

Breakwater was right that it really had to be the dumbest thing any sailor out here could try going through. Gilbert doubted even Rainbow Dash would want to chase the thrill of potentially sailing through it instead of just going around.

He glanced up at the crow’s nest. At least unlike her he had a much easier time dealing with boredom and just taking things as they came. But she herself was also a constant source of entertainment and humor for him to watch—so maybe that was cheating.

“I really should go play cards with her or something...” Gilbert mused. “But losing every single game is a little… humiliating.”

Gilbert sighed and strutted over to Daylight and Breakwater to see what they were talking about.

“Hello my friends! How goes your day?” He asked them.

Daylight shrugged. “Same as always. Breakwater and I were just discussing the early mapping of the Grand Ocean. When the sextant was invented it really helped them determine the latitude and longitude of several key places, but what really made sailing and oceanography easier was-”

Gilbert stared at her and nodded his head at appropriate times but in essence all he really heard was “Blah, blah, compass, blah blah, almanac, blah, blah, barometer.” Pretty much everything was going over his head. Despite the time he had spent on the Grand Ocean and despite his life as an adventurer.

“I see, I see. Sounds like you’re having a good time,” Gilbert smiled at them.

“Gotta know this stuff if you’re captain of a ship,” Breakwater shrugged. “I don’t mind giving Daylight a history lesson or two.”

Gilbert coughed. “Yes, well, the two of you can continue your conversation, I shant bother you any longer.”

He walked away from the two and over his shoulder he heard them quickly resume talking about… whatever it was they were talking about. So he decided to now go up and bother Senax. She was always open for any sort of conversation, always a friendly and polite merpony. Gilbert gave her a little wave as he walked up to the helm.

“Hello, Senax! Good sailing?”

She smiled at him. “Of course! I think I’m really getting better at this.”

“It feels just as smooth as when Breakwater’s at the wheel, I can’t tell any difference.”

She giggled. “You don’t have to flatter me like that...”

“It’s not flattery, dear Senax, it’s the truth! You’re becoming wonderful at the helm, almost like you were born to do it.”

“Which is silly to think of since Merponies can swim and breathe underwater. If it was just me out on the ocean I’d probably never use a boat at all.”

“But here you are with us and here you are performing a great service,” he reached over and patted her on the back while he stared ahead. “Adventures need friends, that’s what I believe after spending those years alone and then finding you and Daylight.”

“True. I couldn’t—and wouldn’t want to—do this alone.”

“Daylight may act like the sensible mare with the plan, and Rainbow Dash may act like a leader who can do anything, and it may be Breakwater’s boat, and I’m… um… hm… but we’re here for you and your people. And here you are helping us out, even though nobody would bat an eyelash if you just wanted to relax inside the cabin or enjoy yourself swimming. You still act as our helmsmare because you want to be a big help and contribute to the adventure! And you’re doing an excellent job of it!”

The helm was quiet for a moment and Gilbert raised an eyebrow as he looked over at Senax.

She was wiping a tear from her face and smiling. “You know...” She stuttered. “I forget that sometimes you can say something that isn’t stupid.”

“I forget that as well,” Gilbert smiled.

He patted Senax on the back one more time and walked to the back of the ship to stare out at the wake it left behind. Putting his talons up on the wood and leaning over the stern with a peaceful smile on his face. Lifting his chin up he looked out further beyond to the west.

He froze. Blinking once, then twice.

“Oh dear, that might not be good,” Gilbert said.

“Huh? Did you say something?” Senax asked.

“Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert quickly turned around and shouted up to the crow’s nest. “Rainbow Dash! Get the spyglass and look behind us!”

Rainbow’s head poked out of the crow’s nest. “What?”

“Look behind us!” Gilbert shouted and pointed, meanwhile Daylight and Breakwater were running up to him as well.

Rainbow Dash frowned and did as he said, looking out far behind their ship. Her jaw immediately clenched. A dark ship was approaching from afar. A dark and familiar ship. There was no doubt in her mind as to the vessel’s identity, but she grabbed the spyglass to make sure of it. Extending it out she looked through it and clearly saw the black sails, dragon’s head bowsprit, and griffon-skull Jolly Roger.

“Tch, I should’ve been paying more attention up here...” She grit her teeth and put away the spyglass before flying out of the crow’s nest and joining everyone at the back of the boat. “It’s The Scourge. Godfrey’s found us again.”

“That is… not good,” Daylight swallowed.

“He’s got us out in the open,” Breakwater frowned. “He can open his cannons up on us soon and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Camouflage?” Gilbert raised an eyebrow at Daylight.

“They already know right where we are, by now Godfrey and his crew have to be able to notice the slight fluctuations in the water and air to still follow us at this distance...” Daylight shook her head. “I can still do it to make things tough for him but I feel like it might only delay things at best.”

“So then what’s the plan? Fight?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I hope not. That doesn’t sound like a very good plan,” Senax said.

“Senax is right. We’re just too badly outnumbered, and there’s Godfrey onboard. It won’t be like trying to fight that Boschese Junk and its soldiers.” Daylight said.

“Well what else can we do then? If we can’t run, and we can’t fight, then what? I’m not rolling over and giving up,” Rainbow said. She frowned as she looked to The Scourge. “Will he even fire at us like last time? He still wants Senax alive, and probably that magical horn thing too.”

“Believe me when I say that my brother would likely still be happy to blow our ship to smithereens and just search through the wreckage to see if any of us survived. And if not he’d just go looking for a new source of fun. If losing the game is an option, he’d rather smash the board instead,” Gilbert said.

“Great,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “And he’s almost close enough to do that.”

Daylight started tapping her hoof on the back of the boat. “Just let me try and think of something...”

“Actually, um...” Breakwater coughed to get their attention. “For once… I’ve got a really dumb idea for a change.”

“Huh?” Daylight asked him.

“Well...” Breakwater grimaced and looked to the northeast.

Straight at the Strip of Storms.

“Oh no. No, no, no, no,” Daylight Gleam shook her head. “That’s stupid. Breakwater, you’re the one who’s always said how dangerous the Strip of Storms is. How it’s suicide to attempt to sail through it. How it’s more than worth the extra time to sail around it because you could never just go directly through it.”

“I know, Daylight,” Breakwater was stalwart. “But right now I think it’s the only option we have to escape from Godfrey.”

“So we’re choosing either certain death or just almost certain death?” Gilbert said.

Senax groaned in discomfort.

“Hey—almost certain death isn’t a bad choice. I’m game,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Of course you are,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Look, you wanna know my honest opinion? I think Breakwater’s right. The Strip of Storms is the only place we can go. But uh… are we expecting Godfrey to not follow us in? Cause from what I know of him, and I feel like I kind of get how he is, he’s going to come in after us anyways. Forget about the danger. He won’t be afraid.”

“I figured he would too,” Breakwater nodded. “But the wind, waves, and currents in the Strip of Storms will make it difficult for him to follow right after us and keep a direct line of sight. His ship will be rocking so much that using the cannons effectively won’t be easy. It’s possible he’ll lose track of us altogether, if we’re lucky.”

“I wouldn’t count on that luck,” Daylight said.

“Neither would I. But at the very least the Strip will make things difficult for him,” Breakwater said.

“S-So am I actually…?” Senax asked.

Breakwater looked at the others. “We in agreement on this? If there are any better ideas I’d love to hear them.”

“Nope, I think we need to go there too,” Rainbow said.

“I have to agree with you and Rainbow Dash. It seems our only and best opportunity to escape from my brother,” Gilbert said. He looked over at Daylight.

The unicorn sighed and lowered her head, rubbing a hoof on her forehead. “This is so crazy.”

“Sounds like a consensus to me,” Rainbow grinned. “Let’s do it.”

“Alright. Senax? Take us northeast, head right for the Strip of Storms,” Breakwater said.

Senax gulped. “R-Right.”

As the Heart of Azure turned and began heading towards what they so recently were trying to avoid, the crew stood together at the helm, with a mix of excitement and deep trepidation between them. An unsteady grin on Rainbow’s face, as her heart beat strongly with anticipation—but also worry for her friends. A stony expression on Gilbert’s face as his thoughts once more went to his brother tailing them. Fear and hesitation on Breakwater’s face as he worried if this was really the right decision to make. Resignation and a frown on Daylight’s face while she mused on why this sort of thing always seemed to happen. And simple fear—but the courage to keep going—in the eyes of Senax.

Barrage

Godfrey held a talon over his eyes and squinted. He wanted to be sure he was seeing things right. At first he thought his scout in the crow’s nest was wrong. And then he wasn’t sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him or not. But it really seemed to all be true. The Heart of Azure was making a break for the Strip of Storms. He didn’t think they had the guts to do that—in fact he was honestly impressed that they were doing something so risky. It certainly showed more courage than giving up or trying to sneak away with that unicorn’s magic. They must’ve realized there was no hope in doing something like that, it would merely delay the inevitable. So they chose the truly dangerous option. The option that was practically as dangerous as fighting The Scourge head on.

He respected that.

He wasn’t going to let them live or get away, but he respected the decision.

Godfrey nodded a couple of times. “That’s a nice turn of events. You’re making this chase way more fun. I was expecting more tricks and illusions from the unicorn… you really surprise me sometimes. Wonder if it was Rainbow Dash’s idea? Heh.”

“Um… sir?” Sea Shanty nervously spoke up. “F-From what you’re saying, am I to take that we’re going sailing directly into the Strip of Storms after them?”

“Hm. I dunno, first mate, that’s an incredibly dangerous and likely downright stupid thing to do. What do you think I want to do?” Godfrey asked him.

“I… I think you want to go in after them.”

Godfrey grinned down at him. “You calling me stupid?”

Sea Shanty paled and backed away. “N-N-No! Never! I would never say-”

“Gehahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed, slapping his knee. “Too easy! Always too easy.” He winked at Sea Shanty. “Relax, I’m messing with you. But you’re right. Strip of Storms or not, we’re going in there after them. A little bad weather doesn’t scare me.”

“Yes sir… but… a-as your first mate I think I have to tell you how dangerous this is. The Strip of Storms is-”

“I’m well aware of its reputation. But if any ship and group of salty pirates can get through it, then it’s us. The Grand Ocean has never seen my like before.”

“Yes sir...”

Godfrey held up a single talon and pointed it at Sea Shanty’s eyes. “Danger makes things more fun. The reputation this place has, conquering it is an adventure all in its own. It would be worth doing one day even if we weren’t chasing anybody down—just to say we can and we have. I hope it’s as dangerous and difficult to get through as everyone else says. If it wasn’t? What a huge disappointment that would be.”

Sea Shanty gulped, not daring to say that the rest of the crew didn’t share his predilection for throwing themselves into horrible danger just to say you have. Nobody aboard The Scourge would have the courage to speak up or try and convince him otherwise when they got the word either. When the Captain’s mind was set on something, you were along for the ride whether you liked it or not. Or you were about to take a short trip into the briny depths and meet Leviathan.

“I-I’ll tell the crew. We’ll change course to match them at once.”

Godfrey clapped him on the head. “Get right to it. We can’t let them get in there too far ahead of us or we might lose them. There’s no way they don’t expect me to chase after them, they’re probably just hoping that the Strip of Storms divides us or makes it impossible to follow straight behind them.”

A second later and the order had been given, the great galleon that was feared more than any other ship on the Grand Ocean turned and started heading right for the Strip of Storms. Hot on the trail of the Heart of Azure. For the ponies above deck who actually knew what was happening, fear gripped their hearts. There was absolutely no way this ended well. But it was either the storms or deal with their Captain’s rage.

Anyone who was on this ship for more than a day would pick the storms every time.

“This is unreal...” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the storm around their ship. Not since flying into the giant hurricane in the True North had she dealt with such weather.

It wasn’t exactly like there were gigantic waves or anything, though the ocean surface certainly wasn’t calm, it was the sight of dozens of waterspouts spiraling around them. The intense vortexes of water shot from the ocean and into the dark clouds, bending and rotating at insane speeds, and they covered the ocean inside the Strip of Storms. They affected both the currents of water and wind, pulling the Heart of Azure in one direction and then the next. It felt like wind was battering them from every direction and it was impossible to stay on course. The best they could do was continuously zigzag through the water and try not get dragged into the base of one of the waterspouts and smashed to pieces.

Breakwater was at the helm once more, Senax not feeling insulted that he wanted to personally take over.

“I told you all that I wouldn’t be sailing us into anything stupid or dangerous that we could avoid. I’m happy to say that I’ve kept that promise,” Breakwater said as he fought the wheel and currents to keep the Heart of Azure safe.

Their boat tilted from side to side as it went over the uneven waters and the sail billowed about with such ferocity Rainbow was once more worried it would be torn off the mast completely. Gilbert and Daylight stood together ready to do anything they needed to. But the nature of this storm made it seem like there was practically nothing they could do but take what it threw at them and hope for the best.

Lightning and thunder erupted in the dark clouds overhead. Temporarily giving light to the world around them and shaking the air like an angry stampede running through the sky. The more of the ocean they traveled over, the further their destination seemed as it was still nothing but darkness, black waves, and strong wind ahead. The Strip of Storms was “thin” but that was only in relation to the size of the ocean itself. For a ship like their’s to travel through it it was certainly big enough. More thunder and lightning crackled above and brief torrents of rain came and went to shower the ship. The waterspouts as well seemed to move and glide along the ocean—turning formerly safe looking passages into death traps. This was not a storm that wanted anything to escape it alive.

The good news was they at least weren’t having cannons fired at them from behind yet either. They couldn’t see anything behind them with these waves and the sky being blotted out by storm clouds, they couldn’t tell if The Scourge was close or not but it meant Godfrey wouldn’t have an idea of where they were right now either. And it was impossible to send out pegasus scouts in weather like this.

Unless they were as good as Rainbow Dash, any other pegasi would just be torn to pieces or thrown into the waves by the stormy weather.

With luck, Godfrey had lost them entirely or never even came into the Strip of Storms. And now all they would have to focus on is surviving it themselves. Which was certainly shaping up to be a daunting task on its own.

The Heart of Azure broke across another wave and gave a wide berth to one of the many waterspouts around it as Breakwater did his best to sail them in a generally “east” direction. Sometimes there was no helping it though and they were forced to go either north or south for a bit just to stay safe. The waves had started to kick into high gear as well and now, much like in that first storm Rainbow had been through, heavy walls of water were coming at them. They had to take them straight on so they could go up and down them instead of letting them smash against the broadside of the ship. But even then, there were even larger triangular shaped waves the result of crashing currents that would tear their ship to pieces no matter what they did. Those had to be avoided at all costs.

So up and down they now went, first rising up over the waves and then dipping down them. Meanwhile rain and wind pounded at them, while they could also see waterspouts spiraling and moving across the ocean in every direction. It was good Rainbow Dash had already once gotten seasick or she’d probably be getting it again right now.

“Not to alarm anybody but I feel like I should let you know that I’m not entirely sure where we are right now! We’ve gotten turned around so much I have no idea how far into the Strip of Storms we are!” Breakwater shouted over the crashing weather.

“As long as we’re not going west it’s alright, we knew it would be like this!” Daylight shouted.

“We’ve simply got to dig in and keep heading east—even if it’s at a minuscule distance at a time,” Gilbert said. The wind was whapping at his face and he nervously twirled his mustache around as he stood there.

Rainbow Dash looked towards the bow of the boat and saw a large tidal wave rising up in front of them. But it thankfully wasn’t steep enough where they still couldn’t travel up it. Most of the waves here didn’t break or fall over each other, they simply all went in a large swell and sometimes crashed into each other. As long as they didn’t get caught between two waves coming at each other, or any rogue waves, they should be okay.

The bow of the Heart of Azure rose up and up as they traveled up the tidal wave until they got to the top of it and their ship was nearly vertical for a split second before they crested the wave. When they came back down they had emerged into a different section of the Strip of Storms. The waves weren’t as large or powerful again and the clouds above them churned around in a circle almost like a closed eye of a hurricane. The ocean’s surface was the calmest they had seen so far in the Strip but there were multiples waterspouts roaming all across it.

Still—it was the closest they had to a straightaway since they had entered the Strip of Storms.

“Well at least now we won’t get turned around too much. I was kind of sick of those waves,” Rainbow said.

“Can’t rest for a moment though. If we don’t constantly keep on our guard in here we’ll be wrecked,” Breakwater said. He steered the ship straight east and aimed between some of the waterspouts.

Thunder roared and lightning smashed from cloud to ocean, creating columns of both water and electricity that stretched across the sky. Not only were the waterspouts even more active and unruly in this closed eye but more and more lightning rained down like a deadly storm. There were so many obstacles now in the Strip of Storms that they had to dodge.

Good news was, the Heart of Azure was able to travel fairly fast, practically being pulled along by the waterspouts, and Breakwater kept them drifting from current to current to perpetually speed them up. They could make it out of here and into the next part of the Strip of Storms quickly as long as an errant blast of lightning didn’t hit them. And as long as Breakwater showed his chops and didn’t let them get dragged up and smashed by a waterspout.

“I think we’re decently okay,” Gilbert said. “It can’t take more than a couple more hours to get through the Strip.”

“I don’t want to say anything like that just yet. The Strip of Storms has this reputation for a reason,” Daylight said.

“Maybe it’s actually easier for smaller boats like ours to get through it...” Senax said, though she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anything.

“Honestly I think if something dangerous is about to happen I can at least do a little to help with the weather,” Rainbow said, flapping her wings for emphasis. “Weather team experience back in Equestria and all. I bet I can manipulate the winds and everything a little.”

She was about to say something else when another booming sound rang out through the air—but this was no crack of thunder.

The water to their starboard side exploded and everybody turned around to see The Scourge cresting the waves and coming for them, it’s forward cannons aimed at them as well as they could be.

“Well, that’s not good,” Gilbert said.

“Nope,” Daylight shook her head.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “Nothing we didn’t expect. Come on, we’ve just got to keep going. There are already a bunch of waterspouts between him and us, he won’t have a straight shot at us for more than a second.”

She was right, the positions of the ships had already changed that Godfrey’s long guns weren’t pointed directly at them anymore. That didn’t stop them from firing and sending two cannonballs directly into a waterspout. Surprisingly, the powerful water vortex caught the cannonballs and they flew around it before shooting out in a different direction instead of plowing through the spout. Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up when she saw that. No normal tornado, water, wind, or otherwise, could do something like that. This place really was insane.

And it meant that maybe those waterspouts between them and The Scourge weren’t going to be as helpful as she thought.

A talon scratched under his beak as Godfrey looked out through the Strip at the retreating vessel of his prey. He only caught a few glimpses of it between the waterspouts, but it was enough for him to not lose its general location. Unfortunately now they couldn’t fire directly at them, but he was thinking they didn’t really need to. Not after that rather impressive showing from the waterspout he had fired at earlier. He was hoping that his cannonballs would smash right through it—proving that he could shoot through any that might be between The Scourge and the Heart of Azure. But instead it had pulled the cannonballs from the air like they were wadded up paper and threw them elsewhere into the storm.

And there were many, many more waterspouts that were waiting to do the same thing. Some of them rotating in other directions with no rhyme or reason to them. They all had minds of their own. It gave him quite the fun idea.

“Heh,” he grinned. “Sea Shanty? Bring us up broadside against the direction the Heart of Azure is. And fill the air with cannon fire. Tell the crews below to not let up, I want those cannons firing nonstop.”

Sea Shanty’s jaw dropped as he looked at the madness that was already occurring inside the Strip of Storms. “I-Is that wise, sir?”

Godfrey raised an eyebrow at him.

Sea Shanty gulped. “R-Right away, sir.”

“And I’ll...” Godfrey licked his beak, his heart pounding as adrenaline started to pump through his veins. He drew his cutlass from its scabbard but only dropped it onto the deck. “I’ll go have some fun on my own.”

He flew into the sky, going through the heart of the raging storm towards the Heart of Azure.

A minute later The Scourge had turned so its starboard side was facing east. The cannon ports were opened up and a loud rapport issued from the galleon—smoke and fire from the powerful ignition of gunpowder lined the large pirate ship. Again. Again. Again.

And soon dozens of cannonballs were flying through the sky.

Stormy Showdown

Heavy balls of iron sailed through the air, the powerful winds not altering their course—until they came into contact with one of the many waterspouts and were yanked around—carried by its current and thrown in another direction entirely. Some ended up shooting to the north, the south, even back west. Others ended up hitting second waterspouts and were practically pinballed around until they lost momentum and fell into the water. Godfrey’s orders were turning an already dangerous and chaotic place into a Tartarus-forsaken death trap.

Rainbow Dash stood on the deck of the Heart of Azure as cannonballs rained down on the waters around them. Most falling like rocks after having their momentum stolen—but that hardly mattered. They were heavy enough where if one landed on their ship it would punch right through the deck, maybe even right through the hull as well. And if one hit the mast then that would be game over too.

That’s nothing to say about one of them being directly hit by the cannonballs.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t block or knock them out of the way either, not with just her own body, she didn’t have the physical strength or weight. They just had to hope they stayed lucky and the cannonballs didn’t strike them directly. Of course now it was yet another huge obstacle combined with the lightning and waterspouts. They were running out of safe room to sail over.

“We have to get out of here as fast as we can,” Daylight said as more cannonballs shot all over. “Giant waves are less dangerous than being stuck in a part of the storm like this. We need to get completely out of Godfrey’s sight.”

“Believe me, I’m as aware of that as you are, but we can’t go any faster. There’s too much danger all around us,” Breakwater said.

As if to punctuate his words, a bolt of lightning crashed into the waters off the port bow.

“The Scourge is just firing blind anyways. They can’t possibly expect to actually hit us or know exactly where we are right now either. And soon the currents will pull their ship somewhere else if they keep firing broadside at us like they are right now. We’ve actually got time on our side here, even if it doesn’t look like it right now,” Breakwater said.

“No we don’t,” Rainbow Dash said.

The others turned to look at her and saw her looking into the sky, above and behind their boat. Her eyes were narrowed and affixed on one spot. On one thing, traveling through the sky.

“He can’t be. Flying out in this weather, after ordering his cannons to fire at us, is he mad?” Daylight asked as she too stared up with Rainbow Dash.

“That’s just my brother,” Gilbert frowned.

Godfrey was flying through the sky towards them, just a small point, but clearly visible all the same. Despite the waterspouts, the lightning, and now the cannonballs, he was coming at them. The griffon pirate clearly had no intention of letting them go.

“Can we fight or defend ourselves from him while all of this is going on?” Daylight asked. “He could potentially just come down and tear our sail to pieces or threaten you while you’re trying to steer the ship.” She said to Breakwater.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “No camouflage?”

Daylight shook her head. “I can’t do that in a place like this. There’s too much movement and stuff flying around. Any illusion, mirage, or invisibility shell I create is just going to get distorted immediately.”

And as if on cue…

“Hey! How’s the weather down there!” The loud voice of Godfrey pierced the stormy weather—the griffon pirate now flying close enough overhead to be heard. “By the way, the cannons won’t stop firing unless I go back and tell them to! Do you think you can survive out here with all this going on? Or maybe one of you should come up here and force me back to my ship to make them stop!”

Rainbow Dash glared up at him and turned to look at her friends. “Well—he’s got the right idea.”

“You can’t possibly be thinking of-” Senax started.

“Yep,” Rainbow cut her off. “That’s what I’m thinking of doing.”

“Allow me to help then,” Gilbert said and opened his wings but Rainbow Dash put a hoof across his chest.

“Sorry, Gilbert. I appreciate it but you aren’t a strong enough flier. It’s too dangerous in this weather. I’ll deal with Godfrey myself.”

“Like last time?” Daylight frowned at her. “You recall that didn’t go too well, don’t you?”

Rainbow Dash merely grinned back. “It’ll be different this time.”

“How will it be different?”

Rainbow looked into the sky at Godfrey, and at the stormy ocean around them with its waterspouts, bolts of lightning, and now all the cannonballs raging through the air as well. “I’ve got a few ideas. You all just do your best to keep safe on the ship. I’ll be right back.”

Before anyone could protest further, Rainbow Dash flew off from the Heart of Azure and went up to join Godfrey. The winds howled and blew harder and harder the further she flew up, and the constant roar of thunder and blasts of rainwater didn’t make the trip any easier, but soon she rose to hover right across from Godfrey. The griffon pirate grinned at her arrival as lightning flashed around them. A cannonball that had been fired from The Scourge even zoomed just a few feet over Rainbow Dash’s head, but she didn’t flinch.

“Nice of you to join me, was wondering if you had the guts to come up here,” Godfrey said to her. “Look—I didn’t bring my sword either, since it’s kind of dumb to be waving a piece of metal around with all this lightning. So maybe you’ll actually stand a chance against me.”

Rainbow Dash just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him. “Oh, that’s why you didn’t bring it? I thought maybe you were just tired of trying to overcompensate for something.”

“Gehahaha! I guess you really are just as full of confidence as I thought! Good. That’s good, Rainbow Dash. I didn’t want you to be the type that gets intimidated easily,” he winked.

Rainbow Dash just snorted at his words and looked behind Godfrey. Far in the distance she could see the swaying and bobbing form of The Scourge as it continued to fire volleys of cannonballs with reckless abandon into the storm. She glanced back at him and narrowed her eyes. “Whatever, Godfrey. Are we doing this or what? Cause I don’t have the time with everything else going on in this storm.”

“Afraid of some cannonballs?” Godfrey sneered.

“They’re just as likely to hit you as they are to hit me up here.”

“Hah! Don’t look down on me so much, Rainbow Dash. It’s easy to keep track of the cannonballs and where they’re going so long as you know where the waterspouts are and what direction they’re twisting in. I’ve been watching them all since I started flying out here to greet you. No matter how many times my cannons fire, I won’t be taken off-guard. Can you do the same? Or are you going to have to constantly worry about getting swatted from the sky?”

“So you’re a real genius with a snazzy memory. Big whoop. Yeah, I can keep track of things too. Especially when flying,” she folded her hooves in front of her chest.

With poetic timing, a cannonball zoomed between the both of them.

And Rainbow Dash and Godfrey flew at each other as soon as it had gone by.

Her hoof and his fist went straight for each other’s heads. Naturally, Godfrey had a longer reach than she did, so Rainbow Dash had to duck under his balled up talon before her hoof could reach him. But Godfrey merely effortlessly turned his head to the side and allowed the much smaller pegasus to simply fly right past him entirely. Opening up his talon he swung it around towards her to rake the sharp claws across her wing and side, Rainbow Dash twisted over and kicked him in the wrist to knock his talon away and flapped her wings to shoot backwards and make a little more space.

A bolt of lightning crackled in the air and struck the ocean not far from where the two of them were flying. Briefly the bright flash silhouetted both their faces and a steady rain fell over them.

Godfrey charged at her while a duo of cannonballs came in from her right. Rainbow Dash ducked below them and continued to fly down closer to the ocean’s surface. There, heavy waves rose up and could potentially swallow them if they got too close, but the cannonballs wouldn't be directly blasting at them this low. The winds were just as terrible closer to the water as higher in the sky, and a roaming waterspout was coming closer to them to make everything worse.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue at the constant hazards. As if Godfrey wasn’t enough of a pain on his own. It was quite the challenge, she had to admit that, but this was all a little insane even for her. But she still had to beat him.

She swiftly made an about-face as Godfrey was coming at her and deflected another punch of his with her wing. The second punch coming right for her stomach she blocked by putting all four of her hooves against it and kicking herself away. The force of the blow was completely absorbed and Rainbow wasn’t hurt at all.

“Nice reflexes,” Godfrey grinned.

“Nice punches,” Rainbow smirked. “But why don’t you try landing one next?”

“Why don’t you try taking one? How about I let you punch me first and then you let me punch you back? That’s pretty fair,” he chuckled.

“Sorry—my pride isn’t going to make me that stupid.”

Godfrey cracked his knuckles and flew towards her as a wave came up behind her. A huge wave that was tall enough that its breaking tip would wash over and pull her down. But it was slow, the top of the wave was just starting to curve when Godfrey reached Rainbow Dash. He had his fists raised and instead of throwing wide swings and sweeping hooks designed to knock her out in one blow—he started swiftly jabbing at her with short straight punches. Rainbow Dash mirrored him and raised her hooves, doing much the same. They dodged and weaved around each other’s blows like expert boxers with their limbs moving so fast they would’ve only appeared as blurs to most creatures.

Right as the top of the wave came crashing down and created that brief tube of air inside of it, Godfrey flung himself at Rainbow Dash and clotheslined her, carrying her into and through the back of the wave. She coughed and sputtered as she went through the cold water—thrown out in an instant after holding her breath—and kicked Godfrey in the side to force herself away from him even as he attempted to carry her down to the ocean’s surface. It was tough, the air pressure around him was tough to get away from when he was flying strongly like that.

“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed at her and brought his wing out towards her, aiming to hit her in the throat with the powerful limb. Right now they were both flying nearly vertically downwards.

Rainbow brought her own wing up to hit the underside of Godfrey’s to make it simply sail over her head. The two of them then barely leveled out as they skimmed the surface of the water, the wind from their wings creating small waves that joined the raging ones around them, with Rainbow Dash slightly ahead of Godfrey as he chased her. She decided to make ample use of her position and the cold saltwater directly below her. Turning on her side she dipped her wing into it and created a long splash that leapt up at Godfrey’s face.

It was just a minor distraction but unlike when he carried her through the wave he wasn’t expecting to suddenly get water in the face. He closed his eyes shut and sputtered when the saltwater hit him—it was all Rainbow Dash needed to zoom towards the nearby waterspout. She spun around it at high-speed, being boosted by the natural powerful winds that created it, and shot out towards a more open spot on the ocean that also wasn’t covered with gigantic waves.

Godfrey came careening from the waterspout quickly afterwards—the distraction only hampering him slightly, not that she expected more.

Rainbow Dash glanced back at him and narrowed her eyes, as soon as he got close to her she flew around in a wide but fast circle before shooting back into the sky.

“You just wanna turn this into a chase or something?” Godfrey shouted at her.

“Just getting my blood pumping!” Rainbow shouted back.

A series of cannonballs shot around the two of them as they rose higher into the sky, but the two fliers easily dodged them all. When she reached the apex of her flight, Rainbow Dash turned around and went on the offensive, flying towards Godfrey right as a bolt of lightning flashed and thunder roared around them.

He was ready to meet her and his forearm blocked a heavy punch she delivered to him. A kick from one of her back legs was summarily blocked by his other front limb. He leaned his head back just slightly and then brought it down and towards her in attempt to headbutt her—something that would’ve surely knocked her out cold if not outright crack her skull if she met it. So Rainbow Dash pushed away from him and zoomed to his right with another punch aimed at his shoulder. He dodged down and brought an open talon up at her stomach that Rainbow only barely avoided—she could almost feel the sharp claws rake across her stomach.

Godfrey went right back on the offensive then and came at her even as more rain poured on them and a few cannonballs whizzed by. They traded a flurry of blows with each other, neither being able to land a solid hit. At the same time they had to manage flying through the harsh winds and not let themselves get carried away.

A kick towards Godfrey’s head was blocked. A punch at Rainbow Dash’s face was dodged. An uppercut to Godfrey’s chin was deflected. A wingstrike to the side of Rainbow’s head was parried.

Godfrey’s talon slashed at her head and Rainbow Dash ducked under it, only losing a few strands of mane in the process. She punched up towards him but her hoof only lightly tapped his stomach before his wings carried him out of the way. She quickly went after him and aimed a kick at his chest but Godfrey put his arms in front of his chest and blocked it, knocking her away as soon as he threw his arms back out. The two of them then hovered in position, staring at each other. Rainbow with a hard frown on her face and Godfrey with an eager grin.

“So is it good for you too?” Godfrey snickered.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “You know what? It would be if we were just fighting for fun, or you weren’t some evil pirate and we were competing like friends. But right now I’m just worried about my real friends.”

“Heh, that’s the big difference between us then. Friends? I don’t need or care about things like that, they’re just something that holds you back. Like with you now. You care too much. It’s stopping you from being as free as me. You’ve got the power to do what you want, Rainbow Dash. But you’re letting things like “good” and “bad” influence you instead of going all out. You think I have any rules? Anything I won’t do if I feel like it? Anything that I’d regret? I don’t. Nothing holds me back from doing what I want! I almost, for a moment when we first met, thought we might actually be kindred spirits. But I guess not,” he finished with a shrug. “You’re just not as awesome as me.”

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “Godfrey… normally I’d feel bad about this, like it’s cheating, but because of all of that stuff you just said? I’m not going to feel bad one bit.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What are you-“

A cannonball slammed into his side, hitting his wing and front right arm.

“Grrk!” He grunted in pain and faltered as the cannonball fell. It had already lost most of its momentum before it hit him so it didn’t break his sturdy body or bones, but it still hurt a lot. “W-What?! There shouldn’t have been any coming from there…”

“You kind of forgot to take something into account,” Rainbow told him, not smiling or smirking at all.

He glared up at her angrily.

“You’re as fast as me, and way stronger. But I’m still a pegasus. Manipulating the weather is second nature,” Rainbow Dash said and pointed behind him.

Godfrey looked and saw a small waterspout spinning about in the middle of the stormy eye. “That one wasn’t there before. When…”

“I started it up when we flew in that circle earlier—and it finished forming when we were fighting just now. It sent a cannonball in a different direction than you were expecting. Sorry,” Rainbow shrugged and the slightest of grins now appeared on her face. “That’s not all either, I kind of messed with the course of that other waterspout we flew around.”

Godfrey blinked in surprise and looked at it, seeing that the bigger waterspout was now going in a completely different direction as well.

“And that’s going to cause some problems for your ship,” Rainbow said.

Together they watched as The Scourge fired another volley into the storm—right as the waterspout moved into the perfectly wrong position for it. The cannonballs were plucked out of the air and flung around it at high-speed before being sling-shotted directly back at The Scourge. Quite a few still missed the large galleon entirely but some smashed into its sides and on deck, onto the cabins at the back and into the sails, causing damage and shooting holes into the vessel. One—the unluckiest of all—smashed into the middle mast of The Scourge and almost snapped it in two. It tipped over and brought its own sails and almost the other masts down with it thanks to all the rigging running through them.

“Maybe you want to go back to your ship now. I think I win today,” Rainbow told him.

“You!” Godfrey growled as he turned on her, his eyes full of rage. His talons balled into fists and they shook with rage as it looked like he wanted to attack Rainbow Dash… before they steadied and he calmed down. Godfrey took a deep breath and a smile emerged across his beak. He gave her a few slow, mocking claps. “Heh… heheheh. Alright, you win today, Rainbow Dash. One to one. But I’ll see you at the Smoking Island again soon.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide. “How do you-“

“Hah! So that is where you’re going. I knew it,” he pointed at her and grinned. “Going to the east around the Strip of Storms, looking for rumors of treasure? And I’ve heard those same rumors about the Smoking Island. Call it an educated guess. It’s the closest island to the Strip of Storms that your friends would have any reason to go to. Thanks for making me sure though.”

“You jerk,” Rainbow glared at him.

“Bye, Rainbow Dash! Maybe see you tomorrow if we both make it out of the Strip of Storms alive!” He laughed and turned around, flying back to his damaged ship.

“Just great…” Rainbow Dash grumbled and shook her head, turning as well and looking for where the Heart of Azure was now.

On the Way to the Smoking Island

Rainbow Dash touched down on the Heart of Azure’s deck while huge waves and winds tossed it over the ocean, the others all fighting for dear life to keep the vessel from being overturned.

“Well I’ve got some good news—Godfrey won’t be bothering us for the next day or two at least,” Rainbow said. She coughed. “And uh, got some bad news but I think we’ve got other stuff to worry about right now...”

“You are correct!” Breakwater said as water cascaded over the side of the boat and drenched him and Senax at the wheel.

Rainbow frowned. “How much further before we’re out of the Strip of Storms?”

“Should only be a few miles at most if we can make it!” Breakwater answered.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. The hurricane weather around them wasn’t letting up in the slightest. Gilbert was helping to manage the sail while Daylight, despite her lack of telekinetic prowess, was trying to keep the ship steady. “I’ll do what I can!”

She flew back up above the mast of the ship. She could use that recently oh so useful pegasus magic of hers to help weaken the storm around them and make sailing just a little bit easier. It might not do a whole lot with how powerful the Strip of Storms was, but it might be just enough for them to survive. Lightning struck off the port bow and a blast of howling wind came from a waterspout that was moving close to them. Rainbow Dash could deal with that waterspout, she had proof after what she did from before. If she could just send them away from their ship and help the winds and waves to die down a little…

Ahead to the east, a series of large waves was approaching them. Rainbow Dash frowned—they might have been the largest waves she had ever seen. The guardians of the exit to the Strip of Storms.

“Never thought this would be easy,” Rainbow said and took a deep breath, flying to the waterspouts for now.

Tomorrow was a lot of things. It was something that only yesterday seemed so impossible and far away. Yet now it was only something happy, wonderful, and relaxing. It was a difference so great from yesterday, stormy darkness that seemed like it would be the doom of them had transformed into a beautiful blue sky and calm waters. The sun was out overhead—shining down on them and filling their bodies with warmth.

They needed it. They needed it with how exhausted and worn out they were. The sail wasn’t even down right now, no one was at the helm, they were just drifting east while all of them lied down at various spots on deck. Resting, too tired to move just yet.

But alive. Despite everything the Strip of Storms and Godfrey had thrown at them they had managed to survive and were now one step closer to their destination of the Smoking Island. The only problem was it would take some time for them to recuperate and actually get on course to it. It might take them an extra day with how they were right now.

To the west now, the Strip of Storms was retreating in the distance. The dark clouds and violent waters created from the unusually fierce weather were nothing but a memory of yesterday now. Lightning and thunder still raged, huge waves crashed and rolled about, but it was contained to the Strip. They were safe from it.

Rainbow Dash rolled onto her back and looked up through half-lidded eyes at the blue sky. Her mane and tail were a mess, her feathers were ruffled, her coat was wet and ragged despite them being out of the storm for hours now. She was probably still not in any worse condition than the others. She wanted to nap so badly, to turn over and go to sleep with the comfort of the sun on her. But unfortunately she and the others knew they couldn’t waste all these hours of daylight and good weather. They’d all have to get up soon even though they didn’t want to.

“Okay… so who wants to get up first? Any takers?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Not me, I’m pretending to be asleep,” Daylight said.

“I’m afraid I truly don’t have the energy right now…” Gilbert said.

“I’m dead,” Senax said.

“And I threw out my back,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sat up. “Oh fine… I’ll get things started. Kind of deserve it after uh… I’ll tell you guys later.”

She got up and first walked over to the bow of the ship to make sure they were both going straight and not listing, and also that they were heading straight east still. All good on that front. Next up she walked into the hold, each step sending a dull and tired pain into her, in the search of some water and food for everyone else. As soon as they were hydrated and had a little food in their stomachs, things could get back into working order around here. Rainbow Dash looked around the various barrels, boxes, and bags of food they still had down here, trying to figure what was the best thing to grab on short notice.

Instead her eyes ended up zeroing in on Gilbert’s journal that had fallen to the floor.

Rainbow Dash sighed and went over to pick it up, then scouring the inside of the hold for the pencil they had been writing in it with. As soon as she found it she flipped the journal open to the latest page it had been written on and jotted down a quick entry:

I’m dumb.

-RD

“Okay, now I can get some food,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and opened up a bag containing mangoes. Seemed like a refreshing enough fruit for everyone. Some quick energy from a fruit instead of something like bread or hard biscuits would probably be the best thing for everyone right now. Tastier too.

It was a pain to balance it all on her head and back, but she emerged from the hold with some cups of water and mangoes for herself and everyone else. Breakwater was her first visit, followed by the others. They were all exceedingly grateful to have her bite the bullet and be the one doing the nursing job. It was still a slow awakening and mustering for everybody though. They went from lying down, to sitting up and blinking, slowly sipping on water and taking small bites of mango.

“Let’s not do that again,” Daylight said.

“Agreed… even though it was my idea. Agreed,” Breakwater nodded.

Rainbow Dash looked to the east again. “How much longer before we get to the Smoking Island?”

“Not long, it’s pretty close to the Strip of Storms,” Breakwater said.

“Okay, cause uh, we should probably get there as quickly as possible,” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and awkwardly rubbed the back of her head.

“Why?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at her. “You told us Godfrey’s main sail snapped in two—and he and The Scourge might not have even survived the Strip.”

“Yeah but—in case he did. He’s going to be coming to the Smoking Island too. Cause… I kind of sort of let slip that that’s where we’re going.”

“You what?” Daylight flatly looked at her.

“He tricked me,” Rainbow Dash blushed and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh dear...” Senax shook her head.

Gilbert however found it quite humorous. He smiled and pumped his fist. “Ha-ha! I’m not the only one onboard who does stupid things!”

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down on her face. “I know I screwed up, but the past is the past. We need to wake up and get to that island and get off it before Godfrey can reach us. Call me paranoid, but I doubt he’s gone for good.”

“Admittedly I think you’re probably right...” Daylight said.

“Even if The Scourge was smashed by the waves, Godfrey would continue to fly after us on his own,” Gilbert nodded.

Breakwater grunted and stood up, walking to the helm. “Well alright then. As sore and tired as we all are, it sounds like we can’t just sit around. Let’s get to the Smoking Island as fast as possible. Rainbow Dash? If you could unfurl the sail.”

“On it,” Rainbow Dash saluted and flew up the mast to do so.

Despite how weak and exhausted everybody still was, they kicked into second gear so they could get on the way to finishing their business and potentially escaping from Godfrey before he could cause any further problems for them. They needed to get to the island fast so they could find the treasure fast and get out of there. Which made Rainbow Dash think that she still didn’t know much about the island they were heading to other than it had an active volcano on it. And there was a rumored treasure there as well.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat after she was done with the mast and dropped down next to Breakwater and Senax at the helm. “So uh… this Smoking Island? Aside from the big volcano on it, what else does it have going on?”

“Actually nowadays there’s really not much to say about it,” Breakwater said.

“Nowadays?”

“Apparently it used to be the home of some ancient civilization—that’s the source of the treasure rumor, it’s apparently in their old temple. But that was a long time ago. Today, despite the fact that the volcano is still active and smoking, there are a few inhabitants at a couple of ports. They cater to tourists and archaeologists, geologists too. But for most there’s no reason to really go to an island like this. Others have tried to find treasure from it, and they’ve either come up empty or didn’t come back at all.”

“So we’re also going to be doing something most would call stupid again?”

“Yep.”

“Well… not like that’s new for me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“That doesn’t even include the fact that we’re already going to an island with an active volcano on it in the first place,” Daylight called out from the deck, shaking her head.

“The island itself is decently big too,” Breakwater continued. “It has much more land than the Three Spears, and it’s covered mostly in jungle with the volcano and some other mountains in the middle of it. The ancient temple that we’re going to be looking into has its entrance located up on the slopes of those mountains, I think. And of course they’re part of the volcano system even if they’re not the ones with the smoking top and lava pools down in them, so they’re going to be dangerous to travel into.”

“But this ancient civilization or whatever still built their temple there?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Breakwater only had a shrug to give her. “Maybe they worshiped the volcano, who knows?”

“Doesn’t make it easy for us,” Senax said.

“At least we don’t have to wander around the jungle looking around for some hidden temple. That wouldn’t be fun, and we don’t have the time for it,” Daylight said.

“True enough,” Rainbow said.

“I think it would be a delight to explore the Smoking Island’s jungle,” Gilbert said as he came up to join them. “Imagine what unknown mysteries it has for an island with such history! Who knows what we could find? If it really is the home of some ancient, long gone, civilization, there might be abandoned villages and other things to find.”

“Well, Gilbert, when we’re not in a huge hurry, we can come back here as part of an archaeological dig,” Daylight said.

“Splendid!” Gilbert smiled.

Daylight just rolled her eyes.

“In any case—we’ll at least be able to get some food and water from the few locals that live there, like the Sea Lion Reefs. So we should be okay. The Heart of Azure doesn’t need any big repairs either but… should probably go back to Malkonrik and bring her in to Ballast’s soon,” Breakwater said.

Senax nodded. “We don’t have any other leads to go on right now after the Smoking Island anyways. Going back to port, somewhere safe, to fix things up and decide our next course of action is probably for the best.”

“But what if you actually find the Necklace or Trident here?” Rainbow asked her.

“Well at most it should only be the necklace, remember?” Senax said. “The prevailing rumor is that the Trident is on the ocean floor, at Merlantis, and the Necklace when found will show the way to it. I still don’t know if that’s actually true but it’s some of the oldest rumors we’ve heard out here. So the treasure we’re looking for right at the moment is really just the Necklace.” She sighed. “Not that we’ve had any such luck finding it anyways. I just… I wish I knew more about my own home and the heirlooms of my people.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow reached over and patted her on the back. “From what you told me it’s not like it’s your fault that you’re in this situation and don’t know much. It’s been a loooong time.”

“But still… I would hope I could drag us on a few less wild goose chases,” Senax said.

“Can’t speak for everybody else but I at least enjoy a good wild goose chase. Those can be plenty fun too,” Rainbow winked at her.

“Heh,” Senax smiled. “You’re good at lifting the mood of other ponies.”

“Just how I roll,” Rainbow Dash grinned and shrugged.

“Anyways—how much longer until we get to the Smoking Island now that we’re going at full speed,” Daylight asked Breakwater.

“Less than a day. In fact I bet you’ll be able to see the smoke and the top of the volcano relatively soon,” Breakwater answered.

“If that’s the case then I’m going to go into the hold and write a new entry in my journal before we get there,” Gilbert said and began to stride away.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the crow’s nest. “I’ll be up there, like normal… I’ll uh, also be checking behind us in case I see any unwelcome followers.”

“Hopefully you don’t see any,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash nodded and zoomed up to her usual perch. It felt good to plop down inside it, almost like it had become a second home to her after all the days on the ocean. She briefly looked to the west, once again seeing the slowly vanishing darkness of the Strip of Storms—but no ship on their tail. She took a big stretch and decided to keep her eyes on the east for now, she wanted to see that volcanic island soon.

Dear Journal.

My brother continues to be quite the menace, but we were fortuitous enough to escape him once more! I have to give most of the credit to Rainbow Dash, but everyone did a magnificent job to keep us safe in the Strip of Storms. Now we venture to the Smoking Island, our second and last destination that has the possibility of treasure on this current trip.

Since my last large entry quite a few things have happened and we’ve traveled far over the waters of the Grand Ocean. I am quite exhausted at the moment. Normally I would spend more time writing about the incident at the Sea Lion Reefs and what else we did there, as well as what happened with Godfrey, but I believe I will leave that for another day. Perhaps when we return to Malkonrik.

For now I only wish to write down how lucky I feel we all are. And how blessed I am to have such friends.

I wish good luck for Senax, that we finally find Ponyseidon’s Necklace now.

Landing

The Heart of Azure crawled over the calm ocean water on its way west. Only the smallest of waves was bothering them as they made their way to the Smoking Island, nothing to write home about. The weather had luckily stayed very nice for them ever since exiting the Strip of Storms. Rainbow Dash had kept herself in the crow’s nest, peering out to the east, and occasionally checking back west and even north and south at times. There wasn’t anything else out here though, just their ship sailing to the island.

She was hoping that meant Godfrey and The Scourge had met their end in the Strip of Storms—but she wasn’t counting on it. He was far too tenacious.

Other bit of good news besides not seeing Godfrey chasing them right now though was that the Smoking Island was finally coming into view. From her position in the crow’s nest, Rainbow Dash had seen the blue sky in the distance start to get covered in grey smoke clouds. As they got closer the tall volcano itself and then the shoreline of the island appeared. It was far wider than all Three Spears put together, and the volcano itself also much taller than any of those mountains. While overall it didn’t cover near as much area as the entire Sea Lion Reefs and all its atolls, it was certainly far bigger than any single atoll had been. So she was going to count it as the largest island she had been to so far.

It actually looked really nice with how green it was. If the volcano in the middle was a normal mountain, she would think it was just an ordinary tropical island that looked like a nice place to stop. That said, the smoke coming from that volcano was constant. Constant enough to be a little worrisome already.

In the end though, she still felt her tail swishing around behind her in the crow’s nest as the island got larger and larger in her view.

Its coastline didn’t look like it had any sandy beaches, instead she saw cliffs with forests close behind them and the shores that were at the same level as the ocean were just rocky. Whatever small towns or outposts that were supposed to be inhabited—she couldn’t see them yet. According to Breakwater there were still ponies there, and Rainbow had to imagine they were near the coast, but there wasn’t even a tall building or lighthouse that she could see just yet. Or any boats she could see docked anywhere.

She frowned—the place was giving her an unsettling feeling already. There was just something off about all of this.

It was bad enough that they were sailing to an island with an active volcano but now it was looking emptier and even less inviting than it should’ve been. Maybe she was just overreacting. Maybe there wasn’t a settlement on this side of the island and she was just being silly. Maybe.

But just like with Godfrey, her gut was telling her something different.

Rainbow turned around and whistled down to Breakwater, who was still at the helm. “Yo! Are you sure there are ponies on this island? Cause I don’t see anything so far.”

“They should be there,” Breakwater called back to her. “From the maps I have there should even be a place to dock at pretty much dead ahead.”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the island and raised an eyebrow. “I mean… if you say so.”

Over the next couple of hours, the Heart of Azure made its way close enough to the Smoking Island that the other members of the crew could see it as well as Rainbow Dash. And they had to admit, it was much too calm to be normal. The one thing they saw that showed any sign of habitation was an old wooden dock that came out of the rocky coast and led to a clear road that went into the jungle. It was small, only big enough for maybe the Heart of Azure and one other ship if there was one. Rainbow hadn’t been able to see it until just recently.

“This isn’t right,” Daylight said with a worried look on her face as they approached the empty dock. “I don’t hear any birds in the jungle, I don’t see any seagulls in the sky, I don’t even see any fish looking down at the water. And there definitely aren’t any ponies out here to greet us.”

“Well there shouldn’t be many here to begin with but… yeah… yeah I don’t think this is normal either,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash dropped from the crow’s nest and stood by everybody. She threw a glance at Gilbert. “Should the two of us go flying out there first and see if we find anything?”

“I don’t know if we should be splitting up. I wasn’t expecting this,” Breakwater said.

“Let’s just dock there quickly and get to whatever town the ponies still living here reside in,” Senax said. “We weren’t planning on making acquaintances or stopping to talk with any of them more than we need to. We always just wanted to go straight for the temple, that’s all that matters. We don’t even need to ask for directions, just the barest amount of important information and then we can go.”

“You’re sounding a little “intense” there, Senax,” Daylight said to her friend.

“I just want us to get done with our business and get out of here without any problems arising. This trip has been dangerous enough already,” Senax replied with a somewhat stiff look on her face.

“Cheer up, Senax! I’m sure that despite the strange empty look of the island so far that there’s nothing wrong. We’ll surely find a friendly face and get on our way to the temple quickly. I doubt there’s anything to worry about here,” Gilbert said.

Daylight shook her head and closed her eyes. “Gilbert, have you not seriously tempted fate enough times already?”

“Well… what day of the week is it?”

“Chill out, Daylight,” Rainbow said, patting a wing on her back. “I’m not going to be crazy optimistic like Gilbert either, but even if there is something weird going on here or something comes up, we can handle it. We’re awesome, remember?”

“I suppose I wish I could look at things the same way as the two of you sometimes...”

“Regardless of all that, we’re coming close to the dock. We’ll drop the anchor and head on up the path and into the jungle. We’ll get to the bottom of this and find that treasure too, all in one day.” Breakwater said.

“Right,” Rainbow nodded.

“Right,” Senax confirmed.

Their ship slowed down as they reached the mini “harbor” where the water of the ocean lazily slapped up against the rocks of the shoreline. If someone wasn’t careful they could easily accidentally crash here, especially if the waters were more turbulent than they were this day. It made Rainbow wonder why there wasn’t a lighthouse or any sort of safety measure. But with Breakwater at the helm they still landed at the dock with no trouble, then she and Gilbert tossed the anchor over the side and their ship was now moored safe and secure.

As they all got off it and stood on the dock, Rainbow looked back at the Heart of Azure. “Err… should one of us stay here with the ship? What if someone actually is here and they come by and try to steal it?”

“You make a good point. It might also be a good thing to do so we can make a fast getaway in case Godfrey shows up,” Daylight said.

“That would involve us splitting up though,” Gilbert said.

“Mm… it’s true. I know it’s better to be safe than sorry but at the same time I get the feeling there really isn’t anyone here that’s going to cause trouble for us like that,” Breakwater said.

“So we’re all just going together then?” Rainbow asked.

Breakwater looked at his ship, safely docked right next to them. “Yep. I’ve got a feeling she won’t be accosted by anybody. Call it a sixth sense.”

“It’s your ship so—hey, all good then,” Rainbow shrugged.

With Rainbow Dash in front—floating a bit above ground—the group left the dock behind and started heading up the road that led into the jungle. It winded and curved quite a few times, never giving them a straight look ahead for too long. In the meantime, Rainbow continuously looked at the jungle around, and listened to it. But there was nothing. No rustling of rodents or any other sort of animals in the thick foliage, not even the buzzing of any mosquitoes. It was pure silence. She saw and heard nothing. Frowning, she lifted her head up and stared at the volcano in the distance. It’s smoking peak was easily visible over the jungle.

She couldn’t help but bite her lip and think that the two things were connected.

“So you guys have all noticed this too, right?” She asked the others. “No animals, no bugs, nothing.”

“Yep,” Daylight said as she looked around. “Just like I thought.”

“I’ll say it is like we’ve stumbled onto a ghost island or something,” Gilbert said.

Senax looked at Breakwater. “Are you sure this is the right island? There aren’t any others with volcanoes like this around?”

“This is definitely the right island. There’s no mistaking it,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash sighed and looked over to Gilbert. “Well we don’t need to split up but let’s take a look over this treeline, Gilbert. We’ll see if there’s a town or something coming up soon.” She didn’t wait for his response as she flew up higher to get over the tallest trees of the jungle and peer out ahead. Gilbert did come up with her shortly and together they scanned the jungle island. “Come on, there has to be a little something down this road. Even just a cabin or two.”

“Look, Rainbow Dash!” Gilbert said and pointed to a spot in the jungle where it looked like things cleared up a bit. Judging by its location and the road they were using, they’d eventually reach it by walking down it a little more.

Rainbow rose a little higher in the sky to get a better view and was finally able to see some actual buildings sitting there. So they were at least going the right direction. She quickly flew with Gilbert back down to the others.

“Okay, we just need to follow the road a bit and there’s actually like—an outpost or small town or something. Didn’t see any ponies there but maybe they’re all inside,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Maybe,” Gilbert added.

“Then we shouldn’t lollygag anymore,” Senax said and already picked up the pace.

“I would say we’re not in such a hurry but that would be a lie. So yeah, let’s go,” Daylight said.

The party of five now traveled down the road at a slightly faster pace than before, now with an actual destination in mind. Rainbow Dash kept her ears open and her eyes darting from one side of the jungle to the other, but there was still only silence and stillness greeting her. She looked down at the road everybody else was walking over. It was still clear of any vegetation or even weeds growing up out of it. So somebody had to be regularly taking care of it and cleaned it up recently. There had to have been ponies here at least not too long ago or the jungle would’ve started taking it over again already.

It was only a few minutes longer before they made one last turn on the road and saw it end ahead, opening up into a part of the jungle that had been cleared of trees. Together they saw several buildings, most simply single-story ones but there were a couple that reached a little higher. All of them were placed on the north side of the clearing while the south side had a few small gardens and a stone well in the middle.

And absolutely no ponies around or even any signs of them.

“Well… we’re here,” Rainbow said.

“Yes,” Daylight nodded as they all emerged into the “town”. “And I think we’re the only ones here.”

“I think so too but let’s at least check around to be sure,” Rainbow said. She swiftly flew to the nearest building and landed in front of it, knocking on the door. “Hello? Anybody in there?”

“Is there anybody here at all?” Gilbert shouted as he flew overhead.

Daylight, Breakwater, and Senax walked into a building together and found themselves in what looked like some kind of empty office. There were still books and papers on the tables and in bookshelves, and various different kinds of rocks in glass cases along the walls. Strangest, and most unsettling, of all was a cup of cold coffee that had been left on one of the tables.

A blue glow enveloped it as Daylight picked it up in her magic, raising an eyebrow at the object. “They left in a hurry but… it wasn’t more than a couple days ago.”

“What could have caused them to leave so quickly? Obviously the volcano didn’t erupt. Maybe they thought it was about to?” Breakwater wondered as he looked through the office. “They left a lot of records behind—this is stuff that would be really important to the scientists and surveyors that worked here. They must’ve been spooked.”

“Obviously all the animals on the island felt the same way,” Daylight said.

“Daylight? Breakwater? I found something strange,” Senax said from another room.

The two shrugged and followed her voice to find Senax standing in front of some kind of machine. It wasn’t very big, hardly any larger than a big sewing machine, sitting on a desk while another machine had a now spent roll of paper coming out of it. The thing Senax was looking at was some kind of white cylinder lying lengthwise on the desk in some sort of tray, while a metal needle was positioned right over it that looked like it could scratch up and down the cylinder’s surface.

Breakwater rubbed his head. “What is this?”

“Dunno,” Daylight said. “Never seen something like it before, must have to do with their work here.”

“I was looking at the papers and I noticed this too-” Senax said as she grabbed the end of the roll of paper that had spilled out on the floor. On one side it had a squiggly line going up and down and for a while it was just a small squiggle, but as Senax went further along the squiggles started to get far larger and closer together. The end of the roll coming out of the machine was like that. “It’s just a guess but I think when the machine started doing this it might have been what triggered the ponies here to leave. But I don’t know what any of it means.”

“Neither do I. And I doubt Rainbow Dash or Gilbert do either,” Breakwater said.

“Now that I think about it… shouldn’t there have been a ship at the dock that was for the locals to use if they ever needed to leave? We didn’t see one. They had to have left on it,” Daylight said.

Senax bit her lip, her eyes darting back and forth as anxiety tore through her. “This… this doesn’t change anything. We still just need to get to the temple and find that treasure so let’s go do it. It’ll be fine. Just. Fine.”

Daylight stared at her for a moment, contemplating saying something, but just nodded instead. “I’ll go get Rainbow Dash and Gilbert. We can drag up some water from the well and have a snack before leaving. We probably don’t want to get hungry out there.”

Second Landing

Somewhat south of the Smoking Island, a large, beaten up, nearly-wrecked, galleon sailed to the rocky coast ahead.

The Scourge had seen much better days.

It had made it out of the Strip of Storms but with much difficulty, and now they had found themselves to have been blown slightly off-course. Godfrey saw that they were south of the Smoking Island when they emerged from the storm. Their ship had been making a steady pace since then, and now they were finally close to landing at the island. The Scourge though would need repairs before it could set off for the open ocean again. The middle mast was still broken, there were holes that had to be patched up, and many more sails had been torn on their journey to escape the Strip of Storms. Even the bow of the ship had been damaged, the roaring dragon now splintered and broken in places.

Not to mention was the fact that quite a few crewmates had been swept overboard and, well, that was the last anyone saw of them. The ones that were left were exhausted and broken—and though Godfrey didn’t believe in mercy he still knew everyone needed time to rest every now and then. He worked his crew to the bone but he didn’t get anywhere if they were dead. That’s why he hadn’t really taken out his anger on any of them yet. The ones that had survived the Strip of Storms had done a good job getting their ship here.

He was also still more amused than anything by the turn of events and Rainbow Dash actually managing to get the better of him this time. Despite his pride and ego he really didn’t want to be a sore loser. Not like it’s the first time he’s ever had a setback or lost a fight anyways—he always comes back and wins in the end.

So that was why he was comfortably standing at the bow of his ship, grinning and watching as they got closer and closer to the Smoking Island.

He was going to get back at her very soon.

His eyes narrowed the more he looked at the coastline, searching for any docked ships or any harbor with buildings at it at all. From what he knew there were ponies that lived here but not many. His knowledge on most of the smaller islands in the Grand Ocean was… full of holes to put it bluntly. If it wasn’t a big place like Bosche or the Sarrarocco Archipelago or an important trade post like Rum Haven he didn’t have much interest in it. But he was always willing to learn firsthand.

At the moment though he couldn’t see anywhere for their ship to actually dock. They’d simply have to drop anchor in front of the cliffs and embark onto the island from there. They still had some boats for the non-fliers to use. But… he might just have most of the rest of the crew stay with the ship anyways. With the extensive repairs it needed it might be best for them to keep working on it while it’s anchored in place.

As he looked at the big volcano on the island though, the constant smoke emanating from it worried him a little.

No. He didn’t get worried. A volcano was nothing to fear. If he was willing to sail directly into the Strip of Storms then stopping at a little volcanic island like this wasn’t a big deal.

Still—he did get a bad feeling about that volcano. His gut had never led him astray before.

But at the same time there was no way he was giving up pursuit of Rainbow Dash and the others.

“Heh. Rainbow Dash and the others? When did it change to that?” Godfrey chuckled to himself. “I wanted to find the Trident of Ponyseidon most of all—a real treasure that could actually do something. Not just a golden trinket. But now it’s just as fun thinking about showing that colorful pegasus her place...”

“Er, Captain? P-Pardon me for interrupting you, but where are we going to dock? And is there even a settlement for us to raid for supplies?” Sea Shanty asked.

Godfrey looked over his shoulder at his first mate, the peg-legged pony had come up behind him while he was lost in thought. His eyes flickered to the rest of the main deck, spotting numerous members of his crew who were only acting busy and pretending as if they weren’t paying attention to Godfrey and Sea Shanty. Morale was probably at an all time low. Mutiny may have even been on the minds of some of them. Not the smart ones though.

“No need to worry, Sea Shanty,” Godfrey grinned and turned around to face the pony, clapping him on the back. “There’s definitely somewhere ponies live on this island and they’ll be able to, heh, give us everything we need. For now you’re right though, we’re just going to drop anchor at the cliffs and I’m going to go it alone for the moment while the rest of you do your best to fix things here.”

“You’re going to go alone, Captain?”

“Of course. With the damage to The Scourge we need all hooves working to fix the mast and the other problems. I’ll handle the business with my brother and their ship while you do that. Once it’s over with we can raid the other ponies here,” he told him.

Sea Shanty looked conflicted, his eyes going between his Captain and the upcoming island. “F-Forgive me for my words… b-but is it okay for you to go alone, Captain? There are five of them and only one of you.”

Godfrey’s grin grew wider. “Heh. You were probably pretty scared of asking that question, weren’t you? I respect that you still had the courage to ask so don’t worry about it, Shanty. But have some more faith in your Captain. You know who I am don’t you?”

Sea Shanty nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The griffon pirate left him and walked back to the bow of the ship, peering right over the railing at the island. “And truthfully… maybe I could take a few scouts with me. But that’s no challenge. I’m going to get them good again,” Godfrey clenched his talons in anticipation.

“But it’s also...”

Godfrey looked back and raised an eyebrow at Sea Shanty. “Hm? What?”

“The volcano...” Sea Shanty pointed at it, and the smoke still rising from it. “Is it safe to land on this island? What if we stay for too long and the volcano erupts?”

Godfrey just scoffed. “It’s named the Smoking Island for a reason, Shanty. It’s been smoking like that for ages. It’s not a sign that it’s going to erupt soon and even if it did you’re all going to be on the ship already so you’ll be perfectly safe. Whether we stay for a few days fixing The Scourge or not isn’t going to change anything.”

“A-Aye, aye, Captain.”

“That’s right,” Godfrey laughed and stretched his wings and front legs, getting an audible pop from his feathery appendages. “Now—go tell the helmspony to bring us up alongside the cliffs. There’s no more time to waste, our prey has already gotten here for certain and they could be far inside that jungle already. It’s going to be enough of a pain to find them without anymore delays.”

“Yes, Captain,” Sea Shanty nodded again and left to relay Godfrey’s orders to the helmspony. He probably wasn’t especially happy with the way the conversation had gone, but he didn’t have anything to directly complain about either.

The rest of the crew seemed to get the message as well and were returning to work—or at least pretending to work in a less obvious way.

“Ahhh… fear is the best motivator, but sometimes confidence is decent too,” Godfrey smiled.

A few minutes later and The Scourge had come in to rest in the calm waters next to the cliffs of the Smoking Island. Sitting there parallel with the cliffs, the crew dropped the large anchor into the water so it could rest safely. At this spot it would be easy for the other pirates onboard to make it onto the island and into the jungle later if they needed to. And it was a good spot thanks to the calm waters for them to fix it up in the meantime. The cliffs would obscure them from being seen from most directions as well.

“Well my friends, it’s time for you to get The Scourge back into tip-top shape. Meanwhile, I’ve got other business to deal with,” Godfrey said. “But I promise I’ll be back with good news at the worst and some amazing treasure at the best!”

He spread his wings but before he flew off to the island he glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at the crew. “Well?”

“T-Three cheers for the Captain!” Sea Shanty shouted and thrust a hoof into the air.

“F-For the Captain!”

“Go, Captain Godfrey!”

“Crush them!”

It wasn’t exactly three cheers as a myriad of other shouts came from the crew, but Godfrey was satisfied at least. He laughed and jumped into the air, quickly rising on his powerful wings to scale the cliffs and then shoot up over even the tallest trees of the jungle. The island was big enough, and had enough hills in spots, that he couldn’t see over the entire thing from this height. He couldn’t see where any locals might have been living, where the Heart of Azure was docked, and he certainly didn’t see any flashes of rainbow color.

He didn’t really see anything at all aside from jungle and the mountains and volcano in the middle of the island.

He didn’t hear anything either.

Godfrey frowned and flew into the island a little more before dropping down into a clearing in the jungle, what at one time may have been a road. He looked at the trees to his right, then at the trees to his left. He kept his ears up and wide open. But there was nothing at all.

“Where are all the animals?” Godfrey scratched his head. “I didn’t hear anything about this being a ghost island.”

He glanced down at the cutlass secured in its scabbard on his side. There was certainly something off about this island right now. He wondered if the lack of animals also extended to the ponies that should be here. But it’s not like he had so far been to anywhere on the Smoking Island where those ponies should be, so he was going to withhold judgment until then. He tried to think about what he did know about this island though. Though he was no expert or particularly learned when it came to every insignificant place he retained information very well. There was supposedly an old civilization that used to exist on this island in ancient days—and that must be why those silly pests had come here. Ancient civilizations meant treasure. Treasure meant the possibility that it could be one of Ponyseidon’s heirlooms or something else pertaining to Merlantis.

“Now if I was some ancient civilization that lived here… where would I put my temple, or castle, or tomb or whatever it is that held all my treasures?” Godfrey grinned and looked up past the trees. His sharp eyes slowly turned to the large volcano proudly standing in the middle of the island—so big it was visible from anywhere. “Well, that’s a good bet.”

He dragged a talon along the hilt of his scabbard before cracking his knuckles and taking flight once more.

There was only one possible destination to go to. The exact same one that his brother, that merpony, and Rainbow Dash had to be going to. He couldn’t wait to see the looks of surprise and terror on their faces. And this time, nothing was going to get in his way.

On The Scourge, Sea Shanty watched as a team of two-dozen ponies lifted the broken mast up till it was standing straight once more. They pulled and pulled on a series of heavy ropes tied around the mast, going through pulleys and tied to the other masts to keep it secure when they had it in position. They didn’t exactly have the right supplies onboard to fix such a serious wound to their vessel, but they could patch it with enough bolts, plates of metal, chain, rope, and wood. He hoped. As long as it stayed up long enough for them to get to a real shipwright and get some extensive work done on it they’d be okay. But they might need more tools and supplies from the island just to fix the mast—not even getting started on all the rest of the damage.

Godfrey wouldn’t like that. If he came back and they were still a mess… he didn’t want to think about it.

The Captain’s temper was worse than the storm they had just traveled through.

Still, everything about landing here was gnawing at him in a negative way. He almost wanted to risk the Captain’s wrath once more just to try and convince him that they should leave. There was something about this island that was twisting Sea Shanty’s stomach in knots. And it all had to do with that volcano. Of course, what the Captain said wasn’t wrong, but Sea Shanty still wanted to trust his gut instinct and leave.

Leave before there was even the possibility that something bad could happen.

Even if they had to more or less drift and get lucky with reaching another island because of the shape their ship was in. His body was screaming at him that they shouldn’t be anchored here any longer than they absolutely needed to be—something he believed was the result of many years living on the Grand Ocean.

“I never should’ve traveled to Sharktooth Island as a kid… stupid idiot who wanted to be a pirate, I must’ve been crazy...” Sea Shanty mumbled to himself.

What did he have to show for it? A peg leg and numerous brushes with death.

“We could pull up the anchor… just pull it up and go,” he knew how bad of an idea that was though. And any other sort of mutiny would end incredibly poorly, he doubted he could get everyone else to work together against Godfrey. And even if they did he wasn’t sure if they could actually overcome him.

Sea Shanty had done a lot of pirating before meeting Godfrey. That griffon was unlike anybody else. The entire system—the entire ocean—had been turned upside-down by his arrival. Pirate lords who had been active for decades, pirates who were the heirs of pirate lineages that dated back hundreds of years, Godfrey had torn them all to pieces and became the scourge of every living being on the Grand Ocean. The saying was right—when you see golden wings you had better pray.

“S-Sir?”

Sea Shanty blinked, temporarily lost in thought, and looked to see a deck hoof had come to speak to him. He narrowed his eyes at the young pony. “What is it? Get back to work.”

“W-We was just finishing cleaning… me and the other deck hooves, and we couldn’t help but keep looking at the volcano,” the quivering deck hoof said as he looked past Sea Shanty and towards the smoke rising into the sky. “The Captain earlier… he’s right that it wont erupt or nothing?”

“Of course he is. There’s nothing to worry about. Now if you’re finished cleaning then go find something else to do!” He ordered.

The deck hoof jumped back in fright and ran off to the others, who scattered across the deck of The Scourge.

Sea Shanty sighed and looked at the rising smoke as well. “I hope I’m not just saying that...”

Search for the Necklace

“Eugh, it’s a lot more humid in here than I expected,” Rainbow Dash said as she and the others trudged along the jungle path.

“It is a jungle after all,” Daylight Gleam said.

“Yeah but the temperature and weather around the rest of the island didn’t make it seem like it would be this way.”

“I agree with Rainbow Dash… this humidity is making me far too sweaty,” Gilbert said as he wiped away some of that sweat from his brow.

“I’m used to way worse but I was kind of hoping it would be more of a dry heat here,” Rainbow said.

“It’s just going to get plain hotter the closer we get to the volcano,” Breakwater said. “I think the smoke over the island might have something to do with the weather as well.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, it boxes in the heat. But I still wasn’t expecting it to be so wet you know?”

“The smoke being so thick over the island-” Gilbert said as he grimaced up at the smoke clouds covering much of the sky. “That’s not a sign that the volcano may actually be erupting soon, is it?”

“Naw, not really,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “If like, ash was regularly falling I’d say we have a problem. But just smoke coming up from a volcano? Doesn’t mean anything. Least as far as Equestrian and Dragon Land volcanoes are concerned, and I’ve seen a few.”

“Mmm...” Gilbert hummed noncommittally, stroking his chin.

“If the volcano was about to erupt it would explain why the island’s so… empty. The scientists probably had a way of figuring out what was going to happen before it’s did, that’s probably what some of their machinery was for. And the animals could probably just sense it was going to happen and fled too,” Breakwater said.

“But if the Necklace is here we can’t leave. In fact that’s even more reason to be here now. If the volcano erupted the Necklace would be lost forever,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash glanced over at Senax, seeing a look of anxious worry on the merpony’s face. That was a mare who wore her emotions for everyone to see. “You okay with all this, Senax?”

“Huh?” Senax seemed surprised to be spoken to. “Y-Yes. I’m sure there’s nothing to be worried about. We’ll all be fine… we’ve always been fine.”

Rainbow Dash was worried for her, she seemed to be trying to convince herself of that more than anyone else. But that wasn’t to say she disagreed. Rainbow grinned and walked over to Senax, patting her back. “That’s right. We’ve got this.”

“I bet you wish you could fly ahead to make this trip faster...” Daylight said.

“Well, yeah,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “But then it would just be me and Gilbert sitting at that temple waiting for the rest of you to get there. Not like we even know where exactly it is at the volcano either.”

“Could carry us,” Breakwater grinned.

“You and Daylight are too heavy.”

“Pff!” Daylight snorted and shook her head.

“If only there were at least some ponies to talk to along the way, or perhaps some other ruins from the old civilization to see,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the road they were traveling down and the jungle that surrounded it. Unlike the road from the ocean to the small “village” they had gone down earlier, this one leading in the direction of the volcano wasn’t taken care of nearly as well. Ponies probably hadn’t traveled down it as much lately. There were roots and vines growing across it, grass and other weeds pushing up through the dirt. It was slowly becoming reclaimed by nature. And if the scientists and archaeologists or whoever never came back, Rainbow imagined it would look indistinct from the rest of the jungle within the year.

“Maybe there are. We still don’t know everything about this place,” Daylight shrugged.

“I wouldn’t even complain so much about how long it’s taking us to get to the volcano if it wasn’t for all this sweat...” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Can’t exactly run and tire ourselves out. The food and water we got from the outpost was just enough to tide us over for the day,” Daylight said.

“We’re technically not in a hurry anyways, since the volcano is definitely not going to erupt. Right?” Gilbert asked.

“Right,” Rainbow nodded.

“And my brother might not even be able to get here.”

“Double right.” Rainbow Dash grinned. “And even if something bad did happen then I could totally show off my awesome chops some more. I’d carry you guys then, except for Daylight since she’d still weigh too much, and bring you all to safety.”

As Daylight glared at her, Senax let out a muffled chuckle of amusement and briefly smiled again for the first time in a while. That was more than worth the glares.

Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out at Daylight and walked ahead of the group before flapping her wings and taking to the sky again. Just staying low and within talking distance, she merely wanted to enjoy the sensation of flight for the moment. The trees of the jungle were pretty wild, all growing over each other, but the jungle itself was kind of a bore right now without any colorful birds or other animals living here. She didn’t see anything particularly interesting. No old ruins or other settlements on this part of the island like Gilbert hoped they could come across.

She turned her eyes to the smoking volcano in the distance instead. The good news was they had made it more than halfway there already. The bad news was she still had kind of a cold feeling in her gut the more she looked at it and the smoke rising from its peak. But there hadn’t been any other, more direct, signs of the volcano erupting anytime soon. No earthquakes, no lava flow, nothing. She wasn’t a volcano expert but she still knew enough about them—as far as disasters go they were kind of the coolest to learn about. Not that she’d want to be around one, or didn’t feel bad for the ponies that had to deal with them, but a volcanic eruption was just plain cool compared to something like a hurricane, blizzard, or earthquake.

At this distance she couldn’t tell if there actually was a temple built up on the side of that volcano. Didn’t look like it. But it could’ve been on the other side or perhaps located at the foot of the volcano instead. There definitely had to be something if ponies kept coming to the island in search of treasure… and for some of those seekers to not return.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and looked down at Breakwater. “Yo, Captain? You ever hear anything about why so many who came here never came back? The temple booby-trapped or something? Cause I’d figure that the archaeologists here would know something about that.”

“Not really—it’s just not the kind of news I really keep up with,” Breakwater said to her. “But if I was guessing then yeah I’d say there’s probably something up with the temple that supposedly has the treasure we’re looking for inside it.”

“Well I’ve read enough Daring Do books—and been on enough adventures with her—to know how this is going to turn out,” Rainbow said to herself as she stared at the volcano again.

The sheer quiet of the jungle was starting to get to her, to all of them, the more they traveled through it. It just wasn’t right for a place like this. The looming volcano grew larger and more oppressive with every step and flap of the wings they all took towards it. The one decent thing they had going for them right now was the road being pretty straight and not taking them on a bunch of winding turns again like it had before. As Rainbow Dash had nothing to gain from paying attention to the quiet jungle, she looked ahead down the road and with her higher altitude she saw something coming up before anybody else did.

She shrilly whistled to the others and grinned down at them. “Hey, got a fork in the road coming up, and there’s some sign planted there, let’s see what’s up!” She then shot towards the sign and left the others to follow her.

Daylight Gleam shrugged at Senax and briskly picked up the pace. “Is a sign really a big deal?”

“It could just be directions… or perhaps it has something to say about why the island is abandoned,” Gilbert said.

“Regardless, we should check it out,” Breakwater said.

The other four all walked together and shortly came to the fork in the road and the sign that Rainbow had first seen and was now hovering in front of. When Rainbow heard them walking up she waved them over to her.

“Meh, not as interesting as I was hoping but you guys might still want to look at it,” Rainbow said.

It did turn out to just be a directional sign. On the left side of the signboard was an arrow pointing down that jungle road with “North Harbor” written below it. On the right side was the same but with “Volcano” written below. Directions as simple and straightforward as they could possibly be.

“I guess we know for sure where we’re going then,” Daylight Gleam said and turned to start walking down the right road.

“Hold on,” Rainbow said and grabbed her by the shoulder. “I was thinking that too but the whole North Harbor thing made me stop and think about something else.”

“About what?” Breakwater asked.

“Well… if there’s a harbor there then there has to be a village or something like the other one we walked through. What if the ponies that live there are still there? Maybe we could get some answers for why the island seems abandoned. Or even just get some more food and water if nobody is there,” Rainbow said. “It can’t be that out of the way, the island’s big but it’s not huge or anything.”

“I didn’t think you’d suggest doing something that drags us astray,” Daylight said.

Rainbow shrugged. “I’m just putting it out there cause I thought you guys might want to do that. I’m totally fine with going straight to the volcano.”

“I suppose the real question is do we actually expect to find anyone at that harbor?” Gilbert put forth.

“And do we want to take up anymore time here than we absolutely need to,” Breakwater said.

“No.”

The other four all looked at Senax—who had her eyes firmly staring down the road to the volcano.

“The answer to both those questions is no. We should stick on our path to the volcano and find the treasure that’s here as quickly as possible.”

“You’re the boss,” Rainbow nodded and darted over to the volcano road. “I’ll lead the way again.”

Senax quickly followed her despite the worried looks the others were giving her and the sign was left behind by the party. By Rainbow Dash’s estimate, the volcano should be less than an hour’s march ahead at this rate. Thankfully it was in the middle of the island and not at the complete opposite side from where they landed, otherwise they would’ve probably had to stop for a bit.

Rainbow Dash idly thought though that if it erupted the entire island would be covered in lava instead of just one side. If that actually happened absolutely nowhere would be safe.

She briefly glanced behind her as she flew ahead, discreetly looking at Senax for just a moment before facing ahead again. Like the others, the merpony’s attitude was kind of worrying her. She didn’t know why Senax had gotten so much blunter, and seemingly anxious and impatient. It didn’t fit the positive, friendly, mare she knew. It couldn’t just be stress from the strange situation on the island since she had always been supportive and strong in the face of danger previously. But Rainbow Dash felt she just had to let the merpony be for now. If there was something bothering her then Senax needed to deal with it herself and speak up on her own terms.

“At least things are colorful here,” Gilbert said as he walked down the road, his face turned to the jungle bordering the road. “The jungle has plenty of blooming flowers and rather beautiful plants inside it.”

“It’s not as tropical of a spot as the Sea Lion Reefs but yeah, it’s nicer looking than most of the Hundred Kingdoms at least,” Daylight said.

“There’s the Isle of Flowers just off the coast of Winderbadon, if we didn’t have so much else to do I’d take you there. Most ponies will tell you it’s the most beautiful place on the Grand Ocean,” Breakwater said.

“Isle of Flowers sounds a little… girly for my tastes anyways,” Rainbow Dash said from above.

“Someone’s insecure,” Daylight grinned at her.

“Hey, I just know what I like and what I don’t like,” Rainbow shrugged.

“As for me I’m always interested in seeing something new,” Gilbert said with a happy smile. He looked over to Senax. “What about you, Senax? Would you be interested in visiting the Isle of Flowers? If we had the time of course.”

“It...” Senax bit her lip and looked up at the looming volcano. “It sounds like it would be a nice place to see, yes...”

“Splendid! Perhaps once all this business with finding Merlantis is done, we can take a vacation there to celebrate!”

“You guys can,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Ah—right—you wouldn’t be with us anymore at that point,” Gilbert nodded.

“No—that’s not what I, ugh, you know what? Yeah. That’s why.”

“By the way, have you seen anything interesting from up there, Rainbow Dash?” Gilbert asked. “Anything besides just jungle and treetops as far as the eye can see?”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “There are some hills around us. But there’s nothing like another town or ruins, or, like, literally anything. Maybe if I went higher I could see something but I don’t want us split up like that. I guess the ancient civilization that used to live here was pretty small cause I can’t imagine there ever being too many buildings on this island. There’s no way I wouldn’t see something by now.”

“It’s possible they only lived around the volcano and other mountains,” Daylight said, raising an eyebrow at Breakwater.

The Captain shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’m not an expert.”

“Well then maybe we’ll see some old structures when we get out of this jungle and reach the volcano. Besides just the temple,” Gilbert said.

“Maybe. Not like we’re here to sight-see or uncover the mysteries of some old civilization though,” Rainbow said. “We oughta stay focused or something, right, Senax?”

Senax just minutely nodded and kept her eyes on the road. “Right. To find the Necklace, that’s what we’re here for.”

“And I won’t let anything slow us down,” Rainbow grinned.

Our Timing Can't Be That Bad

Godfrey picked up a plank of wood lying on the steps before the entrance to the temple and raised an eyebrow at the dark archway. “Well, I see they’ve made their way inside already. There must really be something valuable to them in there if they’re willing to go through all this trouble.”

He walked up to the archway and peered down inside the hallway. Total darkness staring back at him.

“Very dark and very hot, huh? Can’t say that’s a surprise,” Godfrey said as he scratched his chin.

Looking down at the ground he saw several of the torn out nails and with the wooden board still in his talon he got an idea. He picked up one of the nails and struck it fast against the stone wall of the archway, generating sparks and flame as if striking a match. He put the board right next to it as he did so and the sparks caught the end of it aflame. Holding it up over his head, Godfrey smirked victoriously and started walking into the temple.

“Good. Finding them should be easy enough now—they must’ve left a trail for me to follow.”

He flapped his great wings and started gliding down the temple’s opening hallway, ignoring the heat and beating away the darkness with his makeshift torch.

“Now this is somewhat more concerning than the last chamber,” Gilbert said as the five of them stood in a small room right in front of a much longer room that at the moment none of them had taken a step into.

“I mean—I think we still could fly everyone over again...” Rainbow Dash said as she looked around it.

“But if something unexpected happens you wouldn’t be able to fly as swiftly or avoid things while carrying me or anyone else,” Daylight said. “And we don’t know exactly what this room might throw at us. Only that it’s very, very, dangerous.”

The larger chamber that they still hadn’t stepped into just yet was a large square room with a low ceiling and a smooth floor. Across the way they could see another tunnel leading from it as well as a statue of what looked like a pony holding something from this distance. None of them had attempted to get a closer look just yet because of everything else on the floor of the great chamber. Dozens of piles of pulverized bones, some smashed so finely they had been reduced to splinters or even powder. They were randomly strewn about the room, with absolutely no pattern or indication as to what had happened aside from most being gathered on the further half of the room.

“I think we found what happened to most of the other adventurers who came in here,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah… no kidding,” Rainbow said.

“There’s no other way to go forward though,” Daylight said.

“I’ll walk out there first and if anything starts to happen I’m sure I’ll be able to react in time to stop it,” Rainbow said. “The rest of you just follow close behind.”

“Let’s do it,” Senax said, a drop of sweat dripping down the side of her head.

“There are probably smarter ways to handle this but… maybe not a quicker way,” Daylight sighed.

Together the five of them walked out into the very foreboding room with Rainbow Dash in front and Daylight’s flashlight horn lighting things up for her. They walked slowly and carefully, minding where they put their hooves and talons, while Rainbow Dash also looked around at the walls and ceilings for any signs of trouble. So far so good. They were also being sure to make a line that would take them around any piles of bone. Obviously it would be a bad idea to step exactly where those unfortunate travelers had stepped.

At first it seemed like there was nothing that would happen—nothing moved, nothing looked out of place, and they had made it more than halfway through the room. But in the middle of the smooth floor now something clicked. It was almost imperceptible, Rainbow Dash was the only one in the group who noticed that first little click. It happened right as all five of them were in the exact middle of the chamber—the floor sunk down, quickly, and less than a quarter of an inch, but it still happened. At the other side of the chamber she also saw the pony statue sink slightly into the floor. Rainbow’s ears turned up at the click and she sucked in a breath, about to turn around to the others and say something, when the ceiling started to lower towards them.

It crawled down the smooth walls of the chamber at surprising speed and got ready to pulverize them all.

“Oh, that explains it,” Gilbert said.

“R-Rainbow Dash!” A much more panicked Daylight Gleam yelled.

“On it!” Rainbow shouted and zoomed at lightning speeds out from under the collapsing ceiling to the other side of the room, right by the statue and exit.

The others were running too but there was no way they could escape the trap, it was already about to reach their heads. Luckily Rainbow Dash had a decent idea about what she had to do. There had to be some way to stop and reverse this thing, it didn’t make any sense otherwise. And Rainbow Dash was pretty sure this statue was part of the trigger mechanism. Now right next to it she saw clearly what it was. Another decapitated pony holding a scepter of some kind. She grabbed it under its front legs and lifted as hard as she could to raise it back up.

It was barely an inch but she managed to pull the statue back up and it clicked into place. As soon as it did so, the falling ceiling stopped—two feet from crushing into the floor of the chamber—and started to rise back up.

Rainbow Dash looked on and saw four prone and shaking figures lying on the floor of the chamber. All intact and okay, just in time.

She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding in. “Y-You guys okay?”

Gilbert was the first to stand, dusting his feathers off. “Well, that was a close one.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and shook her head. “Too close. Hurry up and get out from under there already.”

She didn’t need to tell them twice. Gilbert, Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater all swiftly ran towards her and practically threw themselves onto the safe ground. Everyone panted and collectively rested, trying to catch their breath.

“P-Pressure switch...” Daylight said. “No wonder most didn’t make it out of this chamber, it would take someone incredibly fast like Rainbow Dash or a unicorn capable of teleporting to get out from under the ceiling in time.”

Senax shuddered and looked at the piles of bone. “W-We might be the first to get this far...”

“Possibly. I guess we have to keep moving,” Breakwater said, doing a good job at keeping cool after almost being crushed. Aside from the slight tremble in his hooves.

“At least we won’t be in danger when we come back out, Gilbert and I will fly you over it again,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah,” Daylight nodded. “D-Definitely the best thing to do.”

“Well then… I suggest we get out of here and make our way into the next chamber,” Senax said. She was also trying to be strong but Rainbow could see the fear on her face.

Still, after that Rainbow Dash was certain she could handle anything else this temple threw at her. They could do this.

Daylight renewed shining her light in front of them and Rainbow Dash took point once more, the five of them now walking down the tunnel that exited out of the crushing room. It wasn’t long before they emerged into another large chamber but this one didn’t look like it was a trap. More buildings were carved all along the walls and through their doorways the group could see more tunnels going in multiple different directions. To their left, to their right, directly ahead of them, tunnels going up higher into the volcano and others going down deeper into it. They were stuck at a crossroads with no idea where to proceed next.

“Well isn’t this just great,” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

“A map of this place certainly would be useful right about now,” Gilbert said as he looked around at the various tunnels.

“We can’t check this entire place. We don’t have the time and there’s a big likelihood that there will be more traps down each tunnel,” Breakwater said.

“I know. I’m thinking,” Daylight said.

Senax meanwhile paced about, unsteadily looking from building to building as sweat gathered along her brow. The heat was getting pretty bad again—almost as bad as when they were in the same chamber as that lava river. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or a bad idea to follow the heat at this point. From looking at the tunnels there was simply no indication which one might be the right one and which one was the wrong one. They all were constructed exactly the same with no designations or anything carved around or outside of them.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin and shrugged. “I’ve got a dumb idea for figuring out where to go next.”

Daylight Gleam looked over and raised an eyebrow at her. “What is it? At this point dumb ideas are pretty much as good as any.”

“Oh, then I’ve got a few-” Gilbert started before Rainbow cut him off.

“Just this,” the pegasus said before walking into the middle of the chamber, sticking a hoof out, shutting her eyes, and then spinning around in a circle. After a few swift rotations she came to a stop, hoof now pointing directly at one of the tunnels. Rainbow Dash opened up her eyes and grinned. “Alright, let’s go!”

She started walking right into the tunnel without hesitation.

“That’s-” Daylight grimaced before sighing and shaking her head. “Ugh, whatever. I really don’t have a better idea.”

“She’s a lucky pony anyways, if we’re going to choose at random we might as well let Rainbow Dash be the one doing it,” Senax said.

“Yeah I’m not sure I entirely agree with this but… I don’t really have a suggestion of my own either,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Onwards!” Gilbert cheered and followed Rainbow Dash along.

It really was just like any other tunnel that the five of them had gone through before. It wasn’t as carefully and smoothly carved as some, feeling more like a natural cave, and there was an oppressively hot wave of air coming from further inside. More lava no doubt. Daylight kept her light shining along the floor and walls but there were no more statues or other sculpted objects after they had left that previous chamber. This tunnel now twisted and turned and steadily went downwards into the volcano, if they didn’t have a light they would’ve accidentally walked into the wall several times by now.

Finally they came to another door, but no door that could simply be pulled open—it looked sealed shut.

“Hm...” Daylight said as her light illuminated it. There was faded writing and other artistry on the door in gold paint that by now had become chipped and dulled, there was no telling what it might have once been.

“Any way to open it?” Gilbert questioned.

“I don’t see anything,” Daylight said.

“Maybe it’s a push door,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and pushed hard against it but it didn’t budge.

Daylight scowled at her. “That could’ve activated a trap you know?”

“I know.”

“Looking at it I think it just slides open,” Gilbert said. “Right down the middle.”

“Then maybe I can try pulling it open with my magic… if I can get it to open an inch the rest of you can start to help pull the slabs apart,” Daylight said and lit up her horn with her powder blue magic again. It caused her normal light to disappear, but so close to the door and the glow from her magic was enough for them to see anyways. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Here goes.”

Daylight had to grit her teeth and put all her magical strength into prying open this door, it wasn’t exactly her strong suit when it came to magic. A powder blue aura enveloped the door and strained to pull the two halves of it apart so they could reach whatever was inside it. With a deep and heavy groan a seam appeared in the middle of the door as it split just a fraction of an inch open, Gilbert, Breakwater, Senax, and Rainbow quickly moving to try and dig into the door and pull it further. Together they all worked together and after an inch or two it was like something suddenly came loose and the rest of the door was slammed back into the tunnel walls, opening up fully for them.

An all new wave of heat and light came at them and nearly knocked them to their flanks. They had to squint their eyes as the nearly visible heat and surprisingly bright light washed over them. But when they recovered and stood up they were finally able to look and step into the next chamber—something completely different from what they had seen before.

“This… this might be what we’ve been looking for,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “I think that’s a given.”

The room was an expansive, circular chamber with a high ceiling covered in stalactites aiming down at them. However, for the most part there was no floor. It was just one big pit with a bubbling pool of lava at the bottom. Directly ahead of them was the only ground to walk on—a narrow bridge that led to a single platform, a single pillar rising from the middle of the pool of lava. Centered on that pillar of stone was a statue of some sort with something glinting in the middle of it and the party of five tentatively walked out towards it. They minded their steps in case there was some other trap or the rock bridge they were using fell apart.

Luckily it was safe and they made it to the central pillar where they were able to see just what the statue and shiny object were.

A pair of decapitated ponies rising up on their back legs and holding a scepter together, holding it up high to the sky. The scepter was made of solid gold and a brilliant ruby larger than Rainbow Dash’s hoof sat atop it.

“That’s definitely a golden treasure,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But it’s not the golden treasure we’re looking for,” Senax sighed in defeat.

“Another dead end then,” Breakwater shook his head. “Just a wild goose chase.”

“Sorry, Senax,” Daylight frowned at her friend.

“Well it’s not a complete loss,” Gilbert said as he scratched his chin and inspected the golden scepter. “Let’s look on the bright side—this is still a magnificent treasure! If we bring it back to Malkonrik with us we won’t have to worry about money at all anymore!”

Rainbow smiled. “That’s a good point, Gilbert. Here, I’ll get it.”

“Wait, it could be-” Daylight tried to say but she wasn’t quick enough to finish before Rainbow Dash easily popped the scepter free and held it up for them all to see. “-booby-trapped.”

Everyone stood around still and silent for a moment. Waiting to see if something was going to happen like the pillar collapsing into the lava or a boulder flying out from somewhere to smash them. But nothing did.

“Looks like it’s safe,” Rainbow shrugged.

“We should hurry back out of here then… I don’t like this island. I’m really sorry everyone that it wasn’t the Necklace again,” Senax said. She somberly looked down at the ground. “I-I know lately I’ve been short with you all… and moody. But I-”

Whatever Senax was about to say next was interrupted by the shaking of the chamber they were in.

No, that was incorrect.

The entire volcano shook as an earthquake rumbled up from deep beneath where they were. Dust and rocks came down from the ceiling, cracks ran through the pillar and bridge they had walked over, and the bubbling of the lava right below them increased in ferocity, violent jets even shooting up from it. There was not just one single quake, a few more minor ones came after the first, and they didn’t seem to be stopping.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “I, uh, I think we probably need to get out of here. Fast.”

Daylight gulped and nodded. “I agree.”

“Bad luck on our part,” Gilbert nervously chuckled. “Seems we’ve also figured out why everything else on the island left in a hurry.”

“And we arrived at the perfect time to find that out,” Breakwater shook his head.

A tremor of fear ran through Senax’s body as she hugged herself. Fear and guilt.

No Time For This

“I just want to say that I don’t think it’s because I removed the scepter, I think it’s just a case of really bad, really coincidental timing!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew down the volcanic temple tunnel.

“Less talking, more escaping!” Daylight shouted from right behind her.

By the time they had ran out of the chamber where they had acquired the scepter, the stalactites on the ceiling were already cracking and breaking apart and falling upon them. The walls were breaking as well while the lava rose up looking to claim everything in the chamber and spill out further as the volcano entered the beginning stages of an eruption. They needed to retrace their steps and get out of here fast. Even then it might not be enough. Even getting out of the volcano before it erupted didn’t make them safe, they still had to fly back to their ship and get far away from the island.

Rainbow Dash still had the scepter grasped in her hooves, determined to not make this trip a complete waste of time. They were making good progress at least through the curvy tunnel and soon they’d be back at the large chamber with the sculpted buildings and all the other tunnels leading from it. After that, getting out of here would be easy again. Practically a straight path.

Their easy time of escaping soon came to a screeching halt the moment they reached the building-sculpted chamber again however. Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air while the other four slid up right next to her.

“What’s the hold—oh,” Gilbert said as Rainbow Dash dropped to the floor and frowned.

“Now how about that? I came in here looking for all of you and here you come running right to me,” Godfrey grinned at them from the center of the chamber, burning plank still in talon while his cutlass rested on his hip.

“Godfrey…” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “We seriously don’t have time for this right now. Neither of us.”

“Really? You had time to come in here and get the temple’s treasure. Although I see that it isn’t a Necklace or Trident. Shame,” Godfrey shrugged. “No big deal though. I’ll still take it.” His eyes flickered to Senax. “And the merpony for that matter. In fact, Gilbert? You, the captain, and the unicorn? You can all leave. I just want the merpony and to settle things with Rainbow Dash.”

“Absolutely not,” Gilbert refused and walked to stand in front of Senax.

“This is insane, even for you, Godfrey!” Daylight yelled at him. “The volcano is erupting, and if it does while we’re inside then we’re all going to die.”

“Sure, sure,” Godfrey scoffed and stepped forward. “Is that all you have to say?”

Daylight and Breakwater looked over at Rainbow Dash, who narrowed her eyes at the approaching pirate. Gilbert himself stayed parked in front of Senax to protect her while the merpony’s teeth chattered despite the intense heat of the volcano. The unicorn and the captain shared one resigned look with each other before stepping out beside Gilbert.

“Heh. Fine by me,” Godfrey said as he tossed his burning plank to the ground and pulled out his cutlass.

“Come on, Godfrey. It’s five on one and you can barely handle me alone,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“Oh I can’t wait to prove you wrong about that,” Godfrey’s tongue lashed out across his beak as he grinned sinisterly at her.

Rainbow didn’t want him to get close enough to attack the others, so before he could take another step she shot out towards him, brandishing the recently attained scepter like a staff. “Haaaah!” She swung the golden rod at his head with enough force to shatter stone. The red ruby on top sparkled in the light of his torch flame and the light from Daylight’s horn.

Godfrey brought his cutlass up and blocked it, sparks dancing as the two metals came in contact with each other.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Since when do you fight like that?”

“Since I got a club for beating your brains in,” Rainbow grinned.

She pulled the scepter away and swung again for his face but Godfrey was able to block it once more. A return slash from him was deflected and the two proceeded to trade blows with each other—a fresh rain of sparks glittering across the stone floor with every crossing of weapons. Rainbow Dash had absolutely no weapons training whatsoever, and basically no real experience fighting like this, but sheer speed and reflexes were very helpful training wheels. It helped that Godfrey was clearly having a blast just fighting with her like this and wasn’t actually trying to kill her just yet. The scepter at least gave her a good way to fight against his sword for once instead of forcing her to simply dodge everything. Now she could actually match his attacks.

A swing of the scepter at his head was parried by his own blade and Godfrey thrusted it towards Rainbow Dash’s chest to stab her. But she retaliated with swinging the scepter down at the sword and sending both its blade and the ruby headpiece of the scepter to the floor. A deep resonating bang came from the clash and shook the both of them. Godfrey stepped back first and pulled his sword from under her scepter, bringing a new swipe at her neck. Rainbow Dash quickly lifted the shaft of the scepter and blocked the blow but Godfrey’s superior strength knocked her away anyways.

She was thrown to the ground and the scepter was torn from her grip—another advantage he had over her with his talons was it was far easier for him to keep control of his weapon. It loudly clattered and rolled into the wall across from her as Godfrey stood victoriously above her with his cutlass raised high. Before he could bring it down at her a shout from Gilbert came and the younger griffon flew towards his older brother. At the same time a powder blue beam of magic was fired at Godfrey’s chest and he had to jump away to avoid it.

The fight had been joined.

As Gilbert attacked his brother all Godfrey had to do was swing his sword at him and Gilbert jumped back to avoid the blade, his headfeathers sticking up in fright. However, while the fighting had been going on, Breakwater had run around behind Godfrey and was coming at him. While at the same time Rainbow Dash had flown over to the scepter so she could recover it. Having to look several different directions at once, Godfrey hesitated for just a moment on who to deal with first.

That allowed Rainbow Dash to grab the scepter and she got ready to fly back and fight him while Breakwater tried jumping on his back. To the large griffon’s surprise, a powder blue aura then appeared around Godfrey’s entire body, courtesy of Daylight Gleam attempting to hold him down. But all Godfrey needed to do to deal with that was flex his muscles and the magic broke—he was too strong and Daylight not strong enough in telekinesis to hold him. He turned around and elbowed Breakwater in the side mid-jump, throwing the captain across the chamber.

Gilbert took action at that moment and grabbed the wrist of Godfrey’s sword arm, trying to keep the large griffon from blocking or attacking Rainbow Dash when she came in this time. He yanked it up above both their heads, hoping his two arms could maybe perhaps overpower Godfrey’s one. When Rainbow Dash was halfway to reaching Godfrey the larger griffon showed just how delusional his little brother was being. Godfrey pulled his arm down and away from Gilbert’s grip and then smacked him across the eyes with his forearm.

Gilbert sputtered in pain and fell back just in time for Godfrey to bring his cutlass around and block another strike from Rainbow’s scepter.

Rainbow Dash knocked his blade away before trying to smash Godfrey in the face with her scepter but he back-stepped and brought the cutlass up to parry it away. Then it was his turn to push forward to her with a series of relentless slashes that kept her on the defensive. Each strike caused her hooves to shake and a scratch mark to appear on the golden scepter. He was really pummeling away at her now, trying to completely overpower her and wear her down. And he had the strength and stamina to do so. The speed and accuracy of his slashes was something else too and it was a testament to Rainbow Dash’s own reflexes that she was still able to block all of them with the scepter.

“Gehahaha! Come on, Rainbow Dash! Why don’t you try doing something?!” He taunted.

She didn’t respond, staying focused on her defense, because she knew she had others who would fill in for her anyways. That belief came true when another beam of magic came right at Godfrey’s skull. His eyes opened wide as he saw the beam but his reflexes were quick enough for him to duck under it. But now Rainbow Dash had an opening.

However—what she wasn’t expecting was for Godfrey to simply block the scepter with his forearm. It was heavy, but it was still just a blunt object and couldn’t cut him or anything, and she didn’t swing it with enough force for her to beat out his tough bones and muscles. Godfrey then slashed at her with his sword and she couldn’t evade fast enough, a shallow cut that spilled blood onto the floor of the chamber opened up at the top of her left front leg. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in pain, it wasn’t debilitating but it still hurt. Not only that but it annoyed her how even with him having to deal with her friends he was still able to get the better of her like this.

He's still so strong and fast! She thought as she retreated away from him with the scepter dangling in her hooves.

Another beam of magic aimed at his body was jumped over and Godfrey spread his wings to come tackling towards Rainbow Dash. His cutlass came at her in a powerful horizontal slash aimed at bisecting her. She put the scepter in front of her and put her hooves and all her strength behind it to brace it for the blow.

It didn’t help much.

While the scepter stopped her from being cut in half, the power of his slash still knocked the golden treasure out of her hooves and away from her again. It clattered to the ground and Godfrey took the opportunity to bring his other talon up in a fast and punch Rainbow Dash in the stomach. She coughed as the air left her lungs and fell to her hooves.

“See what happens when I’m fighting seriously?” Godfrey grinned as he swung his sword down at her head.

At the last second a blue aura surrounded Rainbow Dash and pulled her away. Godfrey’s sword smashed into the stone floor and cracked it. Gilbert then rammed into his side and knocked his brother down while Breakwater jumped on him and wrapped his hooves around Godfrey’s sword arm, trying to keep Godfrey from retaliating. Godfrey instead rolled over onto his back while snapping his wing open and hitting Gilbert away with it, then punched Breakwater in the side and threw him away. Standing up he-

“HAAAAAAH!”

-ducked under the screaming Rainbow Dash as she came in with a flying kick at his head. Reaching up right as she passed over him he grabbed her by the tail and caught her.

With a mean grin, he swung her around and around and finally let her go—sailing right at Daylight Gleam.

The unicorn’s eyes widened in shock right before Rainbow smashed into her and carried the both of them into the wall behind her. With a hard thump Daylight’s body bounced against the rock wall and she slumped over while Rainbow Dash coughed and rolled onto the ground in front of her. With the unicorn temporarily down, the chamber became much darker. Standing right next to their crumpled forms, Senax shivered, not knowing what to do.

“Well then,” Godfrey said as he walked over to her. “I think you’re coming with me now.”

Senax shook her head, making Godfrey scoff in amusement.

“You don’t exactly get the choice to say no,” his talon lurched forward and grasped her by the neck. “Say goodbye to your friends… oh, wait, guess you can’t talk right now. Geha!”

He started to drag her away, and turned his back on Rainbow Dash.

“H-Hey! I’m still here, Godfrey! Where are you going?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she rose to her hooves.

“Oh? I got bored beating on you so I figured I’d just leave,” he shrugged without even looking back at her. In his grip, Senax choked and sputtered while she tried to pull his claws off her neck.

“You’re not getting away with this!” Rainbow flapped her wings and flew at him.

He spun around as soon as she was close with his cutlass already going for her head. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and pulled back her hoof to punch him in the face—but he lifted up Senax and held her in front of him like a pony-shield. Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt in the air and Godfrey brought his sword back at her. Reacting as quickly as she ever had in her life, Rainbow Dash hit the flat of the blade with her hoof before it could reach her body and knocked it down. She then tried to punch his wrist to force him to drop the sword reflexively.

From the position of his arm and the blade, Godfrey couldn’t just bring it up and cut her, but what he could do before her punch connected was flick the sword up at her face and hit her with the flat of the blade. It stung like a whip and hurt like a hammer at the same time and Rainbow Dash found herself again falling to the ground while she clutched her face in pain.

“Done,” Godfrey smirked and once again started walking away with Senax in his grasp.

From the darkness, Gilbert leaped with a feral scream, angrier than Senax or anyone else in the chamber had ever seen him before. He landed on his brother’s back and put him in a headlock, his talons scratching at his brother’s neck and head. The only light in the chamber was now the barely smoldering embers of the torch Godfrey had brought and it created a demonic silhouette of the two struggling brothers. Godfrey dropped his sword and reached behind his back to grab Gilbert, pulling his brother off him and roughly slamming him to the floor.

“Idiot. Now it’s time to go,” Godfrey shook his head and picked his sword back up, walking to the tunnel he had come in from.

That ended when Senax bent her head down and bit him as hard as she could on his finger.

“Augh!” Godfrey screeched and dropped her. “You worthless little-!”

Senax tried to scramble away from him, her hooves slipping along the stone ground, knees scraping as she tried to get on her hooves in her frantic efforts to run away. A heavy talon smashed down on her back and held her in place. Senax screamed in terror, trying to pull herself free even as Godfrey’s sharp talons dug into her back.

“Now that, merpony? That was a terrible mistake. Now stay still,” Godfrey threatened and flipped his retrieved cutlass over in his other talon.

Rainbow Dash fought her way back to her hooves, eyes blinking open and shut as tears gathered around them from the stinging pain of being hit in the face. She rose just in time to see Godfrey lift his sword up and stab it back down at Senax. Rainbow froze.

Senax screamed.

Eruption

“AAAAAUUUGHHH!” Senax screamed in pain and terror as Godfrey stabbed through her tail-fin, impaling her and pinning her to the stone floor with his sword. It stabbed right into the rock and he let it go with a sneer, leaving Senax like a speared fish that couldn’t escape. The scream soon turned into a wheezing moan and Senax paled, going limp and her eyes glassy with shock.

“Senax!” Rainbow yelled and flew over to save her and attack Godfrey.

Godfrey contemptuously swatted her out of the air with the back of his talon. “Oh please, like this fight isn’t over.” He frowned and looked down at Senax. “This didn’t need to happen you know? But that’s the kind of thing that happens to ponies who make me angry. I was just going to leave with you too, but I feel like I have to teach you a lesson so you learn your place. Now you can give all your friends a real goodbye. Because you won’t ever be seeing them again.”

He opened his talon in front of her face to show off its sharp claws.

“Of course...” Godfrey smirked as he looked around the room at the other occupants all struggling to rise. “The question is which do I make you say goodbye to first?”

His eyes narrowed at his brother.

“Well. Guess we’re about past time on that.”

“No… you’re not… you’re not doing that...” Rainbow Dash said as she pushed herself to her hooves once more.

“Oh give it a rest already,” Godfrey rolled his eyes at her. “You lose, Rainbow Dash.”

Senax lay still on the floor, her eyes half-lidded and her mouth only half open as she breathed in shallow breaths. The symptoms of shock still wrapping through her and only a cold feeling coming up from her pierced tail. She didn’t even seem to acknowledge Rainbow Dash, Godfrey, or anyone else in the chamber anymore.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her merpony friend and grit her teeth before glaring at Godfrey. “I’m still standing aren’t I? We’re still tied one to one in my book.”

“Fine then, get over here and I’ll clean your clock,” Godfrey grinned as he raised his fists.

Rainbow Dash spread her legs and tensed her muscles to get ready to run right at him.

Before either of them could move a powerful rumbling shook the entire chamber and the floor and walls started to crack. Godfrey and Rainbow Dash both stumbled and fell over as the stone floor tilted and a fissure ran right between them. Daylight Gleam rolled out of the way of a piece of sculpted façade falling from the wall towards her, and the tunnel they had come from started to crack and crumble behind her. Gilbert was helped up by Breakwater as the two looked around in worry. The fake buildings all began to completely fall apart, shaking and disintegrating, huge cracks running up their fronts, and even more pebbles and bits of debris falling from the ceilings.

Finally, an even more powerful rumbling came from the fissure between Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. It cracked open further before bulging up and at last a geyser of lava exploded out from it. More and more blasts of lava erupted all over the chamber. Some coming from the floor and others from the wall, leaking from the buildings and already melting parts of the stone away.

“Wait, for real?” Godfrey said as he looked around at the volcanic terror happening.

“Oh crud,” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“Rainbow! Everyone! We have to get out of here now!” Daylight Gleam yelled as more lava poured into the chamber and the entire place started to collapse.

The lava oozed across the floor to Godfrey and Senax so the griffon pirate flapped his wings and ascended to safety. Seeing what was happening, Rainbow Dash sucked in a deep breath and flew at full speed to Senax. She didn’t like what she was going to have to do, and she knew it was going to hurt Senax, but there was nothing else that could be done. Rainbow grasped the hilt of Godfrey’s cutlass and yanked it out of the ground and Senax’s tail all in one swift pull. She heard a slight gasp of pain from the shocked merpony and reached down to scoop her up—carrying them both into the air right before the lava poured over where Senax had just been lying.

Godfrey narrowed his eyes as he took in the situation. The volcano was still rumbling as quakes shook through it, they and the flow of lava weren’t stopping anytime soon. It seemed this place really was erupting. It would be a thrill to escape it, and something to brag about, but it kind of annoyed him that the eruption was getting in the way of his fun.

He clicked his beak. “Unbelievable.” Glancing over at Rainbow Dash he gave her a mocking grin and a wave. “Some other time then. Maybe, heh!”

Without a second look he flew into the tunnel that led back out to the temple’s entrance they had both come in from.

“Jerk,” Rainbow Dash said and flew down over to where Daylight was. Gilbert also picked up Breakwater and brought him so the whole group could be together. Rainbow Dash briefly saw a golden shine in the corner of her eye and looked over just in time to see the golden scepter and its ruby get swallowed up by the rushing lava. She rolled her eyes. Go figure.

“This is quite the catastrophe we’ve found ourselves in,” Gilbert said.

“We’ll just have to go out the same way we came in,” Daylight said and pointed at the tunnel. “So long as you and Rainbow Dash can carry us, we just need to retrace our steps like Godfrey is!”

“Yeah, we can carry the three of you easily,” Rainbow said.

“Senax should get on my back,” Gilbert said and bent down to let the merpony climb onto him. She was still shaky and pale but she managed to wrap her hooves around his neck and stay in place. He then got ready to grab Breakwater as Rainbow did the same with Daylight.

“Okay, let’s go!” Rainbow shouted.

The moment she did so the wall over their exit tunnel cracked as the ceiling of the tunnel collapsed and tons of rock and lava fell over it, completely blocking their way and sealing the exit.

“Dang,” Rainbow frowned.

“Uhh… any ideas for what we do now?” Breakwater asked.

“Pick another tunnel at random and hope for the best?” Gilbert said.

Daylight Gleam nodded. “Actually Gilbert, that’s the smartest thing you’ve said in weeks. Rainbow Dash? If you could be exceptionally lucky again, it would be really helpful.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Follow me, Gilbert! And don’t worry, if we’re all relying on me then there’s nothing to fear!”

She looked around the now lava-filled chamber for a tunnel that was still intact while more streams of lava shot up from the floor and spilled in from the walls. Across the way, one stuck out to her. She had a good feeling about it. It was on the opposite side from the tunnel they had used to find the golden scepter and it looked like it went upwards, probably to the exterior of the volcano if she was going to guess.

“That one!” Rainbow shouted and flew with Daylight below, Gilbert following right behind with Breakwater and Senax.

The entire floor was now lava, meaning the tunnel was also partially flooded with it, but they could still travel in and up it to momentary safety. Rainbow Dash spared one last glance behind her as they did so and saw the lava continue to rise up until it blocked vision of the chamber entirely. The speed at which it was going was dangerous, this tunnel would become like another lava tube that it would soon shoot through. She had to hope they’d get out of here fast, either by finding another big chamber or by getting out of the volcano entirely.

“We can’t slow down for a second!” Rainbow shouted.

“I wasn’t planning to!” Gilbert shouted back. He had more weight to carry and already wasn’t as fast as her though, Rainbow Dash could see him straining and putting his all into it. The heat from the volcano was making things tougher as well.

She just had to trust in him. She knew Gilbert would never willingly give up in a situation like this. Right now she had to focus on being the one to get them out of here. That meant flying in front and not hitting any walls or getting lost somewhere. There just had to be another way out of this volcano temple, there had to be. The quaking of the volcano as it started to erupt was causing a lot of fuss in these tunnels as dirt and rocks constantly rained down from the ceilings and walls, it made flying even more hazardous but they couldn’t really slow down. Daylight at least was keeping her horn lit to give them all enough light to see where they were going now that the glow from the lava was well behind them. Similar to the tunnel that had led to the golden scepter, this one had a lot of twists and turns to it, but it was less “random” than that one had been. These turns were more angular and the walls of the tunnel appeared more carved and not left like a natural cave. It was more like they were going up a long ramp that kept zig-zagging upwards.

There had to be a purpose to it. Rainbow Dash was pleading in her heart for it to not be another trap, or not just end in another chamber with those fake buildings and sepulchers.

As they flew past another curve, part of the wall collapsed and lava began pouring out into the tunnel. Rainbow Dash and Gilbert had to fly up, right below the ceiling, to completely avoid it splashing onto them. It was hardly the last time that happened either. The rumbling was getting far more powerful with each passing second, larger chunks of stone were falling from the ceiling and walls and the floor of the tunnel was cracking and breaking apart everywhere.

“A-Are we actually okay?” Daylight asked from below her.

“I’m making sure of it, just keep that light on,” Rainbow said.

Behind her, Senax tightened her hooves around Gilbert’s neck. The blood loss from the stab wound had made her light-headed and woozy, despite the chaos and noise around her she was having difficulty staying awake. Each labored breath brought her closer and closer to fainting. “I’m scared, Gilbert.” She whispered into his ear.

“Nothing to be frightened of,” he responded, trying to grin back at her. “We’ll be out of here and back on our boat in a jiffy.”

Senax couldn’t manage a spoken response, so she just nodded.

Meanwhile Breakwater grimaced. “I really hope that isn’t just you being as optimistic as always… I’d like to not horribly die in a volcano like this.”

“We’ll see,” Gilbert awkwardly smiled.

While Rainbow Dash continued to zoom in front and take them up the tunnel, after one more turn she saw something unexpected coming from ahead. Something that could be either a blessing or a curse. There was a light coming from the end of the tunnel. Whether it was the glow of lava or the light from outside, she wasn’t sure yet. The heat around them was so oppressive that if it was lava she couldn’t even tell from that. It all just felt like an oven already.

“Please let me be lucky again,” Rainbow said.

“You see it too?” Daylight asked her.

“Yeah. Whatever it is, we’re about to get out of this tunnel.”

“I’ll believe in your luck the best I can then...” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash briefly looked over her shoulder at Gilbert. “We’re about to get out of this tunnel, so be prepared for anything!”

“Right!” Gilbert nodded.

In another second she and Gilbert both zoomed out of the tunnel and came into a room with much more open air, the two of them paused briefly as they looked around to see what new situation they were in. It unfortunately wasn’t exactly what they wanted. They were in another similar large chamber where the far wall—which must’ve been the exterior wall of the volcano by Rainbow’s guess based on where they’ve traveled through the temple—was made of more sculpted fake buildings. The light was most definitely not natural sunlight either, but lava oozing and pouring down from the walls and gathering on the floor. It was preparing to pour down the tunnel they had just come from, so they had at least gotten lucky to have gotten out of it just now.

“What do we do? Where do we go from here?” Gilbert asked.

Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam both looked around for any sign of an exit or at the very least another path to buy some time. But they saw nothing more than rock walls and lava pouring down.

“I-I don’t know!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Is this it?” Breakwater muttered.

“It’s moments like these I really wish I knew how to teleport...” Daylight said.

“Oh come on! You guys can’t give up on me right now, there’s gotta be a way out of this!” Rainbow Dash said as she kept looking around.

“I’m sorry… everyone,” Senax weakly said from on top of Gilbert. “This is all… all my fault...”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip at Senax’s words, still not about to give up but not knowing what to do. Come on, come on, anything!

Another massive earthquake tore through the entire volcano—an incredible rumbling rising up from its depths. They could hear the volcano in the throes of eruption and feel it all around them as the massive explosion that would signify the true eruption came near. But as that earthquake continued to shake, the far wall of the chamber became filled with deep cracks and fissures. The fake buildings began to cave in and crumble to pieces, taking more of the volcano’s wall with them. The entire group watched with shock as a small portion of the wall completely fell away and beams of sunlight from outside poured into the lava-filled chamber.

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked at the others. “See? I’m really lucky.”

“Less bragging more going please!” Daylight yelled at her.

“R-Right!” Rainbow Dash kept her grip tight on the unicorn and zoomed at full speed to the hole that had opened up on the side of the volcano.

“And away we go!” Gilbert yelled and followed right behind her.

Rock was still falling all around the hole but the two knew they couldn’t possibly hesitate or worry about that. It took a little dodging and zipping around but soon the two were able to shoot right through the narrow escape route and into the open air outside. Everyone took a deep breath as it felt like they had passed through an invisible veil, the heat suddenly not so oppressive, the claustrophobic feeling inside the volcano gone.

They were outside.

They were outside.

They still weren’t safe.

“W-We have to still get back to the Heart of Azure!” Daylight Gleam yelled.

“Yeah, I know!” Rainbow said. “I hope you’re not tired Gilbert cause-”

A deafening blast rang out across the island, so powerful that Rainbow Dash nearly reflexively reached up to cover her ears and dropped Daylight. Instead she grit her teeth as she and Gilbert turned around and all of them looked up to the peak of the erupting volcano.

The ashen gray sky was muddied with orange and red, though the very top of the volcano itself was still intact as lava flowed down from its sides. The explosion they heard was just a warning shot. A preliminary blast before the volcano blew its stack. A powerful quake came from the volcano that shook not just the fiery mountain but the jungle around it, and maybe the entire island, precipitated the true eruption. For a second it looked like the top quarter of the volcano was imploding before the exact opposite happened and the entire peak erupted in a massive blast. A shockwave that nearly shattered the eardrums of the group hovering in the volcano’s shadow spread throughout the island and the pressurized lava and fire formerly in the volcano’s heart was freed.

Uncountable tons of lava and ash were shot into the sky over the Smoking Island. And it began to rain fire and molten rock.

Burning Escape

It was only moments ago that the sky above the Smoking Island was a mere ashy gray from all the smoke wafting from the top of the volcano that gave the island its moniker. An ominous look, but not dangerous. Now it was as colorful as a raging fire and infinitely more dangerous. Fire filled the sky, fire and molten rock, burning ash, pyroclastic flows and waves of lava rolled down the volcano itself. The eruption column was already going higher and higher, smashing through the previous cloud covering the island. Its dark form would reach miles up eventually, becoming a frightening warning to every nearby island and ship. Bits of burning rock, either huge chunks of solidifying magma or pieces of the volcano’s exterior that had been blown off, were flying through the sky, shot miles in every direction. Deadly meteors that would destroy everything they rained down on. The powerful volcanic eruption was amazing to see, almost awe-inspiring despite the horror and destruction it also represented.

Rainbow Dash, Daylight Gleam, Gilbert, Senax, and Breakwater were almost frozen when it erupted. Mesmerized. Unable to tear their eyes away from the fire and lava billowing into the sky. Time had seemed to slow around them, there was no sound but a ringing in their ears. That changed when another shockwave reached them and a blast of wind knocked the five of them away to the south. Rainbow Dash tightened her grip around Daylight’s barrel and flapped her wings to recover, pulling up and steadying herself. Gilbert did much the same, an exhausted groan coming from him as he dealt with the weight of two ponies.

“W-We should probably fly to the ship now!” Daylight said.

Breakwater nodded. “Yeah, no more standi—er—hovering, around!”

Rainbow Dash gulped as she looked up and saw hundreds of burning rocks shooting like fireworks and bombs across the sky. A lot were already falling to the jungle below, or had impacted the other mountains and exploded, starting fires and carving deep scars wherever they hit. They covered so much distance that the Heart of Azure was already in danger where it was docked. And more and more would be falling down around her and Gilbert as they flew to try and escape.

“Yeah. We’ve gotta go,” Rainbow said and glanced at Gilbert.

He gave her a swift nod and the two began to fly at full speed again—leaving the erupting volcano behind even as the lava and pyroclastic flow pouring down it finally reached the ground and began spreading towards the jungle. The trees erupted into flames before the lava even actually hit them, the heat powerful enough to do that. But any forest fire was smothered quickly by the tidal wave of lava itself as it simply rolled over the jungle. The landscape was being utterly changed, Rainbow Dash had no idea what this island would look like after the eruption was over but it certainly wouldn’t have a jungle anymore. A molten and melted slag of rock, the other mountains were burning and crumbling with the volcano as well.

Despite her going full throttle towards where the Heart of Azure was hopefully still docked, she couldn’t help but look over her shoulder and watch as the eruption continued to play out. Ash and lava were still being blasted from inside the volcano and into the sky. It hadn’t let up for a moment. How big would this eruption be? How much of the sky would become covered by ash and later have it start falling down like snow? The colors of fire had completely spread to the rest of the clouds that had already covered the island and soon many more molten and flaming rocks fell through them, finally having reached the apex of their arcs before coming back down to the ground.

“Uh oh,” Rainbow Dash said as dozens of those molten missiles came falling towards her and Gilbert.

Godfrey couldn’t help but laugh as he saw the volcano explode and begin pouring its raging, burning, contents into the sky. To think they all really came here right before this happened, it was a laughably insane coincidence. His ears hurt a little bit from the initial few explosions but thanks to a quick escape from the temple he was more or less fine. The lava was starting to spread across the island as the clouds in the sky turned to fire, he kept flying south towards his ship as lava missiles began to rain down on the island with more frequency.

“Hah… I almost couldn’t hope for anything better,” he grinned as he had to fly out of the way of one such missile that explosively landed in the jungle below. A raging inferno was birthed from it—rather unnecessary in his opinion, since the entire jungle was just going to be destroyed by the lava and pyroclastic flow anyways. “Never thought I’d be outflying a volcano in my life.”

Looking to the south he could see the coastline coming up, he was heading right for where The Scourge was.

If it was even still there. Despite the fear he instilled in his crew it wouldn’t have surprised him at all if they had pulled up anchor and started to leave the moment the volcano had started to erupt. If not sooner. Things hadn’t been so fortuitous for his crew lately, so he couldn’t really blame them if they did leave. He would still find and punish them though if that was the case.

That was another fun thought.

It was also possible that some of the burning rock ejected from the volcano had reached The Scourge. Godfrey only had to look into the sky to see how many were flying for miles and miles into the distance. Some arcing into the ocean and others going even higher and further over the horizon. The Scourge was a relatively small target though so the likelihood of it actually being hit was pretty low. They just had to get out of here before the lava and everything else started pouring off the cliffs and into the ocean, or any other quakes triggered a tidal wave or something like that.

Another flaming boulder from the sky was dodged and Godfrey laughed.

“You know what, I got it now! That’s why the animals are all gone!” He kept laughing to himself as the obvious revelation finally stuck out in his head. “Where are my animal instincts then? I couldn’t even tell a volcano was about to erupt, gehahahaha!” He actually ended up wiping a tear from his eye thanks to the amusement directed at himself.

“Ahh… shame about my brother and the others though. Messy way to go,” Godfrey shook his head, a grin still playing on his beak.

He looked behind him at the erupting volcano again and raised an eyebrow. “Of course… if any group had the fortune and ability to escape from an erupting volcano… could they have? Gilbert, Rainbow Dash, did you get lucky enough to get out of there before the whole thing blew?”

While still flying forward, his sharp eyes scanned across the rest of the island behind him, looking over the now partially burning hills and jungles as he tried to spot anything colorful flying through the sky. It was certainly quite the chaotic inferno, and for once he didn’t have anything to do with all the destruction. Funny how he had chased them through the strongest and biggest of storms and now ended up here where the exact opposite kind of natural disaster was going on. They always knew how to give him a good time. He didn’t know where exactly their ship was docked though, they could be flying somewhere completely out of sight, or behind the mountains. But he still didn’t want to give up his search for them.

“If they are alive, am I going to be happy or annoyed?” Godfrey thought. “Hm… happy. Definitely happy. The fun can’t end like that, not with something else interrupting.”

His eyes kept roaming and roaming until finally he saw what he was looking for. A rainbow dot flying to the west side of the island.

Godfrey smiled wildly. “Hah! They really made it! If anyone could do it I knew you could, Rainbow Dash!” He started laughing some more, happy to see that they were okay and still flying for their lives. And completely certain that they’d make it out of this okay. “Next time… oh I’m really looking forward to next time now.”

There was still the rest of the escape from the island that she and her friends would have to pull off, much like he himself still had to. But Godfrey was confident in their chances even as he watched falling rocks and lava start to fall towards them like a meteor shower. With one last grin he stopped watching the fading rainbow and turned his eyes back south. It would be just a minute before he reached the cliffs his ship was docked under and then he could have them head out for safe waters before renewing the chase for Rainbow and the others. Already was he bristling with excitement at the thought.

However as he got closer to the cliffs the sound of billowing flames and falling objects became louder. Godfrey looked up and saw dozens of meteors coming down in his and The Scourge’s direction. If Sea Shanty and his crew hadn’t gotten the ship at least partially repaired (or had left) by now then they could be in trouble. Those meteors would be all over the ocean right off the cliffs of the Smoking Island and in just a few short moments.

“Tch,” Godfrey clicked his tongue and picked up the pace, blasting faster towards his ship.

When he reached the cliffs he saw that The Scourge indeed was still right where he left it, but the crew seemed to be panicking quite a bit. All across the deck he could see ponies scurrying about, some of them outright arguing and fighting with each other while some of them attempted to get into the longboats and lower them to the water. A few had even flat out jumped over the sides and were beginning to swim away. Seems some had wanted Sea Shanty to pull up anchor and leave.

The central mast obviously wasn’t fixed either.

A quick glance to the sky showed that the meteors from the volcano wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon as well. This was not looking good.

Godfrey came in for a quick landing, right next to Sea Shanty who had been in the middle of arguing with some of the other pirates. His heavy talons thwumped down onto the deck and he looked at his first mate and the others with a frown. “Seems like a lot has happened in the short time I’ve been gone, but there’s no time for any of that, now that I’m here we can pull up the anchor and go.”

As he said that, only a few hundred yards away a few flaming globs of lava and burning rocks crashed into the ocean and the cliffs on the island’s southern coast.

“See what I mean?” Godfrey said.

“T-That’s the problem, Captain!” Sea Shanty said with fear in his voice and on his face. “I had been trying to get the repairs to the ship done, but we found that there was more damage to the ship than we thought! A lot of the crew became unruly and when the eruption started they tried to leave before things were ready and now we don’t even have the wind with us—at best we’re just going to be drifting around the island! I-I’ve been telling everyone that we couldn’t leave in the longboats without you b-but the mutineers almost outnumber us now and-”

“I get the situation,” Godfrey cut him off. He looked around the deck of his ship, seeing panicking ponies who hadn’t even realized that he’d returned. And some who had but who were still trying to lower the longboats and get away.

“What are we going to do, Captain?” Sea Shanty asked him.

Godfrey looked up at the sky, the flames that had painted the clouds red, orange, and yellow were spreading further. More meteors would be coming down at any moment.

“Well I know what I’m going to do,” Godfrey shrugged as he spread his wings and flapped them a couple of times to rise over the deck.

“C-Captain?” Sea Shanty called up to him.

“Sea Shanty, I’ve had a really fun time being captain of The Scourge, and I hope you’ve enjoyed your time as part of my crew. But now we’ve got to part ways it seems. Good luck on your own out there!” He said as he swiftly started flying away from The Scourge.

The former First Mate continued to stare after him, his jaw hanging open, and all his legs aside from the wooden one feeling weak. The chaos and fear on the main deck increased tenfold as even the loyal pirates who had seen and heard what was going on flew into a blind panic as they tried to escape.

It suddenly felt hotter though and a bright light was coming from above. Sea Shanty blinked and looked straight up at the fiery sky. Several burning, molten, balls of rock and lava were coming down right at The Scourge. There were a lot of yells, there were a lot of pirates who covered their heads and curled into balls, there were a lot more who jumped off the sides and into the water. Sea Shanty didn’t do anything like that. He merely stood there in a daze as the deadly fireballs smashed into the deck of The Scourge and exploded with fury.

A second later, the gunpowder and explosives held belowdecks in the galleon ignited and the huge vessel was blown to pieces.

Fire covered rocks and molten lava rained down around Rainbow Dash and Gilbert as they carried their friends to the Heart of Azure. They had been dodging dozens of these hazards and it wasn’t looking like that would change anytime soon. Ahead, Rainbow Dash could see the ocean itself becoming a fiery mess as the meteors fell into it, boiling the water around them and even keeping aflame for some time. Directly below her now she caught a glimpse of the small outpost they had visited earlier, a fireball had torched the small farms and most of it was nothing more than a series of craters.

“Well we’re almost there at least...” Rainbow Dash said as she flew with Daylight down to the ocean. She looked over her shoulder at Gilbert and the others and yelled: “Not much farther to the harbor!”

“Please let my ship still be there,” Breakwater grumbled.

Rainbow Dash briefly locked eyes with Senax, or to put it more accurately she looked at Senax while the merpony’s glazed eyes stared into the distance. She would need medical attention as soon as possible but they had to get to safety first.

“It’ll be there, it’ll be there, it’ll be there...” Daylight Gleam started to repeat endlessly from underneath Rainbow.

More meteors came down around them that Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flew between as they descended closer to the jungle trees to give themselves a little more space. The fires that had already sprouted up from the jungle were much easier to avoid than the missiles coming down overhead. Rainbow Dash led the way and she could see the edge of the island coming up ahead, the small dock they left the Heart of Azure at should be visible in just a second.

Gilbert came up alongside her and the jungle gave way to the rocky harbor that they had landed on the Smoking Island at.

And the Heart of Azure, so far still unmolested and not on fire, was sitting in the water waiting for them.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash shouted and put all the extra strength she had left into her wings, shooting right to it.

“Thank Mother Ocean for that...” Breakwater wiped his brow as Gilbert also flew in.

“I think I will,” Gilbert nodded.

Together the two let go of the ponies they were carrying as soon as they were over the deck and Gilbert gingerly landed to carefully pull Senax off his back and set her down by the mast. Breakwater ran towards the helm while Daylight and Rainbow Dash sped over to the anchor. Nobody needed to say anything, they were all well aware of their tasks for getting away from this island. As soon as the anchor started to get pulled up, Breakwater turned the wheel sharply to starboard and tried to turn the ship around so they could get out of the harbor.

The anchor clattered onto the deck and Rainbow Dash flew up to the sail along with Gilbert, together the two of them untied it and let it fall open, waiting for the ship to fully turn around and be aimed west before they started flapping their wings into it to push it along. Meanwhile, Daylight Gleam climbed up to the crow’s nest and hopped inside, keeping her eyes on the sky and her horn lit up and ready for use. She wasn’t sure if she had the magical power to actually shield them from or knock away one of those meteors, but she was going to do her best to try if one was coming right for them.

“We’re on our way out!” Breakwater yelled as the Heart of Azure began to sail away from the Smoking Island.

“I don’t know if we try to dodge the rocks and lava or do we just go as far west as possible?” Gilbert said to Rainbow.

“Just go as far as we can. We’re not anymore likely to get hit if we just keep going straight or not,” Rainbow replied.

“It’ll be miles before we’re a safe distance away...” Daylight said as she continued to keep her eyes peeled.

“We just have to stay positive. Hard part’s over, we’re almost safe,” Rainbow said.

“If that was me saying that you’d say I was tempting fate,” Gilbert said.

“Well… let’s just forget about that,” Rainbow bit her lip.

The five friends stayed quiet after that for a while longer, the sounds of the volcano more than enough background noise. Lava soon poured over the edges of the island, completely smothering and erasing the jungle before depositing into the ocean. Within a few minutes the actual eruption had ended but smoke and ash continued to rise and latent fireballs that had been shot farther and higher than most now peppered the ocean. Through that all, the Heart of Azure sailed away.

On the Way Back to Port

The Heart of Azure sailed north.

To the south, the column of ash and smoke from the volcano was still readily visible at it continued to rise for miles into the sky. But the volcano itself no longer posed a threat to them. They were safe. Empty-hooved, tired, injured, but safe. The sail of the Heart of Azure was left open as they lazily and slowly made their way back north to Malkonrik. There was no other option but to get back to port and Ballast’s shop. They had nowhere else to go, no rumors to go on, and a lack of supplies to make the trip even if they did.

Rainbow Dash sat in the crow’s nest as she looked up at the sky. She hated going backwards. It was dumb to really think of it that way, she knew that, but she couldn’t help it. The way the Grand Ocean was, and the nature of the adventure she was on right now, meant she’d probably have to criss-cross all over it. But going north felt like a delay, like giving up in some way. Even though she also knew it would just be a short stop before they went back out again.

Hopefully. She didn’t want to be in one place for too long, there was still so much to do.

Dear Journal,

Unfortunately I can’t be as optimistic as my usual entries this time, though I will say we’re at least all alive and that’s what’s truly important.

Though we are not all unscarred. That is certainly the biggest reason for why I am not feeling as positive as normal. My brother is responsible for a grievous and heinous injury delivered to my good friend, Senax. Although we’ve patched her up for now with quite a few stitches, she’s developed a fever and has been in and out of consciousness for the past few days as we make our way back to Ballast’s. Senax is usually the one who takes care of our injuries and illnesses, but she can’t do that for herself with something like this.

I hope her tail heals fully. She loves to swim and she wouldn’t be able to swim to her fullest if her tail isn’t healthy. It seems especially cruel for my brother to have done something like this to a merpony. Despite my… previous desires to potentially fix the relationship with my brother, I’m not sure I can forgive him for this. Although I don’t even know if he survived the volcano. I have to assume he did, I can’t imagine my brother would be stopped so easily. Whether we’ll see him again anytime soon or not is what I really don’t know. He’s certainly still going to look for us.

Senax is sleeping down here in the hold, right next to me as I write this. A heavy sweat covers her scales and she shivers and takes long shuddering breaths. Every now and then she’ll wake up, exhausted and disoriented, before eventually falling back to sleep when she gets tired enough again. I wish there was something more I could do for her than simply watching over her. Daylight has been coming down to wipe her clean of sweat and keep her forehead cool. Senax doesn’t care for fish so I can’t even go catch something for her.

I’m sure she’ll get better soon.

Rainbow Dash is feeling rather glum as well. I believe she blames herself for Senax’s injury, though the rest of us have told her not to. She’s the only reason far worse didn’t happen to all of us.

Perhaps we’re all just feeling down now after having nothing to show for all the trouble we went through at the Smoking Island?

Breakwater and Daylight have been equally quiet. Despite our ship normally being quite a jovial one, no one can muster a smile these past few days, not even me. I’ll try my best to fix that, but I might not succeed until Senax is in better shape. I don’t know if that will happen while we’re still out to sea or if it will take us until we reach port again. At the moment we’re still a couple of days away from reaching Malkonrik.

With another failed rumor I’m not even sure what we’re going to do next from here on out either.

Well, I think I’ve written enough negative words for now. I’ll write a new entry when I have something more positive to put down on paper.

“One day away?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Breakwater.

He nodded. “That’s right. We’ll be back at the port of Malkonrik tomorrow morning.”

“Back where we started,” Rainbow sighed.

“True, you can certainly take it that way,” Breakwater said. “Before you came we had to return to port a number of times before heading out again. It’s nothing new.”

“Yeah I know… just gotta remember why I’m out here in the first place.”

“Fun and adventure? Wouldn’t be very satisfying to just fly straight south through the whole ocean?”

“And to help my friends. Believe it or not but that’s what I care the most about doing right now. It’s not just finding the treasures for Senax anymore either. I feel like stopping Godfrey would be a big help to everyone on this ocean.”

“Are you sure he didn’t die back at the Smoking Island?”

Rainbow glanced over to him with narrowed eyes. “I’m positive. And he can’t get away with what he’s done or be left to keep terrorizing the ocean. Before I leave you guys, before I go to the south pole, I’ll deal with Godfrey too.”

“I’ll admit, the ocean would certainly be a better place if you did,” Breakwater said with a mellow expression on his face as he looked ahead at the ocean. His hooves were on the wheel as Rainbow Dash stood next to him, the two of them had been either talking or silently standing with each other all morning. With every pause in the conversation, the both of them were able to take in just how quiet the ocean around them was today. The sky was clear ahead of them so that was nice, but neither of them could recall even a single seabird flying around and making noise. Nor could they recall spotting any colorful fish swimming in the waters. It seems the whole world wanted to be as dull as the atmosphere on their vessel for now.

Daylight at the moment was seated by the bow, a common place for her. And Gilbert was still down below in the hold with Senax. A common place for him as well.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and flew up to hover over Breakwater. “Well, I don’t really have anything more to talk about for the moment, gonna take a quick fly to give myself something to do. Kind of feel like nobody else here would be in the mood to play cards.”

“Probably not,” Breakwater sadly grinned.

Blowing a deep breath out of her lungs, Rainbow Dash ascended a second later until she was well above the Heart of Azure. For a moment she just hung there in the sky, taking a look in every direction and seeing the deep blue, seemingly endless, waters of the Grand Ocean. Only to the south did she see anything different and that didn’t have anything to do with the ocean. There weren’t really any clouds up here and the weather looked like it would be good for the rest of their trip—overall a good thing but it made it more boring at the same time as well. She was kind of surprised the sky wasn’t overcast to reflect their mood even more accurately.

Would the smoke from the volcano reach this far at some point? She had no idea how much of the sky it would actually cover. Maybe it depended on just how much ash was shot into the atmosphere from the eruption. It must’ve reached the Strip of Storms by now, maybe it all got funneled into there instead?

Either way for now it was a clear blue sky with the sun shining overhead. She probably shouldn’t take it for granted. Rainbow Dash huffed and placed her hooves behind her head, flipping over and lazily flying upside-down with her eyes on the sky. It was easy to keep pace with the slow ship below her, she just wanted a little relaxation. In a minute she might go back down for a nap in the crow’s nest.

While Rainbow Dash was thinking about that, Daylight Gleam was still sitting at the bow and mulling over what needed to be done next.

Unfortunately she wasn’t really coming up with anything.

They had no more leads. Even when they returned to Malkonrik what would they do besides sit around the port? Their quest was looking to be as impossible as finding the Lost Isle of the Lizard People. Did they just start chasing down every old rumor and tale that existed on the Grand Ocean in the hopes that they might chance upon the Necklace of Ponyseidon? Not to mention she was worried about their ability to survive out here after what they had just gone through.

She wasn’t strong enough, her magic was no use back there. All she had contributed was scowls and contrarianism…

“I have to be better next time,” Daylight whispered to herself. “If I was better at using my magic then maybe Senax wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

She sighed and shook her head. Four different dangerous encounters since they had left port. And if she knew her luck, they’d keep getting in dangerous situations like that. Sometimes it felt like the whole ocean was out to get them. Or maybe it was just fate or coincidence since meeting up with Rainbow Dash—things had become even more hectic since that day. Well, that crazy pegasus had saved them enough times, they’d be either dead or lost without her.

Daylight snorted. “Maybe I can shape up to be half as useful in a bad situation as she is. Not like I don’t have enough experience with fighting for my life at this point.”

The sounds of someone coming from the hold alerted Daylight and she turned around to see a struggling Senax walking onto deck with a nervous Gilbert right behind her.

“Senax!” Daylight shouted and immediately ran over. “Are you alright? You’re not still feverish are you?”

Breakwater also came running down from the helm, just letting the ship drift for now, and a very good of hearing Rainbow Dash also flew back down from the sky. Together they gathered around Senax, who was still pale but at the very least was standing under her own power. Her brow was heavy with sweat and her breaths came long and labored, but her eyes still took them all in, she was no longer in a feverish fugue. Behind her, her tail was still wrapped in bandages but thanks to the stitches that had closed her wound shut there was no blood seeping through. For a moment she had to catch her breath and the others got ready to lend their hooves if need be but Senax remained standing strong. She closed her eyes for a moment and took a few more deep breaths before opening them and staring up into the clear blue sky.

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash said, tilting her head to the side.

Senax frowned with dismay and looked down to the wooden deck. “I’m sorry.”

“What...” Breakwater rolled his jaw around. “What are you talking about? If anything we should be saying that to-”

“NO YOU SHOULDN’T!” Senax yelled, startling all of them.

The four backed up as Senax grit her teeth and tears started to fall from her eyes.

“It’s my fault… everything that happened is my fault… everything bad that’s happened on this entire adventure is my fault. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for all of it...” Senax said.

“Senax, you know we all chose to come with you on your search for home,” Daylight said to her.

“That’s not it. You don’t understand,” Senax shook her head. “I know that, I know you’re not being forced to do this, I know you’re not doing it out of obligation, so maybe you don’t want to blame me when something bad happens but that’s still the truth, isn’t it? Especially there. Especially with what happened on the Smoking Island.” She bit her lip. “I-I’m sure you all noticed-”

“That you were acting weird? Pushing us all along no matter what while being way quieter and clearly unhappier than normal?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

“Y-Yes,” Senax nodded. “I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately… and I came to a conclusion after we were forced to go through the Strip of Storms.” She took another deep breath to steady herself. “That I couldn’t put any of you in danger anymore simply for my own goals. So I wanted us to get to the treasure on the Smoking Island as quickly as possible, I-I kept pushing us even when we kept seeing bad signs because I just wanted this journey to be over so you wouldn’t have to go through anything like that again or have Godfrey chasing you. But that just… that all just ended up putting you in even more danger… and almost getting us all killed. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for being so reckless, I’m sorry for almost getting us killed for nothing, I’m sorry for being so stupid. This wound, what Godfrey did to me, I deserve it. It’s my punishment.”

“You absolutely do not!” Gilbert shouted. “Senax, regardless of what happened or why, we’re still your friends. We want to help you even if it’s dangerous because of that.”

“And because you’re my friends I don’t want to see you in danger anymore at all!” Senax shouted back at him. “That’s why… I’m ending things here. We have nothing else to go on. We have no more real leads… the search for Merlantis is over. J-Just leave the Grand Ocean and go somewhere else, somewhere safer. I’ll head back to East Glade and tell my clan what’s happened.”

“Senax...” Daylight said.

The rest stood around her, a moment of silence hanging over the boat.

“Eh, no,” Rainbow Dash suddenly stated.

Senax blinked and looked over at her. “Excuse me?”

“No. I said no,” Rainbow repeated.

“B-But Rainbow Dash-”

“You can zip it right there, Senax,” Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and grinned. “Believe me, I know what feeling like trash is like, and what it feels like to fail. Oh yeah, I know what you’re going through right now. So let me tell you straight that giving up—even for a good and noble reason like not wanting to get your friends hurt? That isn’t going to make anything better. I get that you’re in a bad spot right now and things seem impossible, but how much have you actually thought this through?”

“I… I don’t know what you mean?” Senax shook her head.

“If we stop looking for Merlantis and those treasures, does it really change anything? What if us stopping lets Godfrey or some other bad dudes find it all before us? What then? I don’t know a whole lot, but I know that would be terrible. And if you returned home, to the place you and the other merponies were exiled to, would you ever be able to accept that? Could you be happy going back there? And think about it. Your people have been there for ages now. Even if you come back and tell them you failed, how long will it take before some young merpony decides to go out looking for Merlantis again? No matter what, the journey’s going to continue. You can either help your people find it now or yeah, give up and leave it to another merpony down the road.”

Rainbow Dash briefly chuckled. “Heh, except—any other merpony who comes out here won’t have me helping them out. So I guess that might make things a little different.” She sighed and stepped forward to place a hoof on Senax’s shoulder, taking on a more serious expression. “Senax, I know this sucks. I know how nice you are, and how much it hurts you to see the rest of us in danger, but you know what? It hurts us to not being able to help you. If we left now, all of us would be miserable knowing that we failed you. I hate to say this but you’re just going to have to live with us sometimes getting injured and having to deal with dangerous stuff. That’s par for the course when it comes to an adventure like this. But we’re not giving up just cause of that, right guys?”

“That’s right!” Gilbert immediately stated.

“Heh, right,” Breakwater smiled.

“And I suppose even I have to agree to that,” Daylight nodded.

“But… but-” Senax stuttered.

Gilbert came up and put a talon on her back as well. “I think you should just accept that we’re here with you until Merlantis is found. None of us want to give up on this adventure.”

Senax quivered as tears gathered at her eyes. “You… all of you… why do you have to be so nice?” She reached up to wipe the tears away. “Thank you...”

Everyone joined in for a group hug with Senax at the center (and them making sure not to accidentally nudge her tail). After that, Breakwater was the first to detach from the group and head up back to the helm.

“Alright, gotta get us back to Malkonrik now after all. What say regardless of everything else we take a day to just relax there and have a little fun?” He asked them.

“I… I think I would like that,” Senax said.

“Ditto,” Rainbow grinned.

“I’ll consider it settled then,” Breakwater said as he took back control of the wheel. “Let’s go, one more day and we can relax.”

Glorious Godfrey

Godfrey lied on his back on top of a piece of burnt driftwood that at one point was part of his ship. Right now it was his new vessel, his raft, as he drifted aimlessly through the Grand Ocean. His talons were folded behind his head as he stared up at nothing. A blue sky and some white clouds. Nothing.

He wasn’t even angry. Honestly.

Gold was just metal, all the gemstones and jewelry were just shiny rocks, the treasures just trinkets. Fun for showing off with and using as a status symbol, and a reminder of his victories, but he didn’t really care about any of it. There were greedier creatures out here who put more value in money who would’ve had a far worse reaction to losing his treasure. And he hadn’t spared his crew a single extra thought either.

Right now he was more bored than anything. This quiet wasn’t something he was used to at all.

“What to do and where to go?” He muttered to himself. He hadn’t even attempted to drift anywhere in particular and really hadn’t given much thought to his next course of action at all.

Something would come up. Some opportunity always did. He wasn’t worried about starving or dying of thirst either, once he really wanted to he could fly and find something.

He started whistling and thought about the Trident of Ponyseidon that he was after. Now that was a real prize, that was the only treasure he truly cared about. A treasure that could actually do something. Something that could give him control of all the waters of the ocean and allow him to do anything he wanted. Oh the fun he could have, the way he could terrorize every country and island out there, it would be a blast. Some ancient underwater city didn’t interest him one bit, what could he do with that? The Trident was what mattered to him.

A smirk came to his face as he thought of Rainbow Dash and her group. They must still be out there on their search. He had seen them flying, there was no way they couldn’t escape the volcano, he’d never be satisfied if things ended like that. That pegasus in particular… it couldn’t be said that she had gotten the better of him, but it seemed likely that she and her friends were probably in a better situation than he was right now unless their ship took a direct hit too. And they seemed a bit too lucky for that.

“Heh,” Godfrey chuckled. “Well, we’ll see.”

Still though, he had to admit that despite being happy to know Rainbow Dash survived, there was a measure of annoyance that came with it too. This was what? Technically the fourth time he had fought with her, and while he came out on top most of the time he still hadn’t been able to finish things with her. She never gave up or looked at him with even the slightest amount of fear in her eyes. That part was frustrating. If she kept getting away, kept thinking she could beat him, he might actually start getting angry.

There was no way he could accept being treated without respect. Next time he’d make sure things were finished with her or at least force her to fear him. A rivalry could only be so satisfying. He was too used to being feared on this ocean to face someone who didn’t view him the same way. Rainbow Dash was a different breed, he knew that the moment he met her, but that didn’t mean she could think herself untouchable.

Bored of lying on his back, Godfrey clicked his tongue and stood up, dusting his clothes off and balancing on the gently bobbing “raft” for the moment. The piece of wood probably wouldn’t last for much longer, he’d have to make like an albatross and fly for a long while until he found land. Or came across any particularly unlucky vessels. So he yawned and took a big stretch before flapping his powerful wings and flying up into the sky.

“Can’t sit around doing nothing forever,” Godfrey said as he went several hundred feet up in a quick breath. It gave him a pretty commanding view of the wide open ocean around him, though there wasn’t much to show for the move. Whatever part of the Grand Ocean he was in now after drifting for a while, there wasn’t much around but water.

“North, south, east, west… all the same huh?” Godfrey muttered.

He spun around in a circle for a moment while pointing a claw out. Stopping, he found himself pointing east.

Godfrey shrugged. “Works for me.”

With another whistle coming from his beak he started flying through the air at a leisurely pace, still not in a big hurry, and going east. Maybe he’d end up going so far he reached East Light itself if he didn’t find anything first? At least he knew there were plenty of ships he could commandeer there. He’d had The Scourge for so long it had been a while since he actually took another ship over and used it as his own. Not since his early pirate days when he was mostly skulking around Sharktooth Island and preying on idiots who didn’t know him yet.

Oh but they all knew him now.

Or were dead.

“Heh… this might actually be fun. Starting over from nothing again? It’s a challenge, it’ll be just like the good old days when I first came to the ocean,” Godfrey chuckled to himself. “Lot of fond memories of those times…”

He was cruising through the sky for a while longer with nothing visible on the horizon or the ocean. It was easy to forget even for him how big this place was. However after a couple of hours his eagle-eyes spotted something small coming up on the water. Obviously not an island at its size, and not just a solitary rock shooting up from the waves either, no, that was clearly a boat down there. A minute later and he was close enough to make out more details about it.

A very wide grin split across his beak.

“Oh, this is going to be a lot of fun.”

Aside from their larger Junks, the Bosche Navy had a large number of smaller scout ships that were used to (obviously) scout for prime raiding locations and then report back to larger vessels and groups. They had only one mast and large sail instead of the usual two on Junks, and not as much space hidden away below the main deck. One such scout vessel was making its way through a stretch of open ocean on a mission to discover any potential small islands and settlements that may exist out here that were previously unknown. It was a quiet, often boring, job that didn’t bring much honor or glory but it still had to be done.

This scout ship in particular had Commander Yang in charge of it. Every sailboat, no matter how big or how small, in the Bosche Navy had to have an officer of at least Commander rank onboard for it to go on missions. He wasn’t happy with the position, but some recent failures had forced Bosche to be more aggressive with their scouting missions. As long as he came back with something good then maybe he’d be rewarded with a command position on a real vessel.

These scout ships didn’t even have ballistas on them. It was a joke for a veteran of so many slave runs and battles to be placed here.

“Feh,” he narrowed his eyes in annoyance as he stood on deck. Two soldiers stood behind him, only four in total on a small vessel like this.

As he did so, he noticed the three slaves kept onboard as deck hooves stiffened up. Probably assuming that if he was in a bad mood they’d be the ones he took his anger out on. And they were right, but he didn’t have any intention of doing so at the moment. Cowardly, weak creatures, he shook his head. To be in such close proximity with pathetic slaves like them was another reason for him to hate this job. They only existed to work for Bosche, he couldn’t respect them any less if he tried. That was the superiority of Bosche—all others on this ocean belonged as slaves at the bottom of the ladder to them.

He never spoke directly to them, letting his lower-ranking officers and soldiers dirty themselves instead. His rank and blood was simply to high for that.

Yang huffed and shook his head, he walked up to the ship’s bow and looked out from it, seeing nothing in the direction they were going. “I’ll brew some tea and turn in for the day, this is a complete waste of time.”

“Yeah I was thinking that for a while too, but then I found you guys. Lucky me.”

Commander Yang spun around at the unexpected voice and froze.

His two soldiers were half lying on the deck, their back legs dragging across the wood as they were held up by talons grasping their necks and their heads limply hanging down. Their eyes were frozen in shock and their tongues lolled out of their mouths. Just as quickly, the talons let them go and they fell to the deck. Now standing in-between two very dead soldiers was a very large and imposing griffon. One any Commander or officer of the Bosche Navy knew well.

“Y-You-” Yang sputtered as he tried to back away but couldn’t as he was already at the very front of the ship.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Godfrey Goldenwing said with a very happy grin on his face. “Obviously you recognize me, I love getting that reaction.” He started to scratch under his beak. “Hm, this is just a scouting ship so there should only be two more soldiers unless you’ve changed things up recently.”

Yang finally found the ability to speak and immediately shouted for help. “Soldiers! Slaves! To action! We’re under attack!”

“Oh yeah, like that’s going to help,” Godfrey rolled his eyes.

As if on cue, the two other soldiers came out of the ship with spears in hoof and the slaves had also joined into an unsteady line on the side. Meanwhile, all the other servants and officers onboard aside from the helmspony had also gotten together behind the soldiers.

Godfrey’s eyes roamed over them for just a second before he nodded. “Alright. Simple enough.”

He shot forward at the two soldiers with enough force to knock Yang over. The spears were leveled at his chest but Godfrey’s talons reached out and grabbed them right below the spearhead, yanking them to the side and out of the soldiers grips as he flew into them. The leather armor and mail they wore didn’t do much to help them from the powerful griffon barreling into them. And the unprotected Boschese right behind them fared even worse. They might as well have all been rolled over by a boulder.

Godfrey didn’t land, instead hovering just above the deck with his two new spears in each talon. He whistled as he turned around and flew over the groaning Boschese officers before stopping right above the two soldiers. They were halfway to getting back on their hooves.

That sopped when Godfrey twirled the spears around and stabbed them into the soldiers backs.

Yang gasped in horror and the slaves froze up completely.

“There we go,” Godfrey wiped his talons together and landed on the deck as it now started to run red with blood. Behind him, the officers and servants scooted away in terror and the pony at the ship’s helm trembled. Godfrey looked over his shoulder and grinned at them. “If you all want to live, just stay there, okay?” He glanced at the slaves. “That goes for you too.”

He started walking towards Commander Yang with that grin still stuck on his face.

Perhaps it was pride, perhaps it was fear driving him crazy, but Commander Yang didn’t stay quiet. “H-H-How dare you?! How dare you do such a thing! You disgusting, degenerate, pirate! Godfrey Goldenwing or not, you can not hope to get away with this! Bosche is the greatest power on this ocean! This insult you have dealt to us will not-”

“Will not go unreturned, blah, blah, blah, I’ve heard this speech a lot of times,” Godfrey snorted in bemusement. “Do you have any idea how many Boschese officers just like you I’ve killed? Actually—I’d like to know if your navy has kept a tally of all the ships I’ve plundered.”

“You fiend, I will-”

“Make an example of me and bring my feathers back to lay at the Emperor’s hooves,” Godfrey finished for him, folding his strong arms over his chest. “Yeah, I get it. I’ve heard it before.”

“Nnnnghhh!” Furiously, Commander Yang reached into his red and black jacket and pulled out a curved silver knife.

Godfrey immediately snatched it out of his hoof and turned it over, inspecting it. “Hm. Ceremonial dagger huh? I know you Boschese love your polearms so I didn’t expect to be able to pick up a sword here… but even though this isn’t exactly my type of weapon I suppose it’ll do for now.” He shrugged and put it into the belt of his overcoat on his left side.

“How dare-”

“Me. Yeah, alright,” Godfrey grinned again. “Now then Mr. Boschese Commanding Officer. I think there’s only one thing left to do here.”

Commander Yang fruitlessly struggled against the chains and shackles wrapped around him as Godfrey effortlessly held him with one arm over the side of the ship. The deep blue water directly below just seemed to be waiting for him. The Commander’s face was a mix of rage and terror, spit flying from his lips as he cursed and insulted Godfrey. Who just seemed amused by it all.

“Is that all? Cause I’ve got places to be. If those are the last words of a pathetic slaver like you then so be it,” Godfrey laughed.

“You-” Yang finally managed to say something a little more coherent. “You’re looking down on me! On Bosche! All the Kingdoms, they think they’re so much better than us just because we enslave the weaklings of the ocean?! And you’re nothing more than a pirate! A plunderer! What right do you have to insult Bosche for the slaves we capture?! Bosche is great! Bosche is grand! A pirate like you can’t look down on us for our enslavement!”

He finished, breathing heavily and his face contorted in rage.

Godfrey looked back at him like he was an idiot, with a single unamused eyebrow raised.

He let out a short chuckling “Heh” before his beak lifted up in a grin and full on laughter emerged from his throat.

“Gehahahaha! You’re getting it all wrong! I don’t look down on you because you enslave others, I look down on you because you rely on enslaving others. You’re weak. Bosche is weak. As weak as the stupid worthless little bugs that deserved to get enslaved by you in the first place. Look at you? What has Bosche done besides prey like a bunch of starving vultures on other weaklings? That’s all you’ve ever used your big fleet and all your resources for. Bullying the weak. Look at me. I bully the strong. And the weak for fun too sometimes, but hey. The fact is that I’m just better than you because I’m not scared of anything, I can do whatever I want while you weaklings that think of yourselves as the greatest ones on the ocean skulk about in the shadows. Never doing anything great or tough for real. You’ve heard of me, but do you even really know me? I’ve flown over mountain ranges, across continents, I’ve fought monsters, killed pirate kings, conquered islands, upended countries, and yeah, sometimes I’ve lost and sometimes I’ve almost been killed. But I keep coming back and trying until I win. Cause unlike you, I’m awesome. I get what I want. I take what I want! I’m Godfrey Goldenwing!”

He let Commander Yang go and the Bosche officer disappeared with a splash.

“Hah!” Godfrey clenched his talon and took a deep breath. “Boy, that was refreshing.”

He turned around and looked at the rest of the Boschese on the ship, who had quietly been watching, not wanting to draw his ire as well.

“For the foreseeable future, you are now my crew,” Godfrey said to them. He then looked over at the three slaves, still chained up but uncertain of what was going to happen to them now. Godfrey feigned thought, scratching under his beak. “And slaves? I’m happy to announce that you’re now free to… gehahahaha! Sorry, I can’t even say that with a straight face. You’re just under new management.”

He cracked his neck and started walking towards the back of the boat, where the officer’s cabins were. On the way he pointed at the dead soldiers still on deck. “Clean those up and let’s go… oh, let’s keep going east for now. I’ll come up with something later.”

He paused as he didn’t hear anything and sharply glanced at the nearest Boschese.

“Y-Yes, Captain Godfrey!” The Boschese shouted and saluted, the rest of them all got up to shout and salute as well before they frantically began cleaning things up.

“Heh. Love it,” Godfrey smiled and opened up the door leading to the posterior of the vessel. There was a red carpet on the inside that he followed along, a few doors by his sides but a larger door with a golden (painted) pair of handles at the very back. Well it was quite obvious where he would find his new quarters.

Godfrey sighed in contentment as he opened up the door and strode into the former Commander’s cabin, closing it shut behind him.

The cabin was nice but not what one could call lavish, as expected of a scout ship with only a mid-ranked officer commanding it. There was an ebony table in the middle with a bed that was too small for Godfrey behind it, and to his side was a series of shelves loaded with candles, incense, and pots of various kinds of tea. He rolled his eyes, this was definitely a Bosche ship. With nothing better to do he stepped forward and dragged a talon across the top of the desk before shrugging at the ill-fitting bed.

“Guess I’ll just get some shuteye for now.”

“It’s been a while, Godfrey.”

Godfrey spun around at lightning speed and pulled out his new dagger all in one smooth movement, bringing it right towards the sound of the unexpected voice that came from behind. His talon stopped at the last second, the blade of the dagger held at the neck of the one who spoke.

“You...” Godfrey said in surprise.

“Is that any way to say hello after so long?” Harlequin Grey said to Godfrey, totally unconcerned with the silver blade held at his neck.

“What are you doing here?” Godfrey frowned and put down his dagger. “I haven’t seen you since before I left Griffonstone.”

“Call it checking up on you. I also would like to extend the same offer to you again that I did in the past and-”

“Pass,” Godfrey held up a talon to stop him. “I still don’t get what you really are or what your deal is but I didn’t want your offer back then and I don’t want it now. Don’t need it.”

Harlequin Grey raised an eyebrow at him. “Oh really? Even after being bested by a particular pegasus so recently?”

Godfrey’s eyes narrowed. “What does she have to do with you? And she didn’t best me.”

“I suppose I might as well be honest with you—I recall how disagreeable you are,” Harlequin Grey sighed. “That pegasus, Rainbow Dash? She’s the real reason I’m here. I’d like you to kill her for me.”

“Gehahahahaha! Seriously?” Godfrey loudly guffawed. “That’s it? Guess she really did something to annoy you too out there. But asking me to kill her? You didn’t need to bother—I was planning on that the next time I come across her anyways.”

“You won’t be able to.”

Godfrey paused, his eyes taking on a darker tint. “Excuse me?”

“You won’t be able to. Rainbow Dash will continue to get the better of you the way you are now.”

“Oh...” Godfrey leaned in towards Harlequin Grey and brought the dagger back up to his chin. “Now those are some fighting words if I ever heard em.”

“She’s already survived multiple encounters with you and will continue to do so. She’s special. Surely you’ve realized that yourself?” Harlequin Grey continued to ignore the threat from Godfrey.

“So what? I’m special. I’ll kill that pegasus just like everyone else who’s crossed me out on this ocean.” Godfrey growled.

“Are you really going to take that chance? Losing to that pegasus for good and having your dreaded name tarnished? Not being able to terrorize the ocean and do whatever you want? Sounds like quite the chance to take,” Harlequin Grey shrugged. “Unless of course that is, you take my offer and I give you some of my power first-”

“No,” Godfrey flung the dagger down to the floor, where it embedded itself in the wood. He raised a single claw and poked it roughly into Harlequin Grey’s chest. “I told you no back when I first met you, and I’m telling you no now. I don’t need you.”

For the first time, Harlequin Grey’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. “You owe me, Godfrey.”

Godfrey grinned and shook his head. “I don’t owe you anything. Sure, you told me about all the fun I could have if I flew east and made it to the Grand Ocean, but I’m still the one who made the journey on my own. I’m the one who went from having nothing to being the most feared pirate to ever live. And I did it all on my own—not using your power or relying on anything but my own wings. And I’ll never rely on any power but my own, cause then what’s the point? What sort of victory is that? It isn’t awesome. It isn’t me.”

Harlequin Grey clicked his tongue. “You’re almost as much of a bother as she is.”

“And after meeting her I think I’ll take that as a compliment, geha!” Godfrey laughed.

“So annoying… I regret pointing you in this direction,” Harlequin Grey shook his head. He turned around and opened up the cabin door. “But don’t come crying to me when you end up losing to her. Goodbye, Godfrey.”

He stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Godfrey frowned and stepped over to open the door back up—but saw nothing.

Another grin came to his beak. “Heh, get lost, loser.” The grin though started to turn down into a frown as the words of Harlequin Grey stayed stuck in his head. His talon clenched around the door handle. “Rainbow Dash… you haven’t gotten the best of me. You never will. I’ll beat you.”

Author's Note

There will be a break of about a week for the holidays. Upon return, chapters will resume coming out every day.

No Map to Follow

“Forty-four… forty-five… forty-six...” Rainbow Dash counted as she lied down on her back and pressed up a heavy crate over and over with her four hooves.

“Er, Rainbow Dash? What are you doing down here?” Daylight Gleam asked her.

“Forty-seven… forty-eight… forty-nine...” Sweat coalesced on her brow, her hooves and legs were aching painfully as they lowered—but still she managed to push the crate up one last time. “Fifty!”

Sighing in relief, Rainbow Dash rolled over and let the crate fall back to the floor of the hold. She took a few deep breaths, panting heavily while her lungs ached almost as much as her legs. She was an endurance and high-speed flier whose wings were her strongest body part, strength workouts like this took more out of her than she liked to admit. The muscles in her other limbs were certainly well taken care of but it’s not like she’d challenge Applejack to an apple-bucking contest anytime soon either.

She stayed lying down for a little bit longer to compose herself before standing up and looking over at Daylight. “I need to be better.”

“And lifting crates will make you better?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Stronger at least. I can’t let things go the same way with Godfrey again. I’ve gotta be faster, stronger, better, to beat him. So that’s what I’m going to be. I’ve coasted through every other place I’ve been to, now I’m really going to work hard to make sure I can beat him the next time we meet. I can’t just rely on speed, craftiness, and willpower. Not against him.”

“With any luck we won’t-”

“We will,” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the unicorn. “I don’t mean to be rude or pessimistic. But we will.”

Daylight chewed her lip and cast her eyes to the side. “Yeah… honestly I know that too.”

“And besides-,” Rainbow shrugged. “There’s no reason not to get in even better shape.”

“Heh, that’s true.”

“What I really need is a sparring partner to get better at fighting with,” Rainbow Dash said and shot another questioning glance at the unicorn.

“You’re looking at the wrong pony for that,” Daylight shook her head. “And I don’t think anyone else onboard will be able to help you there either.”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah I know...”

“If you’re done exercising now do you want to come back up? We’re less than an hour away from Malkonrik’s port now, I wanted to come down and tell you that.”

“We not eating lunch until we get there?”

“Don’t think so. Breakwater wants us to just get docked back at Ballast’s and get all that in order before we take a lunch break.”

“Fair enough. Alright, I’m done down here for now anyways, could use a little fresh air.”

The two walked back out on deck and Rainbow Dash took her first look at the sky in hours. It was a bright and sunny day, with a warm breeze in the air even. Ironic really, a perfect day for travel and all they were doing was going back to port and would have the ship locked up for the rest of the day. Go figure after the storms and other trouble they had sailed through. Still, she wasn’t exactly going to complain about getting to enjoy a nice day like this. She stretched and felt all the soreness in her muscles, wincing and rubbing her legs right after.

Gilbert was by the bow of the ship while a quick glance behind Rainbow Dash showed her that Senax and Breakwater were at the helm. Senax’s tail was still bandaged and would be until they got an actual doctor at Malkonrik to look at it but otherwise she seemed back to being okay. Aside from being miffed at none of them letting her go for a swim.

Since she had given the rest of her body a workout just now, she decided to take the weight off her legs and flapped her wings, casually hovering above deck. Not going off for any big flight or doing anything crazy, just getting some simultaneous rest and exercise in at once. Felt good to be a pegasus. She didn’t even go up higher than the mast or crow’s nest, just doing the barest amount that could be called flight. A yawn came up and out of her mouth—maybe she was still more tired than she thought. How much sleep had she actually gotten last night? She remembered a little bit of trouble and tossing and turning before getting to bed. There had been a lot on her mind.

Looking north she saw that she could just barely make out the coastline of Malkonrik now. In just a few minutes the docks and ships should be visible too. She closed her eyes as she hovered in place, just getting a bit more rest…

And a couple of minutes later-

“I say! I say, everyone!” Gilbert suddenly said from below.

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked down to see her griffon friend pointing ahead.

“What is it, Gilbert?” Daylight asked as she walked up to him. Back at the helm, Breakwater and Senax were curiously listening in as well.

“I’ve been watching and waiting for the port to come up and now that it has… something looks a little off, don’t you think?” Gilbert said.

Rainbow frowned and looked up to check out the port as well to see if she could see what had gotten Gilbert’s attention. They were now close enough where she could actually see the buildings, the wooden docks, and the ships—wait. Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes, immediately noticing what Gilbert meant by things looking off.

There were barely any ships docked. In fact, the docks were practically empty. She could see Ballast’s shop dead ahead and that looked normal, but there were no huge merchant vessels in the same area. Looking to the east and west it was more of the same. The port was almost barren, with just a few ships actually docked there at all and not a single one of them being one of the large company-owned merchant ships full of cargo. She peered even harder—seeing ponies still walking around the streets and piers—so it’s not like the port was totally abandoned or anything.

But how come there were so few ships?

By now, Breakwater, Senax, and Daylight were able to see well enough too and Rainbow Dash flew down to the helm.

“Uh, is this normal? Isn’t this supposed to be a huge port that always has a lot of traffic going in and out?” Rainbow asked Breakwater.

“This definitely is not normal,” Breakwater frowned as he kept his eyes on the port. “I’ve never seen so few ships docked at Malkonrik’s port, this doesn’t make any sense. But… the town looks fine. There’s no damage anywhere I see. What’s going on?”

“There are still ponies walking on the street like normal too,” Rainbow said.

Breakwater scratched his head. “Well at least it doesn’t seem like we’re in danger or anything...”

“What are we doing then? Just going to dock like normal?” Senax asked.

“I don’t see why not,” Breakwater shrugged. He then shouted to Gilbert- “Hey, Gilbert! You mind flying off to Ballast’s place to tell him we’re coming in? We need that door opened.”

“Roger!” Gilbert saluted and quickly flew off the ship towards the large building ahead of them.

Rainbow Dash watched him go with a slight frown on her face. Her gut wasn’t telling her that something bad was going to happen, but the strange situation at port still had her a little worried. Daylight too stayed right by the bow and continued to look around, trying to spot anything else that seemed suspicious or out of place. As they continued to sail into the waters of the harbor though they didn’t encounter any problems. It seemed the place really was just mostly empty for some so far unknown reason.

When they were closer, the great metal doors of Ballast’s shop opened up for them. So at least he was there and Gilbert hadn’t had a problem. Breakwater shrugged to Senax and together they led the Heart of Azure on the path to safely dock inside there. In a minute they’d be back to right where Rainbow Dash first came on to the ship. As they got close enough where she could now pick out the individual ponies also walking along the streets and piers up there, Rainbow Dash noticed something else unusual.

There weren’t just sailors, tourists, and dockworkers up there like she had seen last time.

“There are Malkonrik soldiers at the port,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What? Really?” Breakwater asked and tried to search them out as well.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “I see them patrolling the streets. I only met them… twice? When coming through Malkonrik but I recognize the armor.”

“Something must have happened. The Kingdoms never send their soldiers down to the coast. They always stay up in the interiors warring and messing around with each other,” Breakwater said.

“We’ll figure out what’s going on soon I guess,” Rainbow shrugged.

The Heart of Azure in a minute was ready to enter Ballast’s shop and they finally passed the threshold. Rainbow Dash took a brief look around again, seeing that the other big thing hanging above the water, the strange tubular looking ship, seemed to have been built further since the last time she had seen it. It wasn’t just a metal skeleton anymore. The rest of the big repair/construction shop seemed to mostly be the same. Except for the fact that now as they fully nestled into the pool right before the metal dock, she heard a lot of shouting coming from further back.

“What the?” Breakwater said, hearing it too.

Rainbow Dash hopped down from the helm and started walking towards the bow to see what was up. Daylight already being there, the unicorn let out a loud groan of frustration and looked back at Breakwater and Senax.

“Hey, we’ve got a little annoyance to take care of again. Old Diver is back,” Daylight said to them.

Both Breakwater and Senax groaned as well.

“Is that who’s shouting?” Rainbow asked. “That name sounds familiar...”

“That’s part of it at least,” Daylight said and pointed straight to the front of the shop.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw four ponies and a griffon standing together. Well, more like three ponies facing off against the last pony and griffon. Ballast and Gilbert on one side while an old pony and his butlers that Rainbow Dash now recognized harassed them. Although it seemed only Old Diver and Ballast were the ones shouting while both Gilbert and the butlers looked incredibly uncomfortable. Despite the Heart of Azure needing to be tied up to the cleats at the dock, and then have the doors closed, nobody was remotely paying attention to their arrival.

“Uhh… should we do something about this?” Rainbow looked over her shoulder at Breakwater at Senax.

“Yeah, we need to tie up the ship at least,” Breakwater nodded.

“I really don’t want Old Diver to see me...” Senax frowned.

“You can stay here at the wheel to keep us steady, we’ll take care of the rest while they argue,” Breakwater said. “Rainbow Dash? Daylight? Can you help me out?”

“Easy enough,” Rainbow Dash said and flew down to the metal dock. Both Daylight and Breakwater threw the anchor over the side and then hopped onto the dock right after, together the three of them went for the ropes needed to tie the ship safely in place and then once that was done they closed up the doors to close them off from the rest of the harbor. Once those metal slabs were shut once more the shouting got even louder as it echoed throughout the entire huge building.

The two yelling ponies hadn’t let up at all.

Breakwater sighed. “Okay, now at the very least let’s calm Ballast down.”

“Old Diver is going to be angry when he sees us...” Daylight said.

“He probably got angry enough as soon as he saw Gilbert,” Breakwater said.

“You two mind filling me in on your history with this guy? I met him here briefly back before I ran into you, he seemed like a nut,” Rainbow said.

“Oh you’re about to find out,” Daylight said.

She was right, as soon as the three of them approached the loud argument, both Ballast and Old Diver noticed them and turned to face them. On Ballast’s face, there was a noticeable amount of relief and happiness and he stopped shouting for the moment. On Old Diver’s face, well the wrinkles scrunched up even more as he glared at the three of them and his hoof shook as he angrily pointed at them.

“Well, well, well, here comes the rest of them! Is that thieving, lying, fake here with you too?!” Old Diver shouted.

“Don’t say that about our friend, Old Diver. We’ve had enough of you,” Breakwater glared at him.

Old Diver frowned and looked behind him, squinting his eyes at the ship and seeing Senax trying to hide at the helm. “Aha! There she is! There’s the lying “merpony”! There’s the one trying to steal the greatest treasure and discovery of the Grand Ocean from me and my family!”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him, pure confusion on her face. “What are you even talking about?”

Old Diver’s head turned to face her but it didn’t seem like he recognized her at all. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he spoke to her. “That thing is a deceiver! There aren’t any merponies left, she has to be a fake! I knew it when I first started hearing rumors about some new group looking for Merlantis—and then when I met you I was sure! You just want to steal the credit away from me and my family, you’re all a bunch of liars! Acting like just because you’re a merpony you have the right to the greatest discovery on the Grand Ocean… never. Never will I give up what I deserve! What’s mine and my grandfather’s and my entire family’s by right! We found it first, all I need to do is get back there!” His head swiveled towards Ballast again. “That’s why you should be helping me, not these liars. I had heard that you had been helping them out, but they’re just scamming you! Help me get back to Merlantis! Help me find it, not them. I know what you’re working on—let me have it so I can reach Merlantis just like my grandfather!”

“Absolutely not,” Ballast glared at him. “You’re nothing but a crazy old badger whose made himself a nuisance across the Hundred Kingdoms. Begging for money and insulting everyone you come across for not listening to you, you don’t even have proof that your grandfather actually found Merlantis all those years ago.”

“How dare you-?!” Old Diver snarled and attempted to jump at Ballast before he was held back by his butlers.

“Please, sir, calm down!”

“We can’t let you get violent, let’s just go!”

“Bah!” Old Diver threw his butlers off him but stayed back. “Fine, fine then! You’re all a bunch of liars and cheats, I’ll be the one to find Merlantis once more, not any of you! The credit, the glory, it’s all going to be mine!”

He turned around and stalked out the front door of Ballast’s shop with his butlers, slamming the door shut behind him.

Only after he was gone did Senax jump onto the dock and join them as well.

“I really don’t like talking with him...” the merpony said.

“Sorry about all that… he showed up just a few minutes before Gilbert arrived and, well, you know the rest,” Ballast said. The shipwright sat down and shook his head, he looked far more tired than just someone who had been in a shouting match should have been.

Gilbert scratched his beak. “You know, just saying, but what if Old Diver actually does know where Merlantis is located and he just doesn’t have the capability to reach it?”

“He doesn’t,” Rainbow snorted. “Believe me, when I first met him that became real obvious, real quickly. If he did then someone else would’ve definitely found it out from him by now too. He’s full of hot air.”

“Definitely,” Senax nodded.

“I shouldn’t have let him in at all but… my mind has been on other things recently...” Ballast glumly looked down at the floor. Something was clearly up with him.

Breakwater seemed to notice as well. “Something wrong, Ballast?”

“Yeah, does it have anything to do with why the port’s so… empty? And why there are soldiers around?” Rainbow asked.

“Unfortunately yes,” Ballast said. “While you’ve been gone, some important stuff has happened here and… well, I’ve got some bad news to share.”

Fetch Quest

“Well since you already saw the soldiers I’ll just tell it to you straight. They’re here because the neighboring Kingdom of Ullsorth has recently gone through a revolution. The old government is gone and they’re now calling themselves “The Democratic Ponies Republic of Ullsorth”. As if that doesn’t ring enough warning bells,” Ballast told them.

“Even then-” he continued. “That normally wouldn’t bring any Malkonrik soldiers down here, but there’s been a lot of trouble thanks to Ullsorth at this port and the port of Tyne to the east of Ullsorth. You see, Ullsorth’s revolution wasn’t just some home-grown movement. A lot of pirates and criminals from outside joined in and they’ve made a few raids up and down the coastline. You could essentially say now that Ullsorth is ran by pirates, that’s how bad the situation is.”

“And that’s why ships are avoiding the ports nearest to Ullsorth,” Daylight Gleam concluded.

“More or less,” Ballast nodded.

“There must’ve been enough of a problem and enough complaints that even the fat heads up north knew they had to do something,” Breakwater said.

“Tyne and Malkonrik have been in communications lately on what to do about Ullsorth, but so far that hasn’t really gone anywhere,” Ballast said.

“No surprise there,” Breakwater snorted.

Ballast then took a deep breath, an uncomfortable look passing over his face. “And… that’s not even really the bad news I mentioned.”

“What else happened?” Breakwater asked.

“Well… some of that ‘trouble’ from Ullsorth made its way to my business. I was robbed a little less than a week ago. Most of my spare cash and, well, all of your money that I was keeping here was taken. And they took some special blueprints for my apparently not so secret project anymore that I need before working on it more...” Ballast shook his head. “I’m really, really, sorry about all this, old friend.”

Breakwater sighed and rubbed the bridge of his muzzle. “So all my money was stolen?”

“Yeah...”

“So we’re broke?”

“Yep.”

“And those blueprints are for the project you’ve been working on for years that will revolutionize ocean travel?”

“Uh-huh.”

Breakwater exhaled and looked ahead, staring into the distance. “I need a drink.”

“What do we do? We need that money for food and supplies—not to mention a new permanent sail,” Senax said.

“What happened to the sail?” Ballast asked.

“Cannonball,” Rainbow said.

“Oh. Godfrey again?”

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded.

“Sounds like you guys have probably been through more than me...” Ballast grimaced.

“We can talk later about our own misadventures, right now we need to come up with an idea of what to do next.” Daylight said with a serious frown on her face. “Ballast? Do you know who the ponies were that robbed you? Were they just going back to Ullsorth?”

“That’s about the only good news I do have,” Ballast nodded. “They were actually quite upfront with who they were and what they were doing, probably looking to make a name for themselves among the ponies of the Hundred Kingdoms. The leader called himself Admiral Redbeard, a former pirate, no doubt about it.”

“Probably a reject from when Godfrey killed and disbanded most other crews from Sharktooth Island...” Breakwater muttered.

“That’s what I figured too,” Ballast agreed. “Now I think he and the others are trying to get money, look tough, and tell others not to mess with their new home of Ullsorth.”

“Alright… so Admiral Redbeard, who must’ve gone back to Ullsorth with everything he stole,” Daylight placed a hoof under her chin as she thought. “The authorities here might have some information on him too and where exactly he was going in Ullsorth. And if not I’m sure there has to be some trail or someone else who knows how to find Admiral Redbeard and get back what he stole.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Now that’s what I want to hear. So we’re doing that for sure? Finding this crook and getting our money and stuff back?”

“I hate to force this kind of thing on you when I know what you’re doing out on the ocean, but the plans stolen from me are my life’s work. And of course we’ll be in a bad money situation if you can’t get the coins back...” Ballast said.

“Yeah, regardless of anything else we need that money before we get back out there,” Breakwater said. He then smiled at his friend. “And don’t worry—I’d never let someone like that steal your treasure and get away with it. We’ll get those plans back too.”

Ballast sighed and hung his head low. “Thank you… I just really wish things were a little happier here for your return.”

“Well it’s not your fault. And really why would anything else be different after what the rest of our journey has been like so far?” Breakwater snorted and shook his head.

“So you really all did have not such a good time?” Ballast asked.

“Worse,” Daylight muttered.

Gilbert coughed to interrupt. “Ahem, may I suggest that before we leave to go search for Admiral Redbeard we have lunch? After all we haven’t eaten yet, and while I understand the hurry we’re in we’re already almost a week late. I don’t think breaking for lunch is too bad of an idea.”

“Still got food onboard that we can eat before it spoils too so we won’t need to go out and buy anything just yet,” Breakwater said.

“And we can all catch up finally. I think a little lunch to take our minds off… current events… could be nice,” Gilbert smiled.

“I’m all for that,” Rainbow nodded.

“Me too,” Senax smiled.

Daylight sighed and shrugged. “I suppose that’s a fine idea.”

Gilbert put a talon on her back. “No need to be hasty, we’ll get out there soon, just not on an empty stomach.”

“Yeah, even if I have to fly across a whole country and find that jerk myself,” Rainbow Dash confidently stated.

Daylight smirked and snorted. “Somehow I don’t doubt that you could.”

In the end, eating lunch definitely was the smart move since they had no money to buy food and using up the last of what they had on the Heart of Azure before it spoiled or went moldy was a good way of avoiding scrounging for coins at the harbor. Together the six of them ate at Ballast’s table once more, just like that day Rainbow Dash first came here. Though the mood this time was far more somber. It got even worse after telling Ballast about what they had been up to, since it just reminded them all of how miserable of a journey it had been. The one bright spot was rescuing those slaves from Bosche but even that wasn’t enough to raise their spirits after everything else they had been through.

“Well… some good news is that I still have enough supplies and tools here that I can fix most of the damage and wear to the Heart of Azure. It’s just a new sail that we’ll really have to pay for,” Ballast said. “But everything else I’ll get to while you’re off chasing Redbeard.”

Gilbert tore a strip of salted and dried meat with his beak. “And we thank you for that. We could be gone for a decent amount of time searching for him...”

“Naw,” Rainbow Dash dismissively waved a hoof at him. “Some idiot like that? We’ll find him easy. I mean seriously, “Admiral Redbeard”? Please. This is some stooge who’s gotten way too full of himself, I guarantee it. Probably thinks he’s some big-shot now, or untouchable just because of what’s going on in Ullsorth. I’ve met types like him. We’ll find him, we’ll clobber him, we’ll get our stuff back.”

“I agree that going off what you told us about him that it’s very likely he’ll be easy to find. In fact he’’s probably not even trying to hide at all,” Daylight said.

“Ullsorth is still just as big as Malkonrik though, he could be far north into it,” Breakwater said.

“Then I fly far north on my own and tear the whole kingdom apart,” Rainbow shrugged. “Er, sorry, Democratic Republic. Whatever.”

“I don’t think the name really matters. By the sound of it it sounds like the place is pretty anarchical,” Gilbert said.

“Well, that’s not a word, but yes it does seem like Ullsorth is probably in a state of anarchy right now,” Daylight said.

“There could be a lot of criminals and other dangerous ponies there...” Senax said.

“Pretty much a given but that’s nothing to be afraid of. You’ve got me, remember?” Rainbow said.

“It can’t possibly be worse than dealing with Bosche or my brother,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Anyways-” Rainbow said before biting out a big chunk of nearly stale bread and swallowing it down. “Let’s finish eating so we can get out there already. I want to kick some butt but I also really don’t want to be hungry when doing it. We might not be able to find any place to eat in Ullsorth either.”

The group relaxed while they could, finishing up their meal and trying to keep the conversation a little more casual while they did. It could be one day, it could be one week, before they were able to eat all together like this again or get this sort of rest. While Rainbow Dash was completely confident in victory, she knew things could still be fast and chaotic once they left Malkonrik and entered Ullsorth. Like Gilbert and Daylight had said, things sounded pretty messed up in that country.

A gulp of water down her throat and Rainbow Dash completely finished her lunch. She placed the wooden cup back down on the table and wiped her lips clean. “Ahh… so we good?”

“I think so,” Breakwater nodded.

Daylight looked over at him. “You know you could stay here with the ship. It might even be better.”

“It’s my money out there we need to get back, and if we’re taking on a new pirate government with who knows how many thugs at their disposal we should probably all go together,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah, we’ve done everything else together so far, why mess with success?” Rainbow said.

“Success?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “You know what I mean.”

“Well I also think the five of us should stick together for this,” Senax put in.

Daylight shrugged. “Alright, was just a suggestion in the first place but I’m clearly out-voted.”

“We should get going now then so we can get to the border as quickly as possible. If there are soldiers patrolling this part of Malkonrik’s port I imagine there are going to be quite a few at the actual border between the Kingdoms. They might need persuading before they let us go into Ullsorth,” Breakwater said.

“I mean if they don’t we could literally just ignore them and go around anyways couldn’t we?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, but I’d prefer not causing any unnecessary trouble,” Breakwater answered. “No reason to get on Malkonrik’s bad side.”

“Soldiers might have some info on this so-called Admiral too, they might even know where he is in Ullsorth,” Gilbert said.

“If they’re keeping track of all the thievery then maybe,” Daylight said.

“Well good luck to all of you, I hope for the best… we’re all in a pretty bad spot otherwise,” Ballast said. “I’ll hold down the fort here, and keep the doors locked at all times now. Even if you are just gone for a day I promise I’ll be working nonstop on the Heart of Azure to get it in tip-top shape for you. Again I really hate that you have to do this because I couldn’t keep our stuff safe...”

“I’ve been robbed out at sea before too, it happens,” Breakwater patted him on the back.

Rainbow Dash grinned and took a big stretch before flapping her wings and rising over the table and everybody else. “Then no more sulking, it’s time to do this!”

Of course Rainbow Dash wanted to fly out and zoom at full speed to the border of Malkonrik and Ullsorth but she quickly had to temper her expectations when she remembered that she’d have to stay at the pace of the rest of the party. So despite her excitement she was lazily flying along with the others as they walked east down the street. Apparently they’d still get there before sundown but Breakwater said they shouldn’t tire themselves out by just running right for the border. They had already gone further east down Malkonrik’s exceedingly long port than she had the first time she was here. There were far less buildings and docks built out into the water now, but a few still popped up occasionally along with some houses, small farms, and warehouses she could see to the north.

And there were squads of soldiers on the street of course as well. They seemed to have been given marching orders, not really doing anything other than being there in the first place. Not a single group had stopped and asked the five of them what they were doing or where they were going. It did remind her of the other soldiers she had met—they and the northern parts of Malkonrik were in their own little world.

“So like—what’s the border look like? I mean I heard that the whole coastline of the continent is basically like one big port. Is there really that much of a difference?” Rainbow asked Breakwater.

“Ehh, not really once you actually cross over,” he shrugged. “Last time I was at Ullsorth’s port it really was pretty much just like Malkonrik’s. A lot of docks and a lot of ships. You wouldn’t even notice you walked into a new Kingdom if it wasn’t for the border wall itself.”

“Border wall?”

“You’ll see.”

And about an hour later, she did.

It became visible at the end of the road, just when Rainbow Dash had gotten really tired of the slow pace they were going at. But at least it was obvious now that they had reached the border of Malkonrik and Ullsorth. The first thing she had seen, rising up in the distance, was what she had thought was a lighthouse at first, built much like the one she had visited when she reached the ocean on a cliff that jutted into the water. But instead of a lighthouse it was a great drum tower rising almost a hundred and fifty feet into the sky. And the more she looked at what it was situated on she realized it wasn’t a natural rock formation or cliff but a huge cement pier that went spearing out a hundred feet into the water with a wall of heavy granite stone a good fifty feet high built on top of it. Thanks to that it completely blocked the view beyond it and you couldn’t see anything in the waters of Ullsorth as long as you were coming at it from the Malkonrik street like they were.

That was only one part of the border wall in the first place too. Just the part that went over the water. Directly in front of them was a great wood and steel door built on wheels that looked like it could recede north beside the rest of the wall to allow passage from one Kingdom to the other. But naturally it was closed for the moment. And of course the wall itself, fifty feet high on land as well, went far to the north. Rainbow Dash hovered up and looked a bit to see if she could see how long the border wall was but she couldn’t exactly see where it ended. It simply went far from the coastline and into the forests further north, in the direction of a small mountain range that also looked to lie right on the border of Malkonrik and Ullsorth.

“Well I guess I should’ve expected more than just a picket fence,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“There are soldiers there too,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash looked as well and saw that yes, there was a camp of soldiers right by the side of the road in front of the door. It looked like they had set up some temporary tents next to the last few buildings on Malkonrik’s side of the border. There were several dozen at the camp, all in glistening metal armor. And more than just the tents to the north, a small “blockade” of wooden hurdles and frames all roped together sat on the road to stop carts or anyone from casually walking past it.

Breakwater exhaled as they approached the camp. “Well… let’s see if they’ll let us through without trouble.”

Ruffians to Deal With

The party of five strode up to the blockade and the small group of soldiers who seemed to be working on sentry duty in front of it. The soldiers gave them no real notice or acknowledgment until they were within hoof distance and one walked away from the blockade to stand directly in front of Rainbow Dash’s group. With a neutral expression on his face he raised a hoof to stop them.

“Halt, state your business here, citizens. As you can see there is a blockade in place for the border due to recent events,” the soldier said.

“Well uh...” Breakwater rubbed the back of his head, not meeting the eyes of the soldier. “We kind of—we want to-”

“Can you guys just open the door and let us walk into Ullsorth?” Rainbow asked.

A few of the other soldiers briefly glanced over and blinked at them before returning to ignoring them. The one that was already talking to them seemed nonplussed however. He shook his head at Rainbow Dash.

“I’m sorry citizen, but this is for your own good. It’s our duty as soldiers of Malkonrik to keep you safe from the current chaos occurring in Ullsorth.”

“We’re not citizens though,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah, you don’t have to protect us,” Rainbow added.

“Oh. Huh,” the soldier blinked and tilted his head as he thought about that. “Well that’s something to take into consideration I suppose. Hmm… let me go talk to the sergeant and I’ll get right back to you.”

He walked away towards the tents and Daylight Gleam shot a glance to Rainbow Dash.

“Is that going to work? Just like that?”

Rainbow shrugged. “We’ll see in a minute.”

They stood around for a moment, not causing a fuss, though regardless of the answer brought back to them they were going to Ullsorth one way or another. It didn’t take long before the soldier came walking back out of the tent, he looked as collected as before so they had no idea what his answer was going to be. He took the same position he had before leaving and brought a hoof up to his mouth, coughing once to clear his throat and looking upon all of them.

“The sergeant has decided that it’s alright to let you through since as not being citizens of Malkonrik it means we don’t care what happens to you. So we’ll open up the door momentarily,” he said.

“Well isn’t that just charming,” Daylight Gleam snorted.

“Eh, I figured that was going to be their sentiment. You know how they are and all that...” Breakwater said.

“It’s good for us anyways,” Gilbert shrugged.

Rainbow Dash didn’t mind either. She stood there with an expectant grin on her face as the soldiers moved to open up the great door and allow them access to the Kingdom of Ullsorth. Or whatever it should be called now. The five of them were allowed to simply walk around the blockade as a squad of the armored soldiers did the physical labor needed to get them on their way. Slowly the door receded on its wheels, being dragged to the northern side of the road until it was fully opened. When it was, the soldiers paid attention to make sure there wasn’t anyone directly waiting on the other side or trying to get over to Malkonrik. But there wasn’t anyone there so they relaxed and allowed Rainbow’s group to move forward.

“Enjoy your trip,” the lead soldier said to them as they crossed the border.

He seemed to be saying it without sarcasm.

As soon as all five of them were past the threshold and the border wall, the great door started to get wheeled shut behind them. With a dull thud it slid right back into place and stopped.

Daylight frowned and looked over her shoulder at it. “Uhh… I know this doesn’t really affect us in particular too much, but did they really let us over here knowing there’s no way to open the door back up on this end? What if we were just earth ponies? We’d have no way to communicate with the soldiers or get back across the border.”

“Well it’s a good thing Gilbert and I can just fly us all back when we’re done here,” Rainbow said. “And speaking of here...”

She took her first look at Ullsorth and the port that continued along the coastline, bleeding over from Malkonrik’s own vast port. Unsurprisingly it looked much the same. There wasn’t suddenly a bunch of lightning clouds overhead, the water wasn’t choppy and full of waves, it wasn’t like she had suddenly flown into Hoofica again or something. It really was just another country right next to Malkonrik that naturally had much the same make up. Even the buildings and the docks ahead down the road were basically of the same style and formation as the ones to be found on Malkonrik’s coast.

Another similarity they shared at the moment was the lack of ships docked at port. There were a few, but not many.

That was pretty much where the similarities ended though. The first difference she noticed was that there weren’t really any ponies out on the road or down by the docks. No tourists, no soldiers, no workers. It was a ghost port at first glance though she wasn’t completely willing to write off there not being any ponies in the buildings as well just yet. However a lot of the buildings were completely boarded up with no signs of life in and around them as well. The next very important thing she noticed was that of the few ships docked, they were all of a very specific look that reminded her of a certain other ship.

Black sails, stylish flags, weather-beaten and fearsome visages. Pirate ships just like The Scourge. Definitely not merchant vessels or small personal boats like the Heart of Azure. That was another reason Rainbow Dash didn’t think the port was actually empty, the pirates wouldn’t leave their vaunted ships behind completely unguarded like this. As the others noticed the dark ships, a feeling of unease spread through the group. It was a sign that things were definitely going to get messy in one way or another over here.

“So what actually is our plan now?” Daylight asked.

“Well-” Rainbow started.

“That doesn’t involve just wandering around until we find some pirates to beat up and question?”

Rainbow glared at the unicorn. “Okay, do you have a better idea than that?”

“Unfortunately not. That’s the problem,” Daylight sighed.

“There really is nothing else we can do other than search the port and ask around for Admiral Redbeard’s location...” Senax said.

“None of us aside from Breakwater even really know Ullsorth’s lands and cities either,” Gilbert said.

“And I don’t know too much about that to be honest. Ullsorth has never been a common stop of mine, even this port,” Breakwater shrugged.

“So let’s at least go down the pier to those pirate ships and check things out,” Rainbow Dash said. “Cause despite Daylight’s whining it’s the smartest thing for us to do.”

“She’s right,” Gilbert said before Daylight could complain. “We can’t ignore that at the moment those ships docked right there are our current and only lead. Admiral Redbeard could be somewhere at the port—or somewhere else in Ullsorth entirely. We need to find ponies to ask.”

“I know, I know, just call me the voice in your head. I just want us to actually think about what we’re doing first,” Daylight said.

“In my case, thinking only occasionally helps anyways,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Daylight sighed once more.

The group then took their first real steps down the road of Ullsorth now, heading east along the scant few buildings that existed this close to the border on one side and the blue ocean on the other. No docks were built here yet, they probably didn’t want to construct any that were that close to the border wall and huge tower looming over them. So for now they mostly kept their eyes on the building and empty grasslands and forests to the north. Not much to see since these buildings were as quiet as the grave. Not just boarded up but a lot looked like they had been ransacked and stripped down before that in the first place. Probably pirates or the owners leaving with anything remotely valuable or memorable in a hurry.

“What a dreary place,” Gilbert said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. It didn’t help that it was about to turn into evening and then night soon after.

Walking some more, and keeping their eyes sharply peeled, they started to make it to the part of Ullsorth’s port that was beginning to get as crowded as the main part of Malkonrik’s port. More buildings popped up and the street split off north several times, going deeper into the country’s interior and connecting to a number of close-knit but separated groups of buildings back there. That was already a little different than Malkonrik’s port, which was almost entirely just one really long row of buildings without as many backstreets.

In a couple more minutes they got to what would normally be the busiest part of the docks. The waters were crowded with numerous wooden docks and piers all going out into it, some reaching farther out than any she had seen in Malkonrik. Rainbow Dash could imagine on a busy day how crowded with activity this place would be. Hundreds of ponies would be carrying cargo on and off every ship. There were a lot of shacks that looked like customs checkpoints and small souvenir and supply shops on the marina as well. Right now though it was all just empty with only some bits of paper and trash lying about.

“Well I still don’t see or hear any pirates at those ships,” Breakwater said as he looked at the anchored galleons still a couple docks away.

“Me neither,” Daylight said.

“Yeah I-” Rainbow Dash said as her eyes went to scan the buildings to their left, not expecting to see anything but more empty stores and boarded up windows. That changed when she caught the distinctive sight of a pony ducking their head back out of view from behind a courtyard fence in front of one of those buildings. “Hold that thought.”

Before any of them could reply, Rainbow Dash zoomed like a lightning bolt right over the fence and found herself face to face with a scared looking mare.

“Wah!” The mare yelped at the sudden appearance of the pegasus.

“Woah, calm down!” Rainbow Dash held up her hooves to show she meant no harm. She looked the mare up and down, seeing a middle-aged earth pony wearing a plain dress and bonnet. “Well you’re definitely no pirate.”

The mare frowned at her for a second, probably trying to get a read on Rainbow Dash, before responding. “I’m one of the business owners from this part of Ullsorth that’s still here. When the coup happened and the pirates started to take over, a lot of us left. The smart ones left. I didn’t get out in time.”

“Have the pirates done anything to you?” Rainbow Dash frowned.

The mare snorted in annoyance and shook her head. “Not really, but because of them we’ve all had no business. And they say that once the port starts operating like normal again once things have calmed down in and around Ullsorth that they’ll be taking a high percentage of our profits as a new tax from then on… and I somehow doubt we’ll be allowed to just pack our bags and move to a different Kingdom.”

“Pfft, how nice,” Rainbow Dash said and dropped to the ground to talk eye to eye with the mare. Her friends came wandering around the fence just then as well to find her.

“I thought I heard some ponies walking and talking out on the road so I took a peek...” the mare said. “Didn’t think you were more pirates or those idiot revolutionaries who got us into this mess. But what are you doing here at all?”

“Some of those idiot pirates stole from us,” Breakwater said.

“Typical pirates,” the mare rolled her eyes.

“And speaking of them, would you happen to know an Admiral Redbeard and where we might be able to find him?” Daylight asked her.

The mare frowned, thinking for a moment before she shook her head. “The name doesn’t ring a bell, I know there’s a pirate called Steel Hoof who’s in charge of the ones still sticking around the port here though. If you need to find another pirate he’d be the one to ask first.” She looked at the five of them. “I somehow get the feeling you’re not going to be asking peacefully though… will you be alright? There are a lot of pirates here.”

“We’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Rainbow Dash confidently grinned. “But where are those pirates though? This place is practically a ghost town.”

“Don’t blame you for thinking that, most everyone still around who isn’t a pirate has just been holing up in their homes or stores. The pirates themselves have taken over the community center and turned it into one big bar and party house,” the mare told them. “And before you ask where that’s at—let me just show you.”

She walked by them and left her store’s little courtyard, walking out onto the main road. The others followed her and watched as the mare stood in the middle of the road and pointed down in the direction of the big ships.

“You see those pirate ships? Directly across from them there’s a three-way intersection in the road, if you look down the road heading north you’ll see the community center. You literally can’t miss it—it’s the huge circular building with the conical clock tower on top at the end of the road. All the pirates are probably getting drunk and gambling in there right now. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow said and started walking past her before she frowned and paused, looking back at the mare with a raised eyebrow. “You know when we go back to Malkonrik we can tell them what’s going on and-”

The mare’s lip curled. “I’d rather stay here than accept Malkonrik’s help. Not like they’d offer it anyways.”

Breakwater patted Rainbow Dash on the shoulder as he passed her. “You tried.”

Leaving the mare behind, the five of them walked the remaining distance down the street until the buildings parted and they came to a wide road that opened up north. The pirate ships were right behind them now at the largest part of the docks and they had a straight view ahead at the community center. The red brick road that led to it at one point was probably clean and pretty but was now chipped and covered in trash. It was the same with the trees and bushes that lines the road, they clearly hadn’t been watered in a while. However the community center itself was still standing and didn’t look too bad. It wasn’t boarded up and the clock facing the docks was still turning.

Rainbow Dash looked to the others and shrugged. “We ready?”

“Do we know how many pirates are going to be in there?” Senax asked.

“Naw, but army or not I’ll be sure to keep us safe,” Rainbow said.

“I like to think that we can handle any simple band of pirates by now,” Gilbert said as he twiddled his mustache. “No pirate crew can match up to my brother.”

“We even dealt with those Bosche soldiers after all,” Breakwater shrugged.

“As much as I would like to put together a better plan, I agree that we can handle ourselves against simple rejects like this,” Daylight said.

“It’ll all work out,” Rainbow grinned. “Now let’s kick some pirate butt and find this so-called Admiral Redbeard.”

Second Rate Pirates

Rainbow Dash’s hoof was on one half of the double doors. Daylight Gleam’s hoof was on the other. Together the two of them shared a brief glance and a nod before they pushed open the heavy wooden doors that led into the port’s community center.

Loud music, yelling, and raucous laughter roared out at them from inside the building. The five stood there with what almost felt like the forceful winds of a tornado blasting at them. Blinking to get their bearings right and make sure they weren’t just seeing or imagining things, they took a look at what was going on.

That mare was right about them turning this place into a big party house. Dozens of ponies, maybe upwards of fifty that were pirates, crowded the main floor of the building. Though there were several balconies up above and doors leading to back rooms, the large chamber had been completely converted into a den for the pirates. Tables full of pirates gambling with cards and dice, drinking and smoking cigars, laughing and shouting at each other, a few fights and brawls had even broken out that were being watched and laughed at by others. On the ceiling a few pegasi pirates even swung from chandeliers that hung over the chamber. There was a stage at the back of the chamber that a band of clearly forced civilians were playing on with a mix of things like pianos, guitars, and trombones. A lot of mares dressed up in silks and lascivious outfits carried drinks and food from table to table or danced for the amusement of the pirates.

And furthermore they hadn’t even noticed yet that they had been intruded upon. Rainbow Dash and the others stepped through the doors and let them close shut behind them and still nobody so much as spared them a glance, so caught up in their merriment and debauchery.

Rainbow Dash pretty much just rolled her eyes as she took the scene in. They didn’t have time for this silliness and such cartoonish and rambunctious behavior from some upjumped pirates. She brought a hoof to her mouth and whistled loudly to get their attention.

It didn’t work.

Frowning, she cupped her hooves around her mouth. “Hey, pirates!” She loudly yelled through the community center.

That didn’t get their attention either.

“Oh for the love of—Daylight? Can you get their attention?” Rainbow asked the unicorn.

“Right away,” Daylight sighed and put some magic into her horn. It lit up blue for a moment before she shot what was essentially a flare up at the ceiling of the community center. Her aptitude for light-manipulation coming in handy once more, the flare sparkled and bright beams of light shot throughout the chamber, dazzling the pirates and making many of them see spots if they had the misfortune of looking directly at it when it went off.

That flare brought the music, fighting, and other partying to a stop as most of the pirates looked around and tried to figure out what just happened.

“Okay, now maybe this time...” Rainbow Dash said before whistling loudly once more. “Yo, up front!”

Dozens of heads now turned to look at Rainbow Dash and the others. Pirates and civilian alike. Senax wilted slightly under all the attention and Daylight frowned in mild annoyance, but otherwise their group stood strong. Murmurs quickly started to spread through the convocation as the pirates wondered what was up and who these interlopers were. Considering they didn’t immediately all rush to attack or anything else dumb, Rainbow figured these guys must be feeling pretty relaxed after Ullsorth had been “officially” taken over. The fact that most of them were clearly drunk as skunks also probably helped. More of them shared dumbfounded and suspicious looks while the civilians furtively glanced back and forth or tried to slink away to less crowded parts of the chamber.

Seeing that she now did indeed have their attention, Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Alright, let’s keep this simple. Is there a pirate named Steel Hoof here?” She asked them.

A lot of pirates stood out of their seats when she asked that and a lot of very unfriendly glares were thrown her way. The tension in the community center was growing thicker by the second. Rainbow Dash stood casually despite all that, not showing any fear. The pirates seemed to be sizing her and the others up and waiting for any excuse, any twitch or signal, or order, to deal with this big mouth pegasus and her friends.

“Who wants to know?”

The deep, masculine, voice came from the right of the chamber and a stallion stood up from one of the tables. As he walked to a more open part of the floor, other pirates stepped out of his way to give him room. Rainbow Dash took an appraising look at him—an earth pony with a silver coat and slightly off-white mane and tail. He was older, almost elderly, but his eyes were still sharp.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward as well to stand in front of her friends. “Rainbow Dash does. We’ve got some business with another friend of yours. Admiral Redbeard, if you know him?”

As soon as she mentioned his name the grumbling from the other pirates grew much more intense and quite a few took a few steps towards her looking like they wanted a fight. Steel Hoof however stomped his hoof on the floor to reign them in.

“Stop that and calm yourselves down, we’re not just some savages anymore, are we? Ullsorth is our country so let’s act a little more respectable for its sake,” He said to the pirates. Then an eyebrow was raised at Rainbow Dash. “And what do you want with the admiral? He’s one of the central figures of our new government. I—as High General Steel Hoof—recommend that you speak your next words wisely.”

“High General?” Daylight said. “Are you guys just making up ranks or something?”

Steel Hoof coughed. “No, we’re just working out our new system.”

“Anyways,” Rainbow cut back in. “Admiral or not, important dude or not, he stole from us and our friend. We came to Ullsorth to get it back, so where is he?” She narrowed her eyes at the High General.

Quite a few of the pirates turned to look to their High General to see what his reaction would be to that.

“Oh I see,” Steel Hoof narrowed his eyes right back at Rainbow Dash. “Well you know, The Democratic Ponies Republic of Ullsorth is a sovereign nation. I’m not sure if one of our most cheered leaders will simply give away his belongings. If you want, you can perhaps go to Malkonrik, or Tyne, or one of the other Kingdoms and contact their governments to try and set up a negotiation or trade with our own newly formed government. And of course, regardless of how that turns out I obviously can’t allow you to personally meet with the Admiral over such a… petty and potentially contentious matter.”

Rainbow Dash simply nodded her head a few times at his words. She glanced behind herself at Daylight and the others, shrugging. “I mean, that’s pretty fair right?”

“He has a decent position,” Gilbert agreed.

“As a government official that Admiral Redbeard is probably pretty busy too,” Breakwater said.

“Yep,” Rainbow said and looked back at High General Steel Hoof. “You make a good point, you know? Not like I can blame you for wanting to keep us away and let Redbeard keep the stuff he stole. You’re kind of wrong about one thing though.”

“And what would that be?” Steel Hoof asked.

“It’s not “potentially” contentious. It’s definitely a contentions matter. And we’re not about to turn around and go back to Malkonrik,” Rainbow Dash glared defiantly at the High General and also gazed at many of the other pirates who had realized the atmosphere in here just took another turn. “So I’m only going to ask again one more time. Nicely. Where’s Admiral Redbeard?”

Steel Hoof rolled his tongue over his teeth and glanced to the pirates to his right and left. He didn’t nod, or wink, but just the look was enough to apparently tell them all they needed to know. The pirates that had so far remained seated started to rise, and the ones already standing tensed up and kept quiet. At last Steel Hoof once again opened his mouth. “The five of you really want to go down this road? It’s not going to end well.”

“For some of us,” Rainbow said right back.

There was more quiet in the community center for the next minute, the only noises being the musicians, dancers, and waitresses shuffling around and trying to find an exit as quietly as possible. Behind Rainbow Dash, Senax also slinked behind Gilbert. Steel Hoof didn’t move yet, and neither had any of his pirates, but Rainbow could see a few drops of sweat and shifting eyes coming from the fifty-strong band.

They didn’t frighten or worry her one bit. From all the places she had been, all the enemies she had fought, she recognized dangerous opponents when she saw them. And stooges when she saw them too.

These pirates barely even qualified for that.

With a sudden yell, the group of pirates closest to the front door ran out at them. Rainbow Dash stood her ground, her reflexes and eyes practically allowing her to see them move in slow-motion. It also helped that a lot of them, most even, were drunk and stumbling over each other. A smirk came to her face in the second before they reached her. This is what she wanted after all—genuine fighting practice.

The first pirate reached close enough to draw back his hoof and strike her—so all in one swift movement, Rainbow Dash pivoted on her hooves, turned around, and bucked him in the face with her two powerful back legs. The crunch was audible, a broken muzzle at the least, and the pirate was launched backwards into his friends like a bowling ball. He knocked over at least a dozen behind him before coming to rest on the floor and also bumped away the other ones who had been closest to attack Rainbow Dash. They now paused and reconsidered what they were doing.

So Rainbow Dash just turned around again with the mocking smirk still on her face and looked at them. “That’s why I said some of us. Now have you gotten the message or are we going to keep doing it, you posers.”

“Get her!” Steel Hoof ordered this time. “We outnumber em’ ten to one! Just rush em’ already!”

The pirates didn’t need to be yelled at twice and the remaining ones on their hooves got back into gear and ran at Rainbow Dash.

She shrugged. “Guess it’s still going to be done the hard way.”

The next pirate that came at her threw a punch at her head. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and grabbed his hoof, throwing him into the pirate that had been charging at her from the opposite side. A group of four more pirates rushing at them suddenly found themselves tripping and stumbling over each other as they collapsed to the floor, bands of powder blue magic around the hooves of the ponies in front yanking them down when they tried running. Rainbow Dash shot a grin and a nod at Daylight, who just smirked right back at her.

Two pegasus pirates flew in from overhead but were intercepted by Gilbert—who not being a great fighter himself simply crashed into them with his superior bulk. It worked. All three of them crashed to the ground, upending tables and chairs in the chamber and knocking over a few other pirates as they fell.

Breakwater was the only one besides Rainbow Dash actually doing any real fighting. A drunken pirate came up to take a swing at him only to get punched across the jaw and collapse in a dazed heap.

Still it was Rainbow Dash doing most of the work. She was like a rainbow lightning bolt moving through the crowd of pirates trying to swarm over them. At times it was almost like there were three or four of her thanks to how she blurred through the group, and her limbs might have doubled or tripled as she smashed the pirates to the ground and blocked any retaliatory strikes that were actually quick enough to reach her. It wasn’t exactly good for practicing her fighting technique or skills, but her reflexes were being put to the test thanks to the sheer amount of ponies against her. Decent enough. She wasn’t expecting such lowly pirates to be a real challenge in that way. As much as she wanted to face off against more ponies who actually knew how to fight to improve herself this wasn’t exactly the place for that.

One pirate came up behind Rainbow Dash with a chair raised over his head and smashed it down at her. She grabbed another pirate and swung around, pulling herself away and putting him right in the chair’s path instead.

Wham!

The sound of breaking wood followed by a drunken “Oops.” made Rainbow Dash grin.

“Come on, come on, aren’t you guys supposed to be the fighting force of a real country now? Why don’t you try and prove you aren’t just Godfrey’s rejects!” Rainbow Dash taunted the whole group circled around her. “I’m not even really using my wings yet!”

A brave unicorn pirate took her up on the challenge, levitating a few goblets and throwing them at her. Feeling decent enough to indulge him, Rainbow Dash jumped up out of the way and flew around as more ponies started chucking objects at her and a few of the remaining pegasus pirates came to follow her. One more thrown goblet she kicked away with her hoof into the face of a pursuing pegasus and caused him to crash to the ground. Another she let get close only to suddenly slow down and flip over, letting him glide right above her as she punched him in the stomach and watched him sail into the center’s wall before he could stop himself.

Some unicorns tried firing beams of magic at her besides just throwing stuff but none tried to actually telekinetically grab and stop her. They were either too inebriated or just too slow. Even if they weren’t, Rainbow doubted any of them had the strength to actually stop her.

The sounds of more roughhousing brought her attention back to the front of the community center where she saw her friends starting to get slightly overwhelmed by the drunken pirates. Though she had grabbed the attention of most, it seemed a few of the smarter ones had realized it would be easier to deal with her friends. Rainbow Dash frowned and clicked her tongue before zooming over to help ease the pressure.

She didn’t need to do a ton, Daylight and Breakwater both had a decent handle on things. She just didn’t want to allow the possibility of the pirates getting to Senax. Rainbow Dash flew in from behind at a fast speed, before the pirates could even register she was coming at them, and kicked a few heads in the back row as she went by. Those ponies collapsed to the ground, some falling forward and taking out the pirates in front of them too. That got the attention of the other pirates and it made it easy for Breakwater and Daylight to deal with them thanks to the distraction.

Rainbow dropped back to the floor and looked over at Steel Hoof, her eyes narrowing at him. A number of pirates were still between the two of them but as soon as they saw Rainbow’s glare they stepped out of the way.

Steel Hoof blew a disgruntled breath out of his mouth and reached over to a table, pulling up a cutlass from it. “So you think you’re hot stuff for beating on some drunks?”

“Buddy, I could say so many things to you right now, but instead all I’m going to do is ask you to put down the sword and answer me again. Okay? Cause you pirates can act big all you want, but I think we know by now how things are going to go,” Rainbow said.

As if to punctuate her words, Daylight tossed a pirate over her head and onto the floor while Gilbert bashed a chair over another.

“Pretty clear that there’s a reason why you guys just took to bullying the helpless ponies here,” Rainbow said.

“Don’t look down on us! We rule this Kingdom now!” Steel Hoof yelled and ran at her with cutlass in hoof. His charge seemed to work up the others around him as well and they came rushing at her too. Maybe ten drunken and tired pirates were running for her rainbow mane.

The drunks reached her first and Rainbow Dash blocked and deflected numerous hooves thrown her way. At her face, her body, her legs, she didn’t let a single blow actually land on her and in turn she shot out wickedly fast punches at the rushing pirates to knock them out cold one by one. Broken teeth and spurts of blood flew onto the floor, she wasn’t holding back at all. It was almost embarrassing how easily she handled them. But it was their own faults’ as they had just come at her practically one at a time in a line.

Suddenly the next pony in line running at her was Steel Hoof with his cutlass going right for her neck.

Rainbow Dash decided the games were over.

She didn’t duck under the blade, instead her hoof flashed out and smacked into his holding the handle of the sword. It flew up and out of his grip, spinning end over end before coming down and impaling itself into the floor right in front of the eyes of a very lucky pirate. She then grabbed Steel Hoof’s hoof and twisted, nearly breaking his fetlock.

“Gh!” He grunted in pain and winced as Rainbow Dash glared right into his face.

“I’m going to put this as simply as possible since it’s probably the only way any ponies as dumb as you guys will understand. But there’s a very clear reason why when after destroying all the other pirate crews, Godfrey didn’t pick you up to join him on The Scourge,” Rainbow Dash took in a deep breath and winded back her other hoof.

“You.”

Smack!

“Just.”

Smack!

“Don’t.”

Smack!

“Have.”

Smack!

“What.”

Smack!

“It.”

Smack!

“Takes!”

Smack!

On the last punch, Steel Hoof went careening backwards and smashed into a table, sending all the drinks, cards, and everything else on it flying. Rainbow Dash calmly strode forth towards him and this time picked him up by his mane. His dazed eyes and broken face looked back at her as his limbs hung limp and the other pirates around them were too shocked to intervene.

“Now that that’s out of the way, High General, how about telling me where Redbeard is this time?”

Go Back to Sharktooth Island

Into the northern interior of Ullsorth, Rainbow Dash and her friends surveyed a riverside fort from a forest to the south.

It was early morning the next day after their rambunctious fight with the pirates at Ullsorth’s port—the so-called High General had pointed them in this direction afterwards. The river the fort sat on flowed from north to south right into the ocean, it was easy for them to find the mouth of the river and then follow it back up here. The fort not only looked old and dilapidated but there were a number of holes in its walls and several collapsed towers. According to Breakwater it would’ve been made when this Kingdom went by a completely different name. Gilbert also let Rainbow know that the current damage to the fort was the result of one of Godfrey’s few trips this far north. Apparently he had shelled it quite some time ago.

The fact no one bothered to fix and repair the fort showed what state the Kingdom had been in lately. And now it was occupied by a mix of usurpers and pirates acting like they were the fancy new rulers of a whole country. Steel Hoof had said that there were actually quite a few holdouts further north, places that hadn’t fallen or given in to the new regime, so this fort was essentially the northern base for the new government.

“So um, what are we going to do here? Because I doubt the frontal assault will work as well this time,” Gilbert said.

Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash had to agree with him. That’s why they were still hiding in this forest and thinking things over right now. The forest was small, but dense, on the western side of the road that ran parallel to the river. Of course most of the land around the fort had been cleared of trees on this side of the river, at least a couple hundred yards in a semi-circle around it, with the other side of the fort pressed sheer against the water. Because of its riverside nature the fort even had its own small dock and a drawbridge that went to the other side that could stop any traffic trying to go further up, or down, the river.

Right now there were even a couple of boats docked there, probably guard boats.

“I also think we should probably come up with a smart idea this time,” Daylight Gleam muttered.

“I mean there probably aren’t too many pirates in there... the place looks like it’s practically falling apart,” Breakwater shrugged.

“And yet it’s still a fort under their control,” Daylight frowned at him.

“What do you want to do, Rainbow Dash?” Senax asked her.

Rainbow Dash kept her eyes glued on the fort from behind the line of trees, rubbing her chin. There weren’t any soldiers or pirates out in the empty field in front of the fort, but she did see some guarding the front gate. And on the highest tower of the fort there was a flagpole with a plain green flag waving in the wind atop it. “This place... it’s important right?”

“Uhhh, obviously?” Daylight raised her eyebrow at the pegasus.

“And Admiral Redbeard is supposed to be one of the most important ponies in this new Democratic Ponies Republic or whatever?”

“That’s what we’ve heard,” Gilbert nodded.

“Hmm...” Rainbow Dash was deep in thought as she continued to gaze at the fort. “I might have a decent idea this time around then.”

“What?” Breakwater asked.

“Well they’re trying to act like a legitimate government aren’t they? What if they suddenly got visiting diplomats from Malkonrik acknowledging them as the rulers of Ullsorth and offering to open up trade and stuff?” Rainbow shrugged.

The others blinked and shared a few surprised looks with each other.

Daylight finally grinned at Rainbow Dash. “I suppose that’s not an entirely bad plan.”

“Halt! Who goes there?” The pair of gate guards asked as Rainbow Dash and her friends approached the river fort. The guards looked tentatively suspicious but not afraid since there was only five of them and they had many more comrades garrisoned inside. These creatures didn’t even look to have any weapons.

“I am Rainbow Dash! Chief diplomat of Malkonrik, I come here by order of our King-”

“Prime Minister,” Breakwater coughed.

“Prime Minister, to formally greet your leadership and possibly open up talks of an alliance. We would very much like the ports to open back up and run smoothly, as I’m sure you know, and our people and politicians have grown impatient with the lack of activity,” Rainbow said. She gestured to her friends. “I come with my entourage, we have heard that one of the new leading figures of Ullsorth, Admiral Redbeard, is here. May we enter and speak with him?”

The two guards blinked before they looked at each other, disbelief and shock plainly written on their faces.

“Uhh... one moment please,” one of the guards said as he knocked on the gate.

Shortly it opened up a bit and he slunk inside, leaving the one guard left to gaze questioningly at Rainbow Dash and her fellow diplomats.

“Soo...” Rainbow Dash said to cut the awkward silence. “How’s the weather been?”

Daylight Gleam groaned and shook her head.

“It’s been fine...” the guard slowly responded.

“Well congrats on the new Kingdom, republic thing, by the way. Like good on you for ruling your own country or whatever you want to call it now,” she grinned.

He frowned. “Thanks.”

“Seems like a pretty nifty place so far. Port was nice and clean,” Rainbow kept going.

“Please stop talking,” Daylight whispered to her.

Rainbow Dash ignored her. “Yep, I’ve been to a lot of other places like Meer and Alth-Verika and, uh, the other Kingdoms, as a diplomat for Malkonrik. Pretty sweet gig.”

Thankfully before she could talk more and receive even more ire from the rest of her group, the gate opened back up and the other guard poked his head back out. He looked at Rainbow Dash specifically before his eyes drifted to the others. Rainbow wasn’t sure what was on his mind or what he was going to say, but all five of them were doing their best to keep from shaking or making any suspicious movements.

Finally the guard coughed. “Well, I’ve gotten clearance from the Admiral himself, you can come in and meet with him shortly.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Two minutes later and the five of them were in what looked to be a conference room, sitting on a circular couch together and waiting for Admiral Redbeard to come say hello or allow them to come to his own private office. There were doors leading out of the room at every wall, each one of them protected by guards. The hallway they had walked down to get here was also covered in extra guards. And these guys weren’t drunk or quite as unimpressive as the pirates they had dealt with at the port. Still, they were leaving Rainbow Dash and her group to themselves. Not a single guard had talked to them since they walked in here.

Rainbow Dash leaned in to the others and winked. “See? That was pretty easy.”

“I’m honestly shocked,” Daylight said.

“So am I,” Breakwater nodded.

“This could still be a trap,” Senax whispered as she nervously looked around the room. “I’m a little suspicious right now to be honest.”

“They did let us in quite easily, but I figured that was just because they’re as dumb as I am,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Well however it turns out there’s no point in worrying about it right now. We’re inside, he’s here, and even if we have to fight our way to him that’s what we’ll do. I think we’re okay though, I’ve been a diplomat before.”

“Really? I never would have guessed,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“Shut up,” Rainbow pouted at her.

“I just wonder how much longer they’re going to have us wait,” Breakwater said. “They might be trying to make us anxious and impatient on purpose.”

“What are you going to say to Admiral Redbeard when you meet with him anyways? How far is this charade going to go?” Daylight asked.

“I dunno. As far as it needs to? I’ll see how many guards he has around him and keep talking until we’ve got the best opportunity to take them out and tell the dude the real reason we came here,” Rainbow said. “It’s kind of fun being a fake diplomat anyways.”

“It’s better than fighting at least...” Senax agreed.

“Maybe Ullsorth can even get back into shape after all the havoc we’re about to cause,” Breakwater said. “That’d be for the best, even though it’s not why we came here.”

“As long as the pirates don’t take control I think I’d be happy with any outcome,” Rainbow shrugged. “It’s all crazy politics to me. But... I’ll make sure Admiral Redbeard and the other pirates get the message to leave the ponies here alone.”

“How?” Daylight asked.

“One way or another,” Rainbow cryptically responded.

“What if the Admiral decides he doesn’t really want to hear us out and just turns us away before we have the chance to do anything?” Gilbert asked.

“Actually I’ve kind of been thinking of another thing we could offer to him. They still have enemies up north, right? We tell him Malkonrik will not only agree to acknowledge their government but to make sure the ports start running smoothly again we’ll even go and deal with their enemies so the entire country falls under their control. Too good an offer to pass up, right?” Rainbow grinned.

“I could see them going for that,” Gilbert nodded.

“And Malkonrik really would do practically anything just to get the ports back to normal,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow winked. “Yep. Even I know that just from looking at how things were back there.”

Suddenly, the doors on the far side of the room from where they had entered were opened up and in stepped a pony who was clearly a pirate until just recently in his life. The gruff exterior and suspicious eyes, with a weather-beaten face and body, were all the proof they needed. He walked right up to their couch and frowned.

“The Admiral will see you now.”

Rainbow lit up. “Awesome! Let’s get right down to business!”

“Mm,” the former pirate grumbled and turned on his hooves, walking back out of the conference room and leading them to wherever Admiral Redbeard was.

They had to travel up some stairs until they were practically at the top level of the fort, just under the highest tower. Then a quick walk down a hallway brought them to, if Rainbow’s sense of direction was still on point, a room on the far east side of the fort. There were two guards in front of the door who the pirate leading them ignored. He reached his hoof around the door handle and pulled it open before standing aside and letting them all walk in.

Sunlight poured in through several large windows at the back of the room and Rainbow Dash was treated to a lavish office that probably in the past belonged to the chief or whoever ran the fort. Right now it looked like it had been jazzed up with all sorts of decorations and art that were mashed together without any hint of style or common sense. It was like it was all just there to show anybody visiting that the owner owned this stuff in the first place. Besides that, at the end of the room in front of the windows was a large desk that a pony was sitting behind while two other guards stood beside his desk.

Rainbow didn’t really need any guesses to know who this guy was.

He was a middle-aged earth pony with a white coat and a bushy red mane and tail with even bushier eyebrows. Strangely, he didn’t have much of a beard. His chin and muzzle were covered in patchy areas of red hair, but that was it. It was almost like a teenager trying and failing to grow facial hair.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him as soon as all five were standing in front of his deck. “Admiral Redbeard then?”

He smiled. “Actually lately I’ve been thinking of changing my title to Commodore. Has a snazzier ring to it, don’t you think?”

Rainbow Dash wondered how tough it was for Daylight to avoid rolling her eyes when she heard that.

Redbeard looked behind them at the pirate who led them here. “You can leave, Captain.”

“Yes, sir,” the pirate nodded and closed the door, leaving Rainbow Dash’s group alone with just the “Commodore” and two guards.

“I’m quite interested in hearing what Malkonrik would like to offer to us, it’s already great news that they’re willing to finally acknowledge us as the legitimate rulers of Ullsorth,” Redbeard smiled. “This is surely going to be a historic event. We’ve worked so hard to get this far in Ullsorth. What are the details of the alliance you’d like to go over with me? There are other leaders but I can assure you I speak for them as well.”

Rainbow Dash meanwhile had discreetly glanced at the guards and at her friends. “Uh huh... well if we’re going to talk diplomacy, why don’t you tell me just what you guys really plan to do here in Ullsorth? We’ve been told that some raiding has been done in our own country... and the ports are nearly empty because of what’s going on. Malkonrik would like to know in what ways you plan to change Ullsorth.”

That was a lie. Rainbow was just stalling for time as she worked some things out in her head.

But Commodore Redbeard smiled, more than happy to answer the question.

“Of course! You see, what we really plan on doing with an entire country in our grasp is...”

To everyone else, he kept talking like normal. To Rainbow Dash it turned into a long string of “Blah, blah, blah” as she zoned out and got ready to act. Admiral Redbeard. Two guards right next to him. Three more right outside the door but no others on this floor. Everything was turning out pretty good in her head, and she was confident that her friends were on the same wavelength as her. As soon as she acted or gave a signal she knew they would jump into action too. They were waiting for her, they trusted her.

“And as I’m sure you can agree, that’s an excellent proposition, is it not?” Commodore Redbeard finished.

Rainbow Dash blinked, snapped back to reality. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, I wasn’t really listening.”

The Commodore frowned, he blinked more in befuddlement than outright anger. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah I was just...” Rainbow brought a hoof up and rubbed the back of her head. “Just thinking that five guards really isn’t any trouble at all.”

“Wha-” was the only thing Redbeard could say before Rainbow Dash and the others sprung into action.

Rainbow Dash immediately jumped onto his desk and spun on her front hooves, spinning her body around and lashing out with her back legs. In one quick revolution she had kicked both of the guards in the head with enough force to knock them out cold. Before they had even hit the ground, she came to a stop in front of Redbeard with a grin on her face and leapt onto him, knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor.

Behind her, Daylight Gleam had pulled the office’s door open with her magic and right as the two guards outside turned their heads to see what was going on—they were yanked inside by Gilbert and Breakwater. A pair of bodyslams and punches later and those two were down and out as well. The pirate who had led them up here had a shocked look on his face and he opened his mouth to scream for backup when a powder blue ring appeared around it and clamped it shut.

“Nope,” Daylight said and dragged him inside the office where Gilbert and Breakwater jumped atop him. The door was then closed back shut right after.

Meanwhile Senax stood out of the way.

“W-What are you doing?!” Redbeard shouted as he tried to push Rainbow Dash off him only for her to slam him back down. “Y-You’re no diplomats!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “What was your first clue?”

“Are you soldiers? Mercenaries? Who hired you?” Redbeard demanded.

“Wrong, wrong, and no one. We’re just here because we heard you robbed a friend of ours. Ballast? Malkonrik shipwright? You stole some important plans and a bunch of money from him,” Rainbow glared down at him.

“That’s why you’re here? For that stupid ship builder?” Redbeard yelled. “This is a joke! We have so much going on in Ullsorth right now, so many enemies, and you invaded my fort and attacked me for that?! You have to be kidding me!”

“Nope. So tell me where those plans and that money is and we’ll be out of your beard. Good deal, right?” Rainbow said.

Redbeard practically spit in her face. “Why should I? The five of you are stuck here, you’re just a bunch of nobodies too if that’s all you’re here for. I’ve got nothing to fear from you and there’s nothing you can offer me in return! Eventually my fellow revolutionaries will come up here and deal with you!”

“There’s a problem with that word eventually though. It’s not now,” Rainbow said and looked over her shoulder at Daylight. “Hey, Daylight? Could you open up this window for me?”

“Sure thing,” Daylight said and unlatched it with her magic.

Before Redbeard could even ask what she was doing, Rainbow Dash had grabbed him and carried him out the window, holding him by one hoof from falling far to the water below.

“I wouldn’t scream for help or anything if I was you. It might make me lose my grip,” Rainbow coldly said to him.

“W-W-Wait, don’t do anything crazy!” Redbeard pleaded, looking down at the rushing water of the river.

“You’d probably live... so maybe I should just move over a little until we’re right above the bridge instead?” Rainbow threatened.

“No, put me down, please!” Redbeard yelled.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you going to tell us where the plans and money you stole are?”

“Yes! I promise!”

Rainbow Dash swung him around and threw him back into the office where he collided roughly with his desk. Instantly she was back in front of him and keeping a hoof pressed firmly on his chest while Daylight closed the window. “Okay. So where’s the stuff?”

Redbeard coughed and put on his best placating smile. “W-Well the money, uh... the money’s gone. I’ve been spending it and giving it away to friends ever since that day we robbed Ballast. It’s in a hundred different pockets by now.”

“Oh that’s just great,” Breakwater snorted and shook his head.

Rainbow sighed and pinched her muzzle. “Fine... what about Ballast’s plans?”

“Umm... those are actually right here in my desk. In the top right drawer. I didn’t really know what they were when I saw them, but that pony said they were his life’s work, and they looked valuable so I decided to hang onto them until we could find someone else who knew what to make of them,” Redbeard told her.

“Well at least something is turning out good,” Rainbow Dash said.

Breakwater stepped behind the desk to the designated drawer and pulled it open, reaching in and taking out a folder that he opened up and looked inside. “I mean, I can’t really make heads or tails of this either, but these are definitely Ballast’s. I recognize the hoofwriting.”

“Splendid! We’ve found what we’re looking for!” Gilbert cheered.

“Aside from the money,” Daylight scoffed.

“Coin is coin,” Breakwater shrugged. “In the end this is more important.”

“Ballast will be happy at least,” Senax smiled.

“Good... y-you got what you came for didn’t you? So how about getting out of here—getting out of Ullsorth!” Redbeard shouted at them.

“We weren’t planning on staying any longer than we needed to,” Rainbow Dash said. “But unfortunately for you, I’m not exactly the type to just let pirates like you ruin and terrorize an entire country. Even if it’s pirates as weak and cartoonish as you guys. Sooo...” She grabbed him by the mane this time and leaned in close till her eyes were the only thing he could see. “This is a warning. You know how I held you out that window? That’s nothing. You know I’m a pegasus, you know no wall, or border, or any fort like this can keep me out. I’m no ordinary pony and there’s no deal you can make, no treasure you can bribe me with, that will buy me off. So what you’re going to do is leave. Go back to whatever hole you came from, or anywhere else on this ocean as long as you don’t do what you did here. But if you do? I will find you. I will end you. I’ve fought Bosche, Godfrey Goldenwing, and way worse monsters than even him. That’s what you’re going to tell all the other pirates and leaders here in Ullsorth. And you’re all going to up and leave together and let this place go back to normal. Got that?”

“B-But this is our-”

“Got that?” Rainbow repeated.

“Y-Yes!” Redbeard fearfully shouted.

“Good. And don’t even try and go back on this deal. I’ll know,” Rainbow stared him in the eye for a moment longer before letting him go. She grinned down at his quivering form. “Was nice talking to ya, Commodore.”

And since the rest of the fort was none the wiser, five “diplomats” easily walked back out of it before heading back down the road south to Ullsorth’s port.

Applejack Would be Bad at This

Two ponies, a merpony, and a griffon stood on the outskirts of the bad part of Malkonrik’s port. It was a familiar sight to all of them.

“Are they even going to let us wander around here or are they just going to try and rob us after last time?” Daylight wondered.

“We’ll see, but I think they’ll be too afraid of all the soldiers to do something as big as that,” Rainbow said.

“But gambling and other rigged games you think will still be going off without a hitch?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t see why that would be any different despite things being slower around here. That’s one thing that shouldn’t have changed, right?”

“I still think this is a bad idea...” Senax said.

“Even I think this is a bad idea,” Gilbert nodded.

“Yeah cause you got tricked last time,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Look—these ponies definitely still have money. And we know they gamble and run other stuff in port that makes them some illicit profit or whatever. Can you think of anywhere else we have the opportunity to get some money so quickly on such short notice? I bet the soldiers stationed here like to gamble in their free time too, they’re probably bored out of their minds and annoyed at getting stuck down here.”

“So basically there’s money to be made and you think that’s all that should matter to us right now?” Daylight asked.

“More or less,” Rainbow affirmed.

Daylight sighed. “Well I suppose that I can’t really disagree with that… as much as I want to.”

“Sweet!” Rainbow grinned and winked at her. She smiled over at Senax and Gilbert. “You two should relax too, Breakwater gave me his blessing on this, didn’t he?”

“Probably because he couldn’t think of another option,” Senax said.

“He still said he trusted me,” Rainbow shrugged.

After Rainbow Dash had voiced her idea the group had come here but so far were still just hanging around the outskirts. While on the way, Breakwater had gone back to Ballast’s, leaving it as just the four of them to potentially solve their money problems with this. It was just like old times. There was a dingy looking alley that led down into the backstreets where they had, weeks ago now, gambled for the return of Breakwater’s money. This time they had nothing to win back, but simply wanted to “legitimately” make the money they needed to get the Heart of Azure in perfect working order and fill it with all the necessary food and supplies. Only problem was that—for obvious reasons—most of the group wasn’t too enthusiastic about gambling or saying hi to these ponies again.

“Do we just walk in there and try to find the same ones we met last time?” Daylight asked.

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded and started walking down the alley.

“But we don’t even really have any money on hoof right now, even if they didn’t turn us away would they let us start to gamble at all without any money down?” Senax asked.

Rainbow Dash winked at her too. “Don’t worry, got an idea for that.”

“I’m worried…” Senax said.

Rainbow snorted. “Oh have some more faith in me already.”

Their group walked down the alley, Rainbow Dash occasionally noticing a few ponies glancing at them from windows and hearing the sounds of some talking further in the backstreets. She kept on edge but she wasn’t exactly worried about them getting attacked or mugged or anything. That kind of criminal behavior was an especially bad idea with all the soldiers around who had nothing to do. She was willing to bet crime like that had gone down but gambling had probably gone up simply because no one here was as busy as normal and they might be desperate enough to try and make money that way.

Like they were.

Once they emerged out of the alley and into the wider backstreet, the four of them paused and took a look around. There were a number of tables set up behind old buildings that ponies were either sitting at or standing around, talking with one another. A few doors without any sort of signage on them led into other establishments, most of those doors had a pony or two standing in front of and guarding them. Pretty much everyone had a hard and unfriendly look to them and more than a few glares were sent their way. The four of them were definitely out of place.

So Rainbow Dash just smiled back at all of them. “Alright, so where’s a mare got to go for some illegal gambling?”

Daylight Gleam immediately slapped a hoof to her own face.

Gilbert and Senax looked just as uncertain and a few more nasty looks were being sent at the party than before.

One of the stallions guarding a door leading into a large brick building cleared his throat and stepped to the side. “Through here—just keep quiet about this place when you leave, okay?”

“Awesome, thanks!” Rainbow Dash grinned and walked towards him.

Daylight gawked in pure disbelief.

“Huh, I guess it is that easy,” Gilbert shrugged and followed Rainbow.

Senax patted Daylight on the back and walked over as well.

“This can’t be how the world actually works,” Daylight shook her head but also still followed the others in.

The door led into a narrow hallway that was thick with the smoke of cigars and poorly lit in the first place. It was an unpleasant experience to walk through but it was just a short trip before they ended up in a large parlor. Dim lights hung from the ceiling over a number of felt tables that were crowded with ponies while a few mares in rather outrageous outfits carried drinks around the crowd. The far back wall was a bar but nobody was seated there, all the real action was occurring at the tables.

Rainbow wasn’t sure what game was being played, but it involved dice, cups, and ponies shouting and angrily yelling at each other while smoking cigars. She even saw quite a few Malkonrik soldiers still in their armor gambling away without a care in the world.

And of course, Rainbow Dash being the highly visible and memorable pony she is, she was recognized very quickly by someone.

“You!” An angry shout came from a nearby table as a pony slammed his hooves down on it and stood up out of his chair.

Rainbow and the others looked over at him, and she raised an eyebrow. “Me?”

Quite a few of the other gamblers looked over at the source of the commotion as the one who shouted at Rainbow Dash came around his table and stomped towards her. She recognized him now too. This was the leader of those ponies who had taken Breakwater’s money and who she had recovered it from. Well, she couldn’t blame him for not being happy to see her again.

“Yes, you!” He shouted once more. “The pegasus that swindled us out of our hard-earned money!”

“Swindled?” Rainbow Dash grinned in amusement. “Pretty sure that’s what you guys did to get that money in the first place. And I got it back from pure luck, you guys just shouldn’t have let me bait you. Live with it.”

A few other ponies stood up as the one in front of her positively bristled.

Seeing the situation that was developing, Rainbow Dash placatingly held up her hooves. “Alright, look, we didn’t come here to gloat or anything like that. We want to gamble too, so how about letting us play? Give yourself a chance to make that money back. Seems like a pretty busy place in here, it’s not just run by you is it? I bet there has to be some table that will welcome us.”

“No one will welcome a cheat like you,” the pony huffed. “I don’t know how you did what you did, but no one can be that lucky. You aren’t welcome to gamble here and I’ll make sure everybody knows that.”

Rainbow bit her lip. “Okay… then I won’t gamble. But what about my friends?”

“Uhh, Rainbow Dash...” Daylight anxiously poked her in the side a couple of times.

“Relax,” Rainbow whispered back to her. “We need to make money somehow, don’t we?”

The pony took a quick look at the others—recognizing Gilbert as the rube they scammed in the first place. “As long as you don’t take any part in the games, that’s fine. The three of them can gamble all the money they want.”

“Cool,” Rainbow grinned. “What game is being played here anyways? Some dice game?”

“Liar’s Dice,” the pony answered. “It’s a game popular with pirates and other seafarers.”

“How’s it played?”

The pony raised an eyebrow. “Never heard of it? Well I’m still not stupid enough to let you play, but if your friends are just as ignorant as you I can tell you how the game goes and you can find yourselves a table. A table far away from me.”

A quick glance over her shoulder at the vacant expressions on her friends’ faces told her they didn’t know how the game was played either. “Uh, I think we probably need that crash course, yeah.”

“Fine,” the pony spat in annoyance. “Basically, the game is played like this: two or more ponies get a cup of five dice each. You shake that cup of dice and put it open-side down on the table, then you discreetly look at what you rolled. Let’s say you have three fours and two other dice. What happens next is whoever the first caller is, they’ll say like they guess that maybe there are six five’s in total in all the other hooves of dice. And if you think they’re wrong or just outright bluffing you can call them a “Liar” and make everyone reveal what they rolled. If he’s wrong then he loses and you’d roll again until you’re the last pony at the table. If he wasn’t lying then you’d be out. Course it normally takes a few rounds of calling and bluffing before anyone says something that you want to call them out over. Specially since the more ponies there are playing the more dice there are. It’s all about guessing and gambling on what the other dice turned up as, and being able to bluff while picking out an opponent’s bluff.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow said to him.

“I hope you lose quickly,” he said right back.

“Rainbow Dash!” Daylight hissed and pulled her back so they could whisper quietly to each other. “We can’t do this. How are we going to win without you?”

“It’ll be fine, one of you will just have to play instead. No reason to think we can’t win anything just because I’m not the one rolling,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Well it can’t be me playing,” Gilbert said as he pointed to himself. “I shouldn’t even need to say why.”

“That’s true,” Daylight and the others nodded. “It probably shouldn’t be me either because of my terrible luck.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. She turned her eyes to Senax.

As did Daylight and Gilbert.

Senax’s nodding slowed down and she looked from face to face before an unhappy frown stretched over her lips. Her webbed ears and entire body wilted. “Oh… oh it’s going to be me, isn’t it?”

Four cups full of dice were slammed down onto the felt table, and just as quickly afterwards the four players lifted up the cups slightly so they could discreetly check on what they rolled. Senax spied two fours, two sixes, and a one. She fought to keep herself from biting her lip or showing any sort of emotion on her face—just like Rainbow Dash had told her—as she looked up and glanced at the faces of the other ponies seated at the table and engaging in this game of Liar’s Dice. Their group had put down the last of the coins they had to be able to buy into this game, if they lost right off the bat then that would be it. Even if Senax won it would still take a good deal of time for them to make all the money they needed. And that was if she never lost a single game at all.

No pressure.

“Four sixes,” the first caller—the pony across from her—said.

Senax tried not to outwardly react but she still glanced down at her concealed hoof. With two sixes of her own it certainly wasn’t unlikely that there were at least two more out there. Definitely not something to call a bluff on. Behind her, Rainbow Dash and the others were standing, giving her moral support but having to remain totally quiet as long as the round was going on.

“Five fives,” the next pony—this one to her left—said.

Fives. Senax thought. She didn’t have a single one of those, it was way less likely that that many fives were out here, but not unlikely enough for her to call the pony a liar. Now it was her turn, and she was going to add to what the first pony started.

“Six sixes,” Senax said.

That drew a few wary glances and narrowed eyes directed at her, but Senax merely stared back at them. And no one called her out just yet, so the round continued.

“Six fives,” the last pony in the turn said.

Senax again really wanted to call him out since she didn’t have any fives and it was fairly likely the pony across from her didn’t have any either. But the pony to her left could have five fives on his own—it was unlikely but possible. All the pony to her right would need in that case was one. So still she kept her mouth zipped shut.

Now it came back to the first pony, and he purposefully let a grin stretch across his face. “Seven sixes.”

He knew that was a high number to call. Senax’s call must’ve reassured him that there were plenty more sixes out there. With the two she had, she wasn’t sure a call of seven was that unreasonable.

However, the pony to her left didn’t share her thinking.

“You’re a liar,” he said as he stood up out of his chair. “Now pull up that cup and let’s see what everyone has.”

Everyone pulled their cups up together to see if the pony was a liar or not. He had three sixes of his own along with a pair of threes. The pony to her left had four fives and a one. And the last one to her right had two fives, a three… and two sixes. Seven sixes total exactly. The first caller had gotten lucky.

“Sorry, friend, but it looks like I’m no liar today,” the pony grinned.

The one who had called him out grit his teeth in anger before knocking his cup and dice off the table and walking away. And then there were three.

It was Senax’s turn to go first now. Everyone scooped their dice back into their cups and shook them around once more before slamming them down to the table. She calmed herself down with a brief exhale and lifted the rim to check out what she had. Two ones, a two, a five, and a six. That didn’t give her much wiggle room to bluff, and she had to take into account the fact there were only fifteen dice total now.

“Two fives,” Senax said after a second.

The pony to her right took a moment to consider before looking at his own hoof again. “Two ones.”

That could be helpful. Senax had to keep from flinching in reaction.

“Two sixes,” the pony across from her said.

All in all she felt like she was in a pretty good position after that round. She knew what she was going to do next. Glancing at the pony to her right she calmly said: “Three ones.”

He glanced back at her and briefly furrowed his brow before speaking. “Three sixes.”

The pony now directly across from her didn’t wait at all. “Four sixes.

“Four ones,” and neither did Senax.

“Five sixes,” the pony to her right said.

“Liar,” the pony across grinned as his eyes narrowed at the other pony. “Pull your cups up.”

They did so and Senax’s eyes widened in surprise. The pony across from her didn’t have any sixes at all. He had been bluffing the entire time. She herself only had one and the pony to her right only had two.

A hoof slammed down on the table and the new loser angrily pushed his chair back and walked away, grumbling the whole time.

She hadn’t thought about bluffing for a number you didn’t even have at all. Unless she got really lucky somehow she wasn’t sure she could beat this pony. But she still did her best to not let her emotions show on her face. With just the two of them now she wasn’t going to be able to rely on someone else to make a mistake. Ten dice, two ponies, it was going to be tough. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked back to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her. The pegasus gave her a reassuring wink and Senax returned the smile before taking a deep breath and retrieving her dice once more to shake them again.

The cups were slammed onto the table and Senax looked at her dice.

Five fives.

It was his turn again though so he went first. “One four.”

“Two fours.”

“Three fours.”

Right there she could’ve called him liar and been pretty sure he was bluffing. But her own hoof of fives kept her from doing so. It wasn’t enough yet. There was the chance…

So she switched gears. Fast. “Four fives.”

That brought a brief hesitance to the other pony’s face. He frowned at her before grinning again. “Four fours.”

It was time to risk it all. She was going to take a gamble and assume he had overshot things, thinking she probably had at least one four. She inhaled sharply and looked him dead in the eye. “Liar.”

“Alright, alright, alright,” Rainbow Dash grinned from beside Senax. “What do you say we up the stakes this time? Give ourselves a real game. Fifty coins apiece, winner takes all!”

“You don’t have fifty coins,” one of the other ponies playing said as he pointed to the small pile next to Senax.

“Yeah but I’m super sure Senax is going to win again so I’m willing to put some stuff up as collateral,” Rainbow said.

“Collateral?” Daylight nervously asked.

“Yep!” Rainbow patted her on the back and then pointed out across the whole gambling den. “If we actually lose next round, I’ll let everyone in here who hates me punch me once. And since you probably want some real cash besides that—Senax here also has a golden treasure in her possession that we’ll give to the winner if she loses. It’s a totally priceless artifact!”

“What?” Senax hissed as she turned to glare at Rainbow Dash.

“Relax, you’ve got this. Just needed to get them to bet more,” Rainbow winked.

“Okay—fine. But when I win this next round I’m punching you anyways,” Senax frowned.

“Eheh… deal.”

Rumor

In the three days since they had all won a good deal of money from gambling, the port of Malkonrik had started to more or less return to normal as word got out that the situation in Ullsorth had settled down. Ships now regularly sailed in and out, tourists walked the streets, and businesses were booming once more. In Ballast’s shop, the Heart of Azure floated in dock, as good as new. A brand new sail was currently rolled up on the mast, ready to be opened when the group set out once more.

The only problem was they still had no idea when they’d set sail again. Despite the amount of traffic going in and out of the port there was no news that interested them. Merlantis, the Necklace, nobody had anything to say about them. They were still stuck in a rut with nothing to go on—almost getting antsy enough to choose an island or spot on the ocean at random and sail out there just to see if they could find anything. Rainbow Dash at the moment was standing at the pier with her hooves and chin resting on the wooden railing, staring off into the blue waters of the Grand Ocean.

A few new ships were getting ready to dock, maybe just one of them would have what they were looking for.

“So bored...” Rainbow Dash muttered. None of her friends were even with her right now, all of them looking for their own leads or just spending their time at Ballast’s. She should probably be a bit more proactive too but three days of this had drained her.

A long clipper ship was coming into harbor now from the east and it caught her eye because of the unusual flag it was showing. Not some unpleasant jolly-roger like Godfrey’s or a plain red flag like Bosche ships, this flag was a long piece of cloth waving in the air with the end cut into a pair of triangles. It was a deep blue color and it had the emblem of a pink rose on it. She didn’t know if that was a company’s flag or perhaps a symbol of one of the other Kingdoms, but it stuck out to her all the same.

Since they were looking like they were going to dock nearby, Rainbow Dash decided to wait around for them. Once any ponies onboard came ashore she could ask if they had heard any rumors pertaining to the Necklace or just knew anything about Merlantis and Ponyseidon at all. She knew very well though that she was still in for a bit of a wait, Breakwater had taught her how long docking and unloading procedure could be on a ship that size. So Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and lazily watched the ship come in, waiting and waiting and waiting. At least the weather was nice today and they had plenty of money to eat some good food—her stomach full of blueberry pancakes testified to that.

When the clipper had finally reached the long dock it would be using she saw its anchor drop down into the water and its crew got to work furling the sails. Of course after that it was still nearly half an hour where they were just talking and milling about on deck before they did anything else. Rainbow Dash slowly felt her brain shutting down as the rest of her body went limp and she barely managed to keep her eyes open. A deep exhale through her nose and she practically looked like a despondent Basset Hound as she rested her chin on the railing.

She didn’t know how long she was watching, all alone up at the pier, until the ponies on the clipper dropped a gangplank to begin walking down to the dock. “Finally. Sheesh.”

She took her chin off the railing and walked over to stand by the walkway that led up from the dock to the pier and street. Just waiting for them to walk by so she could say hello. There were only a few who left the ship while the rest stayed onboard, three earth ponies now walking up towards where she was. One of them she’d bet her life on was the captain—he wore a heavy white coat and a large white and golden hat. The other two looked like officers of some sort, also wearing nice white outfits but no big fancy hat.

They weren’t paying any attention to her at all as they walked up to the pier, probably thinking she was just some random tourist looking at the ships and the ocean.

That changed when she grinned and waved at them the moment they had walked up the steps from the dock.

“Yo!” Rainbow Dash happily greeted. “How was sailing?”

They seemed slightly surprised by her greeting but thankfully they weren’t rude enough to just ignore or dismiss her. The captain and his officers stopped and he dipped his head slightly to her. “Sailing was good, young lady. We’re also quite happy to be here at Malkonrik, we were worried things would still be a little too chaotic to dock.”

“Yeah, they got that sorted out pretty quick,” Rainbow laughed internally. She let her eyes briefly glance at their ship’s flag once more before raising an eyebrow at them. “So you guys aren’t from here? I’m kind of new to the Grand Ocean and I didn’t recognize your flag.”

“Ah—we’re a trading vessel licensed to the Queen of Evergarden. If you don’t know, Evergarden is the Kingdom a few down east from here, past Ullsorth and Tyne.” He shot her a questioning look this time. “Were you just curious or was there something else on your mind? I’m sorry but we have a restriction on who we can do business with in the other Kingdoms.”

“No, no, it’s not a business question really. Sorry to hold you up here but I have something quick I wanted to ask about,” Rainbow said.

“You’re not really holding us up, we aren’t really in a hurry at the moment. But what would you like to know?” The captain asked.

“Just wondering if you guys know anything—or have heard any recent rumors about—Merlantis and the Necklace of Ponyseidon?”

“Ponyseidon? I remember learning that name back when I was in school but...” the captain shrugged.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Wasn’t expecting much.”

“Didn’t he have a Trident too?” One of the officers asked.

Rainbow and the others turned to look at him, making him blush slightly.

“Well uh… that’s what I remember learning. Merlantis was his home right? My dad taught me about all the old legends like that...” he said.

“Do you uh… do you know anything more specific?” Rainbow hopefully asked.

“Actually it’s cause of those legends that I remember something I heard at the last place we stopped before here. I was busy so I couldn’t really look into it myself or nothing, but I remember hearing ponies talking about a merchant who owned some sort of impressive one-of-a-kind Trident,” he explained.

“And where was that?” Rainbow Dash practically jumped at him and grabbed him by the coat. “Where did you hear that?”

“It was at the Wandering Island, just off the coast of Evergarden.”

The Wandering Island I

“Look, I’m going to tell you all the same thing I told her: I didn’t see the Trident and I didn’t hear no one mention Ponyseidon’s name at all either. I just heard two ponies talking about some kind of unique Trident a merchant on the Wandering Island owned and put two and two together on my own cause of the legends I knew of. I don’t know exactly where the Trident is there or what it looks like or if it’s really what you’re looking for at all,” Larry the sailor explained.

“That’s still pretty good for us,” Daylight Gleam said before glancing over at Senax. “Not like we actually know what the Trident looks like, do we?”

“Unfortunately no,” Senax shook her head.

The three sailors and the five of Rainbow Dash’s group were seated in a small outdoor cafe, talking about what Rainbow Dash had discovered. The sailors luckily had plenty of time to spare and were more than willing to talk with her friends, they had patiently waited here until she gathered them all. Only Larry had anything to tell the three of them, but the captain and other officer seemed curious to hear about this too.

“And wasn’t the Trident supposed to be stuck in Merlantis at the bottom of the ocean?” Gilbert asked.

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “But who knows if that’s actually the case… I don’t want to throw away a chance.”

“Uh, I’m still confused about this “Wandering Island”. What is it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

It was Breakwater that answered. “Well it’s called that because it’s not really an island at all. It’s a gigantic, inter-connected, raft that regularly sails from one side of the Grand Ocean to the other. Visiting and trading with every Kingdom as it does. They stay relatively close to the coastline to avoid the worst storms and pirates. And Bosche.”

“A giant raft?” Rainbow Dash was still confused.

“We just stopped there so let me fill you in,” the captain—a pony by the name of Alfonso—spoke up. “The Wandering Island is hundreds of different floating platforms all connected by ropes, bridges, chains, whatever. Some of the platforms are big enough to hold multiple large buildings on, and a lot are homes to the ponies that live on the Island. They mostly let themselves flow with the currents, trawling for fish and working as a sort of massive trading hub for the northern reaches of the Grand Ocean. Think of it as one gigantic marketplace. A lot of ponies go there looking for stuff you can’t really find at a normal store in one of the Hundred Kingdoms. It has more… variety to it. There’s no big business or industry there, but there’s a lot of stuff.”

“Sounds like our kind of place,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, I think we’ve finally got a new destination in mind,” Rainbow grinned.

“Only one question,” Breakwater raised his hoof. “You just came from the Wandering Island while it was parked off the coast of Evergarden. What direction was it going in?”

“East, to Meer,” Captain Alfonso answered.

“Okay then. It should only take a few extra days to catch up to it, the Wandering Island doesn’t travel very fast,” Breakwater said.

“Worst case scenario we get to visit Meer too,” Daylight shrugged.

“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash yelled, her wings flaring open as she stood up from her chair. “Then what are we still sitting around for? We know where we’ve got to go so let’s go!”

Senax and Gilbert both grinned and even Breakwater and Daylight had small smiles on their faces.

“Well said, Rainbow. I don’t think we need to stay around here any longer,” Senax said.

Breakwater nodded to Captain Alfonso and Larry. “You’ve really been a tremendous help to us. Thanks for taking the time to talk, sorry for bothering you for so long.”

“It’s really not an issue. We waited longer just to come in to Malkonrik anyways,” Captain Alfonso shrugged.

“Well I hope whatever it was you came here for goes well, I think the five of us are going to excuse ourselves now,” Breakwater said.

“Yep! Let’s get back to Ballast’s right now!” Rainbow Dash said.

“The Heart of Azure awaits!” Gilbert cheered.

The five of them all got up and left the small cafe together, saying their farewells to Alfonso and Larry, thankful for the help they had received. Everyone felt a little rush of excitement in their hearts as they now had a destination in mind and a rumor to go on. Finding what they were looking for might still be tough, but it beat sitting around and doing nothing. Senax and Rainbow Dash especially were eager to get the Heart of Azure back to open water. Rainbow was flapping her wings and hovering fast over the street, while Senax walked along at a brisk pace. It would take an hour or so to get everything in order once they got back to Ballast’s but it was no skin off their bones. Very soon they’d be off.

“Bye! Hope you find what you’re looking for,” Larry said as he waved after them.

Alfonso and the other officer waved to before the so-far quiet pony scratched his chin and raised an eyebrow at his Captain and fellow mate.

“Hey so, that pony with the webbed ears and the flipper tail? What was she anyways?”

“Beats me,” Captain Alfonso said.

Two hours later at the port of Malkonrik, a pony walked down the street after a careful observation of Ballast’s, the so-called “Greatest shipwright in the Hundred Kingdoms”, shop revealed that the ship that was supposed to be secretly docked within was now gone. He was supposed to find the crew of that ship. But they had now sailed off somewhere else before he could speak with them.

A lot of looks were sent his way as he walked down the street thanks to his unusual appearance. Heavy black robes that covered nearly his entire body aside from his brown muzzle poking out of the hood.

What did he do now?

He continued walking aimlessly until the faintest sound of a wind chime reached his ears. That pleasant, high-pitched, sound. He wasn’t imagining it—the chime was his notice.

The pony quickly walked over to the pier and stood right beside the railing that looked out over the ocean, out of the way of most of the tourists and the other traffic at port. He reached up and pulled down his hood, revealing amber eyes and a dark brown mane of long dreadlocks interlaced with seashells. Pulling something from inside his robe he took out a small conch shell and held it up to his ear.

“Hello, Priestess.”

To anyone else around, even if they were standing right next to him, they would’ve only heard the sounds of the ocean coming from the shell.

“No, Priestess. I’m sorry but I arrived here too late. They were already gone.”

Another moment’s pause.

“Yes, Priestess, I understand. I will wait for them. However long it takes.”

The pony put the shell back into his robe and calmly looked out into the Grand Ocean. The rest of the world around him might as well not have existed.

The Wandering Island II

Rainbow Dash once more happily stood in the crow’s nest of the Heart of Azure as she sailed east towards their newest destination. It was nice to see the ship looking so good for the first time since… well, since they had left Malkonrik the first time. The brand new white sail flowed down in front of the mast as the wind filled it from behind and made their journey even easier. Down below, the rest of the ship had been cleaned and freshly repaired of any minor nicks and scratches. Ballast did good work and the hull of the small vessel may as well have been brand new. The fresh look of the ship reflected the fresh new feeling in the hearts of all the ponies onboard. Things were going to be better this time.

After all, there wasn’t really a way things could go worse.

Rainbow frowned, better not jinx it. She gave Gilbert enough grief for that after all.

Speaking of the griffon, he was sitting at the port side of the ship, watching the blue waters as they sailed past. Probably on the lookout for fish or anything else swimming through the ocean. She was almost surprised he wasn’t down below just writing in his diary—or bothering her or someone else on the ship for some reason. Rainbow wasn’t against maybe going out on a flight, having a race, today but she kind of felt more like napping in the crow’s nest right now.

Senax was at the helm, steering the ship while Breakwater and Daylight Gleam talked near the bow. Rainbow Dash could probably lean down a little and listen in but she seriously doubted they were talking about anything worth eavesdropping on. So with nothing really to look at down there, Rainbow Dash lied down on her back and stared up at the sky.

The middle of the day and it was a cloudy blue above. Not especially cloudy, but enough puffs were up there where she never saw a totally blue sky. The clouds were all a comfortable white color too, no storm clouds, not anything even approaching gray or rainy. It was a good bet that they wouldn’t have any trouble with bad weather for the duration of their trip. Especially since they were more or less hugging the coastline of the Hundred Kingdoms. If Rainbow Dash wanted to she could sit back up again and look north and still just barely make out the coast.

And probably a lot of ships that were traveling the lanes looking to dock. Right now they were off the coast of Ullsorth so there were already a lot of ships that had wanted to stop there earlier that finally could now. Or ones that had left in a hurry and wanted to come back.

That thought brought a grin to her face. She kind of hoped one day she’d hear word about Commodore Redbeard again. It would be fun to teach him that she hadn’t been kidding or blowing smoke about what she threatened.

Moving her mind back to more positive thoughts, she kept staring at the clouds as they drifted by. Counting them, thinking about what they looked like, thinking about what it would feel like to sleep on one of them. That one drifting right above the ship now looked like a turtle…

She ended up falling asleep without even realizing it.

“I told you she was out like a light when I went up to check on her. No reason to bother her when she’s having such a nice nap,” Gilbert said as he sat at the table in Breakwater’s cabin with Senax and Daylight.

“Even when we’re eating?” Daylight asked.

“The food isn’t going anywhere,” Gilbert shrugged. “I think she’d prefer to just get rest when she clearly wants to than to eat at the same time as us.”

Daylight shrugged. “Alright, I feel like your brain syncs up with hers better than mine.”

“We didn’t have to eat lunch now but… I really wanted to try out some of the new food we got at Malkonrik,” Senax said. “With all the extra money we had we really went overboard with luxury items...”

Those luxury items included a lot of snacks and candies that you could find in stores all over Malkonrik. Normally Breakwater wouldn’t have wanted them to waste money and storage space on extra stuff like that, not for a serious voyage, but he figured they all could use some comfort food like that. A wide variety of chocolate bars and saltwater taffy now sat in the hold, among other things. Even for their normal meals though they had decided to splurge a bit and get stuff that was of a little higher quality than what they had before. Technically after all it wasn’t just Breakwater’s money anymore.

And technically Senax had done all the hard work. She just wasn’t the type to lord that fact over everybody else. But she was the type to maybe push everyone else to loosen the wallet a little so they had tastier food.

So no stale looking and stale tasting bread for the duration of this journey. They had fresh fruit, fresh pies for dessert, freshly grown asparagus and spinach, butter, honey and biscuits, lentil soup, oats, and some of the best hay and hay products you could find at the Malkonrik port. They had more than enough of the good stuff to tide them over for the short trip to and from the Wandering Island. After that is when they could start minding the money again and buying a little more smartly.

For the moment, since Rainbow Dash was napping and Breakwater had taken over at the helm, it was just the three of them here to dig in and taste test their new food for the first time.

Which they all did with glee and not an ounce of hesitation.

They all ended up eating far more than they should have but they certainly weren’t going to blame themselves for that. Rainbow Dash would’ve been exactly the same if she was down here. They polished off their plates until there wasn’t even the smallest crumb or speck of food left. All that was edible in the cabin now was the portion Senax and Gilbert had also brought out for Breakwater.

Normally Senax would go out and give it to him but she was in a semi-coma from overeating.

“Mmm… that was really, really, good,” the merpony said, her stomach full.

“I agree. Not quite as good as that restaurant we kept getting breakfast at, but it’s better than anything I expected us to eat while sailing,” Daylight said.

“Rainbow will be happy to know that we tested the food for her and it passed with flying colors,” Gilbert grinned.

“I’ll go wake her up when I take Breakwater his food… but just in another five minutes,” Senax closed her eyes and rested.

“Don’t fall asleep yourself,” Daylight wryly grinned.

“Mmm...”

“Someone certainly tired themselves out,” Gilbert said as he stood up from his seat. “As for me, after a meal like that I could go for a flight to burn off some of that excess energy! And maybe go looking for a fish to catch, some meat would also hit the spot after that lunch.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Like you didn’t have enough already… but go have your fun, Gilbert.”

Gilbert waved to her and walked out of the cabin. The unicorn then turned to her merpony friend and raised an eyebrow.

“Senax? Senax, did you actually fall asleep?”

The Wandering Island III

Past the coast of Evergarden now, this may have actually been the furthest east on the Grand Ocean Rainbow Dash had actually traveled. She’d have to check a map to be sure. That Kingdom certainly had lived up to its name though. Every time Rainbow Dash had looked north at the coast she saw green, green, and more green. Looking at the coast now it was completely different, if she squinted her eyes all she saw was a brown and rocky coastline. Whatever Kingdom that was it wasn’t very inviting, but she hadn’t gotten the name of it from Breakwater or anybody else yet.

Either way, they all knew for certain now that the Wandering Island was still further east. However long it had stayed in the waters off of Evergarden was long over. Breakwater assumed they would still catch up with it before they had to go as far as Meer but even he wasn’t totally sure.

Rainbow Dash didn’t exactly mind, maybe they’d see something cool along the way? And like always, it was way easier to deal with traveling if you had a set destination in mind and something to look forward to rather than just aimlessly going forth. That had been something she realized many times on her journey by now and it hadn’t changed on the Grand Ocean either.

“So Gilbert, you give any thought to what you’re going to do after we find Merlantis and everything?” Rainbow Dash asked the griffon.

“Oh, not anything for certain, but I know I’ll be out adventuring somewhere again. I don’t think settling down is for me,” he answered.

“Well—I understand that. Not that I’d give up my home for anything but yeah, after being on this adventure for so long I get where you’re coming from. You’ll still make it to Equestria one day though, right?”

“Of course. I plan to visit Griffonstone again one day too. Just probably not for that long.”

The two of them were flying together over the Heart of Azure and had been pretty much for the entire day now. Not really doing or talking about anything in particular, but just enjoying each other’s company and taking the time to stretch their wings instead of walking about on deck. It was a welcome break in the monotony of sea travel. Rainbow Dash did sort of enjoy checking out the coast and the clouds for a bit, but that couldn’t keep her restless spirit interested forever. Of course, neither could just lazily flying along like this. At one point or another she was probably going to end up challenging Gilbert to a race or another fishing contest.

Going in that cold water though… eh, maybe not.

“Hmmm...” Rainbow Dash murmured. “You’ve got your sister, right? Gonna say hi to her in Griffonstone when you stop there?”

“Yes, certainly, but probably only briefly since I wouldn’t want to remind her how badly I annoy her.”

“Good idea. After that you can come right over to Equestria… I get the feeling you’d get along real well with Pinkie Pie.”

“I’m sure I’ll find all your friends charming!” Gilbert smiled.

“Yeah, but they might uh, not all feel the same,” Rainbow grimaced.

“Ah, that’s true. I’m well aware of how I come off to others,” Gilbert nodded a few times.

“Are—are you?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him.

He lifted up a talon and shook it uncertainly. “Ehhh.”

Rainbow Dash just snorted and shook her head. “Never change, Gilbert. I’ll give you credit though, I prefer you to your brother about a million times over.”

“Well, that just goes without saying.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked ahead to the east, spotting a mostly clear sky with just a few big clouds visible. “Hey, I’m getting kind of bored of just flying like this. You up for a race? To the first big cloud up ahead and back?”

Gilbert took a gander at the cloud she was talking about before answering. “I believe I’m up for that. Do I get a handicap this time?”

“I’ll give you a ten-second head start.”

Gilbert chuckled mirthlessly. “Heh—with you as my opponent that’s practically nothing.”

“Use it as motivation to become a faster flier,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Normally a head start like that would be huge for races.”

“Not races against you,” Gilbert replied.

“Well if I gave you any more than that I’d feel bad when I still beat you.”

“Oh, thank you then.”

“So come on, are we doing this or not?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, yes, I’m not backing out,” Gilbert sighed.

“Then get as ready as you need and start flying out there whenever you want. I’ll count to ten after and start chasing after you.”

“Won’t be much of a chase...” Gilbert quietly grumbled as he started to stretch his wings and psyched himself up as best he could for the race. A few deep breaths and one last big shake of his body to work all the kinks out—and he shot off at full-speed immediately and without any warning.

“Heh. One,” Rainbow Dash started counting with a big grin on her face.

The following afternoon was an equally lazy day as they approached the waters of Meer. According to Breakwater they were less than an hour away from the “border” of the furthest east of all the Hundred Kingdoms. Good waters and even better wind had let them travel fast to their destination. Though the Wandering Island itself was not quite in view yet, it should be soon unless they were further out from the coast than Breakwater thought.

“Hey, Senax? Wanna play cards until we get there? After how you did at Liar’s Dice I’m thinking maybe you’d actually make decent competition for me,” Rainbow asked. Right now all of them, except for Gilbert who was at the bow, were by the helm with Breakwater.

“No thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Senax calmly replied. “Barely winning at that is one thing—beating you at cards is something different entirely.”

“You’re too lucky,” Daylight grumbled from beside them.

“Well you’re just really unlucky too,” Rainbow said to the unicorn. “And you give up too quickly.”

“I’m well aware of these things,” Daylight frowned.

“Sorry—I thought if I didn’t remind you about it every now and then you’d actually smile and have some fun, and that would just be kind of weird,” Rainbow grinned.

Daylight huffed and rolled her eyes. “Oh whatever...”

“She’s right though, it would be kind of weird to see you like that,” Breakwater said.

“And I see that everyone is against me once more,” Daylight’s eye twitched.

“Don’t let it get to you,” Rainbow Dash snickered and patted her on the back.

A sharp whistle then cut out any reply Daylight might have had to give her—and Gilbert yelled to them from the bow.

“I say! I say, everyone! I believe I can see the Wandering Island ahead!”

He didn’t need to say that twice, Rainbow Dash immediately jetted from the helm to right down next to him with both Senax and Daylight running on her heels. She practically leaned as far over the bow as she could and squinted her eyes to get the best look—temporarily forgetting she could’ve flown up higher to get an even better one—and was rewarded with the sight of something floating far ahead on top of the water. It covered a large area, and in the center she saw what looked like buildings, several stories high, rising sheer from the water.

The Wandering Island IV

A vast, floating, metropolis spread across the waters south of Meer. The brief descriptions from Breakwater and Alfonso didn’t do it justice. It was strange to see some of it float up and bob regularly while other parts stayed steady, the larger rafts not as easily swayed by the relatively calm waters here. The outskirts of the artificial island was mostly taken up by smaller rafts and platforms with all sorts of little shacks built on them or just left completely open—but mainly there were a lot of little berths and places for ships to dock at, along with a couple of miniature lighthouses. The truly outrageous part about this “Wandering Island” though was the interior. The rafts and platforms got more and more crowded and closer together the farther in one went until it became a cramped and claustrophobic mess of random and misshapen buildings that followed no code or style or had the same building materials. Whatever floated and stayed up seemed to be all that mattered. It was almost some kind of insane cross between a junk heap and a city. There were a couple of places Rainbow had been to on her journey with very “utilitarian” and cramped mechanical looks to them.

But of everywhere else she had seen in the world, this place most reminded her of a Klugetown with smaller buildings.

She hoped it was friendlier than there.

There was one other particular aspect of the Wandering Island she noticed too, a lot of the buildings had windmills on top of them, and a lot of independent platforms were entirely dedicated to holding up big windmills. She figured that made sense, you got plenty of wind out here and you could use those to generate power easily, or grind stuff in mills. The more she looked she also saw that there were a lot of water wheels dipping off the sides of some rafts, probably all having the same purpose.

The ponies here probably knew how to make the best of what they had and then some.

As the Heart of Azure made its way towards some of the outlying rafts where a lot of other ships were docked and tied up, Rainbow Dash flew down from the crow’s nest to chat up Breakwater.

“So we’re really going to just have to explore this whole place and ask if anybody’s seen a trident?” She asked him.

“Unfortunately, yes. You can see for yourself that there wasn’t much planning or forethought put into this place. Things just popped up where they needed to go and where they wanted to go. There are some places that are pretty heavy with shops, traders, and merchants, but in the end they’re still scattered all over the island,” he answered.

Rainbow Dash looked at the raft they were coming close to stopping at, it seemed kind of exposed. “Are we going to have to leave someone here to guard the ship?”

“Heh,” Breakwater chuckled and shook his head. “Naw, no need to worry about that. The Wandering Island isn’t some lawless place where anything goes. Not a pirate den or anything like that you know? They’ve got their own system here and plenty of security. Every ship that docks is safely watched over.”

Considering how unprotected the ship would be—just sitting out and floating in the open water—they had better be. “If you say so.”

“I wouldn’t let us leave something like Senax’s Horn of Listening behind without anyone to watch it if I wasn’t sure,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Fair enough. I mean you definitely know the place better than me.”

“Well let’s say if we do get robbed, again, or the ship just gets flat out stolen then I owe you a drink.”

“Eh, deal.”

Breakwater then brought their ship in to one of the open berths on a larger raft meant for ships to dock at. They were separated from the ships next to them by lines of buoys all roped together and floating off from the main raft. The side of the raft was covered in rubber tubes to allow the Heart of Azure to gently “bump” into it and come to a stop. Right after that, Breakwater whistled and Gilbert rolled up the sail while Daylight and Senax dropped the anchor over the side. The anchor of course wouldn’t reach the ocean floor this far from the coast but it would steady the ship and make it not move around as much in the water. Once they were done and in the berth, a group of ponies from the raft wearing life-jackets and red badges around their necks came in with a series of ropes, throwing them up aboard the Heart of Azure so they could tie it in place and safely secure the ship.

The five of them got to that just as quickly, tying ropes around the various metal loops on the Heart of Azure just for that purpose. And it was done, they were now docked at the Wandering Island.

Seeing they didn’t need a gangplank or a ladder, the other ponies backed off and let Gilbert and Rainbow Dash fly the others down to the raft.

“Greetings, any goods to declare?” One of the ponies asked and stepped forward.

Breakwater shook his head. “Nope, we won’t be offloading anything. Just looking and I guess you could say exploring too.”

“Alright, do as you will, we get plenty of visitors just stopping by. What’s your name and the name of your vessel?” The pony asked.

“I’m Captain Breakwater and she’s the Heart of Azure.”

The pony nodded and sharply whistled to one of his coworkers. The new beckoned pony pulled out a strip of red paper with the numbering “11-B” on it and quickly scrawled on it with a black pen before hoofing it over to Breakwater. Now under the 11-B it also had his name and Heart of Azure written down.

“That’s your identification proving you are who you say you are and that the ship belongs to you. Do not lose it,” the first pony stiffly said. “Believe me, you don’t want to go through that trouble.”

“Thanks, and yeah, I’ve been here before so I’m familiar with it,” Breakwater said.

“Just take it as a reminder then, and enjoy your visit to the Wandering Island.” The pony gave them all one last nod before he and his coworkers stepped away and got back to doing other business.

“Hopefully we will,” Senax whispered quietly from behind.

Rainbow Dash looked back and gave her a comforting grin. “Come on, we totally will. You gotta believe, Senax.”

The merpony smiled at her. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Anyways, where do we go first? Straight to the biggest and busiest part of the island?” Daylight asked, her eyes looking towards the metropolis in the center.

“I want to go there just because it looks interesting...” Gilbert said.

“We’re not here to sight-see Gilbert. We’re back on a mission,” Daylight frowned at him.

“Well that is where we’re going to check first anyways,” Breakwater said. “It’s just the most likely place to find what we’re looking for… even though it could end up being like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“Sounds fine with me. If it’s going to take some time to find that trident then let’s get started as soon as fast as possible!” Rainbow said and already floated up above the others, flapping her wings like a bumblebee. “Come on!”

Daylight grinned. “Right behind you.”

The Wandering Island V

“Man, getting around here without wings would be a pain,” Rainbow said as she flew between some of the narrow buildings, over the canals of seawater between rafts below.

“Yeah. It would be,” Daylight grumbled as she was forced to walk on the narrow wooden “sidewalk” of the raft she and Rainbow Dash were currently exploring. She was sharing it with many other ponies, making it crowded and even more of a pain to use. Travel was slow thanks to that and Daylight had been jostled and bumped into by far too many others already.

It was starting to get on her nerves.

As was Rainbow Dash’s ability to avoid it all.

“Come on, can’t you hurry it up down there?” Rainbow asked her, getting impatient.

The angry glare shot up at her was the only answer she received.

To cover as much of the island and as many shops as possible they had split into three different groups. Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam formed one pair, Gilbert and Senax the other, and Breakwater was off on his own. Together they had started to scour the central labyrinth of the Wandering Island, planning to meet up later to see what they had found. It was a pretty random search so far since all they knew for sure was… nothing. For all they knew an eel monger had the rumored trident and was merely keeping it stored away, not knowing what it was. It could be for sale at a merchant’s shop or it could be a decoration in someone else’s home. They just didn’t have much to go on.

Daylight had also been wary of simply asking if anybody around knew about the supposed trident, not wanting word to spread that ponies were looking for it. If others found out what it was or the owner discovered its true nature and power…

So the outcome from that was their currently slow and annoying travails across the many rafts and through the many buildings of this place. It didn’t help that many of these bigger rafts in the center of the “city” had multiple buildings all haphazardly built on them, creating narrow and criss-crossing alleys that didn’t bother going straight, many of which simply ended in dead ends. A lot of the buildings were also made with… less than standard building materials and not to any real specifications. Driftwood, logs, sheets of metal, lots of pipes jutting out everywhere, no building looked alike and some standing right next to each other were completely different. She had to give it to the Wandering Island that it certainly had a lot of unique character.

Daylight shoved past another group of ponies and came to a stop in front of a storefront with frosted glass windows that she couldn’t see inside. She whistled up to Rainbow Dash and called her down.

“Nother store?” Rainbow asked as she landed.

“Yeah, just like that last shopkeep told us,” Daylight said. “Ugh, I really hope this is the place we’re looking for cause I’m getting sick of fighting my way through this crazy place.”

“Kind of tough to know for sure since you don’t want to mention the word “trident” while looking through their stuff...” Rainbow said.

“We can maybe mention it offhoof to see if they’ve heard anything without giving our intentions away,” Daylight rolled her eyes. Without waiting for Rainbow Dash’s retort she opened the door to the store and walked in.

This shop was yet another trinket store on the Wandering Island. The latest of many they had searched through. According to the last shop they had visited, this one in particular dealt in old antiques and things fished up from all across the ocean. As Daylight looked about it she noticed that was probably accurate, since a lot of the stuff was old and rusty or falling apart. Some things in glass cases even had old fossilized barnacles and seashells stuck on them and there were a few skeletonized shark jaws hanging from the ceiling. A couple of bookcases to her right and left were full of disintegrating books where the ink was so faded on the spine she couldn’t read what any of them were at all.

She realized very quickly that “old” in this shop’s case was almost certainly not going to translate to “valuable” or “important”. But it was still another place to check.

“It’s like they just trawled up a bunch of junk from the ocean floor,” Rainbow Dash whispered into her ear.

“Yeah, but don’t say that to the owner, wherever they are. Let’s just browse the aisles and see if we can find the trident.”

They hadn’t received any greeting and there were far too many shelves and tables full of ju—trinkets to really see that far back into the store. Daylight headed down one path towards some old paintings and Rainbow Dash walked the opposite direction towards what looked like an old collection of plates and cutlery. Of course while the plates weren’t dirty they were stained and even chipped in places and the cutlery had obvious rust, the paintings weren’t any better with most having completely oozed down their canvases and the colors all melting together.

“This is more like a trash can than a store,” Daylight muttered. “One pony’s trash is another one’s treasure but still, does the owner just buy anything sailors bring in for them?”

“More or less.”

Daylight jolted up in shock and looked to see a pony spying on her between some of the shelves. A young yellow unicorn stallion wearing an apron and holding a broom.

“A-Are you the owner? I’m sorry I-”

He grinned. “Relax, it’s my grandfather’s store. He’s asleep right now so you don’t need to worry. Honestly he’d probably agree with you too.”

“Oh, well still, I shouldn’t have been so rude,” Daylight said.

“Well, the store is well known here as a place that takes in any old trash sailors find that they want to get rid of. Gramps doesn’t discriminate and he likes to think everything still has its own value or collectibility to someone. I’m Lemon Breeze by the way. You?” He said and offered a hoof for her to shake through the shelves.

“Daylight Gleam,” she took it and smiled.

“Looking for anything in particular that you came in here for? Or just killing time browsing?”

“Well uh...” Daylight grimaced, not sure if she should really say this or not, but the kid seemed really honest and forthcoming. And they hadn’t had luck yet so far. “Would you happen to have anything like a… trident?”

His eyes widened a bit in surprise at the unusual question. “A trident? Like a weapon or something more ornamental?”

“Oh so we are just telling it to everyone now?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The two unicorns squeaked in surprise and looked up to see a silently hovering Rainbow Dash hanging above them by the ceiling.

“Hiya, name’s Rainbow Dash.”

“Lemon Breeze...” the stallion nodded.

“Well you heard her-” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over the shelves and dropped down next to him, raising an eyebrow at the helping hoof. “Got any tridents?”

“Um, let me think for a moment,” Lemon Breeze said as he brought a hoof up to his chin in thought. His eyes went down to the floor as he racked his brain going over the scattered inventory that was inside this store. “A trident? I don’t think we do...”

“Great,” Daylight Gleam sighed in disappointment.

“Although...”

Both Rainbow Dash and Daylight looked at him expectantly.

“Although what?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I think I remember hearing some others in my line of work talking about another shopkeeper who owned some kind of fancy trident,” Lemon Breeze said.

“Where?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her wings flaring open in excitement.

“Yeah, do you know where that shop is?” Daylight asked.

“Of course, it’s-”

FWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The piercing sound of an incredibly loud whistle came from outside, penetrating the building and making the ponies inside wince and cover their ears. It kept going and going too, lasting almost half a minute before stopping. When it finally did, both Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam grimaced and looked back at the front of the store, wondering what that was about. From outside they could now also hear the panicked yells and frantic movement of all the other ponies out there on the raft’s walkways.

“What was that about? What’s going on?” Rainbow wondered. She made a wing-assisted hop right over the shelves and walked to the front of the store, looking out through the frosted glass windows as best she could.

Daylight frowned and looked back at Lemon Breeze. “Lemon, do you know-”

His face was pale as he clenched the broom he was holding tightly in his hooves. “Oh no… we’re all in danger.”

“Danger?” Rainbow asked.

“That steam whistle is the warning siren for the Wandering Island, used to warn us about pirates or storms. D-Depending on how many times it blows and how long, it tells us what’s coming...” Lemon Breeze gulped. “One blow like that… it’s Bosche. A Bosche slaving fleet is coming right for us.”

To the south of the Wandering Island, three large Bosche Junks and two support ships, their hulls darker than night and their sails red as blood, were swiftly approaching.

The Wandering Island VI

The recently demoted Commander Calhoun stood at the front of the central Junk as it sailed towards the Wandering Island. This entire operation had been his idea, even if he wasn’t the commanding officer, and a way for him to regain the prestige he had lost after the disastrous excursion to the Sea Lion Reefs. That humiliation would finally be undone, the embarrassing surrender, the return with empty hooves, the loss of the slaves they had left with. He was lucky he hadn’t been demoted further or outright executed.

But even what had happened was far too much of a slight for his proud soul to bear. Now his preparations to gain the favor of the admiralty and nobility of Bosche were about to come to fruition.

The Wandering Island had been struck by Bosche raids in the past, but not frequently and not recently. Its constant movement and tendency to stay close to the coast of the Hundred Kingdoms, further north than Bosche ships usually traveled, made it a difficult and even dangerous target.

A smirk graced Calhoun’s lips as he squinted through his monocle. That’s why he had scouts figure out when it would be drifting south of Meer—the most peaceful and least militaristic of any Kingdom—and when the traffic coming in and out of Meer’s port would be at its lowest. It was the perfect time to strike now.

“This plan of yours had better work out, Calhoun. I would be very cross if we didn’t get what we wanted here after coming so far.”

Calhoun instantly stiffened and turned around, bowing his head low to the deck as he no longer had the rank to gaze upon the one speaking without first being given permission. “I promise we will be able to fill our holds with slaves before the day is done, Admiral Xing.”

The Admiral was silent for a moment and Calhoun fought not to sweat. Admiral Xing came from one of the oldest and most influential families of Bosche, he was second only to Admiral Bin’Tavy in prominence and power. Because his noble family was even higher than Bin’Tavy’s there were quite a few who grumbled about the fact that Xing should be in full command of Bosche’s navy. Yet as of now apparently none had petitioned the emperor about such a thing, and Bin’Tavy was still very popular himself. Including to Calhoun who used to report directly to the Admiral before he was shuffled off to lower duties.

“Raise your head, you may look upon me and speak at ease.”

Commander Calhoun did so, though slowly. The Admiral was a tall and thin pegasus in his sixties with a faded purple coat and a blue mane and tail with a bushy white mustache hanging off the sides of his face. The black and red silk uniform he wore was even more elaborate and ceremonial than Calhoun’s old Captain’s uniform, with wide shoulder pauldrons and golden flames embroidered along his sides. Next to the Admiral, a silent servant perpetually stood with a teapot and cups balanced on his back, ready to serve the Admiral at a moment’s notice. And behind him stood two shackled slaves with heavy palm leaves for the Admiral’s comfort.

“Thank you, Admiral,” Calhoun said. “And there is no need for any worry. I have studied the Wandering Island extensively to lead into this operation. Most of the ships here are from travelers who will now be fleeing after seeing us. And the island’s security forces are not prepared or equipped to deal with soldiers like ours. There will be no serious resistance. In fact I believe we’ll even be able to convince the ponies in charge of the island’s functions to hand over any young and able-bodied ponies we ask for, as well as any other valuables we may wish to take. From what I researched this place is a potential treasure trove of artifacts from across the Grand Ocean.”

Admiral Xing stared down at him with an unimpressed look. “It looks like a floating garbage heap.”

Calhoun coughed. “Yes, well, looks can be deceiving. There is no doubt at least that there are plenty of ponies here to enslave.”

“True. Perhaps any stragglers that we catch before they can leave would be a good stock of slave as well. Probably more robust than the ones that live in such a… vile and low-class place.”

“I will personally see that only the best and strongest stallions are taken onboard, Admiral. And the most beautiful of mares. Despite recent events I ask you to trust in my reputation and what I have done for Bosche’s glory in the past,” Calhoun said. It was risky to get that haughty but if he was lucky the Admiral would respect it.

The Admiral took a long gaze at the floating island before nodding minutely and turning around, walking back to his personal quarters aboard the Junk. “Very well. I give you full command of the attack and roundup of slaves as of now, you may speak with me again when we are preparing to leave.”

“Thank you, Admiral!” Commander Calhoun smiled and bowed, waiting until the Admiral’s hoofsteps were out of earshot before getting back up and looking past the bow at the close target. “I’ll finally regain my glory, the Admiral believes in me, good word will spread through the rest of the navy and back to the homeland as well! This raid will be my crowning achievement!” He took a deep breath and puffed out his chest, getting ready to take command of the assault.

“Oh great, those guys again,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“I think my bad luck is infecting you,” Daylight said to her.

“Nah, I usually found my way into stuff like this before running into you guys.”

“A-Aren’t the two of you more worried?” Lemon Breeze asked them, still shaking. “Bosche is attacking us, they have soldiers and they enslave ponies!”

“Yeah, I know. And what are you guys going to do? You have security right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“They just keep peace and order here, they can’t fight actual soldiers like the ones from Bosche! You hear all that running outside? It’s from most of the travelers and visitors rushing back to their ships so they can try and get out of here before whatever Bosche ships are out there reach us! You should be doing the same,” Lemon Breeze told them.

Rainbow Dash looked over at Daylight Gleam. “That would be the smart thing to do, right? Most ponies are probably doing that.”

Daylight Gleam returned her look and nodded. “Yep. Most.”

“Uh, what are you two going to do?”

Rainbow Dash just grinned at him. “Kid, wake up your gramps and find someplace safe to hideout at for now. In an hour or two this will all be taken care of.”

“I guess searching for the trident gets put on hold,” Daylight sighed.

“Only for a little while. These clowns won’t take long to deal with,” Rainbow shrugged.

“True enough,” Daylight smirked.

“Are… are you going to fight Bosche?” Lemon Breeze seemed completely disbelieving.

“Sounds like someone has to. Once I’ve kicked their butts, again by the way, we’ll come back here so you can tell us about that trident. Sounds good?” Rainbow asked.

Lemon Breeze nodded. “Y-Yeah. Sure.”

“Breakwater, Gilbert, and Senax are going to be looking for us already,” Daylight said.

“Yeah. So I should probably go out there and make myself noticeable,” Rainbow grinned and opened up the store’s door. “Wonder if those losers have more than one ship with them this time.”

“Stay safe,” Daylight said to Lemon Breeze and walked out with Rainbow Dash.

“You too...” the young unicorn waved goodbye, not sure what exactly was happening.

The Wandering Island VII

“Well I figured you’d be somewhere around here getting ready to fight,” Breakwater said to Rainbow Dash.

“You know me well,” she grinned back to him.

The group of five had found themselves on a southern raft of the Wandering Island where many ships were docked. And where many of those ships were currently trying to leave from. Clear as day that none of these ponies wanted anything to do with Bosche. Breakwater had been the last to arrive, seeing Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flying in the sky and finally joining them here. Now since this platform could clearly see out into the open ocean south of the island, they were able to fully take in the situation.

“Geez, five whole ships this time? I guess they might actually put up a fight,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically stated.

“I’m assuming you’re going to go out and do something stupid then?” Daylight asked her.

“I mean—I don’t consider it stupid. And if it works it’s automatically not stupid,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Want any help?” Gilbert offered, spreading his wings.

“Thanks, Gilbert, but—and no offense here—I’d be more worried about you getting shot down by one of their ballistas if you came out with me,” Rainbow told him.

“So you really are planning on going out there and dealing with all those Bosche ships and the soldiers on them by yourself?” Senax asked. The merpony was clearly more worried than Daylight’s ambivalent annoyance.

“Yep. I want you guys to keep things safe here, deal with anyone who slips past me if it takes me a little longer to deal with the ships than I think it will. Be pretty bad if one of those big Junks actually docks on the island and they start trying to take slaves.”

“We’ll handle things here,” Daylight nodded.

“Although considering it’s you I don’t think we’ll have much to do,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Which I’m not complaining about,” Daylight said.

“Just be careful okay? They’re still much more dangerous than those pirates we just dealt with in Ullsorth,” Senax said.

Rainbow grinned at her and winked. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Not reassuring,” Daylight grumbled.

“I know how much you’d miss me so if you’re really that worried I promise I’ll be extra careful out there,” Rainbow said to the unicorn.

“Oh just go ahead already.”

Rainbow Dash snickered and shot up into the sky, waving to them as she went. “Be back soon!”

“Good luck, have fun!” Gilbert waved up to her.

“I don’t know if that’s what you should be saying...” Breakwater said to him.

Soldiers had mustered on the decks of the three Junks and the two support ships, pegasi messengers were taking Commander Calhoun’s orders from ship to ship so the assault was coordinated correctly. The two Captains of the other Junks had their ships spread out slightly towards the eastern and western sides of the Wandering Island to box in any ships that were too late to leave. The support vessels came up between them and his central Junk to form a “net” that any southbound vessels would also be caught by. As soon as the ballistas and other weapons were brought to bear on them, most would surrender and try to bargain their way free.

A gleeful smile came to Calhoun’s face. Technically both of the Captains outranked him but he was still entrusted with command of the operation by the Admiral. It made him swell with both pride and hope.

“This will go off without a hitch, it’s already looking perfect.”

“Yo, message for ya from Junk 94!”

“Ah, thank you, what does Captain Limmer have to say-” Calhoun suddenly paused, the absurdly casual way of speaking finally registering in his brain. “Wait. What?”

He turned around and looked up to see a pegasus floating above the deck. Holding another unconscious pegasus by the scruff of his uniform. That other pegasus, that very, very, familiar pegasus, smiled at him.

“Sorry, the usual messenger had a bit of a problem and can’t deliver whatever news he had to you,” she said as she let him go and the messenger fell to the deck with a grunt of pain. “But it turns out I have a message of my own to deliver to you.”

Rainbow Dash lowered herself to look him eye to eye, her face suddenly frowning as she glared at him through his monocle. “Didn’t I tell you to stop doing this?”

Calhoun’s face paled and he backed away. “S-SOLDIERS!”

“Oh yeah, like that’s going to help,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

It did at least quickly get the attention of the soldiers on deck, who with Commander Calhoun’s yell were now alerted to the pegasus invader. There were many more soldiers onboard this Junk than there were the last one Rainbow Dash had boarded. Probably because they were attacking someplace with a much higher population density than the Sea Lion Reefs and that might also fight back. Either way Rainbow Dash soon found herself surrounded on three sides by lines of several dozen spear and halberd wielding soldiers.

“You know if you guys are getting this distracted by me isn’t it going to ruin your attack? That’s a big target you’re going for, I’d hate for things to get ruined just because you spend so much time trying to deal with me,” Rainbow said.

The soldiers though were far too well-trained to even hesitate or speak back to her. It was drilled into them to utterly obey their superiors and question nothing.

Commander Calhoun on the other hoof began to sweat. She was right, things were already starting to unfold since she had taken out a messenger and was now occupying the soldiers. They couldn’t coordinate as well now and the other Captains were all going to have to act on their own. That shouldn’t be too big of an issue though, right? They were experienced with catching slaves and dealing with problems on their own. All that needed to be done was taking care of this pegasus and then he could get in contact with them. He just hoped the Admiral didn’t hear the commotion out here on deck…

Rainbow Dash meanwhile was looking around at all the soldiers with a big grin on her face. “Question. How many soldiers does it take to stop one pegasus from Equestria? Answer. More than this.”

“D-Don’t act all haughty!” Calhoun yelled at her. “You and your friends were barely able to deal with my soldiers last time after a surprise attack! Y-You cannot stand up to Bosche’s might alone!”

Rainbow just lifted an eyebrow at him while she rose up into the air a little bit. “Oh yeah? Let me fill you in on something. The only reason I didn’t just take your whole ship out by myself back then was because I was worried about my friends. Now it’s just me and your soldiers out here. You want to see what’s about to happen?”

“Tch,” Calhoun clicked his tongue and gestured at the soldiers. “Soldiers! Attack now, kill the pest!”

The nearest ones ran forward and jumped in the air, thrusting their weapons towards Rainbow Dash in a perfectly coordinated attack. Just like last time, she was impressed with the discipline they showed. Many others that had hung back were waiting for the opportune moment to strike as well—they didn’t have to speak with one another to know what they were going to do. So Rainbow Dash decided to go all out and not give them even the slightest handicap. She was going to take things seriously for once.

Every weapon came at her at the same time so a normal pony would never be able to dodge or block the attacks. That didn’t apply to Rainbow Dash. She only needed to twist and move around slightly to hit the shafts of some of the polearms with her hooves before the blades actually reached her, flying up slightly to also just barely get out of their reach. As one of the jumping soldiers went past, one of her hooves went darting out lightning quick and tore the spear he held in his hooves free from his grip. It was so fast he couldn’t even react and try to fight back against her.

Spinning her newly gained weapon around she smashed it into the back of his skull. His leather helmet didn’t afford near enough protection to keep him from getting knocked out and falling to the deck.

Rainbow Dash then quickly flitted over to the bow of the ship before the soldiers could start a new attack at her, and now she hovered in front of them and Commander Calhoun with spear in hoof and a stony expression on her face. “I wasn’t bragging. You can start counting, cause I’ll be done here in five minutes.”

The Wandering Island VIII

“Do you think she’s alright?” Senax asked Breakwater as they stood together on a southern raft.

“I think she’s Rainbow Dash,” he shrugged.

Daylight Gleam and Gilbert meanwhile were working with the security team of the Wandering Island, and a few crews of other vessels who couldn’t leave in time. They were coordinating with them to prepare for the potential attack of the Bosche Junks as they got closer to the island. Hopefully Rainbow Dash would stop that from happening at all. The five ships had spread out and they were steadily approaching but so far they were still too far for any of them to really see what was going on above deck. Their eyes couldn’t make out if Rainbow Dash was there and doing anything.

Regardless, with them here, Bosche was going to have a harder time than they expected to do anything. They picked the wrong time to come mess with the Wandering Island.

Rainbow Dash was going to have to do the heavy lifting with the soldiers but the ponies here on the rafts still vastly outnumbered the attacking Boschese. All they needed to do was put up a united front and the slavers might be forced to abandon their attack altogether if Rainbow could do enough damage. Which Senax had to admit she probably could.

The merpony sighed as she watched the middle Junk, where Rainbow had gone towards. “I hope you’re right.”

A spear slammed down into the deck right in front of Calhoun and Rainbow Dash stood on top of it, balancing on one hoof just to show off. “Hey by the way—how many slaves are onboard this ship? I gotta know how many ponies I need to rescue. And don’t lie either or it’s just going to get even worse for you.”

Commander Calhoun had no intention of answering her. In fact he just glared up at her with rage. There was no time to really answer anyways as several spears were thrown at Rainbow Dash’s back. She hopped over them and did a backflip to land on the wooden deck of the Junk and face off against the remaining soldiers.

By anyone’s count it had been one and a half minutes.

Quite a few soldiers were lying unconscious or tending to their wounds.

One soldier, a particularly robust earth pony, came at her swinging his halberd down where she was standing. She jumped out of the way of the blow and then had to immediately duck under another throw spear that was aimed at her head. The soldiers were still coordinating well but they didn’t have the same numbers to overwhelm her with anymore. The earth pony soldier tore his halberd free of the wood and brought it swinging horizontally at her. Rainbow Dash jumped over it and slammed her hooves down on the end of it. For a weaker soldier it might’ve knocked the shaft free from his hooves but he was strong enough to hold on. Instead he tried to lift her and the weapon up at the same time to throw her off-balance. Rainbow Dash let him think that was working, jumping up with the blade and extending her wings for extra altitude, jumping over him entirely and kicking him in the back of the head as she went.

He stumbled forward, hurt but not out. For a pony like him her hooves didn’t carry the power at that speed and distance to knock him down. She needed a weapon. The leather armor and chainmail beneath was causing problems too—their heads were really the only place she could hit that would cause any damage. Unlike Applejack who could probably just buck these guys in the side and send them into next week if she was here.

However, this was just the same problem she had already dealt with back when she first fought Boschese soldiers. She had beaten them just like she’d beat these ones.

A group of soldiers formed two lines of five ponies, creating a half square around her and coming at her with their spears leveled. Rainbow Dash tensed up and got ready for them—but it turned out to just be a distraction as spears were thrown from behind the lines coming at her. She twisted out of the way of them just as the others rushing at her came in to try and skewer her on their own and the halberd-wielder came at her from behind. They probably thought an overwhelming pincer-attack like this was a good idea but Rainbow Dash was about to show them why it wasn’t,

The slight nudging of some of the spears before they hit her sent them shooting past her body towards the pony coming from behind. He had to break off his attack and step back to avoid the deadly weapons now going right at him. With an opening now, Rainbow Dash darted forward as fast as lightning. She shot between two of the soldiers, opening her wings for a split second and catching the two of them in the throat. They gagged in pain and dropped their weapons while Rainbow went fully past the two lines and went for the smaller group of soldiers that had stayed back.

The ones who had thrown their spears and were now currently defenseless.

A cocky grin was plastered on her face as she tackled the nearest one. It actually kind of hurt her a little thanks to the armor he was wearing, but she didn’t care, she wanted to show off her toughness to the others. To show that she wasn’t just speed. With her on top of the soldier she punched him in the face and slammed his head into the deck, jumping off just as two more came lunging at her.

They stopped before they ran into each other but didn’t count on the pegasus to grab their heads and smack them together anyways.

The halberd-wielder came barreling at her again, wildly swinging his weapon at Rainbow’s head, her legs, and her wings. A few of the other soldiers came at her and backed him up, not trying to pull any sneaky maneuvers anymore. Several weapons all coming at her body at once made it a little tough to deal with even with her incredible speed and reflexes. And these soldiers weren’t cowards or the type to get tired. It was a steady advance by them that she was only able to halt by repeatedly knocking away the spears’ shafts with her hooves and dodging in ways they couldn’t predict thanks to her ability to fly.

Since it was passing the four minute mark though, Rainbow Dash decided to finally end things and finish off the rest of the soldiers.

The next time one of the spears went for her face Rainbow Dash grabbed it and flew up, carrying the soldier with her until he let go out of fear and fell back down ten feet to the deck. She twirled her newly gained weapon around and decided to really let loose. Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash shot across the deck of the Junk, becoming nothing more than a blur, and smacking every soldier still standing in the head with the spear. Teeth along with leather helmets went flying.

While she hadn’t exactly been holding back earlier—since things were serious—she hadn’t exactly utilized her full capabilities either since she wanted to see how good she could actually fight. Was practice for the rare moments when she would actually be facing opponents she couldn’t just effortlessly wallop.

Like a certain griffon pirate who she was sure she’d see again one of these days.

At last she came bearing down on the earth pony with the halberd, he was the last one standing, and he raised his weapon to try and lop of her head as she passed by. Rainbow Dash spun around it and cracked him in the side of the jaw with her spear. A sickening crunch was heard as the soldier stumbled and fell over while Rainbow Dash let her spear clatter to the deck.

“There. Only like four and a half minutes too,” she said.

Meanwhile Commander Calhoun had been steadily trying to inch his way towards the cabins so he could get away from her. He was about halfway there when a rainbow blur shot in front of him and he yelped, cowering to the deck.

Rainbow Dash calmly stared down at him. “I asked you a question, didn’t I?”

“Who are you and what have you done to my ship?”

Rainbow Dash blinked, surprised to have received a question of her own, and turned around to see another pony striding out from the door leading to the cabins at the back of the Junk. Despite the situation he stood calm and regal, not seeming worried at all despite all the soldiers lying about injured and out cold. He had on an elaborate silk uniform and beside him stood a much less composed servant, his jaw open in shock, and behind him were two shackled slaves carrying palm leaves. She narrowed her eyes in anger when she saw the slaves and stared up at the taller stallion.

“I’m Rainbow Dash. You some Bosche bigwig?”

His lip curled. “How crass. You have the privilege of speaking with Admiral Xing, of the most honored and noble Xing Family, second-most Admiral of the Bosche Navy. Do you have any idea of the magnitude of what you’ve done here? Bosche will not stand for this.”

“A-Admiral, she-” Calhoun tried to speak.

“Second most?” Rainbow Dash cut him off, tilting her head. “Who’s first? Your mom? I guess that would explain how you got the job.”

Admiral Xing’s face went red. “How dare you suggest such a thing. You think you can disrespect my family and the Bosche Navy like that? You will regret such insolence!”

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I’ve heard threats like that before. What are you going to do about it? Cause I told this jerk-” she pointed at Calhoun. “The last time we met to tell his superiors to stop doing stuff like this, cause I would stop it whenever I could and then some. That your ships wouldn’t be able to safely go anywhere as long as I’m around. Since you’re even higher up on the food chain than he is, maybe you’ll actually get the message this time. Stop enslaving and terrorizing others.”

“Hah,” Admiral Xing scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh you common sea rat. Bosche will not bow to the whims of one pony.”

“One pony who’s totally dismantling your ships and stopping your attack here.”

The Admiral frowned and for the first time really looked around at all the defeated soldiers. “Yes, I see that things will not go as planned today. It matters not, we have many more ships, many far larger raids planned and occurring as we speak. You are a fly to Bosche. You will be hunted down and taken back to our home as a slave for the rest of your life, spirit broken, forced to work agonizingly in whatever way your new master sees fit.”

Rainbow Dash stared right back at him and narrowed her eyes. “Like I said. What are you going to do about it? I mean you. You’re talking pretty big for someone with no soldiers around to help him. Do you think just because you’re an “Admiral” and not one of your rank-and-file soldiers that somehow means you’ll be okay? That nothing bad could happen to you? That I’d treat you with dignity?” With each sentence she stepped closer to him. “After what you just said to me, you think some slaving scumbag is going to scare me with some future threats? You’re living in your own little world if you think that’s the case.”

Admiral Xing actually paled slightly and took a step back from her. “I-I am a noble of great descent, you know not what you-”

A hoof shot towards his face.

“!” The Admiral flinched and squeezed his eyes shut—but didn’t feel himself getting hit. Opening his eyes back up he saw Rainbow Dash already walking away from him.

“You’re lucky you’re just old enough where I’d actually feel bad for beating on you,” she paused, glancing back over her shoulder at him. “Well, maybe not that lucky, since I don’t think those two have the same problem as me.”

“Those two?” Admiral Xing blinked and turned around, seeing that his slaves had dropped their palm fronds and were approaching him with menacing looks on their faces. He gulped. “F-Fanbearer’s—pick up your leaves this instant and resume your duties. Slaves, I am your master and I command you at once!”

Rainbow Dash smirked and looked over at Calhoun while that was going on. “Right. Now how many other slaves are onboard? I need to get over to your other ships and deal with them too, so don’t take my time. And by the way, I’ll leave you one ship for all you Boschese to pack yourselves on and sail away with this time. The rest are getting sunk.”

“C-Can I at least ask that you go easy on me this time?” Commander Calhoun begged.

“Ehhh… no.”

A short while later, both a beaten and bloody Calhoun and Xing hung upside-down from the front mast of their Junk, suspended by a chain wrapped around both their back legs. The Admiral painfully turned his head to glare at the Commander.

“Calhoun, you’re Leviathan-feed once we get back home.”

“Yes, Admiral.”

The Wandering Island IX

One of the Bosche support vessels was filled up with newly freed slaves as it sailed to the safety of the Wandering Island. Rainbow Dash didn’t have any idea how to sail a boat like this, but some of the slaves had been trained to. Gilbert had also flown out to make certain of what was going on when those on the Wandering Island saw what was happening and he was happy to report that everything was okay now. The authorities and every other pony around now knew they were safe.

Meanwhile, a very overcrowded Junk was sailing back south.

The other three ships were left adrift off the Wandering Island, waiting to be sunk by the security team there. Or dismantled and used as scrap. Either way the Bosche attack had been thwarted before it could really begin, and while things were a little chaotic with so many random ships trying to re-dock, they were also pretty positive. There was a sense of relief in the air for certain.

No one was more relieved than the slaves themselves when the small Bosche vessel docked at one of the rafts and they were all finally able to leave their tormentors for good. Some were far away from their homes and families, but at least they weren’t slaves anymore. Rainbow Dash was always happy to do something like this. It had been a treat back at the Sea Lion Reefs, and it felt even better here because there were so many more slaves she had just freed.

Yeah, she was happy they came here. Forget about even looking for the trident—this was a worthwhile trip.

Rainbow Dash waved goodbye to the slaves she had rescued and flew over to the raft her friends were gathered on now. “Yo! I miss anything?”

“Can’t say so,” Breakwater said. “How was fighting all those Bosche soldiers?”

“Eh, they were decent.”

“Now what? Right back to business?” Daylight wondered.

“Truthfully as much as I would like to get right back to looking for the trident I would understand if we all wanted to take a little break...” Senax said.

“Because of that we’ve been looking around here longer than we thought we would,” Gilbert said. “Lunch?”

“Getting something to eat is fine with me,” Senax nodded.

“Actually right before the Bosche attack, Rainbow Dash and I found what might be a lead. So we have time to get lunch before we head right back there anyways,” Daylight said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “If we’re lucky we can wrap this up real quick.”

“If that’s true then that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long while,” Senax said.

“Where is this lead? We can get an extra quick snack instead then and head right on over,” Breakwater said.

Daylight looked back at the crowded metropolis in the center of the great big floating island. “Er… let me try and remember.”

“Wow, I can’t remember when the last time was that there were this many ponies in here,” Lemon Breeze said as the crew of the Heart of Azure stood in his grandfather’s store. “You must really be interested in that trident.”

“It has great sentimental value to Senax here,” Gilbert said.

“And then some,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“You said you knew the merchant who has the trident we were asking about?” Daylight asked Lemon Breeze.

“I heard some other ponies talking about another shopkeeper who supposedly has a trident, yeah. Not exactly the same thing but by the sound of it you haven’t really heard any better rumors here,” Lemon Breeze nodded.

“That’s about the truth of it,” Rainbow snorted.

“Anything you have for us is going to help,” Daylight said.

“Alright then—as I was about to tell you before we were interrupted—the shopkeeper who I heard might have a trident is someone on the northwest side of the central rafts. His name’s Big Venture and his store is called “The Driftwood Emporium” or something like that. Mostly deals in driftwood carvings if that wasn’t obvious enough.”

“Sweet, we can go over there right now can’t we?” Rainbow Dash said.

Senax nodded and put a hoof on her chest, taking a deep breath. “I’m very excited to, in fact my heart is pounding...”

“Can you give us any actual directions cause this place is kind of… you know,” Daylight asked.

Lemon Breeze smiled and nodded. “Yeah, just a second.”

Shortly after and they were out the door and heading to what would very hopefully be their final destination at the Wandering Island. And hopefully bringing their true journey closer to completion as well. The true goal was finding Merlantis, but if someone had actually gotten the Trident of Ponyseidon they might be able to track down where it came from. Or even use the trident’s supposed powers to reach Merlantis themselves.

“I think that kid liked you, Daylight,” Breakwater teased her.

“Oh shut up,” she frowned at him.

“I dunno, he smiled at you more than the rest of us,” Rainbow added on with a grin.

“Idiots...” Daylight muttered.

Thanks to actually knowing where they were going now it was pretty easy to get to The Driftwood Emporium. The rafts weren’t quite as crowded as earlier either. The shop itself was on the second floor of a large building standing atop several interconnected rafts. Didn’t seem like a very safe way to build things but it hadn’t fallen apart yet obviously. They had to walk inside the building and through several very narrow hallways and stairs before reaching it.

“Well here it is,” Breakwater said as they stood in front of a rather inconspicuous door with a simply placard on it.

Rainbow Dash looked around at how dirty and messy this building was and raised an eyebrow. “Are we really about to find a mystical treasure here?”

“Never know,” Breakwater shrugged and pulled the door open.

A dusty room awaited them with flickering lights overhead and row upon row of driftwood carvings sitting all about the floor. They were carvings of all sorts of different things like animals, ponies, ships, all made originally from gnarled pieces of driftwood. There was some impressive hoofiwork put into it all, she had to admit. Though just looking at this stuff it made her wonder why a pony like this would have something that definitely wasn’t a random piece of driftwood.

“Did someone just come in? I’ll be with you in a moment!” A voice called from back in the store.

Their group stood there waiting, not sure what to really expect now, until a middle-aged stallion wearing overalls and thick-lensed glasses came out to say hi to them.

“Hello there! Fancy a driftwood carving?” Big Venture asked them with a big smile.

“Uh… not exactly,” Breakwater said.

“We heard a few rumors floating around the Wandering Island about something that might be in your possession. A trident? The Trident of Ponyseidon maybe?” Daylight asked.

“Do you have it?” Senax added.

“Oh, guess there’s a lot of ponies out there talking!” Big Venture laughed. “Well yep, I sure do! Let me go grab it!” He swiftly walked back to the back of his store, humming the whole way.

“No way. There’s no way it’s this easy,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I agree that this seems odd,” Gilbert said.

“I don’t care what it seems like, I just want my ancestor’s trident,” Senax shook her head. “If he has it then I don’t care if he tries to sell us a mountain of driftwood.”

“Ta-da! Here it is~” Big Venture came back out with a long box, about six feet long, being carried in his hooves. He set it down in front of them and opened up the latches on the side, pulling it open and revealing what was inside. “Behold—the Trident of Ponyseidon!”

The five of them gasped as a sparkling light emerged from the box and-

“This is just a piece of carved driftwood, isn’t it?” Daylight Gleam said as she lifted the item up out of its box. It was a long wooden trident of a deep brown color with spiraling prongs at the end. Green emeralds were also placed around the shaft directly under the three spears.

“Yep! Made it myself!” Big Venture said with a proud smile on his face.

“But you said it was the Trident of Ponyseidon?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at him. Meanwhile Senax, jaw still open in shock and eyes starting to glaze over, took the wooden trident from Daylight and stared at it.

“Oh yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to be. I love all the old tales about Ponyseidon and Merlantis. I carved that up one day, looks really nice doesn’t it? I inlaid some jewels with it too you see? Pretty proud of it. Nobody knows what his trident actually looks like so I got a little fancy with it. The real thing is probably pretty amazing—if it even exists,” Big Venture said.

“Ughhh...” Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face.

“Well… it is a very nice carving,” Gilbert grimaced.

Breakwater also awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah I’m happy you’re proud of it but it’s not quite what we’re looking for.”

Daylight looked over at Senax, who was still frozen as she stared at the wooden trident. “Uh, are you okay, Senax?”

“I wish to break this,” the merpony answered.

“Ahem, that’s uh, probably our cue to leave...” Breakwater coughed.

“T-Thank you for your time,” Daylight bowed and grinned awkwardly to Big Venture before carefully removing the trident from Senax’s hooves and placing it back in its box.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Back to Malkonrik it is...”

Dine and Dash

A very tired, very annoyed, and very done group of ponies was sailing west back to Malkonrik. They also didn’t have any driftwood carvings with them.

Senax had wanted to leave immediately but thanks to how long they had spent at the Wandering Island, Breakwater convinced her that they should stay for the night. None of them had a very good night of sleep and they could all feel the pure annoyance radiating off their merpony friend. Rainbow Dash at least figured it was better that Senax was angry than depressed. Angry meant she might be able to see the humor in the situation in a couple days.

But they were at least far away from the Wandering Island once more, on their multiple day journey back to Ballast’s where they’d have to search around for some more rumors. At least this time they knew they weren’t suddenly going to find themselves broke when they got back there.

Right now though no one really felt like talking or doing anything. Such a disappointing ending to their latest trip had put a sour mood over the entire ship. That’s why Rainbow Dash was by herself in the crow’s nest, not even playing solitaire or looking around at anything. She just didn’t have the energy. Once they got back to Malkonrik she could lift them all out of this funk but for now they might as well just rest.

Down below it was Breakwater at the helm while Senax draped herself over the back of the ship, she had been grumbling angrily for most of the trip so far. Breakwater was pretending not to hear her.

Daylight Gleam stayed near the bow and watched the ocean water break against the ship. Every now and then a deep and tired sigh escaped from her.

Gilbert was down in the hold, probably writing in his journal. Rainbow Dash practically expected him to come out with a big dumb smile on his face and trying to lift the mood on his own. That would probably just make Senax angrier at the moment though.

“It aint so bad...” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. “Still was worth going there.”

In any case, it was one place they could check off on their map.

Rainbow sighed and looked to the north, they were still traveling close enough to the coast for her to be able to see it from here. Which Kingdom was this? The one west of Meer? Whatever, she could ask Breakwater later. As of now it was time for a sorely needed and very well deserved nap.

The next day the Heart of Azure was docked. But not back at Malkonrik. No, not yet. Breakwater had decided that they could all really use an extra day to relax and unwind, and the rest agreed with him. Though Senax’s “agreement” was mostly just some angry mumbles.

That’s why they were now docked at the port of Evergarden, where they would get lunch for the day and spend a bit of time being tourists before heading back out to sea. Breakwater told them that of all the Kingdoms it was one of the nicer looking ones. Though Rainbow Dash still would’ve preferred a visit to Alth-Verika she had to agree that Evergarden had a pretty look to it.

As they stood on the coastline, right after coming off from the long dock that their ship and quite a few others were tied up at, it was clear immediately that this Kingdom was quite different than either Malkonrik or Ullsorth. Or the others whose coasts she had spied while they made their way to the Wandering Island earlier. The most obvious difference was the fact that the port was not an unbroken line of buildings facing the ocean. Instead there were only a few smaller rows of buildings actually set up right across the docks, for the most part it was green forests and hills that reached practically right up to the water.

From here, numerous red brick roads could take you further north into the interior of Evergarden. Rainbow Dash could see that just down the roads a little bit there were more small gatherings of buildings and what looked like large farmhouses and lone chateaus and mansions. This wasn’t as busy of a place as Malkonrik for sure but there was an air of nobility around it.

“Yeah it’s a nice place and all. Thought that when I first saw it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“I’m going to take you to a fancy high-class restaurant I’ve heard about from other sailors,” Breakwater said. “Never been there myself—hardly been to Evergarden at all really—but I’ve heard good things and it’s just a little way up the road.”

“High-class huh?” Daylight Gleam raised an eyebrow at the bag of money Breakwater had brought with him from the ship.

“Yep. Good thing we still have plenty of Senax’s winnings,” he winked at the merpony.

Senax was still refusing to be put in a good mood however and she merely shrugged, not bothering to meet his eyes.

“Oh cheer up, Senax! Not our first pointless adventure and we did a lot of good during it anyways!” Gilbert said and clapped her on the back. “At the very least there’s bound to be something delicious for you to eat at this restaurant.”

“Feh,” Senax grumbled.

“Anyways-” Breakwater changed the subject. “Let’s get going. The place is called The Wreathed Papillon and it’s supposedly a restaurant built into the ballroom of one of the chateaus down this road.” He pointed towards one of the brick roads in particular and bid the others to follow.

“As long as they’ve got something edible I couldn’t care how fancy of a place it is,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and already started to fly down the road.

“Frankly I hold the same feeling,” Daylight said and started walking after her.

“It wouldn’t have such a good reputation if it didn’t have such great food too. Not around the sailors I’m used to hanging around with. They’re not the types to care for the fancy stuff, they want hearty meals that fill their stomach,” Breakwater said.

“And rum?” Rainbow Dash looked back at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Probably wine more likely.”

“Good enough,” Rainbow grinned.

They made a fairly swift place down the red-brick road, not having to deal with much traffic compared to Malkonrik while also getting a nice view of the countryside as they went. Green forests weren’t all, but fields of flowers, healthy ponds and rivers, and parks with playful ponies stretched along their path. In the meantime, Breakwater kept his eyes out for the specific chateau they were looking for.

“I gotta say this beats when we traveled through Ullsorth,” Rainbow said.

“Well that doesn’t really say much on its own,” Daylight said.

“We’re not trying to stop a pirate revolution after all,” Gilbert said.

“I kind of just meant how it’s way nicer looking,” Rainbow shrugged.

“I think we’re coming up to the right chateau on the left here,” Breakwater said, getting everyone elses attention.

He pointed to a large, very posh looking, building that sat off the side of the road behind its own wall of hedges. A little side road led from the main one to a gate that took one into the chateau’s courtyard. There was what looked like a butler out front checking other groups of ponies inside already.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Breakwater. “Are we allowed to just walk in here?”

“I think so...” Breakwater said but he didn’t sound so sure.

“Nothing’s going to be gained by just standing out in the street. I say we go and ask!” Gilbert smiled and already began walking over.

“Sometimes Gilbert has the right idea,” Daylight said and followed him.

“Hahhh...” Senax sighed and walked with her.

“Meh, can’t hurt to ask,” Rainbow Dash agreed and swiftly darted to the front of the group before dropping down onto the side road. Probably wouldn’t be received too well if she just flew in there. This little road also had a lot of flowers planted along both sides, like they were guiding you towards the chateau. Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky for a brief moment to enjoy the sun coming down at her from the cloudless blue. It all combined to make Evergarden look as good as possible.

There wasn’t really a “line” waiting to get into The Wreathed Papillon, just another group ahead of them, and once they were through, Rainbow Dash walked up to the butler with a smile and waved.

“Yo! Party of five, coming through!”

“Ahem,” Breakwater coughed from behind her and gently pushed Rainbow Dash out of the way. “Party of five, do you have a table available?”

“Of course, head on in and our servers will seat you,” the butler replied evenly.

“Thank you,” Breakwater smiled and walked in.

“You didn’t need to push me...” Rainbow Dash muttered in after him.

“Didn’t I?”

“He did,” Daylight said and walked in with them.

The courtyard outside of the chateau was quite lavish itself, with numerous marble statues, gazebos, and plants that made it look like the backdrop for some kind of fancy wedding. The entire eastern side of the building, facing the road, had been opened up and the interior ballroom created both an indoor and outdoor dining experience at once. Half of the restaurant bled out onto the grounds, becoming private booths and tables separated by hedges and patios.

“Different than I was expecting but maybe even nicer actually,” Breakwater said as he rubbed his chin.

“Once again—all I care about is if they have good food,” Rainbow said.

“Hello! Welcome to The Wreathed Papillon,” a smartly dressed mare said to them as she walked up. With a smile and bow she gestured to the outdoor patio. “The five of you can come right this way, once you’re seated a waiter will be out with the wine list and menu shortly. Thank you for choosing us.”

“You’re welcome,” Breakwater smiled and allowed the mare to lead them to their own private booth, hidden by a wall of hedges and a large fountain.

As they sat down, Rainbow Dash listened in and heard violin music coming from somewhere. “Snazzy.”

“See, Senax, isn’t this nice?” Gilbert asked.

“It’s alright...” she grumbled.

“Come on, there’s really no need to be that way. I know I’m hardly one to talk when it comes to being negative, but let’s just try to enjoy ourselves now,” Daylight said.

Senax sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Alright. By the looks of it the food should be good at least.”

“And that’s still all that matters,” Rainbow grinned.

Breakwater resisted rolling his eyes at the pegasus again as their new waiter came out to give them their menus. When Rainbow Dash started scanning over the wine list she noticed something interesting about it.

“There aren’t any prices,” she looked over at the waiter.

“We are more… upscale than a typical restaurant,” the waiter replied with an understanding smile.

“That means it isn’t classy for them to include the prices on their menu,” Daylight said to her. “If you have to ask what the price is then you can’t afford it. I’m surprised there isn’t a dress code either for that matter...”

“Oh. Cool. Good thing we’re kind of rich right now,” Rainbow said.

“Please take your time in deciding what you would like to order,” the waiter bowed slightly.

They had an expansive menu but it didn’t take too long for everyone to figure out what they wanted. Especially since Senax wasn’t in the mood to turn more than a page or two. What actually took the longest was for Rainbow Dash to decide on what type of wine she wanted. In the end she went with a robust red wine and eagerly waited for their servers to come back out with it and the rest of the food. The rest had chosen an assortment of vegetarian dishes and drinks of their own. Including a cooked eggplant for Daylight and a spinach and asparagus salad for Gilbert.

Senax wasn’t very talkative but she at least wasn’t grumbling so much anymore and by the time the food and wine came out she proved to be just as hungry as anybody else.

“A little wine will put you in a better mood,” Rainbow said to the merpony.

“I guess,” she shrugged and took a sip from her own glass of white wine.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her plate, something she saw on the menu called a “caprese salad”. It looked really good and she found herself licking her lips before she started eating. Picking up the first of the little slices of tomato, cheese, basil, and dressing together and plopping it into her mouth. “Mmmm~” She didn’t know what that dressing was but it made things even better.

Then she could wash it all down with a (big) sip of red wine and go in for another bite.

Oh yeah, it was a good idea to come here.

Eating, drinking, and talking took about an hour off the day and it was getting closer to late afternoon in the Kingdom of Evergarden. It was just about time to leave The Wreathed Papillon. Rainbow Dash downed one more glass of wine, feeling that pleasant warm feeling in her stomach, and looked across the table to see a happy Senax also down her last glass. Well, happy because of drinking too much at least. There were worse reasons to be happy.

“It’s good to see you’ll be in a positive mood by the time we get back to Malkonrik,” Gilbert said to Senax.

“I won’t mope anymore if that’s what you mean,” Senax shrugged.

“That’s all anyone can really ask right now,” Daylight said.

“We’ll find something to really be happy and celebrate about down the road,” Rainbow promised.

Their waiter then came back over to them, seeing that they were winding down, and bowed his head before Breakwater. “Hello, sir, are you ready to pay?”

“Yeah, one second,” Breakwater said and pulled up his bag of money from beside him and placed it on the table, opening it slightly so you could see the coins inside. “How much is it all?”

The waiter raised an eyebrow as he peered at the bag. “Sir? Those are Malkonrik coins, we can’t accept those here, only Evergarden paper bills are acceptable payment.”

Everyone else at the table froze and Rainbow Dash’s pupils discreetly focused in on Breakwater.

The Captain however just laughed. “Hah, yeah, sorry about that! I was just messing around, could we actually see the wine list again? I think we might want one more bottle for the road.”

“Of course,” the waiter politely bowed and walked back towards the main restaurant.

Rainbow Dash, Daylight Gleam, Gilbert, and Senax all stared at Breakwater. Who softly began to sweat in his seat.

“I uh… I think in hindsight we should’ve found a bank or currency exchange before coming to eat here,” he said.

“So just to be totally clear…?” Rainbow grimaced.

“I don’t have any Evergarden money.”

“What are we going to do then? I don’t think they’ll let us just go and come back...” Daylight said.

“They’re going to be quite cross when they come back and learn the truth,” Gilbert said.

Breakwater coughed. “Well that’s why I’m thinking that we can just, maybe, leave.” He shrugged. “Just maybe.”

“You mean skip out on the bill?” Daylight asked.

“Yeeaaahhh...” Breakwater rubbed the back of his neck.

“We’ll have to leave real quick, not much time left to make that choice,” Rainbow said.

Daylight sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “Are we really doing this?”

“If we are I don’t think we’re going to be able to come back to Evergarden for a long time,” Senax said.

“Probably not,” Gilbert said.

“Let’s just be real quick about this. We all run straight to the front gate and get back onto the main road,” Rainbow said. “And uh, so I don’t feel too bad about this let’s leave some money behind anyways so they can go exchange it themselves.”

“Way ahead of you,” Breakwater said as he removed a decent amount of coins from the bag.

“Uh oh, our waiter’s coming,” Gilbert said.

“Okay-” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck. “Time to bolt.”

A Second Rumor

“Wow, is that really how it went at the Wandering Island? That’s uh, that’s really a shame,” Ballast said after Breakwater and them regaled him about their recent trip.

“Unfortunately yes but we’re all ready to put it behind us,” Breakwater said.

“Very ready,” Senax agreed.

“I guess you’re going to be staying here at Malkonrik for a little while longer then?” Ballast asked.

“Until we get a new lead to go on. At least there are always ships going in and out of the port,” Breakwater said.

“Well like always you can stay here as long as you need too. Ship doesn’t have as many dings to fix up by the look of it either this time,” Ballast said.

Breakwater nodded. “Thanks, friend.”

After a hasty retreat from Evergarden (which they did not tell Ballast about) they had finally made it back to Malkonrik’s port. Back to the start. Technically not exactly where Rainbow Dash wanted to be but there was nothing they could do about that right now. She still really wanted to get back out onto the ocean and continue the search for Ponyseidon’s treasures and Merlantis. For now though it was looking like they’d be docked here for at least another full day. Just to wind down if anything else.

Restlessness was already eating away at Rainbow Dash though and she was thinking of heading out of Ballast’s shop already to look for… anything really.

She blew a breath of bored air out her nose and looked at the others. “You guys want to get a bite to eat here real quick and head up and down the port again?”

“Like the last time we were here? Just hoping to hear any rumors about what we’re looking for?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I mean yeah, what else is there to do? If you guys don’t want to then I’m definitely going out on my own anyways. I can’t stay bottled up in here all day. Even if we don’t go searching for rumors I want to get out and do something at least. We could visit a candy shop right now for all I care.”

“I think Rainbow Dash is right. We had enough time to rest while on the way back here, I think it would be better for us all if we just stretched our legs and got right back out there,” Gilbert said. “I’m also feeling a bit restless after all.”

Daylight Gleam thought for a moment. “Well it’s not like there’s any reason not to. And it’s still the middle of the day. I was thinking we would just be relaxing today but I guess I forgot how much energy the two of you have.” She looked over at Senax. “I’m assuming you’re more than fine with this too?”

“After the specific way our last lead went, yes. Yes I am,” Senax nodded.

“Okay,” Daylight shrugged. “Snack here and we can search the docks for the rest of the day. There’s probably been some news in since we’ve been gone.”

“Always is. With all the ships coming from everywhere else on the ocean there’s always something new floating around. We’ve just got to put in the work to find what we’re looking for,” Breakwater said.

“And with how many ships there are coming through the port again...” Daylight trailed off.

“It could be another case of finding a needle in a haystack,” Breakwater finished.

Rainbow Dash just shrugged and grinned, flapping her wings to rise above the others. “Meh, so what? That’s nothing to get down about. We’ve got to put more work into it, well the harder you have to work for it the more awesome it is when you succeed! It’ll just be one more thing to be proud about and add to the tale when it’s over and we’re down there in Merlantis.”

“Well your optimism is always refreshing,” Daylight smirked.

“Someone here needs to be optimistic. Besides just Gilbert.”

“Yes,” Gilbert nodded.

“I think before we go out there though-” Senax said. “That we should take heed whenever a rumor about the Trident comes up. I think anything pertaining to it isn’t going to be true, it should still be down in Merlantis and if it wasn’t the powers that it held would make sure everyone knew about it. Since there hasn’t been a huge fuss over a pony with a magical trident that can control the waters of the ocean—I think we can safely say it hasn’t been found.”

“So let’s only take rumors about the Necklace into consideration?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, I think that’s what we should do,” Senax confirmed.

“Well before you leave let me cook something up for you,” Ballast said. “You wanted to go out there on full stomachs didn’t you? Not like I have as much work to do this time.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow grinned. “Let’s have some food first.”

Like the day before Rainbow Dash had originally set out on the Heart of Azure, the six of them gathered around Ballast’s table and had a hearty meal before getting down to business. A big bowl of mushroom soup along with some rolls of bread were passed around, everybody taking as much as they wanted. Compared to the last few days, conversation was positive and happy as the mood had picked up considerably. There really was no sense in staying down and depressed—something Rainbow Dash firmly believed in that seemingly rubbed off on everyone else.

They didn’t let themselves get distracted with eating for too long. Just enough to talk a little more with Ballast and make sure they wouldn’t be hungry for the rest of the day. Then they were already heading out the door.

“Try not to get robbed before we come back!” Rainbow said to Ballast as she flew out of the building.

“I won’t. At least I really hope I won’t,” Ballast sighed and closed the door behind them.

“Sadly we are unlucky enough where I think that could happen,” Daylight muttered.

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums at her. “Come on, just a joke. Let’s get to the street and check things out already.”

With Rainbow Dash flapping along, the others followed her on their hooves (and talons) and started walking up to the main street of the port. West was definitely the busier direction and the direction that promised more information. They were still on the docks though, barely out of Ballast’s shop, when a voice spoke to them from behind.

“You are the merpony searching for Merlantis and the treasures of your great leader, Ponyseidon.”

The group paused and turned around, seeing a lone cloaked figure standing there.

“You are, are you not?” He questioned, clearly looking dead on at Senax even though his face wasn’t visible.

Senax seemed at a loss and the others shot each other a few suspicious glances while Rainbow Dash flew down and landed in front of her merpony friend. Protectively placing a hoof in front of Senax, Rainbow Dash stepped forward and narrowed her eyes at the newcomer.

“Who’s asking?”

The cloaked figure lifted up his hooves and pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing a brown pony with a black mane done in dreadlocks and entwined with numerous little shells. “I am Fair Drift, humble servant of the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order.”

“The Sarraroccon Order… and the High Priestess?” Breakwater mumbled in surprise.

“Yes,” Fair Drift nodded. “I have been asked to speak with the merpony searching for the legacy of her people. We have heard rumors of her for some time now but the High Priestess did not want to make contact until she was certain of your benevolence. That has finally been assured after a long period of observation.”

“Obser—you’ve been spying on us?” Daylight frowned.

“Watching. Learning. Many servants of the Order have obeyed this request of the High Priestess.”

“Okay but why have you been observing her? Why’d you need to know if she’s a good pony or not?” Rainbow asked.

“The High Priestess wishes to meet with and speak to the merpony.”

“Yeah—but—why?”

“I do not know the greater reason behind the High Priestess’s orders. Nor would it be my place to tell you,” Fair Drift shook his head.

“So basically even if you did know you wouldn’t tell us?” Daylight scoffed.

“Yes.”

Rainbow Dash frowned along with Daylight. “How can we trust you or this Priestess then?”

“The one you travel with should be able to vouch for our Order’s own benevolence,” Fair Drift said as he glanced over to Breakwater.

The Captain bit his lip but he did nod after a little hesitation. “Yeah, it’s true, I’ve never really heard anything bad about the Sarraroccons. They just like to keep to themselves on their archipelago.”

“Your High Priestess… she must think it’s special that I’m a merpony? And she also knows about Merlantis and Ponyseidon?” Senax asked, leaning in.

“The stories of Merlantis, Ponyseidon, and his treasures are passed done through the Order. We know well of the tales. However—I again cannot speak as to what the High Priestess thinks or her full reasons behind this. I only can tell you that she wishes to meet,” Fair Drift said.

“Then… do we perhaps take that invitation?” Gilbert asked the group.

“I dunno… this is really suspicious,” Rainbow said. “Like, why couldn’t they approach us in a more normal way? Or why couldn’t the Priestess pony or whatever come speak to Senax herself?”

“Not to mention they’ve been spying on us,” Daylight added.

“The Sarraroccon Order holds no ill-will towards you. This I am certain of,” Fair Drift said. “Our High Priestess only has the best interests of her ponies in mind.”

Senax shared a look with everyone. Seeing some uncertain faces but thinking about the recent failures as well. Gilbert looked optimistic, Daylight looked pessimistic, Rainbow Dash looked curious, and Breakwater was just evenly looking back at her. Finally Senax took a deep breath and exhaled. “We… we don’t have any other leads or anything to go on, do we? Regardless of why this High Priestess wants to talk with us, we wouldn’t be doing anything else anyways. And it sounds like she might know things about Merlantis and the treasures of Ponyseidon.”

“So we’re going to the Sarrarocco Archipelago then,” Breakwater said.

“I—yes. Yes, I think we should,” Senax nodded.

“I still don’t see why she couldn’t come to us if she was so interested,” Rainbow Dash said.

“The High Priestess does not leave the Archipelago,” Fair Drift answered. “She is too important, regal, and busy. The Grand Ocean has many dangers—of which you all are plainly aware.”

“Well, yeah...” Rainbow had to admit he had a point.

“I guess all that there is to do now is for you to take us to her. If we’ve made our decision,” Daylight said.

Fair Drift though shook his head. “I am not returning to the Archipelago with you. I merely have been given instructions to tell you for when you travel there. The High Priestess was certain that you would accept her offer.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Okay, so what are these instructions? How are we going to contact her when we get there?”

“I must say this is sounding a little roundabout...” Gilbert muttered.

“I have been told that you are supposed to land at Blue Coral Island in the Archipelago. From there you will be contacted by another servant of the High Priestess. That is all,” Fair Drift said.

“Blue Coral Island, I know that name,” Breakwater said. “It’s one of the main hubs for visitors to the Sarrarocco Archipelago. One of its most populous spots.”

“I’m assuming you already have a map that will show us how to get there?” Daylight asked.

“Oh yeah. And a couple maps of the whole Archipelago,” Breakwater answered.

“So is that it then?” Rainbow Dash looked at Fair Drift. “You don’t have anything else to tell us?”

“I do not,” he shook his head.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Then I guess we’re going to the Something Archipelago unless Senax has any last minute reservations.”

“No. I think this is what we might have been waiting for. I just have that feeling,” Senax said.

Rainbow grinned. “Then that’s good enough for me. Ballast is going to be surprised to see us come right back in but there’s no sense in putting it off is there? Let’s get on out there! Let’s do some sailing!”

Before anyone else replied she flew off back towards Ballast’s shop. Gilbert smirked and shrugged at the others and followed right after her, leaving Breakwater, Daylight and Senax with Fair Drift.

“Thank you for telling us about this,” Senax said to him.

“I only did what was asked of me as a servant to the High Priestess,” Fair Drift stonily replied.

“Well we’ll thank her in person then,” Daylight said and started walking away, ushering the others to come with her. Breakwater tipped his head to the Sarraroccon while Senax gave him a small smile as they walked past.

Fair Drift watched them go. “She will enjoy meeting you all.”

Fair Drift watched the door to Ballast’s shop close and he finally moved from his spot, walking away and down the wooden dock while pulling a conch from his robes. He put it up to his ear as he walked, hearing the familiar and calming sound of the ocean emerging from inside it.

“They are on their way, Priestess.”

The surf washing up on the beach.

“No, Priestess, the merpony gave no indication that she knew of the Order’s relationship to her people and Ponyseidon.”

A cry of a seagull.

“They are not being watched by any others anymore. The pirate is elsewhere. The one called Old Diver is unaware as well.”

Fair Drift stopped at the edge of the dock, standing right before the deep dark blue water of the harbor.

“Yes, Priestess, I understand.”

He put the conch back into his robe and, unseen by any others, dove into the water.

The Greatest Enemy

It was inevitable.

It was unfortunate.

Rainbow Dash was once again facing her greatest and oldest enemy.

Boredom.

With another day gone by there really wasn’t anything left for her to do. Gilbert didn’t want to race anymore and she didn’t want to lose another swimming race to Senax. Nor did anyone else want to play cards with her. It was lame. She had thought about all the things she could do on a trip like this but after one day she was already bored again. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes. A pony like her needed more activity or she’d go crazy—go crazy and start to annoy the Tartarus out of everyone else onboard.

That was why she had still stuck herself in the crow’s nest for now. She didn’t want to be a bother. Not when there was nothing they could do to get to the Sarrarocco Archipelago faster.

Let Breakwater and Senax steer the ship and just get them to the destination as fast as possible so she wouldn’t be bored anymore. That was the smart thing to do. Of course though, that meant she was still going to have to find a way to occupy herself alone up here. Looking at clouds only went so far. She could grab the deck of playing cards and start a game of Solitaire but that wasn’t much more fun either.

“Ohhh, I seriously hate not just being able to fly full-speed everywhere,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she draped herself over the side of the crow’s nest. “It’s so boring, I’m dying.”

Truth be told, the others weren’t doing a great job either when it came to dealing with their boredom. Senax was down at the wheel, steering the Heart of Azure west. She being the only one with something to actually do you would think she wouldn’t be that bored but the monotony of the activity was getting to her. She loved sailing, she loved doing something important, but even she couldn’t do the same thing for hours and hours without getting a little tired of it. There wasn’t even anything special about where they were sailing to break the monotony.

Daylight Gleam was by the bow where she was just looking at the ocean as it went by. Pretty normal for her. She was doing her best to avoid any cynical or pessimistic thoughts, it didn’t always work but she had become slightly more positive since meeting Rainbow Dash at least. Still as easily annoyed though.

Breakwater was in his cabin, poring over his charts and maps to figure out the exact time they’d arrive at Blue Coral Island. The Sarrarocco Archipelago had a lot of very small islands and rocks on its outskirts that they’d have to pass by to land at Blue Coral Island safe and sound. While the islands that made up the Archipelago in total didn’t have near as much landmass as any Kingdom or even some of the larger single islands in the Grand Ocean, there were a ton of them that were inhabited and spread out over a large area. A decent amount of those were also private or off-limits to ponies not in the Order. You could still find them on most maps, but they weren’t labeled and very little was known about them.

“I just hope nothing else happens to us before we get there,” the captain shook his head.

And down below in the hold, Gilbert stood with pencil in talon, looking down at his journal and the currently blank page in front of him. So much had happened since the last entry he just didn’t know where to start at all. A sigh racked his body and he sat down, folding his front legs and frowning.

“Of course no one else wants to write an entry either...”

He reached out and tapped his pencil to paper. And tapped again. And tapped once more. There must be something of value that he could write. The boundless optimism inside him was only waiting to be called forth so he could put a positive spin to their latest misadventures down in this journal. Instead of thinking or dwelling on anything he should try and be just as carefree as normal. With a single nod he put the pencil to the top of the page and forced himself to just write.

*

Dear Journal,

Much has gone on since the last time I’ve written in you. And if there’s one takeaway from all the recent adventures we’ve been on it would be this: Don’t trust rumors about tridents.

There has certainly been a variety to what we’ve been up to lately. Too much considering that we should be focused entirely on Senax’s quest. But the world doesn’t always care about what you want, I know that well. If something comes up that we can’t avoid then so be it. At least in our misadventures we’ve still been able to do a lot of good, from stopping pirates creating an anarchist tyranny to stopping Bosche from enslaving ponies of the Wandering Island.

That makes any of these side trips worth it. I think I’m speaking for all of my friends here when I say how much I hate Bosche. I’m hoping that Rainbow Dash was able to convince them not to try and raid anyone for at least a little while, but I know that such a vile country will not stop so simply. If anything they might’ve increased their efforts elsewhere after suffering these setbacks. Rainbow Dash said she intimidated the commanders she met as best she could but hateful ponies like that can not curb their desires. They will continue to seek others to make suffer as retribution.

Oh dear… look how negative I’m getting. I just can’t stand Bosche. Hopefully someday someone will deal with them for good. Maybe even Rainbow Dash will finish what she started? No, as much as she would like to she can’t fight an entire navy on her own. Us backing her up wouldn’t be much help either. It would certainly be a good deed, but we just don’t have the capabilities for something like that.

We’ve got to focus on helping Senax first.

I am very intrigued by this invitation we’ve received from the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order. Such an important figure, apparently, and the servant sent to offer the invitation to us was quite a unique fellow as well. I don’t know much about the Order but the Archipelago they live on seems like a very interesting place. There’s bound to be something special about all of this. Whatever the High Priestess’s interest in Senax is I’m sure it will turn out okay. We won’t let anything bad happen to our friend.

Haven’t seen my brother in a long while now either. I am very happy for that.

*

Gilbert set his pencil down and smiled at the newly made entry. “As good as any I’ve written. I think I’ll see if anyone else wants to write a journal entry today too...”

Rainbow Dash at the moment was still up in the crow’s nest, this time lying on her back and staring up at the sky.

“Come on clouds, give me something more fun to look at.”

They didn’t respond. Instead they continued to merely be boring balls of fluff passing by in the sky. That about tears it for Rainbow Dash, tomorrow she was going to force everyone to play more games and have some fun, even if she had to give herself a monumental handicap to entice them. There were still plenty of different types of boardgames to enjoy—no way was she giving up and just going to play solitaire. For now though she would let everyone continue to have their own private time. Rainbow Dash stood up and opened her wings before quickly flying into the sky.

Senax saw her shoot up high and practically disappear from view real quick. A small smile gracing her face as she figured Rainbow Dash was probably going off to enjoy herself with a flight.

“Senax!”

She tilted her head down and saw Gilbert walking up to the helm. “Hello, Gilbert. How are you doing?”

“Bored. Considerably so!” The griffon replied with a sigh as he took a spot right beside her at the wheel.

“Don’t feel like getting thrashed again by Rainbow Dash in a race or card game?” Senax asked.

“No, not particularly. I think she feels the same way concerning you and swimming.”

“For such an active pony who can’t stand being bored that would explain why she hasn’t challenged me again,” Senax giggled.

“Well you have to steer the ship at the moment too. Unless you’re bored of that too. If you want I can go get Captain Breakwater and he can take your place.”

Senax shook her head. “No, it’s alright. That would only lead to me sitting around and getting bored in a different way. I’d rather still steer the ship and let Breakwater get some rest from it.”

“Maybe we can just eat soon then,” Gilbert thought.

“It’s not really the time to eat.”

“Do we have anything else to do?”

“No… not really.”

Gilbert grinned. “I’ll see how Daylight feels about it then. And I can go find Rainbow Dash later, I’m sure she hasn’t gone too far.”

Daylight actually was close to nodding off right at the bow. Her eyelids had become heavy and she kept dipping her head down before briefly shooting back up. Though she didn’t really want to just fall asleep from boredom right out on deck, it looked like it was going to happen. That was until a very loud and piercing voice caught her by surprise.

“Hello, Daylight! Would you be interested in having something to eat right about now? It doesn’t seem like anyone has anything else to do,” Gilbert said from right beside her.

Daylight jolted completely awake. Her ears perked up and she turned to see Gilbert there, she hadn’t even heard him walking over. “Huh? What?”

Gilbert blinked. “Oh, were you asleep?”

“Uh, no… just close,” Daylight shook her head and tried to blink away most of her weariness. “What’s up?”

“Let me repeat myself—would you like to have something to eat? I was thinking we could just have something like a brunch right now. It’s a rather slow day after all.”

“Mm, I’m not really hungry. I think I’ll just stay out here, the rest of you can eat.”

Gilbert shrugged. “Well, not really sure if we will, it was more a suggestion for us to do something than because anyone was actually hungry. I haven’t even spoken to Rainbow Dash or Captain Breakwater about it.”

“Oh,” Daylight rubbed her eyes and looked around the ship. “Where are those two anyways?”

“The Captain is in his cabin and Rainbow Dash went off flying somewhere. I’m certain she got bored of just sitting around too.”

“I think she at least would always be up for eating something...”

“She does have quite the appetite with all the calories she burns.”

Daylight nodded. “Well if that’s all I think I’m still just going to relax out here, or maybe go below and get some sleep down there. Sorry, Gilbert, maybe you can still have a snack with the others. Right now I’m not up for anything.”

“Are you thinking about the invitation too?” Gilbert asked her.

“I’m trying to be positive about it, if that’s what you mean,” Daylight frowned.

“I understand. Even I am not so dumb to fully trust such a thing.”

Daylight shrugged. “Let’s just both hope it turns out to be a good thing.”

“Yes… well, I suppose I’ll leave you here to your own devices. If you ever do feel like coming by and having something to eat don’t hesitate. I’m going to go talk to Breakwater for now,” Gilbert said. He waved goodbye to her and started walking away.

“Have fun, Gilbert. At least it won’t be too much longer before we arrive at the Archipelago,” Daylight said to him.

“Nope, not too long at all,” he smiled.

When Gilbert did make it to Breakwater’s cabin and he opened it up he found the Captain slumped over his table, clearly asleep, with scattered maps and other papers around him. Considering how serious Breakwater usually was, Gilbert found the sight quite amusing. And, well, he didn’t want to wake up the clearly tired Captain when he was resting so serenely. He earned it. That did put a damper on Gilbert’s brunch plans though…

“Oh well,” Gilbert shrugged to himself and quietly closed the door. “I suppose I should have at least a little tact every now and then.”

He looked up at the sky, not able to see Rainbow Dash. “Hm… I could go find her and see if she wants to fly some. Just for fun. Or go fishing again. No racing.”

With a strong flap of his wings he shot into the sky, looking all around for Rainbow Dash.

Much like earlier when Rainbow Dash had left, Senax saw him go. The griffon was much easier to keep her eyes on, he didn’t become lost in the sky like Rainbow Dash had. In most situations she should probably pay more attention to the ocean and where they were going but considering how calm and empty the ocean in front of them was it was no big deal. The Heart of Azure sailed over the waves while two ponies slept onboard and two other crewmates flew about in the sky.

Fair Winds

“So tomorrow huh?” Rainbow Dash asked as she raised an eyebrow at Breakwater.

“Yep, we’ll get there early tomorrow morning,” Breakwater nodded.

It was dinnertime and currently all five of them were inside the Heart of Azure’s cabin. The sail was momentarily furled up so they wouldn’t drift too far without anyone up there at the wheel. Normally that still wouldn’t be something Breakwater would do, but because they were somewhere where the waters were so calm and the threat of pirates basically a non-issue, he figured it was fine if it allowed them to all be together for dinner. Since it was the last big meal they’d have before arriving they decided to have some of their best food too.

That’s why Rainbow Dash was eating a delicious eggplant salad and not a hardtack cracker. It’s why Gilbert was chewing up a salmon despite it grossing out everyone else at the table. And it was why even Daylight had decided to live a little and was having a bar of chocolate with her dinner. Cause why not?

“Well it’s been fun—er, not really—but I’ll be happy to get there tomorrow,” Rainbow said as she leaned back and folded her hooves behind her head.

“Agreed,” Daylight said.

“I’m still a bit anxious but I’m very excited to get there as well,” Senax said. “I almost can’t calm myself down.”

“It might turn out to be a really big day tomorrow, so you should try and get some sleep at least,” Breakwater said.

“I’ll be able to,” Senax said, though a bit uncertainly.

“We could go out for a swim,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Do something that’ll relax you and make you tired at the same time.”

“The sun’s already going down, is swimming at night safe?” Daylight wondered.

“There are sharks in these waters,” Breakwater said as he rubbed his chin. “I don’t know if you two want to be out swimming there with such low visibility. Daylight’s right that it might not really be safe. During the day I think you’d be fast and attentive enough to notice any danger but right now it would kind of be a dumb risk to take.”

Rainbow Dash blew an annoyed breath of air out her nose. “Okay, so something else then. Not like I’m afraid of sharks anyways.” She muttered that last part.

“If we had wine that would help but you right to sleep,” Gilbert said to Senax between beakfuls of salmon.

Breakwater grinned over at Rainbow Dash. “Well then maybe we should have made plans to stop at Alth-Verika.”

Rainbow glared at him.

“It’s fine, it’s all fine,” Senax smiled and shook her head. “You’re all just being silly right now.”

“You know what I think would make it easier to fall asleep tonight? Having even more food. Especially something like chocolate. I’m going to go get more chocolate,” Daylight said and stood up from the table.

Senax rolled her eyes. “Silly...”

“Hey, you can never go wrong with chocolate… unless it’s in a pie,” Rainbow Dash shuddered.

It of course didn’t take Daylight long to finish rummaging around in the hold and come back with more chocolate—this time for everyone. It was still a delicacy to get to eat something like this while sailing on the open ocean, but when else were they going to eat it? It was mostly just in nondescript bars but there were several cookies as well. Hoofing it out to everyone they all had a few bites (or more) and devoured the sweet treats. It was an excellent capper to an already excellent dinner.

“Okay then,” Rainbow Dash said as she finished her dessert. “Since it’s still hours before anybody is actually going to want to sleep and we still don’t have anything else to do, I have a suggestion.”

She discreetly reached down under the table and pulled up a deck of cards.

Everyone else groaned.

“No one wants to play Poker with you, Rainbow Dash,” Daylight said to her.

“It’s not exactly the most fun way to pass time,” Senax said.

“Oh come on, what else are we doing tonight? We don’t even have to play Poker, we can play something that my luck won’t matter as much for,” Rainbow Dash pleaded.

“Like what?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash frowned and thought for a moment, her eyes zeroing in on the skeletal remains of Gilbert’s dinner. “Uhhh… Go Fish?”

They blinked back at her before sharing a few quick glances with each other. Seems no one was totally convinced just yet to play cards with her. Something she could understand but was still no less annoyed by. Rainbow Dash was about to let out a disgruntled sigh and try and plead her case some more—when a lone talon was raised. Everyone now looked over at Gilbert.

“Well… I wouldn’t be opposed or anything to playing Go Fish,” the griffon said.

Rainbow Dash’s frown quickly turned up into a grin. “Alright, that’s exactly the kind of thing I wanted to hear! Up high, Gilbert!” She said and raised her hoof up towards him.

He high-fived her with his talon and grinned.

“Pff, I guess that settles it for everyone then,” Daylight rolled her eyes. “Since I don’t feel like having either of you say I hate fun again, I’ll play too.”

“Me too, why not?” Breakwater shrugged.

“If we’re just killing some time before I get tired enough to sleep I suppose it’s a good way to spend the time,” Senax said.

“Sweet!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof. “Okay, I’ll deal.”

Being no stranger to decks of cards by now, Rainbow Dash expertly shuffled and cut the deck with a dexterity that would impress most casino dealers. Chalk it up to having a natural talent for such things. She riffled the cards despite a lack of opposable thumbs or digits and then swiftly threw five cards each, one by one, to everyone at the table. The remaining deck was then placed on the table between them all.

“So who’s first?” Gilbert asked.

Senax smiled. “Being part fish myself, I think I should go first.”

Daylight snorted. “If you insist.”

Senax did. And as she looked down at her hoof she wondered who she should ask first. From her brief time at the gambling den in the back alleys of Malkonrik’s port she knew she had pretty good luck herself. And maybe even just some good sense when it came to reading others, it was the kind of thing that made her pretty confident. Rainbow may have been absurdly lucky at all kinds of games but would that also count for a game that was nothing more than silly recreation like Go Fish? Senax was going to be happy to test that. Her hoof right now contained no pairs to make things easier for herself, she was going to have to start from scratch.

Looking up from her five cards she slowly dragged her eyes across everyone else at the table before settling on her griffon friend. “Gilbert, do you have any threes?”

Gilbert sighed and removed one of the cards from his talon, giving it over to her. Senax put the newly gained three with the one she already had and giggled. Her eyes then went back to scanning the others. It was perfectly okay to ask Gilbert for a different card, but she wanted to try and complete her threes first. Gilbert having two different cards she needed seemed a little unlikely. Feeling like taking a bit of a risk, Senax decided to make Rainbow Dash the next player she would question.

“Alright, Rainbow Dash, do you have any threes?” Senax asked.

Rainbow Dash merely grinned back at her. “Sorry, Go Fish.”

“Hmph,” Senax pouted and frowned, reaching to the deck to grab another card instead. Just a Jack, nothing she needed.

“I think we go in a circle right?” Breakwater asked as soon as Senax was done drawing. “Should I go next?”

“Go for it,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Alright then… uh… Daylight? Do you have any Queens?” Breakwater asked her.

Daylight rolled her eyes and took two cards from her hoof and gave them over to him. “There. Take them.”

“I will,” Breakwater grinned. He had three now, not a full set, so if he didn’t find the fourth one right now it was very possible that someone else would take his first now that they knew he had all the rest. Senax had a full hoof but two of them were threes, his best bet this time was Rainbow Dash. He looked over to her and raised an eyebrow. “Well, Rainbow Dash? You didn’t have any threes but do you have any Queens?”

“Just the last one you need,” Rainbow wryly grinned and flicked the fourth Queen to him.

“Hah!” Breakwater grinned and put all four cards down.

“Lucky that all four of them had already been dealt from the start,” Gilbert said.

“Yep, now let’s see if my luck continues,” he turned to Senax. “Got any fives?”

The merpony though shook her head and winked at him. “Sorry, go fish.”

“Oh well, still in first place,” Breakwater shrugged and drew a fresh card.

“My turn now,” Rainbow Dash said. “Aaaand as much as I want to win I still kind of hope I don’t get everything I need in one round. That’d kind of be lame for all of us. So let’s see…” She rubbed her chin and gazed at Senax. “Well do you have any Kings, Senax?”

“Nope! Go fish,” Senax stuck her tongue out at her.

“Go figure...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and grabbed a new card.

“My turn then. I expect this to go as poorly as Rainbow Dash’s considering it’s me,” Daylight said.

“Oh don’t be like that,” Rainbow groaned.

“Just kidding around,” Daylight smiled slightly and looked over at her. “Do you have any nines?”

“Pff, yeah,” an annoyed Rainbow Dash flicked the card to Daylight this time.

“Thank you very much, I know that probably hurts a lot for someone as competitive as you.”

“Yeah. It does,” Rainbow’s eye twitched.

“We all know your luck will turn around anyways,” Breakwater said with a huff.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Probably, but still.”

“Well anyways it’s still my turn,” Daylight smirked and looked over at Gilbert. “Got any nines, Gilbert?”

“Afraid not, Daylight. Go fish!” The griffon happily smiled back at her.

“Didn’t expect to get a streak,” Daylight said as she levitated a new card into her hooves.

“And last but not least, it’s my turn,” he coughed into his talon and turned to Breakwater. “Got any fives?”

Breakwater grumbled as he took his five out from his hoof and slid it over to Gilbert. “You know I do...”

“Yes I do!”

From there, the game of Go Fish actually continued well into the night as the group of friends played multiple rounds. Rainbow Dash was completely unwilling to lose and everyone else really wanted to show her up and take her down a peg. All in good fun of course. The game still worked as an excellent way for all of them to relax and get over the anxiety some of them may have been feeling over what was to come tomorrow. And by the end of it most were tired enough where they could plop right down on the cabin’s floor and fall asleep.

Of course things still needed to finish up first.

Rainbow Dash had three eights in her hoof. All she needed was the last one to win the night. Her eyes narrowed as she looked from pony to pony (to merpony to griffon) and tried to determine just by their eyes who had that final eight.

“Well you’ve been lucky this evening, but that’s about to end,” Rainbow said to Senax. “This is why I always win at games like this. So, Senax, do you have any eights?”

The merpony sighed and hoofed over the final eight. “Here.”

“Wooh! Rainbow Dash wins again!” Rainbow shouted and slammed down the four eights.

“Of course you do,” Daylight shook her head.

“Oh well,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Hey you guys all came way closer to winning than normal this time,” Rainbow said. “It was still a lot of fun, right?”

“Yeah, I had fun. Didn’t work out in the end but winning at the beginning was pretty nice,” Breakwater said.

“I still had fun too,” Senax smiled. “It was close.”

Daylight Gleam sighed and looked out the back window of the cabin, seeing total darkness. “I guess it’s time for us to get to bed then. I’m already tired.”

“That goes for all of us I think,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah-” Rainbow Dash yawned. “Even me.”

“Big day tomorrow,” Gilbert smiled.

“Let’s hope it goes well...” Daylight muttered as she hopped off her chair.

“I’m sure it will. I’m staying optimistic,” Senax said.

Rainbow Dash reached over with a grin and patted Senax’s back. “That’s the spirit. We’ve got this.”

“I’ll make sure all of you wake up before dawn so we don’t miss anything,” Breakwater said with a yawn.

“Sounds good,” Rainbow said. She looked over at Senax. “Feeling tired enough to rest easy?”

Senax smiled at her and lightly nodded her head, her eyes blinking shut for a few seconds longer than a normal blink. “I think so.”

“Great, let’s go to bed,” Rainbow said as the four others left the cabin.

The moon was high in the sky, full and shining down on the ocean as only a few clouds would drift in front of it every now and then. It and the stars together actually created a nice night sky, it wasn’t even cold out. Rainbow Dash breathed in the ocean air and paused for a moment, basking in the moonlight with the sounds of the Heart of Azure slowly drifting over the waves being the only sound around. It was all something she was used to by now. As soon as she lied down, sleep should come easy.

Hours later, between midnight and dawn, the Heart of Azure continued to make its way through the dark of night to the Sarrarocco Archipelago. All five souls aboard were sound asleep and the moon was now hidden completely behind the clouds. It was pitch black on the ocean. But unlike on the small vessel, not everything in the water was asleep as well.

Coming up from below, off the port side of the ship, a large, slimy, scaly, thing broke the surface of the water and looked towards the ship.

An eel. A massive green eel who could swallow a pony whole. Most of its body was still submerged in the water while its head poked out. Great eyes that could see in the darkest depths of the ocean made out the ship clearly, while a long shut jaw with huge and sharp teeth twitched. The eel slowly opened its jaws as it floated in the water, serpentine body slithering beneath the water to keep it steady. When its mouth was open completely—something stepped out from deep in its throat.

Someone.

A pony wearing black robes stepped between the rows of teeth and stood on the flesh where the tongue of another animal would be. He looked into the darkness as well to make out the shape of the Heart of Azure. After but a second, he nodded in affirmation and retreated back down into the giant eel’s throat.

The eel clamped its jaws shut once more and dove down into the water.

Unwelcome Arrival

They had woken up hours ago to prepare and it was now well past dawn as the Heart of Azure entered the waters of the Sarrarocco Archipelago. They were able to tell this because they started seeing numerous small islands and rocks that were part of Breakwater’s maps. It was like passing through an invisible border. At first the rocks jutting out of the water were little more than that, small rocks like teeth with nothing more than barnacles on them at most. But as they traveled further the rocks grew bigger, they formed groups, and some had lone trees growing out the top of them. Beyond those the first actual islands became visible, though they were still nothing more than lonely things barely as big across as the Heart of Azure itself. Not places to dock or where any pony could live.

But what these new islands did have were large poles of maple wood built into them. Breakwater said they were signifiers of the Sarraroccon Order, letting you know you had entered their domain. There was also a fog over the water, low and dense, it made seeing into the distance impossible so they had to travel slowly at the moment. It was a good thing the Heart of Azure was still a fairly small vessel and could maneuver around all these islands easily.

“Do you think the fog will lift soon or is it always foggy here?” Daylight Gleam asked Breakwater.

“Should lift soon, haven’t heard anything about perpetual fog at the Archipelago before,” he answered.

The two of them were at the helm while Gilbert and Senax were by the bow and Rainbow Dash was at her usual place in the crow’s nest. Even she couldn’t really see past the fog at this point but she was keeping her eyes peeled for anymore islands or any ships that might pop up in front of them. For the next hour though the Heart of Azure merely continued on without any interruption as the islands of the Archipelago grew and changed around them.

The first island they saw that was inhabited was a lone rock, a hundred feet tall and probably several hundred in circumference, that came out of the water to the south. There was a small beach of sand and gravel with a sloping hill of grass that led up and up from it to the rock’s summit. Atop it was a single large house with several beautiful cherry trees growing around it. They didn’t see any ponies there but it looked too nice and clean to be abandoned. The owners must’ve been asleep or away.

“A lot of private islands like that dot the Archipelago,” Breakwater said. “Places that ponies who like their peace and quiet have gone to live. We’ll start seeing more soon.”

He was right, but it wasn’t just lone houses on lonely rocks and islands that they saw either. Some narrow rocks shooting up from the water had things like statues built on them, statues of ponies, fish, manta rays, and sea serpents. Other islands instead of houses had what looked more like temples or shrines of some sort. Must’ve had something to do with the Sarraroccon Order, Rainbow Dash couldn’t really make heads or tails of stuff like that.

“Certainly an interesting place to visit, isn’t it?” Gilbert said to Senax as they looked at the statues and islands around them.

“It’s a lot nicer looking than a bunch of rafts with junk heaps on top of them,” Senax said.

“I’m not surprised you would think that...” Gilbert awkwardly chuckled.

“Let’s hope that I have a better experience here than there too,” Senax said as she watched a large mountain with a large bell tower on top pass by.

“Keep it optimistic down there!” Rainbow shouted at them from the crow’s nest.

“We will!” Gilbert waved back at her.

It took some more time of sailing through these islands and the fog, but eventually the Heart of Azure pierced through the last dregs of the fog bank. They were now in open water and could see much further into the distance. Early morning sunlight shined down on the ocean—and the large island directly in front of them. Large and circular, with cliffs rising sheer from the water and grassy green hills in the middle of it, it was the first large island they had seen that could actually hold a lot of ponies and buildings on it.

In the crow’s nest, Rainbow Dash raised a hoof over her eyes and stared out at it. On the eastern side of the island, right where they were going, there was a simple wooden dock built next to a sea cave that looked to go deep into the bowels of the island. The waters between their ship and the island were also a deep, brilliant, blue that reflected the light of the sun. Now out of the fog everyone could appreciate how beautiful the waters of the Archipelago really were, as well as the nice and warm weather.

“That’s Blue Coral Island!” Breakwater called from below. “Almost there.”

“Looks like a decent enough place,” Rainbow said.

“Yep,” Breakwater smiled and looked up at her, and then his attention was caught by something else, a seagull flying above the Heart of Azure. For a while his smile lingered on it too but then he suddenly stiffened up. In shock, he had just remembered something very important about the Sarrarocco Archipelago. “Oh crud.”

Daylight Gleam frowned and glanced over at him. “What? What is it?”

He didn’t answer her, frowning, he called out across the ship. “Rainbow Dash! Rainbow and Gilbert, I need you to get over here!”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and hopped down from the crow’s nest, gently floating down to join Breakwater and Daylight at the helm.

Gilbert and Senax also shuffled over, confused as to what was going on.

“Is something the matter?” Gilbert asked.

“I just remembered something when it comes to visiting and traveling through the Archipelago. Sorry for not remembering this earlier, but it was never something that applied to me before,” Breakwater sighed. “You see, the Sarraroccon Order has some unique rules in place, and they like to control the flow of traffic to and from the main islands. And especially make sure no one can just go to the islands off-limits to ponies not part of the Order.”

“So what does that have to do with me and Gilbert specifically?” Rainbow asked as she pointed between the two of them.

“Er... well... try not to get upset, but you’re not allowed to fly over open water in the Archipelago. At all. It’s even kind of a religious thing to them, they take it really seriously,” Breakwater told her.

“Oh. Great. Fantastic. Totally awesome,” Rainbow grumbled.

Gilbert was a little more understanding. “You said over open water?”

“Yeah,” Breakwater nodded. “You can fly over land still as long as you’re on an island, but you can’t fly from one island to another. Even just barely going over the water is bad enough to get you in trouble.”

“Well that’s not too terrible then, you can still fly some of the time while we’re here,” Daylight said to Rainbow Dash.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to stop myself from flying whenever and wherever I want...” Rainbow dragged a hoof down her face.

“We could tie a rope around your wings,” Gilbert suggested.

“That honestly might not be a terrible idea.”

“Yeah... sorry, just really had to tell you about that before we got closer to Blue Coral Island,” Breakwater said. “There’s more to it as well. To control who goes where and when, you can only use Order-approved methods of travel between islands. We can’t just sail the Heart of Azure anywhere after landing at Blue Coral Island, she’s going to be docked safely inside that sea cave until we’re ready to leave the Archipelago altogether.”

“Who knows when that’s going to even be,” Daylight muttered.

“So for the entire time we’re here we won’t have access to the Heart of Azure? We’ll only be able to use whatever methods they have to ferry us where we need to go?” Senax asked.

“Yep. Good news is that because this is all done at the Order’s behest and maintained by them that it’s as safe as safe can be. Unless you have a private place to dock of your own, there’s almost no better place you could keep your ship.”

Senax frowned in worry. “Still... I don’t know if I want to leave the Horn of Listening alone for so long. Especially when we don’t know that much about the High Priestess... I think I should take it with us after we dock the Heart of Azure.”

“Probably a good idea,” Daylight nodded.

“We still need to figure out what we’re doing at the island anyways. Like, the High Priestess invited us right? Do we tell the ponies here that?” Rainbow asked.

“They should be expecting us,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Might as well since it’s not like we know where we’re going from here. We can see if they know anything,” Breakwater said.

“And I’ll... ugh... I’ll stay down here on deck until we get there. Wouldn’t want to make anyone mad,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash...” Breakwater tried apologizing.

She shrugged. “Whatever, even if you remembered earlier nothing was going to change.”

“Yeah, guess it’s time to just get over there now,” Breakwater said.

He took the Heart of Azure slowly and calmly to the dock on the east side of Blue Coral Island. There weren’t any other ships there, since apparently the dock was really just for checking in and every ship was actually docked inside that cave. Rainbow Dash walked to the bow this time to stare ahead and check out what else she could see. Beyond the dock there were a few buildings with blue-painted roofs and a gate that led to a street that slowly inclined upwards to reach the more level parts of the island not right by the cliffs and water. It looked like there was some kind of tram that went up and down the middle of the street, probably for new arrivals and departures that had a lot of stuff with them. Besides that she couldn’t really see much into the higher and interior parts of the island just yet, but it was big enough to function as a small town all on its own from the look of it.

As the Heart of Azure made its way to the dock and sidled up alongside it, two ponies walked from the blue buildings out onto the dock, right to their ship. A unicorn mare and a unicorn stallion, they wore blue suits with blue caps that had black brims on them. Breakwater kept the Heart of Azure steady and had the sail furled up and the anchor dropped for the moment so they wouldn’t drift. After that, they all walked down from the helm to the port side of the ship, standing behind the railing so they were as level with the dock as they could get.

The mare from the buildings walked out in front, a serious no-nonsense look on her face, she glanced up and down the body of the ship and then up at them. Behind her the stallion had a clipboard levitated in his magical aura.

“Name of the vessel and captain? I am Sugar Candy of the port authority,” she asked. She was young, with a pink mane done in a tight bun behind her head and a grey coat. Sea blue eyes stared at them from under the brim of the cap.

“This is the Heart of Azure, and I’m Captain Breakwater,” Breakwater answered.

Sugar Candy frowned and looked over at the stallion’s clipboard before returning her gaze to them. She looked decidedly unfriendly. “You’re an unscheduled arrival, do you have permission to dock here?”

That caught Breakwater and the rest of them off-guard. They hadn’t heard about that.

“Permission?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow. “I thought this was a public island...”

Sugar Candy’s frown deepened. “Blue Coral Island is a public island, open to anyone, but that doesn’t mean you can just come here whenever you want, without any notice. You need written proof that an individual living on the island, or a business that works on the island, has invited you. Or if not that then proof from a higher authority that has authorized your arrival.”

“Well this is fantastic...” Daylight grumbled.

“Obviously you all have no idea how things really work here. The Sarrarocco Archipelago is a very popular place, we cannot simply let everyone come and go as they please. It would be far too chaotic. Especially with the way the Order itself likes to run things,” Sugar Candy said. “It is their Archipelago after all and they have quite a few... idiosyncrasies when it comes to it.”

“So without something like a ticket or something you can verify you won’t let us dock in the cave and stay here?” Breakwater asked.

“That’s right,” Sugar Candy responded.

“I really wish we had been told that,” he shook his head.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, thinking they still had something to go on. “You said a higher authority though, right?”

Sugar Candy looked over at her. “Yes, I did. Who are you and what do you mean?”

“I’m Rainbow Dash, and by higher authority you’ve gotta mean the Sarraroccon Order itself, right? Well we were invited here personally by the High Priestess. She told one of her servants to tell us to come to Blue Coral Island!”

Sugar Candy and her assistant shared a look with each other before Sugar Candy raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash. “Do you have proof of that?”

“Uhhh...”

“Obviously we can’t just believe you for saying the High Priestess of the Order invited you,” Sugar Candy sighed and shook her head. “And though they are indeed the highest authority of the Archipelago, this is still an island mostly detached from their going-ons. There are very few ponies within the Order or even affiliated with it here.”

Rainbow Dash slumped over the railing. “Come on... why wouldn’t they have this kind of thing sorted out before we got here?”

“Why would they have us come to this island in particular anyways?” Daylight suspiciously wondered.

The stallion leaned in to Sugar Candy and whispered into her ear. She listened and frowned, before sighing and nodding her head.

“Alright, fine. We can do that at least.” Sugar Candy cleared her throat and looked up at them. “Is it only the five of you on this vessel? And it doesn’t look like you’re here for business but for personal reasons?”

Breakwater nodded. “That’s right. My ship isn’t even part of any companies, it’s purely my own.”

“Okay then. Since it’s a small vessel and there are only five of you, it wouldn’t exactly be a burden to allow you to dock and stay here on Blue Coral Island. I can ask the Dockmaster for permission,” Sugar Candy said.

“Really? Thank you,” Breakwater smiled with relief.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Sugar Candy scoffed and turned around, her assistant following her.

Once she was out of earshot, Daylight snorted and shook her head. “For a name like Sugar Candy she’s not very sweet, is she?”

“I’m more annoyed that that servant dude didn’t tell us anything about this. Or that the High Priestess didn’t let anyone know that we were coming,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It is strange...” Gilbert nodded.

“Hopefully it’ll turn out for the best,” Senax said. “From what she said it doesn’t seem like it would actually be too much trouble to allow us to dock.”

“But then what do we do next? We have no idea how to get to or contact the High Priestess. The Order hasn’t given us any other clues,” Daylight said.

“You will be contacted later.”

The sudden voice intruding on their conversation got everyone on the Heart of Azure to stiffen in surprise. It had come from the starboard side of the ship and Rainbow Dash quickly darted over to look over the side of the boat. There, down in the water, was a pony clad in black robes, riding on top of a large manta ray. She couldn’t see completely past his hood, but it was easy to tell this wasn’t Fair Drift but a different servant.

“You... did the Priestess send you?” Rainbow Dash asked him while the others joined up beside her.

“Yes. The High Priestess gives you leave to explore the Archipelago at your leisure. Later you will be contacted and given audience with her. Get a room at the Saffron Inn on the island, and everything else will be taken care of,” he lightly tapped his hoof on the manta ray’s back and it started to swim away.

“Wait!” Daylight yelled after him. “When will we be contacted?”

“Later,” was his only response as the manta ray sped away.

“Helpful,” Rainbow Dash sarcastically muttered.

“Well they work in mysterious ways but at least we know there wasn’t a mistake,” Breakwater said.

“I guess that’s something to look forward to,” Senax said, though she sounded a bit uncertain.

“Yeah...” Rainbow Dash sighed and turned around. “Come on, let’s wait for those two dock ponies to get back. I get a feeling after talking to that pony that we’re going to be allowed to stay here and he knows it.”

The five of them went back over to the port side of the ship and stood there for a few minutes until they saw Sugar Candy and her assistant emerge from one of the blue buildings in front of the gate and come back to the dock. The mare had the same stony expression as always, so they had no idea what sort of answer they were actually about to get. Together the two suited unicorns came to a stop on the dock and Sugar Candy took a deep breath before letting it all out.

“You have been given permission to stay here at Blue Coral Island. Enjoy your stay.”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof.

Senax wiped a hoof across her forehead in relief. “Good...”

“Yes, yes,” Sugar Candy rolled her eyes before narrowing them at the group. And Rainbow Dash and Gilbert in particular. “You two... you’re a pegasus and you’re a griffon, are you aware of the rules when it comes to flying here at the Sarrarocco Archipelago?”

“Yeah, we are,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No flying over open water,” Gilbert nodded.

“Good. As long as you know that. I suppose that’s all that needs to be said, just don’t cause any trouble while you’re here. Others will be out to help you with docking your ship in the sea cave shortly,” Sugar Candy said and made a tight about-face, stomping back down the dock. Her assistant gave the five of them a curt nod before following her.

Daylight shrugged. “Could’ve gone worse but it could’ve gone better too.”

“Yeah, was hoping for a warmer welcome. The Sarrarocco Archipelago has a better reputation than this,” Breakwater groused.

“Well we’re here now and we know what to do next, sort of,” Rainbow Dash said. She grinned at the others. “Let’s make the best of it.”

Sarrarocco Stories I

Because the only things they were taking from the Heart of Azure was the Horn of Listening and their leftover money, they didn’t ride the tram up the street but instead merely walked up it. Senax carried the Horn in a bundled up cloth so no one could see what it actually was, not comfortable with leaving it behind in the sea cave for however long they were here. Docking in there wasn’t a problem at least and then they were led right back out to the blue buildings and the front gate that led to this street. The main entrance up and into the heart of Blue Coral Island. At the sides of the street there were numerous gift shops, selling all sorts of things like sea shell necklaces, candy, clothes, hats, paintings, and more.

“You know this is reminding me a lot of the more tourist centric places of Malkonrik’s port,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, me too,” Daylight Gleam nodded.

“It’s not really a surprise. This is one of the more popular islands of the Archipelago to visit, and one that has the least to do with the Order, lots of normal ponies on vacation definitely come through here,” Breakwater said.

“And normal ponies like to buy knick-knacks,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “I guess I was expecting something different from this place.”

“It’ll be different when we get to the top of the street. And other islands are definitely going to be more unique,” Breakwater said.

He was right about that, once they had finished walking up tourist lane and got to level ground they were able to look out across the rest of Blue Coral Island and see what it had to offer. The first thing Rainbow Dash noticed was how vibrant and colorful it was. Where there wasn’t green grass or flowing blue streams of water, there were beautiful maple trees and other soft looking trees with pink leaves. The majority of buildings were painted a clean white with either bright red or bright blue roofs to them. There were a lot of buildings just standing off on their own at various spots around the island, but the center of the island looked to be a big marketplace with many places to visit. The ponies out walking the streets looked as happy as could be—there was a very positive energy to the atmosphere of the island. A lot but not most here wore silken clothes in light pastel colors with sandals on their hooves.

The street they were on now went straight to the marketplace but also branched off and went to several other spots on the island, towards open air parks, other buildings, and to the edges of the island. Rainbow Dash imagined there were other docks on the other sides of Blue Coral Island but she didn’t know for sure. Either way every street had a light covering of tree leaves to make it more colorful. Must’ve been the season for the leaves to fall.

“Well I suppose now we just need to find our way to the Saffron Inn,” Gilbert said.

“Yep,” Breakwater nodded. “Let’s head down towards that central area with all the buildings for now, we can ask ponies along the way for directions.”

“Wonder if they have tour guides here,” Rainbow said.

“Wouldn’t put it past them. Probably scammers too,” Daylight said as she shiftily looked around.

Gilbert scoffed. “Oh, Daylight. Must you be so negative?”

“I just don’t trust this place. Not after our encounters with those Order ponies,” the unicorn replied.

“It looks like a friendly place to me...” Senax said.

“Maybe this island, but I’m still not taking chances. We’re not on vacation here like most visitors.”

“Even if we were I think you’d still find a way to not have fun,” Rainbow grinned at her.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Whatever, that’s not what anyone is here for.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno, from the sound of it we could be here for a while. That guy said the High Priestess will let us explore the islands, to me that means she practically wants us to go around and see the sights. Maybe she just wants to spy on us more, but I get the feeling we’re not getting another invitation from her if all we do is sit around in our room at the Saffron Inn.”

“You think there’s really something more to her saying we can explore the Archipelago at our leisure?” Senax asked.

“Yeah. Not saying it’s anything nefarious, but normally wouldn’t you think she’d tell us not to leave Blue Coral Island? Instead now we have an open invitation to go anywhere.”

“Maybe she wants to separate us? Or draw us to a specific island more controlled by the Order?” Daylight suggested.

“Well yeah—that’s the most pessimistic answer. But even though I don’t trust this High Priestess at all I think there are better ways to do stuff like that. She could’ve even told us to go right to an island like that and we wouldn’t have been able to do anything else. I seriously think she wants us to enjoy ourselves here. Whatever reason we can figure out later.”

“So we can go around and just have fun?” Gilbert asked with a smile pulling up his beak.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I mean, I don’t think we should be totally carefree, but yeah.”

Daylight thought for a moment. “Well... we still need to get a room at the Saffron Inn before we decide on anything else.”

“So let’s get moving then,” Breakwater said.

He didn’t have to say it twice. The group of five made their way down the leafy road towards the marketplace. While there were other ponies using the road, they were trying to keep their eyes open for ponies that were obviously locals. That meant the ones who were dressed up nicely in what was obviously the traditional garb of the Sarrarocco Archipelago. Shortly, they passed by a small pond on the side of the road that had a number of stone benches for ponies to sit at. One bench was occupied by a pair of mares in flowing silk garments, one a lime-green and the other a very light blue.

Breakwater glanced over at everyone else and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Daylight shrugged. “They look like locals to me.”

And so Breakwater walked up to them and cleared his throat while the rest stood back.

“Excuse me, ladies? Would either of you happen to know where we can find the Saffron Inn?”

Both mares turned to him with a smile before the one in the green spoke. “Of course! Is this your first time visiting Blue Coral Island?”

“Yes, yes it is,” Breakwater smiled back.

“Well the Saffron Inn is an easy place to find, it’s the oldest inn on the island,” the mare in blue said and pointed down the road. “What you want to do is go down to the marketplace and then take the Saffron Road leading away from it. Just follow that and you’ll reach the Saffron Inn on the western side of the island.”

“Thank you,” Breakwater nodded. “The two of you have been a big help.”

“Don’t mention it,” the green one waved at him.

“That’s part of Sarraroccon hospitality!” The blue one said.

“Indeed...” Breakwater said and walked away to rejoin the others. “Well you heard them, shouldn’t be a tough place to find.”

“Yeah, hopefully they have open rooms too,” Daylight said.

After that it was mostly more of the same as they traveled down the road, looking at the idyllic scenery and waving hello to any ponies that were kind enough to wave and say hi as well. Blue Coral Island not only looked beautiful but it was much friendlier than the average Kingdom, that was for sure. As they got to the marketplace they looked around and saw many more buildings that looked like genuine business and not just trinket and souvenir shops for tourists. This was the heart of the island and it contained a vast number of fancy restaurants, lodgings, travel planners, and high-end versions of what they saw before, like luxurious clothing stores and furniture stores.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she looked around at the busy marketplace and the ponies walking through it. Her eyes picking out the few hotels she saw. “I don’t get it, there are hotels right here so why are we supposed to go all the way to the Saffron Inn?”

“There must be something special about it, those other ponies did say it was the oldest one on the island,” Daylight said.

“Maybe it has something to do with the Order?” Gilbert suggested.

“Could even be run by them,” Breakwater said.

“I guess,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So where’s Saffron Road?”

“From how those mares put it it shouldn’t be hard to find. Let’s keep our eyes peeled for anything else that might look interesting while we’re here too. We’ll probably be right back here at some point anyways,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah, might also want to look for a bank so we don’t get stuck with the wrong money this time,” Rainbow grinned.

Breakwater coughed. “That’s a... that’s a good point.”

“They said the Saffron Inn is on the west side of the island so I think we should just keep walking that direction through the marketplace,” Senax pointed.

“Yeah, right on,” Rainbow patted her back and the group renewed their trip.

Saffron Road was pretty easy to find after that, it was one of only two roads that left the western edge of the marketplace. It led up through a hillier part of the island, surrounded by trees and nature, the few buildings they saw on the way were things like windmills and private homes. At one point they walked by a grassy hill that had a number of young kids flying kites on top of it. The further they walked from the marketplace the quieter and less crowded things got as well until they once again reached a more level part of the island and walked through a row of trees to find their destination.

The Saffron Inn was a large, three-story, building that sat in a clearing at the end of the Saffron Road. A few other roads that went north and south led away from it to other parts of the island but for the most part the inn was fairly secluded. The walls were painted a bright white and the roof and overhangs a cherry red. Circular windows dotted the exterior regularly to show where the rooms inside were. The front of the inn also had its own patio and a rocky pond covered in flowers and full of fish. Meanwhile the front door itself was a sliding door made of wood.

“Let’s just walk on in,” Rainbow Dash said and swiftly walked towards the front door. In truth her wings were agitated and she wanted to fly right now, but she was doing her best to overcome that urge for the duration of their stay here at the Archipelago.

“It’s bigger than the hotels at the marketplace so hopefully it has plenty of room,” Daylight said.

“I don’t think that pony from the Order would’ve told us to come here if he wasn’t sure there was an available room,” Gilbert said.

“Maybe they even have a room reserved for us...” Senax said.

Daylight snorted. “Considering the welcome we got? I doubt that.”

“Won’t know until we ask,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and pulled the door open.

The interior of the hotel had hardwood floors and walls as white as the exterior, potted plants sat in the corners and large tapestries hung across the walls showing forests, lakes, and islands. Almost immediately to their right was a horseshoe shaped desk where a mare clad in a flowing orange robe made of silk sat.

“Welcome to the Saffron Inn, how may we be of service to you?” The mare asked.

“Uhh... got a room for five?” Breakwater asked. “And, uh, do you take Malkonrik coins as payment?”

“We do indeed accept Malkonrik and most other Kingdoms’ currency. And yes, we have rooms that can accommodate five lodgers, but they are our more luxurious suites on the top floor. If you would like, it would be less expensive for you to book two smaller rooms,” the mare said.

The group shared a look with each other before Rainbow Dash spoke to the matron.

“Actually, we’d prefer one room, thanks.”

Even if they got two rooms right next to each other, they figured it would be safer for all of them to stay and sleep in the same place.

The mare smiled and nodded. “Very well, allow me to get you the keys to our Cinnamon Suite.”

Daylight wrinkled her nose at the name and Gilbert and Senax both shot each other rather confused looks. Breakwater just shrugged at them.

“Thank you,” Rainbow Dash said. There were actually a ton of questions going through her head, things she wanted to ask the Inn’s matron, but she stayed her tongue for now. They had traveled far and walked a lot today, it was time to get to their room and rest, think about what would come next once they were all settled in. The Saffron Inn, this mare, they weren’t going anywhere. Tomorrow Rainbow Dash could ask everything she needed to about the Sarraroccon Order and the High Priestess.

Since they were going to have some free time here at the Archipelago there were also some... personal matters she thought about getting to.

The matron retrieved a set of five keys in exchange for the room’s payment from Breakwater and then directed them down the hall to the stairs. While walking up the stairs they didn’t see any other ponies currently staying in the hotel, but there were a few maids cleaning. At the third floor they walked down the hall all the way to the very last door and found their room. The mahogany door had a golden “C” nailed to it and when they opened it up they discovered a large sitting room with a window peering out to the middle of Blue Coral Island.

Not only that but they had their own kitchen, a den, a private bathroom, and multiple bedrooms.

“I guess mares in one bedroom and stallions and male griffons in the other?” Daylight said.

“Works for me,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Me too,” Senax said. She walked into the sitting room and placed the bundled up Horn of Listening onto the couch. “I suppose we can figure out what to do next tomorrow, but before that I did want to say this: I really think at least one of us should stay here, in this room, or at the very least still on Blue Coral Island, at all times.”

“Yeah, probably,” Daylight nodded. “We’re meant to be contacted here after all, aren’t we?”

“And someone needs to stay close to my people’s treasure so it isn’t stolen. I wonder if they have safes here,” Senax said.

“This doesn’t exactly seem like a high-crime sort of place but I get your point. Especially since that High Priestess probably has ponies watching us, and we still have no idea what she wants,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I don’t think we have much to worry about but... yeah, I understand why you might be worried, Senax,” Breakwater said as he looked around the kitchen. “Hmm, I wonder if there’s food here at the inn or if we’ll need to go out and buy some?”

“I wouldn’t mind exploring our new accommodations,” Gilbert said. “If you’re up for walking around the inn for a bit.”

Breakwater nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.” He raised an eyebrow at the three mares. “You’ll be fine here while we’re gone?”

Rainbow Dash grinned and saluted to him. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll stay here until you’re back, the five of us can relax for the night... and tomorrow morning we’ll start to figure this whole Archipelago out.”

Breakwater and Gilbert saluted back to her and left the room, Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to stretch her wings, rolling them around in their sockets, but staying on the floor. Senax carefully picked the Horn of Listening back up before venturing into one of the bedrooms, and Daylight Gleam walked over to the bathroom to check it out. All in all, Rainbow Dash figured the day could’ve gone a lot worse. At least the Saffron Inn was a nice place to stay.

Sarrarocco Stories II

Rainbow Dash woke up the following morning after being pushed a few times by a very annoyed Daylight Gleam.

“You were snoring,” the unicorn frowned.

Rainbow Dash frowned back at her. “You like waking up early anyways.”

The room they had used came with two beds, Rainbow Dash and Daylight had agreed to give Senax one bed while they would share the other. After a night of kicking each other with their hooves, Rainbow Dash decided midway through to sleep on the floor. As the pegasus got up she yawned and rubbed her eyes to get the last bits of sleep out of her system.

“So what time is it?” Rainbow asked.

“About two hours after dawn.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked around the room, noticing that Senax wasn’t there and that Daylight wasn’t tired at all. “Wait—you were already awake. My snoring wasn’t bothering you.”

Daylight smirked. “Just needed to wake you up, sleepyhead. Come on, everyone else is in the other room. We need to decide on what we’re doing today.”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash nodded and stood up. “Breakfast too?”

“Fruit and cereal.”

“Works for me.”

The sitting room was crowded with the five of them using the chairs and sofa, all with their own breakfast now. Breakwater and Gilbert had returned with food last night, the Inn also had its own gourmet restaurant connected to the back that they could try at some point. Rainbow Dash dug into her food now so they could get to talking as fast as possible. Their first real day here and there was definitely a lot to get done.

“Well obviously no one else has contacted us yet,” Breakwater said after finishing his own food while Rainbow was mid-bite. “I even checked our room’s mail slot to see if someone from the Order left a sneaky letter.”

“Being contacted “later” doesn’t give us much of an idea,” Daylight snorted.

Rainbow Dash swallowed down the last bits of her cereal and shrugged. “So what? That’s pretty much how we already figured this would go. Let’s just go downstairs and talk to that mare in the lobby or whoever else is working right now and ask them if they know anything about the Order or what’s special about Blue Coral Island. I’ve got something I want to ask her too that’ll help me figure out what I’m going to be doing here at the Archipelago while we wait.”

“What?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“Something. I’ll tell you when I know for sure,” Rainbow cryptically said.

The others were a little confused but Rainbow had no intention of speaking more about it just yet.

“Well then I think Rainbow Dash is right. We should just go and ask around, learn as much about the Archipelago and the Order as we can,” Senax said.

Rainbow would’ve given her a thumbs up, but she just nodded and grinned instead.

“I’m ready to go when everyone else is,” Daylight shrugged.

“One last apple slice then,” Gilbert said and popped a wedge of green apple into his mouth.

With Gilbert’s appetite now sated the group left their room and headed back down to the lobby. This morning things were a bit more lively, Rainbow Dash saw and heard a few other guests moving through the Inn. When they got down to the first floor and walked in the direction of the front door, they found the same mare sitting there as before. Maybe she wasn’t an employee so much as one of the owners of the Inn. As soon as she saw them approaching she offered a polite wave and smile.

“Did you enjoy your night in the Cinnamon Suite?” She asked.

“Yeah, the beds are really comfortable,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam immediately frowned at each other.

Sensing that there was something on their minds as they stopped in front of her desk, the mare tilted her head. “Is there something you need?”

“Well uh...” Breakwater scratched the back of his head and looked at the others.

“Is there anything you can tell us about the Sarraroccon Order?” Senax asked. “Do they do anything on Blue Coral Island?”

“Do anything? Not really, there’s a shrine to their Order on the north side of the island. All ponies are welcome to visit it if that’s the kind of thing you’re interested in. I don’t really know anything more about them than the average pony who lives on the Archipelago,” the mare said.

“That’s more than any of us would know,” Daylight said.

The mare shrugged. “I suppose. The Order doesn’t really have a presence on Blue Coral Island in particular besides that shrine though.” She looked around before leaning in and whispering. “Which if I’m being totally honest is really just a fun place for tourists to learn about the Order rather than something really special to the Order.” She coughed and sat back up straight. “But aside from that they really don’t associate with businesses that aren’t directly owned by them to begin with, and ponies in the Order have their own private lodgings.”

“Well that’s still a decent help, isn’t it?” Gilbert said. “Just knowing they have a shrine here is helpful.”

“I guess we should probably go there next and learn from the ponies actually in the Order,” Daylight said.

Senax nodded. “I’d like the opportunity to speak to some… who aren’t just being weird.”

“Is there a road we should look out for that will take us right there?” Breakwater asked the mare.

“Yes, actually from here it’s very simple, just take the road leading north from the Inn—the Honeysuckle Road—it’ll take you on a bit of a long path but it’s still the most direct way to get to the Order’s shrine from here,” she said.

“That’s it then, let’s go,” Daylight said and started to walk away.

“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash said and walked up to the mare at the desk. “I’ve got a question or two.”

Her friends looked at her and the mare blinked.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to ask, what do you guys do to defend yourselves out here? There are pirates, and Bosche, and you’re a bunch of small islands. Do you have your own navy or warships to defend yourselves?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” the mare fervently shook her head. “When it comes to defense, the Order takes care of all of that.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that. What do they do?”

“Well there’s an entire warrior caste within the Order. They’re trained from birth to protect the Sarrarocco Archipelago. Many pirates and Bosche slavers have tried to attack us over the years but the Order’s warriors have turned them away every time.”

“And if I wanted to meet these warriors? Where is it that they’re trained from birth? It’s not an island that only ponies from the Order can go to, is it?” Rainbow leaned in.

The mare shook her head. “They live and train on Black Sand Island in the middle of the Archipelago. Anyone can go and see them—in fact they welcome it. It’s to show outsiders their strength and to reassure those who live here that they’re in good hooves.”

“Perfect. This is everything I was hoping for and more. Thanks. What’s the best way to get to the Black Sand Island from here?”

“Just go to the southern beach and get on a Manta Ferry going there. Should be a couple going every day,” the mare shrugged.

“Thanks again,” Rainbow Dash winked at her and swiftly trotted over to the Inn’s front door. She pushed it open and walked outside while the others followed her.

“Rainbow Dash? What’s gotten into you?” Daylight asked.

“I just know what I’m doing for the rest of the time I’m here,” the pegasus shrugged.

“Going to the Black Sand Island?” Gilbert asked.

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well when are you going to be back?” Daylight asked.

“Whenever that High Priestess wants to talk.”

“What?” Daylight frowned and walked in front of Rainbow Dash, putting a hoof on her shoulder to stop her. “You’re saying you’re just going to be at that warrior island until she contacts us again? It could be weeks! We have no idea when she’ll finally send someone!”

“I know, we’ve been over this,” Rainbow shrugged again.

“So why are you saying you’re going to leave us on our own while you gallivant somewhere else the whole time we’re here?” Daylight angrily asked her.

Rainbow Dash paused, not just giving a flippant response to her angry friend. She looked back at Gilbert, Senax, and Breakwater as well, seeing the confused looks on their faces. “Because this is how I help.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t have anything to do with Senax’s journey, I don’t know about archaeology and treasures, I don’t steer the ship, or make food, or do anything else important when it comes to sailing. What I do for Senax and the rest of you on this adventure? It’s fight. It’s to fight and protect you. And if I can’t protect you from Godfrey then what’s the point of me even being here. I told you I wanted to become stronger, become a better fighter. This place looks like my best opportunity to do that. I know it comes off as selfish, but believe me when I say that I’m thinking about all of you. I have to be better.”

Daylight stared at her, her brow furrowed and her teeth grinding back and forth. “Just… just take care of yourself then.”

“Heh, I will, mom.” Rainbow teased.

“Ugh,” Daylight rolled her eyes and walked away in annoyance.

“So the rest of us then…?” Senax questioned.

“We’ll do the same thing we already were going to do,” Breakwater said. “Ask around this island about the Order, check out the shrine, maybe find our own islands to explore-”

Senax opened her mouth to say something-

“-while one of us keeps an eye on the Horn of Listening,” Breakwater finished.

“That works for me,” Gilbert said.

“Okay, well I’m going to get to that beach and catch one of those Manta Ferries or whatever,” Rainbow Dash said and started walking to the road leading south away from the Saffron Inn. She waved to them while keeping her face forward. “Come get me when the High Priestess says she wants to talk to Senax again.”

“Remember not to fly out there!” Daylight called after her.

“I won’t!”

“Is she going to be alright?” Senax asked.

“If any of us would be okay on our own—it’s Rainbow Dash,” Daylight said in response.

“Just let her do her thing,” Gilbert said.

The party of four was now walking north without their pegasus friend, taking a scenic route through the Blue Coral Island on their way to the shrine if the Sarraroccon Order. Though it was quieter without Rainbow Dash around they were able to enjoy the pretty sights around them in this less busy part of the island. The road they were on was flanked by trees with leaves of all colors that dotted both the branches and the ground, and every now and then they walked past a park or a pond where ponies were out having fun. The island wasn’t gigantic or anything either, they figured they’d get to the shrine within a couple of hours.

“Have you seen any ponies so far who look like they might be part of the Order?” Daylight asked as they walked.

“No. Just locals in those silk robes and tourists like us,” Breakwater.

“But does every pony in the Order wear those heavy black robes? Or were they just special as servants to the High Priestess?” Senax wondered.

Daylight sighed. “Who knows? We probably should’ve asked the mare at the Inn if ponies in the Order wear anything special that signifies who they are.”

“It’s not really a big deal,” Gilbert said. “We’ll figure it all out when we get to the shrine.”

“I suppose… I think I’m just still a little worried about the High Priestess,” Senax said.

“Just keep positive. That’s what Rainbow Dash would say if she was here,” Breakwater said.

“I think after visiting the shrine we should probably split up and search the island on our own. Then at the end of the day we can meet back up at the Inn and share what we’ve learned. And maybe tomorrow… start doing more things on our own,” Daylight said.

“Figured you would still be on the “It’s too dangerous to split up” train,” Breakwater said.

“If Rainbow Dash is right we’re going to want to learn and explore the Archipelago at our leisure as much as possible. Even though I don’t trust the High Priestess either I don’t really feel like we’re directly in danger here.”

“Same here. It’s a rather disarming place,” Gilbert said. “If I was as pessimistic as you, Daylight, I might think that was the point to put us off-guard.”

“Well let’s continue to not be pessimistic then,” Daylight glared at him.

“Call it a vacation for real while we’re here,” Breakwater smirked.

After that they continued walking down the road for another hour before the trees opened up and they found themselves looking over a hill towards the north side of Blue Coral Island. There were quite a few buildings here, not as much as the central marketplace but still a decent amount scattered around. And at the northernmost edge, atop a large rock formation and a winding set of stone stairs, was a shrine with a red shingle roof, wooden walls, a golden bell on top, and large trees covering it in shade.

“There we go,” Daylight said.

“So many stairs...” Breakwater sighed.

Senax took the first step down from the hill towards it. “Come on, there’s no time to waste.”

Hours later…

Rainbow Dash stood on a large flat raft being pulled along by two gigantic manta rays. Ferry wasn’t exactly the word she would use for this but she supposed it worked well enough. Her wings twitched at her sides, begging to be used, but Rainbow had to hold back. Especially now. A couple dozen others were on the Manta Ferry with her, from tourists to locals to ponies on business, all going from Blue Coral Island to one of the many others in the Archipelago.

She had gotten the news quickly that she wouldn’t be directly traveling to Black Sand Island, she’d have to stop at a few places along the way. A little annoying but there was nothing else she could do.

Discreetly she looked around at the other ponies with her—wondering if any of them were actually spies for the Sarraroccon Order. They looked normal but she couldn’t be sure. The ones riding the manta rays were completely taciturn, doing their job and nothing else. It was clear they weren’t going to be taking any requests, sticking to their usual route and schedule. The pony at Blue Coral Island in charge of the Manta Ferry had been the one she talked to, not these ones.

Considering how the Order liked to control travel it was very likely they all were part of or at least connected to the Order. But Rainbow Dash had no intention of pushing them on it. She had her own business to get to now. If the Order wanted to do anything to her, or with her, they could come out and say it themselves.

For now she decided to look ahead at the various islands coming up—hoping that Black Sand Island wasn’t far away.

Sarrarocco Stories III

“I don’t exactly think this is a very formal or important shrine to the Sarraroccon Order,” Gilbert said as they stood atop the stone stairs they had used to walk up here.

“It looks more like a theme park of a shrine than something they maintain seriously...” Daylight Gleam said.

The shrine, both the building and the grounds outside it at the top of the stairs, was covered in tourists “oohing” and “ahhing” at everything they saw. The group had to admit it was a pretty place, different looking and interesting compared to the rest of Blue Coral Island, but that’s not why they had come here. It did look like there were plenty of ponies from the Sarraroccon Order here managing things though. There were mares dressed up in red and white robes that covered their entire bodies aside from their heads and stallions dressed in similar blue robes with golden chains around their necks.

Not like those black-wearing servants, but they were still the ones in charge here. They were guiding ponies around the shrine, or speaking to the tourists to teach them about it, and the mares were giving out little scrolls of paper to the children here, telling them they were good luck charms. It was a good look for the Order—quite friendly and innocent.

Breakwater scratched his head. “Will any of them be offended if we start asking about the High Priestess and what they think of her?”

“We don’t need to prod—just asking what they know about her and those black-robed messengers is a good enough start,” Daylight said.

“You know I’m wondering if all of these ponies are actually in the Order and not just, well, actors or helping hooves,” Gilbert said. “This is a very casual shrine.”

“Let’s just go speak to someone already,” Senax said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

The merpony started walking towards the nearest mare working at the shrine, as she swept the stone walkway with a broom, and the others could only shrug and follow her. Senax didn’t take into consideration that it might be rude to interrupt a busy mare—her curiosity and impatience were both eating at her. Probably an aspect of her personality that may have been exacerbated by repeated exposure to Rainbow Dash. As soon as she got within hoof-reach of the mare she stopped and cleared her throat.

“Excuse me?” Senax asked the young mare.

The mare’s head poked up, showing off impressively deep emerald eyes on a faint orange face. As soon as she realized she was indeed being spoken to, a wide smile appeared on that same face. “Hello, how are you? My name’s Citrus Smile, do you need anything?”

Citrus Smile’s overly friendly attitude and demeanor threw Senax off and she stumbled over her next few words. “Er, well, um...”

“Do you have a question about the shrine?” Citrus kept the polite smile on her face as she tilted her head.

“More about the Order in general,” Daylight said as she walked up beside Senax, covering for the merpony.

“Well I’m always happy to answer any questions about the Order,” Citrus Smile… smiled. “What would you like to know? I’m assuming you must be visiting the Archipelago for the first time.”

“Mostly,” Daylight nodded. “Anyways… to be as straightforward as possible we’d like to ask you about the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order.”

Citrus’ Smile’s eyes widened slightly. “That’s a surprise. Most ponies visiting this shrine don’t ask anything about her.”

“And why is that, exactly?” Breakwater asked.

“Our High Priestess isn’t a secret or anything, but she stays on Pink Salt Island, an island that only the highest ranking ponies in the Order can go to and from. It’s not even on your typical map. Most ponies living here or visiting will never even hear her mentioned—her affairs have nothing to do with the usual day to day runnings of the Sarrarocco Archipelago. She and the others of high rank focus their utmost attention on the spiritual and divine. Guiding the Order in a different way from simple politics and money,” Citrus Smile explained.

“Those spiritual and divine matters she attends to to guide the Order? What exactly does that entail?” A curious Daylight asked.

Citrus Smile shook her head. “I couldn’t even begin to say. My station is far too low to know what concerns the High Priestess or what specifically goes on on Pink Salt Island.”

“Well that’s still helpful I suppose,” Daylight said.

“What is your position, anyways?” Senax asked.

“I am a shrine maiden in training!” Citrus Smile proudly stated. “Is there anything else you would like to know? Would you like some good luck charms?”

“Uh, no thanks,” Breakwater shook his head.

“So just to make clear-” Daylight said. “If I wanted to ask whoever was in charge of this shrine if we could visit or speak with the High Priestess…?”

For the first time, Citrus Smile lost her smile, but only for a moment as it was replaced by an awkward one. “I-I’m sorry but I really don’t think you would ever get permission to do something like that. There are so many ponies you’d have to go through just to get a message to Pink Salt Island in the first place. And she’s really not the type of pony who meets with outsiders, I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine, it’s okay. Didn’t exactly hope for much more,” Daylight sighed.

“May I ask why you’re so interested in the High Priestess? I’m sorry if it’s personal but I’m very curious,” Citrus Smile blushed. “She is my High Priestess who leads us all...”

The group shared a look before Senax shrugged.

“Truthfully, we’ve received a message from her. Sort of,” Senax said.

“Sort of?” Citrus Smile blinked. “Also I’m… very surprised to hear that she would contact you. Um, no offense! I didn’t mean it badly! It’s just unusual.”

“We’re still confused by it too. Technically we haven’t heard from the High Priestess, but her servants. Messengers who dress up in black robes?” Daylight explained.

“Oh, yes, did they also wear many shells woven into their manes? Those are her personal servants—her eyes, ears, and hooves to the outside world,” Citrus Smile said.

“Yep, sounds like them,” Daylight said.

Citrus Smile smiled again. “Well… I don’t think I should ask more. I am very curious but this all sounds like it’s too high up for my ears. In fact it’s probably for the best that I forget this conversation ever took place. I don’t want you to think I would be punished, but I just don’t see myself as worthy to know the business of the High Priestess.”

“You’ve been a very big help to us, and you’re a very kind pony, thank you.” Senax said to her, smiling back at the young shrine maiden.

“You’re welcome! If you have anything else you want to know about this shrine in particular, feel free to ask! And have a wonderful day!” Citrus Smile said.

Since it was clear they had gotten every bit of information they actually needed to or could here, the group decided instead to turn around and head back down the winding stairs to the ground below. They had learned some things, but the shrine hadn’t given them a real answer to what they should do here. It seemed they really couldn’t do anything but wait. Rainbow Dash really was right.

“She was very polite at least, wasn’t she?” Gilbert said. “I think it speaks well of the Order on the whole.”

“Mm, she was,” Daylight said plainly.

“Still thinking pessimistically?” Gilbert inquired.

“No,” Daylight frowned. “Just thinking that she’s what you’d expect from a shrine like that.”

“I don’t know what to do now though...” Senax said, looking up at the sky and thinking.

“Maybe, well, maybe this is going to sound dumb but maybe we should split up for now?” Breakwater suggested. “Explore any part of Blue Coral Island we want. If we go together we’ll never cover the whole place, same with the rest of the Archipelago. Might as well all find something to do just like Rainbow Dash.”

“All of us having our own adventures, huh?” Daylight thought.

“I still don’t know if I want to leave this island,” Senax said.

“I’m sure there’s plenty to do here if you don’t want to. And if it’s just about the Horn of Listening then I’ll stay at the Saffron Inn whenever you want me to,” Breakwater said to her.

Senax smiled. “Alright, I suppose it’s all safe here.”

“Then if we’re actually doing this I think I will be the first to go off on their own,” Gilbert said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “My own personal adventure? Haven’t had one in a while, sounds fun! I’ll ask around about the Order and learn whatever I can!”

“You remember not to fly over open water too, alright?” Daylight frowned.

“I shall!” Gilbert waved and sauntered off down one of the multiple streets leading away from the shrine.

Daylight sighed and shook her head as she left before looking towards the middle of the island. “I’m going to check out the marketplace more closely. I don’t plan on leaving the island yet so I’ll be back at the room tonight. See ya for now.” She nodded to Senax and Breakwater and started to walk away.

“Well...” Breakwater started and glanced over at Senax. “Do you want to at least stay together for today?”

She giggled and nodded. “Sure, that’s fine by me.”

Gilbert walked along the northeastern outskirts of the island, where most of the land was taken up by grass roads and a few lone houses, while further north he could see the beach. Every now and then he passed by either a local or a tourist walking the other way and gave them a friendly smile. He was going to be as optimistic as possible and make the best of the occasion. Explore the Archipelago to his leisure, he was taking that to heart.

Not that he was going to completely forget to ask around about the Order and try to learn what he could, but-

“Ooh, an outdoor theater!” Gilbert happily exclaimed as he looked into the park just a bit off the road. “That looks like fun.”

He quickly left the road and walked into the park, greeting the ponies already there.

Daylight Gleam walked down one of the many small and crowded streets of the central marketplace of Blue Corral Island. As she looked around at the buildings and other ponies she quickly came to realize that she was probably the only one with such an unhappy expression on her face. For a brief moment she stopped in front of the glass window of some random store and really looked at her reflection. The furrowed brow, the wrinkles on her face from frowning too much, the slightly narrowed eyes.

Is this what she usually looked like?

Her face morphed into a softer expression as that sobering thought came over her. The annoyed frown replaced by a sadder one.

“It’s not like I want to be like this all day… I just like to stay focused.”

Daylight sighed and turned away from the storefront, walking elsewhere. She was still on the lookout for things and places connected to the Sarraroccon Order. No time for introspection, despite what Rainbow Dash and the others might say about their time here.

She passed by a pink painted building with covered windows and instead of a door it had a curtain of beads on strings for an entrance. She raised an eyebrow at the unusual appearance and looked up at the sign above the door: Spice Bath & Massage~

Daylight snorted and continued walking on by. “Waste of time...”

A few seconds later she came walking back—the words of two of her fellow crewmates bouncing around inside her head.

“I do not hate fun,” Daylight scowled and walked into the establishment.

“How do you think Daylight and Gilbert are?” Senax asked Breakwater as the two sat at a table in the Saffron Inn’s restaurant. A good dinner was on the menu, the two of them waiting for their waiter to return.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Breakwater shrugged. “Gilbert knows how to have fun in a place like this and Daylight isn’t the type to get in trouble. Rainbow Dash? Well, she’s capable.”

Senax smiled. “That’s certainly true.” She looked him imploringly in the eyes. “You’re not bored or disappointed that I just wanted to come back here for the night, are you?”

He shook his head. “Of course not. We’ve got time, the Archipelago isn’t going anywhere.”

“Thank you. I think tomorrow I’ll be feeling a little more… adventurous.”

Breakwater grinned. “Maybe adventurous enough to try sneaking to Pink Salt Island?”

“Not that much.”

Sarrarocco Stories IV

To Gilbert’s misfortune, he had arrived at the outdoor theater just as things were ending. On a stage, a theater troupe was gathering up all their props and packing things up while a crowd of ponies left the theater. The theater itself had a concrete floor radiating out from the stage and several tiered rows of concrete benches for ponies to sit on or under for watching whatever was going on at the stage.

“Just my luck, looks like I missed something fun,” Gilbert said. A few families were walking out to either the road or the rest of the park.

Though it probably didn’t have anything to do with the Order, he’d at least be learning what kind of entertainment ponies from the Archipelago liked to put on. If only he had arrived earlier.

Gilbert scratched under his beak, not one to get discouraged so easily he stood on the cement grounds of the theater and watched a bit as the troupe continued to clean up. They were all smiling and happily chatting with each other, looking quite friendly enough to Gilbert’s eyes. From their clothes they were very likely all locals though also definitely not ponies in the Order. So it at least wouldn’t be completely out of the question that they could teach him quite a bit about both the Archipelago and Order.

He nodded and walked up to the stage with a happy grin on his beak. “I say, excuse me but one moment!”

The stallions and mares onstage looked over at him in surprise, wondering who this griffon was. One stallion wearing an elaborate costume of heavy wool robes in garish colors with a pattern of triangles criss-crossing it stepped over to the edge of the stage.

“Yes, can I help you, friend?” He asked.

“Well I’m new to the Archipelago, just visiting really, and I wanted to ask you when you’re putting on your next performance. I’m quite interested to see what sort of plays ponies watch for entertainment around here,” Gilbert said.

“Oh, well...” the stallion abashedly stammered.

“Something wrong?” Gilbert raised an eyebrow.

“The thing is, we’re a traveling group of theater performers and this was our last performance on Blue Coral Island before we went to Red Beach Island. I’m sorry, but you won’t be seeing us perform here again for a long while.”

“Oh… that’s really a shame,” Gilbert sighed.

One of the mares boxing up props whistled to get their attention. “Well hey, if you’ve got any spare time you could just go to Red Beach Island too. It’s a real short trip from here by Manta Ferry and tourists are more than welcome. We’re performing mostly at indoor theaters there so it wouldn’t be hard finding us.”

“That’s true, would it be tough for you to leave Blue Coral Island?” The stallion asked Gilbert.

Gilbert didn’t need two seconds to respond. “Not at all! In fact going to another island sounds wonderful!”

“Great, well whenever you get to Red Beach Island just be on the lookout for our troupe. We’re called the Festival Hoppers! Hope to see you at our next performance,” the stallion said.

“I’m sure you will,” Gilbert smiled.

“You have some of the tensest muscles I’ve worked with, Miss...” the masseuse said as she worked on Daylight Gleam. “Have you been stressed lately?”

“Define lately,” Daylight answered with a grunt as the mare’s hooves dug into her back, trying to break down the knots in her muscles. Daylight had gone for the full stress-relief package and that included a deep tissue massage to really get down into the tension that consumed her whole body.

She had to admit—throwing away her cynicism and grumpiness—that it was nice in here and she had made the right choice. When it came to her own comfort at least. Something she was used to ignoring. But the bed she was currently lying on was soft, the incense wafting through the room smelled great, the light music coming from the old gramophone was relaxing, and the mare giving her her massage was friendly. There wasn’t anything to complain about.

There wasn’t anything to complain about.

That thought more than anything caused a relaxed smile to spread on her face.

And no Rainbow Dash or Gilbert to annoy her. It was just Daylight in her own world right now, getting what she sorely needed. What she sorely deserved.

“Well let me see if I can help you,” the masseuse said and continuously prodded and pushed her hooves along Daylight’s back, rhythmically and relaxingly, working the tense muscles and knots of pain and stress inside her. “Did you come to the Archipelago for relaxation?”

“No,” Daylight groaned as the masseuse unraveled a particularly sore spot. “I guess you could say I came for business… but that’s changed a little and now I’m here.”

“Ah, sounds like you really needed some stress relief. No wonder you chose this massage. I hope whatever business you came here for goes well in the end.”

“Can’t argue with that, I don’t even know how long I’m going to be here now...”

“Hm,” the masseuse thoughtfully hummed as she began to work on Daylight’s back legs, wringing the tension out of them and going down to her sore hooves. “If your business trip has turned into a pleasure trip then I have a recommendation. You certainly seem like a mare who deserves far more care and attention than our small spa can give you.”

Daylight perked up. “I’m listening.”

“If you have the time and the money—you should travel to Orange Horizon Island. It’s the pleasure island of the Sarrarocco Archipelago. The most beautiful island, it’s all one large resort with accommodations and luxuries far beyond what you can find here on Blue Coral Island.”

Daylight thought for a second, still lying down on the bed. “That… you know, just yesterday—just earlier today—I would’ve scoffed at something like that. But right now going somewhere like that doesn’t sound so bad. My friends would be surprised but I’ve decided to live a little while we’re stuck here at the Archipelago.”

“That’s wonderful! You know, I have some friends and business acquaintances on the island, once your massage and spa treatment are over I’ll tell you everything you need to know for planning a perfect trip to Orange Horizon Island,” the masseuse said.

“Thank you,” Daylight smiled, relaxing further, almost enough to fall asleep as the massage continued. “That sounds great...”

“And so you’re saying both of them left messages for us?” Breakwater asked the matron of the Saffron Inn as he and Senax stood in the lobby.

“Yes, I was surprised by the coincidence too. But first your griffon friend came in to leave his message, and about an hour later the unicorn came by as well,” the matron explained.

“What were their messages?” Senax asked.

“Both of them said they were going to another island and weren’t sure when they’d be back. The griffon said he was traveling to Red Beach Island and the unicorn said she was going to Orange Horizon Island.”

Breakwater exhaled. “Well I guess we should be happy that they’re both taking Rainbow Dash’s words to heart.”

“Is it really okay?” Senax wondered.

“It’ll all turn out fine,” Breakwater shrugged. “They know that they’ll need to come back here sooner or later. I’m kind of surprised Daylight left to, but I think it’s good she’s doing her own thing. Gilbert… eh, he’ll be okay. Probably having plenty of fun.”

It was actually the day after they had initially separated after the shrine visit. When Breakwater and Senax had finished having dinner at the Saffron Inn’s restaurant they went back to their room and went to sleep. Only to find upon waking that they were still the only ones there. Daylight and Gilbert had never returned. At first it was startling and both of them naturally thought something bad had happened, but when they went downstairs to leave the Inn and search for their friends the matron had gotten their attention first. Seems they were worried for nothing. Though they were still very surprised at this turn of events.

Since they now knew what was going on, both of them walked out of the Inn much more calmly. It was just as much of a beautiful day as yesterday had been—but now it was just the two of them.

“This is certainly different than how I thought things were going to go here,” Senax said.

“Yeah, me too,” Breakwater nodded.

“What do we do now?”

“Well if everyone else has gone to different islands then maybe we should hold down the fort here. Or if you’re up for it we can go somewhere else too, or just you can and I’ll watch over things here. It’s up to you.”

“Up to me… so much stuff has been left up to me ever since this journey started,” Senax sighed.

“No reason why it shouldn’t be. I’m just the guy who gave you a ship after all,” Breakwater grinned.

“You’ve done far more than that for all of us,” Senax smiled back at him.

“Life was starting to get a little boring just sailing to the same places again and again. You all really spiced things up,” he shrugged.

Senax hummed and walked ahead of him a little bit, the leaves from the trees around the Inn falling to the ground. “I think then… that I’m not ready to leave this island just yet. You can call it me being worried, or nervous, but I’d like to stay here for another day at least. There’s still a lot of Blue Coral Island we haven’t seen, and a lot about the Archipelago and Order I bet we can still learn from here. If we hear about another island to visit and we still haven’t gotten word from the High Priestess? Then I suppose we can hop on a Manta Ferry of our own.”

“So long as they keep the room for us,” Breakwater said.

“I get the feeling they will.”

Breakwater looked at her for a moment, thinking. “Probably right. So any ideas on where you want to go today? We could hit the marketplace just like Daylight did.”

“I like the sound of that,” Senax dipped her head slightly. “We already ate here, I bet there are some nice restaurants in the center of the island. And other things to spend our time doing.”

“Lead the way,” he gestured down Saffron Road leading to the marketplace.

Despite his words the two of them ended up walking side by side as they traveled to the marketplace this early morning on Blue Coral Island. The weather, the season, it was still causing leaves to fall regularly and paint the road an array of colors. While the sun was out all the way it was still a little too early for there to be many others out walking right now. Even when they walked by the various parks and ponds of the island they didn’t see any other ponies. It was just the two of them. The route to the Saffron Inn, and the Inn itself, were a bit out of the way compared to most of the rest of the island.

They didn’t mind at all. It was nice. It was quiet. Getting to spend a walk like this with a close friend was a good thing. It was different than being aboard the Heart of Azure where one of them was almost always busy at the helm. And when there were two much louder and more active friends around. Not to mention that the ocean in general was always moving, and there was always some kind of noise coming from it. Here on an island things were actually still, there was no constant rocking of the boat or the sound of waves breaking against the hull. Breakwater probably liked those things but Senax had to admit the stillness of solid ground under her hooves was preferable. Along with the ability to close your eyes and just hear nothing.

Senax blinked and looked up at the blue sky through the trees. What is Merlantis going to be like?

She had lived her entire life before the Grand Ocean in a small town on dry ground in the mountains. So had every last one of her merpony brethren. What would living in Merlantis be like? Would she ever get used to it?

No, probably not. It should feel right… it should feel natural… but will it ever feel like home? Senax didn’t shake her head because she didn’t want to get Breakwater’s attention, but she banished those thoughts all the same. It’s not just for me or the merponies still alive now. It’s so our children and their children can have the home they were always supposed to have.

With the desire for creating a future for her people in her head, the two of them walked to the marketplace.

Sarrarocco Stories V

Red Beach Island was much more densely packed with buildings and population centers than Blue Coral Island was. It was why Gilbert now carried a map with him as he tried to navigate the streets of the town he was currently in. Unfortunately he had never really been the best when it came to directions and despite the map and the clearly labeled street signs he was now lost.

“Am I even in the right town?” He wondered as he scratched his beak and looked down at his map once more. “That’d be very embarrassing… I hope I don’t miss their performance because of something like that. Where can I find the theater their troupe is performing at tonight?”

He had arrived only earlier today, and after inquiring at the information center at the dock he had learned the Festival Hoppers were performing tonight in the town of Red Tree.

Which he was fairly certain he was in right now. Of course he still didn’t know the name of the correct theater or anything either, he was just looking for random ones and hoping to see their troupe’s name on a placard or sign. The map was for finding the entertainment district and his way through it.

“Well this isn’t helping,” Gilbert said as he crumpled up the map and tossed it over his back. “Time to do this the old-fashioned way.”

He did not think about the choices and events that led to him almost getting killed by Bug-Bears years ago.

Instead he was going to hope things just turned out well and he’d get lucky.

It was the Rainbow Dash way of doing things. He could blame her for being a bad influence if it didn’t turn out well.

Gilbert thoughtfully followed the direction of the crowd and kept an eye out for any large buildings that looked like they could be theaters. The architecture here was different, buildings looking more like city buildings you would see in the Hundred Kingdoms. They probably lent themselves better to the crowded construction that took place on this island compared to the traditional style of buildings in the Archipelago. He hummed to himself and decided to enjoy the sights as best he could while he was here—no reason not to after all. Just because he may not have been exactly where he wanted to be didn’t mean he couldn’t make the best out of it. Also it would take him all of five seconds to ask for directions to the local theaters if he really couldn’t find the one he was looking for soon.

Fortunately he did seem to be a little lucky. While he had absolutely no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger, it was certainly simpler to find the theater he wanted on his own.

So Gilbert stopped in front of a large building with a wide open front door—a set of wide double doors in fact—with a signpost sitting in front of it. Peering down with a smile at the sign he read what was posted on it: Festival Hoppers performing tonight! Come see the Farce of the Narwhal!

“Splendid!” Gilbert happily shouted, catching a few weird looks from the ponies around him, before stomping on into the theater.

Thankfully he didn’t need some kind of pre-purchased ticket. Ponies were allowed to come in and sit wherever they wanted. He quickly walked down the hallway, down a rather nice red velvet carpet, past the theater’s manager, and into the room where the troupe would be performing. It wasn’t a large auditorium or anything like that, in fact there was certainly much less room than at the outdoor theater, but there were still plenty of rows of seats for him to use. There was a decent crowd already gathered inside as well, the play must be starting fairly soon.

Gilbert wanted as good a view as possible but the first few rows were all taken up. He had to settle for a seat more in the middle-section. He sat down with a happy smile on his face, between two empty seats, and waited for the curtain to rise and the play to begin.

About a minute later though he had a neighbor, an older unicorn mare sat down to his right.

Gilbert looked over at her and greeted her out of politeness. “Hello, Miss. Here to enjoy the play as well?”

She looked back at him, a hard-set frown on her face, and wrinkles around her eyes that were probably worsened from years of frowning. “I am here to watch the play. Enjoy? We’ll see.”

“I-I see...” Gilbert coughed, unsure how to continue.

She at least seemed to sense his hesitation, sighing before elaborating slightly. “I am a critic. My name is Unyielding Critique. It’s my job to watch performances like this and review them for the rest of the ponies on the Sarrarocco Archipelago.”

“Ah, now I truly see,” Gilbert nodded. “My name is Gilbert, I’m just here for fun.”

“Well, then let us both hope that we witness a good performance,” Unyielding Critique said right as the curtain began to rise.

Gilbert had an expectant grin on his face as he saw the backdrop of the play, an open ocean with a single small island in the middle of it. In the middle of the stage a lone pony stood, wearing torn up rags and surrounded by broken logs of wood. He looked closer and realized it was the mare who had pretty much invited him to come here—she stood with her eyes closed and a glum look on her face. For the moment she didn’t move or say anything and then a voice from off-stage began to speak:

“Our story begins here, with a ship-wrecked pony, hungry and about to give up on hope.”

From beside him, Gilbert heard a small huff of derision from Unyielding Critique, but neither she nor him said anything else.

At last the mare on stage now spoke her first lines and the play truly began.

“Oh, how sad this is. Stuck here for ages now and with no more food, and not a single ship has gone by in the meantime,” she opened her eyes to reveal them sparkling with tears. “What am I going to do? Oh just what am I going to do?”

Suddenly from off-stage another pony came out, a stallion dressed up in a narwhal costume. He ran towards the mare and skidded to a stop. “Hello!”

The mare jumped up, startled. “H-Hello? But who—what are you? Where did you come from?”

“I’m a narwhal, silly! Don’t you see my horn?” He leaned down to show his horn off to her.

“B-But narwhals shouldn’t be in tropical waters like this! What are you doing here?”

“Oh I know, right? My friends and family and everyone else just loves swimming in those icy arctic waters. But it’s so cold! I wanted to go somewhere warmer so I swam aaaaallll the way here!” The “narwhal” ran circles around the mare. “The waters are so warm, I’m full of energy!”

“My… this is… this is very confusing for me right now,” the mare said as she held a hoof to her forehead.

Gilbert watched the story continue from there as the narwhal invited the mare to hop on his back so he could rescue her and try to find a way back to her home. Along the way they met many more sea creatures like giant sea turtles, dolphins, whales, and sharks. The mare spent the whole time quite flabbergasted by what was happening, a sharp contrast to the boundless optimism and energy coming from the narwhal. All in all it was quite the silly story. A farce indeed.

Of course Gilbert was enjoying it immensely, finding himself laughing and smiling through most of it. The rest of the audience watching the play joined him—it seemed to be a pretty good hit.

The one obvious exception was the mare sitting next to him. Unyielding Critique’s face never so much as twitched upwards into a smile. And the only noise from her was certainly not a laugh, but huffs and snorts that showed her complete lack of amusement. Gilbert was feeling a little second-hand nervousness and embarrassment. These performers were very nice to him, and he was enjoying this play a lot, so sitting next to someone who most assuredly wasn’t was a little awkward.

Add to that that she was a critic and by the look of things she’d be writing a rather unfavorable review of the play. It would hurt the Festival Hoppers reputation if something like that happened. But what could Gilbert do about it? He could only hope that by the end of the play Unyielding Critique would find something to like about it.

“Thank you so much Mr. Narwhal, I don’t know how I can ever repay you,” the mare said as the narwhal finally brought her to her home island at the end of the play.

“You don’t need to repay me at all! The fun journey we had together is all the payment I could ever want!” The narwhal said.

“You are truly too kind… I’m going to miss you so much,” the mare said as tears started to spill from her eyes.

“I will miss you as well. But perhaps one day you’ll get shipwrecked once more and I’ll be there to rescue you.”

“Oh, I can only hope so.”

The curtain fell as most of the audience laughed and a modest round of applause filled the theater. Gilbert of course being one of the loudest. In stark contrast to the pony next to him.

Unyielding Critique raised an unimpressed eyebrow and merely shook her head, getting ready to stand up and leave. “I should’ve known as much.”

Gilbert winced and, perhaps a bit intrudingly, glanced over at the critic. “Did you perhaps not like the play?”

“What was your first clue?” Unyielding Critique scoffed. “My own mistake, even coming to watch a farce in the first place. Dreadful.”

“What’s wrong with a farce? And even if you didn’t think it was funny I don’t see how you can call it dreadful,” Gilbert frowned.

“Plays like this are not serious entertainment. Farcical comedies are low-brow, plebeian, insults to the art of acting and stagecraft. The only true form of acting comes from serious dramas. The ponies acting in plays like this, this troupe, they demean the entire acting world,” Unyielding Critique shook her head. “This narwhal story lowers the bar for performances everywhere.”

Gilbert crossed his arms over his chest as he defiantly looked back at the mare. “Well that’s hardly fair at all. Comedies like this have their place, not everything needs to be a stuffy drama. And what about their performances? They put a lot of effort and passion into what they were doing.”

“All for the simple effort of gaining cheap laughs,” Unyielding Critique waved him off.

“I disagree. Though comedy is certainly the main goal, there was a genuine friendship and companionship that developed over the course of the play. I was truly happy and moved at the end there when the mare said she would miss her narwhal friend. Farce or not. I think that speaks quite a bit to the skill of the actors,” Gilbert pressed.

“And I think the absurd comedy of the rest of the play only undermines that bit of emotion at the end,” Unyielding Critique shook her head. “The rest of the play was completely amateurish anyways. From the scenery, to the costumes, to the acting of the minor characters.”

Gilbert took a deep breath and exhaled. “Miss Critique, I may not be a critic myself, but I know what is and isn’t amateurish. These ponies are clearly doing the very best with what they have and the positive reaction of the rest of the crowd goes to show that. There is nothing amateurish about this. Amateurs would not be able to put on such an honest and convincing performance, I and the rest of the audience were drawn in to the play. I believe you are merely a pessimist who refuses to acknowledge the positive aspects of the play merely because it is not your cup of tea.”

“Well aren’t you quite full of yourself,” Unyielding Critique huffed.

“You might want to look in a mirror before you say something like that,” Gilbert was unrepentant. “Comedy has its place and there’s nothing wrong with just being a comedy either.”

The critic glared at him and Gilbert almost wilted under her gaze before her eyes softened slightly—though no smile came to her face. “I usually do not get challenged on my views, I suppose I should thank you for the unexpected change in my day. Hm, comedy will never be high-brow entertainment or true art but I suppose...” she glanced over at the stage where some of the actors were out now speaking with other members of the audience. “I can acknowledge a good performance at least. I don’t know why you were so defensive of this play in the first place, but you can rest assured that my review won’t be quite so scathing.”

A very small smirk twitched up her lips. “I’ll be fair.”

Gilbert smiled back and puffed out his chest. “Well that’s all that should really be asked. You have your opinions and I have mine.”

Unyielding Critique chuckled slightly and walked past Gilbert, going to leave the theater. “Indeed. I suppose I’ll leave you to give your appreciation to the troupe, farewell.”

“Goodbye!” Gilbert cheerily said to her. As soon as she was gone from the room he turned to look down at the stage. “Well this has turned out to be a great day now, hasn’t it?”

He stepped out of the row he was in and started to walk down to the stage, happy to say hello to the troupe that invited him here.

Sarrarocco Stories VI

Daylight Gleam stood on one of the many white beaches of Orange Horizon Island, watching the calm ocean water, clearer than near anywhere else she had seen on the ocean, wash up and then recede back down. Palm trees gently swayed in the warm breeze that carried itself across the beach and the sun shined down on her with not a single cloud to block its warmth and light. She understood why this was the pleasure island of the Archipelago, it looked like paradise.

Behind her the sand eventually turned into green grass that was such a healthy and verdant color that she almost couldn’t believe it was natural. There were no large buildings like the Saffron Inn, or any temples or anything more modern, just bungalows, tiki huts, and other expensive looking villas on the island. And of course public pools for relaxation, spas, magically powered jacuzzis, and plenty of quiet out of the way places to catch some shade.

She wasn’t the only one at this beach either. There were others laying down on lounge chairs closer to the water, resting and tanning, they had drinks on small tables next to them. Probably alcoholic, definitely fruity.

It didn’t look so bad to Daylight.

There was even a tiki hut pretty much right next to her where she could get a drink if she really wanted to right now. And what was extra nice about that was that it was free. Technically. Daylight had learned when she stepped off the ferry that what you did at Orange Horizon Island was pay for the whole resort upfront and then you wouldn’t have to pay for drinks or food anywhere. For the most part, there were still some private places and exclusive services that cost extra. Daylight though had no need for anything that extravagant. What came with the regular resort package was more than enough for her.

Even if she was treating herself and learning to live a little she wasn’t obsessed with glamour or needed to go that far. That kind of ultra-luxurious lifestyle and treatment was just absurd. She’d rather relax out here on this beach like a normal pony.

A normal pony who for once could really just lay back without anyone or anything to bother her.

How long had it been since she actually had the opportunity to do that? Had there even really been a moment in her entire life? Things were always so busy and chaotic even well before she had gotten wrapped up in the lives of Senax, Gilbert, and Rainbow Dash. She had never been the type of pony who had the time or desire to just sit back and relax on the beach.

Now here she was, finally able to do that. It took some forgetting about the real reason they were here, some forgetting about what they still needed to accomplish, some forgetting about the trouble out there. And normally she’d never be able to do that. Normally she’d be dwelling far too much on all of that stuff and be far too worried and impatient. Too stressed. Too unwilling to let go. Acting as the one who had to keep her head on straight and keep the others focused. Cause let’s face it, she kind of had to be that pony.

But not right now.

She was here on this resort island for two reasons. One was to relax her mind and body. The other was to prove without a shadow of a doubt that she most definitely did not hate fun.

So Daylight smiled—genuinely smiled even though it was a little difficult at first to get her muscles to work like that—and walked over to the tiki hut.

There was a stallion wearing a plan white shirt standing behind the bar inside it. A huge assortment of glasses, fruits, and cups sat on the wall behind him. As soon as he saw her walking to him he smiled. “What can I get for you, Miss?”

“Nothing alcoholic if that’s alright. I just want something cool and refreshing right now,” she told him.

He nodded. “Of course. Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri?”

“Sounds great,” Daylight smiled.

The “bartender” reached down and opened something up behind the bar, Daylight heard him scoop out some ice and he quickly brought up the necessary ingredients to make her cocktail. Frozen strawberries, lemon and lime juice, ice, a little bit of salt, syrup, and instead of the alcohol that would normally go in he put a little extra juice from the lemons and limes. All of it poured into a nice frosty glass complete with a straw for her.

“There you go, enjoy.”

“Depending on how good it is I might come back to get the alcohol put in,” Daylight smirked and levitated the glass up, carrying it with her out of the tiki hut.

She could get a massage or go for a swim later, right now she was going to join those other ponies out on the beach and do some lounging. Some real relaxing where it was just her, her drink, and the ocean.

There were plenty of free chairs so Daylight naturally took one that was far away from anyone else on the beach. She didn’t want to be interrupted or even have to hear the breathing of another pony right now. Before setting her drink down she took a sip from the glass and delighted in the tasty sweetness that filled her mouth. The icy cool cocktail was absolutely perfect for a warm day like this out on the beach. Daylight really couldn’t have asked for anything better.

“I think I will get something with alcohol in it next time. If I’m living things up, then why not?” Daylight finally set the glass down for the moment and closed her eyes. She reclined in the lounge chair and basked in the light of the warm sun. Eyes closed, the only things she was sensing now were the melodic waves washing up and down the beach and the strawberry smell of her drink.

She reached her hooves up and put them behind her head, feeling like she could fall asleep like this. It was early in the day too—she could stay here for hours until she got tired and wanted to either sleep or do something more intensive. She had no plans to go into the ocean but a warm and bubbly jacuzzi sounded like a great idea later. Or she really could just spend all day doing nothing. It’s not like she was only going to be here for one day. Sure she didn’t think she’d stay on the island for an entire week or something like that, but she wasn’t going to rush either. Not until she got to enjoy everything this place had to offer.

Whenever she made her way back to Blue Coral Island she’d have to thank her masseuse for the recommendation.

For a good ten minutes she just lied back on her chair like that before she actually decided to take another sip of her drink. At least she could levitate it and bring the straw to her mouth without getting up.

“Should probably finish you off before you melt,” Daylight said to her glass as condensation dripped down the side.

“That would be a waste of a great looking drink, wouldn’t it?” A voice said from next to Daylight.

She looked to her right to see a middle-aged mare getting ready to lie down on the lounge chair right next to her.

“Sorry, this seat isn’t taken, is it?” The mare asked.

“No, go right ahead,” Daylight answered.

It was slightly annoying though if she was being honest. There were plenty of other empty chairs around, why did this mare have to take one right next to her? Daylight took another quick glance at her, she was probably in her late 30’s or early 40’s, with a curly orange mane, thick-rimmed glasses, and a pearl necklace. Everything about her screamed “mom”. Daylight had to admit she was a little surprised to see a mare like this at the resort.

“Thank you,” the mare smiled at her and lied down. “What’s your name? I’m Pollina.”

Daylight fought back a grimace, seemed the mare wanted to talk too. “Daylight Gleam.”

“It’s a real pleasure to meet you, you must be a tourist like me too, right? I heard about Orange Horizon Island and just had to come here,” Pollina said. “Aint it just great?”

“Yes, it sure is,” Daylight kept her answers short and didn’t ask any questions of her own.

That didn’t help.

“I came to the Archipelago with my family-” Pollina went on. “We’re from Letoel and this is really our first big vacation in ages.” She sighed and wiped a hoof across her forehead. “I love my family but, five rambunctious foals in a lot to look after, I ended up needing a vacation away from my vacation you know? So my husband is taking care of our foals for the next few days and I’m relaxing here. What about you?”

Daylight was hoping she wouldn’t ask. She really just wanted to relax. She just wanted some peace and quiet. A thought went through her head to just tell the mare she wanted her privacy. But then… that was something the grumpy Daylight would normally do anyways. She didn’t know why this mare felt the need to bother her in the first place, but she clearly didn’t mean anything bad about it. Maybe she wanted to make a friend while she was here and saw Daylight also all alone?

Wasn’t this a time and place to be positive for once? Be a little friendlier and more sociable?

“I’m sort of here on business but things have kind of gotten delayed. I was at Blue Coral Island before coming here and got a massage there, the masseuse said I was one of the tensest ponies she had worked on and recommended I come here if I had the time,” Daylight explained, even trying out a friendly smile on her face.

“Oh I know what that’s like. Had a massage just earlier and let me tell you that after wrangling five foals for the past ten years, I really needed it!” Pollina laughed. “Made me feel like I died and went to heaven!”

Daylight almost chuckled too. “I can’t even imagine what it must be like to take care of five kids...”

“I love em all, that’s the truth, but sometimes it sure is tiring,” Pollina shook her head.

Daylight nodded and took a big sip from her daiquiri. “So you said you already had a massage? Where’d you get it? Maybe I’ll go to the same place.”

“Well I’d be happy to show you after getting a few rays out here,” Pollina grinned.

“Heh, alright,” Daylight said. Looks like I’m going to be spending even more time with her than I thought.

“Before I get too settled in though I think I might want a drink too. That’s a strawberry daiquiri isn’t it? Is it good?”

“Yeah, it’s really good. Mine doesn’t have alcohol in it though.”

“Well I’ll have to change that when I order mine!” Pollina laughed and winked at her.

Surprisingly, Daylight laughed with her. “I was thinking of getting something alcoholic next time too.”

“Let me just get something for you right now then so you don’t have to get up,” Pollina said and stood up. “Do you want another daiquiri or something else?”

Daylight looked at her half-finished drink and thought for a moment. “Maybe something more pineappley?”

“Pina Colada it is. I’ll be right back with both our drinks,” Pollina winked again and walked up the beach towards the tiki hut.

“Heh,” Daylight smiled and laid back again on her lounge chair. “I guess this is alright. Making a new friend isn’t so bad and it’s not a big deal, I’ll have plenty of time to enjoy myself, no reason to be unfriendly and let me bring myself down. Nope, not this time.”

If anything, talking to a mare who had five foals sounded interesting. She must have a lot of stories of her own that were completely different from the kinds of stories Daylight could tell. Daylight could never imagine having so many kids, Pollina probably did need this resort and massage even more than Daylight. And that cocktail they were both about to have.

Either way Daylight was determined to enjoy herself and stay positive out here. Regardless of how her day went or what it threw at her.

A minute later she heard the hooves of Pollina walking back through the sand over to her, and with the drinks she was carrying it was about time for the both of them to really relax.

Sarrarocco Stories VII

In a wide open park between the central marketplace and the northern beach of Blue Coral Island, a party of over two hundred ponies had gathered for the night. Lanterns had been set up all around to light things up as the island got ready for a weekly dance festival. It was a popular event for both tourists and locals as one could see by looking around. Senax and Breakwater had both decided to come and join in, though they weren’t sure they were going to dance, after hearing about it from the matron of the Saffron Inn earlier. It looked like a fun occasion at the least and there were ponies going around with plates of drinks and various kinds of small snacks.

“I almost can’t believe they do this every week.” Senax said as she looked around.

Breakwater shrugged. “I can. This is practically a party island, and with all the traffic that comes through here they want to show as best and fun a side to tourists as they can. That’s why the shrine was so… “fair” too.”

“I suppose...” Senax said as she watched the first few ponies start to dance on the grassy field. A slow, partner’s dance.

Breakwater watched them and shook his head. “Wish we could just get notice from the High Priestess already. This is nice but maybe we should be looking into the Order more, even though I doubt we’d find anything out they don’t want us to.”

“I think they’re probably watching our moves and keeping track of what islands we go to. Rainbow Dash was definitely right, they just want us acting like we’re on a normal visit to the Archipelago and to have a good time. I don’t really know why,” as she said that, more ponies had joined in on the dancing and the pace had ramped up.

Senax blinked and looked over at Breakwater as the two continued to stand around on the grass.

He noticed her after a moment and raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Well…?”

He just frowned “Well what?”

“How long until you ask me to dance?”

A slight blush actually came to his face. “W-Wait, what? You want to dance with me?”

Senax giggled. “You’re overreacting, it’s just dancing.”

Breakwater coughed. “Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize either. I just want to dance, don’t you want to have some fun too as long as we’re both here?”

“I guess you’re loosening up too then? Not going to worry about the Horn of Listening or what’s going on here anymore?”

Senax sighed. “I suppose I don’t see the point in doing that anymore.”

“I think it’s good. You out of all of us deserve to just relax and have some fun,” Breakwater said. “After all you’ve got the most reasons to, well, not be happy.”

“Thank you for reminding me.”

Breakwater grimaced. “Er, sorry...”

Senax reached down and wrapped a hoof around his front leg. “You can make it up to me by taking me out to the dance floor.”

“It’s just grass though,” Breakwater blinked.

Senax rolled her eyes. “Let’s just dance.”

Though neither of them were really dancers at all, and Senax didn’t actually care about dancing too much either, she still pulled him out there along with the other ponies. It was something fun to do together. Yes, fun. Not romantic. Senax and Breakwater would both vehemently deny such accusations if Rainbow, Gilbert, and Daylight were around to make them. Though it was currently the sort of dancing where you had to keep your hooves on each other for the moment. Senax and Breakwater smiled at each other as they slow-danced, hoof in hoof.

“This is really not how I expected to spend the night,” Breakwater said.

“Even after we decided to come here?”

“I thought we were just going to watch others dance and eat some food...”

“This is more fun than that though. At least I think it is.”

“Well, yeah, I think so too. Still not much of a dancer though. I’ve got sea legs, not land legs.”

“So you’d be able to dance better if we were on your ship?”

“I—uh...” Breakwater thought for a second. “You know I’m really not sure. Maybe.”

“Then maybe after we leave the Archipelago we can try. If that’s alright.”

“That’d be fine.”

“But only while the others are asleep. I know they’d tease us.”

Breakwater chuckled. “Oh yeah, they definitely would. Rainbow Dash at least.”

“If she says anything you can force her to take some dance lessons too. You’re the captain after all,” Senax grinned.

“That mare would be flying off into the sky like lightning if we tried to do that.”

“I could see her dancing but not slow dancing like this.”

“Hm, party dancing, yeah. I could see that too.”

“Loud music, a big crowd of ponies, and Rainbow Dash in the center cutting loose,” Senax laughed and Breakwater soon joined her.

The two of them didn’t do anything fancy while they were out in the grass dancing with the others. They just kept in tune with the music and the other ponies around them, walking to the left, gliding to the right, keeping their eyes locked with each other. The conversation between the two of them died down as they simply enjoyed the dancing under the starry night sky. Thanks to the warm, tropical, nature of the Archipelago they didn’t feel cool at all. The bodies of all the other ponies, and the glowing lanterns probably helped too.

All in all it was nice out. And it was a nice night to dance.

“If we’re here for another whole week we should come back and do this again,” Senax said.

“Can’t wait for the boat?”

“Just thinking, because we still don’t know how long we’re going to be here.”

“True.”

As they continued dancing the music, and most of the ponies, stopped for a bit while the ponies with trays of wine and snacks started moving through the crowd to see who wanted any. Senax and Breakwater both decided to have their own share and relax for a second. The dancing didn’t tire them out but it looked like things were going to be changing up soon and more ponies were walking into the field.

Senax ate a lettuce-wrapped fig and swallowed it down. “Are we going to keep dancing?”

“If you want,” Breakwater shrugged.

“I want,” she smiled.

“Excuse me-” a voice cut in as a mare walked between them. She was a local, wearing an orange silk robe common on Blue Coral Island, with long hay-blonde hair and sweet blue eyes. “I was watching the two of you earlier and would it be alright if I danced with you?” She asked Breakwater. “You’re supposed to switch partners for this next round of dancing.”

Breakwater sent a questioning glance at Senax. “Is that alright?”

“Of course. If we’re supposed to switch partners I’ll find someone else to dance with too,” Senax said and waved at him. “Have fun.”

Before he could really respond the other mare had carried him off into the crowd as the music started up at faster pace than before. “I’m Chrysanthemum by the way.”

“I’m Breakwater,” he told her as a line of dancing ponies converged on them and he could no longer see Senax anymore even as he tried to look over them.

“Were you two close? I didn’t mean to make things awkward by cutting in,” Chrysanthemum asked.

“Uh, no,” Breakwater shook his head. “It’s really not like that, I just want to make sure she’s still having a good time. She’s the one who wanted to dance, not me. Uhh… speaking of, what made you interested in me?”

“Well I always enjoy dancing with visitors more than the locals, especially ones who clearly spend most of their time at sea like you do. Not to mention your rugged good looks,” Chrysanthemum winked.

Breakwater blushed. “R-Really now...”

Chrysanthemum giggled. “I’m mostly just playing around with you. Sorry.”

“That’s more than alright, I wouldn’t know what to do anyways...” Breakwater trailed off. The dancing now was much faster and there wasn’t as much direct touching, it wasn’t as much of a slow dance for couples anymore.

“I think it’s sweet though that you’re more interested in making sure your friend’s having fun than enjoying your time dancing with me. Are you sure I’m getting things wrong?” She demurely blinked at him a few times with a sly grin on her face.

“Yes,” Breakwater grinned back. “Really. We’re close but not in that way.”

“I guess that makes it even more sweet,” Chrysanthemum shrugged.

“Were you here with someone else first?”

“If you mean someone I specifically came here with then no, I just found another stallion from the island to dance with for the first round. That’s how I usually spend my time here, these weekly dances don’t always have a lot of tourists and ponies from outside the Archipelago. That’s why you stuck out so much.”

Breakwater looked around, noticing that although there were quite a few outsiders the vast majority was definitely locals. And he kind of stuck out even more with his look.

“Huh. Well you know I might end up being here for the next dance. Maybe we can dance again if that happens?” Breakwater said.

“If I see you then sure. Now what do you say we cut the chatter and start dancing for real?” She raised an amused eyebrow at him.

“That sounds good to me,” Breakwater reached to grab her hooves and spun her around. She reciprocated by spinning around even further and while in the middle of a whole bunch of other ponies they both started tapping their hooves on the ground in tune with the music. The two of them hooked their legs around each other and spun in a circle while grinning widely at the other. It was just the beginning to a long night of dancing.

Senax meanwhile instead of grabbing an individual partner was in a big circle with five other ponies as they all hopped and clapped together. If they were on an actual dance floor instead of just a grassy field she couldn’t imagine what the noise would be like. She was having a lot of fun though, more than if she was just dancing with some other stallion besides Breakwater. Like this it was just some silly fun and she didn’t need to make small talk with a stranger. Sometimes the ponies would swing each other around and bump flanks, which was the most activity Senax really wanted at the moment.

“This is so much fun!” A mare from beside her shouted over the music and sounds of ponies dancing.

Senax smiled over at her, she wasn’t wearing any sort of garment that would identify her as a local. “I know, right? Is it your first time doing this?”

“Yeah, this is my first time being to the Archipelago ever actually! My friends and I came all the way from Meer!” The mare answered.

“Are they here too?”

The mare shook her head. “Naw, they don’t like dancing as much as me so they’re just back at our hotel right now. What about you?”

“It’s the same for me—first time to the Archipelago and first time dancing here! I’ve got a friend though who I came with, right now he’s dancing with someone else.”

“Sounds great! I wish they did dancing like this every night instead of just once a week!”

Senax laughed. “I think ponies would get tired dancing every night!”

“Not me! We came here for a vacation and this is just about the best way I can think of spending it! Give me a party all month long—I’ll take it! Did you just come here for fun too?”

“Business actually but… well, it’s kind of turned into all of us having fun.”

“Guess you’re lucky then!” The mare grinned.

Senax weakly smiled back. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it...”

Truthfully that was probably the best way to look at things for the moment. After all, Senax had wanted her and Breakwater to have fun dancing here anyways. If she got upset now she’d just be a hypocrite. Might as well keep dancing and enjoy herself—and hope Breakwater was having just as much fun as she was.

How long did this dance party go on anyways? Maybe before it ended they’d have a chance to dance together once more.

Despite things not being that way between the two of them she certainly had to admit it would be the perfect way to end the night.

Sarrarocco Stories VIII

Gilbert brought a talon up to his face to wipe away the tears he was shedding as he watched the play in front of him unfold. He had been spending his time on Red Beach Island so far sampling in all the entertainment he could. Not just the plays put on by the Festival Hoppers but other plays, musical performances, readings, and sporting events. Anything fun that was going on on the island he tried to make sure he was there for.

Currently the somber play he was watching was nearing its end, the tragic romance between two star-crossed lovers who could never be together, he wasn’t the only one in the audience crying from it.

“Beautiful...” Gilbert quietly said so as not to interrupt things.

As soon as the curtain closed he and many others erupted into fanatical applause for what they had just witnessed. None were quite so loud as Gilbert as he praised the play, the performances, and everything else you could praise about the show.

“Bravo! Bravo! Excellently done!” He yelled and whistled, giving the play a standing ovation along with the rest.

It wouldn’t surprise him if quite a few ponies in the audience recognized him with all the plays he had been going to lately. Even the actors might recognize him depending on how fast word of mouth spread here. How he wished he could bring his friends here and have them watch these plays too, he knew they’d love it just as much. Well, maybe not quite on the same level as him but they’d certainly still enjoy it! He hoped all of them were at least having their own fun wherever they might be now.

The applause of course died down eventually and the theatergoers started to file out of the building and back onto one of the many streets of the city. Gilbert stood there, watching the hustle and bustle as the ponies went on by, and smiled.

“Always such a charming place, so much activity, so many friendly faces. I feel like I could live here if it wasn’t for my spirit of adventure.”

Now there was just the question of what to do next. He knew he couldn’t have possibly seen everything the island had to offer but it felt like it. The groups that had become his favorites weren’t putting on anything new for a while, by the time they did he had to think he’d be well gone. If he wasn’t then that was probably a bigger problem.

“Maybe instead of just taking in the entertainment Red Beach Island has to offer I can sample their restaurants instead?” Gilbert said to himself as he aimlessly walked down the street. It was already evening and getting darker by the moment. “Or go exploring and find something totally new. Decisions, decisions...”

Gilbert almost wished he had kept in contact with Unyielding Critique, surely she would have a bevy of shows to recommend. He’d have to continue around on his own though. Unfortunately he hadn’t really gotten to know any other ponies on a personal level, too busy with going from play to play. Being recognized wasn’t the same as being friends and it was likely that the few ponies in the Festival Hoppers were the closest things to friends he had on the island.

Once he was done with this he’d msss them all of course. But not as much as he missed his current friends now. As soon as the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order contacted them again and he joined up back with the others he would be overjoyed to see their faces. Already he planned to hug each of them.

Despite knowing that three of them wouldn’t like that.

Although he was having fun here he was very sympathetic to Senax and how he knew she wanted to learn anything she could about the treasures of Ponyseidon and Merlantis. So hopefully it wouldn’t be much longer at all now that they’d be waiting. Even if he had to leave in the middle of a play he’d accept that if it meant that Senax was getting what she wanted.

And above all he hoped this entire trip to the Archipelago wasn’t yet another wild goose chase.

Daylight Gleam woke up with her eyes still closed and warmth all around her. Stretching out her limbs she felt her hooves hit something and slowly blinked herself into coherence. Sitting up with the last few dregs of blurriness leaving her vision, she looked around and noticed she was sleeping atop some kind of mat with near a dozen empty glasses and coconuts scattered around her. A heavy fur blanket was slipping off her body the more she sat up but the temperature in the air was still just as warm. She frowned and reached for one of the coconuts, taking a sniff at the empty container.

“I think I drank too much last night…”

She had clearly been living it up on the resort island. Maybe a bit too much.

“Where am I anyways?” She asked as she got up completely and threw off the fur blanket. Obviously this was still Orange Horizon Island but she couldn’t for the life of her remember last night. Taking a more thorough look around she saw she was on some kind of outdoor patio up on top of a grassy hill that overlooked one of the many beaches of the island. There were other outdoor beds and tables around too, many covered in sheets for privacy.

“I better not have done anything stupider than just drink,” Daylight grimaced. But she was still pretty confident that even in an inebriated state she would never do anything too crazy.

Daylight walked away from the patio and out onto the grass. She had been on the island for several days now and enjoyed pretty much everything it had to offer. What was left to do until she got notice that the High Priestess had contacted them again? Drink some more? Get massaged some more? Sleep out in the sun some more?

Honestly, that all did sound pretty good.

She wasn’t even close to becoming bored yet. Not after the months of solid adventuring and sailing here. Not after the years of the rest of her life spent treasure hunting and roughing it around the world. She could spend another solid week here and still not get tired of the pampering and the nice weather. Not to mention how she didn’t have to deal with anything serious whatsoever. All the ponies were nice and friendly, she didn’t have to scowl or glare at anybody.

It was great. She would be happy to see her friends again when it was all over, but this was a great break.

She didn’t recognize the beach down below the hill so she figured she might as well go down there and check it out today. Obviously this was part of the resort she hadn’t been to before but she couldn’t exactly remember how far she had walked when drunk. Or how long she had been drunk in general. One thing she hadn’t done much of all at the island was swim in the ocean, maybe she could change that today?

Daylight yawned and took another big stretch before she totally left the patio behind and started walking down to the beach. “Geez, I don’t even know what time it is.”

A glance up at the warm sky told her that it was probably late morning, but she wasn’t totally sure. Rainbow Dash and Breakwater would be able to tell just from glancing at the sky, she knew. A smile wormed its way onto her face as she thought about not only them but Gilbert and Senax as well.

“Maybe I miss them more than I thought,” Daylight sighed.

The friend she had made here, Pollina, had been gone for days now. Still, Daylight was sticking to her decree of not getting sad about anything while she was here. Positivity was the name of the game. The warm breeze coming in from the ocean had already reached her and soon she’d be walking over the hot sand. If she hadn’t woken up surrounded by all those empty drinks she’d probably have gone to get a new one before swimming. As it was, she figured a swim could come first. The water was probably warm, and she knew it was crystal clear and calm without any real waves here. It would probably be no different from swimming in a pool except there might be some colorful fish around her.

Then maybe a drink afterwards.

Non-alcoholic this time.

Both Breakwater and Senax were still on Blue Coral Island. Even with all the time that had passed by, neither had seen fit to leave it and the Saffron Inn behind. Though right now Breakwater was somewhere that neither of them had been since they had all arrived at the island. Back by the dock they had gotten permission to stay on the island at, and up the street with all the tacky souvenir shops.

There wasn’t any particular reason he was here, there just wasn’t any reason not to be. He had been wandering around on the off-chance he would find something interesting or something worth buying. Maybe even gifts for Senax and the others to mark their journey here. And make sure it wasn’t a total waste if nothing came of their meeting with the High Priestess.

Whenever that was happening.

Breakwater passed by a shop selling all sorts of seashells and was vaguely reminded of the servant who had come to meet them, with all the shells tied into his mane. While he was looking through the window the tram came up from the docks and traveled up the street behind him. He glanced over his shoulder at it and saw a number of ponies riding up on it with their luggage.

“New arrivals huh?” He said to himself. “Hope that whatever you’re here for doesn’t take as long as what we’re here for.”

Looking down the street at the dock and the ocean beyond it he started to think of how Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, and Daylight might be doing. They were all probably fine—more than fine—but he hoped they were enjoying themselves too instead of just doing okay. Well, Gilbert and Rainbow certainly knew how to have fun and let loose, Daylight might be another story. He was sure Senax missed them all right now too and she’d be happy to see them once they finally all got back together. They were all his “crew” for lack of a better word and he found himself deeply concerned for their well-being, and enjoying that great feeling of camaraderie when they were all together on the Heart of Azure.

That’s why he really wanted the High Priestess to contact them again soon. Both for them all to get back together and for Senax to either have peace of mind or for them to have new information to go on.

As he went back to walking up and down the street, this time he stopped in front of a store selling candles. A huge variety of candles, from big to small in all sorts of scents, were stacked inside the shop. Maybe he could get one and bring it back to their room at the Inn? Senax might enjoy it as they stayed there.

“Might as well,” Breakwater shrugged and walked inside.

There were other ponies, tourists like him, already inside and looking around. His nose was assaulted by a wide variety of scents that all kind of bled together—it smelled nice in here but he’d have to get closer to some candles to really figure out what they smelled like on their own. He wondered what Senax would even like. Maybe something that reminded her of the ocean?

Little obvious but she’d probably appreciate it… Breakwater figured.

He looked around for sea-scented candles, or seaweed ones, or anything like that. Honestly there weren’t too many in that category. Most ponies probably didn’t equate the ocean with “smelling good”. Breakwater grinned at how ignorant those poor ponies were. Nothing beat the salty air out in the middle of the ocean, with the breeze in your mane and your ship steadily rocking from the waves.

Thinking about all that really made him ache for the Heart of Azure even more. He was just hurting himself at this rate.

Breakwater sighed before his eyes eventually found a small seabreeze candle. Colored blue and small enough to fit on his hoof. Perfect.

“Well let’s hope their prices aren’t for ripping off tourists,” Breakwater grinned and took one of the candles. “I think you’ll like this, Senax.”

Senax, at the moment, was at a poetry reading being held at the shrine the group had visited days ago. She originally was planning to spend all day at the Saffron Inn, not really in the mood to do anything, but she quickly became bored and found herself back at the shrine. There was no real plan to come here. Nor any real reason too. She knew this shrine wouldn’t give her the answers she wanted but maybe she just wanted to engage with the Sarraroccon Order any way she could.

That aimless desire found her sitting on a wooden bench along with many other ponies, under the trees of the shrine, as one of the Order’s monks recited poetry. It was collected poetry written by monks of the Order over the centuries the Order has existed here on the Archipelago. Though not as into this sort of thing as other ponies might be, Senax still found it fascinating. Though the Order couldn’t have been as old as Merlantis and Ponyseidon (at least she couldn’t imagine that being possible) it clearly predated the Hundred Kingdoms on the continent and maybe even the Golden Empire. Breakwater hadn’t been sure of any of this but he wasn’t a historian, unless these ponies were lying for some reason the Sarraroccon Order was the oldest living civilization on the Grand Ocean.

The poetry was not exactly flowery or what she would consider “good” but it was an interesting window into the past.

The monk reading it came to the end of the long scroll it was all transcribed on and stopped before rolling it up. He smiled at his captive audience and bowed his head. “That will be all for today. Please come tomorrow at the same time if you are interested in hearing more.”

Senax and the rest of the ponies at the poetry recital didn’t clap—it wouldn’t have been proper for this sort of thing—instead they smiled, stood up, and bowed in return. The monk slowly shuffled away from the courtyard and the visitors all started to fan out to other parts of the shrine as well. They were all just tourists who wanted to see more of an “authentic” shrine of the Sarraroccon Order.

Senax though merely stayed there for the moment as red leaves drifted down from their tree branches and dotted the ground. There wasn’t anything else she planned on seeing or doing here at the shrine, nor any monks or shrine maidens she planned on speaking to. She didn’t even see that Citrus Smile mare around today.

“I still just don’t know what I’m doing,” Senax sighed and looked around. “What is the High Priestess waiting for? What does she want from me?” She started walking back over to the stone steps that would lead down from the shrine. “Sometimes I feel like we should’ve just forced our way straight to the High Priestess… Rainbow Dash would’ve helped with that for sure. I don’t think anyone else would even really be angry about it...”

But that’s not what they were doing. The High Priestess had peacefully invited them here and as impatient as Senax was, and desperate she was, they wouldn’t do something wrong or aggressive like that. It wasn’t right. They were going to have to do things the High Priestess’s way regardless of anything else.

“I wish that wasn’t the case but… there’s nothing else for us out here,” Senax said as she started walking down the steps.

There were many roads she could choose to walk down once she got to the bottom, but the only one she was looking at was the one that would take her back to the Saffron Inn. She had done enough today. It was time to rest and hope that soon enough they’d get the notice from the High Priestess that it was time for them to meet.

Sarrarocco Stories IX

Rainbow Dash sat on a rock underneath a waterfall as the cool water cascaded down onto her back. She was in the highlands of Black Sand Island, where the warriors of the Sarraroccon Order trained their bodies to the pinnacle of physical ability. As well as meditated to shed their earthly attachments and fully dedicate themselves to the High Priestess and the needs of the Order.

Naturally, Rainbow Dash only joined them in one of those things. Thankfully the warriors were open to letting ponies like her join in the same kind of training and daily routine they took part in as long as they didn’t disrupt things and followed along with their ways. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t call them friendly (in fact none of them had ever smiled as far as she had seen) but they were stoic and welcoming.

It was good that things had turned out so well when she first arrived here…

Two weeks previously…

She was the only one still on the Manta Ferry to get off here at Black Sand Island. Though she knew other tourists visited according to that mare at the Saffron Inn it seemed no others in this group had plans to tour it. Rainbow Dash hopped onto the dock and looked around, seeing no buildings or a welcome area like at Blue Coral Island. There was merely a large grassy path between two small mountains that led deeper into the island. Straining her eyes she saw a large pole erected in the middle of the road that reminded her of the ones they had seen on the outer islands of the Archipelago when first arriving.

It had to signify something. She shrugged and started walking towards it.

“For the island where all their warriors train and stay at, this place isn’t very secure,” Rainbow said as she looked around.

It was green everywhere, even the mountains were completely covered in grass and shrubbery so much that she couldn’t see the rock beneath them. There were no fences, or guards, just grass and trees ahead. If it wasn’t for the sun out right now she’d find it to be an eerie sort of place. Once she got to the large pole in the middle of the road she looked past it to see that the road narrowed and was covered by a canopy of tree branches going over it, but in the distance she could see wide stone steps going up somewhere. At least she knew she couldn’t get lost.

Taking her time as she walked to the steps (to make sure she wasn’t being spied on) Rainbow Dash looked around for anything else of note but there weren’t even statues. Black Sand Island kept things simple. The stone steps, once she got to them, were cracked in places and covered in moss. She looked up and saw them ascending for maybe more than a hundred steps.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Come on, here to strengthen the rest of my body anyways...”

The slow walk up the steps took her out of the canopy of trees and brought her to a wide open plateau. From the steps a stone path led to a large temple complex with a building that had a red shingle roof that stretched in front of a series of green mountains. Golden statues of fish lined the stone path and two huge statues of ponies stood right in front of the great wooden doors that led into the temple.

“Wow, nice place they’ve got here,” Rainbow Dash said.

The rest of the plateau was kept clean and free of all but the shortest grass. There were no—almost no other ponies around. Rainbow Dash finally saw one.

A single mare dressed in a white robe and carrying a broom was sweeping away in front of the doors leading into the temple. Rainbow considered herself lucky, now she could actually talk to someone who worked here instead of knocking or barging in without notice. Still keeping her wings tucked into her sides, Rainbow Dash walked down the stone path towards the door and the mare. Once the mare noticed the pegasus approaching she stopped sweeping and patiently waited for Rainbow Dash to come.

Both of them had friendly smiles on their faces and the mare politely bowed in greeting.

“Hello, welcome to the dojo of Black Sand Island. How may I help you?” The mare asked. She was young, younger than Rainbow Dash, with a snow white coat and a mane as black as coal.

“Hi, I’m Rainbow Dash and um… wait, dojo? What’s a dojo?” Rainbow blinked.

“It is a place for learning and meditation—the place where ponies of the Sarraroccon Order become the warriors of the Order,” the mare explained.

“Oh. Makes sense. I just figured it was a normal temple,” Rainbow said as she looked up at the big pony statues. “Are you a warrior then?”

The mare giggled. “No, no, not at all. I am a mere servant, one of many, tasked with the upkeep of the dojo and its grounds. My name is Willow Wisp.”

“Right, nice to meet you then. So I heard that other ponies were welcome to come here and train, right?” Rainbow asked.

“That’s correct. Any pony who is willing to train their body and open their mind is welcome to learn the ways of the Order’s warriors. We only ask that you keep to our practices while inside and follow the rules. Not many outsiders engage in the training though—we get many who simply want a tour and nothing more.”

“Well I’m not like your typical outsider. I’ll tell you this right now—I came here to get stronger and become a better fighter. I can follow the rules, so if that’s alright with your Order then I’d like to come in,” Rainbow looked her strongly in the eyes as she spoke, letting the servant see the honesty in her words and the strength of her conviction.

Willow Wisp regarded her coolly before her smile grew. “Very well, I believe the warriors will have no issue with you. Please go inside, Rainbow Dash, and enjoy your time on Black Sand Island.”

“Thank you,” Rainbow grinned and started walking by before she stopped and raised an eyebrow at the mare. “Uh, is there anywhere I should go or anyone I should look for once I’m in there?”

“You will find another servant inside named Lima, ask her to take you to Master Wasabi’s training room. He will take care of all you need from there,” Willow smiled.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said once more and grasped her hoof around the heavy metal ringlet on one of the dojo’s doors, pulling it and opening the door up. She stepped inside the dojo, onto a soft wooden floor, and let the door close back behind her.

Inside the dojo was well lit by numerous paper lanterns along the walls and standing in the corners. The room Rainbow was in was small, like a greeting room, but directly ahead was an open hallway that looked like it went to the right and left, down the length of the building. Strangely, another servant was sitting in the middle of the room on a soft pillow, no desk or anything else with her.

“Greetings. How may I help you?” The servant, who must have been Lima, bowed until her head almost touched the floor.

“Uh, hi, are you Lima? I was told that you could take me to Master Wasabi?” Rainbow said. “You the secretary or something?”

The servant giggled and raised her head, smiling at Rainbow Dash. She was just as young as Willow but her red-orange mane was done in a tight bun behind her head. “I suppose you could say that. I am indeed Lima, I help direct visitors, either to tours or to personal meetings with the warriors. If you wish to meet Master Wasabi I assume it’s because you would like to undergo training?”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Then please, come right this way,” Lima said and stood up, turning about and walking to the hallway behind the greeting room. She made a sharp turn down the hall to the right and Rainbow Dash followed her along. “You’re the first outsider to come here seeking training in a long while, I hope you have a good time.”

“Me too—but well, it’s not a good time I’m looking for. I don’t care how rough or tough things gets, I want to get stronger,” Rainbow said, her eyes narrowing.

“If you take the training routine the Master gives you seriously, and throw your all into it, I guarantee you will get what you desire,” Lima said.

“Good,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Lima led Rainbow Dash down the long hallway, past many closed sliding doors that led to rooms Rainbow Dash could only guess about. After a long while the servant stopped in front of one of the sliding doors. Rainbow briefly looked past her and saw the hallway continue on for ages—this dojo was a huge building. Lima put her hoof on the door and pulled it open, sliding away with it so as not to block Rainbow Dash’s way, and beckoned her to walk on through.

Rainbow Dash did so and looked around at the large room she was now in. It was nearly devoid of any furniture aside from a simple wooden bench at the front of the room, the floor was not wood like the rest of the dojo had been so far either, but some kind of tightly woven mat. And of course there were about twenty stallions meditating in the middle of the room while an older stallion on the bench watched over them. None of the stallions meditating had so much as looked up when the door opened and Rainbow walked in, but the one on the bench turned his head and bowed it down slightly in acknowledgment of her.

Rainbow hesitantly lifted a hoof and waved it at him with an awkward grin on her face, behind her the door slid back shut. “Hey, what’s up? Master Wasabi?”

“That is who I am,” the stallion said as he stepped down from the bench. He was tall, lanky without an ounce of fat on him, and the way he walked he seemed to practically glide across the floor. Wasabi was green, with a violet mane pulled back into a short ponytail. “You are no tourist, have you come for training?”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “And I’m serious about it too. Give me the hardest, roughest, training you put your warriors through. I can take it. I’m not like any other pony who’s come here, and that’s not me bragging. I want you to show me the best you’ve got.”

Master Wasabi stoically regarded her, perhaps evaluating her himself. “Very well. But before your body can be tested—your mind must be centered. Please take a seat with the others.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “I’m probably going to have more trouble with that part than anything else...”

The next two weeks had been filled with the most grueling endurance and strength training Rainbow Dash had gone through in her life. The entire time she kept her wings folded, not relying on them once. The training she went through ranged from tying rocks to her hooves and onto her back and running through forests and climbing up mountains with them, to lifting up huge logs of wood again and again, to being forced to swim while weighed down by heavy clothes, to balancing upside-down on one hoof and staying that way for hours, and of course to meditating under a waterfall like this with the oppressively powerful stream of water constantly bearing down on her.

Not only that. She was getting fighting practice and combat training with the Order’s warriors as well. It was like when she was up in Nogt at the North Pole and getting ready for the fighting tournament there, her encounters with Godfrey had taught her that just relying on her natural speed and reflexes weren’t going to cut it. She had to know how to fight for real and use it to augment her natural abilities even more. Rainbow wanted to be able to fight with the kind of skill Sia’Lorna did and then some. If she could, then she knew she’d be unstoppable.

Together the muscle-building and martial arts training would allow her to get on Godfrey’s level.

It really hurt admitting she wasn’t able to beat him fairly the previous times they had fought, but it was true. He was too strong. Now though—with what she was doing on Black Sand Island and what she’d keep doing after—she would become strong enough to match him. Already there was a slight change in her musculature after the two weeks of intense workout here, the muscles in her legs and her back were becoming more defined. She’d be a changed pegasus the next time they crossed paths.

It wouldn’t just be her wings and speed that were world class.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath as she continued to sit beneath the waterfall, she had been here for well over an hour now. When she heard the sound of hooves walking towards her from beyond the waterfall’s pool she opened her eyes.

One of the many warrior’s of the Order was standing at the edge of it, staring at her with the same blank face every warrior had.

“Rainbow Dash, there is sparring being held at the dojo this evening, would you like to partake?”

A grin spread across her face. “Would I?”

Sarrarocco Stories X

Back in the dojo, Rainbow Dash found herself facing off against a familiar opponent.

Alonzo was one of the newest recruits among the warriors of the Order. Rainbow Dash had spent much of her training on the island alongside him. Not that that meant a whole lot, she had never gotten more than a single sentence out of him at a time, and knew nothing more besides him originally coming from Green Kelp Island. The warriors weren’t actively secretive and never refused to speak to her, but they clearly tried to distance themselves from their past lives and attempted to be as stoic and restrained as possible. No one was up for small talk here, they were busy forging themselves into weapons for the High Priestess.

It was the second time she’d actually be fighting Alonzo in a sparring match. Which was fine by her, Alonzo was a tough customer.

He was fairly thin but still muscular, there wasn’t a single heavy pony on this entire island that Rainbow Dash could see, as a result of the meager diet of rice and the training they all went through. Alonzo had deep blue eyes on a light blue face with a very short grey mane that was tied back similarly to Master Wasabi’s but with an even shorter tail. He and Rainbow Dash both wore the same white robe as they faced off in the middle of the sparring room. A ring in the floor made by a simple circle of yarn was where they would fight and they were not to leave it or it would be considered a loss.

Rainbow Dash took a single deep breath to center herself and blankly stared back at the warrior-in-training. She would let him make the first move. Naturally even if it wasn’t for the robe she wasn’t going to be using her wings either. They were already the best they could get.

Alonzo’s front legs slid across the mat as he lowered himself into a fighting stance and got ready to pounce once he saw that Rainbow Dash would not come to him first. Around them were several dozen others, including Master Wasabi, all watching quietly. There was a squeak from the mat as Alonzo inched forward slightly, and another, and another, he slowly got in range so that when he attacked for real he would only barely have to move his coiled body. Rainbow Dash appeared completely still, but to the trained eye she was just as tense and ready for anything he did. He inched forward once more to be within striking distance and still Rainbow Dash stood her ground.

Intentionally, Rainbow Dash blinked.

Alonzo exhaled as his body sprung forth at lightning speed, his right hoof going for the side of Rainbow Dash’s face in an attempt to end the fight in one blow.

She knew it was coming, she heard it coming. She sensed it coming. It would’ve been easy to duck under it or dodge back in the split second it took for her eyes to open back up. That’s what she would normally do, as the agile fighter she was. But it wasn’t the time to do what she would normally do. It was the time to see how strong she was.

A loud crack of thunder rang out as Alonzo’s hoof was blocked by Rainbow Dash making a cross with her hooves right where he was punching. Both of their limbs trembled from the force of the clash before Rainbow Dash pushed him away and Alonzo skidded back.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Before I came here, that would’ve actually hurt a little bit.”

Alonzo of course was not one for words, taunting or otherwise, in the middle of a fight. He regarded her coolly and walked around to her side while she kept her eyes on him. Without any further notice, he ran at her and lashed out with a jumping kick. Rainbow Dash did dodge this time, jumping to the side and letting Alonzo land before he pressed the attack against her. His hooves came at her in a dizzying flurry, going for her head, neck, and chest all at once. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and brought up her hooves to block and turn aside all of his blows, but he was still pushing her to the edge of the ring.

So Rainbow Dash planted her back hooves into the mat and anchored herself there before knocking aside one more punch from Alonzo and sending one of her own straight to his chest. Alonzo brought up his free limb and blocked it but the force of the blow was still enough to make him stumble back.

She didn’t just have otherworldly speed on her side anymore. The light muscles she had added to her lithe body allowed her to deliver far stronger blows and block attacks that would normally knock her to the ground. She wanted to toughen up until she had the kind of strength and fortitude that Applejack had. Well—that might have been a little much to hope for, but it was still her goal.

If Rainbow Dash was going to dream she was going to dream big.

Alonzo came at her again and made a low sweep to try and take out Rainbow’s legs. She jumped over it but that was pretty much what he expected—now in the air she was vulnerable. Alonzo jumped up and ducked his head down, coming at her with a headbutt.

Rainbow didn’t block it. She matched it.

Tucking her head in she met crown with crown. It would’ve been bad if she was just slightly too slow and he got her forehead but instead the sparring room was filled with the sound of two rocks bashing together. The skulls of both ponies ached as they bounced away from each other and as Alonzo hopped back to get some distance he showed the first bit of emotion on his face so far—a slight wince of pain. Rainbow didn’t exactly feel good after that either but she avoided rubbing the top of her head and just stared back at her opponent.

“Okay. I’ll start now,” Rainbow took in another deep breath and ran at Alonzo. She darted from side to side to keep him off-balance, his eyes tracking her back and forth.

Her right hoof came flashing up to his face—and was just as quickly pulled back as her left hoof smashed into his chin.

Alonzo blinked in surprise. He hadn’t even seen that coming.

His brain was rattled and his chin hurt something fierce, but he wasn’t here for nothing, he was a pony seeking to become one of the vaunted warriors of the Sarraroccon Order. Quickly regaining his wits he backstepped and threw a punch of his own at Rainbow Dash. She didn’t dodge it. She took it on the face and rolled with the punch while sending another punch to his chest. Alonzo brought up his other hoof to block it and their limbs met in yet another fierce clash. To Alonzo’s surprise once more, his hoof trembled and buckled under her punch. She was overpowering him.

Rainbow Dash grunted and put more of her strength into the punch, knocking his hoof away. It caused her to turn to the side slightly though so she couldn’t keep her punch going straight and hit him, but she was able to keep rushing forward and slam her shoulder into his body. There was a slight throbbing pain in the side of the face where he had hit her, but it was nothing that would slow her down. Alonzo stumbled backwards once again and coughed from her shoulder charge, bringing up a hoof to rub his bruised ribs.

It was a mistake. He was leaving himself open to further attacks from her. While you of course weren’t using deadly force in a spar like this, you still had to treat it like a real fight, and Rainbow wasn’t going to sit back just because he needed a second to catch his breath.

Rainbow Dash jumped up at him and punched down at his shoulder, putting her weight and momentum behind the blow. Alonzo brought his hooves up to block it but still grunted from the exertion and had to step back. Landing back on all fours, Rainbow made a few more punches at Alonzo that he all blocked. On the last one, the stallion turned her hoof to the side and punched into Rainbow’s chest. She took the blow and went skidding backwards while letting the air out of her lungs. Something like that would’ve caused a lot more damage before the training she had gone through. Now all she needed to do was suck in another sharp breath and prepare for more. If she couldn’t take punches like that without buckling then how was she going to stand after a haymaker from Godfrey?

Alonzo followed the same line of thought that Rainbow had earlier and came to attack her when she was still vulnerable. Again, Rainbow Dash decided that instead of dodging she’d test her own resilience. She curled up and tucked in her head as Alonzo started to rain blows on her. The heavy hits struck her head, back, limbs, ribs, without any sign of stopping. Alonzo was trying to break her down but Rainbow Dash was weathering everything he threw at her. The others watching saw a maddening blur of hooves striking a pegasus barely defending herself at all from them.

Feeling she had gotten enough of a workout as Alonzo’s punching bag, Rainbow’s hooves darted out lightning quick once more and grabbed both of his, stopping them cold. He was trapped and unable to pull himself loose or away from her. Rainbow had planted her back legs down and was straining her muscles to act like an unmovable statue. Slamming her head forward she headbutted him right in his already bruised ribs.

This elicited a pained gasp from the warrior and Rainbow Dash let go of his hooves at the same time. Alonzo fell over backwards and wheezed on the ring’s mat while Rainbow stood over him. If Master Wasabi gave the word she would stop and the spar would end.

He didn’t give the word.

“Haa…” Rainbow Dash drew in a breath and pulled back her hoof before slamming it down at full force into Alonzo’s stomach.

A strangled gasp came from the stallion and his head fell back against the mat while his eyes rolled into his skull. Rainbow slowly pulled her hood back up, there was practically an indent in his robes from the punch. She could already picture how bruised his skin was going to be under there.

“That is enough,” Master Wasabi said.

Rainbow Dash brought her hoof up and wiped her nose. “I could’ve told you that.”

Master Wasabi stepped into the ring and stopped beside Rainbow Dash and Alonzo. He blinked down at the stallion before looking back up at Rainbow Dash. “You have improved. You are much tougher than before.”

“Thanks to you guys,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. She then raised an eyebrow down at the unconscious Alonzo. “Uh, we going to help him up?”

Master Wasabi turned his head and whistled to the other warriors. Two of them came into the ring and picked up Alonzo, swiftly moving to take him out of the room. “They will take him to the doctor.”

Rainbow Dash flexed her muscles and stretched her limbs to see if anything was still sore or beat up, but in general she felt good. And she straight up won too—even better. All the brutal training she had gone through had really worked out well so far, just a bit over two weeks and she already knew she had greatly improved. Not many ponies could probably claim the same. She had really thrown her entire mind, body, and soul into the training on Black Sand Island though. It was worth it.

“So what now? Should I spar with anyone else or get back to the waterfall?” Rainbow asked Wasabi.

“A spar. But I have something special in mind for this one. Something only for advanced spars,” Wasabi said and pulled a black rag out from his robe, hoofing it over to Rainbow Dash.

“Uhhh?” Rainbow Dash stared at it in confusion.

“It’s a blindfold,” Wasabi explained. “Do you think you can win a spar with another warrior while wearing that?”

Rainbow Dash blinked at the piece of cloth and then slowly grinned before reaching up and tying it around her face. “Only one way to find out.”

The darkness didn’t scare her. Neither did the sound of Master Wasabi stepping out of the ring and another pony stepping in. A fresh sparring partner who was well-rested and just saw exactly what she could do. There were many disadvantages that Rainbow Dash was going to have to deal with now. Fine by her. Godfrey had greater reach, he fought with a sword, his claws could eviscerate her, she already was used to fighting with disadvantages. Let this warrior do whatever he wanted, she’d overcome it. Even if she was black and blue—a different sort of blue—at the end of the day.

The swishing sound of something cutting through the air made her ears flick up and Rainbow Dash felt a powerful punch collide with her chin. It made her stumble to the side, and she might’ve been bleeding from her lip, but otherwise she was okay. More pain was about to be incoming and Rainbow Dash was happy to take it and see how tough she truly was now.

Waiting For You

Another day spent in the marketplace of Blue Coral Island, another lunch spent at a nice little local dive. Senax and Breakwater were having a good day. Despite the long amount of time they had spent here already they were making the most of it every day. Helped that Blue Coral Island was a naturally fun place to be. Right now for lunch they were at a shack by the southern beach that specialized in various kinds of seaweed wraps. They’d been eating and talking and pony watching for almost two hours, right now the hot sun was directly above them in the sky but it still wasn’t time for them to leave yet.

“I think I like the seaweed wraps with carrots better than the ones with cucumber,” Senax said.

“You’ve always really loved carrots, that’s not a surprise,” Breakwater said.

She shrugged. “Favorite vegetable.”

“I’ll remember to stock up on more the next time we leave,” Breakwater rolled his eyes.

Senax smiled. “That’d be a nice souvenir to leave the Archipelago with.”

“First we’d have to leave at all though.”

“True.”

After all this time there hadn’t been any sign or notice from the High Priestess or any in the Sarraroccon Order yet. No contact at all.

“Do you want to start heading back to the Inn?” Senax asked Breakwater.

“Sure, not like we have anything else to do here,” Breakwater said.

“Tired of pony watching?”

Breakwater sighed. “We’ve been doing that for days now. Let’s just go back and then once it’s dinnertime we can eat at the Inn’s restaurant again. I think I’m just a little tired.”

“Alright, we can go then,” Senax said and went to stand up from the table before stopping and looking at him with a bashful expression. “One more seaweed wrap to go?”

“Go right ahead...”

With a half-eaten seaweed wrap in her hooves, Senax led the way back along the road to the Saffron Inn. They didn’t stop anywhere along the way, more than familiar with all the paths and places of the island now. A few friendly ponies waved as they walked by and they waved back of course, but that was about it. There wasn’t even anything especially eventful or interesting to look at in this area of Blue Coral Island. Just leaves that fell from the trees and coated the ground. At most there were a few very small parks, more just clearings really, where ponies and families could take a rest and play around in.

It wasn’t long until they had gotten back to the Inn, and still with plenty of time left in the day. The establishment and the too-luxurious suite they had been staying in was a familiar sight to them now. As was the matron of the Inn herself, who always greeted them with a smile behind her desk as they walked in.

That didn’t change as they opened the sliding door of the Saffron Inn and walked by her desk.

What did change was the matron calling out to them.

“Oh wait! Please hold on one moment!”

Senax and Breakwater both stopped in front of the desk, surprised at the mare’s outburst. The two of them shared a look before Breakwater spoke up. “Yeah? What is it?”

The mare smiled at them as she reached under her desk and pulled something out—a red envelope. “This arrived for you just earlier today. I was explicitly told to give it to you-” she said to Senax. “Whenever you came back.”

Senax gasped slightly and reached out to take the envelope, turning it over in her hooves she saw that it had no name or any other sort of indicating marks or words on it. Just a plain red, glossy, envelope.

“Who delivered it?” Breakwater asked.

The mare shook her head. “He didn’t tell me his name, but he knew yours and said… well, he said it had something to do with the Sarraroccon Order. I um… I didn’t ask questions after that.”

“Fair enough,” Breakwater shrugged and glanced at the mesmerized Senax. “You want to take that up to the room and open it?”

“Yes,” Senax minutely nodded, her eyes still glued on the envelope, unblinking.

Breakwater nodded to the matron. “Thanks for this, and it looks like we might not be here much longer.”

The two of them stood in the sitting room of their suite with Senax still holding onto the envelope. She hadn’t yet worked up the nerve to open it. Breakwater had to admit too that he was a little nervous. Is this what they were finally waiting for? A bead of sweat was even rolling its way down the side of his head. Senax bit her lip and moved a trembling hoof to the glued shut leaf of the envelope.

“Let’s… let’s see what it says,” she gulped and tore it open.

Inside was a single piece of folded up paper. Senax discarded the envelope and unfolded the letter to read what it said—Breakwater was looking over her shoulder the whole time. What was written on the letter didn’t take up much space. The message was rather simple all in all:

Gather your friends and go to Black Sand Island. A servant named Ill Wind will come by on Manta Ferry to take you to Pink Salt Island to see the High Priestess. Do not take long.

“Oh, I’m glad they want us to hurry,” Breakwater sarcastically snorted and rolled his eyes.

Senax took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. “I’m just… really happy to finally get this letter.”

“I wonder if anything happened recently to trigger it or if they just got bored of spying on us eating here.”

“Black Sand Island is the island Rainbow Dash went to,” Senax said, ignoring him. “We have to go get Gilbert and Daylight first and then find her there.”

“Shouldn’t take long to find the two of them—Gilbert is probably sticking out like a sore hoof right now. And even if it does take us some time I’m not going to feel bad for making the High Priestess wait,” Breakwater smirked.

Senax nodded. “We should still get going right now.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sure everyone else is going to be happy to learn things are moving. I think I won’t check us out of here just yet though, we might still need the room later, who knows?” Breakwater stretched and walked over to the door. “Ready to hop on your first Manta Ferry?”

The merpony smiled and put down the letter. “Ready.”

Gilbert today was enjoying a production of a romantic-comedy being put on in one of the few parks of Red Beach Island. The troupe performing it wanted a more open and outdoors environment instead of a stuffy theater. Of course he was just as enthralled with this play as any other. He and the rest of the audience were seated on folding chairs that had been set up in the grass, it wasn’t a big audience but everyone was still enjoying what they were watching.

“This is great...” Gilbert said as he wrote something down in a new journal he now carried with him. He had procured it so he could write reviews of everything he saw, even though he would likely never publish them he still enjoyed the process immensely.

It was while he was in the middle of that that he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Gilbert blinked and turned around to see two familiar faces staring back at him. He resisted the urge to stand up and shout during the middle of the play—but failed completely. With his wings shooting open he jumped out of his seat and yelled. “My friends! How wonderful to see you after so long!”

Immediately he was shushed and glared at by everyone else in the audience. Gilbert blushed and ducked down before whispering much more quietly to Breakwater and Senax. “P-Perhaps we can talk over here instead?” He pointed to the trees away from where the play was being put on.

“Probably for the best,” Breakwater grinned and the three of them left the performance behind.

“I’m surprised you’re here. Did something happen?” Gilbert asked them.

“Maybe you’ve lost track of how long you’ve been away but yeah—something happened,” Breakwater said.

“Something good though,” Senax added.

Gilbert’s eyes lit up and he smiled. “You mean-?”

“Yes,” Senax smiled, though a bit uncertainly. “We received a letter from the Order telling us to meet with the High Priestess. Now we just need to go get Daylight and then we can all meet up with Rainbow Dash on Black Sand Island.”

“Excellent! Well, I suppose I can leave right now. The play was nice but this is far more important, I’m so happy that you’ve finally got something to look forward to, Senax!” Gilbert said.

Breakwater looked at the journal he was holding. “Don’t have any important work to finish?”

Gilbert shook his head. “No, no, this was really for my own pleasure more than anything. Let’s go!”

“Let’s hope Daylight is just as easy to find as you,” Breakwater said.

They found Daylight Gleam lying sprawled out fast asleep (well past noon) on a beach chair surrounded by empty drinks. By the look, and smell, of her she had taken to the idea of being on vacation better than any of them. Senax had tried poking and shaking her to wake her up but so far to no avail. Other ponies had gathered around to watch.

Breakwater sighed and rolled his eyes. “Gilbert, would you please wake her up already?”

“Can do!” The griffon smiled and started poking a talon into Daylight’s side. “Daylight, it’s Gilbert, would you like to write a new entry down in my journal?”

Immediately her eyes, bloodshot as they were, snapped open and her pupils turned to glare at the griffon. “For the last time—no.”

“That did it,” Breakwater grinned.

Daylight blinked, taking a second to realize that something was wrong, and sat up on her beach chair. “Wait, what are all of you doing here?” Immediately a dull pain came to her head and she groaned, lifting a hoof to her forehead. “Ohhhh… I am too hungover for questions right now.”

“You really let loose,” Gilbert said.

“We got a letter from the Order, Daylight.” Senax explained. “We’re heading to Black Sand Island now to get Rainbow Dash and then we can finally see the High Priestess.”

Daylight took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “And that’s happening today? It can’t happen after I sleep all this off?”

“No, it can’t,” Breakwater said.

“You’re acting more like Rainbow Dash right now. You really had a fun time at this resort, didn’t you?” Gilbert asked her.

“Too much to drink… not my fault,” the unicorn sighed and rubbed her temples. “Also please don’t say I’m like Rainbow Dash.”

“There are worse ponies to be compared to,” Gilbert grinned.

“Either way you’re going to have to get over your hangover on the trip to Black Sand Island,” Breakwater said.

“Wait… I need to get on a Manta Ferry right now? Feeling like this?” Daylight blanched.

“Well look on the bright side, if you need to throw up the ocean is all around you,” Breakwater patted her on the back.

“I think I’m already sick…”

Despite Daylight’s protesting, Senax couldn’t help but smile as the four of them were back together. It had been too long since seeing her grumpy face. Now they only needed to retrieve the last member of their party.

Rainbow Dash was balancing on top of a pole.

To put it more accurately, she was balancing on one hoof, on top of a pole less than an inch in diameter, that was twenty feet over the ground. While also holding two heavy buckets of water in her hooves and balancing another one on top of her head while blindfolded. While also being pelted in the stomach with rocks thrown at her from below by two of the warriors training here. Seravy and Geyser were maybe even throwing a bit harder than they needed to be.

And yet Rainbow Dash didn’t flinch or show any signs of falling. Despite the length of time this had gone on already she felt like she could take it forever.

It wasn’t to be though.

“Seravy. Geyser. Stop,” the voice of Master Wasabi came in. And with her sharpened ears, Rainbow Dash could hear the hoofsteps of others walking with him. “Rainbow Dash, there are those who have come for you.”

A grin immediately came to Rainbow Dash’s face. She knew exactly what that meant.

The three buckets of water were tossed high into the air, she reached up to undo the blindfold and hopped off the pole while flipping through the air and landing on the ground. The three buckets then came back down one by one and Rainbow Dash perfectly caught and balanced them all one on top of the other. The tower was then carefully placed on the ground while Rainbow smugly laughed to herself.

“Easy.”

“Well you still love to show off just as much,” Daylight said to her.

Rainbow Dash finally looked over at the group that had walked into the training ground with Master Wasabi. Her four friends were standing there and smiling at her—all of them very happy to see each other.

“Heh, took long enough,” Rainbow said and walked over to them. “It’s time?”

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “We’re going to see her.”

“Great,” Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and took off the white robe she was wearing before grinning at Wasabi and hoofing it over to him. “Here, dude, you can have this back. And thanks for all the training.”

Master Wasabi nodded to her. “You are welcome, may you travel well.”

Rainbow Dash in turn nodded to him and the other warriors before joining her friends, and the five of them started walking away. When they were totally out of earshot she turned to Senax. “So what exactly is happening now? The High Priestess said hi to you?”

“A letter was sent to me from a pony in the Order. We’re waiting here now for a Manta Ferry to come and take us to Pink Salt Island—that’s where the High Priestess is,” Senax explained.

“Got it, guess we’re going to the beach where the Manta Ferry that took me here dropped me off,” Rainbow said.

“Yep,” Breakwater nodded.

Meanwhile, Daylight looked up and down Rainbow’s body and noticed that the pegasus looked even more athletic and in-shape than before. Her muscles were slightly more defined. “You look… different.”

“Thanks, you look… you actually look terrible,” Rainbow said to her.

“I kind of took relaxing at a resort a little too far...” Daylight muttered.

“Well either way—I did come here for a reason after all. Next time Godfrey shows his face… he’s going to be surprised,” Rainbow Dash punched her hooves together. “It hasn’t been long but I’m a lot stronger.”

“I wish you good luck with that then,” Gilbert said to her.

“Not going to let any of you get hurt again,” Rainbow said and winked at Senax.

Senax smiled. “Thank you.”

Rainbow Dash smiled back. “Let’s hope that Manta Ferry comes by to pick us up quickly. I’d really like to get back to someplace where I can fly.”

Mystic

It wasn’t even two minutes after they arrived at the beach of Black Sand Island that something came out of the fog and “sailed” up just right off the shore.

A Manta Ferry with a single pony at the front to direct the large creatures pulling it. He didn’t look like a normal driver, instead he had the same black cloak and shady appearance of the other servants that had met them. When Rainbow and the group walked forward, the pony lowered his hood to reveal a similarly dreadlocked and shell-woven mane as Fair Drift. The platform of the ferry slowly drifted and turned in the water so it was directly against the beachhead and they could walk onto it.

“I am Ill Wind,” he spoke in an accurately sickly voice. “Please come aboard and I shall take you to Pink Salt Island.”

Rainbow Dash looked at the others and raised an eyebrow.

Senax nodded back to her.

“Okay then,” Rainbow said and made sure she was the first to walk aboard the ferry.

When all five of them were on it, Ill Wind raised his hood once more and had the Mantas start to swim away from Black Sand Island and into the fog. Rainbow Dash, Senax, Breakwater, Daylight Gleam, and Gilbert stood together on the ferry. They didn’t know where Pink Salt Island was or how long it would take them to get there, but the anticipation was burning inside them.

It’s not like they had any real privacy but they still decided to turn their backs to Ill Wind as they talked with each other. It was hours later now and he hadn’t spoken another word, they had just quietly been going on and on through the water, passing several other islands already but with no indication of how far they still were from their destination. Rainbow Dash and Daylight were naturally a little suspicious, they had no real way of knowing if they were actually going to see the High Priestess or not. Senax too was nervous, but more just stressed out and incredibly anxious at the possibility they could get some answers about Merlantis.

“So how much can we really trust this?” Rainbow asked.

“I would say not at all but it’s not really a matter of trust at this point,” Daylight frowned. “It’s a matter of us not having any other options.”

“Despite… some disconcerting things… I’d still like to mostly trust in the benevolence of the Order at this point. If they had wanted to do something to us they could’ve by now,” Breakwater said.

“In the end the choice to go forward is still up to Senax. That’s something we’ve all settled on well before this,” Gilbert said and looked over at the merpony in question. “Are we still going forward with this?”

Senax looked between the four of them, seeing a mix of excitement, curiosity, apprehension, but most of all—trust and loyalty on their faces. She nodded. “Yes. We’re going to do what the letter says and hope for the best for now. That’s all we can do.”

“That works for me,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “We can take anything that comes at us anyways.”

Daylight smirked. “That’s right.”

“Then I suppose all there is to do now is relax and enjoy the sights. Pink Salt Island has to be coming up eventually,” Gilbert said.

“Too bad there’s nothing to drink on this ferry,” Breakwater said and then glanced at Daylight. “Though one of us has been doing enough of that lately.”

“Oh shut up,” she glared back at him.

For the next couple of hours the ferry ride continued like normal through the waters of the Archipelago. They never came across another ferry, or boat, it was like they were the only ones traveling through the Archipelago right now. Or perhaps they were in an area that simply saw no other traffic than what the High Priestess allowed. Before long the sun had begun to drift down—only a few more hours of daylight remaining.

Rainbow shot a questioning glance to the others and only received a few shrugs in response while Senax looked ahead in the direction they were going.

“We are almost there,” the voice of Ill Wind came from the front of the ferry. It practically startled the others into jumping after how silent he had been.

“Great,” Rainbow said, frowning. “Lead the way.”

In the distance, after only a few short minutes, a new island appeared on the water. Small, flat, and green, those were its most notable attributes. The Manta Ferry they were on was taking them to a small white beach on the eastern side of the island, a dark wooden dock that looked like it could service only one boat at a time went out from it. Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes and looked as best she could at it and the island, so far not seeing any other ponies there waiting for them. What she could see further on the island though was a complex of buildings with white walls and shiny red rooftops. To Senax, Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater it reminded them a bit of the shrine on Blue Coral Island, but there were more buildings and even a bell tower placed in the middle of them. None of the buildings were especially big or tall aside from the bell tower but the place could’ve comfortably housed upwards of fifty ponies with all sorts of extra facilities.

The closer they got to the island, the slower they went, almost as if Ill Wind wanted to disturb the waters around it as little as possible. But at last the Mantas pulling the ferry came up by the side of the dock and Ill Wind had them stop before turning and bowing down low to the five of them.

“Please, you will be met by others who will take you to the High Priestess’s domicile.”

“Thank you,” Senax said and walked over to the dock with the others. Together the five stood right in front of it.

“Guess this is it?” Rainbow shrugged and hopped off the ferry and onto the dock, reaching a hoof back to help Senax onto it.

The merpony graciously took it and soon all five of them were officially on Pink Salt Island. Ill Wind and his Manta Ferry, without another word, started swimming away and left them behind. For a moment they watched him go before turning to look down the dock and the stone path past it that led into the island’s complex. No ponies were coming to greet or guide them yet.

“Do we just go walking on our own?” Gilbert asked.

“I don’t think they’d have any right to be mad at us if we wandered on in,” Rainbow said. “If they’re not going to have a welcoming committee it’s their own fault.”

“There must be more servants that will come, for now let’s just go ahead,” Senax said and started walking to the stone path.

“You heard her,” Daylight said and followed behind.

Along the stone path they passed a garden of wildflowers and a small creek that looked like it might have encircled the entire temple grounds they were now walking into. They had to pass under a wooden archway painted red and came out in the middle of several buildings all with perfectly straight paths going to and from them while the grass had been torn up and the dirt covered with pearly white gravel. Occasionally there would be a small maple tree in a planter dotting the grounds, or a small pond, but that was it. Things were completely still and quiet as well.

“For such an important figure I’m surprised this island isn’t… grander,” Gilbert said.

“Maybe the Order is against that kind of thing,” Breakwater shrugged. “Maybe the High Priestess just needs a quiet and out of the way island like this.”

“Still, there have been castles and mansions I’ve seen that put this place to shame,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, me too,” Rainbow nodded.

Senax was looking around for any sign of where they should go or which building might actually house the High Priestess. She was about to speak up when they all heard the sound of a door sliding open and closed from somewhere. Their heads turned to the southern buildings as the sound of hooves clattering over stone came and soon two black-robed servants appeared. Though they could’ve cut right through the gravel, they took the much longer route of sticking with the stone paths until they were right in front of Senax’s party where they bowed their heads low.

“Greetings, please follow us to the High Priestess,” they spoke in unison.

And of course without waiting for any sort of response they turned around and began shuffling back from where they came.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shrugged at the others before she started following. “Better just do it.”

“I suppose,” Senax said and went with her. The five of them now all had to walk closely (and slowly) behind the servants since they never strayed from the path.

Daylight raised an eyebrow at the gravel as they walked, holding back from making a snide remark about if it was sacred gravel or something.

The servants took them to the middle of the grounds—inside of what looked like a courtyard flanked by two long rectangular buildings and facing a much larger building situated at the southern edge of the entire complex. It must’ve been where they had come from to begin with. There was a familiar sliding wooden door in the center of the building while the walls around it were covered in heavily stylized water-color paintings of fish, whales, other sea animals, waves, and islands.

“That where your High Priestess lives?” Rainbow asked the servants.

“Yes,” both responded. And that was all.

Once they reached the door the servants opened it up and led them inside. The interior was actually very similar to the dojo on Black Sand Island, with hardwood flooring, and a simple ascetic. So far there were still no other ponies around. The front room also simply led right to another door, and then another, and another, doors were constantly being opened and shut behind them as they traveled further into the building. Rainbow and the others couldn’t imagine that this was all there was to the building, there had to be more rooms, more passages, that they weren’t seeing. But for now the servants were just leading them through small, seemingly pointless, rooms.

Until, at maybe the twentieth doorway, they opened it and an entirely different world appeared.

It was like they had stepped out into the jungle of the island, plants crawled up the walls, trees stood around with their branches and leaves reaching the ceilings, flowers grew right up from the vine-covered floor. And a heavy, fragrant, smoke hovered in the air. The two servants walked to the side and kneeled down, out of the way, with their heads bowed and touching the green floor.

“Please, continue.”

The five shared a few confused looks but eventually a shrug won out and they started walking through the jungle room. It was quite big, lanterns and dangerously open candle flames were illuminating it but they provided no more light than to make things dusky inside thanks to the smoke. Rainbow took a deep sniff of the air as she walked and realized what the smoke was.

“Incense… I’ve smelt something like this before. And it’s… coconut-scented,” she said.

“Really? To me it smells like flowers,” Gilbert said.

“I’m smelling lemon,” Daylight said.

“I smell the sea,” Breakwater added.

“I just feel woozy...” Senax said as she rubbed her head. “The smoke is too thick… it just smells like… everything.”

“Welcome.”

The group paused at the sound of the intruding voice and the heavy smoke in front of them lifted to reveal a pony shrouded in shadows, standing between stacks of lit candles, ferns, and incense sticks filling the room with the acrid smoke. The more the smoke cleared the more they could see of the pony and tell they were wearing a heavy black robe like the servants. But that voice had been distinctly female. And oddly… familiar in more than one way to all of them. The light from the candles grew stronger and the shadows started to retreat as well until the pony was no longer obscured by anything.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. “Are you…?”

A yellow magical aura pulled the pony’s hood back to reveal the peach-colored face of a young unicorn mare. Rainbow’s age at most, with purple eyes and a wavy sand mane that was full of seashells. Dropping the robe from her body entirely they could also all see the whirlpool Cutie Mark on her flank and how her tail was just as full of seashells.

“I am Coral Sea-” she said. “High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order.” Her eyes roamed over them one by one before they stopped on Senax and she smiled. “It is good to see all of you here. I have been waiting for this moment for some time.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “Well it could’ve happened a lot sooner if you let it.”

Daylight shot her a glare. “Rainbow, that isn’t helpful.”

“It’s true though,” Coral Sea smiled. When the others looked at her with a bit of surprise she even giggled. “I take no offense at your words, I’m not nearly as stuck-up as you might expect from one in my position.”

“You’re quite a bit younger than I expected as well,” Gilbert said as he scratched his beak.

“The previous High Priestess died young, so I took the position earlier than expected. And I do apologize for how long it took for you to be invited here, but I needed to learn all I could about you. I needed to see what you were all like myself before I spoke with the merpony on what the Order knows. Personally,” Coral Sea smiled again, but there was a strange edge to it.

“You… what do you mean by that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“What I mean is this is not our first time meeting. To ascertain the true nature of the ones searching for Merlantis and the treasures of Ponyseidon, I appeared before you several times. First-” Coral Sea’s horn lit up and a small bag was pulled out of her discarded robe. She opened it and threw it into the air—where its contents of a sparkling crystal powder came raining down, mixing with her magic and creating a bright white explosion. Once the light had died down and the others were able to blink their vision back to normalcy, they saw a different, but familiar, pony standing there.

A pink mane in a bun, a grey coat, sea blue eyes. “First I appeared to you as a grumpy pony of the port authority, refusing you entrance to Blue Coral Island.” Coral Sea said in the guise of Sugar Candy. “To see how you would react to such obvious rudeness and disrespect, and whether you would be disheartened, or perhaps even aggressive.”

Her horn flashed again and her appearance changed once more to that of a younger pony with emerald eyes on an orange face. “Then I appeared to you as a young shrine maiden, to check your curiosity and knowledge of the Order and see how you would treat one in the Order.”

Coral Sea then smiled at Gilbert and changed again into an older mare with a harsh face. “And to you, griffon. I appeared alone to see how honest and genuine you were, and see if you would stick up for your friends and what you believe in.”

“And to you, unicorn-” Coral Sea said before turning into a plain-jane middle-aged mate with thick glasses and a curly orange mane. “I wanted to see how you would deal with your quiet vacation being ruined, to see if you could still be friendly and kind to strangers.”

A grin to Breakwater and she transformed into Chrysanthemum, the mare he had danced with. “For you, Captain, I wanted to see if you were just a chauffeur helping the others out just because it was a job, or if there truly was more to it.”

“And as for you, strange pegasus that only so recently came to our ocean,” Coral Sea said before transforming into a snow white mare with a black mane. “I wanted to see if you were truly as open of a book as you appeared.”

With a lingering chuckle, Coral Sea turned back into her true self. “And what I discovered was that you are all exemplary creatures. You passed every test. Whatever you want, I have no doubt you are searching for kind, selfless and benevolent reasons. I am sorry for spying on you like this.”

“No you’re not.”

The words cut through the atmosphere like a knife and everyone turned to Rainbow Dash.

She narrowed her eyes at Coral Sea. “You’re not sorry about spying on us at all. You did it before and you kept doing it here, even though you didn’t really need to.”

The others didn’t know what to say, but a grin came to Coral Sea’s face and she nodded.

“You are far more perceptive than I originally thought when it comes to ponies. You’re right. I’m not sorry about it. This is all far too important to the Sarraroccon Order. I don’t feel bad for what I’ve done, even if it was a betrayal of your trust. But the truth is that it’s in the past. Let us all be completely honest with each other now then. I told you that I don’t take offense to any of your words so I hope you won’t be too offended by what I’ve done either.”

“So wait-” Daylight frowned. “That spiel you gave us as Citrus Smile? About the High Priestess never leaving this island? None of that was true?”

“All I said to you then is what’s commonly believed by most in the Order and living in the Archipelago,” Coral Sea winked.

“And if you were able to put yourself up as a fake pony on the port authority… the Order controls more of the Archipelago directly than most ponies think...” Breakwater muttered.

Coral Sea just shrugged and fluttered her eyelashes. “Maybe.”

“What-” Senax started, briefly having trouble speaking before opening up again. “Just what exactly have you called us—me—here for? What do you know about Merlantis? I don’t care that you spied on us again, I just want to know.”

Coral Sea calmed down and looked at Senax with but a small smile on her face. “You are a kind one—child of Ponyseidon. That is something I am certain of. And because of that I have decided to tell you everything. There is much for you to learn.” She turned around and started walking away, deeper into the jungle room. “All of you, come with me into my private chambers, your quest is not at an end—but it has reached a new beginning.”

Preparations

Coral Sea stood in front of the great stone map, her hoof placed on it as she looked at the sprawling recreation of the Grand Ocean with a smile on her face. Her eyes roamed over the various islands before they stopped on the Sarrarocco Archipelago. Her home. The place discovered by her ancestors and turned into a brilliant and thriving civilization.

“For years I thought I was just going to live a life as pointless and meaningless as my predecessors. Child of Ponyseidon… I was so happy when I heard you had come here. It was a sign. Now I can finally do something with my life,” Coral Sea closed her eyes and pressed her head against the map.

A magical glow came from deep within it…

After a long ride through the Archipelago, on multiple different Manta Ferries, the group had finally made it all the way back to Blue Coral Island. They got off at the beach with Gilbert and Breakwater still carrying the heavy chest and the important map safely tucked under one of Rainbow Dash’s wings. They didn’t plan on staying here for long, probably just one more night before going back to their ship and sailing away. That was why now they were walking back on the path to the Saffron Inn.

On that path, surrounded by trees, Rainbow Dash took a few looks around to make sure no one else was around before turning to the others.

“Okay, I’ve been holding it in until we got back here, but I don’t trust that mare. Not one bit,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

Daylight Gleam grimaced slightly. “I don’t either to be honest. Anyone that would spy on and deceive us like that just can’t be trusted completely—or at all.”

“I think she cares about the Order at least. I mean, I know I’m not the best judge of ponies but I think she’s well-meaning...” Gilbert shrugged. “And remember what she said? Even if she did have an ulterior motive what would she even be able to do about it? If the Necklace is at the Lost Isle of the Lizard People then by the look of it it’s completely on the other side of the Grand Ocean. Unless she had her warriors follow us or something there’s no way she could—what? Steal it from us? What would even be the point?”

“I mean, yeah, you’ve got a point too, Gilbert,” Daylight sighed. “I just don’t want us caught off guard.”

“I’d like to believe in her. But I just don’t. It’s my gut feeling,” Rainbow Dash said.

Breakwater also had to admit to a certain displeasure when it came to the High Priestess. The Order wasn’t as simple as he thought. There was a hidden side to it, maybe not exactly a bad side, but a darker one. It was also really, really, weird to think that he had literally danced with the High Priestess herself. That was surreal. He shook his head and looked over at Senax. “What do you think, Senax?”

Senax though didn’t respond, her eyes were looking down on the ground while a depressed aura hung over her head.

“Yo, Senax!” Rainbow whistled.

That startled the merpony enough to look up and she saw the others looking back at her expectantly. “S-Sorry… I was just thinking. I just… did Ponyseidon really enslave the ponies of the ocean? My people always thought he was a benevolent leader, we never had a reason to think otherwise… what if… what if he was evil?”

Daylight and Gilbert shared a brief sad look before the unicorn stepped forward and put her hooves on Senax’s shoulders. “Senax. None of us can even begin to speak on that. We just don’t know, but what we do know is that you—and the other merponies still in East Glade—are all good ponies. You don’t need to dwell on what happened in the past. What you’re doing, what you want, isn’t wrong. Regardless of what Ponyseidon might have done, all you want is to go home.”

“I...” Senax sniffled as tears started to build at her eyes before she rubbed them away and nodded a few times. “Thank you, Daylight.”

“Nothing to get all depressed about,” Rainbow said and patted her on the back. “If we really gotta face something in the future, well, let’s leave it for the future. For now we’re all still on an awesome adventure to help out our friend.”

“Let’s get back to the Inn so we can just relax and get some dinner,” Breakwater said to her.

“Alright, t-that sounds good,” Senax agreed.

“And we’re off! I’d love to try that restaurant that’s right there in the Inn...” Gilbert said and swiftly started walking back down the road.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “A breath of positivity...”

The group made their way back to the Saffron Inn with a more positive atmosphere around them. Though there was a lot hanging over their heads, they were going to take things as easily as Rainbow Dash did. In the end they were all still together and you couldn’t change what happened in the past anyways. Well, not in a good way according to Twilight at least. Now with the stuff that needed to be said already said, they could relax for the rest of the day and then get themselves a good night of sleep. Since they were looking at a few days of travel back to Malkonrik the comfortable beds in the suite of the Saffron Inn were even more inviting right now.

As was its restaurant. And thanks to the treasure chest gifted to them they had even less worries about money now. The amount of coins in there was more than they could ever spend out on the Grand Ocean. It made them curious about how rich the High Priestess and Order in general was. Did she have a massive amount of currency for every Kingdom and major island out there?

Rainbow Dash didn’t care, neither did Breakwater really. He just saw it as a great boon to get top of the line supplies once they returned to Malkonrik. They’d probably stay at Ballast’s for a day max and then set off again for the Lost Isle. While Rainbow doubted they needed to hurry to beat anyone else there, all of them were going to be super eager to go after turning up with nothing in so many other places.

This wasn’t just some baseless rumor or a story about random treasure. The Sarraroccons and the High Priestess really knew where they had to go next.

Rainbow Dash was excited.

A meal at the restaurant.

A night in the Saffron Inn’s best room and best beds.

A farewell to the friendly mare who was always there at the desk.

A walk back through Blue Coral Island.

A stop at the dock and the sea cave where the Heart of Azure was moored.

And that was it. Their time at Blue Coral Island was about to be over. Their time at the entire Sarrarocco Archipelago was about to end. It had been an interesting experience, but they had to get back on track. The good food, good accommodations, and friendly ponies would be missed, but Rainbow Dash and Daylight especially weren’t going to miss all the spying and secrecy that had gone on.

“Oof,” Gilbert huffed as he lugged the heavy chest of coins into Breakwater’s cabin. “I’ll say, that’s quite heavy.”

“At least we know it isn’t counterfeit,” Breakwater said as he helped the griffon slide it against the wall.

“Not going to have to move it again either,” Daylight said.

“All the leftovers can be your retirement fund too,” Rainbow grinned at the captain.

“I’m not that much older than you...” Breakwater frowned.

“Seriously? You’re closer to like twice my age than not.”

Senax meanwhile returned the bundled up Horn of Listening to its usual place in its own chest. Now all their valuables were safe and secure. Aside from their newly acquired magical map, which Daylight Gleam was once again holding and looking at. Her own horn was lit up with its powder blue glow as she analyzed the parchment and tried to figure out anything she could about it.

“There something weird about the map?” Rainbow Dash asked her.

Daylight raised an eyebrow in response. “No more than any enchanted map.”

“Right. Stupid question.”

“I can’t really figure out how it works but I’m not really an expert when it comes to magic,” Daylight said and folded the map up.

“We’re in for a long trip to the Lost Island by the look of it though,” Senax said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “No big deal, getting back to Malkonrik is almost half the journey, right?”

“A little less,” Daylight said.

“Still not a big deal. I think we’re all used to traveling for a long time on the ocean by now,” Rainbow said.

“True enough,” Breakwater said. “And speaking of that, we might as well pull up the anchor and get out of here. I think we’ve been here long enough.”

Rainbow Dash flexed her wings and grinned. “You know what the first thing I’m going to do the moment we get away from Blue Coral Island is?”

“Sleep?” Gilbert sarcastically suggested.

“Pff—no. I’m going for a long, fast, awesome, flight. I’m going to blow away any clouds up there, you guys won’t even be able to see me. My wings really, really, need that after all the time stuck on the ground. Or on those ferries. Seriously. Like, I still got a ton of exercise and stuff anyways but nothing even compares to getting to fly through the sky. I’m going to be up there for hours,” Rainbow Dash looked up, imagining the blue sky, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

The next few minutes were spent going over everything on the ship to make sure nothing was missing or out of order, checking for any damages, checking the sail, and then once that was all done they finally pulled up the anchor. Thanks to the natural currents of the sea cave, as soon as the anchor was up and they were untied, the ship started drifting its way out on its own. Breakwater stood at the helm for the moment and safely brought his beloved ship out into open water once more.

Outside it was still bright and early. Warm and happy, the ponies at the dock from the port authority even waved goodbye as the Heart of Azure began to leave Blue Coral Island. Despite some… misgivings about the truth of the port authority, Rainbow Dash and the others decided to smile and wave back too.

They were still in the waters of the Sarrarocco Archipelago for now though so Rainbow was going to wait for a bit until she shot up into the sky. Once they passed those outlying rocks she’d take to the air without a second thought. And after flying out on her own for a while she could come back and challenge Gilbert to a race, or go cloud-busting, or scout far ahead on their way back to Malkonrik, or anything that took her using her wings. As long as she was flying with the wind in her mane she’d take it. Everyone else onboard looked happy to be out here again too, even Senax after she had dealt with her feelings and worries yesterday.

Coral Sea might have been right that this was just a new beginning, not an ending. There was a long way to go.

But at least they had a real direction now. Rainbow Dash always knew that something like that, that kind of certainty, helped when it came to being on an adventure. A real, solid, lead and a mystical lost island that perhaps no one else had been to in ages. Yeah, that was something that kept them in good spirits and strengthened their will to get this done.

“Thinking about something, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash blinked and turned her head towards Senax, the merpony standing right beside her. “Oh. Not really. Just… excited I guess.”

“Me too,” Senax said and looked far ahead at the ocean and the horizon beyond. “You know I think you were right about, well, everything here. Relaxing at first, and not trusting the High Priestess. But… but even though I’m not going to let it get to me, if what she said about Ponyseidon is true I want to get along with her. I want to fix things. The Trident isn’t something I care about but maybe we can use it to make things better for everyone here on the Grand Ocean. Or if not, then make sure it can never be used to harm anyone again.”

“It’s one of your people’s ancient treasures…” Rainbow started.

“Yes. Yes. But I’d rather see it destroyed than used for anything bad,” Senax sighed. “Like how… like how Ponyseidon must have used it.”

“We’ll figure it all out. Don’t forget, I’m here to help. And I never let my friends down,” Rainbow grinned and threw a leg over her shoulders.

Senax smiled. “I know. Thank you. It’s just that I really want to believe in her too.”

“Then believe in her. I won’t complain. Be as optimistic as you want, Senax. You deserve to be,” Rainbow said.

“Hmm, I suppose that at least makes it easier to stay in a good mood.”

“Sure does.”

In less than an hour the Heart of Azure had left the waters of the Sarrarocco Archipelago behind entirely. With a single loud hoot, Rainbow Dash rocketed up into the sky.

The Engineer's Current Project

Rainbow Dash hung high in the sky, hundreds and hundreds of feet above the ocean. For the past couple of days she had almost been perpetually flying and only came back to the Heart of Azure for a quick bite to eat. She hadn’t even been sleeping in the crow’s nest, instead making a bed of clouds. It just felt so dang good to work her wings again.

When she looked down, the Heart of Azure was just a speck on a massive expanse of blue. But even the blue of the Grand Ocean was tiny compared to the blue of the sky. Her domain. It didn’t matter if she was traveling over the ocean, or a desert, or a forest, or over snowy mountains, the sky would always be her place to be.

“Nothing beats this, I can’t believe I went over two weeks without flying at all,” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she zoomed about.

She was higher than any seagulls or other birds dared to fly, above most clouds for that matter. It really was a joy and experience unlike any other. She was already promising to herself to never go so long without flying again. It wouldn’t be that much longer at this point before they returned to Malkonrik and she wanted to spend most of it in the air. How many times had she raced Gilbert already? And how many more times had he refused to race her again? How many times had she gone scouting far, far ahead of the ship because she couldn’t stand the slower pace it went?

It’s like all patience whatsoever had left her. While she had been able to manage her feelings and the explosive energy inside her well enough on the Grand Ocean, after being bottled up for so long it had all exploded out. She couldn’t stand the thought of just lying in that crow’s nest right now. Or even doing something like swimming with Senax or playing cards. The stoicism of the warriors at Black Sand Island had slipped off her like water off a duck’s back. Rainbow Dash was back to being Rainbow Dash—even if that meant shooting all around the ocean like a mad mare. There was just nothing to hold her back right now from going at her own pace, something she was used to doing for pretty much the entire rest of her journey. Eventually she’d have to slow down and just get back to the Heart of Azure. She knew that. It’s not like she could do anything else without them, even if she got to Malkonrik first she’d just end up waiting around.

So for now she kept flying through the sky and doing a bunch of loops and corkscrews high up in the air just to amuse herself. In maybe an hour or two she’d return to the Heart of Azure for lunch and then she could swiftly shoot off again.

“Maybe...” Rainbow Dash thought. “Maybe I can actually go ahead to Ballast’s though anyways? Maybe get all the errands and stuff done so the ship doesn’t need to be docked for half as long when we get back? That’d super cut down on our dead time! I’ll run that by Breakwater later!”

With those plans in mind, Rainbow Dash figured she had had enough of flying this high up in the sky and decided to go lower. But also still going far ahead east at the same time to make the Heart of Azure disappear completely behind her. It would still be some time before she flew back to say hi and tell Breakwater what she wanted to do. She’d waste a little time now peering down into the waters of the ocean, seeing if she saw any fish, maybe flying alongside some seagulls, perhaps join in on any dolphins that were jumping around. There was still so much that she could do while flying around.

Rainbow Dash smiled to herself. “Nothing beats it...”

Of course though it turned out that there wasn’t much for her to see when she actually got close down to the ocean’s surface. Just some birds. And she saw those everywhere. She kept her eyes peeled for other ships but hadn’t seen any of those so far either, which could be either a blessing or a curse. Rainbow wanted to keep optimistic about stuff like that but she knew they had come across more enemies out on the wide ocean than friends. Ones they had randomly run into at least.

She looked ahead to see what the weather would be like and was happy to see that things appeared good for a long while. Nothing bad was going to show up today. The waves weren’t even choppy, probably would be clear sailing all the way back to Malkonrik.

However that did not help her impatience one bit. Not one bit at all.

The Heart of Azure would just be sailing ever slightly too slowly for her tastes right now when she had boundless energy she needed to do something with.

After a few more minutes of flying above the ocean like this, Rainbow Dash nodded to herself and made a tight hook around. Despite it not even being visible from here, it would still only take her a second to get back to the ship. She was Rainbow Dash after all.

“Oh, well sorry that the Heart can’t go any faster,” Breakwater rolled his eyes as he listened to Rainbow Dash.

“Come on, dude, you know I’m not knocking your ship or anything,” Rainbow frowned.

“I know, just messing with you,” Breakwater grinned. “When were you going to leave, now?”

“Pretty much. Might as well get to Malkonrik and get as big a headstart as I can,” Rainbow Dash nodded. Right now she was floating over the helm, still not setting down on her hooves. The others were gathered there as well to listen to what her future plans were.

“You really can’t sit still that badly?” Daylight asked.

“Nope,” Rainbow shook her head.

“It’s not like you’re going to be able to do that much in Malkonrik. You’re still going to end up waiting there for us,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah I know, but still. I really just need to move fast right now, it’s seriously driving me crazy.”

“Alright, suit yourself,” Daylight shrugged with her. “With us so close to the coast I don’t think we’re in danger so I doubt we’ll need you.”

“Surely it’s nice to have Rainbow Dash around anyways? We don’t just need her for the occasional fight...” Senax said.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Daylight sighed. “Of course Rainbow Dash is always a joy to have around. Obviously though she’d rather be flying out on her own right now if she isn’t really needed here.”

“A joy, huh?” Rainbow grinned at the unicorn.

“Oh shut up, just get out of here already,” Daylight shook her head and walked off, walking down from the helm to the main deck.

“I’ll miss you!” Rainbow mockingly called out to her.

“Well we might get a little bored without you around now,” Gilbert said.

“A little? It’s going to be so quiet compared to normal,” Senax said.

“Just say hi to Ballast and tell him what’s going on when you get there. He’ll probably have a few things for you to do to keep you busy until we get there. Then it’s right off to the Lost Isle of the Lizard People,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow nodded. “Yep, that’s what I figured.” She shot up above the mast and waved to them as she went. “I’ll see you guys as soon as you get in to Malkonrik! This time things are gonna go great! Bye Breakwater, bye Senax, bye Gilbert, bye mom!”

The rude gesture she got from Daylight just made her laugh.

Rainbow Dash no longer flew far out at sea while on her trip back to Malkonrik, instead she was doing something a little different and flying over the coast. Right now she was right above Winderbadon and would already be back to Malkonrik and Ballast’s shop soon. She was still flying high, getting a good view of the land and all the ships arriving at port below, occasionally going down to get a closer look at things or wave to some lucky ponies. All in all it was a nice way to travel, more stuff to look at too. Her wings hadn’t rested once since leaving the Heart of Azure. They didn’t need to either.

It almost felt like her wings had infinite energy. They simply weren’t getting tired. Since she was normally such an airborne pony, such an accomplished speed flier and long-distance flier, maybe all that time spent grounded had given her an extra boost.

Winderbadon though was really similar looking to Malkonrik anyways, so there really wasn’t much of anything new to look at. It let her mostly focus on her flying and her thoughts of what she was going to do when she got to Ballast’s. Actually, despite her forward-thinking she figured she might as well get a bite to eat first. She had the time after all.

“Check in with Ballast and then chow down. Sounds good,” Rainbow nodded.

An added bonus to hugging the coast while flying like this was that she didn’t have to deal with any over-zealous soldiers giving her trouble. If Malkonrik and Winderbadon were more similar in just appearances then she had to assume that going any further north into it would cause problems. That said, she had no intention nor any reason to fly further north. If anything, she would go back south out along the same route the Heart of Azure would be going so she could check on any potential pirates they might run into. Not that any of them thought that was actually going to happen.

But considering Daylight and the others’ absolutely horrible luck... Rainbow was thinking that maybe she should’ve really just scouted ahead.

“Nah, no way, no way could things turn out that bad. That’s just silly. I’m staying positive. It’s only optimistic thoughts right here,” Rainbow said as she kept flying.

With Godfrey being gone for a while, and knowing that most the rest of the pirates of the ocean were also indisposed, Rainbow doubted there was actually that much danger out on the seas right now. Bosche was pathetic enough to not even count in her view.

In yet only another hour Rainbow Dash was crossing the border from Winderbadon into the dense, continuous, port of Malkonrik. Now she saw the very familiar sight of an unceasing row of buildings and docks with ships of all sizes coming in. Fully recovered from the momentary downtime brought about by those idiots in Ullsorth. It was actually nice how lively and jovial a place like this was, while Malkonrik wasn’t perfect (especially further north) it reminded her of some of the cities and bigger towns in Equestria down here. With just a little bit more of a cavalier and swashbuckling attitude to it.

With all the crud they had been trough too it was always kind of nice coming back here. It was almost like coming home from a long trip.

Before long her familiarity grew and grew until she saw the great lighthouse she had first flown to when she arrived at the port and the Grand Ocean. A smile lit up her face as Rainbow Dash put an extra burst of power into her wings—deciding to finish up the last leg of the trip even faster. The docks zoomed by and the two similar warehouses, one belonging to Ballast and the other belonging to his former protege, came into view. Since Ballast didn’t know when they were coming back the large backdoors of the shop were closed so she couldn’t just fly right in. She’d have to drop down on the pier and use the front door.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Whatever. Still doesn’t mean I have to walk.”

She dove down past a group of tourists walking down the pier and came to a stop, hovering slightly above the wooden ground. Generally this was how she usually got around when she had to keep pace with her friends back home anyways.

“Probably locked...” Rainbow said as she floated up to the door and gave it a few heavy knocks. “Yo, Ballast! It’s Rainbow Dash! Open on up!”

She (not so patiently) waited a few seconds until she heard a pony actually moving about behind the door. Once the shipwright slid the lock to the side he opened it up and stared out at the unexpected guest with a surprised look on his face.

“Rainbow Dash? Where’s everyone else—is something wrong?” He asked.

“No, no, no,” she grinned and shook her head. “I just came back quicker because, well, because I could. Figured I could get a head start on things and speed things up so we can leave faster. The Heart of Azure is on its way here but we’re going to be leaving real, real quick again. Just saying.”

“Oh,” Ballast scratched his head. “Well that’s not really a surprise, here, come on in. I’m just about finished up on working on something else so this’ll be perfect timing.”

“Cool,” Rainbow floated on right past him and Ballast closed the door. “What were you working on cause—oh.”

Her words completely died in her throat. Something in Ballast’s workshop had changed considerably since the last time she was here.

The shipwright walked up beside her with a proud smile on his face. “Well? What do you think?”

“I... what is it? Is it done? It was just like, a frame the last time,” Rainbow Dash said, blinking.

“My life’s work. And I wasn’t lying when I said this would revolutionize ocean travel,” Ballast said as his chest puffed out with even more pride. “Rainbow Dash, what you’re looking at right now is the first ever submersible. A vessel capable of traveling underwater, to the darkest depths of the ocean, all under its own power without any trouble at all.”

It was an impressively sturdy looking metal tube, the top half painted red and the bottom half left a shiny stainless steel, a propeller came out the back while a large viewport sat at the front and a small tower came out the middle of the top. Not as long as even the Heart of Azure, but there was a bulkiness to it that let Rainbow Dash think there was a lot going on inside the thing. It was totally unlike any other ship she had seen before, and she almost couldn’t believe what Ballast said it could do. If it could though it meant he really wasn’t boasting, this thing looked tough, it could ignore currents and go under waves, and didn’t have to rely on the wind. Despite not being the most passionate pony when it came to these things, she still found herself gawking respectfully at it.

“Dude, nice work.”

We'll Get Back to This Later

“I’m going to name it: The Breakwater,” Ballast said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “You know he’s going to hate that, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Ballast nodded. “But that’s not important, what’s important is my appreciation.”

“Hmm...” Rainbow said as she flew up and inspected the submersible. She flew around and over its entire body, looking at every screw, every piece of metal, the viewport, the propeller, it was now all suspended by more sturdy looking girders and winches than just chains. “Cool thing you got here dude. So this is what those plans we got back were for?”

“That’s right, gotta thank you for that again,” Ballast said.

Rainbow Dash tapped against the glass of the viewport and was rewarded with a pleasant thunk-thunk-thunk. “Huh.”

“Er, could you not do stuff like that though?”

“Right, sorry,” Rainbow apologized and flew back down to the ground floor. “Anyways—we’ve got other stuff to do right now.”

“Yeah, you said you were going to be leaving soon again. When’s the Heart of Azure going to arrive?” Ballast asked.

“Sometime tomorrow probably,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Lot of time to prepare for their arrival then… that’s good,” Ballast nodded and then shot an inquisitive look to Rainbow Dash. “Where are you going this time anyways?”

“Well, I don’t know how big of a deal it is but I figure someone who lives in the Hundred Kingdoms might. We’re heading to some place called “The Lost Isle of the Lizard People” or whatever.”

Ballast’s eyebrows both shot up. “Seriously? That place is a legend just like Merlantis, didn’t even know it was real. You all know how to get there?”

“Got a magical map and everything,” Rainbow nodded.

“Huh, go figure. Guess I really shouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore after helping all of you out.”

“True.”

“Well um, do you know how long the trip is going to be? Are there any repairs I need to do on the ship when it gets back?” Ballast asked.

“Nope—no repairs or anything like that this time. And… I dunno, the island looked farther away than any other island we’ve been to from here. Figured I would just help you get your usual stuff or do whatever you needed me to do,” Rainbow said.

“Honestly then there’s not really much for you to do at all. Or for me to do if the ship’s in just as good condition as when it left last time,” Ballast shrugged. “We’ll just have some boring errands to run and plenty of food to get for the trip by the sound of it. Long-lasting food, preserved stuff that doesn’t take up much space would probably be for the best now.”

“We also got a huge treasure chest full of Malkonrik coins from the Sarraroccon Order to help with our expenses.”

Ballast blinked.

A quick inhale. “Okay, that’s certainly good to know. But we should still probably just go for the cheap and healthy food that lasts a while and doesn’t take up much space. You’ve been on the Heart of Azure for a while now, you know there isn’t much storage room.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Rainbow nodded.

He tapped his hoof a couple of times, furrowing his brow and thinking a bit. “Still plenty of time left in the day, I bet we can get to every shop we need to before places start to close up. Especially if we’re both doing it.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and gave him a silly salute. “Just tell me where I need to go, boss.”

This time he raised an eyebrow at her. “How many times have you gotten on Breakwater’s nerves out there by now?”

“Uhh… definitely not as many times as Gilbert at least.”

“Well, that’s certainly fair.”

“What the—does this thing actually work?” Daylight Gleam asked as she stared up at the submersible.

“Sure does,” Ballast said. “Er… well… it’s not like I’ve done a test run to prove that it works, but all my math checks out. So it should work perfectly well no matter how deep you go.”

The Heart of Azure and its crew had arrived early the following morning. When they had docked at Ballast’s they were pleasantly greeted by a smiling Rainbow Dash surrounded by crates and barrels of food and supplies while Ballast held a clipboard as he got ready to give a quick inspection of the ship. The moment they were safely secured, they finally noticed the huge—finished—submersible, hanging there above the water with them. When the four others had gotten out onto the metal deck they ended up gawking at it much the same way as Rainbow Dash until Ballast filled them in on just what they were looking at.

“Tell them what you’re naming it,” Rainbow Dash grinned as she playfully elbowed Ballast in the side.

Ballast coughed and shyly looked away. “It’s um… it’s called The Breakwater.”

“Oh no. I didn’t just hear that. Please tell me that’s not what’s really happening,” Breakwater shook his head, staring at Ballast.

“It’s meant to show my respect and gratitude. It’s happening,” Ballast resolutely stated.

“Ohhhh...” Breakwater dragged a hoof down his face.

“I think that’s wonderful!” Gilbert smiled. “You have an amazing new vessel named after you, Captain! Your name will go down in history now.”

“I don’t want it to go down in history,” Breakwater growled at him.

Senax giggled and took another look at the submersible. “Well, I think it’s a nice thing to do too. You should be happy.”

“Actually I think I’m going to just channel Rainbow Dash and wish I had something to drink right now instead,” Breakwater sighed. “Anyways, did you already get everything we’ll need to make the trip to the Lost Isle?” He asked the two of them.

Rainbow grinned. “Oh yeah, I had a whole day to get ready, course’ it’s already done. You guys didn’t have any trouble on the way over here after I left you by the way, did you?”

“No pirates if that’s what you’re asking,” Gilbert said.

“In fact we didn’t see a single other ship until we got back to Malkonrik’s port,” Daylight added.

“Good, well then I guess we’ll be able to get back out there real quickly,” Rainbow shrugged.

“What kind of food did you get for the trip?” Breakwater asked her.

“Unfortunately we got a lot of hardtack, dried fruits, cans, bread, and dried meat for Gilbert. That kind of stuff. Nothing fun or really tasty since it’s going to be a long trip.”

Breakwater nodded. “Well that’s good, even if you don’t like it. However though I was thinking we’d probably stop at another island along the way to restock and maybe get some luxury items. It’s going to be a long trip and we have plenty of money now, once we’ve cleared out some room in storage maybe we can put some nice cheese and fruit down there when we’re only a day or two away from the Lost Isle.”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in joy.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Daylight said to her.

“Maybe if you’re someone who gets no joy out of life,” Rainbow snorted.

Daylight’s eye twitched. “I’ll have you know that back at the Archipelago I-”

“By the way-” Breakwater put a hoof on Daylight’s back to calm her down. “We noticed something about the map Coral Sea gave us after you left.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”

“Gilbert saw it first,” Senax said as she and Gilbert walked up to her, the griffon pulling the map out from under his wing.

“Look at it, do you notice anything different?” Gilbert asked her.

Rainbow Dash took it from his talon and held it in front of her face, narrowing her eyes and roaming all over the map’s surface. To her confusion though she couldn’t really notice anything different about it. Sure, she had barely looked at it before, but there wasn’t really anything jumping out at her. And she had a great memory for stuff like this.

“Uhhh… I’m not seeing it,” Rainbow said as she lowered the map and looked at them.

“It’s smaller,” Gilbert grinned. “Look, the western edge of the map has closed in, it’s not showing the entire ocean anymore.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and took another look. He was right, the former border of the map that showed off the farthest reaches of the Grand Ocean had closed in slightly and was now parallel with the western-most Kingdom.

“I noticed it for the first time when we were getting closer to Malkonrik. The physical size of the map hasn’t changed, but what’s drawn on it has shrunk down,” Gilbert said.

“We think it’s happening as we get closer to the Lost Isle,” Senax said. “I bet the closer we get, the more detailed the map will become as well.”

“Coral Sea did say it would help us get through the fog and currents around the island...” Rainbow said.

“Guess that’s what makes it magical besides just showing where this fabled lost island is,” Daylight said as she squeezed in and looked down at the map too. “If we’re right and eventually the map just shows the island and the waters directly around it it’ll be a huge help. Especially since we have no idea what the shape of the island is, or if there will be a safe spot to dock at. For all we know at this point the island’s coast could entirely be made up of high cliffs.”

“Unless the island itself is completely magical I doubt it’ll be like that,” Breakwater said. “But… who knows really? There’s definitely some kind of magic at work to have kept the place safely hidden all these years, maybe it’s even altered the terrain of the island itself.”

“If the island had something like a tall mountain on it though it probably would’ve been discovered already. Something easy to see from far away would make hiding difficult,” Gilbert scratched his beak.

“I don’t think we can make any assumptions about it right now,” Senax said. “Not until we get there.”

“And speaking of that—when are we leaving?” Daylight asked, raising an eyebrow at Breakwater and Ballast in particular.

Breakwater glanced at his ship and all the new supplies Rainbow and Ballast had already gathered. “I dunno—an hour? If we really want to get a move on and get to that island as fast as possible. Nobody wants to rest here for another day or anything?”

“No,” Rainbow Dash immediately said. She then winced and sheepishly looked over at the others. “I mean, not me at least...”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Well not me either, I’m fine with leaving as soon as possible. I’m assuming you are too, Senax?”

“Yes,” the merpony nodded. “I’d like us to get going immediately.”

“And we don’t really need to listen to Gilbert’s opinion,” Daylight finished.

“Well while I agree with you on that I would still like to say that I’m fine with leaving immediately as well,” Gilbert said.

“Sweet, so let’s finish this all up as fast as we can and get out of here! On to the Lost Isle!” Rainbow shouted and flew up above them. A wide grin spread on her face as she looked down at them all. “I can’t possibly be the only one this excited, right? Senax, you’ve gotta have your blood pumping too right now don’t you? This is a real adventure coming up! You can feel it! We’re getting that Necklace and nothing’s going to get in our way!”

“Let’s hope that doesn’t count as tempting fate,” Daylight said, though there was amusement in her eyes and a smile threatening to tug up her lips.

“I am just as excited as you, Rainbow Dash,” Senax said. “Probably even more so, honestly, even if I don’t show it on the outside. I almost can’t stop my heart from beating out of my chest. This is… ever since we first went to the Archipelago I’ve had a feeling. A different feeling from ever before while searching for the Necklace here.”

Rainbow Dash nodded flying down to eye-level with her and smiling. “Yeah, I know that feeling. It’s the same kind of thing I’ve felt a lot on my journey.”

“You know if you all do want to get out of here quickly we’ve still got work to do, right? So why don’t you start lugging up those barrels and boxes onto the ship,” Breakwater said.

“Right! Let’s do this,” Rainbow punched her hooves together and moved to start carrying things.

“I’ll help,” Gilbert said and flew up to join her.

In the end it didn’t even take an hour before they were ready to leave. Ballast’s inspection of the Heart of Azure was over quickly, and nothing really needed to be done with it. With everyone eager to get to the Lost Isle, the excitement in the air was palpable and pretty much just as quickly as they said hello they were waving goodbye to Ballast and his submersible. With a new feeling of hope, they sailed out into the Malkonrik harbor before it was even noon.

Navigating to the Unfindable

“So how do you feel about having a ship named after you?”

“You know how I feel.”

“I dunno, think you’re kind of lying to your heart.”

“No, I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s happening at all.”

“Suuurrre. You’re totally not crying on the inside to have such a good friend who cares about you so much that he’d name his life’s work after you.”

“I will punch you.”

“Bwahahahaha!” Rainbow Dash laughed uproariously at how annoyed Breakwater had gotten from her teasing. “Lighten up, dude!”

“Unlike you I’m not the type of pony with such a huge ego that I want something that important named after me. I wish he could’ve come up with something more simple, or fitting,” Breakwater sighed.

“The Explorer, The Vagabond, Trench-Diver, Pony Leviathan, The Depth Breaker...” Gilbert started prattling off random ideas.

“The Ponyseidon,” Senax added and then huffed a breath of quiet discomfort.

“Who cares what it’s called? The important thing for a vessel like that is if it actually works and can be mass-produced. Can you imagine all the places it could get to? All the spots, the trenches, and the caves on the ocean floor it could discover and explore?” Daylight Gleam said, an oddly interested twinkle in her eyes. “Just thinking about it is actually bringing the old treasure-hunter me back to the surface...”

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at her. “Was that a pun?”

Daylight blushed. “Absolutely not.”

All of them were at the helm of the Heart of Azure, less than a full day into their trip to the Lost Isle. Rainbow Dash’s teasing had been relentless, as expected. It was just her way of passing the time right now since she didn’t want to stray too far from the ship now that they were going somewhere new. The good news was that so far it was looking like the weather would be on their side for at least the first leg of their journey. Clear skies and calm waters were all any of them could see as they sailed southeast across the Grand Ocean.

They were pretty happy about that, but Rainbow Dash was still alert to the possibility of other problems. She didn’t trust that High Priestess and wouldn’t be surprised if she was somehow spying on them even now. She also didn’t like the fact that they hadn’t seen Godfrey in a while and knew it was only a matter of time before he showed up again. She knew they were getting closer to Bosche’s homeland than ever before with where they were going and was concerned that meant there might be more Boschese Junks around that they could run into. This trip wasn’t a vacation—as happy and positive as they all were to be making it.

But “alert” didn’t mean sitting in the crow’s nest with a frown on her face as she spent the whole time staring out at the ocean for any signs of trouble. Rainbow was still enjoying her time with her friends. She knew Senax and everyone could use that. Maybe she could still race Gilbert in the sky, or Senax in the ocean, or play some games with all of them too.

If everything went well it would still be a while before they arrived at the Lost Isle after all.

Rainbow Dash grinned at Daylight Gleam as she finished thinking. “Well anyways, has that map gotten any smaller? We’re sure that’s how it works?”

Daylight levitated it up with her magic and stared at it intently. “It hasn’t changed much since we checked at Ballast’s but it has changed.”

“Crazy,” Breakwater shook his head. “Never heard of an enchanted map like that.”

“The High Priestess did seem to be well-versed in magic, it does make me wonder what her full capabilities are...” Gilbert murmured.

“Her magic was mostly illusions and tricks to me,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

Daylight shrugged and folded up the map. “Doesn’t really matter what else she might do. The map works and it’s taking us right where we need to go.”

“I sure hope so,” Senax quietly said.

“Well, you know I don’t trust half of what that mare said but I don’t think she was lying when it comes to the Necklace really being there. She’s just got her own reasons for sending us to it,” Rainbow said.

Senax frowned. “I really still want to be optimistic about her and her intentions...”

Rainbow winced. “Yeah, I know, and I’m usually the one saying to keep optimistic out here. It’s just… a feeling. My gut’s pretty trustworthy after all the places I’ve been to and the ponies and other creatures I’ve met.”

“It’s my fault in the first place for being the one who wants to trust her and what she’s done for us the most but… I can’t stop worrying either. I believe in her. I’m telling myself that, but I also can’t stop thinking about the anger I know is inside her. The anger directed towards Ponyseidon… and maybe his descendants,” Senax said.

“If anyone hates you and your tribe just for being his descendants they’re wrong,” Daylight said. “I met your tribe, you’re all good ponies. It’s silly to hold onto hate like that.”

“I would add that if they hate you for any reason they’re wrong,” Gilbert smiled.

A grin tugged up Senax’s lips and she rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”

Rainbow Dash actually had an introspective look on her face, her mind going back to her time in the True North. Blizzard, Karkona, their followers. She breathed deeply and smiled. “I know how powerful anger can be, how long someone can hold onto it and pass hate down from generation to generation. But I know it can be broken too. If we need to, we’ll get through to Coral Sea and the Sarraroccon Order too.” She patted Senax on the back. “And yep, no one could hate you after getting to know you.”

“Thank you too, Rainbow Dash. Knowing what you’ve accomplished… it really does fill me with the belief that we can do anything out here,” Senax reached up and briefly squeezed Rainbow’s hoof.

“You’ve all just gotta be ponies—and griffons—brimming with confidence,” Rainbow nodded a few times. “And if we work together as friends then we really can do anything!”

A groan came from her stomach right after she finished her proud declaration.

Breakwater scoffed and grinned up at her. “I think that means it’s time to eat first.”

Rainbow Dash coughed and lowered herself to the deck with the others, one of the few times recently she stopped using her wings. “Yeah that doesn’t sound too bad right now.”

“Aside from the fact the food isn’t good,” Daylight said before glaring over at Gilbert. “Besides yours. Which the rest of us don’t eat.”

“It’s not my fault that dried meat can taste very good while being very practical to take on a long trip,” Gilbert shrugged.

“Look, in a few days we’re going to stop at another island just like I said and get some better food. For now just grit your teeth and eat your hardtack already,” Breakwater said. “I’ve eaten more of this stuff than any of you and most of the time I was eating stuff even worse back when I was younger. If you can eat what we’ve got now without any complaints I’ll even let you buy a big cake when we dock.”

“Works for me!” Rainbow said and immediately zipped down to head inside the cabin for food.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Let’s go eat...”

Water Forest was an island slightly southeast of The Smoking Island that they had all been to earlier. Not as far east as East Light or as far south as where the Lost Isle should be, but definitely getting closer to that quadrant of the ocean. The reason Water Forest was named as such is because hundreds of years ago, seismic activity caused the middle of the island to partially collapse and turn into a large lagoon. The forest that used to grow there became buried by the ocean’s waters and was now a decently popular tourist attraction. That also caused a fair amount of ships to also be traveling in and out, so the island worked well as a trading hub too.

The island was now mostly one big ring with canals leading into the middle lagoon and a bigger landmass on the far eastern side that was covered in larger mountains and rock formations. The western side still had plenty of flat land for ponies to build and farm on, and that’s where most everyone docked. That’s where the Heart of Azure was now, floating alongside one of the docks, safely tied up while her crew stumbled around the port town of Water Forest looking for food.

“Can we actually find cake here?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked around the busy bazaar they were in. Unlike Malkonrik and other places that had more permanent buildings, this place was mostly filled with tents and small wooden shops. “I’m sure they have their own bakeries and stuff, but just saying...”

“I think we can… last time I was here I’m pretty sure I remember seeing stuff like that,” Breakwater said as he pushed through the crowd with the others. Only Rainbow Dash was flying out of the traffic right now, the narrow streets, just dirt, were densely crowded with all sorts of ponies.

There were multiple areas of the bazaar instead of just one big main street but it just made everything more confusing to them as each and every shop was completely different from what was next to it. And they didn’t really plan to stop here for long or anything, they wanted some good food and to get right back out. While it may have been a fun place to visit on a normal occasion they were all far too enamored with getting to the Lost Isle as quickly as possible.

“Even if we can’t find cake there’s definitely going to be plenty of fresh fruit,” Daylight said as she looked around. “I’ve already seen watermelons, cantaloupe, grapes, and pineapples.”

“And our Malkonrik coin is good here?” Senax asked.

Breakwater nodded. “Oh yeah, with all the traders that come through here, any money from the Hundred Kingdoms is good.”

“Then that was a truly useful gift from the High Priestess,” Gilbert nodded.

“I still just wish it wasn’t so crowded here right now,” Daylight grumbled as she was jostled by a few other ponies walking the opposite direction.

“There’s not a lot of space here so the whole town gets squeezed into this one area, and the bazaar is the busiest place in it,” Breakwater said. There really wasn’t any open space at all to maneuver around in. “Just keep your eyes peeled for cake shops… or cake tents.”

“Do we want to get cake from a tent?” Rainbow asked.

“Do you want to have some or have none?” He asked right back.

“Honestly if those are the choices I’m not really sure...”

“Why don’t we split up? There’s plenty of other food besides just cake we wanted to get while we were here,” Gilbert suggested. “We can just go, grab what we want, and meet up at the Heart of Azure. I for one am thinking about looking for a fish monger.”

“You know that’s actually a really good idea, Gilbert. I don’t think any of us need to worry about being mugged here either,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah, just try not to get conned by any unscrupulous merchants,” Daylight frowned.

“Absolutely no promises!” Gilbert smiled.

“Ugh,” Daylight shook her head.

Rainbow Dash ignored them and looked at Senax and Breakwater. “So we all splitting up for our own stuff or do you two want me to stick around?”

“You can go look for whatever you want,” Breakwater said. “Like you were saying, Water Forest really isn’t a dangerous island.”

“I think I’d still prefer to stick together with you at least,” Senax said to Breakwater.

The Captain nodded. “Well that’s fine with me. What say we all meet back at the Heart of Azure in two hours? And I promise I’ll have that cake.”

“Roger,” Rainbow saluted and sped off elsewhere without a second word.

“Guess we should follow her example,” Daylight shrugged and let herself be carried away by the crowd.

“And I’m assuming fish mongers will be closer along the water,” Gilbert nodded before also taking to the sky and flying off.

When it was just the two of them, Senax looked over to Breakwater and smiled. “Let’s see what we can find. I hope they have carrot cake.”

It was pretty much two hours on the dot that the assorted crew members returned to the Heart of Azure with their newly acquired wares. Daylight Gleam had fruit, Gilbert had fish (purely for himself), Rainbow Dash had cookies, and Senax and Breakwater had brought back two cakes, one chocolate and one lemon cake. Senax looked dismayed for some reason that the other three didn’t know about.

“Guess we’ve got the good food now for the rest of our trip,” Rainbow said as she put her stuff down on the deck, just keeping it there before either moving it to the cabin or the hold. “How much longer will it take us to get there now anyways?”

“Well uh, judging by where the island looked to be on the map I’d say at least three more days of sailing from Water Forest,” Breakwater said.

“Why not check the map again? It has to have shrunken down a lot by now,” Daylight suggested as the group walked inside of Breakwater’s cabin.

Senax hummed and went over to one of Breakwater’s chests. The chest full of coins was there as well as the one holding the Horn of Listening. “You’re right, it might look a lot different now.” She opened up the chest and quickly pulled out the rolled up map, grasping it by the edges and opening it she took a peak at what it had to offer.

Rainbow Dash and the others also went up right next to her to check it out.

It had indeed changed. The northern, southern, and western sides of the map had shrunken in considerably and most of the Grand Ocean had vanished entirely from the map’s surface. The quadrant they were in was magnified and much more detailed, they could see the shapes of several islands and the currents around them that weren’t visible before. The single spot showing the Lost Isle of the Lizard People was also more pronounced. As was the mystical fog and whirlpools drawn around it.

Rainbow Dash decided to state the obvious as she looked it over: “We’re getting closer.”

Thick Fog and Fierce Currents

The formerly good weather had changed quite a bit the closer they got to their destination. It wasn’t what anyone would call stormy just yet, but it wasn’t nice out here either. The sky was gray and overcast, the formerly placid ocean had become choppy with the water taking on a greenish hue, and a thick barrier of fog and storm clouds ran along the horizon.

“If this is how things always are out here I’m not surprised the island has gone undiscovered,” Breakwater said as he manned the wheel.

“I concur,” Daylight said from beside him before looking up at the crow’s nest. “You see anything from up there, Rainbow Dash?”

“Same as what it’s been like the last few hours!” Rainbow called back. “Also the wind is starting to pick up!”

“Not unexpected, I think this is what we have to look forward to for the rest of our trip,” Gilbert said.

“As long as we follow the map it should guide us through everything even if our vision is shot...” Senax said, currently holding the magical map in question. It had shrunken down even more lately, showing perhaps not even a tenth of the Grand Ocean anymore. According to the new details on the map as well, the fog acted was a constant barrier that encircled the middle portion of the map now, and there were swirls drawn in the water that the crew assumed signified the whirlpools they had heard about. The whirlpools existed both in and out of the fog, it would’ve been a deadly trap for any ship trying to reach the island past the fog, they’d get sucked up and destroyed by the maelstroms without even being able to see what was happening.

If the magical map given to them by the High Priestess was wrong it was the same thing that would happen to the Heart of Azure as well. That thought hung over all their heads, but there wasn’t really anything they could do about it. They had to follow the map. It was lucky their ship wasn’t any bigger or trying to dodge all those whirlpools would be next to impossible anyways.

“You know I am a pegasus, right?” Rainbow said down to them. “I can try to clear that stuff up as much as I can when we get there… although to be honest, if it’s magical I don’t know if that’ll work. I’ve run into plenty of magical weather before that resists pegasus weather manipulation.”

“We can at least try,” Daylight shrugged.

“Just don’t do anything dangerous,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “You know I will.”

“Oh. Right,” Gilbert nodded.

“Hopefully it won’t even really be needed. If I really trust the High Priestess, I should trust this map she gave us,” Senax said. “And… I do believe it will lead us to safety, through the fog and whirlpools and to the island.”

“It’s still going to be a while before we hit any of that stuff, we can relax for now,” Breakwater said. “That fog that looks like it’s covering the entire horizon? It’s actually an optical illusion, similar to a mirage, it’s farther than it looks and most of it will clear up when we actually get close.”

“If only that was the case for the fog actually protecting the island too,” Daylight said.

Breakwater shrugged. “Can’t hope for everything to be easy.”

Rainbow Dash flew down to them from the crow’s nest now. “So what then? If we’ve still got a while before we actually need to do anything then how about killing some time with a boardgame or two?”

“Uh, well...” Daylight rubbed her head uncomfortably.

“Coward,” Rainbow glared at her.

“With the way the waves are going either me or Breakwater would have to stay up here at the helm anyways,” Senax said.

“And I suppose no one wants to race or do anything else?” Rainbow Dash asked to the assembled group.

Everyone averted their eyes in one way or another.

“Pff, fine!” Rainbow Dash snorted. “I’m gonna go lift some crates in the hold.”

“If you lost to us as much as we lost to you whenever we played games, would you want to keep playing?” Gilbert asked her.

Rainbow Dash folded her hooves and looked away. “Of course not.”

“Maybe you understand us a little now then,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“You could try going fishing again,” Senax suggested.

Rainbow Dash frowned and looked over the side of the boat at the rolling green water. White tips washed across the hull and smashed against each other further out, there wasn’t a flat square foot of water for miles around. The water was impenetrable to her eyes, she couldn’t see into it at all, something that wasn’t helped by the lack of sunlight above either. It wasn’t as remotely as inviting as the blue ocean waters they normally traveled through.

“Yeah I don’t think so. Looks cold, looks strong, and I can’t see down there. Don’t want to become a shark’s snack, you know? Maybe if you wanted to race or something though?” Rainbow asked her.

Senax also walked over to the side of the boat and looked down at the water, a look of dismay crossing her face. “No—I don’t like the water here either. There’s something off about it, I think it might have to do with the Lost Isle itself.”

“So no swimming, no boardgames-” Rainbow looked over to Gilbert. “And I’m assuming no racing from you?”

“I’m a little tired...”

“Liar,” Rainbow clicked her tongue.

“So lifting crates in the hold then?” Daylight asked.

“Might as well do something productive with my time,” Rainbow shrugged.

The wind suddenly picked up then and blew across the Heart of Azure, making the ponies and griffon onboard shiver. They weren’t south enough for them to be sailing through arctic waters but wind like that could make the air temperature quite chilly. It was still whipping about and making a mess of their manes and tails, showing no signs of stopping.

“Maybe we should all join you down there for now...” Gilbert said as he lifted a talon to try and block the wind from hitting his face, his long and thin mustache being pulled to the side.

Before they could move, tiny droplets of water started coming down from the sky. Not even enough to make any noise just yet, the light drizzle only barely wettened them and the ship. The droplets went from only falling a little bit to becoming a more consistent rain over the course of just a minute. It wasn’t a downpour but they’d all be pretty soaked fairly quickly if they just stayed out here.

“This isn’t going to become a storm, is it?” Daylight asked as she looked up at the sky.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nah, we’re just moving through a light rain. Not going to stop it from being annoying though.”

“I think Gilbert’s right that we should all get out of this weather for now...” Senax said. She looked over at Breakwater. “Er, all of us that can that is. I can take over at the helm you know? I don’t mind being wet.”

“Nope, go have fun with the others, this is still my job,” Breakwater said to her.

“Are you sure? I started learning how to sail the ship to help you out. You’ve been at the wheel ever since we left the Sarrarocco Archipelago,” Senax pressed.

“I’m telling you it’s totally fine,” he smiled. “I’ve sailed through worse weather than this, and I’ve sailed on longer journeys totally alone. Being up here by myself doesn’t bother me at all.”

Senax frowned but nodded. “Okay, just call in case the weather starts to get worse.”

“Will do. Although you’ll probably feel it if the boat starts to rock.”

The wind picked up once more and blew against all of them, enough to make Rainbow Dash actually drop down to the deck to avoid the worst of it. Of course it affected the waves and the rain as well, blowing the rain sideways and increasing the ferocity at which it fell, and strengthening the waves as they smacked alongside into the Heart of Azure’s hull. It was nothing serious yet, the size of the waves was nothing compared to what the ship had conquered before, but it clearly wasn’t going to be a pleasure cruise to the Lost Isle anymore. The unwelcoming appearance of the ocean and its behavior were now starting to match one another.

Senax took another look at the map before heading below and showed it to Breakwater. “When do you think we’ll actually get close to the fog and whirlpools directly around the island?”

He stared at it for less than a second, able to judge the distances on a map in a heartbeat. “Early tomorrow morning, before the break of dawn. We’ll take it a little slow at first to avoid the whirlpools as best we can.”

“Come on, Senax! The rest of us are going below before the rain gets worse!” Daylight called out to her as she, Gilbert, and Rainbow Dash shuffled down to the hold.

“I’m coming!” The merpony said, flashing a grateful smile towards Breakwater before following her friends.

Breakwater watched them go before looking straight up at the sky as the rain continued to fall, the strength and frequency of the drops kept getting worse and worse. “You better stop before we get to the island. It’ll be bad enough getting through fog as dense as that without rain beating down on us and wind trying to knock us from side to side.” He snorted and shook his head as the raindrops soaked through his cap. “Like we’ll ever get lucky with the weather.”

Down below the sound of creaking wood accompanied the steady listing back and forth of the ship while the pitter-patter of raindrops up on deck grew louder and louder. The other noise in the hold was the repetitive grunting of Rainbow Dash as she did exactly what she said she was going to do—lift crates. She lied down on her back and used her four legs to repeatedly push the crate up and down, working her newly gained muscles even more.

“I think you’d give most earth ponies a run for their money nowadays,” Gilbert said to her.

Rainbow Dash kept her focus on the crates, not even nodding or looking over at him, but she still answered. “I’m definitely stronger than before. When it comes to just stuff like this at least. But still, I’ve met way too many creatures that could outmuscle me no matter what. The little extra strength isn’t the only part of it, I need to combine it with my speed, and the fighting skills I’ve picked up recently. Then I’ll beat anybody.”

There was silence in the hold after that, nobody really sure what to say next.

Finally, Daylight coughed and looked at Gilbert and Senax. “Do you, uh, do you want to play cards? If Rainbow Dash is busy working out maybe someone else will have the chance to win.”

“Oh that’s really cool, play cards while I’m busy doing this,” Rainbow frowned as she kept lifting the crate.

“At least you’re doing something instead of just sitting around, isn’t that what you wanted?” Daylight smirked.

“I wanted to do something fun first,” Rainbow glared at her. “Fine, you guys can play cards on your own for now, but after a hundred more reps I’m joining in whether you like it or not.”

“Well I think we’ll all have won enough times by then that we’ll be ready to lose,” Daylight said as she started rummaging through the hold, looking for the deck of cards they had. She carelessly tossed Gilbert’s journal out of the way while she searched.

“That was unnecessary...” The griffon sadly drooped as his journal bounced off the wall.

“Your journal is unnecessary,” she said back.

“What do you want to play anyways? Poker?” Senax asked.

“That’s one of the few card games I actually know,” Gilbert said.

“Found it!” Daylight cheered and pulled out the deck of cards. “You must’ve just tossed it down here last time you were done playing, Rainbow.”

“Probably,” Rainbow agreed.

Daylight took the cards out of their pack with her magic and levitated the deck around, shuffling and riffling them all on her own. “Okay, I’ll deal?”

Followed

It was morning, Rainbow’s internal clock was telling her that, but you wouldn’t really be able to tell just by looking outside. It wasn’t quite as dark or cold as the middle of the night, but the cloudy sky before dawn kept things dim and probably would still even well after the sun fully rose over the horizon.

Everyone was still awake and alert on deck. They were about to approach the first whirlpool.

Gilbert stood directly at the bow of the ship, training his sharp griffon eyes on the water and fog ahead of them so he could see anything coming as fast as possible. Rainbow Dash was in the crow’s nest, doing much the same thing from a higher vantage point but also watching the waters next to them to make sure they were carefully gliding by each whirlpool. Breakwater of course was at the wheel, his hooves tightly bound around it to control the Heart of Azure as deftly and perfectly as possible, all to the direction of Senax next to him. Senax was holding the map gifted to them by the High Priestess, where it had now shrunken down so much that practically all it showed was the Lost Isle itself and the obstacles around it. A little glowing dot that represented their ship was moving closer and closer to its borders. Daylight, lastly, was on Breakwater’s other side and watching over everyone and everything else in case there was a problem.

“We still good?” Breakwater asked Senax.

“Yes,” she nodded. “The first whirlpool will be on our port side in a moment, if you stay straight we should safely pass right by it.”

“Can’t see it at all,” Breakwater muttered.

Daylight nodded along with that statement. The fog that fell over the ocean was thick and heavy—an impenetrable wall that showed no signs of lifting. This was no simple natural fog like what existed around parts of the Sarrarocco Archipelago.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip up in the crow’s nest, impatient and anxious, wishing they could go faster but knowing they really couldn’t. A minute passed by and her ears picked up a new sound coming from her left, Rainbow Dash looked down at the water, looked out as far as she could see into the fog. Which was barely anything. But even then she could still make something out if she squinted. The waters were rough and white, swirling down into a vortex just twenty feet away from them at most. It wasn’t the biggest whirlpool she had seen but it was fast and dangerous. If they accidentally drifted any closer it was likely that its pull would start to affect them and draw them in.

“I see it!” Rainbow Dash called out. “There’s a whirlpool just right off the port side! We’re okay though, I don’t think we need to worry about it.”

Senax glanced down at the map once more to double check. “It’s… accurate. I guess the map really does work.”

“Good,” Breakwater wiped some sweat from his brow. “So where’s the next one going to be?”

“To starboard—but closer than the last one so we need to drift port slightly,” Senax said.

“Already on it,” Breakwater said and ever so slightly adjusted the wheel so the rudder would carry them where they needed to go.

While he did that, the others kept focus on their jobs and Senax intently watched the map.

The island on the map—the Lost Isle of the Lizard People—existed in full detail. A long island, much longer than it was wide, covered the majority of the map. Like a stretched oval shape with a jagged natural coastline, it could’ve passed for one of any hundreds of islands out on the Grand Ocean. But it was theirs. And now Senax could examine everything about it, for the map showed the topography of it completely. The western side of the island that they were closer to looked flatter, with mostly wide open areas but of course some hills and rock formations, along with cliffs along most of the west coast. It had some forests and rivers coming from the eastern side but lacked the dense vegetation of a true jungle. She guessed the western side of the island was mostly grasslands looking at it. The middle of the island though looked like a dense jungle, a huge expanse of green vegetation with several blue rivers running through it. Most of the island’s land was taken up by that jungle. The eastern side was completely different, it was several large mountains all clustered together, with high cliffs making up the east coast. The rivers of the island clearly ran downhill from the mountains to the rest of the island. Not a single flat or observably livable spot existed on those eastern mountains.

Senax examined the island as best she could, they’d probably want to land somewhere on the west coast by the look of it, or the southwest side. Overall the island was probably larger than the Smoking Island was in total land area but its narrower shape made it hard to tell for sure. She wished the map also showed any settlements that might be on the island but it didn’t.

Or there were simply none there.

She hoped that wasn’t the case.

For now though she still had an important job to do, the whirlpools weren’t going anywhere and it was up to her right now to safely guide them through them all so they could reach the island in the first place. Senax took a deep breath to calm herself down and continued relaying directions to Breakwater while the Heart of Azure plowed onward through the fog. They had a long ways to go. The wind was still a little hectic but at the very least it wasn’t raining anymore.

As if their minds were linked, Rainbow Dash leaned over the crow’s nest to speak to them. “Hey, this wind might be trouble if it picks up, I don’t want it blowing us into a whirlpool you know? I’m going to try and do what I can about it.”

“Shouldn’t you be staying up there and watching the water for us?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow shook her head. “The map’s proven to work, you just need to follow it. I’ll be more help on weather duty.”

“Go ahead then if you think it’ll help,” Daylight shrugged. “We’ve still got Gilbert watching out for us.”

“I’ll handle things!” Gilbert shouted from the bow on cue.

As Rainbow Dash flew into the skies around the ship, Daylight turned to Senax. “How many more whirlpools do we need to sneak by anyways?”

Senax checked the map. “Five or six—but the fog will stay thick for a while afterwards, it only looks like it clears up very close to the coastline of the island.”

“What a pain,” Daylight shook her head.

“Nothing we can do about it, things are going alright so far so let’s just hope it doesn’t get any worse,” Breakwater said.

As the Heart of Azure kept making its slow trip through the fog and around the dangerous whirlpools, Rainbow Dash now flew from side to side of the ship, doing her best to dampen the wind around them. While she was able to keep it from blowing them off course for the moment, she couldn’t really do much else or even clear the fog. It had become clear to her very quickly that there was some kind of magical enchantment on the weather around the Lost Isle. Not only because of its perpetual existence but because the wind came from every direction and changed on a seeming whim. Whoever had done it, it made it impossible for just one pegasus like herself to get rid of it. Even though the rest of the ocean around here was bright and normal and the currents of the ocean and wind were pulling against this stuff it just didn’t budge.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. It had to be some really powerful magic to keep it up around an island as big as this. While it didn’t remotely compare in size or power to the hurricane she had flown through in the True North, that was a special occurrence. She doubted there was another giant pegasus doing this.

Still, all her job had to be right now was making sure Breakwater could steer the Heart of Azure straight. Finding out what was behind this weird magical weather could come later. It would be a pain to leave this place again once they finished up and got the Necklace. Hopefully the inhabitants of the island could help them out or something.

Although Rainbow still had no idea how their meeting with them would go. There was a lot they didn’t know and what they did know was reliant on the High Priestess having told them the truth.

Naturally Rainbow Dash had a few problems with that point.

“I think we’re about maybe halfway through the fog and whirlpools!” Senax shouted from the helm, loud enough for both Gilbert and Rainbow Dash to hear over the winds and the noise of the raging whirlpools themselves.

“Good to know!” Rainbow shouted back.

She caught sight of one of the whirlpools they had just passed, bigger than the last one, it gurgled and violently churned, seemingly alive and angry that they had safely gotten away from it. Rainbow wondered how deep the water was here. How deep would these whirlpools pull them under before they stopped?

Rainbow shook her head. Moot point. They were never going to have to find out.

A strong gust of wind came from the east ahead of them now, feeling like it was trying to push them away from the island. Rainbow Dash only let it blow through her mane for a second before she got on the task of getting rid of it. Below her Gilbert held his wings up to block his face and peek through them as best he could. While technically there shouldn’t be any danger right off the bow they weren’t taking their chances with it.

Rainbow now flew directly in front of the ship and flapped her own wings against the incoming wind, diverting it to the sides and pushing it backwards. Wind from the front wasn’t as problematic as wind from the sides, but they didn’t need things slowing them down or messing them up any worse. After a little while the wind died down and Rainbow Dash patiently waited for the next gust to start up. No time for her to rest.

“This is really getting frustrating, the fog isn’t letting up at all,” Daylight said back at the helm. “Is it just going to lift suddenly out of nowhere and we’ll be able to see the island?”

“I imagine it’ll be like passing through a wall of clouds or something,” Breakwater said.

“The map hasn’t changed since we moved into the fog,” Senax said. “It hasn’t gotten any smaller, the only thing moving is the dot representing the Heart of Azure. I don’t think it’ll be much longer until we’re safe.”

“If that’s the case then I guess I’ll owe the High Priestess an apology,” Daylight muttered.

“You didn’t say anything to her,” Breakwater glanced over.

“Not directly.”

Senax cleared her throat. “Just so you know, there’s a whirlpool coming up directly in front of us and I’d like us to not sail directly into it. So if you could take us starboard, Breakwater?”

“Right,” Breakwater refocused on the wheel. “I’m sure Gilbert would’ve seen it coming in time...”

“The hard part will be over soon, just think of that,” Senax said.

“I’m thinking of how nice it’ll be to see the sun again,” Daylight said, looking up at the sky.

And so it was that the Heart of Azure and its crew worked through the mystical fog and whirlpools that surrounded the Lost Isle of the Lizard People. Rainbow Dash and Gilbert were as alert as hawks out for the hunt, and the navigators back at the wheel sailed and directed them all to safety…

A dinghy with a small triangular sail cruised through the choppy waters of the ocean, directly into the fog the Heart of Azure had gone into not long ago. The small vessel was more like a canoe or lifeboat than anything else, barely big enough for a single pony or other creature to stand in. It wobbled about in the tough waters, at the mercy of the wind and currents completely now, but it had served its purpose.

Godfrey looked up from it and smiled. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the barest hint of a shadow in the fog—the shadow of the vessel he was pursuing.

“Don’t need this anymore,” he said and opened up his wings, cracking his neck before lifting off and letting the dinghy drift off on its own. “I hope you’re ready.”

Washed Up

A light rain had started to fall through the fog. The rain was not heavy, but it was consistent enough that they had already gotten completely wet and the wind kept blowing it into them. Rainbow Dash was hovering over the bow of the ship to fight the wind with Gilbert still right below her. They were a little tired after having been at this for so long.

“There’s just one more whirlpool left! We’re almost out of here!” Senax shouted over the rain and wind to them.

“Fantastic! I want to get out of this fog already,” Gilbert shouted back.

“Yeah I’m looking forward to seeing that island,” Rainbow Dash said.

She kept in place, waiting for the next breeze of wind to dampen and the next whirlpool to look out for, when the hair on the back of her neck bristled and a cold feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Rainbow Dash’s ears shot up and swiveled about while the rest of her body stiffened and a frown stretched across her face. Slowly she dropped back down to the deck of the Heart of Azure, right behind Gilbert.

“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” Gilbert asked her, watching her in confusion.

She didn’t answer at first, walking back towards the mast while clenching her teeth. She looked up at the helm where the others were staring at her, then at the fog around them, watching the rain and listening to the wind. A slight breath came out from her lips while she closed her eyes and focused. The sounds of the world around her were even more pronounced.

After a second she opened up her eyes. “We’ve got company.”

“Company?” Gilbert blinked.

“Yep,” Rainbow Dash kept her body tensed.

“Is something wrong?” Daylight called from the helm, the three of them not able to hear the other two when they weren’t shouting.

Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at them. “Just keep steering the ship like normal, I’m-”

The words died in her throat as a shadow shot out of the fog towards the three ponies at the helm. The last dregs of fog fell away from his body and she saw Godfrey with his sharp talons open and outstretched—aimed right at Breakwater’s head. Time slowed down for everyone aboard the Heart of Azure. Rainbow Dash heard Gilbert suck in a sharp breath from behind her, she saw the startled faces of Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater turning towards the griffon pirate. Turning and reacting far too slowly. She saw the grin on Godfrey’s face.

Rainbow Dash inhaled, felt the air entering her lungs, and moved.

Breakwater’s head was only halfway turned and a cry of fear was emerging from Senax’s throat when one of the sharp claws of Godfrey’s talon was less than an inch from stabbing into his eye. That razor sharp claw was taking up everything he saw. His mind was completely blank.

Until a rainbow blur smashed into Godfrey and carried him past the stern of the boat.

Breakwater let out a strangled breath and collapsed to the ground while Daylight and Senax screamed in surprise. The boat listed with Breakwater’s hooves no longer on the wheel, he quickly stood up with sweat pouring down his face and grabbed it once more to keep them steady in these treacherous waters. Meanwhile Gilbert flew up to join them and together they looked behind the ship to see what was going on.

In the light rain and fog two figures flew, facing off against each other.

“Rainbow Dash!” Daylight yelled. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Rainbow said, not taking her eyes off the smiling Godfrey.

Godfrey just stretched and rotated his arm as he smirked at her. “Well, well, that was a close one, wasn’t it? How have you all been by the way?”

“I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see you again, brother!” Gilbert said from the stern.

“That’s rather unfriendly of you, aren’t we family?” Godfrey laughed at him.

“Everybody, just ignore him!” Rainbow Dash yelled over his laughter and the wind, still not taking her eyes off the dangerous pirate. “Keep steering the ship and watch out for the whirlpools, that’s more important right now! I won’t let him mess with you.”

Godfrey raised an amused eyebrow at her. “Now that’s an empty boast right there. You think you can stop me?”

“The fight isn’t going to go the same way as last time, Godfrey,” Rainbow Dash finally grinned back at him.

“Heh,” Godfrey chuckled and cracked his knuckles. “Really now? Well fine, I’d actually be disappointed if after all this time you don’t even put up a challenge. But you should remember that there aren’t any stray cannonballs to help you this time.”

“I won’t need them.”

The two silently hovered there while the light rain drizzled down on and around them. Daylight and Senax, despite Rainbow’s words, were still watching them until Senax remembered the importance of her duty. The map was still clutched in her hooves, and though her instincts were telling her it was foolish to turn her back on Godfrey, she did so anyways. Breakwater had managed to keep the ship straight so they hadn’t gone off course and Senax double-checked the map to make sure they weren’t about to shipwreck themselves.

“I-I think we’re okay if we keep going straight, we should end up going right out of the fog,” Senax said.

“Good,” Breakwater nodded, his voice still a little shaky. “Hey Gilbert, how’s Rainbow Dash?”

Gilbert and Daylight both were still watching the pegasus and griffon staring each other down just right off the stern. Godfrey and Rainbow Dash were moving just slightly to keep up with the trail the ship was leaving through the water. A breeze of wind came in from the south and blew between the two.

“She’s fine...” Gilbert answered before glancing at Daylight. “Do we help?”

“I don’t think we can. Rainbow Dash is the one helping us right now. I think it’d be better if we do our best to get out of here so she doesn’t have to worry about us,” Daylight said.

“But the last time she fought with Godfrey...”

Daylight frowned and nodded as she watched her pegasus friend. “I know. And I know it’s going to sound weird coming from me—but let’s be optimistic here. Let’s believe in Rainbow Dash.”

Rain had collected on Godfrey’s tricorne and was dropping in rivulets next to his face. Rainbow Dash stole a brief glance to his side and saw that he carried no sword with him this time. It was just going to be a contest of speed and strength. His big wings calmly beat up and down while his talons slowly opened and closed, Rainbow Dash’s own wings fluttering in tune with his in the breeze.

The two suddenly shot towards each other without any warning or hesitation, creating a small sonic boom that crashed into Daylight and Gilbert.

Godfrey’s fist and Rainbow Dash’s hoof collided together—and much to the griffon’s surprise he didn’t immediately overpower the pegasus. Sure, he was still obviously stronger, her leg was buckling, but she wasn’t just immediately thrown backwards or knocked away. She was actually holding up against him.

“Someone’s been working out,” Godfrey grinned.

“Worried that you’re losing your edge?” Rainbow taunted.

“Heh, it’d take a lot more than some barely put together muscle for that to happen,” Godfrey said and as if to prove his point he put more strength into his limb and punched Rainbow’s hoof away, making her almost spin downwards from the blow. His other fist came up at her face but Rainbow Dash moved her head out of the way to dodge it.

“It’s not just some new muscle,” Rainbow said to him. “Let me show you.”

Her hooves came at him in a blinding onslaught, but it wasn’t like the wild attacks she had made on him before, each punch was carefully measured and targeted to land and not waste any energy. Godfrey could tell that too, this wasn’t just a random barrage where she was trying to overwhelm him with sheer numbers of attacks. It was obvious to him that she had been training more than just the muscles in her legs.

That was fine to him.

With a predatory grin he matched every single one of her punches with his own, more often than not they weren’t even hitting each other. In fact they barely even grazed each other despite absolutely trying to. Both of them were simply able to dodge or knock away every punch that would land solidly. They were both just too good, with too sharp of reflexes. The punches that were going towards their faces they continued to turn their heads from at such speed it was like they were leaving after-images or appearing to the untrained eye that they actually were hitting each other.

Finally his fists collided with her hooves and they locked together—both pushing back against the other and ending the high-speed assault for the moment.

“I hope that isn’t all,” Godfrey sneered.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nope, I still haven’t shown you a real fight yet.”

She pushed off his fists and brought up her back leg, swinging a kick towards his face. Godfrey ducked under it but immediately had to duck again as Rainbow Dash continued to spin with her kick and brought the other leg towards his head as well. He brought up a fist to punch her after her kicks but Rainbow Dash slammed an elbow into his wrist to drop it and brought a final punch to his face. The hoof slammed into his cheek and Godfrey flapped his wings back out of reflex to get a little space. He floated there for a while, bringing a talon up to his cheek.

“That actually hurt a little. I really felt that,” he said as he rubbed it, the smile gone from his face. “Okay then, Rainbow Dash.”

The rain falling around them had grown much stronger—becoming a true downpour now. And Godfrey shot towards Rainbow Dash with a ferocious twinkle in his eye. He didn’t fly in a straight path, shooting up and down and to the sides to keep her on edge. She hovered there with her hooves raised in a fighting stance. Ready for him.

The first punch was a vicious hook aimed towards her ribs the moment he got within range. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to scoot herself backwards and avoid it but then had to duck under his wing as he brought it at her throat in a clothesline. His other fist came at her stomach and opened up wide to have his talons rake across her body and disembowel her in one swift motion. Rainbow Dash squeezed in her gut and exhaled, arching her body away and kicking the underside of his arm to try and deflect the blow at the same time. In the end the claws just barely raked against her stomach and left a few of the thinnest possible red lines in her blue fur.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings hard and shot away and to the left of Godfrey, rounding on him and trying to build some momentum. Her hoof shot out in another punch aimed towards his face but he blocked it with his arm and pushed her away. He flew at her again with his wing out straight, the strong limb fully capable of knocking her senseless just as badly as a punch if it connected like that. Before it could collide with her though she clamped her hooves down against it and let Godfrey carry her along for a brief second before wrenching the wing around in its socket. Godfrey winced in pain and shook her off, Rainbow didn’t have enough strength to actually break or dislocate his wing, but it was enough to hurt him.

That said, his next punch came blindingly fast at her chest and Rainbow Dash was forced to block it with nothing more than her hooves. His physical strength was still on a level above hers and the punch sorely rattled her bones. There was going to be a bruise on her legs there tomorrow. Another punch he tried to deliver was parried by her hoof—but then his talon quickly opened up and shot out, grabbing Rainbow’s hoof and holding her there.

Godfrey smirked at her as he had her in his grasp. “You’re doing better this time. The old you would’ve died by now.”

Rainbow Dash growled and swiftly kicked him in the chest to force him to release her. Another kick she sent right into his beak but before she could follow up on that he backhanded her as he rolled with the kick and knocked her into the fog. Rainbow momentarily lost sight of him only for Godfrey to immediately appear above her. His talons went right for her throat but Rainbow Dash punched him in the forearms to keep them away. But then he did something unexpected to her. Godfrey lowered his head and headbutted Rainbow Dash right between the eyes.

She squeezed her eyes shut and groaned in pain right before she felt a talon wrap around her throat and carry her down to the violent ocean. The sudden cold, the feeling and sound of water splashing around her, caused Rainbow Dash to open her eyes and reflexively grab at the limb that had pushed her under the water. The saltwater stung but she ignored it, right now it was far worse that Godfrey was both strangling and jabbing his sharp claws into her neck at the same time.

He hadn’t stopped moving either. Instead of just holding her underwater in one place, Godfrey was flying forward and carrying her through the water to make it tougher for her to move and see. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be conscious for much longer like this and she couldn’t build enough speed or power while being dragged underwater to punch his arm and make him release her. Instead she grabbed his talon itself and tried to pry it away from her neck.

Stupid strong griffon… she thought through the blackness.

The past her wouldn’t have been strong enough to do it.

The Rainbow Dash of right now felt her muscles burn and her veins nearly pop, but she pulled Godfrey’s talon loose and immediately twisted it in an attempt to break his wrist. Godfrey angrily pulled it out of the water while wincing in pain—carrying Rainbow Dash right out too. She flapped her wings once and jumped onto his back, wrapping one hoof around his neck and putting him in a headlock while swiftly and repeatedly punching him in the face with the other. Godfrey grunted from each blow but still managed to reach up and grab Rainbow by her long mane, pulling her off his back and throwing her away.

Rainbow Dash flipped around a few times before recovering and turning to face him, breathing heavily while the rain fell and the wind howled. Little wounds pricked into her neck from his claws were dripping small trails of blood down to the rest of her body, not yet washed away by the rain. Godfrey on the other hoof was rubbing the wrist she had tried to break, rotating it around to make sure it wasn’t actually broken. He looked over at her and smirked.

“This is fun, Rainbow Dash. You screwed up a little bit though.”

“What are you talking-” she frowned and then stopped, freezing up as she saw something in the fog behind him. The Heart of Azure. He had put himself between her and the boat. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at Godfrey. “Don’t you dare.”

“Heh,” Godfrey chuckled and turned around, flying at high speed towards her friends.

“Darn it!” Rainbow yelled and went after him.

“Okay, that last whirlpool was the only one left!” Senax said as she held the map and stared down at it. “The fog should be lifting for us in just a moment.”

“I certainly hope so, the wind’s gotten even worse! The current from that whirlpool too is messing up the rest of the water here, the waves are bad.” Breakwater said as he clung to the wheel.

“Once we’re in safer waters we can help Rainbow Dash. I hope she’s doing alright,” Senax said.

“Can you two see how she’s doing?” Breakwater asked Daylight and Gilbert.

Gilbert shook his head. “I’ve lost sight of them, the fog and rain has made it too difficult to see.”

“Hold on-” Daylight raised a hoof to his shoulder. “I think I see something coming.”

A second later Godfrey shot out of the fog.

“Oh,” Daylight grimaced.

The griffon pirate however didn’t go after any of them this time. He flew over their heads and went right for the Heart of Azure’s sail. His talons seemed to practically shine in the low light as he flew past it, tearing it to shreds. The wind did the rest, and in just a second the sail was pulling itself apart and falling to pieces. Godfrey gave a single amused laughed and then shot upwards higher into the fog while the Heart of Azure already started to struggle in the water.

“I-I can’t control it! The current is too strong, we’re just going to be pulled along with it!” Breakwater said.

“Are we at least out of the whirlpool’s grasp?” Daylight asked as she ran to the side of the boat to try and look in its direction.

“I think so but even then I have no idea where we’re going to end up on the island now…” Breakwater grit his teeth.

“Hey, hey you guys! Are you okay?!” The loud voice of Rainbow Dash came from behind them.

They turned to see her flying there in the rain while the Heart of Azure bobbed with the waves and started to spin.

“Rainbow Dash! Godfrey sliced our sail to pieces, we can’t control where we’re going anymore!” Daylight shouted to her.

“I’ll help you out-” she started to fly towards them when Godfrey almost collided with her from above, Rainbow Dash only barely moving out of the way in time and then having to avoid more punches and attacks from him. She turned her head to look at them on the Heart of Azure even as the ship now continued to drift further and further away into the fog, completely out of control. “Just stay safe for now, I’ll find you!”

“Rainbow!” Senax and Gilbert yelled together before the fog once again obscured her completely from view.

Daylight clicked her tongue and looked to Breakwater, who was still doing his best with the wheel. “What can we do?”

“Not much, the rudder isn’t enough for steering our way through here. We’re completely at the mercy of the wind and current now. We’ve just got to hope for the best.”

The pounding rain drowned out any further words that might’ve been said between them. Soon they were all holding on for dear life, praying for safety, and hoping that both they and Rainbow Dash would be alright. Around them the dense fog gave no indication that their tumultuous journey to the Lost Isle would end anytime soon.

Rainbow Dash and Godfrey fell in a spiral together towards the ocean, trading blows with each other all the way down. A strong punch to the face from the griffon nearly knocked Rainbow Dash out—her vision went black for a brief moment—but she recovered and punched him hard in the wing to make him wobble and stop from being able to press the advantage. The rain and the wind might as well not have even existed around them, far too caught up in their fight with each other to care.

A kick to Godfrey’s stomach made him wheeze and fall away from her but before Rainbow could pull out of the dive they were in his talons lashed out and clawed her right wing. Now she couldn’t adjust or escape the watery landing either.

Both of them landed with a loud plop in the drink, both diving lower to escape the tumultuous surface and try to see the other. It was difficult. The water was murky and the strong currents were already pulling them elsewhere. But neither wanted to give up on the fight or let the other escape at this point. They couldn’t.

At last the water cleared enough where they saw each other—silent expressions of anger etched on their faces as they swam through the water, using their wings for extra propulsion. Godfrey and Rainbow both knew that ordinary punches wouldn’t really work underwater anymore. It would be like trying to punch someone through pudding. But his claws would still work fine. He reached out towards Rainbow Dash in another effort to gut her, but at the last second she pushed hard with her wings one last time and hit him first, headbutting him in the throat. Godfrey coughed, breath escaping from his beak in a school of bubbles.

Rainbow Dash grinned at first but soon stopped as Godfrey’s fist punched into her diaphragm anyways. She had gotten too close and let down her guard. It wasn’t a strong punch thanks to the water but he still hit her in the perfect spot to get her to open her mouth and lose most of the air in her lungs. She then reached up and grabbed his beak to try and wrench it open while he put a talon on her face and another on her back to pull her away.

Thanks to her strength training it was almost close to an even match.

Holding onto each other they tumbled through the water while their lungs burned for air and they glared deeply into each other’s eyes. But just as suddenly they were ripped away from each other.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot open as she felt herself moving faster and faster through the water. Godfrey hadn’t done this, she could see him moving and struggling the same as she was. As much as she tried to fight against the current she couldn’t, they were moving too fast, the water pressure was too strong, it was pulling them down and down, spinning…

We’re caught in a whirlpool! Rainbow realized. She moved her hooves through the water and flapped her wings, trying to swim free from its grasp but not making any progress. She barely caught sight of Godfrey once more, in just as bad a position as she was. Even he wasn’t strong enough to get out of the maelstrom.

The rotations became even tighter and faster as the whirlpool dragged them down to its dark bottom. Maybe at her best Rainbow could escape it, but she was tired and beaten up from the fight with Godfrey.

She kept struggling and struggling against the current, even as darkness crept forward around her eyes…

The sun was shining down on a sandy beach and the two waterlogged figures lying upon it. Both Rainbow Dash and Godfrey unconscious and motionless aside from the steady rise and fall of their chests—the only sign they were even alive. Through the sand, the sound of approaching feet could be heard and soon six other figures were standing around and looking down at the two new arrivals.

Hissing and clicking noises started to fill the air while scaly green feet with white claws at the end flexed in the hot sand. Just as scaly green hands pointed at Rainbow and Godfrey while the noises grew louder, the sounds of an argument escalating. Thin reptilian tails swished and coiled about behind them

A dragonfly flew between the standing ones and the washed up rivals for a brief second before a long pink tongue quickly lashed out and caught it—feeding it back into the mouth of the lucky one.

A single long and low-pitched hiss dragged out of the one as he finished chewing and swallowing his crunchy snack. The rest all nodded and grabbed Rainbow and Godfrey to drag them through the sand and up the beach.

Split Up

"Wake up, sleepyhead.”

Rainbow Dash blinked at the words, the rest of the world coming into focus around her as she woke from her deep slumber.

“What happened? Where am I?” Rainbow groggily asked the world as she lifted her head off the cool floor she had it lying on. Floor. Not the ocean. So that was one thing at least.

She felt beat up and tired, her body and wings felt especially heavy and there was something tight and uncomfortable around her front left hoof. She didn’t see anything in front of her—just a wall—so Rainbow sat up and on reflex tried to open her wings. They didn’t budge. Looking down she saw a metal chain tightly wrapped several times around her midsection, holding her wings in place. Frowning, she brought her hoof up to try and rub her aching head but came up short. The sharp tug of something attached to her hoof, the clinking of metal, she looked at her hoof to see a shackle locked around it and a short chain from it leading to-

“Godfrey-?!” Rainbow Dash jumped back, startled, but she didn’t get far as the chain snapped taut and she accidentally fell on her face. “Ugh…”

The amused snickering of Godfrey filled the room and Rainbow Dash looked up, her mind clearer and now noticing a few other things. Godfrey was sitting right in front of her but he didn’t have his usual clothes on nor did it seem like he had any intention of attacking her. And the chain connecting them… it led to a shackle around Godfrey’s right wrist as well. And as she looked at his body she saw that he also had a thick steel chain wrapped around him and his wings to keep him from using them as well.

Looking to her right (while keeping one eye on Godfrey) she saw that the small room they were in had one wall that was taken up by a grid of wooden beams and a small door with a heavy padlock on it. Not a room. A prison cell.

She stared back at the smiling Godfrey and raised a single eyebrow at him.

He shrugged, the act of which almost yanked her off her hooves thanks to the short chain, and looked at the wooden bars. “Beats me. I only woke up a little before you did. Didn’t see who brought us here, but you might want to look out that window there. Good morning by the way.”

“Window…” Rainbow Dash looked at the wall on the opposite side of the bars and saw a small window up on it with metal bars blocking it. Not like it would’ve been big enough to squeeze through, but still. She jumped up on her back legs and looked out of it.

For a moment she just saw sunlight, and then the blue sky above wherever they were. That soon gave way to the massive barrier of fog just a short ways off the coast of the island, and looking down she saw that the cell’s outer wall was a sheer cliff face, going down fifty feet to where the waves smashed against the rocks. This prison or whatever they were in looked like it was carved right into the cliffside here. Checking out the sun’s location and what she had seen from the map, as well as her own inner sense of direction, Rainbow Dash knew they were on the western side of the island.

Well in one way or another she had gotten to where they wanted to go. Though the situation seemed pretty bad now. Least of all being held captive by who even knows, but chained up with Godfrey too.

Rainbow Dash got down from the window and frowned over at him. “Thanks for not killing me in my sleep at least.”

He smirked. “Where would the fun be in that?”

“My friends better be okay or you’re going to regret what you just did, you know?” Rainbow glared.

“I’m just as lost on what happened as you are right now. But they’re probably fine, they’ve proven pretty reliable,” Godfrey said.

“We’d be even more fine if it wasn’t for you. Again.” Rainbow Dash growled at him. “Don’t you ever give up?”

He looked at her with mock indignation. “Do you?”

Rainbow opened her mouth but quickly closed it, only getting out a few grumbles.

“Heh. See?” Godfrey laughed.

“It’s been so long since last time… how’d you even find us like this? How’d you know where we were going?” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “There’s no way you could’ve known we were going this way.”

Godfrey just shrugged. “Where were you going?”

Rainbow clamped her mouth shut. She didn’t want to potentially give him anymore. Her curiosity was burning inside her right now though. Something about his sudden appearance didn’t add up. Especially after he had been gone for so long. Something must have happened to delay him after they parted ways at the Smoking Island. What had he been up to in the meantime? It worried her, especially knowing how tenacious and ruthless he was.

“Maybe I’m just that awesome of a tracker?” Godfrey continued with a slight chuckle.

Rainbow was about to retort when they both heard a door open up down the hall from their cell. The two prisoners stopped and looked through their bars as they heard the sound of several approaching figures. Along with a lot of agitated hissing and clicking. Rainbow Dash bit her lip while Godfrey lifted his free talon and scratched under his beak. The two of them saw the shadows approaching on the stone floor, and then green feet came into view before their captors fully stepped in front of their cell.

Well this is definitely the right island… Rainbow thought as she looked at them.

Green bipedal lizards, with dry and scaly skin and a pair of chameleon-like eyes twitching about in their heads peered at the two prisoners. Their heads were big compared to the rest of their bodies, with their torsos thin and their arms and legs spindly. Despite standing on two feet they were also only about a head taller than Rainbow Dash herself. Behind them she saw long tails swaying about that probably helped with their balance. Technically they were wearing clothes as well but really all they had on were faded and torn up rags. At one point they might have been shirts or pants but no more. A few of the lizards in the large group were also carrying wooden spears, some tipped with sharp black stones but some just sharpened wood at the end.

Those spears were leveled at them and stuck through the holes in the wooden bars to keep Godfrey and Rainbow Dash at bay as the whole group stopped.

“So this really is the Lost Isle of the Lizard People…” Godfrey whispered.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes briefly flickered over to him before she looked back at the lizards. They didn’t look happy to see her, but that wasn’t anything new. She gulped and put on an awkward smile, waving to them. “Hey there, my name’s Rainbow Dash. Nice place you got here.”

Godfrey snorted in amusement. “Please.”

A storm of hissing came from the lizards and two in particular stepped towards the bars. One had a bunch of red spots covering his green face while the other was holding an old book that he was leafing through while occasionally looking back up at Rainbow and Godfrey. The red-spotted lizard opened his mouth to deliver a low hiss while showing off rows of sharp teeth while the one holding the book finally stopped at a page and pointed at Godfrey.

“Griffon…” the voice was heavily accented and lispy but the word was clear enough. He then flipped a few more pages and stopped again before pointing at Rainbow Dash. “Pegassssusss…”

Rainbow’s smile didn’t get any less awkward and forced. “S-So you know what we are, and you can speak the same language as us? That’s great! So uh… how about you put away those spears and we have a nice conversation. I’m not going to hurt any of you. He might-” she said, pointing to Godfrey. “But I won’t.”

Godfrey just rolled his eyes this time.

“Invaders… you rot here…” the one with red spots now spoke.

Rainbow Dash winced. “That’s uh… not what I wanted to hear. And look, I’m not an invader. I’m a friend. Maybe. Sort of. If you just let me out we can talk this over peacefully. I’ve got friends who-“

“Friends?” The red one’s eyes bored deeply into Rainbow Dash as his tongue lashed about. “Ship… your ship… seen. Land where? Others on. Where… go?”

Despite the situation, Rainbow Dash felt a flicker of relief and excitement as he spoke. They saw the Heart of Azure. And that means the ship must’ve made it safely through the fog. And from what he was saying they also spotted others still onboard. Her friends were okay. They must have just drifted to somewhere else on the island where these lizards didn’t see. Rainbow Dash hoped they landed someplace safe—at the very least she knew they hadn’t been captured. She took a deep breath and smiled a true smile, calming herself down.

“I don’t know where they went, but look, we aren’t your enemy,” Rainbow Dash told the lizard and took a step forward.

He hissed and the spears were pointed directly at Rainbow, jabbing at her and forcing her to back up.

“Watch it!” She shouted.

“Invaders… invaders… leave them… lock them… forever…”

“Look, you really don’t want to do that. There’s no reason for us to be enemies,” Rainbow said. She couldn’t help the worried sweat from breaking out on her face. This is definitely not how she wanted first contact with the Lizard People to go.

“Working with… others… others on ship… others on island… invaders...” the red-spotted lizard just shook his head, his words confusing Rainbow Dash. Finally he let out a loud growling hiss and turned on his heels, walking away from the cell. The other lizards followed after him, those holding spears withdrawing them from the bars.

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash yelled, pressing her head against the wooden beams and looking after them now. “I’m not done with you!”

“I think they’re done with you though. And me too for that matter,” Godfrey said.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder and glared at him. “You just shut up.”

“Geha! What are you so upset for? Sounds like my brother and those others are safe. You’ll be out searching for the Necklace in no time.”

Rainbow froze and stepped away from the beams, not saying anything.

Godfrey shook his head. “Oh just admit it already. Why else would you have come here if you didn’t think Ponyseidon’s Necklace was here? The Lost Isle of the Lizard People is mythical enough already, I can’t imagine the trouble you went through to discover this place. The Necklace must be here. Or at least that merpony believes it is with all her heart. And that’s decent enough for me.”

“I’m not telling you nothing, Godfrey,” Rainbow Dash snorted and sat down.

“Well, not like I can blame you for that,” Godfrey chuckled.

“Unless you want to finish our fight there’s nothing more for us to talk about,” Rainbow defiantly crossed her hooves over her chest.

“Hmm...” Godfrey reached with his unshackled talon to the chains wrapped around his midsection and wings, dragging a claw across them. “No, not really. Unless we’re both at our best I don’t really want to fight you—too much fun would be missed. Heh.”

“I don’t want to be chained to a dead griffon either,” Rainbow smirked.

Godfrey chuckled a little more and took a look at the wooden beams that contained them. “Well anyways, instead of fighting I’d like you to help me break out of here.”

Rainbow’s eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”

“Not like I actually need your help. Could’ve broken out of here by myself as soon as I woke up, stupid lizards, but I don’t want you dragging your hooves and getting in my way, you know? Wouldn’t help either of us to be fighting like that,” Godfrey said.

Rainbow stared at him—and a slow rumbling built itself up in her chest, her hooves shook, and her cheeks puffed out—and finally she released a loud braying laugh, throwing her head back and flopping to the ground, kicking her hooves against the dusty stone floor. “Y-You’re kidding, right? Why would I help you escape from here? That’s just plain stupid! First off, you’d probably attack these lizards, and even though they don’t look very nice I’m not about to let you just go killing them. And we’d still be chained together so we’d just have to go to the same place and I’m definitely not bringing you to find my friends. Hay, we’d probably end up fighting at some point anyways while chained up like this! Why would I help you get out of here? Ever? Sure, I may not be able to do a whole lot in here either, but my friends are okay and I know they’ll come find me.” She sat up and grinned at him. “And when they do I’ll get out of here and you can stay with your legs and talons all chained up too.”

“Hmmm… that so?” Godfrey smiled as he lifted his free talon and scratched his headcrest. “Yeah I mean, that’d be the smart thing for you to do, more or less. Aside from the fact that you really don’t have the time to just be sitting around.”

“What do you mean?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed.

Godfrey’s talon moved down to his stomach, he gave it a few exploratory prods before stopping at a certain spot. “Just saying if you want to find that Necklace without any trouble… you better help me out of here so we can get moving together.” He sharply pressed into his stomach and his body jolted as if he was about to throw up. But instead he just heaved a few times before something came up into his throat, a ball-shape moving from his stomach and into his mouth. With a cough, Godfrey spit something into his beak and showed it off to Rainbow Dash.

Her pupils narrowed to pinpricks as Godfrey held a yellow, walnut-sized, crystal in his beak.

Just as quickly he closed his beak and smashed the Locator Crystal to pieces before grinning at Rainbow Dash.

“Godfrey...” Rainbow’s blood had run cold. “What did you just do?”

“Hehehe… oh nothing, nothing much. Just alerted the main Bosche slaving fleet of where I was and that now they can come here. I’d say they’re about a day away at the most,” he reached his talon out towards her. “So how about working together?”

Forced Compromise

Junk #1 of the Boschese fleet calmly sailed northeast to its newly acquired target. The main Bosche slaving fleet that it led was comprised of 36 Junks that had sailed together from their crescent homeland. For such an occasion, and for such a large flotilla, the fleet was of course under the direct command of Admiral Bin’Tavy, highest among high in the Bosche navy.

He proudly stood on the main deck of the Junk, surrounded by subordinates as they got a swift move on. A full compliment of soldiers was also on deck, standing at attention, and many more waited below. They had an army fit for invasion aboard their fleet and they certainly planned to use it if needed. Of course, it was his command staff and servants that were of more interest to him right now. One servant, bowing down so as not to look directly at the admiral, held a tray with a pot of tea on it.

Admiral Bin’Tavy held the cup from the tray to his lips as he drank the warm, aromatic, liquid. He was not any taller or more muscular than the average stallion, in fact he may have even been a little smaller, but it was difficult to tell with the elaborate silken robes he wore and the black mantle on his shoulder. The robes were of the finest quality available in Bosche, mostly black with red flames crawling up the bottom and golden flowers sewn across the rest. His clothes underneath were a form-fitting uniform of the same material and style. Unlike several other Bosche officers he did not wear a hat, letting his golden, well-groomed, mane on top of his brown head visible for all to see. What he did wear were several necklaces and golden ear piercings with valuable jewels hanging from them. An exercise in wealth, privilege, and importance that even other admirals couldn’t partake in.

“Mmm, brewed to perfection,” the admiral said with a light voice as he placed the teacup back on its tray and had the servant hurry away. He opened his deep blue eyes and gazed north at the open ocean before turning to his first officer—Admiral Tuon. “So the griffon has indeed broken the crystal?”

“Yes, sir. We just got the signal from his Locator Crystal,” Admiral Tuon answered.

Bin’Tavy smiled. “Then that despicable griffon has actually pulled through for us. Marvelous.”

“Yes...” Admiral Tuon was a bit hesitant before he continued with his reservations. “Admiral? We’re not truly going to reward that pirate, are we? Despite allying with us now and leading us—supposedly—to the Lost Isle of the Lizard People, the other crimes he’s committed against Bosche in the past are-”

The amused, high-pitched, laughter of Admiral Bin’Tavy cut him off. “Ahahaha… please Tuon, please. Of course I don’t plan on giving that filthy creature anything other than death. The deal we made was just for his own ego and peace of mind. As soon as things are finished here and we’re safely on our way back to Bosche I’ll have him dealt with. It’s nothing more than what a pirate like him deserves—we’re only using him, remember that.”

Admiral Tuon smiled. “Of course, sir.”

“Now then-” Bin’Tavy cleared his throat. “Full speed to the Lost Isle of the Lizard People! We’ll have our prize.”

“You’re working with Bosche?!” Rainbow shouted, practically leaping towards Godfrey and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

He seemed rather amused by her reaction, holding up his talons defensively and grinning at her. “I wouldn’t say working with. More like using. They probably view it the same way as a matter of fact.”

“But why? What do you get out of this?” Rainbow demanded, she shook him back and forth.

“Relax,” Godfrey grabbed her and hooves and pulled her off him. “You know I could’ve broken that crystal while you were asleep and not told you at all. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

Rainbow frowned but thought about it. “That you didn’t really want them here either.”

“Bingo, Rainbow Dash. They were a back up, I was going to maybe just leave them completely out of this but after getting here, getting chained to you and not knowing where the Necklace is at all… I figured I needed some leverage to work with you. Now that fleet will be here soon, and unless you want them to enslave every lizard on this island—and you too for that matter—we should probably get out of here soon and find your friends,” Godfrey said.

Rainbow bit her lip, her brow furrowed in thought as she tried to think of a better solution than just going along with what Godfrey was saying. “No… the fog and whirlpools around the island will make it impossible for them to get here.”

“Impossible? Difficult maybe, but not impossible. Those Bosche losers are pretty persistent when it comes to getting slaves, especially exotic new ones that the rest of the Grand Ocean has never seen. They’ll get here, you can be sure of that,” Godfrey wagged a finger at her.

“Uggghhhh,” Rainbow Dash grabbed her head in frustration. “So what then? Even if we escape from here what’s going to happen next?” She clicked her tongue. “I really wish I was smarter right now…”

“We help each other,” he shrugged, once more almost yanking Rainbow off her hooves. “It’s as simple as that. We go find your friends, we go find the Necklace, and then I help you fend off Bosche and we all leave safe and sound.”

“There’s no way you’re just going to help like that,” Rainbow glared at him.

“What else can I do? We’re chained together, my wings are chained down so I can’t fly away, I don’t know where the Necklace is or how to find it, and when we find your friends I’ll be outnumbered and hardly able to fight half as well. I’m more reliant on you right now than I want to admit. And I think you’ll agree that not working with me is just going to cause even more problems anyways. Even if you don’t trust me,” he winked.

Rainbow Dash’s eye twitched. “I really don’t like you, Godfrey.”

“I know,” he chuckled. “But you’re probably the closest thing to a friend I have on this whole ocean.”

“And that’s just sad,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

“Never something I’ve been bothered about,” Godfrey laughed.

“And that’s what makes it even sadder.”

“Well enough of that,” Godfrey finished laughing and held out his shackled talon to her. “What do you say? Are we working together or not?”

Rainbow stared at his talon, grinding her teeth back and forth in anger and bewilderment. She couldn’t trust him as far as she could throw him. She really didn’t like him. What he did to Senax and tried to do to all of them… everything else she knew about him. But did she have a choice? The situation on the island had just gotten way worse. Could she afford to sit here and wait for the possibility of her friends to spring her out? Who knows what they were even going through right now either. There were so many factors, so many things she didn’t know, so many dangers.

Well, she had never shied away from danger before.

Rainbow Dash sighed. Her hoof quivered a bit, but she brought it up to his talon in the end.

Godfrey smiled and grasped it, shaking her hoof. “Alright then. Guess we can call ourselves partners for now. I think you’re a lot more respectable to work with than Bosche.”

Rainbow’s lip curled and her whole body shivered in distaste as she withdrew her hoof. “You know I hate to say it but I think I actually agree with you on that…” She groaned once more. “Ughhh, I’m going to regret this so badly!”

“Come on, no reason to be so pessimistic,” Godfrey teased.

“That’s usually what I’m saying to Daylight and Senax,” Rainbow said and then raised an eyebrow at Godfrey. “You’re more similar to your brother than I thought.”

“Gehahahaha! Maybe sometimes,” Godfrey said and cracked his neck. The big griffon stood up and Rainbow followed, the chain between them not leaving her a lot of room to walk around on her own.

It annoyed her to know that she couldn’t exactly force him to go anywhere. He was going to have to willingly follow along, she may have gotten stronger but she couldn’t make him budge if he didn’t want to. Hopefully he’d at least be a little serious about working together and just let her lead the way. Either way for the moment Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to stretch her limbs and wiggle her sore wings as best she could. They were going to be really stiff whenever she got this chain off. That stupid shackle around her hoof too was really irritating, it had already agitated her skin there. She had enough aches and pains from the fight with Godfrey yesterday and now it was all going to get worse thanks to these chains and being forced to sleep on a hard stone floor like this.

“So lame… everything about this is so lame,” Rainbow shook her head.

“Come on, the two of us together can probably do anything,” Godfrey smiled. “There’s nothing lame about the excitement coming. As strong and capable as you are, us two teaming up has to be pretty awesome.”

Rainbow shuddered and glared at him once more. “Please don’t ruin that word for me.”

The ground beneath Senax’s hoof suddenly gave out and she almost slipped and fell down the cliffside before Gilbert’s talon wrapped around her hoof and pulled her to safety.

“Easy does it!” Gilbert said as he hoisted her back on the narrow ledge she had been using. “That was a close one.”

“Are you alright, Senax?” Daylight yelled from behind her.

“Y-Yes, I’m alright,” Senax said, her voice trembling as she looked at the water below.

They were on the far east side of the Lost Isle, carried there by the island’s own currents without anyway to fight back. Thankfully the Heart of Azure hadn’t smashed up against the rocks as the waves weren’t too bad here, but they couldn’t really go anywhere safely with the condition it was in. Breakwater had anchored it below up against the cliff, where it rocked back and forth, safe for now.

Senax could still see it down there, thinking that perhaps it would’ve been better if they stayed there instead of climbing the cliff. “Maybe we should’ve just had you carry us one by one, Gilbert...”

It wasn’t a sheer cliff but the paths leading up it and the mountains that made up this side of the island were pretty treacherous. Narrow, studded with loose gravel, and the wind from the ocean blowing against them, all made it a difficult climb. If they had any idea where a safe landing was they would’ve just had Gilbert fly them there, but they were already here now so they might as well keep going forward. Senax only wished that the map had shrunken down even further to show where they needed to walk on the island too. Unfortunately it didn’t change after they had gotten through the fog so they left it behind on the ship.

“It would’ve been easier if there was a port here, or some kind of settlement,” Breakwater said from the front as he looked up at the mountains. “Maybe where we need to go is actually completely on the other side of the mountain?”

“Who knows? There’s no way to tell until we actually start walking around the island and find things for ourselves,” Daylight shrugged.

“Do you think Rainbow Dash is already looking for us?” Senax asked.

“Probably—or gotten sucked into some adventure of her own,” Daylight said.

“That’s to say if she’s...” Breakwater trailed off.

“I’m sure she’s okay,” Senax frowned. “She was doing fine before we lost track of each other.”

“Yes, despite tangoing with my brother once more I have full faith in Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert nodded. “She’d never stay down if she thought we were in danger either.”

“That’s right,” Senax smiled at him.

“Yeah,” Breakwater smiled too. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Big island though, she probably just hasn’t found us yet.”

“It might be best to explore this side of the island and the mountains instead of just blindly go out looking for her once we get up there,” Daylight said. “Furthermore, this place should be inhabited by the Lizard People shouldn’t it? It honestly might be easier to find them first before Rainbow Dash. And then we can even get the Necklace without anymore trouble too.”

“The Lizard People should be here but we don’t know anything about them or where they live,” Senax said.

“Better find out soon then,” Daylight said.

“And to that we need to hurry up these cliffs, sorry everybody but that’s just how it is,” Breakwater sighed. He looked over to Gilbert. “Be ready to grab any of us if we slip again.”

“Righto!” Gilbert saluted.

Senax also sighed and looked up at the winding path through the cliffs. “And the climbing continues.”

Breakout

Rainbow Dash blew a thoroughly disgruntled breath out her mouth. “Okay, so how are we doing this?”

Godfrey reached over to the wooden beams that barred their escape and rapped a knuckle on them, then squeezed a couple of them slightly between his talon. “Well if we’re working together I figured I should pull my weight and do the heavy lifting for us.”

“Heavy lifting?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yep. One second,” Godfrey grinned and stepped to the back of the cell. He then bounded forward at full speed and smashed shoulder first through the bars—carrying Rainbow with him thanks to the short chain and utterly destroying any remnants of the wooden barrier that had just held them. Broken wood clattered to the ground around them as Godfrey dusted himself off.

Rainbow herself frowned and stood up, rotating her shoulder after Godfrey practically yanked it out of its socket. “You could warn me next time.”

“Wouldn’t have been as fun,” he winked at her.

“Pff,” Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Anyways… I suppose we’re getting out by following the way those lizards came,” Godfrey said and started walking down the hallway.

“I’m going to be in front, Godfrey,” Rainbow said and quickly sped in front of him. “I decide where we go, got that?”

He shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“And another thing. No killing. I know we’re probably going to have to fight our way out of here. But no killing. If we’re working together, that’s the one thing above all else that you need to follow.” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“That’s fine. After getting a glimpse of these lizards I doubt they’ll be enough trouble that I’d need to go that far,” Godfrey grinned at her. “Silly for you to care so much though.”

“No, it’s wrong for you to not care.”

“Heh.”

Before Rainbow could retort to his apathy she heard the sound of running coming from ahead. Taking a better look at the hallway for the first time now that Godfrey wasn’t distracting her, she saw that the corridor went straight for about fifty feet before stopping at a wooden door. There were also several other cells lining the wall right next to the one she and Godfrey had been stuck in. When she looked inside the nearest one she realized that it was actually occupied, three lizards were chained up in it, shackled and hanging on the far wall. So the prison wasn’t just being used by her and Godfrey. They hadn’t made a sound this whole time though, maybe they couldn’t. Unfortunately she couldn’t really help at the moment—and they might have been imprisoned for a good reason, Rainbow truly couldn’t know. Either way the running soon stopped and the door at the end was thrown open to reveal a party of surprised and startled lizards.

“Guess they heard me. Want to say hi to the welcoming party?” Godfrey smirked at her.

“Doesn’t look like we have a choice,” Rainbow cracked her neck. “Let’s just get out of here.”

The two ran together at the lizards, Godfrey having to match her stride so he didn’t accidentally carry her away or drag her across the floor. The lizards started squawking and hissing loudly, yelling down somewhere past the door they couldn’t see. Rainbow narrowed her eyes—these ones who opened the door didn’t have any weapons like the others. They had come here in a rush, unprepared. That made things especially easy.

Godfrey and Rainbow Dash barreled into them, knocking all the lizards over and obliterating the door at the same time. Rainbow couldn’t help but grin as it happened—she may not have known what was up with these lizards, but they had imprisoned her for no reason, they had chained up her wings, and it sure felt good to show them who they were messing with. Godfrey had been right too, the lizards skinny frames didn’t pack much muscle at all. It had practically been as easy as bowling over a group of fillies. A few tried to stand back up but a few quick punches from Rainbow and Godfrey knocked them out or kept them down and in pain.

“Come on, come on, you could’ve at least brought some weapons to make this a little tougher!” Godfrey laughed.

Rainbow ignored him. “Alright, where to next?”

In front of them was a stone stairway that both went up and down several more floors by the look of it. A red arrow pointing down was painted on the wall next to a green arrow pointing up. And to the right…

“Hisss!” Several lizards with spears were running at them, loudly hissing along the way. The corridor they were coming from looked like it led into some kind of office or lobby. It was hard to tell because everything was the same sandy and dusty stone. Something told Rainbow Dash that this island wasn’t big on modern architecture.

“Since I’m assuming you want to avoid senseless violence what say we go up? Green’s a friendlier color than red,” Godfrey suggested.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “Let’s go—quickly.”

The two started running up the stairs together even as they heard the lizards chasing after them. There wasn’t any alarm going off—they probably didn’t have one—so it was likely that most of the rest of this prison didn’t even know they had escaped yet. That thought was proven when they turned to run up another flight of stairs and found a lizard guard casually walking down with spear in hand, not even in a hurry. He stiffened in surprise when he saw them but it was too late, Godfrey backhanded him into the wall and the two continued to run up to the top floor. At a few of the other floors they reached first they occasionally saw other guards who squawked and joined their pursuit, and even a few chained up prisoners being led to cells, but nothing major.

Until they finally reached the top floor and they came out in the middle of a large room with one barred window facing the ocean and the opposite wall having a locked double-door blocking the way.

“Would you mind using your key again?” Rainbow asked the griffon. From the stairs the rumbling of probably at least a dozen running and hissing lizards was coming closer.

“Gladly,” Godfrey nodded and ran towards the door. Rainbow followed with him as the griffon careened into the door and reduced it to splinters—the lock snapping like a twig from his weight and the force of the tackle. The both of them skidded to a stop along the ground just past the door and looked around.

Now this was the lobby. There were several more guards standing about, now incredibly confused, and a few chained up lizards that were about to be led through the door Rainbow and Godfrey had just busted through. Besides that there was a round area in front of them walled off by stone with more lizards sitting inside it, and a bright beam of sunlight pouring in through a hole in the ceiling that also—unsurprisingly—was barred. Most importantly was a large front gate at the end of the room. It had several windows in it that also let in sunlight from outside.

“There’s the exit,” Godfrey said.

The hissing of lizards from behind them had just reached their level too. “Sounds like we found it just in time.” Rainbow said as she glanced over her shoulder.

“Still a little ways to go!” Godfrey grinned and without warning started to run towards the gate, Rainbow Dash just barely catching on in time to keep from falling off her hooves.

“Watch it!” Rainbow yelled.

“Why don’t you try and keep up?” Godfrey laughed and jumped over the circular area in front of them while all the other lizard guards abandoned what they were doing to try and surround the two of them.

Rainbow was forced to leap with him and the two came clattering down on the other side of the stone floor, several guards rushing at them. To make sure they didn’t get stuck here while a stream of guards kept coming from behind, they had to work quick to take care of these ones and leave the prison. A wooden spear thrust towards Rainbow’s face was ducked under and she snapped the shaft with her hoof before grabbing the broken end and smacking it into the lizard’s face. Godfrey just swatted the spears coming at him out of the way and pummeled any guard he could. It was a little awkward for the two of them to fight right now since they had to be conscious of the other and couldn’t move recklessly. Rainbow herself was basically stuck where she stood since she couldn’t pull Godfrey, and he had to worry about yanking her around when he moved and potentially putting her in danger.

One last hissing lizard jumped in the air at Rainbow Dash but had his attack cut short when Godfrey’s powerful fist punched him right out of the air and into the wall.

“I had him,” Rainbow huffed at Godfrey.

“You’re going to complain about me helping?” Godfrey seemed amused as he looked at her.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get out of here.”

The two chained prisoners ran to the front gate despite the growing hissing coming from behind. The gate itself looked too big for Godfrey to force his way through but they didn’t need to this time. It was unlocked. The two threw it open and finally emerged into the outside world. It wasn’t like they had any time to sit around and take pictures, but both of them with their sharp eyes saw a lot at once. The prison’s entrance sat at the top of a plateau with most of the rest of the prison carved into the cliff behind it. Several large stone stairways made their way up to the plateau and other levels on it that were filled with other stone buildings—most carved into the plateau but some built standing free. The prison and the cliff it was inside looked to be on the southwest side of this part of the island, it gave both Rainbow and Godfrey a commanding view of the rest of the lizard city they could now see.

It was different from any other civilization Rainbow had seen on the Grand Ocean. And perhaps any she had seen on her entire journey so far. It looked more like something out of one of Daring Do’s adventures.

There were a number of large stepped pyramids in the valley under the cliff they were on. The roads and land between the pyramids was a dry and yellow dirt that didn’t look very appealing or good for growing anything. The other larger buildings in the valley were made out of stone as well with only a few rickety looking wooden buildings set up in other places. Some of the pyramids and stone buildings looked really dilapidated and worn out too, there were even a couple piles of rubble that Rainbow Dash thought might’ve been buildings at one point. From what she could see there were stone roads, or at the very least stone walking paths, but most were cracked and uneven.

To the west was just more empty land before it became cliffs and coastline but to the east there was much, much more to see. The plateau they were on tapered off at a decent slope until it ended and in the distance a huge jungle started pretty much right at the end of the valley, from what Rainbow could see it stretched for miles to the east and as far to the north and south she could see from this position as well. Beyond it was a cluster of large rocky mountains on the east side of the Lost Isle.

It really was like they had stumbled into some ancient and forgotten city. Which Rainbow Dash had to remind herself it was. They might’ve been the first outsiders to see this since the Necklace was brought here. From up here she could also see all the Lizard People out there, walking down the roads, up the pyramids, even up the stairs that led to the prison and other buildings on this side of the cliff. There were hundreds, maybe thousands just that she could see.

Rainbow bit her lip, she and Godfrey couldn’t fight an entire army if they brought one to bear. Especially not chained like this.

There wasn’t a lot of time to think about that though. A group of guards and other lizards from the prison burst from the front gate to catch Rainbow and Godfrey. They didn’t want their newly imprisoned criminals to break free and get up to trouble.

Rainbow and Godfrey turned around to get ready to fight them off but she shot a quick glance to the pirate too. “We can’t get caught up fighting here for long.”

“I know, I was thinking we head east to the jungle, we can hop down the cliffs from here and avoid the city completely,” Godfrey said as the first of several guards thrust their spears at him. He turned to his side quickly and actually let the spears harmlessly bounce off the metal chain wrapped around him. Then a few quick punches took out the ones closest to him.

“Sounds like a plan,” Rainbow replied as she ran forward just barely enough to have some slack in her chain and spun around to buck the first lizard charging at her. The next few attacks and spears were effortlessly dodged, despite the chain Rainbow Dash was still Rainbow Dash, she moved like water around her enemies. It would still be a hassle in most situations but she was already adjusting. Thankfully the lizards could only come from one direction right now too, they all flowed out of the gate and let Rainbow and Godfrey deal with them a couple at a time. But this still wasn’t where Rainbow wanted to be.

“Come on, Godfrey, enough of this! Let’s hurry up and get away from this city!” Rainbow said as she ducked under another spear and punched the wielder in the face.

“I’ll give us some space,” Godfrey smirked and grabbed one of the unconscious lizards off the ground. He threw the lizard at the ones just coming out of the gate, knocking them over and creating a pileup at the exit. “Now!”

The two ran to the east, quickly getting away from the prison as the guards tried to compose themselves. Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder briefly and saw that they weren’t immediately all just following but some were running down the steps and hissing loudly. Probably trying to alert the entire city now. Either way it gave them a momentary respite but soon they’d probably have an even bigger problem. The first problem though was there wasn’t even really a path down the plateau from here. No other buildings stood on this part of it or down below, it was a series of rocky, uneven cliffs and crags just a couple of hundred feet away.

In a normal situation they’d easily fly down.

If it was just Rainbow with her wings chained she’d easily jump down from ledge to ledge.

The two of them chained together was a little more dangerous.

They still didn’t hesitate for even a second. Both Rainbow and Godfrey started jumping down the cliffs in unison, their eyes easily picking out the safest route down and their athletic bodies and reflexes having no problem working even in this restrained state. Though there was a huge danger to both of them right now, as the slightest misstep or hesitation could send them both tumbling down, they didn’t even need to speak to each other to make it work. Rainbow was loathe to admit it but she knew to trust in Godfrey’s physical abilities at this point. And he knew the same.

Frankly, with the amount of chain the two had between them she could’ve just hopped on his back and that would’ve been safer. But she really didn’t fancy using him as a steed. He would probably also dislike that.

Instead they kept swiftly jumping and running down until they reached the bottom of the cliffs and the edge of the valley. They were beyond any buildings of the city, but the big pyramids, ziggurats, and other structures were still easily visible if Rainbow were to look behind her. There was also something else as the two briefly paused once their hooves and talons had reached level ground—a great frantic noise coming from the city behind them. Chaos. Mass panic. The sort of riotous noise that could be heard across an entire city.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “Well the hard part’s over. Let’s say we hurry up and get to that jungle?”

“Ladies first,” Godfrey gestured towards it.

Rainbow blankly stared back at him. “You’re good at being annoying.”

She still swiftly ran off with him coming with her, the dense jungle not a far run ahead. There were no roads or paths that led into it, but that was good for them, they wouldn’t take those paths anyways when they were trying to escape and hide from the Lizard People. Rainbow just hoped that if these lizards really had the Necklace, that her next time at the city would go a lot better.

Meanwhile, Peaceful Lizards

The narrow ravine between two of the mountains on the island was proving itself to actually be a far easier place to travel through than the cliffs had been. Now that Senax, Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater had gotten away from the treacherous coastline and into the dense mountain range there was no shortage of safe paths to walk. The mountains practically sat on top of and leaned into each other, had numerous peaks of their own, and always provided a steady way down in one spot if another was a sheer vertical cliff. Now they were at the bottom of a ravine still on the higher points of the range, safely walking down it and avoiding any cliffs or ledges for the moment.

Daylight looked up at the granite mountains around them, and down at all the loose rock and gravel around her hooves. “You know this reminds me of traveling through the mountains of East Glade a lot. Minus the horrifying monsters.”

“I was thinking that too,” Senax said. “It’s almost like home.”

“It’s a good thing they don’t have the altitude to be snowy either,” Daylight said.

“We don’t need anything else to make this trip slower. We already don’t even know where we’re going,” Breakwater said. “Sure there are a lot of ways to walk through these mountains but I haven’t seen any signs of civilization. If we could just find some carved out steps, or a bridge, or signpost...”

Senax looked ahead to Gilbert, who had point. “Do you see anything like that, Gilbert?”

“Not at all, unfortunately. But down here it’s not like I have a great view,” the griffon replied.

“How much further does the ravine go?” Daylight asked.

“It winds back and forth for a bit longer at least,” Gilbert said.

“If we could find anything like a mountain stream or spring we’d be more likely to find creatures living here,” Breakwater said.

“But we don’t even know if the Lizard People live in these mountains at all,” Daylight shrugged. “They could be down in that jungle, or on the other side of the island. I wouldn’t want to live up here if I could avoid it.”

“You’re not an anthropologist though. Maybe the lizards like the mountains?” Gilbert suggested.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “I suppose they could. Either way it’s not going to change anything unless we actually find something up here.”

When they did eventually come out of the ravine they found themselves on a wide ledge where the mountainside to their left was covered in dry shrubs and the occasional tree while to their right it was another sheer cliff. They could’ve gone down, a bit slowly and carefully, but instead they chose to follow the ledge as it was still the closest thing to a genuine mountain pass they had right now. It curved around the mountain in front of them so they couldn’t see where it ended but at least it was wide enough to be totally safe for them to travel on. The more they walked the greener things were looking too, a few birds were flying in the sky and some rodents were visible running in and out of burrows on the mountains.

Since the path followed the circumference of the mountain from what they could see, they ended up on walking along its western face after just a couple of minutes. Ahead of them now the ledge connected to a plateau jutting out from another mountain just south of the one they were on. A lot of trees and bushes obstructed the path ahead but it looked like it kept going. There were also a lot of boulders and free-standing rock formations along the plateau side that obscure their view of most of the rest of the island and mountain range to the west.

“Least we’re getting somewhere,” Daylight sighed as they started walking through the heavy brush.

“Somewhere with less vines would be nice,” Gilbert said as he struggled to tear down some plants in the way.

“Obviously this is a path not commonly traveled, I guess the inhabitants have no reason to go through the mountains past here,” Breakwater said.

Senax stayed quiet for a second, her webbed ears twitching slightly. “Do you hear something?”

Daylight raised an eyebrow at her. “Something?”

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “I swear I can hear running water coming from just ahead.”

“Maybe we’ve found our mountain spring then,” Breakwater thought as they kept pushing through the brush.

“I hope so, I could go for a drink actually,” Gilbert said as he shoved the low-hanging leafy branches of a tree to the side. “And I think we’re... here...” He stopped at the exit to the vegetation, now staring out at what he saw silently.

Daylight walked up next to him and took a look too, wondering what was up. “Is something—oh.”

Finally Senax and Breakwater got to see what had struck their two friends silent as well. As soon as the trees and bushes ended, the mountain path opened up into a wider area flanked by walls on all sides, but directly opposite from their overgrown path they could see the start of stairs carved into the ground going down from where they were. As for the sound of running water that Senax had heard, it turned out to actually be the sound of a spout of water coming from the mouth of a fish carved into the side of the mountain to their right. The clear water arced into a deep pool directly in front of the fish.

Where a lizard wearing a pink dress was hand washing a basket full of clothes in.

The lizard had frozen up and gone silent just like Gilbert and Daylight when she, or he, or it, had seen them come from the bushes.

Senax blinked repeatedly as she took in the lizard. At least the creature was proof they were in the right place. It was the first time she had seen a creature like this, bipedal, with an oversized head on a small body with long and thin limbs, and a tail coming out the bottom of the dress. Like Senax, the lizard had scales and not hair or fur on its body, but the scales were much bigger and thicker, she could tell that at a glance. The pink dress looked soft and well-taken care of though.

Their eyes met, and the lizard took a sharp intake of breath as both her chameleon eyes locked onto Senax. The lizard dropped the clothes she was washing and stood up, a frantic and high-pitched hissing emerging from her mouth as she almost ran over to Senax. Daylight and Breakwater went to defend Senax if needed, but the lizard dropped to her knees in front of Senax and bowed deeply to the ground.

“Umm...” Senax tilted her head.

The lizard only stayed prostrated with her arms outstretched and repeatedly raised and lowered them, almost like she was worshiping Senax.

"Well this is certainly an interesting turn of events,” Gilbert said as he scratched his beak.

"I think the lizard likes you,” Breakwater said to Senax.

Daylight meanwhile just rubbed her head in confusion.

"H-Hello, um, thank you for this but you don’t need to keep doing it...” Senax said to the lizard.

The lizard quickly raised her head and nodded repeatedly, getting up and reaching a hand to Senax’s leg while pointing in the other direction—to the stairs. “Hiss, hiss, hiss!”

“Does it—she—want us to follow her?” Breakwater asked.

“I think so,” Senax said.

“Do we?” Gilbert glanced to Daylight.

The unicorn shrugged. “She seems friendly... I doubt Senax at least is going to be in any danger.”

“Thank you...” Senax said, a bit uncomfortably, and started walking forward at the behest of the lizard. The basket of clothes had been completely forgotten. She was pulled right to the stairs while the lizard hissed even louder, opening up her wide mouth and almost yelling as Senax and the others started to walk down the stairs. They all saw why the lizard was making such a fuss very quickly.

The stairs led down from the cistern and opened up into a large mesa settled between the various nearby mountains. The mesa itself was covered in stone buildings, more existed higher up the mountainside, others were visible in the distance up other mountains, reachable by both stone bridges and wooden rope bridges. Paths were visible leading every direction either further into the mountains or down towards the jungle. Most eye-catching of all was the large stone steps that went up and up this very mountain, leading to the facade of a castle carved into its western wall.

And of course, the dozens and dozens of Lizard People just like the one they had met wandering around outside. They wore clothes similar to the one guiding them, but a lot wore pants and shirts instead of dresses, making Senax and the others pretty certain this was definitely a she they had met. There were also quite a few smaller lizard children, they had walked right down into a fully functioning mountain town.

“Huh,” Daylight said, mostly at a loss for words.

“I think we might have hit the jackpot in more ways than one,” Gilbert said.

As their guide kept hissing and yelling while bringing Senax to the bottom of the stairs, more and more lizards started to take notice. At first they seemed confused—even frightened when they saw the strange outsiders—but once they saw Senax that all changed. Every lizard, every single one, as soon as they really took a look at Senax dropped what they were doing and rushed over. Dozens of them bowed down in front of her, worshiping her, giving out joy-filled hisses, the children even came forward and tried to touch her to see if she was real.

The perplexed group just stood there, watching.

Senax bit her lip and turned to her friends with an awkward smile. “W-Well at least someone’s happy to see merponies.”

“I’ve been thinking about some stuff, Godfrey. And I need to ask you a question. And I really want a serious answer. Okay?” Rainbow shot up a questioning glance at the griffon pirate.

Godfrey clawed some bright green leaves out of their way so they could keep walking through the jungle. It had been a couple of hours since they had first started their trek through it and it hadn’t really gotten any faster. The trees and vegetation were thick, there was nowhere flat to walk other than the occasional narrow game trail, the humidity was high, and insects constantly buzzed around their heads. It was the most tropical place Rainbow Dash had been to since the Green Divide. So many vines, so many colorful flowers and colorful birds. Every now and then Rainbow heard the screech from some animal in the distance.

The griffon exhaled through his beak and shrugged as he walked over the twisted roots of a tree, Rainbow hopping over them as well. “Ask away then.”

“How did you know we were here? For real. And joining with Bosche and doing all that… it doesn’t seem like you. What’s going on?” She narrowed her eyes at him.

Godfrey stopped and looked down contemplatively at her before bringing a talon up to scratch under his beak. “You know I was thinking some similar things to be honest.”

“Huh?”

“I got a letter,” Godfrey shrugged.

“A letter? What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked.

“I had taken control of a new ship after what happened on the Smoking Island. Did you and your friends even know The Scourge was destroyed? Heh, anyways, I found a new temporary ship to use not long after. Got back to looking for you all pretty quickly but couldn’t find you, figured you were probably hanging around Malkonrik and the rest of the Kingdoms a lot but I didn’t really have the opportunity to skulk about there. With how well-known my face is and without a real crew to back me up anymore I had to stay on the open seas. Enough about that though—the point is that after a little while of coming up with nothing, I woke up and found a letter addressed to me on the ship,” he chuckled in amusement. “Couldn’t tell you how it got there, but it was there. The letter told me where you were going and why, and even how long it would take for you to get there so I’d have perfect timing. It also gave the whole plan for allying with Bosche and the best way to do that. Quite the letter.”

Rainbow Dash felt herself pale as she ground her teeth back and forth. There were only two people she could think of that would—and could—have sent that letter and she really didn’t like either option.

“Of course I don’t like marching to the beat of anyone else’s drum so it’s not like I followed the letter’s plan to a tee or anything,” Godfrey grinned. “I attacked you all on my own, and told you about Bosche on my own too. So things aren’t going quite to plan. But that’s fine with me, I prefer to do things my own way.”

“So you and Bosche were supposed to just get here and take us totally by surprise…” Rainbow groused. “Probably after we found the Necklace.”

“Yep. Instead I’ve decided to sell my allies and benefactor out. Oops. Gehahaha!” Godfrey laughed.

“But why? Why would whoever sent that letter want things to go that way?” Rainbow wondered.

Godfrey shrugged. “Beats me and I couldn’t care less. Not important anymore, is it?”

“Maybe not to you,” Rainbow said.

“Fair enough. I think you joining back up with your friends and finding the Necklace still takes precedence though,” he said.

“Yeah… we might be going the exact opposite direction it’s even in,” Rainbow said as she looked over her shoulder. “We know the Necklace was entrusted to the lizards, so I bet it’s back there in that city.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she looked up at Godfrey. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t think those lizards made that city at all. Didn’t you get a good look at them? Their clothes were all worn out and ragged, they didn’t even use steel weapons, what they had were primitive even for spears, the buildings were falling apart. They’re just squatters. They don’t know how to maintain or build any of that stuff. I bet those rickety wooden buildings I saw in the city were the only buildings actually made by them. If it really is their city, they built it a long, long, time ago and their civilization has gone way downhill since.”

“Like when the Idol of Boreas was lost to Griffonstone…”

“Bingo,” he winked at her. “Though this is something that had to have taken place over a way longer period of time.”

“Well that still doesn’t mean they don’t have the Necklace,” Rainbow said. “It could be locked away in one of those pyramids, or they might’ve forgotten how important it is.”

“I’m just saying I think it’s unlikely. I bet there are other lizards here, somewhere,” Godfrey shrugged.

Rainbow Dash didn’t reply, she returned her attention to the jungle in front of them and kept walking through the thick vegetation. By the looks of it they still had a long way to go.

Princess Fairscale

“What do we do?” Daylight whispered to Breakwater.

“I don’t know, act casual?” He shrugged.

They were currently being swarmed by a hundred, maybe even two hundred, lizards as they had slowly been brought into the center of the mountain town. Although if it was possible Daylight was sure she, Gilbert, and Breakwater would’ve been tossed out of the crowd so the lizards could focus entirely on Senax. Lizards bowed and hissed appreciatively to her, they brought clothes and food to show her, and of course their hands would run up and down the merpony’s entire body as if making sure she was real.

That last part made Senax thoroughly uncomfortable.

Some of the lizards had also run off to other parts of the mountain society, across the bridges, down the stairs, and even a few had run up to the castle higher up on the mountain. It seemed they wanted everyone to know about the new arrivals.

“I must say, despite the crowding it’s somewhat refreshing to be welcomed so warmly,” Gilbert said.

“That’s all well and good but we need to get them away from Senax to make sure they don’t do anything. Who’s in charge around here?” Daylight frowned as she looked about.

“Hard to figure anything out when they don’t speak our language,” Breakwater said.

“Senax? Do you think you can tell them to give us some space? We’ve got a lot of important things to do,” Daylight said.

“Um… I-I’m not sure I can… or how,” Senax said as she was positively mobbed by a group of lizard children.

But just as quickly as the group of lizards had converged on her, they started to shrink away and gave her (and the others in turn) some space. The hissing had become hushed and for the first time the lizards were looking elsewhere. Daylight was the first to turn and see what had gotten their attention, why had they suddenly changed moods so quickly? It became apparent when she looked up at the great steps leading to the castle.

A procession was walking down towards them.

The lizards who had gone to the castle had apparently come back with some rather important figures.

“What in the world?” Breakwater muttered as he watched them walk down towards them.

In the center of the procession was one lizard wearing a flowing white dress flanked by several other lizards in grey robes that matched their scales. Even at this distance they could all tell that those were some very old lizards. The ones from the mesa were also walking out to the sides, not blocking the view of the lizard in white. All the lizards down around Senax had fanned out to give the lizards coming down from the castle a clear path to her.

When the procession hit the mesa, Senax and the others finally got a close enough view of the one in white. She—definitely a she—had an even more lithe form than the rest of the lizards, and her green scales were mottled with pink spots where they could see. Finally close to Senax, the lizard almost let out a gasp but kept herself composed, still walking the remaining distance until she was face to face with the merpony. The two of them stood facing one another while Daylight, Breakwater and Gilbert just stood there watching silently along with the rest of the lizards.

At last, the lizard in white raised her hands and cupped Senax’s cheeks, leaning down slightly and staring into her eyes.

“Child of Ponyseidon.”

Daylight’s eyebrow’s shot up. “You can speak our language?”

“Yes,” for the first time the pink-spotted lizard looked over at Daylight and the others. She briefly regarded all of them one at a time. “Unicorn. Earth pony. Griffon. It has been many moons since your kind has been here. Not since the Necklace of Ponyseidon was entrusted to us by-” she looked back at Senax. “Your ancestors. And at last you have returned here to us.” A smile graced her face. “We knew you would come, though it has been some time.”

She removed her hands from Senax’s face and stepped back, bowing to the ground just like all the other lizards. In fact, the lizards here watching mimicked her move until they were all bowing as well. “I am Princess Fairscale, it brings me no greater joy than to welcome you here. Child of Ponyseidon—please tell us your name.”

Senax briefly seemed at a loss for words, overwhelmed by what was happening, overwhelmed by being revered to such an extent. Inside her mind there was a chaotic mess of feelings as this was happening thanks to the stories told to her by Coral Sea. Was any of this right? And what if they were disappointed to learn she was just some nobody. Her mouth had gone dry and suddenly she was finding it difficult to breath.

Until the reassuring hoof of Breakwater and talon of Gilbert came to a rest on her back. Senax blinked and looked at them, seeing them smiling back supportively at her.

She swallowed her hesitation. “I am Senax. It’s… it’s wonderful to meet you as well.”

Princess Fairscale got up, though only to one knee, and smiled warmly at Senax. “You cannot know just how special this is to us. That finally, after so long, after so much strife, so much doubt, that a Child has come back to us. Your ancestors said one day you would return for the Necklace but after so long few believed it would ever happen. To see you with my own eyes almost brings me to tears.”

“I almost can’t believe this either… although… I didn’t know you were here until only recently,” Senax said.

“What do you mean?” Princess Fairscale asked. “Surely you came back for the Necklace, didn’t you? Why else would you be here? Did—did the location of the island, the knowledge of how to get here become lost in the chaos of Merlantis’s fall?”

“So the Necklace is here?” Daylight asked before anyone else could speak.

Princess Fairscale now stood up fully. “Of course. We have taken care of it since it was given to us at the end of the revolution.”

“The revolution...” Senax grimaced.

Daylight took the lead again and stood by Senax, speaking to the Princess. “We did come here for the Necklace. We’ve been searching for it for a long time now. I’m sorry but we didn’t know it was here.”

“This island is a myth to the rest of the ocean,” Breakwater said.

“I see...” Princess Fairscale quietly said. “I suppose it should not surprise us that after so long things might have happened off of our island. We both must have much to tell each other. But still!” She clasped her hands and smiled at Senax. “This is still a happy, momentous, occasion! Would you please, Lady Senax, Child of Ponyseidon, please treat with us? You will have everything you could ask for in the castle!”

“I-” Senax glanced at her friends, who all eagerly nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

The walk up the steps to the castle had been an interesting one, what with the entire population of the lizard village following behind them until they reached the castle doors. They were hissing and cheering for Senax the whole way up. Once inside though it was only Princess Fairscale and the old grey lizards. There was still an excitement in the air, practically radiating from the Princess, as she took them through the elaborate insides of the mountain castle. Most of the interior seemed to be carved sheer from the stone, it was impossible to tell exactly how big it was.

Princess Fairscale wasn’t exaggerating about anything either, and “treating” was certainly accurate. Inside of a great hall they were all seated at the end of a long table—and but a few minutes later dozens of lizards came out with silver serving plates filled with every manner of food. They were either offering a feast to Senax or they had no idea what merponies actually liked to eat.

What they brought out was a complete library of food from vegetables, to fruits, to bread, cooked and uncooked—the sorts of things that made Daylight, Breakwater and Senax practically salivate. And then the various fish and meats that was much more appealing to Gilbert, and finally there were the outright weird dishes. Like the bowl of worms, or the skewered centipedes, the soup that had snails in it, and the bread mashed with butterflies. Princess Fairscale spread her hands out towards the dozens of dishes that had been gathered, encouraging them all to eat whatever and however much of what they wanted.

So naturally Gilbert started tearing into a roasted chicken quite quickly. Something that almost made Daylight go green in the face.

“How can you eat something that used to have feathers?” She asked.

He dumbly looked at her. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Senax meanwhile wasn’t feeling that hungry but she still went for a steamed carrot anyways while Breakwater grabbed a stuffed bell pepper.

“Please eat as much as you want, we will prepare anything you desire for your stay here on our island—your island,” Princess Fairscale said.

“T-Thank you,” Senax nodded, fidgeting awkwardly in her seat.

“I um… you seem to know a lot about Ponyseidon and Merlantis… I need to ask you some things first. Please,” Senax said.

Princess Fairscale smiled while the grey lizards leaned in towards her. “Of course. We thought you would know everything, but we would be glad to help enlighten you.”

“First of all, we learned about your island from… others. They gave us an enchanted map so we could safely make it here. But they… they didn’t have anything nice to say about Ponyseidon. In fact they said he was a tyrant who enslaved the creatures of the ocean. But you… you’re so happy to see me, and you love Ponyseidon. Is what they said about him—about the past of my people—true?”

The eyes of the Princess first widened and then narrowed as Senax spoke. “You speak of the Sarraroccons.”

“So you know about them too, huh?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Princess Fairscale nodded. “Their ancestors were the ones who led the revolution. More than once did they try to get us to hand the Necklace over to them as well after things ended.”

“Was their High Priestess speaking the truth to us about everything?” Senax asked again.

“She was. Nothing they told you was untrue,” the Princess confirmed.

Senax shuddered and stared down at the floor, a cold sweat was breaking out over her body and she had to lift a hoof to her head to steady herself and keep from fainting. She wanted it to be a lie. She didn’t want her whole world turned upside-down. The noises of the great hall became muted and Senax’s breath came out in short gasps. Why? Why did this have to be the truth? There was a feeling of vertigo that threatened to cause her to fall to the ground before she felt Breakwater’s hoof on her shoulder.

“Hey, easy there, you doing okay?” He asked.

She weakly nodded. “Yes… I’m okay.”

“I don’t understand,” Daylight said to the Princess. “If that’s all true, all that bad stuff about Ponyseidon, then why do you worship him and his descendants?”

“Ponyseidon and the merponies of old may have enslaved or ruled most of the ocean, but that’s not to say it was a suffering existence for all,” Princess Fairscale looked to Senax. “We were his favored ones. Second only to his progeny like yourself. He uplifted us from a meager existence and gave us everything we have now. Our loyalty and gratitude goes beyond time.”

“Well I suppose that’s… commendable,” Daylight said, though she was obviously conflicted.

“Still doesn’t make Senax evil,” Gilbert shrugged. “I know you won’t suddenly become like your ancestors just because you’re back home.”

“And if you’re loyal to Ponyseidon’s descendants just because of what he did for you then you shouldn’t care that Senax has no intention of being like him, right?” Breakwater said to the Princess.

“Whatever the reason for the Child of Ponyseidon to want the Necklace is no business of mine,” the Princess nodded. “All that matters is that she is who she is.”

“Well that’s good cause actually we really can’t stay here for long. We shouldn’t be lollygagging at all,” Daylight said.

The Princess sat up straight. “Why is that? We were hoping-”

“There’s a friend of ours who came with us to this island. But we became separated and she might be in danger,” Senax explained, finding her voice again. “I’m sorry, I’m grateful for all of this, but we need to find her as quickly as possible. If you have the Necklace… I would like you to give it to me so we can leave and search for her as well. I-If we can, I would like to learn more about Ponyseidon and Merlantis later. When—if—we come back. But right now my friend comes first.”

“I see,” Princess Fairscale bowed her head. “It pains me that you would leave us so quickly but if that is your wish then I will obey. I would give you the Necklace right now.”

“Would?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

The Princess nodded. “Yes. I do not have the Necklace of Ponyseidon with me. To retrieve it and give it to you, I must speak with the Keeper first.”

Rumble in the Jungle

Swiftly through the jungle, thirty lizards made their way east on the trail of the two invaders who had just recently escaped from prison. They ran over the grass and vines, swung from tree to tree, jumped from rock to rock, their movements were practiced and agile. Even more impressive was how silently they moved, not once having to slow down or check with each other for anything. It was a single unit. All of them held a deadly spear in their grip and wore decorative red war paint over their faces.

These lizards were not mere guards.

The hunting party sent from the ancient city quickly progressed on the trail of their prey. It would not be long before they had them surrounded.

“And so my wings were broken, I was completely surrounded and outnumbered, and the Sky Lord wanted me dead. There was no way I was going to convince him otherwise and no way I could escape.”

“So what did you do?”

“Easy. I insulted him right to his face—right in front of all of his crewmates and subordinates—and said he didn’t have the guts to fight me one on one even when my wings were broken. And anyone like that didn’t deserve to be Sky Lord.”

“Pff, he didn’t seriously fall for that, did he?”

“I’m here now aren’t I? And come on, I know you, if you were in his situation you’d do the same. No way you wouldn’t take the challenge.”

“Yeah, yeah...”

“Besides, after everything I’d done to humiliate him leading up to that he had to beat me on his own. If he didn’t look strong for his crew they’d mutiny against him sooner rather than later.”

“Sharktooth Island sure seems like a nice place.”

“Well it’s a quieter place now after everything I’ve done. Either way killing the Sky Lord was the first major thing I did out here to become famous.”

Godfrey had an almost wistful look in his eye after he finished telling Rainbow Dash the tale. She on the other hoof kept a steady frown on her face. Though she was loathe to admit it—Godfrey had some good stories. And it was better than just walking through the jungle doing nothing. Having some conversation helped speed things up. At least that’s how it felt.

“So what happened to his crew then? Shouldn’t you have become the next Sky Lord?” Rainbow asked.

“Most didn’t last long,” Godfrey shrugged. “And a lot of them didn’t accept me becoming Sky Lord cause I wasn’t from the Grand Ocean. So a lot of factions broke off—all of them with a leader proclaiming himself the true Sky Lord.” He grinned. “Hunted all them down. In fact, you ever wonder why all the ponies in the Kingdoms and on the ocean know what griffons are but you’ve never seen one besides me and Gilbert? That’s all me.”

He had finished his “boast” by pointing his thumb at his puffed out chest.

Rainbow Dash glared at him. “That’s not something to be proud of.”

“It’s still an accomplishment.”

She blew a disgruntled breath out her nose. “I hate how I could see you and me being friends if things were just a little different.”

“And I could see us being a couple of fun-loving comrades if things were a little different,” Godfrey shrugged, yanking Rainbow Dash up on her hind legs. Probably on purpose.

“Whatever, let’s just keep walking. We need to hurry up and find my friends,” Rainbow scowled.

“Can’t really go faster with these chains,” Godfrey said.

“Then we’ll-”

Rainbow’s sentence was cut off as a loud howl erupted through the jungle. Loud and powerful enough to cause the trees around them to shake. All the animals, even the mindless insects, went scurrying for cover or flying away.

After that roar died down, Rainbow and Godfrey listened in and heard a nearly identical roar from the opposite direction. Then another, and another, a few directly ahead of them and a few behind.

“Something tells me that aint good,” Rainbow Dash frowned.

“That definitely wasn’t those lizards either,” Godfrey said as he looked around the jungle. Whatever had made those roars though couldn’t be seen, the jungle was too thick.

“Let’s keep moving but do it a little more quietly,” Rainbow said. “Those roars came from everywhere so it’s not like we can just sit around and hope for the best.”

Godfrey nodded. “Sitting here wouldn’t help anything.”

So the two of them continued through the jungle—now not hearing anything else. Each leaf or mess of vines pushed out of the way had the two of them sharply looking around in case they were about to come face to face with whatever made those roars. Above their heads the sun still made its way through the canopy of trees, shining beams of light down to the ground. The jungle seemed peaceful to the untrained eye. To Rainbow Dash and Godfrey there was a sense of danger in the air. Both of them had gotten stiffer as they walked, focusing their already sharp eyes and ears as best they could.

“You can tell?” Godfrey quietly asked her.

“Yeah. Not sure where though,” Rainbow answered.

“Mm, coming soon though,” he said.

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah.”

They were being watched and they knew it, but they didn’t want to let whatever beast or monster out there watching them know. Instead they kept traversing casually through the jungle—though much tenser. Though it would’ve looked like they were totally oblivious to what was going on, in reality they were both ready to react to anything. They were just both experienced enough with danger to be calm about it.

Together they stepped out from around a large tree-

And with another monstrous roar a great figure came swinging from the branches towards them. It let go and flew through the air right on course to land on and crush the two of them so Rainbow and Godfrey both had to jump fast and jump together, there was no time to talk or even send a glance at the other to make sure they were doing the same thing. Fortunately instinct prevailed. Both pony and griffon jumped away from the tree and whatever was attacking them as if they could read each other’s minds. The large and dark figure came crashing into the ground with enough force to shake it and almost cause Rainbow to stumble.

Hunched over, powerful arms pressed to the ground, it recovered quickly and drooling growls came from it as it looked over at the two who had invaded its territory.

It was the largest gorilla she had ever seen. If it stood up straight the crown of its mammoth skull would’ve probably reached ten feet. Its huge arms looked like they were made of pure muscle, tree trunks looked thin compared to them. Shaggy black fur covered it from head to toe and its face was twisted in a snarl of rage. Rainbow Dash didn’t think gorilla’s teeth were supposed to look that sharp.

Godfrey whistled. “Boy, looks like the king of the jungle is upset we’re on his turf.”

“Let’s just go, it’s just a big animal, there’s no reason to fight it,” Rainbow said to him.

“You think we can outrun it like this?” He raised an eyebrow at her and held up the chain binding them.

“I don’t want to fight an animal that’s just protecting its home,” Rainbow frowned. “Fluttershy would kill me. This thing isn’t some monster like a Bugbear...”

“Fine, we can fly instead of fight. Pardon the poor choice of words,” Godfrey grinned. “Although...” he looked over his shoulder and Rainbow Dash followed his gaze to see more gorillas emerging from the jungle all around them. Some came from the trees, others from the brush, none were quite as big as the one in front of them but they were all gargantuan specimens. And they all looked just as angry. “I don’t think his friends are going to let us do that.”

“Ughhhh!” Rainbow dragged her free hoof down her face.

This is not what they needed right now.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and looked around—without flying there was no way out of here. “Fine. Fine then. But no killing, they’re just animals, they don’t deserve that.”

“That’s your biggest concern right now? You really are too kind for your own good.”

“Whatever, let’s just do this.”

The alpha gorilla loudly roared once more and beat its chest, creating a near deafening drumbeat thanks to the size of its muscles—both in its arms and in its pecs. It would’ve probably intimidated most ponies and griffons but the ones it was facing now weren’t exactly the type for that. The gorilla of course wasn’t changing course, as soon as it finished beating its chest it started running towards them, a thundering gait as it came on all fours over the jungle floor. The other gorillas started beating their own chests and howling, staying where they were. It seemed they were letting their leader deal with the pony and griffon by itself to prove its strength. Maybe the alpha wanted that.

That was fine to Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. They both got ready for the big gorilla, bending their legs, and shot each other a single glance. Godfrey nodded, Rainbow nodded, and they both grinned.

The hunting party came to a stop as the gorilla roars erupted through the jungle. Not an uncommon sound to the elite hunters, they knew exactly where the gorillas were now—and their instincts were telling them that their prey was the cause for the disruption. The one lizard in the lead held up a hand and made a flicking motion to his right and left.

Two groups of ten each broke off and started swiftly traveling in the indicated directions. After a brief pause the remaining ten continued their way forward.

“You know I don’t think I had the time to tell you about the giant alligator I fought back when we first met in that bar,” Rainbow said.

“Giant alligator, huh? How giant are we talking?” Godfrey asked.

“Way giant. And this wasn’t just some big animal either, this was a real monster we’re talking about here,” Rainbow held her hooves out for emphasis. “And this was like, literally right before I got to the Hundred Kingdoms.”

“Dealing with that big gorilla remind you of it?”

“Yeah. Just a couple differences though,” Rainbow said as she looked over her shoulder.

The jungle was a mess. Torn up plants, rended mounds of dirt, broken trees, excavated rocks and tree trunks, all lied around the newly created clearing. A bomb might as well have just gone off in the jungle, it was damaged all the same. In the middle of it was a big, whimpering, gorilla. Its former roars reduced to pitiful cries for mercy and pity while the other gorillas shuffled about uncertainly. They were all still alive though, so Rainbow was considering it a job well done.

“Well anyways, now that that’s over hopefully we won’t get interrupted again,” Godfrey said. “Even I don’t want to get pointlessly waylaid anymore. I’d kind of like meeting up with your friends just to see if they’ve already gotten the Necklace or not.”

Rainbow ignored his comment about the Necklace. “I’m surprised you don’t want to fight even more.”

“Fighting some big dumb animal isn’t as fun as fighting someone like you. Or even losers like Boschese slavers. Especially not when there’s more interesting things going on.”

“True enough. You know I like a good fight too but… yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

“Maybe we should speed up then? I doubt there are any animals in this jungle worse than those gorillas, any that might have started something with us were probably scared away. I think we can afford to not be quiet anymore,” Godfrey suggested.

“Yeah, I want to get out of here as quick as we can now. The less time spent chained up with you the better.”

“Heh.”

At least they were now well into the jungle. Rainbow guessed that if they picked up the pace they could be all the way to those mountains in a few hours. And hopefully, either there or on the way, she’d find her friends. There was a lot still going on here, and a lot of danger and a lot of enemies to deal with. Rainbow Dash was worried but still excited, it just felt like things were coming to a head.

“Weren’t we just here?”

“Seems pretty similar, yeah.”

Rainbow and Godfrey looked around the jungle clearing they had walked into. More specifically they looked around at the thirty spear-wielding lizards surrounding them and blocking them off. It really did give them a sense of déjà vu, some were on the ground while many more clung to the trees above them. Either way there was no opening or safe path to run off through. These lizards had a much fiercer look in their eyes than the lazy, ill-prepared, guards they had bowled through just earlier today.

“They did a good job sneaking up on us like this,” Godfrey grinned. “I’d clap for them if it wouldn’t yank you off your hooves.”

“I’ll admit I’m pretty impressed too that they managed to catch up and surround us all at once. Nice work you guys,” Rainbow said to the lizards.

The lizards only let out a low communal hiss as their bodies tensed and as a group the ones on the ground took a step towards Godfrey and Rainbow—closing the net. Spears were raised and held out towards the pony and griffon, a cautious but deadly advance.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “Alright, let’s do this again.”

A Good Team

Godfrey yawned. “I’ll take half and you can have the other half. Unless that’s too much for you?”

“Don’t make me laugh, I was about to say the same thing,” Rainbow snorted.

The lizards took another step, tightening the circle and leaving even less space for Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. They held their spears out far, not presenting an easy target, and coordinating with each other so there weren’t any holes. If they kept inching forward they might just suddenly stab Rainbow and Godfrey all at once and not even leave things up to a real fight at all.

Rainbow and Godfrey noticed this and the griffon pirate glanced down at his temporary comrade. “You ready?”

“I hate that I have to let you do this,” Rainbow frowned.

“I know. And I love it,” Godfrey grinned.

In the next instant Godfrey hunkered down and then just as quickly jumped up. The lizards tried to spear him and Rainbow Dash but they were too slow, their spears only impaling empty space. He had leaped like a tiger onto one of the nearby trees, digging his claws into it and climbing up the trunk, both escaping the circle of death and also going straight for one of the surrounding lizards who now found himself very alone on his tree. And meanwhile Rainbow Dash… Rainbow Dash flailed about like a rag doll as she let Godfrey move completely of his own volition, knowing that’s what was necessary at the moment. With his strength he easily carried her up the tree. The extra weight chained to his right arm might as well have been nothing.

The lone lizard on this tree that Godfrey had jumped to finally reacted in a panic and attempted a jump away while stabbing his spear towards Godfrey. Godfrey jumped with him and grabbed the spear with one of his massive talons while landing a hard punch into the lizard’s stomach with the other. The lizard’s eyes bugged out as he wheezed in pain and was practically launched to the other side of the clearing.

“Rainbow!” Godfrey said as he tossed the spear to her while they landed back on the ground.

“Yeah!” Rainbow called as she grabbed it.

The two came to a heavy landing still in the clearing but well away from the circle of lizards on the ground. Rainbow twirled her spear around and pointed it at the lizards who were already forming a line while the ones in the trees behind them got ready to pounce.

She glanced up at Godfrey. “Still no killing.”

“That’s fine, I’ll treat it as a handicap.”

One of the lizards before them screeched and the whole line started running at Rainbow and Godfrey while the lizards in the jungle ran around to flank them and the ones in the trees jumped down to attack.

Rainbow jumped up onto Godfrey’s back and turned around, swinging her spear in a wide arc and smacking away all the ones that were coming down towards him. Godfrey then jumped forward so the tree lizards landed behind him and kicked out with his back legs to take out two of them. Several thrown spears came at them from the sides but Rainbow swatted them all out of the air and jumped down from Godfrey’s back as another lizard came leaping at her. He sailed over Godfrey’s back instead and got the butt of Rainbow’s spear jabbed into his gut.

The rest of the hunting party reached them but instead of attacking head on they formed two lines around Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. One to the left and one to the right. Because of the chain connecting them, Rainbow and Godfrey couldn’t exactly turn to face them directly if the other one wasn’t following perfectly. And of course each time they tried to move a little to escape the vise, the lizards moved in unison to keep them trapped.

A dozen lizards now on either side of them. But it’s not like they could complain, they just had to keep fighting. Godfrey picked up a spear of his own that had been thrown earlier to use as a weapon and keep the lizards at bay. The lizards were perhaps even more wary than before, but they still had the numbers advantage and were confident they could take these two strange creatures down.

It began in a flash—five lizards stabbed forward at Rainbow Dash who blocked and parried all the strikes while on the other side the same happened with Godfrey. Immediately after, more stabs and swings came in and the two were constantly forced to block or swat away every attack the lizards were throwing at them. It was a storm of spear strikes and thrusts, from above, from below, aimed at their vitals and non-vitals, anything to give the lizards the edge to kill their prey. Rainbow couldn’t call herself an expert with any weapon but she was glad she was already a little experienced with fighting like this. The extra training she had put in at Black Sand Island was also helping as well since she couldn’t rely on her wings. Godfrey seemed to simply be having a blast, grinning the whole time as he knocked spears away and even let a few he could afford to go through just so they bounced off the chains around his body. Both of them when they could were trying to completely knock the spears out of the grasp of the lizards to make the barrage ease up, but these hunters held firmly onto their weapons, it wasn’t that easy.

“I feel like changing things up!” Godfrey shouted as he knocked away a few more attacks.

“What’d you have in mind?” Rainbow shouted back.

“Just get ready, and flip that spear around,” Godfrey said and pushed away the latest thrusts. He then stabbed his own spear into the ground and took a step towards the line of lizards facing him while pulling Rainbow Dash, yanking her away from the lizards attacking her and swinging her out towards his line. They didn’t expect this kind of attack and they were all standing well in range of the pony being used as a flail.

Rainbow got what he wanted to do immediately and as she reached the apex of his swing she turned her spear around so the blunt end was facing the lizards. Holding it out, the wooden shaft smacked into the heads of all the lizards in the line as Godfrey swung her around.

Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!

Being hit in the head with solid wood at high speed like that was too much for the spindly lizards and every last one in the line fell to the ground unconscious. Of course after it was over Rainbow noticed her spear had snapped in half, but that was a small price to pay for taking out nearly half the remaining lizards.

“Nice call,” Rainbow said as she came to a stop on the ground, she and Godfrey backing up against the other line and keeping them directly in front of them so they couldn’t get surrounded anymore.

“Nice reflexes,” he said and glanced up at the trees where a few more lizards were swinging about to get over to them. “Not over yet though.”

“Ignore those ones, they’re just watching to make sure we don’t try and run off,” Rainbow said.

The remaining lizards in the jungle clearing were coming at the two of them again and now neither Rainbow or Godfrey had a spear. That didn’t mean they couldn’t keep fighting though and Rainbow Dash was already getting a few good ideas. She couldn’t let Godfrey keep taking the lead when it came to dealing with these lizards after all, it wasn’t a good look for her. So why not come up with something that also used his big body in as beneficial a way as possible.

“Hey, Godfrey? Up for doing something really aggressive?” She asked him.

“Always,” he answered as he looked down at her.

She grinned. “Here’s what I’ve got in mind...”

A second later the lizards were stunned as Rainbow Dash and Godfrey both started running directly at them. They recovered from their surprise and confusion though and kept their spears leveled towards their adversaries—it looked like Rainbow and Godfrey were charging straight into the wall of blades without any concern. They didn’t notice the smirks on their faces at all. This wasn’t a suicide charge. Only a few feet away from the spears did Rainbow Dash shout to her partner.

“Now!”

Godfrey laughed as he grabbed Rainbow Dash and hugged her close to his chest while ducking his head low and tucking his whole body in. With his free front left arm he slammed his talon into the ground and put all the strength in his body into his one limb. Godfrey launched himself forward while flipping over, tucking his whole body into a ball and rolling end over end towards the line of lizards and spears while safely carrying Rainbow Dash along with him. It was very uncomfortable and actually pretty embarrassing for her now that she thought about it, but it was still her calling the shots and that was good enough.

With the chains wrapped around his body, Godfrey was like a boulder rolling towards the lizards, fast enough where it was almost like he was wearing a full set of armor. The few lizards directly in front of the rolling griffon thrust their spears out to stop him but they all got blocked or caught in the chains and snapped. Rainbow honestly thought that even if they had flesh that Godfrey was probably tough enough to power on through that anyways.

Either way those lizards now had no time to get out of the way. Godfrey smashed into three of them, knocking two to the sides and flat out steamrolling over the one in the middle. Once he felt that happen, he came out of his roll and let Rainbow go so the two of them could stand side by side once more.

The remaining lizards were shocked. What insanity had they just witnessed? Already more than half their entire hunting party was on the ground out cold and these two… things had fought them fearlessly and continued to do crazy moves that they couldn’t predict. Those chains should be their death sentence but it was like they had turned them into their most valuable weapon.

Despite being able to attack from two sides now, the lizards decided it would be better to stay together and they ran out into the middle of the clearing to create two staggered lines so every lizard could still hold their spear out at their enemy. To back up their comrades, the lizards that had been in the trees came down and formed a united front with them. It was clear to them that the pony and griffon weren’t going to just try and run away anyways. But there was a different air in the jungle now.

The elite hunting party was afraid.

It couldn’t be helped after what they had just witnessed. This was unlike any hunt they had ever been on before. They were facing off against a quarry they had never faced before. And despite still being drastically outnumbered—that quarry was confidently smiling at them.

“I don’t think they’re going to be coming at us anymore,” Godfrey said as he cracked his neck.

“Yeah, me neither,” Rainbow said as she picked up two nearby spears. She jammed them into the ground one at a time and then snapped off the spear-tips to create two staffs and tossed one to Godfrey. “Here.”

“Why thank you,” Godfrey grinned and spun the staff around. “I prefer bladed weapons though.”

“Deal with it.”

The two then ran towards their opponents once more, this time planning on fighting like normal. No risky moves, just two chained prisoners planning to beat on their pursuers. They held their staffs out as the lizards ran to meet them this time. There was no more taking things calmly and slowly. The first spear thrusts were batted away but before Rainbow or Godfrey could try hitting any lizards, the ones in the back row vaulted over the ones in front and came with their spears bearing down on the pony and griffon. Rainbow and Godfrey barely jumped back in time to avoid the spears—which instead only impaled the ground.

Both of them now swung their staffs in a pair of powerful swings and broke all the stuck spears in half, making that line of lizards retreat as the first group came forward again. It turned into a similar fight to when there were two groups to either side of them, with Rainbow and Godfrey having to parry multiple blows at once with lightning speed and precision. It seemed like a dozen different thrusts and cuts were coming every second. The lizards who had lost their spears now also ran to the sides of Rainbow and Godfrey to attack them while they were occupied with the spears.

Rainbow Dash though stepped back and then slid underneath Godfrey, pulling on the chain connecting them as much as she could, and coming up the other side with her staff. She surprised the lizards who were coming at Godfrey and with one swing bashed them all across their heads. Godfrey then pulled her back out to deal with the remaining ones that were first coming at her. Those lizards jumped at Rainbow Dash with their claws open and ready to rend her to pieces.

Rainbow raised her staff and blocked them before throwing them off. The lizards were knocked to the ground and she followed up with several quick jabs into their stomachs to knock the wind out of them. Then she was able to return to fighting off the ones who still had the spears along with Godfrey.

“You wanna try helping me out with the real threat now?” Godfrey chuckled.

“I figured you would’ve beaten them all by now,” Rainbow said as they crossed staffs and forced one spear coming at them down to the ground. They both then ran their staffs up the shaft of the spear and smashed them into the throat of the lizard holding it, putting him down for the count.

The jungle continued to be filled by the sounds of clashing weapons with the occasional grunt of pain and sounds of lizards being thrown to the ground. Despite the fight until now only lasting a few minutes—this final standoff was taking much longer. It was so simple, just a back and forth “duel” between the two groups. Though the lizards were outmatched, and they probably knew that, they weren’t giving up and still aimed to skewer and slice open the pony and griffon.

Whack!

Bash!

Slam!

Swoosh!

Crack!

Rainbow Dash ducked under the thrust of a spear and jabbed her staff forward, striking the chest of the offending lizard and causing him to drop his weapon. Just as quickly she lifted her staff back up and smashed it down onto the top of his skull.

The lizard’s bleary eyes rolled in different directions and he collapsed in a heap to the messy jungle floor.

Rainbow let out a tired breath and dropped her staff. “Done. Finally. Seriously wish I could use my wings right now.”

“They’re getting a little sore for sure,” Godfrey said as he tried to shift them around under the chains.

“Well anyways, let’s get out of here. I’m sick of fighting these lizards.”

Godfrey grinned. “I bet you this won’t be the last time.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I’m… not taking that bet.”

Prove Yourselves

“I’m a little concerned over how long it’s taking for Princess Fairscale to come back,” Gilbert said as he clacked his claw on top of the stone windowsill he was standing at.

“Me too. I don’t know how big this castle is but shouldn’t she just be going in and coming right back out with the Necklace?” Breakwater said, frowning.

“We don’t know,” Daylight said, also frowning like usual. “This place is still plenty mysterious to me. There might be something else to this “Keeper”.”

Senax just stood quietly, deep in thought as she stared out the window they were gathered around. After telling them about the Keeper, Princess Fairscale had guided them to this little room at the front of the castle, above the main entrance, and left. From the window Senax could pretty much see the entire island thanks to how high up they were on the mountain. Of course it was still such a long island that she couldn’t really make out anything past the jungle. At least there wasn’t any huge wall of fog or clouds from above that also blocked out sunlight.

“At least we know that we’ll get good food for however long we stay here...” Gilbert said.

“We still can’t stay here no matter what, Gilbert,” Daylight said to him. “Regardless of getting the Necklace or not we’ll have to go look for Rainbow Dash.”

“I-I know! I was talking about after that!” He sputtered.

“Yeah. Sure,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“By the way did anyone else find it weird that the Princess was the only one to speak our language?” Breakwater asked.

“Maybe she’s the only one who knows it. Or is the only one allowed to. It could be a royalty thing,” Daylight shrugged.

“I wish we could understand their language too. Otherwise the locals are just going to sound like a bunch of hissing snakes every time we meet them,” Breakwater said.

“Ahem.”

The subtle cough caused the four of them to turn around in surprise and see Princess Fairscale standing in the doorway behind them with her elder lizards once more. She held nothing in her hands. And her face was pulled down in a stony mask of neutrality, but underneath it seemed like she was struggling greatly with something.

Senax felt a pit of unease grow in her stomach. “The Necklace…?”

“The Keeper will not give it to you,” Princess Fairscale calmly said.

Daylight’s jaw dropped open in surprise, and her face quickly twisted into anger. “Why not?!” She shouted as she stepped forward. “That Necklace belongs to Senax!”

“Please, Daylight,” Senax said as she placed a hoof on her friend’s back. She turned her gaze to the Princess, staring imploringly into the lizard’s eyes. “Can you tell me why not?”

Princess Fairscale looked dejected, but not threatened by Daylight’s outburst. She nodded her head and licked her lips. “There are… several reasons. Some of which I only just learned from the Keeper myself. I—we had all never expected this to happen. The consequences of giving the Necklace away weren’t known, and things have changed on the island in the long time since it was first given to us.”

“Consequences?” Breakwater questioned.

“I… I truly, completely, wish that I could give you the Necklace,” Princess Fairscale said. “But the Necklace and the Keeper are… connected to one another. If the Necklace leaves her, she will die.”

“How is that possible?” Daylight frowned. “When you said Keeper I assumed you meant some other Elder, is there something more to this?”

“The Keeper of the Necklace has been the same lizard from the beginning. Our matriarch from centuries ago, who was first given the Necklace for safekeeping. Using magic, her life force has been tied to the Necklace in exchange for great power. But the cost will be her death when she gives the Necklace to another,” Princess Fairscale sadly looked to the ground. “Even then, both she and I would willingly hand the Necklace over if that was the only cost.”

“But there’s something else,” Senax stated.

Fairscale nodded. “It is the Keeper’s magic that protects our island. The fog, the whirlpools, when she dies they will go with her. Our island will be utterly defenseless and we are not… we are not ready to join the outside world. We have some defenses, some magic of our own, but we are a small people. The Keeper is loyal to the will of Ponyseidon and his descendants, but she is still our matriarch as well. She must know that we are in good hands, that we will not be abandoned or discarded after she gives you the Necklace.”

“What would you even want us to do about that?” Daylight asked. “We can’t stay here and help your island grow, or find some other way to protect it. All we could really do is give you our word that we wouldn’t tell others about you. Once we have the Necklace we’re going to have to leave to Merlantis, and Senax will need to travel a long ways to gather the other merponies.”

“The Keeper would want the word of the Child of Ponyseidon. Nothing more. She must have utmost faith and trust in her. We both know that you have your own journey that still needs to be completed, but we must know we will not be forgotten by you,” Fairscale said.

“I promise I won’t forget you. You’ve already helped me so much, I could never forget or abandon you. And from what you’ve told me, our peoples are tied together, when we return to the Grand Ocean I would like us to become friends again,” Senax said. “Real friends. You will not be subjects, and we will not ever return to the old ways. Things will be better than before.”

“I believe you,” the Princess sadly nodded.

Daylight frowned. “There’s more though, isn’t there?”

“The Keeper needs just your word… but she needs to be able to believe it,” Princess Fairscale said. “She must know you can keep your promises, know that you are willing to help us, and know that you are truly worthy of the Necklace.”

“That’s not exactly just needing Senax’s word,” Breakwater huffed.

“Worthy?” Gilbert repeated. “But you said it doesn’t matter if Senax wants to continue Ponyseidon’s legacy or not. Isn’t just being a merpony all that matters?”

“Yes. But she still must be strong. The Keeper also doesn’t care if Senax would or wouldn’t do the same thing as her progenitor, but she can only give the Necklace away once. She must know that Senax has the will to overcome anything. She doesn’t want the Necklace to be kept as an heirloom, it must be used for change, it must be used to get to Merlantis and the Trident by the one she gives it to or there is no reason for any of this,” she said.

“Senax does have that will!” Daylight shouted before Senax could answer herself. “If you had been with us for what we’ve already been through you’d know that! She’s worthy of the Necklace—which is hers to claim by all rights I can think of in the first place!”

“Calm down,” Gilbert said and tried to hold the unicorn back.

“What do I need to do?” Senax asked, cutting through them all. “I… I myself will be the first to admit that I haven’t always had an unbreakable will when it comes to finding Merlantis. There are times when I wanted to give up. But not anymore, I will never give up on finding my people’s home. So what do I need to do to prove myself to the Keeper?”

Princess Fairscale took a deep breath before she answered. “Much has happened on this island since the Necklace was given to us. One of the things was a schism many years ago between our people. There were two factions: one loyal to Ponyseidon that only wished to fulfill our duty, and one that wished to leave the island and forget about the Necklace entirely.”

“As you can surely guess, we are the descendants of the faction that stayed loyal. The descendants of the others live on the western side of the island.”

“They’re still around?” Breakwater asked.

“Yes,” Princess Fairscale. “Neither side can be said to have “won”. Our people still became fractured, and they never got their wish of leaving the island. But now, after being separated from the matriarch and their history for so long, they have degenerated into nothing more than a society of savages. They settled in an ancient city first built on the other side of the island by Ponyseidon and have lived their since. Unfortunately because of their cultural degradation the city is a mere shadow of its former self. Everything is falling apart, and all they do is hunt and scavenge through the jungle and fish in the ocean for food.”

A darker expression came to her face. “And spend their time attacking us, trying to make their way into the mountain to destroy us. Even after centuries of separation their violence and hatred towards us hasn’t stopped.”

“I’m sorry that you have to deal with that. I wish your people weren’t divided like this,” Senax said.

Daylight bit her lip. “If they’re on the other side of the island and in the jungle, it makes me worry about Rainbow Dash...”

“Yeah,” Breakwater nodded.

“But um... I’m a little lost. What exactly do you want us to do?” Gilbert said as he raised his talon.

“We want you to make sure the ones who split from us will not threaten us anymore. To prove yourselves, the Keeper wants you to solve that problem so we will be safer when her protection disappears,” Princess Fairscale said.

“Solve the problem... does that mean kill them?” Daylight narrowed her eyes.

Senax jolted. “I would never—even if they are violent and threaten you, I could never do something like that!”

Princess Fairscale held up a hand to stop their speculation. “It means solve the problem. Like has been said earlier, we have no right to speak up on what you desire to do with the Necklace or if you plan to continue Ponyseidon’s will or not. It does not matter to us. Whether you solve this problem peacefully or with violence matters not either. We do not have the right to judge or ask more. What matters is that you have the will and conviction to accomplish this difficult task to gain the Necklace in the first place.”

Daylight turned to face Senax and raised an eyebrow at the merpony. “Like always, it’s up to you. I don’t like this but if it’s the only way to get the Necklace...”

“If it’s the only way then there’s no choice in the first place. We have to do it. We’ve made tough decisions before, and we decided long ago that we wouldn’t hesitate to do what it takes to get the Necklace and find Merlantis,” Senax said. “Regardless of the danger.”

“Rainbow Dash would be proud to hear you say that,” Daylight smiled.

Senax smiled in turn as she thought of her pegasus friend, the image of that rainbow pony filling her with confidence. She stepped towards Princess Fairscale and nodded. “We will help you with the ones who left. I don’t know how, but we’ll make sure there is no more war on this island. Your people will be safe, I promise.”

“Thank you,” Princess Fairscale sadly looked at her. “A-And I’m sorry that you must go through this, Child of Ponyseidon.”

“It’s alright,” Senax looked back at her friends. “We’re pretty used to this by now.”

“I assume you’re going to want to go as soon as possible then?” Fairscale asked.

Senax nodded. “Yes. We were already in a hurry and now... well, we better not waste any time.”

“Then before you leave there is something that I will have the elders do for you to help you on your mission, and to make your time on the island more pleasant altogether,” the Princess said.

The six grey-scaled elders stepped forward and clasped their hands together as if in prayer. Senax and the others watched as a slightly glowing aura appeared around them before it morphed into something like a light fog. The fog grew and spread out before inching through the air towards them. Senax and the others apprehensively took a step back but as the fog reached them it felt completely normal, it settled around them before appearing to almost sink into their bodies and disappear.

Daylight blinked. “Um... what was that?”

“That will allow you to understand our language,” one of the elders said.

Senax and the others looked at him, surprised.

“Oh, well that will certainly help,” the merpony said.

Princess Fairscale smiled. “Yes, and good luck out there.”

“Then if that’s all-” Daylight said as she looked at Breakwater, Gilbert, and Senax in turn. “Let’s do this.”

Mission Start

A fond farewell was given to Princess Fairscale, and Senax and the others left the castle to begin their trip to both find Rainbow Dash and solve the problem of the lizards on the other side of the island. It wasn’t going to be easy and they didn’t have much to work with. They had also been mobbed as soon as they left the castle (more accurately, Senax had been mobbed) and walked through the mountain town at the bottom of it. Thankfully being able to talk to the lizards had actually made things easier, as they could politely tell them they had something very important to do and not a lot of time to do it. A guide had also been sent with them to speed things along whenever they came to a new group—although no one had caught his name yet, he was being quite reticent so far.

Most lizards still wanted to touch Senax and see her off but they at least let her walk unimpeded through the town.

“I do plan to come back! I promise I will see you again and we can spend more time together!” Senax waved to the lizards as they left the mesa the town was on and began heading down one of the staircases leading to the western jungle.

“Child of Ponyseidon!”

“Take care!”

“Please come back!”

“Please speak to us more!”

That and much like it was all they heard even as they passed completely out of view from the mountain lizards.

Daylight sighed and shook her head, looking down the stairs winding through the mountains ahead of them. “At least it looks like getting through this half of the mountains will be easier than the back half.” She frowned and looked over at their lizard guide. “And by the way, do you have a name?”

The lizard guide looked startled to suddenly be addressed and instead of answering Daylight he turned to look at Senax.

She looked back at him, a little confused until she saw the imploring look in his eyes. “Um… do you want my permission to speak?”

The lizard frantically nodded up and down. “Yes! This one is not worthy to have been given such an honorable task, I—he feels it is not right to speak without being spoken to first!”

“Oh boy...” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“I-It’s okay! It’s completely okay to speak on your own,” Senax tried to convince their guide. “Please don’t treat me like I’m special. I’d like us to look at each other as equals...”

“Of course, of course!” The lizard bowed down to Senax.

“I don’t think he’s getting it all the way,” Breakwater muttered to Daylight.

Gilbert cleared his throat and reached a talon down to help the lizard back to his feet. “Now now, we understand your great appreciation for our friend, but we have some business to take care of. So how about that name then?”

“Y-Yes, my apologies! I am Smooth Tongue, tasked by the Princess to be your guide until you leave our territory,” Smooth Tongue the guide told them.

“Well nice to meet you then, Smooth Tongue,” Gilbert smiled and stuck out a talon for a handshake.

“Thank you...” Smooth Tongue graciously took it.

Senax also smiled at him. “Let’s get along well while we’re still together.”

He almost bowed down out of reflex but caught himself. “Yes, of course!”

The civilization of mountain lizards however was not very populous at all. That was something Smooth Tongue was more than willing to share with them. The mesa village they had left was the largest population center in the mountains, and there were only a few other places where lizards actually lived and worked. According to him, the savage lizards in the city to the west had a far greater population.

“I’m surprised they haven’t overran you if that’s the case,” Daylight said as they traveled down one of the last few mountains.

Smooth Tongue shook his head. “They try, they try very much, but they have lost their brains after so many years. They don’t know how to build and create what we can—nor can they use our magic anymore after losing their ties with our matriarch.”

“Fairscale did tell us that they’re not exactly capable of building or maintaining anything complex,” Breakwater said.

“They can go no further than simple wooden structures and tools,” Smooth Tongue nodded. “All they can do is breed.”

“Hmm...” Daylight thought as she rubbed her chin. “What kind of magic can you use exactly? We know the matriarch creates the fog and whirlpools around the island, and your elders gave us the ability to understand your language, but does every lizard possess some kind of magical ability?”

“Yes, though very weak individually compared to the matriarch,” Smooth Tongue said. “In fact—our magic resonates with one another so on our own we can do next to nothing, but in a group spells can be made to function.”

“I see, that’s rather interesting,” Daylight said. Being the only magic user in the group it naturally made her curious.

“So can you make shields and fire lasers with your magic? Is that how you defend yourselves?” Gilbert asked.

“What’s a laser?” Smooth Tongue blinked.

“Er, never mind...” Gilbert coughed.

“Can you only do the same sort of magic as the matriarch? Is that why it looked like the elders created a fog around them?” Daylight asked.

“Our magic is the same as hers—but lesser. Even if you got every other lizard in the mountains together we could not create one whirlpool in the ocean as big or powerful as the ones she makes. We can create small fog banks as well, but they will be lifted away by the wind just like normal fog is. We can hide things, and manipulate small streams and currents, which can help with getting our small boats and canoes around the island, but that is all. Our magic is not exactly made for fighting,” Smooth Tongue explained.

“So you must rely on something else to fight off the others?” Breakwater put forth.

“Yes,” Smooth Tongue nodded. “You will see when we get to the wall.”

The others shared a look with each other, wondering what “The Wall” was.

The rest of the trip down this last mountain was quite easy at least, the stairs were well taken care of and they had next to no interruptions. The weather for the whole island was also really nice, it must’ve been a naturally warm and tropical place for that jungle to exist. When the sun was out it was almost even too warm at times while they walked. As they made their way to the bottom of the mountain they finally saw the end of the steps and the open plains of green grass that spread from it in the direction of the jungle.

When they looked a little further they understood what Smooth Tongue meant.

A stone wall about twenty feet high spread from north to south across the green grass, just a short distance from where the jungle started to sprout up. From what they could see it had no end, but curved east a little bit in either direction. Probably blocking off the entire mountain range from the rest of the island. There were a few bulkier spots up on the wall at regular intervals that looked like they held some kind of object—maybe a catapult or scorpion—on them and a wooden gate directly in the middle. Besides the wall there were a few small stone and wooden buildings also built to the right and left of the gate. They looked mostly like storehouses but probably could’ve doubled as sleeping quarters as well.

“Wait a second...” Gilbert said as they made it to the grass and started walking to the wall. He blinked and squinted his eyes at it. “Are those… are those cannons on the wall?”

Senax, Daylight, and Breakwater squinted towards the wall as well. And yes, they were mistaken at first, what were actually up there on the wall were things they all recognized. Recognized and feared.

“Oh, do these things exist in the outside world as well?” Smooth Tongue asked.

“Yes,” Breakwater nodded hesitantly. “They’re used as weapons on ships and for defensive placements just like you’ve got here. I’m surprised to see them here, cannons seemed a bit… industrial for you.”

“Our matriarch says the knowledge of building them came from the children of Ponyseidon in the last days when the Necklace was given to her. We mine the mountains for what is needed to create the black powder that explodes, we use it for the cannons and keep it stockpiled in many barrels just in case,” Smooth Tongue explained.

The others glanced over at Senax, who wore an uneasy grimace on her face.

“My people… did we invent these? But it would have been so long ago...” Senax wondered.

“The savages are terribly frightened by the cannons. Even just a warning blast is enough to turn back most of their attacks on us,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Considering what we’ve been told of their tech-level I’m not surprised,” Daylight said.

“I’m still surprised they can’t just swarm you or somehow sneak their way in,” Breakwater said.

“We have other tools to help us with that,” Smooth Tongue explained as they made their way closer to the wall. “I will show you when we get there, and soon after you will have to go through the gate and enter the jungle on your own.”

There were some lizards on the wall and others down by the building and gate. Senax knew as soon as they came into view they were going to get swarmed. It was too bad the Princess didn’t have a fast way of sending a message to these lizards to prepare them.

That prediction turned out to be true when one lizard wandering out of a building turned to see them coming and practically gasped in shock. He turned to the others around him and started raising such a fuss Senax was worried all these guards were going to think they were under attack. In moments even lizards who were up on the wall, the ones supposed to be watching out for things, were coming down to join the crowd and rush over to Senax.

“Child of Ponyseidon! A Child of Ponyseidon!” That shout and many others came from the advancing horde. These guard lizards wore forest green tunics over their already green scales, some of them with brown straps going from hip to chest and a wooden totem of some sort tied over where their heart would be.

“Everyone, everyone! Please calm down!” Smooth Tongue tried to get them to stop before they stampeded over Senax and her friends.

“Where did she come from?”

“Is it truly a Child of Ponyseidon?”

“Please, please speak to us!”

“Oh dear…” Senax awkwardly smiled and tried to back up. It was almost the exact same thing down here.

It took a little while longer before Smooth Tongue was actually able to explain things and get the crowd to quiet down and stop swarming Senax. Even then they were still muttering and asking questions whenever they could. Their normal duties seemed to be completely forgotten. But it was still a nice moment, they were genuinely interested in Senax, genuinely in awe of her. They simply wanted to know as much as they could, and praise her as much as possible, just like the other lizards they had met. If they weren’t already on a schedule it would’ve been perfectly fine with Senax to indulge in these lizards.

In the middle of the meeting though, Daylight decided to speak her mind. “Shouldn’t you all be watching that wall anyways to make sure those other lizards aren’t attacking?”

“Ah, I almost forgot to show you our special tools!” Smooth Tongue suddenly said. “Thank you for reminding me.” He turned and smiled to one of the lizards with the brown strap and totem on his tunic. “Please, show them.”

The lizard proudly stepped forward to Senax and undid the little ties that kept the totem to the strap before holding it out to her. It looked like a piece of wood carved into a small cylinder, with pine leaves tarred to the top of it and a small emerald crystal affixed to the top. Truth be told it didn’t exactly look very special but the lizard was holding it reverently all the same.

“These are our protective totems,” Smooth Tongue explained. “They can sense the location of members of our race with just a slight infusion of magic. No savages can ever sneak up on us.”

“Well, that’s good then,” Daylight said as she looked over the totem. Though she and the others were still a little disturbed with how flippantly the lizard referred to the others as savages.

“Yes, very good for us,” Smooth Tongue nodded. “When it comes to fighting directly as well we have something to help with that, as you can see, our people are not very… robust. But we have made a special potion. A magical elixir that grants us strength and energy enough to fight for days… with the downside of also causing you to fall into a deep exhaustion for just as long after it wears out. The matriarch herself taught us how to make it.”

“Interesting… I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of something like that,” Daylight said.

Breakwater coughed and looked over to the gate leading to the jungle. “I uh, I suppose we oughta be going now.”

“Off to find Rainbow Dash and bring some peace to this island!” Gilbert smiled and brought a fist to his chest.

“We all wish you well! I know you will succeed, Child of Ponyseidon,” Smooth Tongue said to Senax and bowed down, all the other lizards quickly following suit.

“T-Thank you,” Senax said. The bowing was something she would never get used to.

Smooth Tongue quickly lifted his head. “Let us now open the gate for you.”

He gathered up some of the guard lizards while getting the rest to go back to their own duties. As dismayed as they were to say farewell to Senax. In a quick walk the group was standing in front of the wooden gate, nervous, and even a little worried, but this was the only thing they could do right now. Once the great doors were pulled open, Smooth Tongue bowed repeatedly and continued to wish them all well and good luck.

Senax stepped out. Daylight Gleam stepped out. Breakwater stepped out. Gilbert stepped out.

And the gate was closed behind them.

Midpoint Meetup

“Okay so riddle me this, I’m always hungry, but never full, if your hoof touches me it’s gonna turn red,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Fire,” Godfrey answered and scratched his beak. “Alright, riddle me this: What’s black and white and red all over?”

“A newspaper,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Come on, that’s an easy one. Here—until I am measured I am not known, yet how you will miss me once I’ve flown.”

Godfrey scoffed at her. “Oh please, time. And you’re complaining about mine being easy? Next riddle, it weighs nothing but when you put it into a barrel it makes it lighter.”

“A hole. So riddle me this, what gets wetter as it dries?”

“A towel. What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?”

“A river. I never was but always will be-”

“Tomorrow. The one who makes it has no need for it, the one who-”

“A grave.”

Godfrey smiled at her. “You know you’re a lot better at riddles than I was expecting.”

Rainbow Dash just snorted and shook her head. “Twilight and Pinkie Pie love riddles. I’ve just heard a lot of them.”

“Yeah, me too. You hear the same ones no matter where you go,” Godfrey nodded.

“Speaking of wherever we’re going… how long do you think it’ll be before we actually find something? Or someone,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Well considering you let all those lizards back there live, I’d say there’s an even chance between us finding your friends and them regrouping and coming back to kill us,” Godfrey said.

“My bad for not being as cruel as you,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“I’m just saying you better not blame me when we end up in another battle to the death,” Godfrey shrugged.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Whatever, do you got anymore riddles?”

“Yeah but I’m kind of bored of that.”

“Yeah, me too...”

Godfrey pushed a log that was blocking their path out of the way. “You know what if your ship got wrecked? It’d annoy me a little bit too but they might not even be alive anymore. Just think about it, how come it’s taking so long for us to find them? It’s not that big of an island.”

“Shut up, Godfrey.”

He grinned at her. “I guess you’d never forgive me if that turns out to be what happened.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, the expression on her face would probably cause most creatures to freeze up. “You’re right. I wouldn’t.”

“Sorry for joking about it,” he winked.

“I bet you are.”

“Oh lighten up a little bit. There’s no way they’re actually dead—the world isn’t boring enough to allow that to happen. Heh, and even I think I might miss my little brother just a smidge,” Godfrey laughed.

“You’ve tried to kill him how many times now?” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“A couple. But it’s not like that was anything personal.”

“Brother of the year...”

“I try.”

The two of them hadn’t had much more trouble getting through the jungle, they at least hadn’t stumbled across any ravines or rivers they couldn’t cross thanks to their chains. The only big issue was the still lopsided ground. There weren’t even really animals out bothering them, perhaps they could smell the gorilla that made a mistake in trying to tango with them. Not like Rainbow or Godfrey were going to complain about the lack of annoyances. It beat having to swipe at mosquitoes always trying to dive in at them. The humidity in the air was starting to get a little worse, as Rainbow looked up through the jungle canopy she could still see the sun beaming down at them but she couldn’t exactly tell what time of day it was. A time when it wasn’t going to be getting cooler anytime soon at least.

Because of how thick the jungle was though they still couldn’t see how much of it was left until they reached the mountains. Rainbow was thinking of having Godfrey climb a tree so they could at least take a look at this point. Walking through the mountains… she wasn’t sure it would be easier or tougher like this.

“Honestly if we find some rocks soon I’m thinking of trying to bash these shackles off us,” Godfrey said.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “Trying to get away?”

“Trying to get more comfortable. Won’t be able to break the chains around our wings but I think there’s a decent chance I could break the cuffs on my wrist and your hoof. And anyways-” he suddenly turned his head to the side as a spear came sailing through the air right where it had been and instead pierced itself into a tree in front of the two of them. “Huh. They got back to us faster than I expected.”

“Oh great,” Rainbow Dash groaned. “I swear if you try and say “Told you so”, I’m going to flip.”

“Well for now I think we oughta just focus on the fight,” Godfrey said as he pulled the spear out of the tree. “Have they surrounded us again?”

Rainbow Dash took a look, but they weren’t in some wide open clearing this time. The trees were all around them, shrubs, plants, flowers, and hanging vines obscured every direction. Her ears picked up the sound of aggravated hissing and figures moving through the jungle somewhere out there, but she couldn’t tell how many were there or if they were blocked off already. They were moving stealthily just like before and clearly weren’t going to attempt another straight forward battle like the first time.

“Dunno, they’re not coming right at us again. I bet they just try to keep throwing spears or make some hit and run attacks as we walk through the jungle,” Rainbow said.

“Then they can learn that no matter how they come at us it isn’t going to help them,” Godfrey grinned.

Rainbow shrugged. “Yeah I don’t have a problem with that either, let’s just keep going and keep our ears open.”

As they started walking through the jungle a second spear came flying at Rainbow Dash this time. She simply lifted up her shackled hoof and let the spear bounce of the steel around it without even really looking. Their trip became punctuated by similar moments the more they walked, they’d pass through a veil of vines only to have a spear coming at one of them that Godfrey would either swat away or Rainbow would usually duck under. Only every now and then would they catch a glimpse of movement from one of the lizards. It was tough to see them since they blended in with the jungle so well.

“They’re gonna run out of spears at some point,” Rainbow said.

“Want to bet if they either give up and leave after that or try and fight us some more?” Godfrey asked.

“That’s an idiot’s bet.”

“So does that mean you’re taking it?”

“Shut up.”

They had to slide down a small hill and immediately jump over a salvo of spears thrown at their legs.

“I’ll give them credit, they’re at least not always going directly for kill shots. If they could actually land a crippling blow it’d be a pretty good idea,” Godfrey said.

“Yeah it’d be a real pain dragging you around with spears sticking out of your legs,” Rainbow sniped.

He scratched under his beak. “I don’t think you’d be strong enough to do that.”

A vein popped out on Rainbow Dash’s forehead. “Oh I so totally would. In fact—why don’t you let yourself get hit by the next spear so I can prove it?”

“Gehahahaha! You’re just too easy to rile up, Rainbow Dash!” Godfrey laughed.

“You should still get hit by it anyways…” Rainbow grumbled.

The next time they passed by a tree a pair of lizards came swinging by on vines, stabbing their spears out at Rainbow Dash and Godfrey as they passed. Godfrey put an end to that by smashing apart their spears with the one he still had. However, any chance at further retaliation was lost when the lizards scrambled into another tree and started jumping through the leaves. More squawks and violent hissing could be heard and Rainbow Dash had to duck her head down to avoid a spear being thrown into her skull from behind.

“They’re starting to get really annoying,” she said.

And of course from then on it was even worse as lizards would come scurrying out of nowhere or be jumping from tree to tree while throwing a single spear thrust at them before disappearing back into the brush. They blended in too well, it was almost like they dissolved into the green jungle. Rocks came sailing at their heads from every direction and hissing screams drowned out the sounds of the lizards movements. Even if Rainbow or Godfrey managed to knock one down they still had no trouble scampering off. Because of the terrain and all the trees that danger could be right around, they had to keep focused too much on the environment as well.

“This isn’t the fun kind of fighting,” Godfrey snorted in frustration.

“At some point they’ve gotta realize this isn’t working though,” Rainbow said. “They’re going to tire themselves out before we get tired.”

“Maybe some of them went back to the city to call for reinforcements. They could just be trying to slow us down,” Godfrey suggested.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I don’t like that idea…”

“I wouldn’t mind if it turns into a real fight again, but I’ve got the feeling they’re just going to keep trying and bleed us like this.”

“You got any ideas for getting through this jungle faster then?”

“Yeah. We throw caution to the wind and just run while spears sail over our heads,” he shrugged.

“Okay, that’s not even a real idea, that’s a lack of ideas.”

“And your idea isss?”

“Umm… run through the jungle. But in a smarter way.”

“My kind of plan,” Godfrey grinned.

So without any hesitation the two set off at full speed, jumping and running together through the thick brush and past all the dense trees and foliage, being careful not to let their chain get caught on anything. At the same time they relied completely on their lightning reflexes to aid them against any attacks from the lizards. Which took the form of ducking under and avoiding an even greater swarm of thrown spears and stabs. The lizards got more frantic as well, likely surprised by the sudden jolt from their prey, and their angry hissing could be heard all throughout the jungle.

The chain was making this slightly difficult. It honestly would be for the best if Rainbow Dash just rode on Godfrey’s back but she just couldn’t swallow her pride and do that. Still, they were making good progress despite everything.

A spear chucked at Godfrey’s head that he ducked under.

A swipe from the bushes to Rainbow’s right that she jumped over.

Rocks thrown from all around them that they either knocked away or let bounce off the chains.

Spears thrown from above that they barely jumped past.

After rushing past a big-leafed banana tree, Rainbow and Godfrey looked up to see a whole squad of lizards jumping and swinging about on vines above them. Dangling from much taller and bigger trees in the jungle. They had a free shot at them now and one of the lizards leaped from on high towards Rainbow Dash, his spear pointed down directly at her open body-

When he was blasted by a beam of powder blue magic—straight out of the air.

The lizard went flying off into the trees and all the other hunters panicked in confusion, all of them jumping or swinging away from Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. A brief silence once more returned to the jungle as it looked like the two chained up rivals were out of danger for now.

The bushes in the direction the beam of magic had came from rustled and a pony stepped out, her eyes finding Rainbow Dash’s.

“Well then-” Daylight Gleam said as she dusted herself off while her horn smoked. “Finding you wasn’t so difficult.” Her eyes then turned to Godfrey and a grimace came to her face. “It looks like things could certainly be going better though.”

Party of Heroes and a Villain

“This is going to be pretty tough though...” Rainbow Dash said as she looked back west through the jungle, in the direction of the lizard city on the other side.

“Just like with the Boschese we’re drastically outnumbered,” Godfrey said. “Although with what your friends told us about those other lizards, I’d say there’s a better chance for you to be able to talk things out with them.”

“You and Princess Fairscale’s lizards keep calling them savages though. You really think things will turn out well?” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t particularly care which way it goes at all,” Godfrey shrugged.

“At least we can actually talk to the lizards,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, then frowned and looked over at the others. “Or at least you guys can thanks to that crazy magic.”

Senax nodded, though she looked still a bit wary. “Being able to understand their language and speak to them is one thing… being able to get them to come to an understanding is another. I’m very concerned by what you and the Princess have told me about them. They imprisoned you without knowing anything, they violently attack their own former family and home all the time, they sent a hunting party after you for no real reason, their culture and society has completely fallen apart over the centuries… I’m worried.”

“Peace would be nice, but...” Daylight trailed off.

“If it comes to violence it could be a problem,” Gilbert said.

“That’s not it,” Senax said, her voice sharp. “If it comes to violence, we’d win. I know that for certain. But I don’t want it to come to that at all. I refuse to let that happen—I refuse to be like my ancestors.”

“Senax...” Breakwater said.

Godfrey raised an eyebrow at Senax and the others. “Seems like you’ve all got a lot more going on than I thought. Ancestors? You learn a few things about Merlantis and Ponyseidon since I’ve been gone?”

“Yes, but I’m not telling you anything else,” Senax glared at him.

“Anger instead of fear? I really like this change in you,” Godfrey laughed.

“Stop talking to her, brother,” Gilbert said, walking up between them. “You’ve tormented her and the rest of us more than enough. You’re just lucky right now that it would be too costly and time-consuming to do anything about you. I’ve had more than my fill of you, it makes me sick to my stomach to be around you like this, knowing you’re my brother. I sincerely wish you weren’t part of our family.”

“Oh no. How sad,” Godfrey rolled his eyes.

Gilbert clenched his talons, getting a little red in the face. “You truly are nothing more than a vile beast. I for so long wished we could be on good terms again, or at least that you would stop being so horrible! But you have no regrets at all do you? No guilt, no shame, nothing! It would be far better if I told my sister and everyone else back at Griffonstone that we never found you out here at all.”

Gilbert slowly exhaled and calmed himself. “I don’t have a brother anymore.”

“Dramatic, you’re all so dramatic,” Godfrey said as he shook his head.

Rainbow Dash glanced up at the big griffon, wondering if Gilbert’s words really didn’t affect him at all. If they didn’t… that would probably make Rainbow Dash sadder than angrier. Either way Godfrey wasn’t showing anything on his face, whether he truly didn’t care or if it was just a mask, Rainbow didn’t know.

Why do I even care? Senax is right, he is just a monster. Rainbow thought. And yet she couldn’t shake that depressing feeling inside her that he could be so much more. But why? Why after all the time she spent thinking about beating him, protecting her friends from him, dwelling on all the horrible things he had done, why couldn’t she just give up on him? She never had this problem with Blizzard, or Karkona, or Lord Copper, and certainly not with Vox and Dreamweaver. And unlike some of the others, Godfrey was completely unrepentant. He didn’t even have a sad backstory! There was nothing for even Twilight or Fluttershy to latch onto here.

Why’d this feel so much more personal?

“At the moment, I’m chiefly concerned with if we’re going to be attacked by those lizards on the way to the city,” Daylight said, pulling Rainbow Dash back into reality. “Do you think that hunting party is still around?”

“Uhh, it’s kind of hard to say,” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “They’re really good at hiding in this jungle. If they’re still watching us or planning another attack I’m not sure we could tell.”

“Well I guess we should keep our eyes peeled, my horn is still a bit overtaxed right now,” Daylight said.

“Sorry about that, hehe...”

“Better having you out of the chains than still stuck in them,” Daylight shrugged.

“Should we be, uh, quieter right now then?” Breakwater asked. “If we don’t want to get found and attacked while going through here?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Naw, that really wouldn’t help. Those lizards are good at what they do, they’d find us easily anyways.”

“We should’ve asked if we could bring one of those magical totems with us,” Gilbert muttered.

The trip back through the thick jungle continued with both Rainbow and Godfrey leading the way, trying to go back over their own path as much as possible so they didn’t get lost or stuck somewhere. It was just as much of a boring struggle as before but at least for Rainbow Dash things were far more comfortable without any chains on her. She didn’t have to worry about Godfrey moving with her, or the chain getting stuck on something, and she could flap or exercise her wings whenever she wanted. That alone made it not so bad.

And she was back with her friends, that meant even having to deal with Godfrey wasn’t so horrible.

Sort of.

“I would like to ask though, what actually is the plan now when we get to that city?” Daylight asked.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash started.

“We hope for the best,” Senax said.

The others looked at her so she nodded and continued.

“We hope for the best. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll recognize me. Some part of their old selves might still be there, and if there is then hopefully they’ll have a reaction besides trying to kill or capture us. The two of you may not have seen this, but every lizard back on up at the mountains acted like I was some kind of divine figure when they first saw me. If we could at least get some kind of reaction or recognition from these lizards, maybe we’ll be able to sit down and talk with them.”

“You know I was thinking, but they might also be so shocked to see such a weird group coming back into their city that they might be curious enough to hold back at first,” Rainbow said. “Not like Godfrey or I killed anyone to make them really mad at us either.” She glared over at him. “Think I might be right about that now?”

He shrugged. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

“From what we’ve heard it’s a real city and everything too, isn’t it?” Breakwater said. “They’ve got women and children, would they really want to start a big fight in the middle of their city? I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah but you’re thinking from a civilized pony’s perspective,” Daylight pointed out. “You can’t expect these lizards to think the same way.”

“Good point,” Breakwater nodded.

“I’m a little… uncomfortable with how dismissive of their former family the mountain lizards were though,” Gilbert said. “Are the ones in the city really so bad?”

“Yes,” Rainbow and Godfrey answered at once, and then glanced in surprise at each other.

Rainbow coughed. “Okay—look. They aren’t evil, they’re not like Bosche for sure, but any people that would just casually do what they did? They definitely can’t be called friendly either. I don’t think they’re going to be very open to us talking about peace. Once they hear why we came back it might not go so well.”

“We’re just going to have to appeal to them as best we can,” a grimacing Senax said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded after a second. “We’ll do our best.”

A spear came sailing through the air straight towards Senax’s head—before it was swatted out of the sky by Rainbow Dash. The whole group looked at it for a moment, hearing scurrying and angry hissing in the distance.

“Well that answers a couple of questions,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash groaned and dragged a hoof down her face. “This is going to be so annoying...”

“Senax, I think you should stay in the middle of the group,” Breakwater said.

“I’m okay with that,” the merpony swiftly nodded.

They started to make quicker progress through the jungle after that, not wanting to be at the mercy of the hit and run tactics from the hunting party anymore. It had the benefit of taking them out of danger and getting them to their goal much faster—they didn’t have time to mess around. When Rainbow, Senax, and everyone thought about all they still needed to do here, and the lack of time they had to do it, it made them a bit worried. If only this dumb island wasn’t so long and the jungle wasn’t so thick. Where was a real road when you needed one?

Rainbow glanced over to Godfrey. If it wasn’t for him being here, she and Gilbert could just fly the others over the jungle and into the city. Neither of them could carry him though, and she certainly wasn’t letting him out of his chains either. They’d just have to go the slow way for now. Leaving him on his own was probably just as bad an idea as anything else. He’d definitely find some way to cause trouble.

She wondered if he realized that too. Was he aware of how much him being here was slowing them down? Was it on purpose somehow? Maybe he was happy that he was delaying them, knowing that Bosche was on the way.

She discreetly clicked her tongue. He was definitely smart enough to know all this too, but she doubted any of it could have actually been planned by him.

“You know I’m rather surprised-” the voice of Gilbert came whispering into Rainbow Dash’s ear.

Rainbow Dash’s head snapped up, once again shaken out of her inner thoughts. She leaned over to Gilbert as he walked alongside her to whisper quietly back to him. “Huh? About what?”

“That the two of you weren’t constantly at each other’s throats,” Gilbert said, frowning in the direction of his brother.

“Oh,” Rainbow dumbly blinked. “Well, I was ready to fight a couple times but more important stuff came up. And I don’t want to fight someone to the death for no reason. Godfrey just didn’t see the point in us fighting when we’re not both at a hundred percent. Honestly, that’s kind of a sentiment I can understand too. Ever since breaking out of that prison we’ve had plenty of other things to focus our aggression on anyways...”

She held her hoof up in front of Gilbert’s chest to stop him as a spear went flying right past him.

“Like that.”

“Couldn’t they at least come out and fight us for real?” Godfrey grumbled.

“I’d rather they come out and try to talk to us...” Senax sighed dejectedly. “None of this is right.”

“Sorry, Senax, but these hunters probably aren’t the types who would bother talking to anybody. I don’t think they know who—what—you are at all,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash suddenly remembered something back from the prison. The lizard with the red spots on his face, and the other one with an old book. “No… these guys don’t, but I’m thinking it’s maybe not so hopeless that someone in that city will know you.” She grinned. “We’ll just have to reintroduce ourselves.”

“First we need to get there,” Breakwater said, ducking under another spear. “You know I wouldn’t mind one of you watching out for me as well. Just saying.”

“It isn’t going to be that much further,” Rainbow said.

The further along they went however, the more restless the lizards hounding them got. It started with loud hissing and yells to try frightening them, then escalated to more of them swinging and jumping through the trees above so they never had a moment of peace, and got even worse with more and more attacks launched at them. They did not want them leaving the jungle and reaching a place where they couldn’t be stealthily attacked anymore. But they also clearly knew that they couldn’t actually stop them directly. Their experience in attempting to deal with Rainbow Dash and Godfrey had taught them that. Unfortunately for the lizards they couldn’t actually do much more than be a big annoyance right now.

Rainbow Dash wondered if they had sent word back, a runner or two maybe, to the city to tell them what was happening. If that was the case they might find themselves getting not so warmly welcomed once they left the jungle, but it should still take time for the lizards to muster something like that. And just maybe, the lizards in charge might have a different sort of reaction than just violence. Though Rainbow didn’t believe they’d be so lucky. Not until they were face to face with the leader of that lizard city and could talk to him—and show him Senax.

It was still very possible that force was the only thing they’d respond to. Rainbow glanced behind her at the worried looking Senax, neither of them wanted it to come to that.

“Won’t be long now, we’ll be in the field outside the jungle and those big buildings should be in view,” Godfrey said. Snatching a spear thrown at his face right as he finished. “Get creative already.”

“That city was a mess, I wonder if it’ll be in a state of panic after everyone heard about our breakout.” Rainbow said.

“That’ll just make it more difficult to talk with them if that’s the case...” Senax said.

Rainbow winced. “Uh… just forget I said that.”

“We already know the place is falling apart just because they can’t maintain the buildings, farm properly, or do much of anything else,” Daylight said. “I’m hoping that we’re such a shocking event that it will force them to act a little differently.”

“We’ll just have to see...” Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes at the trees ahead. “After all, looks like we’re finally out.”

They practically stumbled through the trees together as they left the jungle, hearing the sounds of frustrated hissing and squawking all around them. They looked to their right and left to see a number of the lizards swiftly running through the fields in the distance, trying to make it back to their city or regroup together. It at least seemed like they’d have a little time before anything major happened. In the distance the tops of the big ziggurats, pyramids, and… whatever else the names for those buildings were were visible.

“Since there’s nothing else stopping us, let’s not waste any time,” Rainbow said and started walking towards the city.

“Yes,” Senax nodded and followed her.

The party of six now swiftly made their way to their next destination.

Inconsolable

They found a welcoming committee when they reached the outskirts of the valley that held the ancient city. It was pretty much what they had expected after so many lizards had obviously ran back to the city to tell their leaders what was going on. Rainbow Dash and the others were hoping this occasion would be special enough to the city lizards that they’d be curious enough to not start immediately fighting. If they could get into the city without any violence, it would be a great start.

That’s why Rainbow Dash turned her head and glared at the large griffon pirate next to her. “Don’t you dare try to ruin this.”

Godfrey grinned back at her. “I don’t plan on saying or doing anything, right now I’m having plenty of fun just watching this. Please try and make peace with these savages, it’s going to be hilarious.”

“H-Hello,” Senax said to the large group of lizards. “I believe you can understand me… and I can understand you. We came here to talk, we don’t want to fight. M-May we please come into your city?”

There were perhaps fifty of them in total, all with spears leveled at the group of six that had walked through the field to get here. Quite a few were ones Rainbow and Godfrey recognized from the hunting party. They still had fresh bruises on them. But others were clearly new to this party, and a lot of them looked very inexperienced and uncertain with what they were doing. The sharpened sticks, barely able to be called spears, they held wavered and shook as their eyes darted about to the other lizards around them. Some of them were noticeably younger and smaller than the hunting party lizards as well—it seems in their panic they had grabbed together any male lizard they could find.

Now Senax and the others were also getting their first real look at these lizards—and saw the ragged clothing they wore, and the state of the buildings in the distance behind them. It wasn’t a good look.

The muttered hissing coming from them also wasn’t a good sign. Rainbow Dash obviously had no idea what they were saying, but by the looks on their faces, neither did Senax or the others.

“What are they saying?” Rainbow Dash whispered.

Daylight leaned over slightly to answer. “Not sure… their language is really broken and hard to understand compared to the mountain lizards. They’re just making a lot of angry mumbles and growls mostly.”

“Please,” Senax attempted to make an impassioned plea. “May we please be welcomed into your city and meet your leaders? I… I am Senax and… I know you may not recognize what I am, but I hope you at least know this name. I am a Child of Ponyseidon. Please, listen to me.”

When she spoke the name “Ponyseidon” there was a ripple effect in the crowd of lizards. They blinked, their chameleon eyes widening ever so slightly as they took a step back and some even pointed away or just barely lifted up their spears so they were no longer pointing directly at Senax. The reaction surprised Rainbow and the others too, even Godfrey looked intrigued. Strangely the reaction seemed to surprise the lizards themselves and some of them were quickly returning to angrily glaring and hissing at Senax.

“They don’t recognize the name, not really,” Daylight said. “But it’s like it’s ingrained in their psyche.”

“Huh?” Rainbow asked her.

“It’s like how animals can instinctively know things without learning them. It’s passed down genetically. They don’t really know what Ponyseidon is, but they recognize the name subconsciously,” she explained.

“I guess that’s better than nothing,” Rainbow shrugged. “There are some smarter lizards here in charge, Godfrey and I met them, so they might have an even better reaction.”

“If we get to them, these ones still don’t seem keen on laying down their spears,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash grimaced. “No, no they don’t.”

“You think we need to try convincing them more? Maybe we should’ve brought some kind of peace offering...” Breakwater said.

“Like what?” Daylight frowned at him.

“I don’t know. Food?” The stallion shrugged.

“It’s alright,” Senax said.

The others looked to the merpony as she took another deep calming breath and stepped forward, staring resolutely at the lizards in front of her.

“Let. Me. Through.”

The effect was even more pronounced this time despite her not invoking Ponyseidon’s name. It’s like something was triggered in the brain of all the lizards. They backed away from her, creating a bulge in their formation, and some of the younger and more inexperienced lizards flat out dropped their spears this time. The lizards didn’t know what was happening or why inside their heads—they just knew that there was something about this strange creature in front of them.

“I wonder if perhaps they’re genetically predisposed to obeying the orders of a merpony? It’s not like the mountain lizards, it must be part of their regression,” Daylight wondered as she rubbed her chin.

“You could have a whole island of them doing whatever you wanted,” Godfrey chuckled.

Immediately Senax’s eyes snapped open wide and she stumbled back. “N-No, that’s not what I—I don’t want something like that! That’s not what I’m trying to do!”

“Senax, relax!” Rainbow said as she stepped forward to steady the merpony. “You’re not doing that, we know that. We know you’re not doing this selfishly or for a bad reason. Take a deep breath again and tell yourself that. You’re not doing anything wrong. Believe me, I’m not just saying this to help you, it’s the truth. Just keep repeating that to yourself.”

Gilbert and Breakwater came over to help their friend and after a few moments of near-hyperventilation Senax managed to relax. A light sweat had broken out on her body but she was stable.

“I-I’m sorry, I just panicked when...” Senax closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m alright now.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow Dash smiled at her before turning to Godfrey.

“That’s not what I was trying to do or anything,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, I know you’re telling the truth,” she narrowed her eyes. “But still. From here on out—you shut up until I say otherwise.”

There was a definite twinkle of amusement in his eyes but Godfrey merely nodded in answer.

“Ahem,” Daylight coughed and when everyone looked at her she pointed at the lizards. “Our audience is a little confused—and by confused I mean they look like they’re considering just attacking us again.”

Senax looked again and realized Daylight was right. The crowd of lizards she had almost pacified were now back to leveling their spears at her and the other. Her strange freakout and the need for her to be supported by the others had likely been taken as a sign of weakness by the lizards. The subconscious word of Ponyseidon was strong—but not all-powerful. As much as she was loathe to even lean into that sort of attitude and strategy again, she knew what she had to do. Rainbow Dash was right, it didn’t mean anything. She wasn’t Ponyseidon or her ancestors. She just needed to keep that truth carefully held inside her heart.

“I will speak again-” Senax said to the lizards, hoping that she could again get their attention and still convince them at this point. Regardless, she had to act utterly in control and make it seem like there was no doubt or hesitation in her. “You will drop your weapons and take us into the city. And then you shall bring us to your leader. I will not repeat myself. Do you understand?”

Each spoken word shook the resolve of the lizards. And when Senax started walking forward once more it broke completely.

The lizards dropped or threw their spears to the ground and completely made way for her—even as in the distance the group could now hear more approaching from the city. But it did not matter. Senax looked over her shoulder at the others and nodded to them, they could walk safely through the crowd and into the city now.

A few of the lizards, ones Rainbow Dash recognized from the hunting party, did come out to stand before the group again. But their heads were kept low and they pointed behind them as they walked, leading the way into the city. As they did so, Rainbow could hear muted hissing and mumbling coming from them.

To Senax, Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater, they could understand the broken words coming from the lizards now: “Child of Ponyseidon”.

They walked from the field and into the valley proper now where they soon found themselves walking onto one of the actual roads of the city, dilapidated as it was. Now the ancient stone buildings started to rise up all around them, from the larger stepped pyramids to simple stone houses. All of which had their paint and plaster fading and their walls chipped and crumbling. And of course there were more lizards around—many had come to see what was going on, and the group got to see the tattered looking woman and children of the ancient city. Quite a few simply hissed and ran off in either anger or fear.

“I can’t say I’m surprised by any of this,” Daylight said as they walked.

“Yeah, me either,” Rainbow said.

“I’m going to at least count this as a blessing since they’re still not trying to kill us yet,” Breakwater nodded.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Gilbert nodded. “At least friendship doesn’t seem… impossible for them now.”

“Always the optimistic one,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

From ahead now, in the direction of one of the larger pyramids, more lizards were coming down the road. Reinforcements grabbed by the hunters who left maybe? Or perhaps more important lizards, part of the leadership of the city. These ones looked quite agitated and angry at the fact that Rainbow and the others were just casually walking into the city. They didn’t know what was going on yet. The lizards in front couldn’t really explain either—Rainbow Dash didn’t need to understand their language to see that.

The ones that had just come from the pyramid now finally pushed through the others and for the first time really laid their eyes on Senax.

She stood there, fearlessly, right in the middle of the broken road. There was no time for her to be uncertain or show weakness. Not again.

One of the lizards, who had not heard her speak yet, walked up and nearly hissed in her face. It took a lot for Rainbow Dash to hold back. Daylight, Gilbert, and Breakwater were just as worried and ready to intervene.

“I am Senax. Child of Ponyseidon. Move out of my way and I will speak to your leader at the pyramid,” Senax said. She projected her voice as loudly and as far as she could, trying to be as imposing and commanding as possible.

It worked. The new lizards were startled by what they heard, that name “Ponyseidon” plucking at something inside their hearts and heads. Something they couldn’t control or defend against. Almost immediately the lizards who had so brazenly stepped towards her were cowed and they looked back to the others in fear and confusion, just as uncertain of what was happening. Their comrades had no answers for them though.

“Take us to the pyramid. Now,” Senax put more force into that last word and the lizards straightened up, nodding their heads and beckoning the merpony and her entourage forward.

“I’m amazed at how well that works,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Let’s hope it keeps working for the leader too,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash frowned and glanced towards Senax, leading them. “I don’t think Senax is going to want to solve the problem that way. I don’t want to either, it’s not right.”

“You’d prefer fighting them then?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“No I wouldn’t want that either. I’m just saying that commanding them by force like this isn’t the right way to do things. It’s not… friendly,” Rainbow said. “Especially if Senax doesn’t want to be like her ancestors. She needs to convince them for real.”

Daylight looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment longer, perhaps thinking of saying something, but in the end nothing came forth. Either way the two continued walking with Senax and the others towards one pyramid in particular—a large crumbling one in the middle of the city. From here they could see a staircase on its east side that led to about three-quarters of the way up before it turned into a shadowed tunnel that led inside the great stone construction. If they were in charge of this city, that’s probably where they’d stay too.

Meanwhile around them even more of the civilian lizards that lived in the city had gathered around the streets. Mass confusion and panic had certainly hit, but at least they weren’t being attacked or stopped anymore. Even if these lizards hadn’t heard Senax speak, they understood the meaning of her being led by others in their city.

Breakwater leaned in towards Rainbow Dash and Daylight to whisper. “Are we going to be safe inside that pyramid? It seems like it would be an easy place for them to trap and capture us.”

“I won’t let anything like that happen,” Rainbow said back to him. “Trust me on that, these lizards have nothing on me now.”

As soon as they reached the pyramid and Senax took her first step up the stone stairs—a piece of them cracked off under her hoof and clattered to the ground. The whole group (sans Godfrey) grimaced at it, a sign of how bad things were here in this city, and to the more superstitious it just seemed like a bad omen. Also it meant they probably needed to really watch their step as they climbed up it.

It was a decent climb too, and Rainbow and Gilbert didn’t want to potentially set anyone off by flying up it instead of walking. The higher they went, the stronger a breeze came in from both sides of the valley, somehow hitting them from both directions. At the midway point, Rainbow looked back down and saw that seemingly the entire city had gathered at the pyramid’s foot—watching them. That was another thing that could be bad.

Gilbert followed her gaze and frowned. “The lizards here in this city outnumber the ones up in the mountains by quite a large number.”

“That’s why it’s been nothing but a stalemate for so long,” Daylight said.

When they got closer to the top of the stairs, the lizards leading them stopped at where it turned into a flat walkway leading into the tunnel. Some of them froze up, seeming surprised, and hissed awkwardly while Senax and the others continued their way up.

Rainbow Dash frowned and jumped a couple steps to be right there with Senax when they reached the summit since she didn’t want her to be in any danger. Once the two of them crested that final step, Raninbow came face to face with two lizards she recognized.

“Oh,” she said as the red-spotted lizard and his book-carrying assistant stood before them.

The red-spotted lizard frowned at them while the one with the book had it open to one of its pages and was quivering. With a shaky hand he pointed out at Senax.

“M-Merpony… C-Child of Ponyseidon.”

When Daylight, Gilbert, Breakwater, and Godfrey made it up here as well, the red-spotted lizard raised his hand. A signal to all the lizards that had led the “invaders” here to fan out to the sides of this level of the pyramid and stand by. Watching. Perhaps waiting for a different signal.

“Well at least we’ve found the lizards who speak a language I know,” Rainbow Dash cracked a smile.

The red-spotted lizard’s eyes immediately snapped over to her as she spoke and he harshly glared at her, then at Godfrey, and then finally over at Senax. “Invaders… scum… false. Tricks and lies… the others… no… Ponyseidon is false. No Ponyseidon… just us. Just lizards! Just island! Leave… false one. Leave island.”

“He’s a bit more cognizant than the others, the name of Ponyseidon doesn’t affect him...” Daylight said.

Senax though was undeterred. She stepped forward despite the anger on the spotted-lizard’s face and in his voice. “Hello, I am Senax. And I come to you as a friend.” She lifted her hoof up and extended it out to him. “What is your name?”

Both sides were quite surprised by this. Rainbow and Daylight blinked stupidly at Senax’s offered hoof, while the red-spotted lizard and his cohorts seemed to be purely in disbelief. Senax had ignored everything he had said—she wasn’t letting him deny her that easily. The chameleon eyes of the lizard kept flicking from her hoof to her face, was this weakness? Was she stupid? Was she insulting him?

A growling hiss came from the leader and he swatted Senax’s hoof away. “No! No friend! Why here? Why Ponyseidon?”

Senax was dismayed and she flinched a little when her hoof was struck, returning it to the ground, but she still only sadly looked towards the lizard leader and continued to talk while the others held tense behind her. “Please. I am your friend, I truly am, and I want nothing but the best for you and your people. Right now… today I come here at the behest of your own family and people, though you may be at odds with them now, you are still one.”

“Others… mountains...” the leader hissed.

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “Princess Fairscale and your own matriarch who holds the Necklace of Ponyseidon. They want peace with you, they want the fighting to stop and for you to be brought back into the fold. Please—for the good of all on this island, I ask you to cease hostilities with them, and to become friends once more.”

“Control… lies… force. They keep us here… keep us for Ponyseidon… we… free! We will be free!” The leader shook his head.

“No—they’re truly not like that! They mean well, they don’t want to hurt you, they just want this fighting to stop!” Senax said. “I know you might disagree with staying here, and their loyalty to Ponyseidon, but isn’t that better than this?” She threw her hoof out towards the decaying city around them. “Wouldn’t you rather your people be able to live happily, not fight, and not suffer like this? You are already free on this island! You were, neither I nor anyone else would ever subjugate you again. As a Child of Ponyseidon I can promise you that!”

“No! No, no, no!” The lizard grasped his head and stomped up and down on the ground. “Lies! Evil lizards! No trust! No more words!”

“Yes more words!” Senax actually stepped forward and grabbed his arms to calm him down.

Rainbow Dash’s group and the other lizards all took a step closer towards the two, tense but not springing into action. Senax suddenly grabbing him like that had almost set off a powder keg.

“You need to believe me that I, an outsider, wants to help you all get along. I want you to throw down your arms and embrace your people again!” Senax said. “What has being like this done for you? Has it helped?”

“Like this cause of them! Should have all they have! No peace!” The lizard pushed her away. “We take all! No friends, no outsiders!” He hissed and growled loudly, gesturing to the lizards. “Not listen, not friends! Ponyseidon false!”

The other lizards now—even though they had been swayed by the word of Ponyseidon earlier—were being caught up in his fervor and clearly obeying their leader’s words. Many of them angrily turned their eyes to Senax and the others by Rainbow Dash, a few still had weapons with them as well. Together, as the leader gestured and raged more and more, they started to form a circle around the interlopers.

“Please, no. Please don’t do this...” Senax pleaded, now just outright begging, as she couldn’t help wetness gather at her eyes. “This isn’t right… we just want peace, we just want you to all be friends...” Her head sunk low to the ground as tears began to fall.

Godfrey took this all in calmly, merely raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash.

She bit her lip, but nodded back at him and went to stand by Senax’s side.

“Senax...” she said.

“Rainbow Dash, no, don’t...” Senax shook her head.

“Senax, I’m sorry...”

“It doesn’t need to be this way. I know it doesn’t need to go like this,” Senax lifted her head and stared into her friend’s eyes.

“I don’t want this either, but-”

“Please,” Senax begged her.

Neither of them got the chance to say anything else right then, as the red-spotted lizard yelled and the others jumped at the outsiders.

Peace Through Force

They were now close enough to where the Lost Isle of the Lizard People was finally visible to the naked eye of those on the Bosche fleet without the use of any spyglass or telescope. Well, “visible” was still a bit of a wrong way to put it. The fog was still there covering the entire island, but the fleet could now see the fog and knew the island was right there behind it. The weather had grown steadily worse the closer they had gotten, with the sky turning gray overhead and the ocean waters themselves becoming murky and choppy.

It was no deterrent whatsoever to Admiral Bin’Tavy as he stood at the bow of his Junk. Not even the giant whirlpools that supposedly swirled around the island, protecting it, was enough of a reason for them to turn away. Not when they had such a grand prize awaiting them.

He smiled. The glory of Bosche would become even greater once they were done here. Their brilliance and fortune shining even brighter for the entire Grand Ocean and all the Hundred Kingdoms to see. One day, he promised to himself, one day he would bring Bosche into an age where it eclipsed even the vaunted memory of the Golden Empire. These soon-to-be slaves, these long forgotten, unique slaves, would be one of many steps.

And once that griffon was dead, their primary enemy when it came to prowling the ocean would also be gone for good. With the pirates smashed and new revenue and slaves from the lizards, Bosche could work overtime to expand. Truly today would be a great day in the history of Bosche, there was so much about to be accomplished. And it would all be thanks to him.

Glory to the Emperor, glory to Bosche, that was what truly mattered, but Bin’Tavy was certainly taking a fair bit of pride in this mission himself.

“Senax. A while ago, back when I was in the True North, I met a friend who hated violence and fighting even more than you. What he wished for more than anything was a world where no one would have to fight anymore. But, as much as it hurt him to admit it, that world doesn’t exist today. I think one day we can make it—or our kids can make it if we all keep believing in friendship and harmony and make sure to pass it down to them—but it’s still not the world around us right now. I’m sorry, I know it hurts, I don’t like having to do this either, but if it’s to help you, my friends, and to stop pointless violence like what’s been going on here? Then yeah, I’m going to fight.”

“Is there really nothing else that can be done? I wanted things to be different. I didn’t want to be like how my ancestors were out here.”

“It’s okay, Senax. Sometimes you just have to do this. At least you know you did your best—and that’s more than a lot of ponies can say.”

“Uh, I know you two are having a little moment here, but we’re kind of in the middle of something,” Daylight said.

While Rainbow Dash and Senax hugged, to the left of them Daylight had put up a blue shield to stop the lizards from jumping atop and subduing them while to the right, Godfrey held off the others with his own bulk and strength. Gilbert and Breakwater were both ready to back Daylight up, knowing shields like this weren’t her forte. All the lizards around them were back to being just as agitated and antagonistic as before—no one wanted to talk anymore.

Unfortunately, peace was off the table for now.

“Sorry—just had a few words to say,” Rainbow Dash sighed as she stood up. She looked over at Godfrey as he held the other line. “Remember, there’s still no killing.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes, I remember. Am I allowed to talk again by the way?”

“Shoot your mouth off all you want, this shouldn’t take long and it’s not like you could make the situation worse,” Rainbow said.

“Please,” Senax said from on the ground beside her. “Please don’t be too hard on them.”

“We won’t be. I promise,” Rainbow Dash patted her head.

“Raaagh! Kill them! Kill outsiders! Liars! Liars of Ponyseidon!” The red-spotted lizard yelled as he watched his forces still being held at bay. He ran off to the side, to the edge of this level of the pyramid and started to shout below in his loud hissing language. Rainbow and Godfrey were at a loss but the others could understand his words: “All lizards! All hear me! Come and fight! War, war! Destroy the outsiders! Destroy the false others on the mountain!”

Down below, the lizards of the city heard his manic shouts and the dark orders he yelled to them. Panic erupted, the young and the elderly, the female lizards, they reacted like a volcanic eruption was happening under their feet. A lot of the crowd dispersed and ran off to the rest of the city, mothers grabbed their children and looked for somewhere safe to hide. The reaction from the male lizards of fighting age was the opposite. Though surprised at first, though some of them still had that name, “Ponyseidon”, ringing inside their heads, the orders from their leader took over. Many of them grabbed whatever weapons were available, and those that couldn’t didn’t care. Already the bottom of the stairs were blocked off by the enraged lizards and it didn’t take long before they started to climb up the pyramid.

“We’re going to have a problem soon!” Daylight said.

“Then let’s deal with these ones up here quick—and don’t let the leader get away if he tries to run!” Rainbow said. She glanced at Daylight. “You can turn off the shield, stay by Senax and keep your eyes on the leader.”

Daylight nodded and lowered her shield, conserving her magic. “Okay.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Godfrey said and tossed away the lizards that were trying to get past him.

Once the shield was gone, the lizards from the left tried to rush in. Breakwater and Gilbert were not exactly good fighters but all they needed to do was hold things for just a second as Daylight stepped back to cover Senax and Rainbow Dash stepped forwards to help them. One lizard reached his hand out toward Gilbert’s throat when suddenly his vision turned from normal to a fuzzy blue blur. The next thing he knew he was flying backwards until he collided with the wall of the pyramid and fell over in a slump.

“Breakwater, Gilbert. You can both hang back too,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked past them. She wasn’t looking to join or fight with them. They were all just hers to protect right now. “There’s no reason for either of you to be put in danger, Godfrey and I will take care of this part.”

Godfrey cracked his knuckles as he grinned maliciously at his half of the lizards. “Oh thank you, I’ve been wanting to have some more fun after all that walking and talking.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t smiling. Even as the rest of the lizards in front of her hesitated to attack after seeing what she had just done. There was nothing to be happy about. She looked across the faces of the lizards here and realized she recognized quite a few from the hunting party that had tried to kill her and Godfrey just earlier. “I’m going to give all of you a chance, because I don’t want to fight you and this doesn’t need to be happening. Just turn around, throw down your weapons if you have them, and walk away. Stop listening to your crazy leader. If you’ve got any ability to think for yourselves, then now’s the time to do it. Listen to Senax, listen to me, there’s no reason for you to fight like this—with us or with the other lizards here. Might be hard for you to believe, but we want the best for all of you. And no matter what, we’re bringing peace to this island. It’s up to you now to choose how that peace comes about.”

She didn’t think she could’ve gotten them to stand still and listen to that, so she had to take out that one lizard first to get them to stop and reconsider what they were doing. It was Rainbow’s last attempt at handling this without anymore pointless violence.

“Hiss!” One lizard loudly hissed and charged her.

It only took one.

The attempt with talking things out was over with and her intimidation didn’t work either. Time for her hooves.

The first lizard got himself punched in the face with enough force to knock him out in one blow. Two more came at Rainbow Dash from the side but she flapped her wings and jumped over them. They weren’t used to fighting her while she could fly—or any sort of enemy while they could fly—and it showed. Not like it mattered even if they did have that experience. With her wings free, without any chains bothering her or linking her to Godfrey, Rainbow Dash was an entirely different pony.

With another flap she flew towards the rest of the advancing lizards at high-speed. It almost looked to her as if they were moving in slow-motion and she was able to glide right through their ranks before most of them could even blink or realize what was happening. Her natural speed and agility combined with the way of moving and lack of wastefulness she had learned at the Archipelago turned her into an impressive weapon.

Lizards like this couldn’t match up.

To everyone watching it would’ve looked like some rainbow serpent had just slithered through the entire squad of lizards and then they just started falling over one by one. Rainbow Dash was doing it as calmly and simply as possible, never hitting one of them more than she needed to, never being excessive. She had a promise to keep with Senax. And this had to be finished with quickly.

The red-spotted lizard saw this happening and gaped in both confusion and fear at Rainbow Dash when she finished her lightning flight and came to a stop. The sound of Godfrey tossing a few more lizards to the ground then also grabbed his attention and he squawked in disbelief at the powerful griffon effortlessly manhandling his other troops. Godfrey could’ve easily been done by now but he was relishing in getting to crack some skulls. At least he was listening to Rainbow Dash and not killing any of them. That was about all she could ask for from him.

Seeing what was going on now, and how his forces actually up here on the same level of the pyramid as his him weren’t going to cut it, the leader tried running to the tunnel leading further inside the pyramid. He was immediately blocked off by both Gilbert and Breakwater running in front of him. Thanks to Rainbow Dash, they certainly had an easy job of making sure he didn’t escape.

“How dare… how dare!” The red lizard started yelling louder. “Everyone… fight… fight here! Come here!”

Shouting and noise from the stairs increased, the mob running up it to help their leader was only drawing closer.

“Um, we’re going to have to do something about this very quickly!” Gilbert said. “Just because we’ve stopped their leader from fleeing doesn’t mean much with that army coming up here to help him!”

“Can even you fight an entire city, Rainbow Dash?” Breakwater asked as the leader lunged at him and the earth pony had to start physically restraining him—it was good the lizard leader clearly had no fighting ability of his own.

“Off! Off! Invaders! Scum!” The leader yelled as he tried clawing at Breakwater while Gilbert helped pacify him.

“I dunno, maybe if I really let loose here,” Rainbow Dash frowned and started walking away from the now unconscious lizards all around her. Godfrey on the other side finally got bored of the weak opponents and decked the last lizard that still had the courage to be fighting him. He yawned and looked over at her and the others, raising an eyebrow as if to ask what they were going to be doing now. If he was concerned by the army coming up the pyramid he didn’t show it. Truthfully Rainbow Dash wasn’t too worried about it either, since she didn’t plan on actually fighting them all.

She made her way towards the leader, and meanwhile Senax, Daylight, and Godfrey all came to join her so the entire group could circle around him.

Angry as he was—he knew he couldn’t really do anything either. He turned from face to face, glaring at all of them, before finally stopping at Senax and giving her the most withering of glares possible.

Senax couldn’t help but take a step back and wilt slightly under the gaze before Rainbow Dash laid a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

“Why don’t you tell him again what you want. But this time you’ve gotta let him know he doesn’t really have a choice,” Rainbow said.

Now Make Nice

“Never, never, never!” The red-spotted lizard shouted and shook his head, jumping up and down in the circle of Rainbow Dash and her friends. And Godfrey.

“Please, you have to stop this! Can’t you see that you’re not going to get what you want?” Senax said, stomping her own hoof for emphasis. “Look around you! Your friends and fellow citizens are all lying unconscious, hurt and defeated, how many more do you want to see like that? You just saw what we can do—all the other lizards coming up the pyramid now are going to go through the same thing. Be a real leader here and tell them to stop so no one else has to fight anymore.”

The leader hissed at her. “And what then? What will Child of Ponyseidon do?” He grabbed his head. “Helpless… helpless… captured… hostage… slave!”

Senax bit her lip. “Yes… you’re our captive right now, and we can’t let you run away. But you are not a slave. And you never will be.”

“Not… slave? We… free?” The leader blinked.

“So long as you lay down your weapons today, stop fighting us, and stop fighting your fellow lizards on the mountain, I promise I will not force you to do anything else. I won’t make you stay on this island, or move back with the others, or make you do anything else. But you must embrace peace and friendship,” Senax said.

From behind them all, the ravenous hissing and shouting of the lizards climbing the pyramid grew louder. Any second now they would crest that final step and reach the level the rest of them were on. Godfrey for his part decided to lie down on his side and rest his head on an open palm, thoroughly disinterested in everything going on. The others were feeling much more stressed by what was going on. Gilbert, Breakwater, and Rainbow Dash started to move over to the edge of the pyramid’s level in case any fast ones came up before things could be resolved here. Daylight stayed by Senax for her own protection. Though the leader had slightly calmed down they still didn’t trust him to not do something rash or swing moods again.

He still seemed to be torn, and the sounds of his approaching army may have been reinforcing his decision not to yield to Senax. “No… can’t… no.”

Senax clenched her jaw, there wasn’t time for this! As much as she didn’t want to, she was going to have to be a bit more forceful. Taking Rainbow’s words to heart might be all she could do right now. “What I can’t promise you though is that nothing will happen to you if you don’t listen to me. If we need to use you to calm them down, or get out of here safely, we will. Do you understand what I’m saying? If you really want to be safe you had best just obey me right now. That army can’t help you.”

The leader looked at her before his eyes traveled over to Godfrey and Rainbow Dash. He gulped.

“I think you get what I mean,” Senax said. “I’ll let you talk to them and tell them that there will be no more fighting. But you have to tell me first that this will stop. Will you listen to what I’ve said? Will there be peace on this island finally?”

“If...” the leader struggled to speak, his history at war with his instincts and common sense. “If we free… then… peace.”

Senax’s face relaxed and a smile came to her. “Do you really mean that?”

He hesitated for a second, but in the end the leader nodded. “Fighting… will stop. If promise kept… peace.”

There was a brief moment where Senax didn’t say anything. Her body merely shook as tears gathered at her eyes again—but happy tears. She sniffled and brought a hoof up to her face to wipe them away. “Thank you… thank you so much.”

“Whew...” Daylight sighed in relief. “Glad that worked out.”

“Lizards… city… will live on… lizards will be free,” the leader shook his head. “Others are liars… you… trust. Child of Ponyseidon.”

“It’s not perfect but I’m still glad,” Senax smiled. “And now please—can you tell me what your name is?”

The leader frowned, his red spots stretching on his face. He still seemed a bit abrasive and reluctant to share that with Senax. He stared down at the ground, grumbling, before finally raising his head to look Senax in the eye again. “Firescale.”

Senax raised a hoof and offered it to him. “Pleased to meet you, Firescale.”

Firescale shakily grasped it and the two had a brief, awkward, but no less important, hand/hoofshake.

“Will you please go to the stairs now to tell your lizards to stop?” Senax asked.

“Yes… peace… no fighting,” Firescale said and started walking to the stairs.

Godfrey watched him go and yawned. “What a boring outcome.”

“You should go back to shutting up,” Senax glared at him.

Firescale walked past Rainbow Dash and the others, who watched him just in case he tried to suddenly make a break for it, and stood at the top of the stairs. Below him a ravenous horde was approaching, they were just a few levels down. Firescale could see the rage in their eyes—the loyalty to protect their leader and destroy the invaders. So many of them carried weapons, and they were all ready to fight. He could rile them up some more. He could go back on what he just promised.

But as he stood here, able to look out at the decaying city all around him, he knew he couldn’t.

A loud screeching hiss came from Firescale and the advancing army stopped, many of them crashing into each other and falling over. Rainbow Dash stood right behind the leader lizard and quietly watched. Though she couldn’t understand his words when he was speaking his own hissing language, she believed she could at the very least feel their meaning.

The others joined her as well as Firescale spoke to his subjects with only Godfrey staying back out of the way. Good. There was much confused hissing, many angry shouts, much yelling from Firescale and others down on the stairs. He was pleading to them for all their sakes, perhaps trying to prove to himself, Senax, and the entire city that they weren’t merely savages. It must have hurt, and he must still have had reservations about it all, but he was still telling them to lay down their weapons. Maybe as he truly saw what he was about to bring about to his people—and the state of their civilization—he knew it had to stop.

Senax, perhaps out of some subconscious urge or gut feeling, stepped to stand right beside Firescale as he continued to speak to his lizards so they all could see her as well. Looking down she saw them all, in their ragged clothes, haggard, breathless, confused, scared. She didn’t want them to suffer more than they already had. These weren’t savages like Princess Fairscale and the other lizards thought, or what even Rainbow Dash and Godfrey had told her. These were just poor lizards who had lost their way after centuries of malaise and darkness.

Things hadn’t gone perfectly but it still warmed her heart to know that the fighting would stop. And she wasn’t going to draw on her identity as a merpony—the power it and the name Ponyseidon brought—any longer. That was over with for good.

With Senax by his side, Firescale spoke one last time to his people. He was quieter, more subdued, and when he finished the lizards on the steps stood up straight and slowly the anger and aggression from them started to evaporate. One by one the spears and all the other weapons brought up with them were dropped. It was a domino effect going through the entire army down to the very bottom of the pyramid. Senax and Firescale both smiled at the sight.

Senax looked over her shoulder at the others. “I think we’re just about done here.”

Rainbow Dash walked up to her with a grin and gave her a hoof bump. “You did good, Senax.”

“Better than good!” Gilbert cheered and patted her just slightly too hard on the back. “You’re amazing, my dear Senax! And now we’ve brought peace to the Lost Isle, I call this a wonderful day!”

“I’m not sure we should be going that far just yet. There’s a lot of other stuff still going on,” Rainbow said and glanced over to Godfrey.

“True...” Gilbert’s cheerfulness dampened quite a bit.

“It’s still one big step we’ve taken though,” Daylight said. “We should be happy about that.”

“And now we can get the Necklace, can’t we?” Breakwater said.

Daylight nodded. “From what the Princess told us this should be more than acceptable to her and the Keeper.”

“Then we should get back there as quickly as possible. Time still isn’t on our side here,” Rainbow Dash said. “That goes for you too, Godfrey.”

The big griffon shrugged and stood up. “I’ve gotten bored of this place anyways, I’m fine with getting a move on too.”

Breakwater took a look down the stairs at all the lizards mulling around while Firescale continued to talk to them, though just about staying calm and letting the “invaders” pass through. “I sure hope this sticks.”

“It will. I’m sure of it,” Senax said.

“And hopefully soon some day this city can be rebuilt once the lizards are all friendly again,” Gilbert said. “It will be wonderful if they can work together to heal their wounds and their home.”

Rainbow Dash then also peered down the stairs. “So uh, these guys will make way for us, right?”

“They will,” Senax nodded.

“Well then no offense to them-” Rainbow Dash said as she cracked her neck. “But I hope I never have to come back here. It’s time to go.”

She took the first step down as the others followed behind her—once more thinking about how much faster they could get to where they needed to be if it wasn’t for Godfrey. That was just wishful thinking at this part. The good thing right now though was that Firescale and the other lizards did bow and move out of the way for them. As Senax passed, Firescale gave her a last quiet hiss of appreciation.

Princess Fairscale stood in one of the high towers of their castle, facing out the window and looking towards the ancient city to the west. She hoped everything was going alright. The mission she had to give them—it wasn’t what she wanted to do. She wanted to just give the Child of Ponyseidon the Necklace, the Necklace she deserved to have, that she had the right to have. But things weren’t so simple. To give them something like that to do to prove themselves, the first and only Child of Ponyseidon to set hoof on this island in centuries, it tore her to pieces. She hoped Senax had both found her friend and was finding success with those savages in the city.

Their entire purpose for being on this island, for locking themselves away with the unyielding fog and deadly whirlpools, was for this moment. A descendant of the great Ponyseidon had found them and wanted his vaunted treasure. They should be doing everything in their power to help Senax but instead…

Princess Fairscale sighed and turned away from the window. She loved her people, and that love allowed her to understand why the Keeper had made the decision she did. Hopefully they’d all get what they wanted.

Admiral Bin’Tavy stood on the aft deck of his Junk as he drank from a cup of tea that had been poured by one of his several servants. That servant was carrying the porcelain tea set on his back right now, it was an expensive—essentially priceless—heirloom gifted to him by one of the oldest and wealthiest families of Bosche. Bin’Tavy had quite often fantasized about throwing the tea set overboard just to see what the reactions of his officers and servants would be. It’s not like they could speak against him. Seeing them silently staring in shock as the porcelain teapot and all its cups sank beneath the water would be immeasurably pleasing to him.

However, the quality of the set was simply divine, he didn’t want to settle for using an inferior tea set just to satisfy such a base and petty urge. So for now he’d keep it until the day he found or was gifted something better.

He put the tea cup down on the tray on the servant’s back and smiled, looking north to the isle now even closer. The fog and weather around it had gotten even stronger but that was still no issue. He turned to his first officer, Admiral Tuon, and prepared to give some new orders. “Admiral? I want you to send a number of rowboats into the fog ahead of our fleet. We’ll need to find a safe route through the whirlpools for our junks. I don’t care how many it takes.”

The implication was not lost on Admiral Tuon.

“Of course, sir,” Tuon bowed and left the deck, preparing to relay the important orders to his own officers. There was no time for any considerations, dissenting opinions, or other possible plans.

Admiral Bin’Tavy watched him go before his eyes returned to the great wall of fog ahead.

“Soon.”

Is That Good Enough?

“I swear if any giant gorillas show up to slow us down just because we’ve happened to cross into their territory...” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she and the rest of her group made their way back through the jungle again.

“If only these chains weren’t around my wings so I could fly on my own while you and Gilbert carried the others,” Godfrey mockingly said to her.

“Don’t push it,” Rainbow glared at him.

“Um… at least the weather’s nice? It’s quite warm in the jungle,” Gilbert said, trying to spin something positive out of the lumbering trek.

They were making a much faster pace through it than before, practically turning the adventure through the jungle into a light jog. They didn’t know when Bosche was arriving but they had to get back to the mountain lizards and Princess Fairscale soon. The sooner they had the Necklace and could then deal with Bosche the better. Senax though, chiefly among them, was not looking forward to the fact that she was going to have to tell the Princess and the Keeper about the impending danger of the Boschese fleet. She was going to have to hope that they trusted and believed in her enough after settling things with the other lizards that they would still give the Necklace to her.

The whole purpose of their mission had been to make sure the lizards wouldn’t be in danger or suffer any pain when the Keeper gave away the Necklace and her magic protecting the island vanished. When she learned about what was coming to her doorstep…

Senax refused to let Bosche enslave these lizards. She’d make the Keeper believe in her. Somehow, someway, even if she had no real answer right now as long as she showed her spirit and determination that should be enough. It just relied on getting the Keeper to believe in friendship and her allies as much as Senax did. Rainbow would say it was about embracing the ways of friendship and harmony—and no one was more reliable or trustworthy than that pegasus.

If nothing else, Senax was sure Rainbow Dash could get the Princess and Keeper to believe in her.

“Come on, we don’t need to be grumbling about all this, let’s just hurry up as best we can and get back to the mountain lizards,” Daylight said as she pushed some vines away with her magic.

“I concur,” Breakwater said. “Shouldn’t really be far till we get back to the wall.”

“The wall, huh? Guess I’ll see what kind of life these mountain lizards and their Princess lives,” Rainbow Dash said.

It was the first time she and Godfrey had seen any of this. At first, the lizards manning the wall were shocked—in pure disbelief to see Senax and the others returning so quickly—but they opened up the gate and warmly greeted her all the same. The difference in how they were treated from side to side was quite jarring to say the least. Rainbow and Godfrey also both noticed how much nicer and well kept these lizards and their clothes were. Godfrey in particular was trying to take in as much information as he could, something Rainbow didn’t like but couldn’t do anything about.

One lizard then came running up to Senax in greeting and Rainbow Dash got herself introduced to Smooth Tongue.

“You’re back! Were you successful? Are these your friends?” Smooth Tongue asked of Senax as he looked past her at Rainbow and Godfrey.

Senax blanched. “This is my friend-” she pointed to Rainbow Dash. “The other one… we can talk about with the Princess.” A lighter expression then came to her face and she smiled. “But yes, we were successful. The other lizards will not quarrel with you any longer. This island will be at peace.”

“That is wonderful news! The Princess and everyone will be so happy to hear it! Please—you must all come back with me now, I’ll take you to the castle so the Princess can be informed,” he said, reaching out a hand to grasp Senax’s hoof and start pulling her along.

It seems the quiet lizard afraid to speak in Senax’s presence without her permission had disappeared. Pure happiness and excitement can do strange things to a creature.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile leaned in to Daylight and whispered to her. “Uhh… you guys are going to translate for me later, right? Cause I’d like to know what the Princess and other important lizards are saying to us.”

“Oh yeah,” Daylight blinked thoughtfully. “I wonder if we can get those Elders to cast the same spell on you that they did on us.”

“Would be helpful,” Rainbow said and started following after Senax and Smooth Tongue. She looked over her shoulder at Godfrey. “Don’t do anything and don’t say anything to these lizards, got it?”

“More of the same? No problem here, I’m just tagging along waiting for the fun to begin anyways,” Godfrey shrugged.

Rainbow glared at him but said nothing else, and the five of them followed after Senax and Smooth Tongue. There was still a long ways to walk up through the mountain before they made it back to the mesa and castle. Along the way Rainbow Dash got to see how the other half lived, it was all so much nicer and friendlier than the city, with far fewer lizards around in general. There were less buildings or things to see but everything was better taken care of and looked nice. Looking up at the sky, the sun was shining down, it was a great day out that didn’t reflect the chaos of the island or the incoming danger.

Because Rainbow couldn’t talk with the lizards like the others she stayed back by Godfrey to keep an eye on him. Meanwhile Gilbert and Breakwater conversed with Smooth Tongue while Daylight also kept an eye on things around them. Senax… despite still being practically pulled along by Smooth Tongue she remained quiet and introspective. Rainbow knew she had a lot on her mind. She wasn’t looking forward to the awkward conversation they were going to have to have with the Princess once they made it to the castle.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and glanced at Godfrey. “How much longer until Bosche gets here?”

“By now? I’d say they’re right outside the fog looking for a safe way in already,” he answered.

“Fantastic,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Eh, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I’m pretty excited to crack some Bosche skulls,” Godfrey said.

“Yeah and then I’m sure you wont turn around and try to steal the Necklace from us and kill us too,” Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“That’s a given, but we’ve both got other concerns first,” Godfrey chuckled.

Rainbow Dash huffed in annoyance. “Pff, at least you’re honest about that.” She narrowed her eyes and stared at the ground as she walked. “Doesn’t even need to be that way...”

Godfrey raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

“Nothing, let’s just walk,” Rainbow shook her head.

When they did finally make it to the mountain village beneath the castle, they found themselves getting swarmed once again. To Rainbow Dash and Godfrey it was nothing but an unceasing amount of loud hissing, to the others it was a mix of cheers and “Child of Ponyseidon!” being yelled over and over. It hadn’t even been a day since they left and these lizards were acting like they hadn’t seen Senax in years. The exact opposite of the initial reception in the ancient city, it would’ve been nice to see or spend some more time just talking and hanging out with these lizards if they weren’t in such a hurry.

As it was, they were, and Senax was already telling her admirers that they really had to get on through.

Smooth Tongue helped things go along and a few lizards were already running up to the castle to tell the Princess so they could speed things along. For only a few minutes, Senax and the others stood mobbed in the middle of the village. While the lizards were mostly focused on the Child of Ponyseidon of course, quite a few were interested in Rainbow, Daylight, Gilbert, Breakwater, and Godfrey just because they were different. A lot of children expectantly looked up at Rainbow Dash and came forward to poke and tug at her wings.

“Uhh… I don’t have a problem with kids but this is still a little much,” Rainbow said.

“I know, we’ll be out of here soon...” Daylight grimaced as one reached up to touch her horn.

“At least we’re here,” Gilbert shrugged.

“I’m not used to being around people who aren’t terrified of me, this is actually a little amusing,” Godrey grinned.

Rainbow Dash snorted. “And wouldn’t they just love to know about the slavers you brought to their island. Then I’m sure they’d have the usual reaction to you. Just keep your talons to yourself.”

Suddenly the doors to the castle opened up and all of them looked up towards the top of the stairs. Princess Fairscale was there with her flowing right dress and pink speckled face, alongside her were the elders and the procession quickly began to come down the stairs. With some amusement, Daylight noticed how much faster they were moving than the first time their group came here. The elders were of course a bit slower and more careful heading down the stairs than the Princess—so much that they struggled to keep up. The Princess herself went faster and faster until she was practically running down the stairs, holding up the bottom of her long dress so she didn’t accidentally trip on it.

“Child of Ponyseidon!” Princess Fairscale shouted as the crowd parted to let her through. She came to a stop before Senax and the others, her eyes roaming over them, stopping confusedly on Rainbow Dash and Godfrey for a moment before she regained her senses. “You have come back to us! Y-Your mission? D-Did you...”

Senax smiled for her while the other lizards stepped away to give both her and the Princess space. At the very least they were a respectful people. “Yes, it’s not perfect but I believe you will have peace with your lost family down in the city.”

“I-I’m so happy for you! I’m so proud—I almost can’t believe it,” Princess Fairscale sighed, catching her breath. “This really is a truly amazing day… this is such great news.”

Senax’s smile wavered. She bit her lip and looked down before glancing over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. “Yes… great news.”

Princess Fairscale blinked at her. “Is something wrong?”

“There’s just… I have some bad news to deliver as well,” Senax sadly looked at the Princess. “Can we go inside the castle to talk?”

“Of course,” Princess Fairscale said and glanced hesitantly between Senax and the others.

“You… there’s… what?” Princess Fairscale trembled before collapsing into her chair in the dining room.

“Princess!” The elders went to hold her steady and make sure she didn’t fall.

“I-I’m sorry,” Senax said. “I didn’t want something like this to happen but-”

“Senax-” Rainbow Dash said, walking up beside her and placing a hoof on her back. “Don’t apologize. This isn’t your fault at all. If anyone here should be blamed it’s Godfrey—and me for not having a better answer to this problem.” Rainbow then sighed and gave a sympathetic look to the Princess. “Look, Princess Fairscale, I’m really, really sorry you have to go through something like this. Especially after so much time on this island, and right after meeting a descendant of Ponyseidon and having all this other great stuff happen, but it’s just the reality we’re in right now. There’s a huge fleet of evil ponies coming to this island, they’re practically already here, and they’re going to try to capture and enslave you. They can’t be talked to and they have no reason to go away. You may be safe here in your mountain for a little time but now that they know where the island is… you can’t just expect to have peaceful days anymore. Unless we deal with Bosche here and now.”

The Princess’s eyes were glassy and unfocused, the whiplash she felt from being so full of joy to being full of terror and fear for her people was almost too much. “Why are you telling us this? You didn’t need to… you could’ve taken the Necklace and left.”

“We’re telling you because it’s the right thing to do. Because it’s our fault in the first place and we have to help you,” Rainbow said.

Fairscale looked at her before her eyes turned to Godfrey. “And you… this is your doing? Why would you do something so horrible?”

“Princess...” Rainbow grimaced.

“Just because, really,” Godfrey shrugged. “Seemed like the best way to get what I wanted.”

“Monster!” Fairscale shouted and slammed her fists on the table, standing up in anger. “You’re worse than those savages! I should have you executed right now—elders! Gather anyone back in town with a weapon! Bring them here and-”

“Princess!” Rainbow Dash shouted, throwing a hoof in front of Godfrey, who merely grinned. “We can’t do that right now. We need him.”

“Do we really?” Daylight asked.

Her sentiment seemed to be shared by Gilbert and Breakwater as the two of them nodded along.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip and turned around, looking Godfrey dead in the eye. “Godfrey? You mind telling everyone how much trouble you’d cause if the Princess tried to execute you right now?”

He lifted a talon to his chin and started to scratch under it. “Well you’d probably handle me alright with my wings still chained down like this—but I imagine at least a few limbs would be broken at the end of the day.”

“See?” Rainbow Dash sighed and turned around. “I hate to say this right now, but this guy isn’t just a prisoner of ours. He’s dangerous—and the only reason we aren’t tearing each other apart right now is because of a mutual agreement. It just… wouldn’t be worth fighting him with all that it’d cost and all the time it’d waste. We’ve got bigger things to worry about.

“And I can help against the Boschese too. I’m in something of a bad situation too and even after being threatened with execution just now I’d still say I’m more likely to survive on your side,” Godfrey said.

“Yeah, that’s where we’re at right now. Ugh,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

Princess Fairscale once more sat down and placed her head in her hands. “What do I do?”

“Believe in us. Trust us. Give us help so we can fight off Bosche together,” Rainbow Dash said. She looked over to Senax. “Senax deserves to have her people’s treasure, you know this. Please, give it to her. I think she’s proved herself more than enough. And you know by now that she has the best interest of your people at heart—we’re not going to leave you out to dry.”

“Merlantis may be my goal, but I wouldn’t throw away my friends to get there. I refuse to ever do something like that,” Senax said.

The Princess looked up at her, eyes full of both worry and hope. “I… I need to speak to the Keeper. It will be her decision.” She stood up, on shaky legs, and began to leave the chamber. “Elders, keep them company while I go. Hopefully this will not be long.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Rainbow Dash said.

Fairscale paused briefly, and nodded. “I know.”

That left the six of them to wait, uncertainly, for her to return.

The Treasure

A storm raged in the middle of the night, the dark sky clouded over so that not even the moon and stars offered any sort of light. Rain poured hard and unforgivingly across the entire island and the ocean around it while a brutal wind whipped at the trees and any unfortunate soul outside.

Of which there were many out on this dark and stormy night.

The Isle of the Lizard People—before it became lost—was about to be in the middle of a crisis. The horrible things they had heard, the rumors they didn’t want to believe, had just been confirmed to be true. Ponyseidon was gone. Merlantis was lost. Their beloved Merponies who they saw as kin were on the precipice of destruction.

Only the leaders of the Lizard People knew this at the moment. Most lizards still slept, peacefully unaware, the rumors still only rumors to them.

Tomorrow morning would be different, but for now it was their last night of peace.

On the western coastline of the island, where the storm blew fiercest and the waves crashed against the rock, a convocation stood inside a small temple just a short ways away from the dock. The temple was actually the very first stone building ever built on the island, before the Merponies came the Lizard People only had wooden cabins and huts. It was left as a monument to Ponyseidon and how he had uplifted their people. Mostly hidden away and forgotten by the general populace of the island—who now had far bigger temples and monuments in their city—it made the perfect place to meet like this.

At the moment though, there was one lizard not inside the temple. She was not supposed to be inside the temple. She was not supposed to even know what was going on. Lucky Scales (who would one day have a descendant by the name of Fairscale) was the young daughter of the island’s governess.

A curious girl of only ten years old, she wanted to know what was going on, she wanted to know why her mother and so many other important lizards from the island had left their homes to come here in the middle of such a terrible night. It was only by chance that she had been woken up when someone had come to get her mother, and the hushed whispers she heard exchanged between them had ignited her curiosity. Making her way through the city in this wind and rain had been difficult, but she was sure it would be a worthwhile adventure. There was something big going on. Bigger than anything she had been through in her short life.

Lucky Scales could see the ocean from where she was, less than a hundred feet away the coastline was being bombarded by waves far more violent than Lucky Scale could ever remember seeing. Even further out, waterspouts spun about on the ocean and lightning cracked in the sky. The thunderclaps coming from the ever shining bolts of lightning were so powerful they even rumbled over the banshee wind blowing over the island.

It was scary—she had no trouble admitting that, even at the age she was where she liked to pretend she wasn’t afraid of anything. The storm around the island, that looked like it might have even been roaring across the entire ocean, was too dark and powerful to be normal. There was an unnatural, primal, fear welling up in her stomach the more she looked out there at the raging waters and the dark clouds. She shivered. Despite being out of the rain, safely underneath the protection of many of the island’s tropical trees, the cold wouldn’t leave her after she had gotten soaked sneaking her way here from the city.

She didn’t think she had to be quiet with how loud the wind, rain, and thunder were. But she still walked as carefully and quietly as she could as she edged up towards the temple, making sure her feet didn’t snap any twigs sitting on the ground. Her eyes looked up at the smooth stone walls of the temple and the obelisk on its roof. Every now and then lightning would illuminate it clearly for her—the beautiful monument to Ponyseidon.

Like every lizard, she loved and idolized the Merponies. Every opportunity she had to see them was a momentous occasion. It wasn’t just her curiosity to learn what was going on, she wanted to see the Merponies. Another glance to the coast showed a plain wooden boat barely surviving in the waves while it was tied to the dock. The Merponies never traveled on anything more special than that, quite often they swam wherever they needed to on their own power. But the fact that they had used a boat now at all to get here meant that there was definitely something special about the Merponies who had come. And why they had come.

Despite the fear inside her she found herself smiling as well, it was all too exciting, her heart was pounding in her chest as she crawled around the side of the temple to reach the entrance. The temple had no doors, it was just an open entrance to show that any and all were welcome to come inside. Normally there would be torches lit even during the day to light up the long hall that led into its interior but tonight there was nothing. Was it because the storm would surely blow any torches out? Was it because they wanted things to be completely hidden and to dissuade anyone who may have come out here—unlikely as that was? Lucky Scales was guessing the latter. It seemed like something her mother would do if things were really this serious.

Speaking of her mother, she really hoped she didn’t get found out. The punishment—even if it’s not like she was directly told to not come out here—would certainly be severe.

That thought made her shiver in a way that had nothing to do with the cold.

Lucky Scales hugged the wall, pulling herself along it as she entered the temple and tried to find the secret meeting she knew was going on. Like this she wouldn’t stumble over anything, and it would be even more difficult for someone else to see her in the dark. If she just kept quiet and crept along she was sure eventually she’d hear or see her mother and the others wherever they were in the temple. It had to be one of the deeper rooms or she would’ve already been able to hear them by now.

Instead all she could hear was still just the sound of the violent storm outside.

There had to be at least some torchlight in here though, how would the meeting take place if nobody could see anybody else? Lucky Scales was certain that soon enough she’d see the light of flames flickering in the dark. The further she went into the temple the sound of the rain and wind died down and for a brief moment it was almost quiet while she slowly crawled along the wall. Eventually she came to a corner and after breathing deeply a few times to catch her breath she turned around it.

Whispering.

Hushed voices.

She wasn’t imagining it. She knew she heard something coming from ahead. Her heart beat even harder in her chest as she crawled along, fighting the instinct to go faster. Silently she went, her ears open for even the slightest sound now. Though she had been in this temple many times before, she hadn’t memorized the layout or anything so she still needed to be careful where she was going. There was the possibility she would run into a sudden staircase or wall if she was going too fast. Or right into her mother.

Another few seconds went by and she heard what was certainly a muted gasp. A low question. A feeling of surprise. More muttering and whispering.

Lucky Scales had to stand still and listen. She could still hear some of the storm, she just had to be able to pick out the sounds of the conversation within the temple. Her hand left the wall she was using to guide herself as she walked to the other side of the hall and started walking down a new corridor in the temple.

The whispering and hushed voices became louder. More frequent. Lucky Scales no longer had to strain herself to hear them as she slowly walked further and further into the temple. Her legs trembled with every step and a voice inside her head was beginning to speak up—should we be here? Should we be doing this right now? Maybe it would be better to go back outside, run through the storm all the way back to the city, and go home. Crawling into bed and pretending like none of this ever happened.

No. No way. She wasn’t going to turn back now.

And… she saw something now too. The barest flicker of light ahead. Lucky Scales gulped, both fear and excitement causing her to tremble even more. She had to be even more careful now as she approached it, lest any of the lizards or Merponies gathered around it saw her coming. Quiet. Stealthy. Hopefully her mother and the others there would be far too occupied with what they were talking about to notice a small girl sneaking up to them.

She could see the outline of the corridor ahead, illuminated by the light. She was about to leave it and enter a new room where the light originated from.

Lucky Scales held her breath and stopped taking steps, instead sliding over the floor, inching forwards, just to make sure she didn’t make a sound. When she got to the corner she paused. This was the last chance before either seeing what was happening or turning around and forgetting this ever happened. It didn’t take her five seconds before she snuck her head around the corner. What she saw was something that would cause much fanfare if the rest of the lizards of the island knew about it.

A single candle illuminated the room, the fire flickering atop the melting wax, and showed her eyes everything.

Her mother was standing on one side of the candle, with several elders and other important lizards Lucky Scales recognized from the island. But more shocking than any of them was the large, hunched over, robed figure in the middle of them. Despite being fully shrouded by both clothes and darkness, the figure was easily recognizable.

The matriarch. Lucky Scales had to clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping. If even the matriarch—who was never supposed to leave the mountains—had come here… it sent a new wave of fear through Lucky Scales. She had only met the matriarch once before, all lizards when they’re young have to. There as no other lizard it could be. None were as large as the matriarch or had her distinct body shape.

On the other side of the candle was a sight just as amazing. Three Merponies stood, pristine and dry, any other creature that had just come from that dock to this temple would still be soaking wet. The one in the center was tall, with a spiky orange mane, golden piercings in her webbed ears, and deep green eyes. Her scales glittered in the dark along with the other two. A far cry from the dry and non-reflective scales of the Lizard People. They were so different, so different and unique to any other creature Lucky Scales and the other lizards of the island had ever seen. There was something majestic about them that she couldn’t put into words. But it was almost like she was looking upon Ponyseidon himself when she saw these Merponies. Like the matriarch, it wasn’t the first time she had seen Merponies, but it was always a special occasion.

The two Merponies to the right and left of the one in the middle stood slightly back, while the obvious leader directly faced Lucky Scales’s mother. At the same time, Lucky Scales noticed something else: there was a wooden box resting on the back of the lead Merpony. She wondered what could be inside it?

The silence that Lucky Scale had intruded on was broken when an especially loud roar of thunder made its way through the entire temple. The lizards, aside from the matriarch, shook in fear and Lucky’s mother looked imploringly to the Merponies.

“It can’t be true, can it? Please… what you’re saying… that can’t be happening,” her mother spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.

Even still, Lucky Scales could hear the despair and terror in it.

“It is,” the lead Merpony answered, her voice tired and broken. “Merlantis is lost. The Trident is lost. We are… the Merponies are doomed. The violence brought to us could not be overcome.”

“What will happen to you?” One of the elders spoke up.

The leader shook her head. “I do not know. Run? Hide? At this point that’s all we can hope for… but our time in the Grand Ocean is at an end for now.”

“Please… if there is anything we can do to help. We would give anything for you, you know this,” her mother spoke.

“We can not ask that of you now. The violence will come here. Already there is a good chance that those who seek to destroy us will come here in some way, if we were here when they did… or if they knew you had given us further aid, I am afraid they would wipe you out,” the leader said. “You have always been Ponyseidon’s most trusted subjects. His first. His most beloved. We can’t bear to see harm brought to you.”

“We don’t care!” It was a whispered yell from her mother. “Anything… anything is better than losing you.”

The leader shook her head. “No, you can not help us like that. But there is another thing we have come here to ask you to do for us, if you are so set on helping us.”

“I-I do not understand,” her mother said.

“We need you to take care of something for us. Something that is too dangerous for us to take with us now. Something we can’t let fall into the hooves of our enemies,” the leader said. “And one day—even though it is a day that may never come—one day you may return it to us Merponies. That is how you can help us.”

Her mother was nearly shocked into silence as her eyes drifted to the box on the Merponies’ back. “What… what is it that you need us to watch over?”

“I believe you already know,” the leader said and the other two Merponies lifted the box off her back. Together they held it before her mother, the elders, and the matriarch, and opened it up.

A shining golden light came from inside. So bright and so sudden that Lucky Scales and all the others had to close their eyes briefly and let them adjust. When Lucky Scales was able to open her eyes and look again—she saw something she had only heard spoken of in legends. A shimmering golden necklace held by the lead Merpony. It was of a simple design, but no less brilliant, with five tear-drop shaped crystals, clear as ice, hanging from it. There was no question about it. Lucky Scales was looking upon one of Ponyseidon’s three legendary treasures.

She gasped in wonder before she could stop herself and all the occupants of the room turned to look at her.

Keeper

“Lucky Scales!” Her mother—Rusty Tail, the governess of the island—shouted. “What are you doing here?!”

“I-I-I-” Lucky Scales couldn’t find the words. She was standing there in the middle of the corridor, right in front of the room for all to see. Multiple pairs of eyes were reflected back at her, the only ones she couldn’t see were those of the matriarch because of how deep her hood and robes were.

Rusty Tail stomped forward and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her into the room. “How did you get here? You should be home sleeping!”

“Who is this?” The lead Merpony asked.

Rusty Tail straightened up, shocked and embarrassed she turned to the Merponies and deeply bowed, forcing Lucky Scales’s head down with her. “T-This is my daughter, Lucky Scales, the future governess of the island.”

“No.”

They both looked up at the Merpony. Her single word piercing through the dark room.

A sad smile was on her face as she shook her head. “There will be no such thing as a governess tomorrow. For you will no longer be subjects.” She looked deeply into the eyes of Lucky Scales. “Princess… that’s a lovely word and title. Lucky Scales, first Princess of the Lizard People.

“We would rather be your subjects forever...” One of the elders sobbed.

“Unfortunately it cannot be,” the lead Merpony sighed. The shine from the Necklace seemed to remind her of what she was here for and she looked upon Rusty Tail and the matriarch. “I—as Liriz, last Grand Minister of Merlantis, and Ponyseidon—would now ask of you to take this. This treasure of Ponyseidon, his Necklace, for safekeeping until a Merpony in the future comes to reclaim it. If that day ever comes. Matriarch and governess, what would your answer be? This is the last request we will have for you.”

Rusty Tail stared at the Necklace, that glorious treasure of their beloved Ponyseidon. “I-I do not know if I can accept this… I am not worthy of it—we are not worthy of it.”

“Is there truly nothing else that can be done at this point?” An elder asked.

“Surely there is more we can do to help!” Another said.

“I-I’m sorry, this treasure, his Necklace, what if we fail to keep it safe? I can’t bear the thought of failing you and losing something so important...” Rusty Tail said.

“We will accept it.”

The Merponies and the other lizards all turned to the matriarch. Her deep voice and simple proclamation had silenced all the others. Lucky Scales watched as her large figure moved from the middle of the pack towards Liriz and the Necklace. From her heavy robes, a hand emerged, larger and meatier than the average lizard by far, it shook with age and had a cracked and almost decaying appearance to it. There were rumors and old tales that said the matriarch was even older than Ponyseidon, but you weren’t really allowed to say something like that. You’d get in trouble.

“Thank you, matriarch. We do not ask this of you lightly,” Liriz said and held out the Necklace to her.

“It is our duty. It is what we owe you, no matter the weight of the demand or its cost,” the matriarch said. Her voice reverberated through the small room even though she spoke softly, it made Lucky Scales wince. The projection of her voice was a strong timber that resonated with her people.

The brightness of the Necklace seemed to grow even stronger when the matriarch’s outstretched claws touched it and it was given over to her from Liriz. The shimmering from it was unnatural, not merely caused by the candlelight reflecting off it and refracting through its crystals. There was true power within that Necklace. The golden glow was proof that it was something special. Held in the matriarch’s hand, the elders, Rusty Tail, and Lucky Scales couldn’t peel their eyes from it. It was something practically bred into them at this point—loyalty and reverence for Ponyseidon and his treasures.

At last, her lip trembling, Rusty Tail managed to speak. “I-If that is your desire, matriarch, I will not go against it. We will all work to protect the Necklace to the best of our ability.”

“One day we shall return it to a successor,” the matriarch said, pulling the Necklace into her robes where its light faded away. “I foresee this.”

“That is all we can hope for,” Liriz nodded.

“Now what?” Rusty Tail asked. “Do you leave? Do we need to find somewhere safe to hold the Necklace? And… h-how long do you think it will be before a Merpony returns here?”

Liriz sadly looked upon her. “We will be leaving now, yes. It is better if I am found… the anger may subside slightly if I am. It might stop the violence from swallowing up the rest of the ocean. As for how you protect the Necklace—I’m sure the matriarch already has an idea if she was willing to take it. And… truthfully, though it is painful to say, a Merpony may never come. It could be years, decades, centuries… more.”

“Wait—Grand Minister,” an elder said. “W-What do you mean it is better if you are found? What will make the anger subside?”

“My death,” Liriz answered plainly. “My death at their hooves. Hopefully it will pacify them—quench their thirst for violence. I will be sacrificing myself for that.”

“No!” Rusty Tail shouted. “You can’t!”

“I must. For the future,” Liriz replied. A single tear escaping down the side of her face.

Lucky Scales watched as her mother and the elders moaned in despair, collapsing to their knees, knowing the terrible fate that awaited Liriz and the other Merponies. It was a shock to her as well. Why was this happening? Why was something so horrible happening? Her young mind couldn’t fathom everything that had led to this moment. She wasn’t sure if she was regretting coming here or not, but it made her heart ache to see her mother sob. The only one not in the throes of despair was the matriarch, who remained as stoic as a rock. A calming presence in the room. Lucky couldn’t be sure, but when she looked at the matriarch she believed her eyes were staring straight back at her.

Another roar of thunder came from outside and even deep in the stone temple they could all hear the powerful winds and rain beating against the building.

“We must depart soon. It’s dangerous the longer we stay here,” Liriz said.

Rusty Tail slowly nodded, her body trembling as she rubbed the tears from her eyes. She stood up to face the Merponies again. “We will always remember you.”

“Thank you. Before we leave, there is something that I must share with you about the Necklace. Something that will help you stay safe—it is the least we can do for pushing this mission on you,” Liriz said. She looked into the matriarch’s dark, hooded, face. “I am sure you can already sense the power from the Necklace, matriarch.”

A small nod. “Yes. Ponyseidon’s power emanates from it still.”

“It is still connected to the Trident. Even lost to us, the Trident’s power is eternal. With time you will be able to use the Necklace to draw on some of the Trident’s power and use it to protect the island. And over even more time you will be able to share and pass down that power to the other lizards. As one you can all work together to protect both the Necklace and your home,” Liriz said.

“What sort of things will we be able to do with it?” Rusty Tail asked.

“Create fog banks, harsh ocean weather, dangerous currents, anything that could make traveling here by boat nigh impossible. In Merlantis, records and maps to your island have already been destroyed. We’ve done our best trying to wipe its existence from the ocean for your protection,” Liriz explained. She sighed deeply. “It will be a lonely existence that you have to look forward to for some time now. I am so sorry for bringing this burden to you and your people. Whatever difficulties come with watching over the Necklace, I hope you are able to overcome them.”

The matriarch nodded her large head. “It is not lightly that I have accepted this mission. Over the years I will protect both the Necklace and my people. My compassion and consideration will not weaken.”

“Then we are done here,” Liriz said. She closed the box the Necklace had been in and placed it on her back. “Farewell, my beloved Lizard People.”

“And farewell to you, our lords,” Rusty Tail said, nearly tearing up again.

Liriz nodded to her. “Governess.” She turned to the elders. “Elders.” She looked to the matriarch. “Beloved matriarch.” And finally her eyes found Lucky Scales, standing next to her mother, no words coming from the young lizard as she had no idea what to think or do in this situation. Liriz smiled. “And goodbye, Princess. I hope you have a long and bright life ahead of you.”

Without another word, Liriz and the other two Merponies walked past the lizards to the room’s exit, making their way out of the dark temple.

Lucky Scales watched them while a few of the others couldn’t stop themselves from breaking out into sobs again. Her mother stayed as still as she could, fighting tears of her own, while the matriarch remained as stoic as ever. Lucky Scales had no idea how much longer they would remain here in this temple. Would they wait in the dark—with but a single candle for light—until the Merponies were well away on their ship? And then have to go back to their homes in the city, and try and sleep as if none of this had just happened. Lucky Scales didn’t know if she could do that. Princess. It was just a word, just a title that didn’t really mean anything to her or the other lizards of the island, but one day it would. One day it would be “normal”. Again she thought she felt the eyes of the matriarch on her and she turned to look up into the shadowed face of their great progenitor.

The matriarch was indeed looking at her. Deeply. Not moving. After perhaps an entire minute she turned her head and began walking out of the room as well.

“Come, my children. This is a time for mourning and tears, but it is also a time where much needs to be done,” the matriarch said. “Just as when Ponyseidon first found us, tomorrow will be a new day for our people.”

Lucky Scales was the first to start following her, with her mother and then finally the elders joining. When they reached the entrance to the temple they noticed that while the storm still raged outside—it had become noticeably weaker. The Merponies’ boat was out there on the water, going up and down over the powerful waves. Leaving. Perhaps forever.

While the others just stood there and watched for the moment, Lucky Scales lifted her hand up and waved goodbye.

She felt a large, comforting, hand on her shoulder and looked up to see the matriarch standing with her.

Senax paced back and forth in a small meeting room inside the castle. They had all moved there on the behest of the elders after Princess Fairscale had gone to talk to the Keeper. Of all of them, she was the only one not content to sit still. Though she had to imagine Rainbow Dash would normally be flying in circles around the city if she wasn’t keeping a close eye on Godfrey. The large griffon pirate was still chained up, lying down on the floor and looking as bored as anyone could possibly be. Gilbert was fidgety, his eyes constantly darting over to his brother and his beak occasionally opening and closing. It was likely he wanted to say something but couldn’t bring up the nerve to. Breakwater appeared nervous, also as if he wanted to speak up but probably to Senax or Rainbow Dash. And Daylight Gleam just seemed impatient. Frowning while tapping her hoof on the floor. That tapping was essentially the only sound in the entire room, it echoed off the small walls, making it louder than it should have been.

There was nothing they could do but wait though. Even though time wasn’t on their side and they wanted to get through with this as quickly as possible. Rainbow Dash certainly wanted to be flying out of this castle to find a way to deal with Bosche. Senax though was likely even more anxious than her.

The Necklace was right here. It was right in front of them—the thing that would finally lead to the Trident and thus Merlantis as well. The thing that would finally bring her quest to an end so one day she could return to her tribe, tell everyone the good news, and bring them back to their home. It almost seemed unbelievable but it wasn’t. It was tangible, her dream was a hoof’s reach away. If only the Keeper would give her the Necklace. That was all.

And that was why she was so worried after everything else and with the coming Bosche attack.

The others had to know just how anxious she was and that was why none of them were trying to tell her to “calm down” or take a seat. Senax’s pacing and fervent thoughts were all she had as she listened for the sounds of someone coming to their room. Her webbed ears stood at attention while her eyes stayed open, practically not blinking at all.

Rainbow Dash exhaled through her nose and leaned back against the wall—still watching Godfrey.

Godfrey blinked back at her before rolling his eyes.

Gilbert sighed and placed his elbows on the table in front of him before resting his head in his talons.

Breakwater sat up and sat back down, frowning.

Daylight Gleam grumbled and bit her lip before disgruntledly folding her hooves in front of her chest.

That was the state of the room when soft footsteps came to the door and everyone paused what they were doing to stare at it.

The handle was turned and the door opened—Princess Fairscale standing there in the doorway. She had a somber look on her face but at this point that could truly mean anything. Those who had been sitting or lying down stood up. Senax looked imploringly at the lizard, waiting for her answer. Behind her, Rainbow Dash’s eyes drifted over to look at the back of her head, all her thoughts being sent towards the merpony who she called friend. Together, Breakwater, Gilbert, and Daylight walked forward to stand around their friend and support her if she needed the help.

Princess Fairscale took several deep breaths. Her eyes never left Senax’s.

“The Keeper has made her decision. She will give you the Necklace of Ponyseidon.”

The Necklace of Ponyseidon

“So she’s okay with everything? Your matriarch doesn’t mind?” Rainbow Dash asked the Princess.

“She understands that it is time for her to part with the Necklace. And she trusts you to continue to help us,” Princess Fairscale said. She looked straight at Senax. “Now please, if what you have said is true we have no time to dawdle, come with me.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash said and looked over at Senax.

“Let’s go,” Senax swiftly nodded.

“Finally,” Daylight sighed in relief. “All the stress piling up was just about making me go insane.” She smiled at Senax. “Are you feeling alright?”

“My heart is beating so hard I think it might explode,” Senax said.

“Well… I think we can take that in a good way at the moment,” Daylight awkwardly grinned.

“Yes, the excitement has gotten to me so much that I really feel much the same,” Gilbert nodded.

“I just want you to get your people’s treasure back for your own sake,” Breakwater said and placed a comforting hoof on Senax’s back.

“Thank you,” Senax smiled at all of them. “Even with everything going on, this all means a lot to me coming from you. Now let’s go to the Keeper-” she stood up straight with a determined look on her face. “I’m going to get the Necklace of my people.”

“Good, I kind of want to just see if this thing is really that big of a deal at this point,” Godfrey shrugged.

Everyone turned to glare at him.

“What? Did you forget I was here or something?” He grinned.

“Shut up, Godfrey,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and glanced at Fairscale. “Well? Lead the way.”

Princess Fairscale nodded and stepped away from the door. “The Keeper’s—the matriarch’s—chamber is far below here, deeper inside the mountain. Let us walk swiftly.”

The entire group left the small meeting room and followed her, seeing that a number of the elders were also joining them on their trip down to see the Keeper. Senax stayed in the front right behind the Princess while Rainbow Dash stood next to Godfrey and kept a sharp eye on him. The griffon didn’t make any signs that he was going to do anything, and largely appeared like he would continue to work with them for now against the bigger threat, but Rainbow obviously wasn’t going to take the risk. The others walked beside each other, sharing a few looks that varied between curious, hopeful, and worried. Unsurprisingly, things were pretty quiet as they all walked together towards the lower levels of the castle that melted right into the core of the mountain.

Stairs.

Hallways.

Doors.

Dust.

It was a route rarely traveled, although just today this would be the third time. Probably more times than the Princess would come here in a normal year by the look of things. Cobwebs sat in the corners of the ceiling and only a seldom few torches were lit to provide any illumination. Another door led to a spiral staircase that tightly wound down for maybe a hundred feet. Once they reached the bottom of it, the walls had transformed into a far more natural sort of cave rock. What might have been the castle above them was left behind completely. It seemed the matriarch preferred staying somewhere closer to home.

Even then they still found themselves walking down a long hallway with a few wooden beams across the ceiling to support it. Every now and then a bat would flutter past, or a rat would scurry across the floor. Finally ahead of them after five more minutes of walking they could see something.

A great red door—whatever wood had been used to construct it was painted an imposing red. Possibly as a warning if anyone not welcome had somehow found their way down here. The elders shuffled forward past the rest of them so they could make it to the door first, resting their scaled hands against it and muttering something. A spell? A prayer? Either way they said nothing at all to the Princess or Senax’s group before they slowly started to push the door open so they could all walk in.

Past the door was a large chamber, circular in shape, with a high, domed, ceiling. From that ceiling numerous flaming chandeliers hung to provide much more light than the preceding tunnel. There was nothing carved or painted anywhere, the stone floor was just that, for all intents and purposes it looked like a completely natural chamber inside the mountain. Perhaps its one denizen simply preferred things that way.

For the only thing truly of note in here was sitting directly across from the red door.

Senax gasped, Rainbow Dash let out a single “Whoa”. Daylight Gleam blinked in surprise, Gilbert tilted his head, Breakwater seemed stunned, and Godfrey raised a single curious eyebrow.

The head of a gigantic lizard was embedded in the wall, alone it stood twice as high as any lizard, with its chin resting on the floor. The rocks around it seemed to mold into and become part of its scales, almost like the huge lizard had merged with the mountain itself. Its wide mouth—full of needle teeth—was open while a forked tongue lay on the rock before it. The scales that covered it were cracked, faded, and some nearly melting off as if the lizard was in the process of decaying. But its grand eyes, red as blood, still shone with a bright light. Those eyes were the only sign it was still alive—for the lizard head did not move in the slightest nor show any signs that it even breathed.

The six visitors didn’t know what to say or do. They watched as Princess Fairscale stepped forward, halfway into the chamber, and bowed.

“Matriarch—Keeper of the Necklace of Ponyseidon—I have brought the Child to you,” Fairscale said.

A rumbling came from the matriarch’s head and a deep voice projected itself across the room despite the mouth of the great lizard not moving.

“Welcome, Child of Ponyseidon. I have been waiting for you for some time now.”

The booming voice nearly brought Senax to her knees but she managed to step forward, hooves shaking, until she was nearly right in front of the large mouth and looking up into the matriarch’s eyes. “My people would’ve come sooner if we could. But… as I believe you must know, a lot has happened since we separated.”

“Indeed. It pains me to know what you have been through.”

Senax frowned, fighting to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice. “If that is true, then why almost send me to death, on a nearly impossible task, before giving back the Necklace to me?”

“Though I began my role loyal chiefly to the orders of your ancestors, over time my strength has been tested. The strife. The doubt. I will not lie that my loyalty wavered, and my compassion for my own children came to be my first concern. As I watched them grow at first—then fall apart. My despair. My worries. It is a difficult thing to keep loyalty to another while knowing that your own children may suffer for it.”

“I’m sorry… I do understand, truly.” Senax sadly looked to the floor. “And now… now you have been told what else is about to come. And you’ll still give the Necklace to me even with what will happen.”

“It is still yours to have. And I believe in you—you are a kind child.”

“It’s not just that your island might be put in danger though—you’ll die,” Senax said.

“That itself will only be a new beginning. I have lived long enough, too long. It will be good to join my children who have already passed on. That is something I have been looking forward to for some time now. All eventually ends in this world after all, and I have had more time than most to come to peace with that. Besides, my lizards are in good hands now.”

“Then I promise we’ll do everything to help your people today. We won’t leave the island behind. As a merpony—I feel it’s my duty to pay back the love and loyalty your people have shown us.”

“Your words will allow me to rest easy. Thank you, Child of Ponyseidon.”

Senax nodded to the great head as her lip trembled. “S-So what now? I… I really, there’s so much I want to ask you!” Senax suddenly shouted, surprising her friends. “There’s so much I want to know! So much I know you could tell me about Ponyseidon, Merlantis, my people, everything! I-I wish I could stay here and talk with you for days! And I know you would love it too, I know you’d want to hear about how the merponies are doing back where I used to live, you probably want to hear about the trip me and my friends have been on since we came to the ocean. Y-You probably have so many questions too!” Senax started crying, unable to help herself. “But we can’t… we should be happy… we should be able to share stories… have all the time in the world to talk to each other. But we don’t. There’s no time for any of that! There’s no time for us at all…”

“No, there isn’t, Child.”

“It’s wrong. It shouldn’t be this way,” Senax shook her head. “Why—after so many centuries does it have to be this short? Why did things have to happen this way? Even right now it’s getting worse and worse just from us staying and talking like this. I-I know we don’t have the time for this but I can’t help it! I want to talk with you more… I want to learn more… I don’t want this to end.”

Senax breathed heavily, her chest heaving as she looked on the verge of sobbing harder. At last she brought a hoof up to her eyes and wiped away the tears. “I’m ready...”

“As am I. The Necklace of Ponyseidon will now pass from me to you. Do not worry about what happens to me. Do not mourn me. Wear your treasure proudly and you will gain what you desire—the path to the Trident and Merlantis.”

“Thank you,” Senax said.

“And goodbye.”

As soon as the matriarch finished “speaking” her tongue was pulled back into her mouth and the great maw of teeth closed—the first movement she had made. Then her blood red eyes closed and all at once her green scales started to change. Their color dulled even further and shifted to a pale grey, soon matching the stone all around the matriarch’s head. And from the center of her head, a great, brilliant, golden light began to shine. Something was emerging from inside her body, phasing through it as if held someplace that could never be called physical or reachable to begin with.

Princess Fairscale and the elders gasped, bowing down to the floor, Rainbow Dash and the others stared on in awe as the Necklace in all its glory came out of the matriarch and floated through the air towards Senax.

The merpony reached up and grabbed it, holding and staring at it in wonder. It was so simple. Just a loop of golden chain with five teardrop shaped crystals hanging from the bottom of it. To think this is what she had been searching for for so long, it almost made her laugh and cry all at once. She had it. She had the Necklace of Ponyseidon. One of the lost treasures of her people—she had finally reclaimed it. And not only that, it would lead her even further.

Senax held it close to her chest and took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Thank you… thank you...”

A big dumb grin came to Rainbow Dash’s face and she practically flew right over to Senax. “Well what are you waiting for?! Put it on!”

“Rainbow Dash...” Daylight glared at her.

“Relax, Daylight, I think Rainbow’s attitude is just what’s needed right now,” Breakwater smiled.

“Quite indeed,” Gilbert also smiled while tugging his mustache.

Godfrey stood with them, looking on curiously. Surprising even himself, he felt a genuine sense of wonder at the light of the Necklace.

“I… I suppose this is it then,” Senax said. She took one last look up at the now practically stone face of the matriarch. “I will remember what you did for me and your people.” She turned around to face her friends and the other lizards. “Princess? I-I’m sorry that you had to see that… did you not want to say anything to your matriarch before...?”

“I already said everything I needed to,” the Princess responded, barely lifting her head to look at Senax. “Please, put on the Necklace, show us all what you have been waiting for.”

Senax nodded. “Okay. Here I go.”

She exhaled, gulped, and lifted the Necklace above her head. She put the golden loop over her spiky green mane, past her webbed ears, and let it rest upon the back of her neck. Placing her hooves back down on the ground she stood there. Blinking. Waiting.

Everyone else watched her as nothing happened, the Necklace just kept shining.

“D-Do I do something now? Do I need to say something?” Senax asked.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. Princes Fairscale also looked a little confused.

“Umm...” Senax reached up and pawed at the crystals dangling off the Necklace. “Come on… hello? Please show me where the Trident is.” She frowned. “I think I’m doing something wrong...”

The light from the Necklace suddenly intensified until it was like looking directly at the sun and everyone else in the room had to shut their eyes and look away. Wincing, Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof to her face to block out most of the light and just barely peeked her eyes open to see what was going on. Shortly after a few seconds the intense light diminished, but didn’t completely die away, and the others could look too.

Senax floated a foot above the stone floor, her eyes wide open and reflecting golden light.

“S-Senax?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The merpony didn’t answer but her body turned and a beam of light, untouchable and unstoppable, emerged from the Necklace. It shot through the stone walls of the mountain, through Rainbow’s body because she was in the way—though it did not harm her at all, in fact she felt nothing—and continued going on and on. There was no way they could see where it ended but the beam of light was clearly going to the west. Rainbow Dash stepped out of its way, lifted a hoof up to it and waved through it a few times to see if that did anything. But the light just kept shining in one direction.

A guide to the Trident of Ponyseidon.

At last Senax stopped floating, her hooves touching back to the floor, and the golden light left her eyes to return them to their normal selves. The signal beam from the Necklace however kept shining, even as Senax moved and wavered slightly from disorientation it always kept shining perfectly in the same direction no matter where the Necklace was.

“I… I...” Senax shuddered.

Rainbow Dash went over to hold her steady. “Whoa, careful now.”

“I see it,” Senax said, barely above a whisper. “I see it all. The Trident… Merlantis… I know where it is and how to get there.” A smile came to her face as her eyes filled with tears. “Rainbow Dash, everyone, I’ve found my home.”

Coral Sea sat at her driftwood table, meditating, when a powerful burst of magical energy came from behind her. Her eyes snapped open, and she turned with mouth agape to stare at the great stone map on the wall. It was shining. The entire tablet was glowing with a golden light, the waters of the Grand Ocean, the islands, they were all silhouetted and outlined as the shimmering light started to coalesce and center on one spot in particular. Fittingly, it was somewhere that was almost the direct center of the Grand Ocean. In an area where there weren’t any islands that close by, and certainly not any large ones. The glowing light continued to shrink down until it truly was just a single point—smaller than Coral Sea’s own hoof—and shone brightly on that one spot. No longer did the light move or change. It perfectly marked the spot and what was hidden there deep beneath the waves.

A smile from the deepest parts of Coral Sea’s heart came to her face, followed by joyful, uproarious laughter. She practically jumped from her seat to stand before the map, rising on her hind legs and placing her hooves just under the shining spot.

“She did it, she actually did it!” Coral Sea shouted. “The merpony has found the Necklace—and the door to Merlantis has been opened!”

I Lied, Duh

“Admiral Bin’Tavy! Something has changed with the island up ahead!” Admiral Tuon shouted, grabbing the attention of his superior.

Bin’Tavy, who had been lounging on the command deck of his Junk, walked to the railing to look down at Admiral Tuon. “What do you mean? Changed how?”

“J-Just look, sir!” Admiral Tuon pointed ahead.

Despite not appreciating the callousness with which Tuon spoke, Bin’Tavy did so. Where he saw quite the shocking sight. The weather ahead around the island had changed completely—it had all cleared up, the island was even visible for the first time. The fog was gone, the sun was up in the sky, the choppy waters surrounding the island had dispersed and now it was calm, it was almost eerie how much things had changed.

Aside from the fact that this was incredibly fortunate for them.

Bin’Tavy smiled. “Well this is excellent! Truly excellent! Fortune must be smiling down on us right now, the fog and whirlpools are all gone, it’s clear sailing!”

“But sir, what could have caused this?” Tuon asked.

“Who cares? Perhaps it’s divine favor for Bosche and the Emperor? The fact is that our biggest obstacle is taken care of,” Bin’Tavy looked further into the ocean, at the waters just off the coast of the island. It was there that he could still see a number of the rowboats they had sent out earlier to scout through the fog and whirlpools. “Haha! Well I’m sure those ones will be grateful that they don’t have to do something so dangerous anymore.”

“If I may say so, Admiral, but can we exercise caution in going towards the island? I am worried this could be a trap of some sort,” Tuon said. “It’s just too sudden.”

“Oh Tuon...” Bin’Tavy chuckled. “You worry far too much. You don’t look a gift griffon in the mouth. This is the best opportunity we have to get to that island quickly and safely. Full speed ahead!”

“Yes sir,” Tuon gulped.

“Now the question is—now that we can see the island—where to land on it?” Bin’Tavy thought out loud, rubbing his chin. As he looked at it, the island had quite the long coastline from the direction they were coming and quite the varied topography.

“Well sir, according to our Master Crystal, that griffon pirate broke his Locator Crystal on the western side of the island. If that means anything, I would say it’s likely that that’s where the so-called “Lizard People” live. I think we should bring our fleet to the western coast of the island, dock there and blockade the rest of the coast, and send our soldiers out to gather our new slaves,” Admiral Tuon suggested.

Bin’Tavy nodded. “Sounds like an excellent plan—that’s why I chose you for my second in command!”

“Thank you, sir,” Admiral Tuon hesitantly smiled. He still had quite a few reservations about this but in the end he was a loyal Boschese officer.

“Judging by the distance… I’d say we can make landfall in under twenty minutes what with the fog and whirlpools being gone,” Bin’Tavy assumed.

“I believe so too, sir,” Tuon nodded.

Admiral Bin’Tavy smiled as he proudly strode down from the command deck onto the main deck of the Junk, once more walking straight to the bow. The water ahead was a calm blue now, and the island seemed peaceful and full of life. It was almost a shame what they were about to do. What they were about to bring to this long-forgotten island. Not that he felt bad one bit. This was merely their right as Bosche—the greatest civilization on the Grand Ocean.

“I think I’ll have some more tea prepared as celebration. There will be nothing better to enjoy the trip back to Bosche with.”

With that, the great admiral of Bosche stood by the bow of the ship while Admiral Tuon took care of relaying orders to the rest of the fleet and they began their course correction to take them to the far western side of the island. Soon the entire fleet was moving at an even faster pace, every Junk eager to keep up and get a piece of the pie. The captains wanted to be one of the Junks that would dock, the soldiers wanted to be the ones who would actually go out and raid the island. Everyone was just as eager as Admiral Bin’Tavy himself. They all wanted to make this the greatest and most memorable day possible for the Bosche slaving fleet.

“It all came to me in a vision. It was like I was flying out over the ocean and then I sunk beneath the waves—I went down, down further than I’ve ever swam, than any merpony could ever swim, and I saw it. It came out from the darkness, on the ocean floor. It was so… so majestic. So big, it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before in my life, with white towers and domes, huge crystal windows, and fish and other sea creatures swimming around. I saw it. I saw Merlantis,” Senax told them all. “It was so much more than I thought it was, it wasn’t just an underwater castle, it was like an entire city down there!”

“Amazing… I can’t believe the Necklace showed you all that,” Gilbert said.

“We only saw that beam of light shooting out,” Daylight said.

“Oh yeah,” Senax said and looked at the beam that was still shooting from the Necklace. “It’s going directly to the Trident. I-I can feel that. I just know it somehow. But here, look-” she said and waved her hoof across the crystals. Immediately the beam shut off and the light from the Necklace died down. She then did the same thing again and the beam came back—before turning it off again. “See? This can give us a direct path right to the Trident and Merlantis.”

“Awesome,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “We’ve really done it. This is going to be sweet once we get off this island.”

“If,” Breakwater interjected.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh don’t be like that, we’ve just got some Bosche losers to deal with. We’ve got this!”

Senax smiled, she couldn’t help herself. Even with the pressing danger she was so happy to have seen what she saw. She was so happy to have the Necklace. It was a dream come true. She looked behind her at the now stony face of the great matriarch, a silent thank you coming from her. And a silent promise that they would protect her people.

Meanwhile the elders and Princess Fairscale looked on, the lizards were torn between both the wonder of the Necklace and the death of their matriarch. They knew they had just seen something amazing—the joy of Senax was their own joy as well—but it had come at a cost. Soon Fairscale would have to tell all the lizards of the island about the matriarch’s death. It was strange, the Lizard People would have something amazing to celebrate over and yet also something that would tear their hearts apart. It was going to be a difficult thing to navigate. Hopefully they could see to celebrate the matriarch’s life and what she died for and not her death itself. Maybe their love and loyalty to Ponyseidon and the merponies would pull through and overcome everything else.

Princess Fairscale sighed. “I never thought I would ever have to do something like this...” she looked at the happy smile of Senax, surrounded by her friends, Necklace around her neck. A small smile came to Fairscale’s face. “But perhaps it’s all worth it.”

And of course…

Since the Necklace had flared up like a sun, since Senax received her vision, Rainbow Dash had been focused on her. She couldn’t help it, it was so amazing, it was exactly what they had come here for. She couldn’t help but be enraptured. That was why she had flown over to her friend to make sure she was okay in the first place. That’s why Daylight, Breakwater, and Gilbert had done the exact same thing. They were all caught up in the emotion, caught up in the power of what was going on.

So no one was looking at Godfrey.

It was easy. He quietly walked up while everyone was distracted, while Rainbow and her friends were talking, until he was right behind Princess Fairscale.

“AH!”

The sudden yell from the Princess caused everyone to turn towards her—seeing Godfrey holding her tightly in his grip with one sharp talon pressed against her throat.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot open. “Godfrey!” She motioned to fly at him-

“I’d stop right there if I were you, Rainbow Dash!” Godfrey said and pressed his talon further into Fairscale’s throat, causing her to yelp in pain and fright. “I could slit her throat or snap her neck in an instant. So I suggest you calm down.”

Rainbow grit her teeth as her hooves shook, but she stayed where she was. “Why are you doing this? We have to stop Bosche!”

Godfrey grinned. “Come on, Rainbow Dash. Don’t be that dumb. I never intended on fighting with you. Well, that’s not completely true, but I saw a better option and I took it. I just needed you to think that I didn’t have any other options than to join up with you. I know you never liked me or trusted me for real, but you did think I wouldn’t do something like this. So I guess you can just say that I lied to you. Don’t be too surprised by that, geha!”

“So what? You think you seriously have a better chance with Boshe?! They’re still going to kill you!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“Wrong. They’re going to try and kill me. And yeah, working with them at the moment and doing this is still the best chance of getting what I want. That Necklace. Because let’s face it, if I stayed on your side I’d never get it. Not with my wings chained up and with the Necklace safely in your hooves. Oh sure, what I’m doing is a big gamble, but it’s still my path to victory. And besides—I love taking a risk. That’s the fun kind of danger,” Godfrey chuckled.

Daylight frowned. “Bosche doesn’t know about the Necklace or anything either… they only care about the Lizard People so they wouldn’t care about some fancy jewelry you’re wearing.”

“And give a point to the only pony here with a brain,” Godfrey winked at her.

The group faced off with him, Senax looking worried, Gilbert and Breakwater angry, and the elders looking terrified.

“Alright then,” Godfrey smiled at the others. “So here’s what’s going to happen now unless you want the Princess here to die. The unicorn is going to come over here and break these chains—just like she did with you, Rainbow Dash. And once my wings are free, the merpony hands over the Necklace. Understood?”

“No!” Senax shouted. “I can’t give it to you! I-It’s my people’s treasure! We finally got it back after so long!”

“Oh? So you’d rather your little Princess friend die?” Godfrey tightened his grip on Fairscale, making her twist in discomfort. “Well I suppose that would be pretty fitting actually. You’d just be acting like your ancestors, right? Putting your own interests ahead of these lizards.”

Senax froze. “I-I...”

She looked into the terrified eyes of Princess Fairscale.

And dropped her head to the ground. “I’ll give it to you.”

“Senax...” Breakwater said.

“I have to,” the merpony shook her head.

“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed. “Just what I wanted to hear! This is really turning out to be a great day.”

“You’re not getting away with this, Godfrey! No way!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“I think I am. Cause after I get that Necklace, I’ll be leaving here with the Princess,” he said.

The elders hissed in fear and anger while everyone else was shocked. Princess Fairscale herself was on the verge of tears, whimpering and shivering in Godfrey’s grip. Finally Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at the griffon pirate.

“What are you talking about?”

Godfrey mockingly grinned back at her. “What do you think? I can’t just let my hostage go and have you chasing after me once I get the Necklace. I’m bringing her with me to the Bosche fleet. And if you have a problem with that—or I see you coming—she dies. Sorry, but this lizard is my ticket to get myself and the Necklace off this island. I guarantee you, if you even attempt to stop me, or come after the Bosche fleet once it leaves, I’m killing this lizard. So just stay here and stay out of my way. The Boschese probably aren’t even going to come to this side of the island, you won’t have anything to worry about.”

“They won’t come here?” Breakwwater asked.

“Why would they?” Godfrey shrugged. “They hardly know anything about this place at all, and I guarantee that they’re landing on the west coast. They’ll find the city with those savage lizards, enslave them, and leave thinking it’s mission accomplished. If you just sit here you’re in no danger at all, even these lizards up in the mountains will be safe.” He chuckled darkly. “You just have to give up those savages and the Princess. How sad. But it’s not such a bad situation for you.”

“Brother...” Gilbert said as he strode forward a few steps. “Do not do this, please.”

Godfrey rolled his eyes. “Anyone else got something dumb to say? If not, get the unicorn over here.”

Daylight Gleam grimaced, looking over to Senax and Rainbow Dash for what to do next. Rainbow seemed conflicted but Senax only nodded.

“Do it. Please,” Senax said.

Daylight nodded. “I’m sorry. This isn’t… this shouldn’t be happening.”

“It’s not your fault,” Rainbow spat.

At the moment though it really didn’t matter whose fault it was. Nothing would change this. Daylight Gleam exhaled and defeatedly walked towards Godfrey and his hostage.

“That’s right. Now don’t try anything funny, alright?” Godfrey said to Daylight when she approached.

“I won’t. I’m not stupid,” Daylight said, frowning.

“And I know you can break these chains, so you better hurry up and do it as fast as possible. The longer I’m here the worse things get for everyone,” Godfrey said.

“I know,” Daylight clenched her jaw in anger but lit up her horn, getting ready to dismantle the chains around Godfrey’s body just like she did with Rainbow Dash’s.

Rainbow Dash for her part was nearly trembling in rage and frustration. How could this happen? How could she let this happen. Things were working out so well, she had only taken her eyes off him for a minute, she didn’t expect him to do something like this.

She blinked. She didn’t expect him to do something like this.

Even though she didn’t trust him, or like him, or think he was on their side for a good reason, she still just couldn’t see this coming. She didn’t want to see something like this coming. She wasn’t cynical enough to. That sobering reality washed over Rainbow Dash. She had met so many awful creatures and monsters out here—and now this was happening because she still just wanted to look at things as positively and optimistically as possible. Rainbow, for as much as she thought she and Godfrey were similar and could’ve gotten along if things were a little different, just couldn’t get inside his head or think the way he did. The rage she was feeling nearly evaporated, replaced with sorrow, and a little bit of anger still directed at herself.

Clink!

The first chain broke and fell to the ground. Daylight wiped some sweat from her brow and got started on the next. The whole time it was happening, Senax despondently looked at the floor. Breakwater laid a comforting hoof on her back, but that was about all he could do. Gilbert too seemed on the verge of crying as he glared at his brother.

Clink!

It had taken some time but the last chain was broken by Daylight, she stepped back on wobbly hooves and sat down to catch her breath. Just like before, that took a lot out of her.

“Well done, unicorn,” Godfrey laughed. He tapped his talon against Fairscale’s throat a few times and looked over at Senax and the others. “And now the Necklace, please.”

Senax sighed, a few tears dropping from her eyes onto the ground, and started walking forward. She reached up to take the Necklace of Ponyseidon off—the treasure of her people—and held it out for the pirate. Her hooves were shaking. She took a last glance into the fearful eyes of Princess Fairscale, hoping for… she didn’t even know what. More than anything she wished she didn’t have to do this. To part with the treasure so soon.

“Put it on me.”

“What?” Senax froze.

Godfrey smiled and leaned down. “You heard me, put it around my neck. My talons are occupied right now.”

“How dare you, Godfrey! That Necklace is not yours to wear!” Gilbert shouted at him. Daylight and Breakwater were angrily seething at him as well, the rage plain in their eyes. Rainbow Dash looked on with a nearly vacant expression on her face.

“That’s why what I’m doing is called stealing, Gilbert,” Godfrey scoffed. He then narrowed his eyes at Senax. “Hurry up. We haven’t got all day.”

A deep sense of loathing filled Senax. Almost overwhelming, she felt like she might puke.

It was so, so, wrong.

Senax sniffled as she lifted the Necklace up over his head and placed it on him. The golden chain was taut around his thicker neck and the crystals rested against his feathers.

“Feels like it always should have been there,” Godfrey mocked. He stood up tall, stretched his wings, still holding on tightly to Princess Fairscale, and grinned at the others in the chamber. “Well everyone, it’s been a real fun time hanging out with you all but I think it’s time to say goodbye. And if you’re smart, I won’t be seeing you again.”

He turned around to leave-

“Godfrey.”

The griffon paused and looked over his shoulder at Rainbow Dash.

She wore a sad frown on her face as she walked forward and held up a hoof to him. “You don’t have to do this. It doesn’t have to be this way. Please.”

Godfrey’s face was blank as he stared at her and the hoof she held out to him. “Rainbow Dash… come on.”

Without another word he turned and left the chamber, hostage Princess Fairscale and Necklace of Ponyseidon in his possession.

Bosche's Bounty

Princess Fairscale was terrified for many reasons right now. Number one was actually the fact that she was flying for the first time in her life and it was far scarier than she could ever imagine. The ground looked so far away. If she was dropped she’d turn into a puddle when she finally hit it. The jungle was passing by swiftly, the great wings of the one carrying her made for a fast way to travel. And of course that was the number two thing that terrified her. The fact that she was still the hostage of this monster and he had repeatedly threatened to kill her. The number three thing was that she knew where he was taking her and what kind of ponies were now there, waiting for them.

“You know you really shouldn’t be too upset.”

The voice of Godfrey cut through her thoughts and she managed to turn her head up to look at his face.

He was grinning as he looked straight ahead, eyes already focused on the ancient city to the west. He could easily see it at this height and distance. Boy did it feel good to fly again and not be stuck in that jungle.

His head tilted down slightly at her when she didn’t respond, everything about him seeming amused. “What I mean is, since you’re a Princess you’ll probably be a really valuable slave. You’ll probably spend the rest of your life in luxury. Maybe even a nice little consort to the Emperor of Bosche. That aint so bad, is it? Sure better than what those savages in the city are going to be getting.”

Princess Fairscale whimpered.

“Heh. Guess that’s not very happy sounding to you. But it’s only a little fair that you get enslaved too, right? These lizards you’ve always called savages and looked down on shouldn’t get all the suffering, should they? Geha!” Godfrey laughed. “Well, I’m not the type for moral grandstanding, couldn’t really care less about irony or poetic justice, but you gotta admit it’s funny.”

“Please… please don’t do this. Please take me back, we won’t harm you, just let me go,” Princess Fairscale begged.

Godfrey actually paused in the air and raised an eyebrow at her. “Even though I’m taking the Necklace with me? Aren’t you supposed to be loyal to merponies and Ponyseidon? You’re saying you’d let me go with this thing as long as I take you to safety?”

The Princess froze up, her eyes looking from him to the Necklace he wore. She thought of Senax, the matriarch, their mission. “I-I-I...”

“Not so easy to decide when your life is on the line, huh?” Godfrey smirked. “First time in your whole life you’ve ever been in a bad situation personally isn’t it. Even knowing Bosche was attacking—it’s not like you were in danger. Well, Princess? Are you going to let me go free or not?”

The question wracked at her brain, tearing into her spirit and willpower. Finally she clenched her hands into fists and icily looked back at him. “No. Never. We will never let you take the Necklace from Senax.”

“Ooohhh, good answer.” Godfrey nodded. “I think I might actually like you a little bit now.”

“You won’t get away with this, you monster,” Fairscale glared at him.

“Like I’ve never heard that line before,” Godfrey rolled his eyes and resumed the flight to the city. “You know if you don’t want to be a slave I could just drop you now if that’s better?”

She practically grabbed onto him for safety, curling up in fright. “No please don’t!”

“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed. “Relax Princess, I’m just kidding around with you. I want a little gift to give the Boschese so they hold off on trying to kill me for a second or two out of gratitude—then telling them they’ll need me to guide them to your lizards up in the mountain when we return so they think I’m valuable. All I’ll need is a little opportunity to get a boat and get away from their fleet.”

Princess Fairscale’s jaw dropped as she stared at him.

“Hm? Oh, you don’t need to worry about that, it’s not like I’ll actually be coming back here with them to help enslave those lizards you rule over. Like I said I just want a ship so I can get back out onto the Grand Ocean. I can fly pretty far but even my wings need to rest sometime and I don’t fancy dying out in the middle of nowhere after finally getting this Necklace. The Boschese just need to think I’m going to help them in the future.”

“You’re horrible… a monster made of lies and deceit who cares only for himself! You defile that Necklace, you defile the entire ocean!” She cried at him.

“Yeah I’ve heard a lot of stuff like that too. You know how I deal with it? By not caring. So what if I only care about myself? I’m the only guy who matters caring about,” Godfrey grinned. “Keep up the insults though—I like it when others have the will to talk back, shows you’ve got a spine. Makes me admire you a little bit more.”

“I don’t want your admiration,” Princess Fairscale spat.

He shrugged. “It’s a rare commodity though, you should be happy to have it.”

“Disgusting...”

“Gehaha! Well you won’t have to put up with me for much longer. Soon you’ll be in the hooves of Bosche. I wonder—after a year or two as their slave—will you look back on this flight with me with fondness? Your life in Bosche might really put everything else into perspective.”

The Princess didn’t respond, she merely whimpered as tears started falling freely from her eyes.

“Heh, guess a Princess’s spirit can only go so far,” Godfrey chuckled.

After that he started to dive lower towards the city now that he was closer. His large wings were still a little sore from being chained up for so long but they were starting to feel much better with blood pumping through them again. Truthfully he wanted to soar even higher into the sky and have some fun—but he was also on a timetable. The aerial acrobatics would have to wait. His guest on the flight probably wouldn’t appreciate suddenly being dragged along at mach speeds either.

And now that they were closer to the western side of the island and city, Godfrey could see out into the clear ocean waters that were no longer dominated by fog and whirlpools. What he saw made him grin.

The dozens of Bosche ships from their slaving fleet were already arrayed in a net off the west coast of the Lost Isle and quite a few had dropped anchor right off shore. Now as he descended to the city, he could both see and hear the chaos unfolding in it. Dozens of squads of Boschese soldiers, in leather armor with chainmail beneath, polearms and axes at the ready, gathered and directed captive lizards in the direction of the coast. It seemed what fighting had taken place earlier was already squashed. The lizards had no chance against the Bosche army with their superior weapons and experience. Godfrey could make out hundreds of lizards, some already in chains, being made to march in lines down the roads of the ancient city.

“Well, well, well, the city’s already been sacked. Guess we won’t be staying around for too long,” Godfrey said as he swooped low enough to scrape the top of the pyramids.

When it came to the slaves they were gathering, Bosche didn’t discriminate. Male or female, young or old, every single lizard was being rounded up and taken. They seemed intent on emptying out the entire city. Godfrey couldn’t exactly blame them—they didn’t know as much as he did, right now all they thought they were doing was being thorough. They saw very valuable slaves and they didn’t want the possibility of missing out on any of them.

“They may be idiots but they sure do take slaving seriously,” Godfrey shook his head and chuckled.

“How can you laugh at this...” Princess Fairscale whispered as she looked down at the city in horror.

“Easily enough,” he sarcastically answered. “I mean, I don’t see how anyone could not find this amusing? Right after being promised safety, peace, and freedom by that beloved merpony of yours, here comes a whole fleet of invaders to enslave them. It’s comical. I don’t even consider myself a true sadist or anything but this whole situation just makes me laugh.”

“She’ll keep her promise… it’ll have already been kept if it wasn’t for you,” Fairscale bristled.

He was too busy looking back and forth around the city to find the Boschese commanders to answer, they had to be here directing the raid and not sitting on the ship, he knew how these things worked. At the base of the pyramid he had walked up only earlier today, he was fairly certain he had found what he was looking for. Godfrey flew down in a wide arc, slow on his approach, just so the Boschese could see him coming.

Admiral Bin’Tavy was quite recognizable in his gaudy getup, and Godfrey could tell that at least one of the others there was an admiral based on his dress as well. Most of the rest were rank and file soldiers acting as guards.

Those ones were naturally wary as Godfrey came down and landed right in front of them.

He had killed so many of their comrades after all.

Godfrey looked around at the circle of soldiers, weapons at the ready as they eyed him. He scoffed and raised an eyebrow at their leader. “Well, Bin’Tavy, looks like you got to work pretty fast here.”

The admiral frowned for an instant at the disrespectful way of address but quickly smiled at Godfrey. “And we have you to thank for this prize. Who might your… friend be by the way?” Bin’Tavy asked as he glanced at Fairscale, still tightly held in one of Godfrey’s talons.

“Well this here is a Princess. A prized slave you might say,” Godfrey grinned. “She rules over another group of lizards that live in the mountains to the east?”

“You don’t say?” Admiral Bin’Tavy’s eyes widened with surprise and greed. He felt equal joy towards having this Princess now as he did knowing there were even more Lizard People to grab.

“Yeah but they’ll have to be saved for your next trip here. They’re pretty entrenched in those mountains and with all the lizards here I’d say you’ve got your hooves full already. I mean, just looking around I’d say you can’t spare any soldiers for doing anything else right now. You might lose control of all your slaves, wouldn’t want a revolt to happen here or onboard your fleet now, right?” Godfrey ever so slightly narrowed his eyes at Bin’Tavy.

The Admiral flinched and stood up straight before recomposing himself and frowning at Godfrey. “No… we wouldn’t want that at all. And yes, most of our soldiers are occupied right now.”

Princess Fairscale looked back and forth at the two of them, there was clearly another conversation going on right now between the lines.

“That’s fine, I’ll be happy to come back here and help you again next time. Those lizards up in the mountains will be more compliant when they see me, they’ll want to know what happened to their precious Princess,” Godfrey said.

“Indeed. Well despite our… past differences you have proven yourself quite useful of an ally today. I suppose it would be good to have you along for future raids of this island,” Admiral Bin’Tavy said.

“Sure would!” Godfrey grinned, he let go of the Princess and shoved her towards the Admiral. “Here—think of her as your own personal slave for now. Now once you’re done rounding up these lizards in the city we should go back and celebrate on your ship. I’ll tell you everything you want to know about the rest of this island when we’re on the way back to Bosche.”

Princess Fairscale stumbled forward, falling to the ground. She grimaced and looked up at Bin’Tavy—seeing him smiling an empty smile at Godfrey. The both of them were full of nothing but faux-kindness to the other right now. It was clear the Admiral was caught off guard by some of the things Godfrey had said, but Fairscale didn’t exactly know what the big deal or story between the two of them was. The other well-dressed pony here was wary as well, while the soldiers were standing like stone statues, watching and waiting for any order that might come.

After a moment, Admiral Bin’Tavy finally glanced down to look at her. “Hm, well you certainly are cleaner and quite a bit healthier looking than the other lizards we’ve found. And your dress is in far better shape than any of their clothes.” He peered closer at her face. “Those pink spots… quite intriguing as well, you are a unique one aren’t you? There was another lizard we found, shouting and angry, speaking in a broken version of our own tongue, that had red spots. He spoke of himself as a leader but you’re far more regal in appearance.”

A genuine smile came to his face. “I’ll find a good spot for you back home. You’ll be quite popular.”

“You’re a monster...” Princess Fairscale glared at him. “You’re just as bad as he is.”

Admiral Bin’Tavy immediately frowned, his blue eyes becoming harsh. “You would do well to remember not to speak out of turn from here on. Especially if you are going to say such quarrelsome things. I am Admiral Bin’Tavy, highest officer of the Bosche Fleet, you can’t compare me to a vulgar, murderous pirate. Soon you will learn to appreciate Bosche’s greatness, slave.”

“Heh,” Godfrey merely snickered in amusement.

Bin’Tavy looked over at him with a placating, and patronizing, smile. “Do forgive me the insult.”

“Oh, no offense taken,” Godfrey rolled his eyes.

“Well then, I believe we’ll be done here shortly and we can get back to our fleet,” Bin’Tavy said and looked at his other officer. “Tuon?”

Admiral Tuon nodded. “Yes, sir, we can leave soon. The rest of the soldiers should be about done with corralling the lizards to the ships.”

“Wonderful!” Bin’Tavy raised an eyebrow at Godfrey. “Would you then carry this Princess to my vessel with the rest of us? Since she’s a gift I believe I’ll keep her close.”

“No problem,” Godrey shrugged.

Meanwhile, Princess Fairscale cried, her tears peppering the yellow ground around the pyramid.

“Oh don’t be so sad, as a slave of Bosche you’ll live a far more meaningful life than you ever could have—even as a Princess of another island. Soon you’ll be praising Bosche’s greatness as well,” Admiral Bin’Tavy said to her. A wide smile was on his face as he looked around them at the other squads of soldiers and lines of enslaved lizards marching through the city to the coast. “This day has been just perfect. All of Bosche will memorialize it in the future.”

“Hm...” Godfrey hummed to himself as he glanced over his shoulder—looking to the east and the mountains beyond the jungle. “You ever hear of the phrase “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”, Bin’Tavy?”

The Admiral frowned. “I… do not believe so.”

Godfrey’s face was blank for a moment as he kept staring at those mountains before his beak twitched upwards into the smallest possible smirk. “Never mind then, let’s get going. You want to enjoy your prize as much as you can after all.”

Except For This

“Okay, so what do we have to work with here? What’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash asked the assembled group of her friends and lizards.

“There are one hundred able-bodied lizards willing and ready to fight to rescue the Princess,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Good.”

“We have magical abilities that allow us to create fog and manipulate currents, but not on the level of our matriarch I’m afraid,” one elder said.

“That’s still cool.”

“From what we heard before we found you, the lizards here have cannons, powder kegs, boats of their own, and special potions that give them great endurance for days,” Gilbert said.

“Sweet.”

“And totems that tell them where other members of their species are, so we’ll be able to tell which Bosche ships have captive lizards on them and which don’t,” Breakwater said.

“Got it,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “So with all that—what can we do?”

“Well by now the Boschese have definitely landed and started gathering up the other lizards. But that’s an entire city’s worth of Lizard People. I bet it’s taking time for them to finish up and get back out to sea so if we work fast we’ll probably be able to catch up with them,” Daylight Gleam said.

“Even with the time we lost by sulking?” Senax sighed.

Rainbow Dash reached a hoof over to rub her shoulder. “Even with that. We’ve got this. Just think about it, we’ve got way more tools and allies to work with than we ever thought.”

“Just need to figure out how best to use it all,” Breakwater furrowed his brow and thought.

“Like I was saying-” Daylight spoke up. “With everything on this island and from the Princess’s lizards at our disposal, I’ve got some ideas. Everyone—and I mean everyone—is going to have to put in their all and work together for it to work."

“We are willing to do that,” Smooth Tongue said.

Daylight nodded. “Right. Then the first thing we all need to keep in mind is that despite how bad things look for us we have actually have several advantages over our enemies. Number one being that despite their power and numbers, Bosche is dumb. They’re dumb, stupid, arrogant, self-centered, fatheads.”

“This is true,” Breakwater nodded.

“And also-” Daylight continued. “Bosche and Godfrey know very little about what we can muster against them. Bosche would’ve known nothing about the lizards living in these mountains to begin with, and Godfrey only got a cursory glance at things and I somehow doubt he’s really filled the Boschese in on most of the details. They don’t know the numbers, the amount of boats, the specifics of the magic or weapons, that we can bear against them. Third, we have the advantage that the Boschese aren’t here to simply kill or take over an island. They want slaves. If we can take over some of their ships, commandeer them, or at least free the prisoners trapped on them and start an uprising, they’re far less likely to fire upon and sink their own ships because they don’t want to lose their prize. In general they won’t want to kill any Lizard People, just subdue them, if their leadership orders something like that it’ll hamstring the effectiveness of their soldiers.”

“Not Godfrey though,” Gilbert pointed out.

“No, not him, and this is still partially wishful thinking on my part. It’s just something I believe that Bosche might do,” Daylight said.

“So what exactly do we do with all this? These lizards still don’t know how to fight for real, we’re putting them in a ton of danger by putting them up against Boschese soldiers. And we’re still really outnumbered and need to be able to rescue the Princess before Godfrey can kill her,” Rainbow Dash said.

Senax sighed and looked down in dismay. “If there was any way we could do this without putting more of you in danger...”

“But there isn’t,” Daylight said. “I’m sorry, Senax, but we need the lizard’s help right now. And I was getting to the main plan, Rainbow Dash. Essentially what we’re going to do is pull off one giant sneak attack.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “That so?”

“Yes, that’s so. We’re going to have every boat that the lizards have here go out and intercept the Bosche fleet as they leave the island,” Daylight said.

“But how’s that going to work?” Breakwater asked. “Bosche will see them coming without the fog barrier. We can’t sneak up on them like that and your camouflage magic can’t cover such a wide area.”

“The Lizard People still have magic of their own, it’s just not as strong as their matriarch. We’ll need them to create a rolling fog bank that covers their ships and lets them sneak up on the Bosche fleet. Again, Bosche doesn’t know they can do something like that, they may find it suspicious or strange but they won’t really be able to do anything about it either,” Daylight said.

“B-But I’m not sure if we have the power to do something like that,” Smooth Tongue began to sweat. “Our magic is much weaker than the matriarch’s, making something like that to cover all our ships will be impossible...”

As he said that, the elders nodded along in agreement. None of them seemed to believe they could do it.

“But you’re going to have to,” Daylight said. “You’re going to have to work harder and fight harder than ever before. If it’s for your Princess, and for Senax, don’t you think you can do anything? I believe in you, and I know that Senax, Rainbow Dash, Gilbert, and Breakwater all believe in you too. Surely with all of you working together you can create a single rolling fog bank? A hundred of you, with the Princess in your hearts, and those endurance potions in your bodies, I’m sure you can do it.” She looked at her friends. “Don’t you think so?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Definitely.”

“Yep,” Breakwater nodded.

“Certainly,” Gilbert agreed.

And lastly Senax nodded as well. “Yes, I know they can do it.”

Smooth Tongue and the elders looked at each other. Obviously they were still uncertain, a single pep talk couldn’t fix that, but Daylight was right that they had to do their best.

“I will make sure everyone coming with us on this mission shares this sentiment,” Smooth Tongue said.

Daylight smiled. “That’s what we needed to hear. So let me tell you exactly what we’re going to be doing. First thing will be that all of us and every lizard joining us is going to down one of those potions so we can be in the best shape possible. Then every boat will be outfitted with a cannon and we’ll take plenty of cannonballs and powder kegs with us under cover of the fog. The Bosche Junks might be bigger than your boats, but a single well-aimed blast from a cannon can disable or sink one. We’ll use the totems to figure out which ships have abducted lizards on them and which don’t so we know which ones are safe to fire on. And if you can use your magic to manipulate the currents as well, you can cause some ships to crash into each other or go off course. We’re going to cause a whole bunch of chaos in that fleet.”

“However, to make sure the Princess is safe and Godfrey doesn’t kill her as soon as the attack starts, we need to find her first. And that’s where I come in. Rainbow Dash can carry me, and Gilbert can carry Smooth Tongue, we’ll fly out over the Bosche ships while I place a camouflage bubble around us to stay invisible. We’ll look for the ship that Godfrey is on because I bet that’s where the Princess will be. And Smooth Tongue will carry a totem with him to make sure there’s at least one lizard aboard. When we do find her and we’re sure we can keep her safe from Godfrey if not outright rescue her, we’ll make some kind of signal for everyone else to begin the attack. Rainbow Dash can fight off Godfrey while the three of us then stealthily rescue Princess Fairscale from the Junk.”

“Umm...” Gilbert raised a talon.

Daylight looked at him. “Yes?”

“Well... powder kegs explode, right? Why not drop one on another ship right around the one the Princess is on? So long as there aren’t any other lizards aboard,” he shrugged.

Daylight blinked. “Huh. That would certainly be a good signal. And it would create a lot of panic among the soldiers on the ship we’re trying to board. That’s actually a good suggestion Gilbert, as long as we give it a fuse we can just light and drop it. We’ll tell the other lizards that as soon as they see that first explosion they can start their attack.”

“And I’m assuming Senax and I will be with those other lizards?” Breakwater questioned.

“That’s the plan so far,” Daylight nodded.

“Well then we can lead them to board the vessels and free as many lizards as possible. With them freed I bet we can commandeer a number of Junks, and if not, another advantage we have is that the soldiers all wear leather armor and chainmail. They can’t swim. If worst comes to worst we can just jump into the water and start swimming back on our own—especially if the lizards are using their magic to mess with the currents,” Breakwater said.

“Good thinking. This is actually turning out pretty well,” Daylight smiled.

“I have something to say first,” Rainbow Dash said, grabbing everyone else’s attention.

When all eyes were on her, Rainbow Dash continued.

“Your plan, Daylight. Firing cannons at them, dropping powder kegs, blowing up ships... I know the situation is serious. I know that Bosche is wrong, and their leaders you could even call evil, but most of them are still just going to be ponies who don’t know anything else besides what they were raised in,” she took a deep breath and sighed, sadly looking at the ground. “We can’t just go around killing them as if they’re soulless monsters. They’re still ponies too. I know we still have to fight, we still have to get the Princess and the Necklace back, and that’s... going to lead to death. But please, for all of us, don’t just blindly go out there killing them. Avoid it if you can. I don’t want us to have to kill anyone. That’s why, even though it was probably dumb cause I know they weren’t going to change so easily, I didn’t kill those other captains, admirals, whatever, we met before. I-I don’t have it in me to outright kill someone like that without even really talking to them first. I never want to have to resort to that unless I really, truly, have to.”

“Even my brother?” Gilbert asked.

Rainbow Dash bristled and clenched her hooves. A frown came to her face as she continued staring at the ground. “He’s different.” She then looked at Smooth Tongue and the elders. “But tell the other lizards, when boarding the Bosche ships, don’t do anything unnecessary. Just rescue the others.”

“I-I shall,” Smooth Tongue nodded.

“By the end of this the fleet should be in total disarray. If you can then give us one final push of magic to blow them off course and away from the island, we should be safe. And you’ll be able to begin preparations for defending your island in the future if you need to,” Daylight said.

“Well I don’t have any complaints. It sounds like the best we can do right now,” Breakwater said.

Senax looked at the unhappy Rainbow Dash before nodding. “There will never be a perfect plan, but we’ll do what we can to make this go as well as possible for everyone involved.”

“Then we’ve got a lot of work to do and we have to do it fast,” Daylight said. “Every second wasted is a second they get farther away.”

“I shall get everyone working overtime immediately!” Smooth Tongue said.

“And I’ll help with any lifting and grunt work that needs to be done,” Rainbow said. She looked over to Daylight and gave her a nod of acknowledgment and a small grin. “Don’t let me get you down, I’m still looking to teach these guys a lesson.”

While they all prepared to leave, Gilbert also smiled at Daylight. “I think you’ve rallied us all together just as well as Rainbow Dash ever has.”

The unicorn blushed. “Shut up... I just... had to help, you know? I didn’t do anything special.”

“Well, that’s one big difference between the two of you, Rainbow Dash would absolutely brag about anything she did to help,” Gilbert snickered.

“Yes I would!” Rainbow proudly stated.

Breakwater shook his head. “Wish the Heart of Azure was seaworthy right now. Oh well.”

And with no time to spare, they got to work.

Yes, Rainbow Dash!

The Bosche fleet was in a different formation leaving the island than the one it had been in on their way towards it.

Admiral Bin’Tavy’s Junk #1 was at the head of the fleet. That was the same as always. But just a few ships behind him most of the rest of the fleet was in a large group with the Junks that had the enslaved lizards imprisoned on them in the middle of the formation and the ones that didn’t forming a circle around them while a couple more trailed behind. They were close to being a large circle made to protect their precious bounty in the core. After all, the Admiral was taking extra special care to make sure this wasn’t a wasted trip.

It had taken some time for them to finish up and leave the actual island behind. There were many, many, new slaves after all. They had only just recently all left that ancient city and the Lost Isle of the Lizard People was still visible and no more than a five minute trip away. They were still largely in the area of water where the fog and whirlpools used to be.

Bin’Tavy himself was enjoying the pleasant weather on the command deck of his Junk, a treat of relaxation after a successful mission. Admiral Tuon was with him, though he was staring out at the main deck—and the large griffon lounging on it as if he owned the ship. Godfrey had “commandeered” one of the many servants aboard the ship and was now having tea brought straight to him whenever he asked for some. It was a sight that made quite a few of the soldiers and other officers uncomfortable, but no one was going to do anything without Bin’Tavy’s word first.

So Admiral Tuon cleared his throat and leaned over to his superior. “Sir? Are we really just letting that griffon do this?”

Bin’Tavy sighed, annoyed to have been dragged out of his relaxing, and glanced over at Tuon with a small, self-assured, smirk. “The pirate has proven himself to be quite the crafty one, as much as I’d like to string him up he’d make quite the commotion for us now. It’s unfortunate he caught onto what I planned to do but so be it. He may look utterly defenseless right now but a rouge like that always has his guard up. And if he’s willing to be useful for us next time we raid that island then there’s no reason to throw away a good tool.”

“If you say so, sir,” Tuon nodded.

“I say so,” Bin’Tavy shrugged. “Besides, that gift of a Princess he gave us certainly sweetens the deal too.”

And speaking of Princess Fairscale...

Down several decks, she resided in her own personal holding cell. Because this was Admiral Bin’Tavy’s personal ship it wasn’t outfitted to carry as many slaves as most of the others in the fleet. But it was still a Bosche Junk and thus naturally had space for holding cells and slaves quarters. There was only a dim light for Princess Fairscale to see with and she huddled up in the corner with her knees pressed to her chest. And tears trailing down her face. The steady rocking back and forth of the ship was an unfamiliar sensation and it almost made her sick, but she was already too wound up with her thoughts of slavery, the Necklace, and what was happening to the others.

“How could this happen?” She sobbed.

The one responsible for her predicament stared up at the sky in boredom as he waited for that servant to get back with more tea. He didn’t like tea but they didn’t have wine, rum, or anything tastier. It at least felt good to deprive one of the annoying officers on this ship of the tea they loved so much though. Especially since he was certain the multiple teapots he was downing were full of the richest and most expensive teas one could find in Bosche.

Godfrey grinned as he tapped a talon on the Junk’s deck. “I wonder... is she actually going to try? In a way I’d be disappointed if she didn’t but... oh I’d be angry too if she didn’t fear me enough to try. I really threatened her not to come, she oughta know how serious I am. I’m tired of you always bouncing back and surviving, Rainbow Dash.”

And yet he still expected that pegasus to suddenly come in trying to save the day, as foolish as that would be.

Meanwhile, at the back of the Bosche fleet, the few Junks that had been left as the rearguard were busy watching over the ships in front of them and checking to make sure they weren’t being tailed. That was why a soldier on the very last Junk, stationed at the stern of the vessel, shouted to get the attention of his captain.

“Captain Bennifer! I see something strange!” The soldier yelled.

The captain and his first officer turned around, walking to the soldier with unconcerned faces. The raid had gone so swimmingly they couldn’t find it in them to worry.

“And what is it, soldier?” Captain Bennifer asked.

The soldier pointed at a bank of fog that had seemingly come from nowhere. It was rolling across the waters to the port side of the Bosche fleet.

"It just started up recently, I thought I should inform you,” the soldier said.

“Hm, most curious,” Bennifer rubbed his chin. “But it’s just fog, the entire island was shrouded in it earlier, perhaps it’s just coming back? As long as the whirlpools aren’t with it there’s nothing to worry about.” He checked the wind and briefly glanced ahead to see how far the fleet had gone. “We’ll be to open water soon, thank you for notifying me about the fog but don’t worry about it unless you see something else.”

“Yes sir,” the soldier nodded.

And with that, the crew of the last Junk in line went back to their normal procedure.

Within that fog, dozens of small boats floated along the water. Full of dozens of lizards in turn. They had cannons, cannonballs, powder kegs, spare potions, totems, tools and weapons for boarding and breaking the captives free, and determination in their hearts. It was the biggest and most important thing they had ever done in their lives. Sure it was dangerous, sure a lot of them were shaking in fear, but that wasn’t going to mean they would stop and turn around.

Due to the special magic that created the fog in the first place, it was much easier to see out of than see into. The Junks were plainly visible as if just looking through a tinted screen. So far so good, the sneak attack was proceeding as planned.

At the front of the fog bank, a boat drifted with Rainbow Dash, Senax, Daylight Gleam, Breakwater, Gilbert and Smooth Tongue in it along with their own supplies.

“It’s actually working,” Breakwater said as he watched the Junks.

“I’m honestly just as surprised as you are,” Daylight said.

“No one is more surprised than me,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Well the important thing is that we’re here and we’re ready,” Rainbow Dash punched her hooves together. She stood up and looked over all the boats trailing behind theirs before whistling loudly to grab everyone’s attention. “Yo! I didn’t have the time to really get to know any of you personally—but my name is Rainbow Dash and I’m here to tell you that we’re about to get your Princess back and kick these losers out of here! Don’t be afraid, trust us, trust Senax, just as much as your Princess and matriarch did!”

Daylight whispered up to her: “Shouldn’t they be a little afraid.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Better they be confident, being afraid right now is just going to make things worse. They gotta trust us all the way.”

“I think they love their Princess and Senax enough where they’ll be willing to do anything right now, no matter how afraid they might be,” Gilbert said.

“I don’t want them to throw their lives away for me,” Senax said, calmly sitting with her eyes closed in the middle of the boat. “We should be doing this together as friends just to save all the lizards who need to be saved.” She opened her eyes. “I’m trying to stay calm right now but I also think I’m about to collapse into a ball.”

“Easy there,” Rainbow Dash rubbed her back. “You’re doing great.”

Daylight took a deep breath and looked out at the Bosche fleet, frowning. “Is it about time for us to get out there?”

“Everyone else knows what to do. We’re just waiting for your signal,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Then as hesitant as I am to be doing this I think we should probably go,” Daylight said to Rainbow Dash.

“It’s your plan,” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes. I know,” Daylight sighed.

“We’ll take care of everything else. The four of you... good luck,” Breakwater said, placing a hoof on Senax’s shoulder for solidarity.

“Are you sure your camouflage spell is going to work perfectly? I want you all to be safe,” Senax said.

“Don’t worry, this sort of thing is far easier than placing a bubble around the Heart of Azure while it goes across the waves. In fair weather like this, with an empty sky, I’ll be able to keep us completely invisible. There’s nothing that will screw up my camouflage spell, I’ve been perfecting it for ages now,” Daylight said.

“And I have my utmost faith in your skills,” Gilbert grinned and clapped her on the back.

Rainbow Dash glanced at Smooth Tongue. “You ready too? You’ve got just as big a part to play as any of us.”

“Y-Yes,” Smooth Tongue nodded. “I promise I will come through for you.”

Rainbow smiled at him before turning her head to Daylight. “Then fire up that horn and let’s get out there.”

Only the briefest of goodbyes and good lucks were given between the friends before Daylight climbed onto Rainbow Dash’s back and Smooth Tongue onto Gilbert’s. The lizard grabbed one of his people’s totems while Rainbow Dash and Gilbert both grabbed a powder keg to carry. After a brief moment for Daylight Gleam to focus, her horn lit up and a bubble of powder blue magic expanded out from it, surrounding the space around the four of them before seemingly vanishing.

Daylight nodded. “It’s ready, all I need to do is keep concentrating, but you can fly us out of the fog now and we can begin our search.”

“Okay,” Rainbow said. She looked to Gilbert and he nodded back at her, the two of them then rising in unison—keeping close and level with each other—and slowly came out of the fog.

To them it looked completely normal, there was no blue glow or anything that hampered their vision. They were just there, off the port side of the fleet. But the invisibility had to be working or otherwise they’d be hearing a bunch of shouts and probably be on the receiving end of some ballistas already. They were practically in their own little world up here, getting to spy on the fleet without fear.

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Looks like it’s working.”

“Of course, this is the one area I always have confidence in my magic,” Daylight smiled.

“I’ll activate my totem as we fly close to the ships...” Smooth Tongue said. Sitting atop Gilbert’s back, he grasped the totem in his hands and put just a tiny amount of magic in it. A faint green glow came from the crystal to signify it was ready.”

Daylight wrapped her hooves securely around Rainbow Dash. “Take us in, Rainbow. And remember to not shout, they can still hear us perfectly fine outside the bubble of camouflage.”

They first flew to the edge of the middle ships since they were certain Princess Fairscale wouldn’t be held on one of the ships at the end. Smooth Tongue held his totem out and scanned every ship he could, seeing if they held any lizards on them. All the while, none of the soldiers or officers below reacted in any way.

“I can feel the signatures of hundreds of lizards here. I believe the savages are being kept on all these ships in the middle of their fleet,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Well that answers one question but we need to find a ship with only one signature,” Rainbow said. “I’m going to take us to the front of the fleet.”

They slowly and carefully moved from the middle, much larger, part of the slaving fleet to its front. There the ships were in single file, just a few leading out from the middle to its very point.

“I don’t feel anything from these ships... yet,” Smooth Tongue said.

“We’ll keep going, I’m keeping an eye out for Godfrey too,” Rainbow said.

It didn’t take much longer at all for them to find what they were looking for. The very first Junk, leading the entire slaving fleet, had a very conspicuous griffon lying on its deck as if he didn’t have a care in the world. In fact, from what Rainbow Dash could see, he seemed to be drinking something. In addition to Godfrey, one of the Bosche ponies on the higher deck with the wheel and helmspony was dressed in an incredibly gaudy outfit. He had to be the leader, Rainbow had never seen any Boschese as well and overly-dressed as him. The final assurance came in when Smooth Tongue used his glowing totem on the lead Junk and told them he sensed one—just one—lizard onboard it.

“It’s her, it has to be her,” Smooth Tongue said.

“Yeah, definitely,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

"So what now? We can’t drop the powder kegs on that ship then,” Gilbert said.

“No—I’m going to drop one on the ship right behind it,” Rainbow said and raised an eyebrow at Smooth Tongue. “You’re sure there aren’t any lizards on that one?”

“I’m positive,” Smooth Tongue replied.

“You said just one?” Gilbert asked. “What about the powder keg I’m holding onto?”

“I want you to save that for later—after we rescue the Princess. I have a feeling it’ll come in handy,” Rainbow said.

“You know we could potentially drop one right on Godfrey’s head...” Daylight suggested.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “We couldn’t get close enough to make that work. He’d hear it, or sense it, as long as he wasn’t distracted by something else. Just let me deal with him once we’ve torched the other ship. That’ll send the Bosche soldiers onboard the front one into a panic too, they’ll be busy trying to help their friends and deal with the attack that the rest of the lizards are about to carry out. You three are gonna search the Junk for Princess Fairscale while I hold off Godfrey and get that Necklace back.”

“We’ll find her,” Gilbert nodded.

“Alright,” Rainbow said as they now flew over the second Junk in line. Her hooves tensed against the powder keg she was holding. “Get ready to light this thing, Daylight. I’m gonna drop it right on the middle of the ship, right at the base of the mast.”

“Just tell me when,” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash coolly looked down at the ship, her eyes gazing hard. She made no other movements or signal to her friend.

Daylight frowned. “Rainbow Dash? Are you ready?”

“I’m just… waiting for there to not be any ponies standing right there,” Rainbow replied. She gulped and thought to herself: I’m really not going to be able to lecture anybody on what’s good or bad after today, am I?

After another moment where she took a deep breath and made sure her aim would be true—she had Daylight light the powder keg’s fuse.

To anybody looking up, they would’ve seen what looked like a powder keg come out of literally nowhere. However none of the Boschese were really focused on looking up like that. It was only a few at the very last moments that heard the fizzling sound of the lit fuse before something heavy struck against the wooden deck, right where the central mast was, and a second later a much louder explosion erupted across the ship. The mast was blown apart completely as fire and burning embers of wood spread up and destroyed the sails while a gaping hole tore through the deck—reaching from port to starboard right across its midsection. Several soldiers were launched overboard or into other parts of the ship and the entire vessel shook. The captain and other officers looked on in shock while the helmspony tried to maintain control of the badly damaged Junk.

Directly in front of them, Bin’Tavy and Tuon both jumped in fright, hooves momentarily clasped over their ears to block out the deafening sound of the explosion before they looked back in confusion to see what was going on. Before either of them could deliver any orders, more explosive sounds—cannonfire—erupted from further back in the fleets formation. Columns of smoke began to rise up everywhere along with a constant chorus of shouting and panic.

Down below, Princess Fairscale stood up startled, wondering what was going on.

The main deck of Junk #1 soon became a madhouse as soldiers and officers rushed to attend to their comrades on the ship behind them. Admiral Bin’Tavy also found his voice and demanded to be told what was going on.

The only one who didn’t show any sort of panic was Godfrey. Who hadn’t so much as flinched or turned his head when the explosion went off. Instead he calmly finished his tea before tossing the cup to the side—where the incredibly expensive porcelain shattered on the deck. Finally he glanced over his shoulder and looked at the large column of fire and smoke rising directly behind the ship he was on.

He frowned slightly and clicked his beak in annoyance. “Tch, Rainbow Dash.”

Rescue

“That’s the sign, open fire on the ships that don’t have any prisoners on them!” Breakwater shouted as loud as he could to the flotilla of lizard boats he was leading in the fog.

It was the only okay they needed. A salvo of cannon blasts opened up from inside the fog bank—dispersing the fog entirely—and the heavy balls of iron were shot at the protective Junks on the outside of the fleet’s formation. Wood splintered and broke apart across six different Junks as they all took heavy damage to their sides facing the lizards. Some unlucky ones had holes open up where the water from the ocean could easily lap up and get inside the hull.

Chaos erupted just as much as the cannon fire did. The Bosche were confused, disoriented, it took them a moment before they realized where the attack had come from and by then the lizards were already coming right for them across the water. Another salvo of cannonballs were shot at the defensive ships, damaging them further and making it far more difficult for them to respond to the attack. A lot of the soldiers onboard were busy keeping the ships afloat or in line and couldn’t man the ballistas to fire back. The surprise attack was going off without a hitch so far.

The lizards on their boats were either paddling or using their magic to push the boats along the currents towards the main body of the Bosche fleet now. They needed to get through the outer line to reach the prisoner ships in the middle—something that shouldn’t be too difficult now with those Junks badly damaged and some even falling apart. Already the fleet’s formation was beginning to come apart as the damaged ships lagged and drifted off a bit while the rearguard started to come up around to offer some more protection.

“Careful of the approaching vessels!” Breakwater said, pointing at the three from the rearguard coming at them. “If they don’t have any prisoners on them then open fire!”

In a minute the air became filled with cannonballs and the large arrows fired by the ballistas aboard the Bosche Junks. Most just went straight into the water, shooting up huge spouts, thanks to the lizards trying to fire while moving fast and aiming at the narrow front of the Junks and the ballistas not having the range or accuracy of cannons to begin with. Some of the lizard boats broke off from the group to intercept and stall them now so the others could continue on to the Junks housing the slaves.

Breakwater and Senax watched them go with concern. Neither of them even had to order it—the lizards had acted on their own to protect their comrades. Even though they were putting themselves directly into danger, practically sacrificing themselves for the sake of the others.

“Don’t look, Senax, you need to focus on helping us save the prisoners,” Breakwater said to her.

“I know,” Senax nodded. Though she still couldn’t look away.

She was an important part of the rescue. It was her presence, her word, that would be used to keep the more savage lizards from the city under control. To get them to calm down and not fight with their rescuers but instead join together to fight the Bosche soldiers and take the Junks. As a Child of Ponyseidon—who only had to speak his name to awaken something deep in the bodies of the lizards—only she could do this. She would be there to show the lizards that things were alright, to reassure them, to let them know they were truly being rescued and she hadn’t abandoned them or lied.

It was something Senax needed to do for her own peace of mind just as much.

Their boat, along with the other ones in the group who hadn’t broken off, skimmed right past the former defensive perimeter of the Bosche fleet and now made its way to the prisoner ships in the middle. While there were quite a few soldiers and officers who noticed what they were doing, they were far too busy keeping their ships from sinking and themselves from drowning to do anything. No one on these defensive Junks even got close to their own ballistas. Because of that, over two dozen much smaller boats carrying next to a hundred lizards had made it to the heart of the fleet.

The danger was that the prisoner ships were undamaged and thus were still able to defend themselves while the lizards couldn’t fire back. There were 18 of them in total making up the middle of the fleet where the prize Bosche had won today was being carried. Thankfully, most of them didn’t have a clear line of sight of their attackers. There were only a few that could actually aim their ballistas at the approaching assault.

It didn’t help to remove the sinking feeling of fear and concern from Senax and Breakwater.

That feeling turned out to be correct when a barrage of large arrows were shot from the over-sized crossbows into the lizard boats. Most went straight into the water, the smaller boats being a difficult target for the cumbersome weapons, but a few landed true and tore right through the skimmers. Some were outright rent to pieces while others had holes plowed through them that quickly cause the boats to fill up with water and begin sinking.

One arrow landed right off from their boat and drenched them with seawater.

Senax grabbed her head with her hooves and tried to stay focused—tried to avoid the cries and shouts she heard all around her. “This isn’t right…”

“We’re almost there, Senax. Stay cool,” Breakwater told her. “We can jump aboard the first boat soon.”

He looked to the front of the fleet, where one of the ships was still burning and collapsing into the water. So far the others around it hadn’t reacted to the attack being carried out—Rainbow Dash and the others must be occupying them. Breakwater gulped and tried to calm his own nerves. Their boat and three others were about to pull up to the first Junk and board it. Fighting the soldiers on it wasn’t the plan, they just needed to get past them and free the lizards below, then they’d have the numbers to overrun any opposition. If they could get control of one Junk at a time like that it would make things easier.

Just as he was thinking that, one of the ballistas on the Junk they were racing towards swiveled to face them.

“Uh oh,” Breakwater grimaced.

Suddenly though the Junk lurched forward and the soldier lost his grip on the ballista, falling to the deck. Breakwater blinked before he noticed a few other Junks moving erratically and seemingly against the wind in the air. It took him just a second to look over and see the lizards in the boats around them concentrating hard and putting their magic to good use. Though they couldn’t have the Junks crash into each other with the prisoners onboard, causing them to move unexpectedly thanks to shifting currents was the next best thing. It kept the Boschese onboard occupied and gave them trouble when it came to aiming their ballistas.

“That’ll help,” Breakwater said as their boat finally reached the first Junk. Thanks to their low swung nature, it was fairly easy for the main deck of the Junk to be climbed onto from the side of the ship like this.

Breakwater, Senax, and a team of a dozen lizards helped themselves from their boats onto the Junk. The soldiers and Boschese sailors were surprised, not ready to fight directly like this. It didn’t help that their ship was listing and many of them had been preparing to go help the Junks that were sinking and on fire. Despite the Bosche soldiers normally being well-known for their stoic demeanor and listening to orders unquestioningly, they couldn’t keep the panic completely from their faces.

Part of that was because the superior officers that were supposed to be giving them orders were just as panicked and had their attention being drawn this way and that. The captain of the very Junk they had just boarded was in fact shouting at the Junk directly behind him instead of doing anything about the ones on his vessel.

Breakwater was going to call this good luck.

“Get them—and find the prisoners!” He shouted.

The lizards that came with them immediately went for the soldiers, the magical potions in their veins giving them the strength and endurance to match the normally stronger ponies for the moment. He had to admit the potion gave him a similar feeling. It felt like he could run a marathon and then swim another marathon right after and still have energy. Either way a complete melee was erupting on the deck of the Junk, just what they needed to keep the soldiers occupied. Breakwater looked to his side—saw Senax standing right next to him—and nodded at her.

Senax nodded back. Time to go below and free the other lizards.

One of the officers on the stern saw them as they attempted to run for the way down below deck but before he could shout he was tackled by a lizard. The two tussled until they both fell overboard—probably an advantage for the lizard when all was said and done. A few other lizards on the ship had grabbed up some of the soldiers’ own weapons and were using them against them. The quality of Bosche polearms was well above the personal weapons from their own islands. Only the cannons and powders kegs were above what Bosche could produce. The armor, the steel blades, it was all better than what the lizards had at their disposal to start the fight with.

Breakwater and Senax rushed around a fight between several lizards and Bosche soldiers, seeing the door on the back of the Junk’s main deck that would lead to both the officer’s quarters and stairs going down to the hold where slaves were normally kept. In this case it was for the newly captured slaves. Breakwater had to imagine the whole hold was converted into holding cells to carry them all.

The two of them entered the insides of the Junk and came face to face with a startled servant—Breakwater spared no time in checking him into the wall and knocking the poor servant out cold. Soldier or not, this was no time to hesitate. There was the sound of more voices and running about coming from elsewhere in the Junk but they paid no mind as long as it wasn’t directly in front of them. Shortly they found the stairs and started to head down.

“I hope they’re happy to see me,” Senax said.

“I think they’ll be happier to see you than anyone else at the least,” Breakwater said.

The two reached the bottom of the stairs and ended up in front of a door that had barred windows and a wooden beam lying across the middle to keep it from being opened by force from the inside. Together they lifted the beam off its resting spot and pulled the doors open to find themselves in the vast hold at the bottom of the Junk. It ran nearly the entire length of the vessel and was filled to the brim with metal cages that were overcrowded with chained up lizards.

They were already all hissing and yelling nonstop. Who could blame them? They had no idea what was going on up above, the rocking of the vessel, the sounds of cannonfire, they were probably worried about being sunk with the Junk.

That changed slightly when they saw Senax and Breakwater enter.

Of course the noise didn’t drop at all, but they changed their random panic to shouting towards Senax and banging on the cages containing them.

“This might be a little more difficult to deal with than I thought,” Breakwater frowned.

“Oh dear… they really need to calm down,” Senax gulped.

“Before or after we free them? Cause I think you really need to tell them what’s going on first,” Breakwater said.

“Where are the keys for opening their cells and unlocking their chains anyways?” Senax said as she looked around. Turning, she saw a ring of several different keys on the wall behind them, next to the door. She nodded. “Okay… now to keep them from rioting and making more trouble instead of helping.”

“Good luck...”

Senax cleared her throat and took a deep breath, with purpose she walked down the rows of cells until she reached the middle of the large hold. She didn’t let herself get distracted by them yet. She wanted to be right there in the middle of them all before she spoke or even turned her eyes to really look at any of them. They had to see that she was calm, that she was in control. For a moment she just stood there while standing up straight and looking ahead. Her face was a stone mask that didn’t betray the inner turmoil or self doubt inside her at all.

With a few seconds of that, most of the louder yelling and banging had been replaced with quieter murmurs and expectant looks.

They wanted to know what the merpony who had only so much earlier blessed their city was going to say. Why was she here? Why had they been abducted? What was going on?

And deep inside they still felt the pull towards Senax and the blood of Ponyseidon.

Senax finally looked from side to side at the cells and the lizards inside all staring back at you. “Lizards of the Lost Isle, lizards of the ancient city, I have something important to tell you.”

Tails Between Your Legs

Blue hooves landed on the deck of Junk #1, right in front of Godfrey.

“Well you really came out of nowhere, didn’t see or hear you coming at all,” Godfrey said to Rainbow Dash. A smirk then tugged up his beak. “Ohhh… the unicorn, right. She around here too?”

“Maybe,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Godfrey’s smirk turned downright malicious. “You know I’m a little annoyed with you not taking my threat seriously enough. It’s almost like you’re looking down on me. Like you don’t fear me even after the times I’ve trounced you—even when you know what kinds of things I’m capable of doing.”

“If I let myself get afraid of every jerk I’ve met in the world I’d never get anything done,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes at him. “You know what? I do take you seriously, you’re strong, you’re determined, you’re trouble. But you know something else? In the end I don’t think you’re anything special either compared to who and what I’ve already dealt with in my life. I thought you were special for a while in a different way cause… well, that’s not important anymore. You’re just a really persistent pirate.”

“That so?” Godfrey coldly said to her and the two continued their face-off.

A Bosche soldier finally noticed Rainbow Dash being here and started rushing towards her—but ended up clotheslined by Godfrey when he tried going past the griffon. The soldier flipped over onto his back, sputtered once, and fell unconscious. Godfrey picked up the axe he had been carrying and held it out towards Rainbow Dash.

“I’m really going to make you regret ignoring me. Maybe you’ll get it when I go get that Princess and start peeling off her skin scale by scale,” he smirked. “Of course you’ll be dead by then so what in Tartarus do you care?”

“That’s not happening. We’re here to rescue her and get back the Necklace you stole,” Rainbow glared at him.

Godfrey snorted and briefly ran a talon against the dangling crystals of the Necklace, causing it to glow slightly for a moment. “And that’s worth all this death to you? Knowing how angry I would get, knowing that if you weren’t standing right here in front of me I’d already be tearing that lizard Princess apart just out of spite?”

“Well I’m stopping you aren’t I?”

“Heh, fair enough. But I’m tired of you, Rainbow Dash. I’m tired of not coming out perfectly on top. Not losing, but not winning as hard as I should. It ends here. You’re going to die and you and your friends are never getting this Necklace back. It’s going to take me straight to the Trident after today,” he finished with a glare at her.

“Says you,” Rainbow Dash scoffed and rolled her eyes. “You know what I say? I say that we’re taking apart this whole fleet and sending Bosche—and you—running away with your tails between your legs. And considering how well the attack sounds like it’s going to me already? Guess which one of us I think is more likely to get their way.”

“Please. We both know the rest of what’s happening right now doesn’t have near as much of an effect on who’s winning today as which of us wins our fight,” Godfrey grinned. “We can both turn the tide for our side completely.”

“True, so I guess I just need to beat you myself. Oh wait, I was already planning on doing that,” Rainbow smirked back at him.

“And keep me distracted with this pointless talking so I can’t stop your friends from rescuing the Princess?”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “That too.”

“I figured. After all, you can act as confident as you want, but beating me all by yourself is hardly a certain thing at all,” Godfrey said and swiftly threw the axe at her horizontally to the deck. It sailed through the air and Rainbow Dash hopped up to avoid it while Godfrey jumped at her at the same time.

A talon clenched into a fist and a blue hoof smashed against each other with the sound of a wrecking ball.

Junk #1 was actually a bit larger than the other Junks in the fleet, its interior more varied, and several quarters for additional officers had been added to make it fitting as a command vessel. That made it very busy below and behind the main deck, with most of the servants onboard either cowering out of the way or running around in a panic. Which was why despite the camouflage cloaking them almost perfectly, Daylight Gleam, Gilbert, and Smooth Tongue were still moving slowly and carefully. They didn’t need to run smack into a soldier who couldn’t even see them.

However they were still in a hurry and couldn’t stop the pounding of their hearts. Since it was just invisibility too they had to whisper to each other if they wanted to talk.

“Do you have any idea where she might be held?” Gilbert whispered to Daylight.

“No clue. I think only Breakwater knows the interior of these ships. My guess though would be she’s either held in the captain’s quarters or somewhere down below,” Daylight said.

“I can sense her general location with the totem but what if some of the doors in here are locked?” Smooth Tongue asked.

“I use my key and we start a real ruckus down here,” Daylight said, pointing to her horn.

Smooth Tongue gulped.

“Well if the totem is still sensing where she is then you should probably lead the way,” Gilbert said. “Is it getting clearer the closer we get?”

“It will,” the lizard nodded.

“I think I should focus on making sure I don’t accidentally drop this thing on my back anyways,” Gilbert said, pointing to the powder keg resting there.

Daylight grimaced. “That’s a good point. I don’t know what Rainbow Dash plans on using it for but we definitely don’t want anything to happen to it.”

Just then a couple of soldiers passed by so the three hushed up immediately and pressed themselves against the wall. They didn’t even breathe until the soldiers were well past them. Now acting as silent as possible they could hear the muffled sounds of shouting and explosions from outside. It was a reminder that they had to hurry up—even if they were fearful of the spears the soldiers carried being pointed at them.

“Let’s go,” Daylight whispered again and had Smooth Tongue lead them through the bowels of the ship.

All the while he held his totem close to figure out which direction to take and how much further they had to go to find the Princess. There were fewer souls onboard the further they went—passing by one room they found a cook angrily sweeping up broken jars and knocked over supplies in his kitchen. He seemed unaware as to what was truly going on at all.

They came to a door that led to what should have been the bottom area of the ship going by how far they had walked already. Going through that they entered a long hallway that had several more rooms lining it all the way to the front of the ship. Luckily though, there weren’t any Boschese down here at the moment that they could see.

Smooth Tongue felt something from his totem and went up to one of the doors. “Here! Here! She’s right through here!”

“Calm down!” Daylight shushed him.

“Are you sure?” Gilbert asked as he walked to the door.

“Absolutely! The Princess is right in here!” Before Smooth Tongue could bang on the door he was held back by Daylight.

“We don’t need to make anymore noise than that already.”

Gilbert looked at the heavy padlock on the door and frowned. “Locked, just as we worried.”

Daylight bit her lip and looked around at the long empty room they were in. With some hesitation, her horn pulsed and the camouflage spell she had over them was canceled. “Going to need to focus all the power I can for this… just be ready in case we’re interrupted.”

“Hopefully we’ll be lucky,” Gilbert said.

The anticipation was almost too much to bear for any of them, but especially Smooth Tongue, as Daylight got to work on cutting through the lock with her magic. If the Princess really was inside this room it would be a huge relief. Thankfully by the time Daylight had sliced through the lock and was able to remove it from the door, no Boschese had come by to bother them.

“There we go,” Daylight said, sweating slightly, as she took the big padlock off.

Smooth Tongue immediately pulled the door open and shouted inside- “Princess!”

Daylight and Gilbert followed him in, seeing a room that was actually a bit more lavish and nice looking than they had expected. Of course the majority of it was still behind a wall of steel bars. It was a place for a slave, or a prisoner, but one who would be taken better care of than the average Bosche conquest.

And huddled in a corner of that cell, frightened and shaking, was Princess Fairscale.

Her eyes widened upon seeing who it was that had come in. “Smooth Tongue! And Senax’s friends!”

“I suppose that’s good enough…” Daylight muttered under her breath.

Princess Fairscale practically jumped to her feet and rushed over to the bars. “What’s going on?! How did you get here? Where is-“

She was stopped by Daylight holding up a hoof. “Princess—I understand you’re surprised and have a lot of questions, but we’re in a bit of a rush here. Suffice to say that we’re here to rescue you and all of the other lizards who were taken by Bosche. The rest of our friends and your people are here doing that right now. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to open up your cell.”

Daylight looked down at the just as big and heavy padlock that was on the door to the cell. She rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance. “I guess I really can’t expect anything different.”

“Good luck,” Gilbert grinned and patted her on the back.

“I’d rather have had the luck that the keys were just sitting in here too,” Daylight grumbled.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” Smooth Tongue said to her in the meantime and smiled. “We’re all going to get out of here soon.”

The captain of the Bosche Junk and his officers were thrown overboard into the cold ocean waters by the newly freed lizards. Poetic justice if there ever was any, they had only just before shackled them and forced them into cages, now they found their vessel completely taken over and themselves treading water as best they could with their heavy silk clothes. A hundred lizards from the ancient city screamed and cheered in victory as they crawled over every inch of the captured Junk.

The lizards from the mountain who had helped rescue them were wary—but all were put at ease as Senax stood on deck.

“Now! We must go forth and rescue the others! From this ship to the next one and the next one!” Senax shouted. “We will take them all and sail them back to your home! But please be careful, they won’t let this happen without a fight! You must all work together, work together to save your families and your people!”

“I think that’ll do it,” Breakwater said as more cheering erupted.

It wasn’t just the Junk the two of them were on that was being overrun and taken over either. Already their allies were doing the same thing to a few of the other prisoner ships. Senax admittedly was worried that the lizards might start fighting each other but for now it seemed they were directing their anger in the proper direction. It didn’t take much to see that you had a common enemy right now.

Senax pointed to the helm where several lizards were already gathered. “Take the wheel! Bring us to the next ship!”

Despite their relative unfamiliarity with such a vessel, the lizards proved themselves adept enough at the simple task of turning the Junk to the side and practically crashing it into the nearest one still controlled by Bosche. Altogether they could jump to and invade the new one while around them cannonballs and massive arrows flew through the air still. The fighting still raged between the other lizard boats and the Bosche Junks without any slaves on them.

That’s what allowed all this chaos to keep happening. Everyone was busy with their own problems.

The captain of the Junk they had almost crashed into shouted commands at his soldiers to get into the ballistas and riddle them with holes. He didn’t care if the entire Junk was sank by that, he just wanted to stop them. But he and his soldiers were stopped by many lizards swinging from the sails and onto his Junk, attacking the soldiers and make sure the ballistas couldn’t be used.

“And all of you—work together to use your magic against their ships! Make it so the ones with prisoners can’t get away! Change the currents to keep them boxed up here and try and divert the other vessels!” Senax shouted. “We will succeed here!”

Rainbow Dash had a bleeding cut on her cheek. Godfrey had a bruise below his eye.

The two of them walked around in a circle together on the deck of Junk #1, eyeing the other and preparing to make their next move. Rainbow’s eyes briefly flickered down to the Necklace Godfrey wore. She still didn’t know how exactly she was going to get that off of him. Godfrey continued to just leer at the defiant pegasus who had caused him more trouble and somehow kept surviving longer than any other opponent he had faced in his life.

By now as well the sinking and burning Junk behind them had been “stabilized” and most of the soldiers and Bosche officers rescued by the Junk behind it. The three Junks at the front of the fleet’s formation still hadn’t joined to stop the assault because of that. But now that they weren’t so busy it was possible that they finally could.

However quite a few soldiers had now also noticed the fight going on between the notorious griffon pirate and this strange rainbow-maned pegasus.

Admiral Bin’Tavy and Admiral Tuon scampered over to the railing of the command deck to look down at the fight when they realized what was happening. Bin’Tavy grit his teeth in anger and roared at his subordinates and Godfrey.

“Soldiers! Kill that pegasus or help out your comrades, don’t just stand around!” He pointed down at Godfrey. “And you, pirate! What are you doing? Can’t you see what else is going on here? If you’re our ally here how about you make yourself useful and go stop those lizards from rescuing their comrades! Do you not see the battle taking place?!”

“Gehahahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed uproariously and looked up at Bin’Tavy with a smirk. “Admiral, you better believe me when I say that me keeping this pegasus occupied is giving you the best possible chance to win right now. Just get your soldiers in gear to stop the slaves from escaping if you can.”

Admiral Bin’Tavy bristled in anger but turned his attention squarely to the soldiers anyways. “All of you—get Junk #46 behind us to turn around and back up our forces! We cannot let our bounty escape!”

“There’s another thing you might want to keep an eye on. Right now there should be a unicorn and maybe some others who snuck aboard this ship to rescue the Princess I brought you. Send some soldiers below to stop that if you feel like it,” Godfrey grinned while Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“I’m not letting that happen,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Gonna stop those soldiers and fight me at the same time?” Godfrey asked.

“If I have to.”

The griffon lifted a talon and made a beckoning motion towards her. “Come on then, do it.”

“You despicable degenerate vagabonds!” Bin’Tavy yelled at the both of them. “Rainbow pegasus, I don’t know who you are or what you’re doing here with these lizards but I’m hardly letting you get what you want!” He reached a hoof over to Tuon and practically shoved him over to the stairs. “Grab whoever you can and make sure that Princess doesn’t escape!”

“Y-Yes, sir!” Admiral Tuon nodded and made his way down to the main deck.

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and flew at him but was blocked by Godfrey.

“You’re gonna have to go through me,” he said to her.

She punched at his face but he blocked it with his forearm and pushed her away. The two narrowed their eyes at each other before both erupted into a barrage of blows trying to take the other out. Their fight continued practically from where all the others had left off.

Making Certain

“Come on, Princess, we’ve got to get out of here quickly,” Daylight said as they left the slave quarters that Princess Fairscale had been held in.

“Can you give us some cover?” Gilbert asked her.

Daylight shook her head. “Used up too much magic cutting through those locks, I can’t perform a complicated spell right now.”

“Then we’ll just have to do this the hard way and hope for the best,” Gilbert swallowed. “And especially hope that Rainbow Dash is doing just fine with my brother up there.”

“How are we getting to safety?” Princess Fairscale asked.

“Once we get out from down here, Rainbow Dash and I will fly the rest of you away,” Gilbert said.

“There’s a lot going on outside but once you and the other lizards are rescued we’ll deal with the Boschese and get back to the island,” Daylight said.

“B-But I saw all their ships! What do you mean “deal” with them?” The Princess asked, frantic and fearful.

Daylight grinned. “Leave that part to your subjects—and everyone else we’re about to rescue.”

“Now please, Princess-” Smooth Tongue said, holding her by the arm to help ease her way. “Please come this way, we must leave now.”

They pushed open the door just an inch to peek outside it and didn’t see any soldiers right there so they left the slave quarters behind and made their way up. The ship sounded as chaotic as before, they could hear hooves clamoring about on the decks above them along with shouting and explosive cannon-fire from outside. The battle hadn’t let up in the slightest. Daylight stayed in front despite the effort she had put in earlier, her horn would still be good for simple blasts of magic if it came down to it. Gilbert stayed at the back with the powder keg while the two lizards were in-between them.

“Can I ask why you’re carrying that?” Princess Fairscale said to Gilbert.

“Rainbow Dash wanted us to bring it, said it could be useful,” Gilbert said.

“I see...”

On the next level of the boat they had to hurry along past the closed doors and other corridors leading elsewhere into the ship. They didn’t need to stop only for some servant to walk into them and spoil the whole escape. Thankfully because of the rampant chaos still going on, in the short amount of time since they had come down here it seemed practically every Boschese had been brought up to the higher decks to help out or do something. Daylight and Gilbert were both hoping that as soon as they got out on deck that Rainbow Dash would be ready to go. If she wasn’t they were probably going to find themselves surrounded by soldiers anyways.

Princess Fairscale took a deep breath and started muttering to herself. “Just stay calm, just stay calm, it’s all going to be alright, nothing bad is going to happen...”

That was something Daylight often repeated in her head.

“There’s nothing to fear now, Princess. I’m certain of it. The Child of Ponyseidon and her friends have long since proven themselves worthy and miraculously capable,” Smooth Tongue said. “Our own matriarch saw it as so, didn’t she?”

“S-She did...” Princess Fairscale nodded.

When they made it back up to the main deck however, just under the command deck where the doors in front of them would take them outside, they ran into a tiny problem.

Namely that there were a number of Bosche soldiers with spears drawn waiting for them.

There was another one in the center, dressed in luxurious officer’s clothing. He narrowed his eyes at the four of them and stepped forward with a harsh scowl on his face. The air of disdain emanating from around him was almost palpable. “I am Admiral Tuon of the Bosche navy. And I believe you are trying to abscond with some of our property. Now despite the... mayhem... going on out there I simply cannot allow that to happen. You will prostrate yourselves and not cause a fuss as we place you in chains. Or else.”

Daylight bit her lip and glanced back at Gilbert, who looked just as worried.

She looked at the frightened faces of Princess Fairscale and Smooth Tongue,

She looked at the powder keg on Gilbert’s back.

“Okay...” Daylight said as she looked back at Admiral Tuon. “I see your threat, now let me raise one of my own.”

“Excuse me?” Admiral Tuon frowned.

Daylight picked up the powder keg and held it out plainly for Admiral Tuon to see. “If you don’t want you and your ship to be blown to pieces, I suggest you listen to me. This is a powder keg, you Bosche scum may not use black powder weapons, but you certainly know the destructive power of it, don’t you? In fact, you just saw its destructive power minutes ago when one of these blew up the ship behind you.”

Tuon’s eyebrows shot up practically off his face. “Y-You-!”

“That’s right,” Daylight nodded. “You better get out of our way or none of us are getting out of here alive.”

Gilbert blinked at the back of her head while Fairscale and Smooth Tongue both seized up. Was she serious right now?

“You would never,” Tuon said through gritted teeth. “I know that lizard behind you is a Princess, and you’re here to rescue her, you wouldn’t set that off.”

Daylight grinned, a grin half confident and half unhinged, she herself didn’t know how much she was acting here. But she did know she was trying to channel Rainbow Dash’s reckless abandon. “Wanna bet? Maybe it’s better if that happens than all of us becoming slaves. Maybe we’d prefer to go up in smoke. And also—we happened to hear that it was Admiral Bin’Tavy, the highest authority in the Bosche navy, leading this little raid. If I set this powder keg off here then he dies too. Would you want that? And, since you’re not the big boss do you really have the authority to decide what’s going to happen next? You’re just the second-in-command at best, aren’t you? So maybe you should let us through and we’ll talk with Bin’Tavy about what’s going to happen next.”

Her grin widened. “Or else.”

For a moment nobody moved or said anything. Perhaps Princess Fairscale wanted to say something, wanted to ask Daylight what she was thinking, but something in her told her it was better to stay quiet. Gilbert and Smooth Tongue both realized it as well; they couldn’t let these Boschese know that they’d never actually light the powder keg like this. They all had to say strong and make it look like they were behind Daylight as well.

Admiral Tuon was similarly attempting to keep his cool but a consistent sweat was still making its way down his face. Why did this mission suddenly have to become so complicated?

The soldiers behind him were just as concerned, and with everything else going on they didn’t have time to spare on this. He had to come up with a decision soon.

Whose threat was going to win out?

Daylight Gleam kept a strong glare on her face as she stared into the Admiral’s eyes. Unlike him, only a single bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. And her horn was pointed directly at the short fuse of the powder keg.

“Take us out of here, back to open water! We need to get distance between us and the rest of the fleet!” Senax commanded to the lizards as they had taken control of or immigrated the captured lizards to most of the vessels.

Though technically it was Breakwater’s words she had repeated. They both knew the lizards would only really listen to her.

Now though the middle of the Bosche slaving fleet, where all their precious new slaves had been held, was gutted. More than half of the Junks that had held slaves were under enemy control and being guided and protected by the cannon-carrying boats of the lizards. The few Junks around that were still seaworthy and under Bosche control attempted to fight back but there was little they could do at this point. This area of the ocean off the coast of the Lost Isle was quickly becoming a floating graveyard with the numerous wrecks.

While they moved the ships, all the lizards, the ones from the ancient city as well, who didn’t need to help out with that were on the decks of the Junks. Meditating. Concentrating. Focusing. Drawing out more of their magical ability than they ever had in their lives to affect the currents and the weather around the isle. The Keeper would be proud.

It was creating an even more impossible ocean for the Bosche Junks to do anything. Ships couldn’t line up or move properly, they would smack into each other, the wind pulled at their sails in different directions. Short of an actual giant whirlpool to swallow them up it was the best thing the lizards could do right now. Every now and then a ballista would be able to line up a shot but the arrows couldn’t stop what was happening.

Senax stood beside Breakwater on the deck of one of the Junks, the seasoned captain at the wheel of the large vessel as he took it out of the flotilla. It was a better place for him than anywhere else at the moment.

“I think we’re good,” Breakwater said to her.

“As long as everyone else pulls through,” Senax grimaced.

“They will,” Breakwater smiled. “I’m sure that any second now we’ll see Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flying here with the others.”

A huge explosion suddenly went off at the head of the Bosche fleet once more and everyone turned to look at the column of fire and smoke rising up from and consuming the lead Junk. The blast rocked the ships behind it and sent a fresh new wave of panic through both the Bosche soldiers and the lizards. The fleet was in even more disarray now and the lizards had lost a lot of their focus on keeping the currents in their favor. But thankfully the Boschese were too distracted by that second large explosion on what they knew to be their leader’s ship to capitalize.

Meanwhile, Breakwater and Senax stared at the column of fire in shock.

“Uhh...” Breakwater began to sweat.

Rainbow Dash slammed into the mast of the Junk and had to immediately duck under the talon of Godfrey as it stabbed right where her head had been. The claws of his talon tore into the wood and made deep gashes in it. Rainbow swiftly kicked the large griffon in the chest and made him stumble away while she recovered. The fight had been back and forth back and forth nonstop. Neither of them had gotten the upperhoof and the Bosche soldiers watching this were growing increasingly anxious.

That included Admiral Bin’Tavy who kept looking between the fight and the battle raging in the heart of his fleet behind him.

But everything came to a stop when the doors leading to the quarters and the bowels of the ship were thrown open. Admiral Tuon came out with the soldiers walking backwards and keeping their eyes peeled on something else coming out of the ship. The admiral had a frantic and worried look on his face, sweating and pale, as he looked up at his superior.

“S-Sir-!”

“Tuon? What are you doing?” Bin’Tavy frowned down at him from the railing of the command deck.

Rainbow Dash and Godfrey had paused as well, looking to see what was up.

“Let’s all remain calm here,” Daylight Gleam said as she stepped out onto the deck with the others, now visible to Bin’Tavy and everyone else. The powder keg was levitated in her magic, she could light the fuse in an instant if need be. “I think we’d all like to be alive at the end of the day, so perhaps you should listen to me.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Nice going.”

Admiral Bin’Tavy grit his teeth and glared at his subordinate. “Fool! Why didn’t you subdue them?!”

“I-It’s a bomb, sir!” Admiral Tuon shouted. “It’s a powder keg, she’s threatened to blow up the whole ship with it if we don’t let them leave!”

Now Bin’Tavy grew pale. “A b-b-bomb?!”

Godfrey rolled his eyes at the exchange. “Cowards.”

“Rainbow Dash, get over here!” Gilbert yelled to her.

Rainbow flew over the deck to stand with them while the soldiers and Godfrey watched her. She gave a mocking wink to the griffon pirate on the way. He only chuckled back, seeming amused by the situation.

“Looks like you had to do a little quick thinking, sorry it had to turn out this way,” Rainbow said to Daylight as she touched down.

“We’ve managed. So far,” Daylight shrugged.

“And how are you doing, Princess?” Rainbow asked the Princess.

“Better… but still worried,” the Princess’s eyes glanced over at the powder keg.

“We’ll be out of here to real safety soon. I promise,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Oh do you now?” Admiral Bin’Tavy said from practically directly above them. “You crazy scalawags can’t hope to get away with this! Bomb or not, we of Bosche will not allow our slaves to be taken back so easily! I am Admiral Bin’Tavy, highest and most decorated officer of Bosche! You can not undo me! Bosche will become the grandest nation ever seen on this ocean and you shall-”

“Hey! Can you shut up for a second? I don’t care. None of us care about you slaving nutjobs,” Rainbow glared at him.

“H-How dare you!” Bin’Tavy sputtered. It was plain he had never been spoken to in such a way.

“I dare because if you even try to do anything to us then this whole ship is getting blown up—and you along with it. Got that? We’re not playing around here,” Rainbow said, her eyes narrowed and serious.

Godfrey stood back with a grin, folding his arms over his chest and waiting to see the direction this would go in.

“The five of us are leaving. We’re taking the other slaves too and going back to the island, and unless you want to blow up then you’re going to let it happen,” Rainbow said to Bin’Tavy.

“You scoundrel! Do you think we will not return to get our revenge? This island will never be safe from Bosche again! Never!” Bin’Tavy practically frothed. “We will have our slaves, we will bring Bosche to newer and greater heights, and you will not be able to stop us! You have no idea who you’re dealing with here!”

Godfrey started chuckling at the boasting. He obviously found Bin’Tavy’s ignorance rather amusing.

The sound of his chuckling got Rainbow Dash’s attention though. Before turning over to him she said one last thing to Admiral Bin’tavy for the moment:

“I don’t think you should run your mouth like that. And besides, right now, you’re still the one who has to listen to us,” before the Admiral could respond she turned to face Godfrey. “And you—I’m not done with you either, Godfrey. We didn’t just come here to rescue the Princess, you better take Senax’s Necklace off right now. We aren’t going without it either.”

Godfrey raised an eyebrow and brought a talon up to the Necklace lying snugly around his neck. “That so? Figured you’d try as much.”

“Give it over. Now,” Rainbow Dash commanded.

“Pfft, no,” Godfrey smirked back at her.

Rainbow Dash frowned. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but such a flippant dismissal wasn’t it. “You don’t have the advantage here anymore, Godfrey. There’s no hostage for you to use. Give us the Necklace right now.”

“And what if I don’t?” Godfrey snorted. “You can’t throw that powder keg at me, not only would you destroy the Necklace but you’d lose any leverage you had in getting off this ship. I don’t need anything else from you, Rainbow Dash. I want to kill you but there’s nothing you can do or offer to get this Necklace back. And secondly-” he looked up at Bin’Tavy. “Don’t let this silly pegasus fool you, she’d never actually blow herself and her friends up. She’s way too soft to do something like that. Heh—maybe if she was sacrificing herself to save the others—but she’d never blow them up too.”

Rainbow clenched her teeth and felt her body tense up. He was right. He knew her too well and now he was trying to ruin this all for them. A quick glance to Daylight told her the unicorn shared her thoughts and was just as worried. The bluff had been called and now the Boschese too knew that they had the advantage once more.

“We can still use this powder keg to blow this ship up. If any of you try and do anything then that’s what’s going to happen. Don’t think we can’t still do that while staying safe,” Rainbow said to the admirals and all the soldiers around her. Her eyes trained themselves on Godfrey. “And fine—if you aren’t going to give up the Necklace then I’ll just do what I planned in the first place and take it from you by force.”

“You think your friends can defend themselves while you’re fighting against me?” Godfrey scoffed. “Please. They’re not fighters and we know it.”

“No, they’re just going to leave while I fight you. The powder keg will be leverage to keep them safe as they leave,” Rainbow said.

Daylight grabbed her and glared into her face. “Rainbow Dash! We can’t leave you behind while you fight Godfrey and these soldiers, that’s suicidal!”

“I’m getting that Necklace back!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “We all promised we would get it for Senax!”

“And what would Senax say right now if she was here? Senax wouldn’t want you, or me, or the Princess, or any of the lizards who came out here with us to sacrifice themselves for the Necklace. Wouldn’t she say how there are some things more important than that? And Senax and the others might still need us—need you—we have to get back there and rejoin them!” Daylight tried to reason with her.

“I-” Rainbow Dash really wanted to argue. Because it felt horrible leaving here without getting the Necklace too. But she also knew that Daylight was right. Even though the lizards might have been willing to throw their lives away to make sure the Necklace was regained, Rainbow Dash wasn’t willing to be the one to throw them. “Yeah… you’re right. We need to go. Gilbert, you carry the Princess and Smooth Tongue and I’ll-”

“You’re still not actually getting away, Rainbow Dash,” Godfrey interrupted. He looked up at Bin’Tavy. “I think you agree with me on that?”

“Absolutely. Soldiers, get ready to seize them!” Admiral Bin’Tavy ordered.

This time it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to roll her eyes and scoff in annoyance. “That isn’t happening.” She stared Godfrey right in the face. “Godfrey, you definitely know me well. You’re right that I’d never do something like actually set this thing off where it could hurt my friends. But then you should also know that I’m still definitely reckless and daring enough to do something like this.”

Swiftly she grabbed the powder keg from Daylight’s magic, tore the fuse off until barely any of it was left, and kicked it into the air above Godfrey’s head and towards the main mast of Junk #1

“Light it!” Rainbow shouted to Daylight and turned around to grab her at the same time. Gilbert, his mind actually working quickly for once, also grabbed Princess Fairscale and Smooth Tongue while his wings shot out and he took to the air.

As Rainbow ascended with her hooves wrapped around Daylight’s body, she was just barely able to look over her shoulder at what was happening. Godfrey had jumped back away from the powder keg as a spark was just about to eat up all of the remaining fuse, many Bosche soldiers had run away or leaped off the side of the Junk, and Admiral Bin’Tavy had ducked down with his hooves over his head and screamed. The next thing that happened was a bright flare of light that caused her to squeeze her eyes shut, followed by a wave of heat and pressure that pushed her and Gilbert away from the Junk.

“A-Are they… is that… w-was that supposed to happen?” Senax asked in horror as she looked at the new explosion.

“I don’t know but...” Breakwater had left the wheel, leaving it to one of the lizards now, and peered out over the Junk filled waters. He squinted to try and see anything. “Wait… hold on. I think I see them coming this way.”

“Are they okay? Do they have the Princess?” Senax asked.

“Uhh… they’re coming in a little fast so—get down!” He grabbed Senax and the two of them hit the deck.

A second after and Rainbow and Gilbert with their passengers crashed onto the deck of the Junk. The lizards on deck shouted in surprise and ran over, both mountain and city lizards. The five new arrivals stood up uncertainly, looking dazed. Rainbow Dash shook her head and groaned before looking back and seeing the shocked faces of Senax and Breakwater.

She grinned.

“Thought that was the two of you, guess things went pretty well here?” Rainbow said.

“Rainbow Dash!” Senax ran forward and hugged her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Thanks for asking and everything but we really don’t have a lot of time right now. We’ve still got to finish things with the Bosche fleet,” Rainbow said. She pointed over at Gilbert and the others. “Princess is back though.”

“I very much do not enjoy flying...” Princess Fairscale said as she stood up on wobbly legs.

“Me neither actually,” Daylight grumbled.

The floodgates were practically unleashed then as all the lizards from the mountains came rushing over to their Princess. Everyone wanted to see her and celebrate right now. Senax and Breakwater were happy to see her safe as well but Rainbow’s words were ringing true in their ears. Unfortunately because they needed the lizards help too they couldn’t just let them enjoy the return of the Princes yet either.

“Princess Fairscale, please! You must tell your people that we need to continue on! We have to get further away from their ships!” Senax said to her. “I am very happy to see you, but there is more we need to do to return you all to the island safely.

“O-Of course,” Princess Fairscale said.

She and Smooth Tongue worked together to calm the other lizards while Breakwater went back to the wheel. Their Junk went with the others and together the newly acquired lizard fleet made headway into open water while the Boschese still tried to salvage their vessels and form up. Their command structure had been devastated, it didn’t look like the lead Junk and the admirals on it were in any condition to get things back into working order. That all said and done, Rainbow Dash and the others knew they couldn’t just let the ships stay off the coast of the isle recuperating like this. They had to make sure that fleet and all the soldiers onboard couldn’t do anything for weeks, give them so much trouble they had to return to Bosche first.

Rainbow Dash watched as they finally made an acceptable distance before she turned to Senax. “Before we got here, you made sure every lizard knows what to do?”

“I did,” Senax nodded.

“Alright, then let’s get rid of some pests. Do your thing,” Rainbow said.

Senax looked at Gilbert. “Gilbert? I’ll need you to relay what I’m about to say to the other ships so every lizard knows it’s time.”

“Easy!” Gilbert saluted.

Senax then strode over to stand beside Breakwater, she cleared her throat so she could speak and project her voice as loudly as possible. “My friends! It is now time that we protect your home for good! You must all work together now, all of you putting everything you have into your magic, and together as one you must send them away! Control the tides of the ocean, control the wind, create fog, and do what is necessary to protect all your friends and family! Send the invaders far away into the ocean so they cannot return! Make it so no matter what they try their ships will be unable to fight back and escape the current for days! Believe in yourselves! Believe in what you can do!”

As she finished, Senax took a deep breath to calm herself down while the lizards cheered. Princess Fairscale blinked in surprise but Smooth Tongue told her all she needed to hear. From there, Gilbert spread the word that the time was now to the other ships in their possession. And then it was time for the lizards to work their magic even harder than they had been before.

Rainbow Dash, Daylight Gleam, Senax, Breakwater, taking a break from the wheel and letting the vessel drift in the calm water, and eventually Gilbert came back and watched together as the waters around the nearly destitute Bosche Junks changed. Whitecaps and breaking waves crawled around the ships as the wind and water churned while clouds gathered above the Junks. They couldn’t hear what the Boschese might’ve been saying or shouting right now, but it certainly had to be a lot of panicking. All of the Junks that were still afloat and seaworthy to begin with started to be carried away by the water, a fresh and unnatural current far stronger than anything that should have been out here. As strong as the current and wind during a violent storm. Together in a clump they were pulled to the west—straight out into open water where eventually there’d be nothing around for miles.

Lastly a fog descended upon the entire ravaged fleet to make it even more difficult for them to get their bearings. Unlike the fog that had been created earlier, this bank was staying with the ships and not dispersing. They couldn’t see out of it or barely see the ships closest to them. Walking out on deck would be like trying to see through the thickest fog imaginable.

Rainbow Dash stood there. Watching until the slaving fleet disappeared completely.

It was an utter victory. The lizards cheered, her friends were smiling, the Princess and everyone else was safe.

But Rainbow Dash wasn’t smiling.

The words of Admiral Bin’Tavy were still hanging around in her head.

If she really wanted them to keep their promise and make this island safe… she still had some work to do. Despite what Senax had said in her rousing speech—this didn’t actually protect them for good.

“Hey, Breakwater? What direction is Bosche in anyways? Their home island, I mean,” Rainbow Dash asked him.

“Huh?” He blinked at her. “Well it’s just to the southwest of here. Why?”

“Could you point it out to me? You know the ocean well enough where I bet you can tell me exactly where it is, where I could find it if I flew out there in a straight line.”

“Umm… sure,” Breakwater said and pointed his hoof out across the water.

Rainbow Dash focused on it and the horizon for a moment. Getting a feel for things.

“Is something wrong?” Daylight asked her. “What are you thinking about?”

“And Bosche is close by, right?” Rainbow asked.

Breakwater nodded. “Relatively speaking compared to the rest of the Grand Ocean, yeah.”

“Rainbow Dash?” Senax questioned.

“You look a little strange,” Gilbert said,

“Just have something else to take care of,” Rainbow shrugged, she looked around the ship. “By the way, we still have some of those special endurance potions leftover, right?”

“Of course, they’re in the boat we first came here in, it’s tied up on the port side of the Junk here,” Breakwater said.

Rainbow Dash lifted up and flew over to the side of the ship without another word, her friends following her. Smooth Tongue also saw them all moving and wondered what was going on. Together they all came to the side of the Junk and saw Rainbow Dash plop down into the smaller boat, rooting through their supplies before opening up the bag that held the potions.

“What are you doing?” Smooth Tongue asked. “The fight is over and you already took one before, didn’t you?”

“Yep,” Rainbow nodded. She pulled out two of the potions, the thick red liquid, the color of blood, inside the glass containers as it oozed about.

“Rainbow Dash...” Daylight Gleam said, frowning, worry seeping into her voice.

“Can’t leave this half-finished,” Rainbow said and popped off the corks of the potion bottles.

“W-Wait!” Smooth Tongue said, reaching down at her. “You can’t drink more than one of those at a time!”

“Watch me,” Rainbow said and gulped both of them down at once. Almost instantly she felt a shaking sensation in her body and her limbs went all fuzzy, pins and needles poked against her bones and a strong shiver went up her spine. Once that immediate sensation was done she just felt wired. As if she had been up without sleeping for two days straight but also had just drank a lake’s worth of coffee.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and flew up and behind the Junk. She punched her hooves together just because she couldn’t stand not doing something with them right now. A twitch came to her eye as she faced the direction Breakwater had pointed again once more. In her head she imagined a straight line, a red arrow pointing directly ahead, guiding her to her destination.

All she needed to do was follow the path.

“Rainbow Dash, come back down here!” Daylight shouted at her. “Don’t do anything reckless!”

“We’ve already done what we need to do! It’s okay now,” Gilbert said.

She looked back at them, eyes settling on Senax briefly before she looked over to the Lost Isle in the distance.

She shook her head. “Not quite. I’ll be back in a week, wait up for me on the island.”

In the space of a blink she had turned around and shot off at full speed towards Bosche, the sudden departure creating a miniature sonic-boom that rattled the ship. Her friends could only watch the rainbow blur speed away.

Happy Reunion

One week after the very busy day where the Lost Isle of the Lizard People met a merpony for the first time in ages, fixed their long-standing civil war, got invaded, almost got enslaved, and then had a grand naval battle rescuing everyone, a rainbow-maned pegasus floated on down to the mountain castle where she figured her friends would be.

She was right.

Gilbert had seen her coming, after watching the skies for ages now, and alerted the others. Rainbow Dash landed on the stairs right in front of the castle doors as they opened up and her friends poured out.

They saw her frazzled mane and tail, they saw her sweat-covered body, they saw her bloodshot eyes, they saw the dark bags under those eyes, they saw how pale she was, they saw how messed up her feathers were, they saw how hard her heart was beating in her chest.

And they saw when Rainbow Dash flashed them her same usual smile.

“I’m tired,” she said and collapsed onto the stairs, immediately asleep.

“Idiot,” Daylight Gleam said to her as she washed her forehead with a wet rag.

“Yeah, I know,” Rainbow Dash groaned as she fought off the horrible rolling pains inside her body.

“I don’t think you do. Do you have any idea how worried all of us were for you?” Daylight frowned.

“Look, I get it, but it had to be done. There was no other way to keep the island, and the rest of the ocean for that matter, safe from Bosche,” Rainbow said, closing her eyes and trying to relax from the aches she felt.

“I’m not disagreeing, but I’m saying that it could’ve been handled better.”

Rainbow Dash sighed. “How have things been since I’ve been gone? How’s Senax doing about the Necklace?”

“Actually you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Huh?” Rainbow Dash sat up in surprise—and immediately regretted it when that sent a fresh wave of pain through her body. “Ugh!”

“Senax will tell you later, when you’ve rested. Just relax for now. I can tell you that things are alright here. Better than alright even,” Daylight smiled.

“I’ll take your word for it...” Rainbow said and lied back down.

“Sleep some more, okay? You clearly need it.”

“Mm...” Rainbow Dash grumbled, closing her eyes. Before long she had drifted off back to sleep once more.

The next time she woke up she stayed up. She was in a room in the castle she had never been in before. This one had a bed. So naturally despite her wanting to get up and move around she was being kept in it at her friends’ insistence. Everyone was there with her now thanks to her being cognizant and rested enough to talk and get filled in on what had happened since she left. Apparently she had missed quite the celebration that had taken place when they got back to the island with Princess Fairscale, there was partying for days. In part also celebrating the renewed friendship with the other lizards led by Firescale. The two of them had met personally to settle things. The Heart of Azure was also now docked somewhere much easier to reach and its sail had been fixed so they could essentially leave whenever they wanted.

Still as she looked at her gathered friends in the room, despite the smiles they wore for her, she couldn’t find herself totally happy with the way things had ended up.

Her eyes settled on Senax and Rainbow Dash found her face falling into a frown. “Senax... about the Necklace... I’m sorry.”

Senax just blinked, sharing a look with the others before raising an eyebrow back at her. “Didn’t Daylight tell you not to worry about that?”

“Uh, maybe? But that’s your people’s ancient treasure...”

"Yes and... I am disappointed that Godfrey has it. One day I do want to get it back, but from the beginning I was just happy that we could rescue everyone and all of us were okay,” Senax said. “But also... I’ve figured out we don’t need the Necklace now.”

“How come?” Rainbow asked.

“Let me show you,” Senax took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

A glow started to come from behind her closed eyes and Senax opened them up—revealing a bright golden light just like the one that had possessed her when she first wore the Necklace.

“I see it. Even without the Necklace I can still see Merlantis and the Trident,” Senax said. “Its power is within me, it can’t be taken away. Godfrey may have the Necklace itself but after wearing it its magic still imprinted on me. It chose me, and directly connected me to the Trident.”

“We figured it out while sitting around waiting for you to get back,” Gilbert beamed.

“Oh. That’s pretty convenient,” Rainbow Dash blinked.

“I’m worried that the Necklace will still work for Godfrey too though since he actually has it,” Breakwater frowned. “It glowed when he touched it didn’t it?”

“Yes,” Daylight nodded. “I suspect even with the trouble he’s certainly having to deal with since that battle that he’s going to attempt to get to Merlantis soon. Just like us.”

“Normally I would say something like that is impossible considering where Merlantis is but when it involves him...” Breakwater trailed off.

“We can’t be too hopeful when it comes to my brother,” Gilbert finished.

“Yeah,” Breakwater nodded.

Senax closed her eyes and the golden glow faded away before she opened them back up. “It’s alright. We still know what to do and where to go now, I can’t exactly put the feeling I have into words but… I know things will work out now. We’ll get there—and we won’t let the Trident fall into his talons. And more than that… I’ll finally be able to lead my people back home.”

“We still probably shouldn’t mess around now though. The more we sit around doing nothing the likelier it is that we don’t get to Merlantis first,” Rainbow said. “Sorry if you guys have been enjoying your time here on the island, but now that I’m back we should get going. And to tell you the truth I’ve got the suspicion that it’s not just Godfrey who might be on their way to Merlantis.”

“What do you mean?” Daylight asked.

“It’s something about what Godfrey told me, about how he knew we were here, and just a gut feeling of mine but-” before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, the door to the room opened up and Princess Fairscale and the elders strode in.

The Princess’s eyes immediately found Rainbow Dash and a warm smile spread across her face. “I heard you were awake and I had to come here to greet you. I owe you so much, Rainbow Dash. Your friends have been speaking about you nonstop since you’ve been gone.” She stepped forward and bowed down in front of Rainbow Dash’s bed, the elders following suit. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash. For everything.”

“You’re welcome but uh, you really, really, don’t need to bow,” Rainbow blushed in embarrassment at the display.

“I do. From what I’ve heard, you’ve gone to protect our island and our people from any future attack,” Princess Fairscale said, still bowing low.

Rainbow Dash lied back, staring up at the ceiling. “I just… did something that needed to be done. Especially since I needed to make up for screwing things up with Godfrey.”

“Still!” Princess Fairscale stood up exuberantly and clasped her hands together. “We have a great celebration planned for you! We’ve already been celebrating the past week, but that was mostly between our two people’s. Now we will give the five of you the grand festival you deserve! Anything you want, anything you need, you’ll have it, now with everything else out of the way we can truly welcome back the Child of Ponyseidon and reward you all for saving us from those awful ponies!”

“Um...” Rainbow Dash grimaced and looked at her friends, who were now standing about just as awkwardly.

Princess Fairscale noticed this and looked around. “What is it?”

“It’s just that, well...” Daylight started.

“We have to leave,” Senax said.

“Now?” Princess Fairscale’s face dropped.

“As soon as we can,” Senax nodded. “Things aren’t over for us.”

“B-B-But things have finally calmed down! We can finally truly reunite, you can finally tell us everything about the other merponies out there, we can—we can be normal! At last we can treat you like you’re meant to be treated and finally merponies and Lizard People will renew our bond until it is just as strong as before!” Princess Fairscale pleaded. The elders also had stood up now and were looking at Senax and the others with pleading looks.

“We just can’t. Like Senax said, things aren’t over for us. You oughta know this, but there’s somewhere we still need to go. And we can’t waste anymore time getting there,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Merlantis...” Princess Fairscale whispered. “We know you needed to go there but we were hoping it wouldn’t have to be so soon.”

“I’m sorry,” Senax said, looking just as forlorn as the Princess.

“We do wish we could stay but once again we unfortunately find ourselves on a bit of a timer,” Gilbert said.

“It doesn’t help that we have to get all the way back to Malkonrik first,” Breakwater added.

“Good news is Godfrey shouldn’t remotely have as easy of a way to getting to Merlantis at least,” Daylight said. “And no one else should be aware of its location either.”

“I doubt there are many who have a way to get to the bottom of the ocean,” Gilbert nodded.

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked over at Breakwater. “It’s a good thing we happen to have a really resourceful friend, isn’t it?”

“Certainly is,” Breakwater smiled.

“B-But you’re coming back, aren’t you?!” Princess Fairscale suddenly asked Senax, she ran forward and fell to her knees in front of the merpony. “Please tell me you aren’t leaving us for good, Child of Ponyseidon?”

“Of course not!” Senax answered immediately and clasped her hooves with Fairscale’s hands. “I will absolutely come back one day! I and all of the merponies of my tribe! You… you are our first friends out here. And back in the old days you were our only friends… or at least the closest thing to it. When the rest of us are back here, we’ll build an even better relationship with you. A true friendship between equals. I promise you.”

“Anything, so long as we get to see you again,” Fairscale bowed her head as tears gathered at her eyes.

“Right now those words are all I can give you. It may take some time before I come back here but you have no idea how much it helps me knowing you and your people are here. And that you want us,” Senax said. She smiled lightly. “It’s going to be a little different, after protecting the Necklace for so long—we’re the ones who owe you for making it possible to find our way back home.”

Princess Fairscale and the elders gasped as Senax lowered her head to the floor and bowed to them.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. I am sorry I have to say farewell for now, but we will meet again.”

Rainbow Dash’s stomach growled.

The others all looked over at her with varying expressions of disappointment and annoyance at how she had just spoiled the mood.

A much larger blush spread across her face this time. “I uh… I need to eat something before we go, actually.”

“I can’t believe you’re still alive after drinking all those potions in one day,” Smooth Tongue said as Rainbow Dash shoveled food into her maw.

“Well—mph—my body… kind of hurts everywhere… so there’s that...” Rainbow said between mouthfuls.

The others were eating a far more generous meal, having plenty of food for the trip back, not to mention all the money they still had if they stopped anywhere along the way. Right now they were all in the usual dining room since the Princess, the elders, and many other lizards who had joined them or been rescued in the attack wanted to see them before they left. It was a very loud and crowded castle at the moment. They still needed to leave soon but they could at least say goodbye.

Especially since it probably would only be Senax ever actually coming back.

“I guess you don’t know when I’ll be feeling better since I should technically be dead,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Sorry,” Smooth Tongue nodded.

Daylight shortly after that poked her in the side. “We really should be going… the Princess is doing everything she can to keep Senax occupied.”

Rainbow looked over and saw the two engaged in conversation, Princess Fairscale offering all sorts of jewelry to the merpony, and asking her to wait and try new foods as they arrived, or asking if she wanted to see parts of the island she hadn’t before. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah, it’s lame but we really need to leave...”

“Better just get up and go before we’re sidetracked again,” Breakwater said from across the table. He then glanced over at Gilbert—who was busy eating another roasted chicken. “Isn’t that right, Gilbert?”

“Hm? Oh—um—yes,” Gilbert nodded.

Breakwater rolled his eyes.

Rainbow Dash sighed and pushed her plate away. Despite feeling like she could eat ten times as much as what she already had, there wasn’t anything to be gained by sitting around. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and stood up, intentionally making a show of pushing her chair out and how loudly it screeched against the stone floor. “Thank you for the food, but it’s time for us to go.”

A hush came over the entire large room. Princess Fairscale staring at her.

Senax sighed and stood up next. “Yes, it is. Thank you, all of you, but we have to say goodbye now.”

Princess Fairscale opened her mouth—and closed it.

No one else spoke up.

On the Heart of Azure they were about to pull up the anchor while Princess Fairscale and seemingly the entire rest of the island’s population watched from the coast. Senax had been waving to them the entire time. Gilbert had been waving to them quite a lot too despite him having work to do. But soon everything was taken care of, the Heart of Azure was ready to go. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but take a look around the island—seeing how different it was now than when they had arrived. The waters were calm, there was no fog, the sun was out, and a far friendlier group of lizards were watching them. Things hadn’t gone perfectly, she wished they could’ve gotten the Necklace without their matriarch passing away and then Godfrey not stealing it, but the rest of the work they had done? Rainbow Dash was proud of it. And regardless of everything else, Senax and her merponies now had friends on the Grand Ocean.

Breakwater whistled to announce they were heading off and Rainbow Dash blew some wind into the sails to help them out. Then in a minute they were back into open waters and heading north. The whole time, Senax stood at the stern and watched the island until it disappeared.

Issues

If you were to compare it to all the other voyages they had been on so far, the return trip to Malkonrik would be in its own class for how pleasant and uneventful it had been. And for once, Rainbow Dash didn’t have any issue with that. The boredom and lack of activity was something she was willing to cherish this time. She even mostly hung out on the Heart of Azure, her hooves draped over the side of the boat as she looked at the ocean and any islands they passed by. There wasn’t a shred of anxiety in her. Nor in anyone else onboard. It was the most peaceful they had ever been.

They had it. They knew how to get to Merlantis. They knew how to get to Senax’s ancestral home. Their goal, the whole entire purpose of this grand adventure, was right there in front of them. They even had the vessel that would allow them to make it down there in the first place. It was just taking a trip or two.

Gilbert right now was down below in the hold writing in his journal. He said he had a lot to write now and Rainbow Dash believed him. Of course the rest of the time he was his usual positive self, always smiling and asking Senax how happy she was now that they knew the way to Merlantis.

Breakwater continued to be their stalwart sailor, always at the wheel of his beloved ship, steering them through the waters of the Grand Ocean. He as well though lately had a small smile on his face more often than not. Before he used to always look so serious, always frowning or at the very least not smiling, but the happiness was apparently infectious. He couldn’t hold back the joy he felt for his friend.

Daylight Gleam too was also surprisingly not grumpy and not killing the mood. Even though she had her mind on the problems they still faced, she also knew how good things were for once. She mostly stood by the bow of the boat like usual, looking ahead. It felt good to her to relax, she didn’t want to jinx it by saying anything but she really hoped the whole trip back to Malkonrik and then to Merlantis was as nice as this.

Senax was focused. Meditative. She often would sit down with her eyes closed, a steady golden glow coming from behind them, and let the images of Merlantis flow through her mind. Nobody could blame her—they couldn’t even begin to understand how special and meaningful that was to her. Like this she could see her home, the underwater metropolis, and renew her determination to get there all at once. Soon it wouldn’t just be an image for her to see either, but a place for her people to once more call home.

That was more or less how they spent the trip back to Malkonrik and Ballast’s shop. Much quieter than usual, with friendly lunches and dinners, and sunny days followed by cool nights.

No pirate bothered them.

No Bosche Junks attacked.

Every stop they made, every boat they crossed paths with, only had good news and were full of friendly faces.

“So you’re telling me that the maiden voyage of my state-of-the-art, world-changing, submersible is going to be to take us all to the legendary Merlantis that sits on the bottom of the Grand Ocean?” Ballast asked Breakwater.

“Uh, yeah, that’s about right,” Captain Breakwater nodded.

“Huh. Well, couldn’t ask for a better maiden voyage to be honest,” Ballast scratched his head. A smile stretched across his face. “Should make my vessel even more famous than it already will be.”

They were all sitting around his work/dinner table inside his shop with the Heart of Azure safely moored. It hadn’t been more than five minutes since they arrived back here that they were already talking about leaving again. Now that they truly were on that last leg the former anxiety that Senax had been avoiding was coming back to bother her. A large map, a very detailed once of the Grand Ocean, had also been rolled out onto the table at the behest of Breakwater.

“We oughta leave as soon as possible too,” Daylight said. “Your submersible is ready, isn’t it? It’s fully functional?”

“Of course, we can leave whenever you’re ready,” Ballast said. “Er, there is the issue though of the fact it’s not exactly made for traveling such long distances though. If Merlantis is in the middle of the Grand Ocean that’d take much too long to reach. The Breakwater isn’t a fast vessel. It’s made for going to extreme depths and not much else and to function at low power. It’s still a prototype after all, it can’t travel long distances in the ocean like a traditional ship. And of course I’m also the only one here who can drive the thing, so this time I’ll be coming with you.”

Breakwater shuddered. “I was hoping you had changed the name since we’ve been gone...”

“That is a bit of a problem though...” Daylight frowned and tapped her chin.

“Not really,” Breakwater shook his head. “Actually to begin with I was already planning on something else. We tow it.”

“Tow it?” Daylight asked him.

“Yeah, hitch it to the back of the Heart of Azure and take it with us to right around where Merlantis is. Then we hop in the… The Breakwater…,” he rolled his eyes. “And head on down to the bottom of the ocean. We can keep the whole thing submerged while we tow it so nobody can see what we’re doing.”

“But then what about the Heart of Azure?” Rainbow asked. “Are we just going to leave it bobbing up there in the ocean or are you not going to come down with us, Breakwater?”

“Nope, got a better idea,” Breakwater said and pointed at a small island close to the middle of the Grand Ocean—practically right next to where Merlantis should be relatively speaking. “See this? It’s a small island called Palm Floats. We’ll anchor the Heart of Azure there and then head down with The Breakwater. Palm Floats is a small, tropical, resort island. Nothing special about it other than it being the closest inhabited island to where we need to go. Got a bit of a reputation as a party island even. We can easily rent a dock for a few days and leave the Heart of Azure there, and also pick up any last minute supplies.”

“So we can get there soon?” Gilbert asked.

“Yes,” Breakwater nodded.

“Good,” Senax said. She was staring intently at the map, her eyes would be boring a hole through it if that was possible.

Rainbow Dash grinned at her. “Really good. Who else is as excited as I am right now? We’ve got this, for real this time. There’s nothing in our way anymore!”

“I’m pretty excited… get to leave my shop for once,” Ballast said.

“You’re okay with closing up for that long?” Breakwater asked him.

He shrugged. “It’s more than worth it considering what we’re doing.”

“Obviously I’m excited but-” Senax said as she sat back and rubbed her forehead. “Maybe a little too excited.”

“Then honestly… maybe we should rest for an hour or two?” Gilbert suggested. “We did just get back, I know we’re in a hurry but shouldn’t we maybe eat first, grab anything we need last minute from the port, and then maybe relax a little? I think it might be helpful to calm our nerves.”

Rainbow Dash had to admit he had a point, there was no reason they couldn’t eat here at least before leaving. “Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. I think we kind of all need that anyways.”

“I’ll get lunch ready then,” Ballast said as he stood up and started walking away from the table. He paused and looked back over his shoulder at them. “That uh, that pirate isn’t going to be causing any trouble for us though, is he?”

“He shouldn’t be able to at this point,” Daylight said, but immediately glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “However, I get the feeling he somehow will.”

“Yeah. But I’ll take care of him if he does. You don’t need to worry about anything, Ballast,” Rainbow said.

The shipwright nodded. “I’ll take your word for it. Considering how you all seem to come out on top anyways there can’t be too much to worry about.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash smirked. “You’ve got that right.”

“Well let’s not waste anymore time with talk and worrying about maybes—I really want to show off The Breakwater too. Let me get that lunch started,” Ballast said.

A creamy mushroom soup, dumplings, rolls, and artichoke. You almost couldn’t ask for a healthier or heartier meal. It was the perfect thing for them all to have before they left on what would probably be their final real adventure together. After all, Rainbow Dash did plan on leaving once Senax had gotten her home back and Godfrey was no longer a problem. It wasn’t something she had talked about with them in a long time—pretty much since starting this big trip—but they all knew they wouldn’t be together forever. She still had her trip around the world to finish, and Gilbert and Daylight likely had some things they wanted to do as well. Once their mission to aid their friend was finished… there just wasn’t a reason for them all to stay together in the Grand Ocean.

Rainbow Dash had been here for a really long time, she had spent more time and done more with Daylight, Gilbert, Breakwater, and Senax than any other group of friends she had made since starting her journey. It was going to hurt when she said goodbye. She was avoiding thinking about that but it was the truth. Now that they were getting ready to go to Merlantis the reality of that was impossible to ignore. That big goodbye was coming sooner rather than later.

“Something wrong, Rainbow Dash?” Senax asked her.

Maybe it had been showing on her face. Rainbow blinked and quickly shook her head at her friend, offering a smile. “Naw, nothing wrong. Was thinking about something but it’s not a big deal. Just looking forward to getting out there and finally finding your home.”

“I hope it’s… well, I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high. It’s been ages since anyone has been down there. Who knows what it’s actually like,” Senax said. “My visions from the Necklace’s power could be showing me what it used to look like.”

“Come on, don’t be like that, this place is some super special magical underwater city. It’s gotta be amazing,” Rainbow Dash playfully punched her shoulder.

A smirk tugged up Senax’s lips. “I suppose you’re right about that.”

“After finishing your lunch you should really just get back on the Heart of Azure and go to sleep. Take a nap and by the time you wake up we’ll already be out on the ocean,” Rainbow said.

“You deserve it,” Gilbert said.

“We still have some last minute things to do before we’re ready to go anyways, plenty of time to have a nap,” Breakwater said.

“Better give the Heart of Azure a once-over again since she’ll be towing a heavy load,” Ballast thought.

Daylight slurped down some mushroom soup and raised an eyebrow at the group. “I guess having a casual conversation is out the window since we’re already making plans for our departure? I thought I’d be the one to first bring that up and get us back on schedule.”

“Guess none of us can keep our minds off it for long,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Now that Rainbow thought about it, this was the last time she was going to be at Malkonrik or the rest of the Hundred Kingdoms too. She didn’t exactly have the fondest of memories of this place but it was still a pretty big deal. There was a lot she was leaving behind. And judging by what she knew of the rest of the world past the ocean and between Equestria she probably wasn’t ever going to be somewhere like this again. There wasn’t much civilization out there.

She glanced over at the Heart of Azure, and then up at The Breakwater. Things were coming to a head here, that much was for certain. But they weren’t finished yet. Whatever else they had to deal with and overcome on this adventure—she’d make sure she was protecting her friends the whole way.

The Breakwater

“Well what do you think?”

“I think it’s cramped.”

“Rainbow Dash, shut up.”

Ballast, Rainbow Dash, and Daylight Gleam were currently inside The Breakwater as it was underwater and towed behind the Heart of Azure. They were going to be down here the rest of the day until Breakwater (the captain) stopped for the night, then the submersible would be allowed to rise back up to the surface and they could come out. There wasn’t any major reason for them doing this, Rainbow and Daylight were just curious and wanted to see what the inside of The Breakwater was like. To be honest, Gilbert and Senax were just as curious but they didn’t want to make things cramped so they’d switch off tomorrow.

Even then, it was still a little cramped, as Rainbow Dash was happy to point out.

“Well she’s not wrong,” Ballast said as he looked around the interior of his creation. “I didn’t make this with comfort in mind after all, that can come on the later models.”

The interior was all a dull grey color, unpainted unlike the outside, it was just plain metal surfaces. The only color came from the various switches and devices at the control station and the black seats sitting in front of it. And of course there wasn’t much room for moving around, with lockers, pipes, machinery, and braces crowding the inside. The entire back half was taken up by an engine room to boot, giving them even less space. It could fit all six of them when the time came if some of them stood together and huddled up but it wasn’t going to be a nice trip to the bottom of the ocean.

“It certainly is an impressive piece of machinery though,” Daylight said. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it and I’ve been to quite a few different places in my life.”

“Yeah me too. I’ve seen some big machines and stuff but this thing is certainly cleaner for sure,” Rainbow nodded.

“Gotta make sure it’s clean, can’t have any dirt or grime getting in any of the instruments,” Ballast said.

“Instruments?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Just a word for all the controls and equipment on The Breakwater,” Ballast said as he stepped towards the controls and took a seat in front of the wheel. Rainbow and Daylight followed to stand behind him, together all three could look out the reinforced viewport in the front of the submersible. Right now it was just dark blue water, impenetrable to their eyes. “Let me give you a quick tour in case for whatever reason you need to know what this stuff does.”

“Oh. Learning. Cool,” Rainbow Dash sighed before Daylight smacked her.

“Here’s the most important switch for when we’re actually going down to Merlantis,” Ballast said and flipped a switch right next to the wheel.

Immediately powerful searchlights came on underneath the viewport and illuminated the ocean in front of them. A huge school of fish suddenly swam out of the way in fright. Besides that there wasn’t much more to see just yet—merely water, water, and more water.

Ballast grinned. “Even in total darkness this will give us fifty feet of vision. There’s also this-” he tapped at a screen that was black at the moment with a series of buttons and switches beneath it. “Sonar. That’ll make it easier to avoid rock formations too. We don’t want anything to sneak up on us. Uhhh, most of the other stuff here is to measure things like the oxygen levels inside, the pressure, the depth, hull integrity, and stuff like that. I’ll probably save the real lesson for Breakwater. Lot of jargon and gobbledygook that you two wouldn’t know.”

“As long as it works I don’t think I can complain,” Daylight said as she looked at the controls just out of her natural curiosity.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile tried opening one of the lockers but found it was locked. “Hey, what’s in here?”

Ballast looked over his shoulder at her. “Hm? Oh—those hold diving suits. In case you need to leave The Breakwater, either to fix something outside, or to abandon in case of an emergency, or just if we need to get from The Breakwater to somewhere else underwater and there’s no way to get there otherwise.”

“I suppose unless there’s some sort of underwater port or docking bay at Merlantis those might come in handy,” Daylight said.

“I bet Merlantis has a ton of different ways in and out,” Rainbow said, walking back over and staring out the viewport. “From what Senax said it’s a whole city down there after all.”

“We shouldn’t assume that. The merponies of old very likely had an entirely different way of building things from the ponies we know. From every land-dwelling civilization for that matter,” Daylight frowned.

Rainbow shrugged. “We’ll see. Once we get there we’ll figure it all out anyways.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “What a wonderfully smart way to do things—no planning or forethought whatsoever.”

“Yeah—the fun way,” Rainbow grinned.

“You know the two of you are a little different from how I expected you to be out on an adventure like this,” Ballast said.

“Not taking things seriously at all?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

“Pretty much,” Ballast nodded.

“You can blame me for that. But to be honest I find that things go best when you take a relaxed approach,” Rainbow said. “Believe me I’ve been in enough—and all kinds—of different situations to know what I’m talking about when it comes to this. Call me the expert on adventuring nowadays.”

“I think the expert on making a fool of yourself is even more fitting,” Daylight snorted.

“Nah—that’s Gilbert.”

Daylight Gleam opened her mouth to respond but had to pause. “Well… true.”

“He wouldn’t even take offense to it either,” Rainbow shrugged.

“And you all argue like this all the time?” Ballast asked.

“Yep,” both mares responded together.

“Well alright then, far be it for me to worry about you if it’s just your usual thing. First though, let me show you where the emergency supplies are. Hope we don’t need em but it’s best to go over this stuff just in case,” Ballast said and stood up from his seat in front of the wheel.

“Yeah might as well get the boring stuff out of the way on the first day,” Rainbow nodded before Daylight elbowed her in the ribs this time.

Ballast took it in good humor, chuckling as he went to a locker on the bottom of the floor, right beneath the taller ones on the wall. “You’re not wrong about that. But I’m sure Breakwater drilled it into you pretty quickly that most of ocean travel is just boring monotony.”

“Oh yeah. I’ve realized that by now,” Rainbow agreed. “I don’t handle boredom well.”

“She certainly does not,” Daylight smirked.

Before Rainbow could respond to that snipe, Ballast opened up one of the lockers and pulled out a life jacket. “Anyways—life jackets, inflatable raft, emergency rations, compass… uh, mostly stuff that wouldn’t really be necessary for a few of us to be honest. But still.”

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Daylight said. “Either way I’m still really impressed with this thing, Ballast.”

“Me too,” Rainbow said.

“Thanks!” Ballast grinned happily. “Have spent years of my life working on making it after all. I’m real proud of it. And you won’t find anything else like it on the entire Grand Ocean!”

“And please tell me why I should do something so time-consuming and dangerous without any sort of compensation whatsoever, you crazy old pest?” Dredge asked Old Diver.

“Because it will be great!” Old Diver replied.

“For you. Great for you,” Dredge scowled at the old codger. “I couldn’t care less.”

They, and Old Diver’s two butlers, were in Dredge’s shop at the port of Malkonrik—practically right next to Ballast’s. Because they were in the same business, and probably because Ballast mentored Dredge in the past, their shops were very similar in design. Dredge had his front office, his personal living and working space, his own planning room, and then the big dock behind it all where he could work on ships. That “#1 Shipwright in the World!” sign out front wasn’t just for show in his opinion. There was a big difference though between the two shops, whereas Ballast’s dock went right into the water and was open for the ocean to rush in and out, Dredge’s was a total dry dock blocked off from the ocean when closed. It was just his preferred way of working on, fixing up, and building ships.

Dredge flipped some of his rusty mane away from his gray face before scowling harder at Old Diver and trying to shoo him away. “Now get lost, I’ve got some real investors coming by later to check out the prototype. Heh, can’t wait to see the look on that fool’s face when he sees what I’ve made. I’d like to see him try and say it was his idea then!”

“But we need your new ship! It’s the only thing that can take us down to Merlantis!” Old Diver shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. The old green pony hobbled over to the dry dock and pointed at the brand new vessel, newly completed, that was sitting inside. “I know where Merlantis is and you can take us there! Why not help me make the discovery of a lifetime?!”

In the dry dock was a metal ship of similar design to The Breakwater but different in a few superficial ways. It was close to being twice as wide, with two propellers at the back instead of just one, but it was squatter too. No paint job adorned the outside, leaving it a pure reflective gray. It had a more boxy and angular look to it in general compared to the smooth cylindrical look of The Breakwater. But it was obvious they were the same type of vessel and built for the same kind of underwater, deep-sea travel.

Dredge walked up to stare proudly at the submersible. “This thing is going to be the proof that I’m better than that fake. I’m going to get back at him for throwing me out—saying I stole his darn idea!” He turned and glared at Old Diver. “And I can’t do that if I’m out gallivanting around on some fool’s errand! There are important ponies from Malkonrik and other Kingdoms coming by to see my submersible, I need them to acknowledge it and spread the word! Then I can rub my victory in Ballast’s face for the rest of our lives!”

“The word’s already been spread. To some people out there at least.”

Dredge, Old Diver, and his two butlers, looked to the front door of Dredge’s workshop. In the open doorway, a large griffon was standing with four harsh and strong looking stallions right behind him. Together they stepped in and let the door swing shut behind them. The griffon was wearing a tricorne hat, large black overcoat, he had a cutlass in a scabbard on his left side, and a golden necklace around his neck. The stallions each held a spear and some of them had jagged and painful looking scars on their faces. Though they were scary looking enough, it was still the griffon who chiefly grabbed the attention of everyone. Even for Dredge and Old Diver, who hardly left the port of Malkonrik, they recognized the most famous and feared pirate of the Grand Ocean.

“You’re that pirate...” Dredge said as he backed up to the edge of the dry dock, his face paling. “What do you want with me?”

Meanwhile the two butlers, scared as they were, went to stand in front of Old Diver.

Godfrey just smiled. “I want you to take me to Merlantis with that new ship of yours.”

“What?! You too?!” Dredge asked in befuddlement.

“What? What?!” Old Diver yelled and pushed his butlers aside, who immediately tried to grab him and hold him back. “No! Never! I’m the one who will go to Merlantis!”

Dredge shook his head. “Merlantis isn’t even real! Why are you all just coming here to waste my time when I’ve got something really important coming up?!”

Godfrey rolled his eyes and ran his talon across the crystals hanging from the Necklace. Interrupting the argument, a golden glow came from the Necklace and then a thin beam of light shot out from it, through the doors of Dredge’s workshop and towards the ocean. The others blinked in surprise at it while Godfrey stepped towards them. “The Necklace of Ponyseidon. A magical artifact connected to the Trident of Ponyseidon that rests in Merlantis. I can assure you that it’s indeed real, shipwright, and I have the “map” to get us there. All that’s needed is your ship that can travel underwater.”

“You’re kidding me...” Dredge said as he looked at the Necklace.

“B-But... how can you have that? And Merlantis is my discovery to make, not anyone elses!” Old Diver shouted at Godfrey, surprisingly fearless, or perhaps just senile.

Godfrey shrugged, smirking with amusement at the old pony. “All I care about is getting the Trident, and some revenge, like my new friends-” he hooked a claw at the four stallions behind him. “If you want to get the credit for discovering Merlantis I couldn’t care less.”

“That makes it sound like you’d have him come along...” Dredge said.

“The more the merrier. We’ve got some problems that we’re going to have to deal with when we get to Merlantis, might as well have a lot of allies,” Godfrey said.

Dredge bit his lip. “Look, I still can’t take you there. I-I’ve got some really important stuff to do today and you’re a wanted criminal!”

“Uh-huh. Well what if I told you that your rival is currently on the way down to Merlantis with his own new submersible?” Godfrey said.

“He what?” Dredge’s eyes narrowed.

Godfrey grinned. “You heard me. And it doesn’t matter if you show this thing off to some rich and important ponies before he does. When everyone hears that the maiden voyage of his ship was going down to and finding Merlantis? His fame will skyrocket and everyone will forget about your invention. They’ll all be talking about him and no one else.”

The gears in Dredge’s brain were grinding together.

“And really, you should consider yourself lucky,” Godfrey continued. “Since normally in a situation like this I’d just kill you and take your ship. But I don’t know how to pilot something like that, in fact I get the feeling that you’re the only pony who knows how to?”

Dredge gulped and nodded. “Y-Yeah.”

“Then you are indeed very lucky,” Godfrey patted him on the shoulder.

“I uh... I guess it’s worth it if I can still stick it to Ballast...” Dredge wiped some sweat from his brow.

“That’s the spirit!” Godfrey laughed and turned to the four stallions behind him. “Well you heard him, we’re on our way so gather up all the food and supplies we need. There’s no time to waste since Rainbow Dash and her friends already have a head start.”

“This is really not how this day was supposed to go,” Dredge shook his head.

“Ahahaha!” Old Diver started laughing like a maniac, going cross-eyed. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it! Finally I’ll be able to prove everyone wrong and make them pay for all their insults! Merlantis will be mine! The discovery of the millennium! Bahahahahaha!”

His butlers shared an uneasy glance.

Godfrey meanwhile cracked his knuckles while everyone else got ready. “Oh yes, this is most definitely going to be something to celebrate.”

Getting Ready

The weather of Palm Floats was warm and humid befitting the island’s tropical nature. Currently for the season it was pretty much perfect, not too hot and not too wet. Thus, the resort island, despite its relatively small size, was pretty crowded with ponies on vacation. The docks were overflowing and the beaches crowded while every hotel and bungalow on the island was booked. That, however, was just fine for the crew of the Heart of Azure. Since they weren’t planning on staying here and the large crowd made it easy to hide their ship and themselves in.

Rainbow Dash stood on one of the docks just a short ways away from a sandy beach and watched a conga line of ponies go up and down the beach while fire-spitters and jugglers dazzled the other ponies. “This place definitely fits that ‘party island’ name pretty well.”

“Told you,” Breakwater nodded from beside her.

“We’re not staying for that long though, are we?” Daylight Gleam asked. “I think we can save the partying for after we find Merlantis.”

Rainbow looked over at her and grinned. “You know normally I’d call you a spoilsport for not wanting to have any fun here, but this time I’m actually on the same page as you. Did we even really need to get off the boat?”

“Because I think it’s better if we wait until nightfall before we head out on the... The Breakwater,” Breakwater’s lip still curled whenever he said that name. “Under the cover of dark we can start heading down to Merlantis for real, and since this island still isn’t exactly close to where Merlantis should be according to Senax it’s going to be a decent trip in that cramped thing. So having some time to stretch our legs, eat, and relax for a minute will do us good.”

“That’s right,” Senax said. She wasn’t watching the beach like most of them had been, but was instead staring east towards the ocean. “From the visions I’ve been having... even Palm Floats is still only close relatively speaking. It’s like there’s a big circle in the middle of the ocean and Merlantis is down at the bottom of that. Nothing else exists around or above it.”

“So by the time we actually start to get down there it’ll be daytime?” Rainbow asked.

“From what Ballast told me about how fast that thing runs, yep,” Breakwater nodded.

“Works for me then, I guess,” Rainbow shrugged.

“So this is our last moment just relaxing as friends before we finally get on our way to Merlantis for real...” Daylight pondered. “It’s actually a little sad when I think about it that way.”

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah I get what you mean...”

“It’s not like this is the end of our journey together. Or the very end at least,” Senax said, trying to smile for the others.

“Nope, definitely not,” Rainbow managed to grin back at her. “And that means there’s no reason to get mopey or anything.”

“You’re all very good at keeping the mood light and upbeat...” Daylight said.

“And that’s a lesson I hope you learn and take with you after I’m gone,” Rainbow said to her.

Daylight glared at her for a moment—before it morphed into a small smirk. “I’ll try.”

“Hello! Hello everyone, we’re back!” The loud voice of Gilbert cut in.

The group looked down the dock towards the island where most ponies were going to actually get their party time at Palm Floats started. There, Gilbert and Ballast walked through the crowd towards them, each with a tray of drinks and snacks on their backs. When they had arrived here the two of them went out into the tourist trap welcoming area right off the docks of Palm Floats. No huge reason for it, just to find something to eat and drink and maybe a restaurant or social place they could sit down at without having to go too far.

“We’ve got drinks!” Ballast said.

“Alcohol?” Rainbow hopefully asked as she flew over to them.

“No, Rainbow Dash, nothing alcoholic. We can’t have you getting drunk before tonight,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“Looks like you found some good stuff at least,” Daylight said as she walked up.

“Lot of little restaurants and cafes once you get onto the island,” Ballast said. “Plenty of places to just relax and sit down too, lot of entertainment, and the water’s free if you just want to drink that. The ponies who manage Palm Floats say they want to make sure everyone is hydrated and happy.”

“Guess it’s time to find a place to sit down, watch the ponies having way more fun than us, and wait until dark?” Rainbow said while grabbing a drink from Gilbert’s tray.

“Yep,” Breakwater nodded and grabbed a drink of his own.

“I can think of worse ways to waste a few hours,” Rainbow shrugged. “Although... we could play a game of cards if-”

“No,” Daylight immediately said.

“Sore loser,” Rainbow snorted.

“Sore winner,” Daylight said right back to her.

“Let’s just walk, please,” Breakwater said.

When they left the dock and walked onto the actual island, they all got to see for themselves how crowded it was. And how many ponies were selling things like leis, tropical themed clothing, hats, suntan lotion, towels, shell-jewelry, and anything vacationing ponies liked to purchase as a souvenir when they visited somewhere tropical. The ground was just left as warm sand that was as white as snow while most of the buildings were made of grass with huge palm leaf tops. There were a few paths leading into the denser tropical jungle in the middle of the island where private resorts and bungalows and the larger hotels were while many more led to the various beaches on the coast of Palm Floats. Would’ve been a really nice place to visit just for fun, kind of reminiscent of the Sea Lion Reefs except a bit more civilized. And commercialized. A place like this had to get a steady stream of larger cargo ships coming in to resupply everything.

They had to push past and refuse quite a few locals trying to foist stuff on them, but they eventually made it to a slightly less crowded area around a large palm tree with some wooden benches built around it. Of course there were still families and couples there too, but there was at least room for the six of them to sit down. Now they could drink, eat, pony watch, and just reminisce with each other until the moment finally arrived.

Senax was weirdly calm as she sat down. She thought her nerves would be frayed, her body shaking, and calm the furthest thing possible from her mind. Instead she really felt alright. Better even with her friends here. Having all of them beside her was all the reassurance anyone could ask for. How couldn’t she be calm knowing they were here to help her just like always?

Rainbow Dash watched as a family of four went straight to the nearest beach, lugging their towels and other stuff behind them. The two fillies looked ecstatic to be on vacation while their parents looked happy enough but still markedly more tired than their children. It had probably been a loud sail all the way here. But seeing stuff like that always made her feel good. Ponies just living their lives. Helping ponies do that, helping to make sure the world allowed for that, it was a big part of what kept her going.

Daylight Gleam was doing her best to think positive. There shouldn’t really be anything for her to worry about, she knew that getting to Merlantis, exploring it, confirming it existed, should actually be an easy trip relative to what they had done in the past. But dealing with the Trident that Godfrey had a direct path to... she didn’t exactly know how to broach the subject to Senax. There was also the fact she was a little worried about whether that submersible would actually work correctly or not.

Gilbert was being Gilbert and thus thoroughly absent-minded at the moment.

Breakwater was actually thinking about his Heart of Azure most of all. Palm Floats should be especially safe but he still always felt this way when he had to leave the ship somewhere like this for too long. That beauty was his pride and joy. And now when they went down to Merlantis he’d just have to sit back and let Ballast pilot the submersible. It’d be an odd feeling for sure. Still, he couldn’t believe they were actually going to see it, the most legendary of all tales on the Grand Ocean. A place he never really thought existed until recently.

Ballast was excited of course. He was out here on an adventure for the first time in his life instead of just working at his shop like he had been all of his adult life. When was the last time he had really been out on the ocean? It had been ages. He was getting to show off his life’s work, proving it could do what he designed it to, and he was getting to help out the pony he admired most. Nothing could be better.

They all sat together, drinking cool refreshing beverages and eating fruit while ponies continued to go by and the sun slowly crawled through the sky.

“I think maybe next time I’m here we can have a real vacation like this,” Rainbow Dash suddenly said.

“Next time?” Daylight turned to her.

“Yeah, next time I come to the Grand Ocean after my trip around the world is over,” Rainbow said. She glanced at her friend and raised an eyebrow. “Thought I’d never come back to see my pals or something?”

Daylight smiled. “No, just didn’t think you thought that far ahead when it came to anything.”

“Pff, good one,” Rainbow snorted.

“So will that next time be when I’ve got my people all relocated?” Senax asked.

“Uh-huh, definitely,” Rainbow nodded.

“Well Daylight and I won’t be here then, but the two of us already have plans to meet in Equestria later and I’m sure you’ll end up running across Daylight again at some point in the future,” Gilbert said.

“Yeah, but Breakwater and Ballast will still be here. Maybe we can finally go to the alcohol kingdom,” Rainbow said.

“Alth-Verika,” Breakwater shook his head.

“Right, that one.”

“You really plan on coming back to the ocean later?” Ballast asked her.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky, watching the sun drift by on the cloudless blue day. “I’ve got a lot of places I should visit again when I’ve got the time. A lot of ponies and old friends I need to see. Some promises to keep. So it may take a long while before I make my way back here, but yeah, one day I’d like to come back.”

“You know, I’ll be looking forward to that,” Breakwater said.

“Me too,” Ballast smiled.

“And me. I’ll enjoy introducing you to the rest of my tribe,” Senax said.

“And I’m sure Rainbow Dash will enjoy the hero worshiping that comes with that,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

“You bet I will,” Rainbow grinned.

“Maybe we should keep our minds focused on the here and now instead of the future though. There’s quite a lot coming up,” Daylight said.

“No one’s going to forget to head down to Merlantis tonight,” Rainbow said. “If we did, I’m sure Senax would never let it go.”

“I wouldn’t,” the merpony stated.

“See? Let’s just relax for now, talk about nothing, watch the ponies go by, and when it’s dark... when it’s dark we can finally go under the waves,” Rainbow said as she leaned back and closed her eyes. The warm air and the bustling crowd were relaxing to her, anyplace alive like this was relaxing. She liked her quiet naps up on the clouds too, but maybe after spending so much time in the True North and other places with barely anyone around she came to really cherish moments like this too.

The others, even Daylight, decided to take her advice and sit back with her. From then on, no one bothered to think of or talk about anything heavy. The afternoon was as light as if they were on a real vacation.

Hours passed by until the world around them started to grow dimmer. But the activity on Palm Floats didn’t slow down in the slightest, if anything the partying on the beach closest to them picked up the darker it got. Ponies came out twirling flaming batons, and a long limbo pole was set-up for ponies to try their best at. A large grill was brought out and the locals started to grill pineapples and other foods on it to pass out to the visitors, seemingly for free. And of course the alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. So much that Rainbow Dash could smell the mixed drinks from here.

She wondered if your first drink was free...

Eventually though it grew darker still until the stars twinkled in the sky and even most of the late night partiers were starting to turn in. Or be carried away by their friends. The moon was full over their heads, the sky still clear as ever, and a warm breeze carried over them. None of them were tired or sleepy. Not with what they had to do now.

Palm Floats grew quiet. The ships at the docks all rocked gently back and forth with the weak current.

The six of them shared a look with each other and Senax nodded.

She then stood up with the others following her. It was time.

Descent into the Depths

In the middle of the night it was even darker deep below the waves than it normally would have been. According to what Daylight said, light from the sun can penetrate over a thousand feet, but deeper than a few hundred was basically insignificant. Rainbow didn’t know how she knew that but she was the light expert after all so she didn’t question it. Now though—the twinkling from the stars and the modest glow from the moon provided nothing for them. And they had only just left Palm Floats behind and gone under in their submersible, starting the final trip to Merlantis.

Ballast manned the controls to The Breakwater while Senax, Daylight, and Breakwater himself sat in the available seats around him. Rainbow and Gilbert had chosen to stand. Either way, no matter where they were, things were going to be as cramped as a can of apple sauce. That was apparent as Rainbow and Gilbert were pressing up against each other despite their best efforts to make some space.

“Are we there yet?” Rainbow droned.

“That better be the only time you ask that,” Daylight glared over her shoulder at her.

“Relax, Rainbow Dash, you better get used to it cause it’s going to be a long ways down,” Breakwater said.

“Sorry that I can’t make it go any faster, but I can at least give us something to look at while we go,” Ballast said and flipped on the lights.

Immediately the powerful lights illuminated the ocean depths in front of them and in an almost comical recurrence a school of frightened fish swam away in every direction. But now they could at least see a decent distance ahead of them. It’s just that all that was there was open water. Any sea creatures had been scared away by the lights and probably the motor of the submersible as well.

“Much better,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“We’re really not going to see anything until we start getting closer to the bottom. Underwater rocks, mountains, trenches, the seabed itself, we’ve got a way to go. Most of the ocean is just empty water after all,” Breakwater shrugged. “And it can be as deep or even deeper than the tallest mountains are tall.”

“Whatever—I’m used to it. I’m used to ocean travel by now,” Rainbow sighed and shook her head. She knew complaining wasn’t going to get her anywhere but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to still complain.

“I think by the look of things it’s going to be a pleasant trip to Merlantis. The ship is steady, we’ve got each other to talk to, and the water does look quite beautiful right out the viewport,” Gilbert said, as optimistic as ever.

“I should’ve brought cards...” Rainbow said.

“No,” Daylight frowned.

“I could’ve just played Solitaire on Gilbert’s back,” Rainbow shrugged.

“You know what—I just realized something funny,” Senax said.

The others all turned to look at her—she’d been quiet until now, staring out the viewport. Considering what they were doing, no one had wanted to bother her if she wanted her own space.

“What is it?” Rainbow asked.

“I just realized that this is the deepest underwater I’ve ever been. I’ve never swam this far down before. I just thought it was funny—my people used to live at the bottom of the ocean but this is the first time I’ve been this deep and it’s happening inside a mechanical ship,” Senax smiled. “I don’t know, it’s just funny to me. Here I am going back home inside a big tin can. I’m a merpony, couldn’t I just swim on my own? I wonder what Ponyseidon would think about all this...”

She relaxed in her seat and leaned back as best she could in the cramped confines of The Breakwater. “But you know what? I don’t care what he would think. With everything he did, everything he was responsible for, I’m happy to do things differently. When I first step hoof in Merlantis—it’s going to be the beginning of a whole new world.”

At first the others just blinked at her, but then a smile grew on Rainbow Dash’s face, then Daylight’s, then Gilbert’s, and Breakwater’s, and Ballast’s. They were just as happy to help Senax with that first step as she was to make it.

In the gullet of a gigantic eel swimming through the ocean…

Coral Sea stood surrounded by her best warriors of the Sarraroccon Order in the moist insides of the Passenger Eel. It was not the most pleasant way to travel, but it was the most secret way that was unknown to all but the highest members of the Order. Their manta rays that they used to pull barges and ferries around were a trifle compared to the giant Passenger Eels that were trained and bred to cross the entire Grand Ocean itself. And go as deep as need be. Magical crystals embedded in the Eel’s flesh gave both air and light—while food and water had been brought by the passengers themselves to last their journey.

She held a scroll in her hooves, open, with her eyes intently looking over the map drawn on it and the golden dot in the middle.

Closer.

Closer.

She smiled.

“I don’t think it will be that much longer now, my ponies. Soon the Sarraroccon Order will have what it has deserved since the revolution,” Coral Sea said.

The warriors did not say anything in return, knowing she was mostly just talking to herself.

Coral Sea rolled the scroll up and hoofed it over to another pony to take, sitting down and focusing her thoughts for a moment. Oh how very much she was looking forward to this. Ever since the way to Merlantis had been lit up once that merpony had acquired the Necklace of Ponyseidon, Coral Sea and her most trusted underlings had been getting ready to go. With any luck they would be the only ones on the way to Merlantis right now—and the only ones who could get there at all.

Her eyes glanced over to the aged Master Wasabi standing beside her. Though in fairly advanced years for a warrior he was still the best, there was a reason he taught the younger initiates. When she notified him of this sacred mission he had picked the rest of the warriors to join them himself. In a way… she would’ve liked to have notified the entire Sarraroccon Order of what was going on—bring an army with her and forget the upheaval or chaos it would cause. In the end she chose a subtler way to go about things. She did treasure the lives of all those who lived on the Archipelago and didn’t want to upset them if they could avoid it.

Most didn’t know the truth of the Order and its origins. Even most in the Order didn’t and had no idea she was not safely on Pink Salt Island anymore, meditating and praying for their well-being.

Instead they would return with the Trident in hoof and bring a glorious new day to the Archipelago. Everyone will be so surprised, so awed, so enamored as she reveals both the treasure and the truth to them. Coral Sea would have much to explain but she was well-prepared for that moment. It’s what had been dancing in her mind ever since she became aware of the merpony.

The smile on her face grew wider. “Hopefully we can walk right through the tainted halls of Merlantis without any trouble. What our ancestors left behind should not be a threat to us. And then-” her smile turned malicious as a fire grew behind her eyes. “I’ll do more than just let Merlantis sit peacefully on the bottom of the ocean when we leave. That city—that symbol of Ponyseidon—all of it shall be washed away.”

She closed her eyes and sat back, letting the wondrous images and the thought of claiming what the Sarraroccons have deserved for centuries fill her head.

Soon. Soon they’d be there.

In an even more cramped submersible as it powered through the ocean…

“So uh...” Dredge coughed. “A-Anyone got any games they like to play to pass the time while we’re doing this? Anybody?” He looked around at his passengers with a forced grin. “Please?”

Old Diver was grinning like a wackjob while he looked out the viewport, his two butlers were terrified, and the four other stallions with their spears and scars didn’t so much as twitch an ear when Dredge spoke up. Only Godfrey responded with a smirk and a light chuckle as he sat next to Dredge—thoroughly crowding the shipwright and making him uncomfortable thanks to the cramped insides of his submersible. Everyone was pressed up together and they had to be really careful of those spears when they first came aboard.

“I don’t think you’re getting much conversation or fun out of these new pals of mine,” Godfrey said.

“W-Who are these friends of yours anyways?” Dredge asked, uncertain if he really wanted to know or not.

“Heh, just remnants from Bosche.”

The moment he said that word, the stallions stiffened and their eyes narrowed in anger, while Old Diver’s butlers went from terrified to mortified.

“They’re Boschese!” Dredge yelled. “You’ve got me ferrying Bosche soldiers too?!”

“Guess the news hasn’t spread completely yet but Bosche is done for—no one’s going to care,” Godfrey waved his talon around. His words seeming to make the soldiers even angrier and yet they didn’t do anything, just silently fumed. “These guys are the last soldiers who managed to have a little sense and join up with me to get revenge on the pony that tore apart their country. Took a little convincing though.”

Dredge looked over his shoulder at the soldiers crowding around. Well that explains the scars…

“We’re good friends now though. It’s always more enjoyable to do things when you have a crew with you,” Godfrey grinned.

“I feel like I’m in some kind of nightmare...” Dredge muttered. The two butlers nodded.

“What are you talking about? This is a dream come true!” Old Diver happily exclaimed as he stared into the water, his expression full of childlike joy every time he saw a fish swim by. “I don’t know how you managed to make something like this but it’s magical! And I’m about to uncover the lost city of Merlantis and make sure my name goes down in every history book out there!”

“The old-timer certainly has the right way of looking at things, gehahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed.

Dredge brought a hoof up to his face and dragged it down his exhausted features, he was sweating and it wasn’t just because of all the ponies in here. Did he really hate Ballast enough to be dragged into this? There was no possible way this could be worth it. Maybe he should’ve just tried to run off somewhere instead…

“Something on your mind?” Godfrey asked him, seeing the state he was in.

It was of course a sarcastic question.

“You gonna kill me when this is over?” Dredge asked back anyways. Thoroughly done.

Godfrey seemed a little surprised that Dredge actually flat out asked him that. He then smirked and lifted up a talon, wobbling it around. “Ehhh, we’ll see how I’m feeling by the end of it. Right now I’m pretty happy though so you might be a lucky pony. Besides—there’s probably some kind of treasure down there you might be interested in taking too. So try and look on the bright side like the old guy.”

“There is something seriously wrong with all of this,” Dredge shook his head and returned his focus to piloting his new submersible. “At least I’m proud to say that my ship works as well as it should...”

“That’s the spirit, just enjoy your new invention’s maiden voyage, think about victory, like me,” Godfrey said and lightly touched the Necklace again to make the beam of light appear. It shot into the dark waters ahead of them—directly ahead—going down deep. His eyes twinkled with anticipation. “Right on course.”

On a wooden raft drifting in the middle of the ocean…

“How’d you get down there, Rainbow Dash?” Heartless asked as she peered over the side of the driftwood raft she had floated all the way out here.

Her smiling pink face and bright blue eyes were reflected in the water as she tilted her head back and forth, side to side, to make sure she wasn’t feeling things wrong. Nope. Rainbow Dash was definitely down there. It was impossible for her to mistake that warm light of life for anything or anyone else. She was sooooo happy to know they were going to be reunited soon.

“Oh well, here I come!” Heartless shrugged and jumped off the raft, diving into the water and swimming down.

To Rainbow Dash.

Author's Note

It sure has been a while.

Five day break.

Leviathan

“Is it supposed to be this cold in here?” Rainbow Dash asked Ballast as she—and the others—shivered.

“Sorry… I guess it might have been something I overlooked, or underestimated. I figured the heat from the engine, and the electrics, would keep whoever was in here warm. I didn’t think going down this deep into the ocean would still make everything so cold despite all that,” Ballast answered.

“We can’t exactly light a candle either,” Breakwater said, his breath visible.

“P-Promise that this’ll be the first thing I update when we get back to the surface,” Ballast uneasily grinned.

“I just had no idea the deep ocean got as cold as this at all, brr!” Gilbert said.

“Yeah it’s pretty annoying—and most of us are used to cold temperatures even,” Daylight said.

“Seriously,” Rainbow nodded. “Being used to the cold doesn’t mean I have to like it though. After all that time in the True North I’d be a-okay never having to deal with snow again.”

“But aren’t you going to the south pole after the Grand Ocean?” Gilbert raised an eyebrow at her.

Rainbow Dash deflated. “Uhh… yeah. I am. Ugh, thanks for reminding me. I really hope it’s somehow not as bad as the north was.”

“Merponies aren’t made for such cold waters that you’d find south of here,” Senax said. She frowned as she looked out the viewport and tried to also avoid shivering. “It makes me wonder if the waters might warm up when we get closer to Merlantis. Or maybe after all the time spent in East Glade our physiology changed...”

“Could be that Merlantis was built around some underwater volcanic vents,” Daylight shrugged.

“I hope we’re lucky enough that that’s the case,” Senax said. “I really don’t like dealing with the cold either. That short time we spent in the north when we found Gilbert was more than enough.”

“Now I wish we actually had brought a deck of cards with us to take our minds off this,” Breakwater said.

“Ballast could’ve joined us in losing every game to Rainbow Dash,” Gilbert grinned.

It also didn’t help that it was still night and completely dark aside from the light coming from The Breakwater itself. Although they were already far too deep for the light to really reach or do anything anyways even if the sun was out up above. They were just going to have to deal with the cold confines of the submersible until they got to Merlantis—and hope that it was somehow much warmer. Considering the magical nature of the underwater city, none of them were ready to doubt that just yet.

Outside the viewport they only saw the occasional interruption from the endless water and steady stream of bubbles. An underwater rock at one point, the highest tip of a mountain, a small shark that went past the lights once, a school of fish, most might have been avoiding the strange vessel entirely. Rainbow Dash surprisingly found herself not very bored despite the lack of things to do or look at. She was more than excited enough thinking of their eventual arrival at Merlantis.

“So Rainbow Dash, you really win at every card game you play?” Ballast suddenly asked her.

“Every game,” Rainbow corrected.

“Huh, maybe I should join in and try my luck sometime later then. If we did have cards I’m sure I could have Breakwater take the wheel for a minute.”

“Believe me—you’ll get tired of losing pretty quickly,” Daylight told him.

“Stop scaring him away!” Rainbow Dash frowned. “If you guys are going to be chicken I want to at least have somebody else to play cards with.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, but just remember Ballast, we’ve given you fair warning.”

“Don’t play for money,” Gilbert put in.

“Noted,” Ballast smirked.

“Maybe if we can find a game where you guys can all team up against me that’ll be enough to get you to play...” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

“Even if we won you’d just complain about it,” Daylight said.

“Would not!”

“Would so.”

“Well you would double complain if somehow you still lost!”

“No I wouldn’t!”

“You so would!”

“Daylight, Rainbow Dash. Please,” Breakwater interrupted, glaring at the both of them.

“Sorry,” both mares said.

Gilbert though merely twiddled his mustache as the two argued. “Perhaps something like that is what we need right now though to take our minds off the cold?”

“My mind was off the cold until you just brought it up again,” Daylight snorted.

“Mine too,” Rainbow said.

“Oh. Well. Forgive me,” Gilbert bowed his head. “T-The more we talk and get aggravated though the more things will heat up! Figuratively and literally!”

“Uhh, I kind of said this before but you all really are a whole lot sillier than I thought you were. Even you, Breakwater.” Ballast said as he kept slowly steering the ship through the depths.

“I’ve really tried to not let myself get dragged down into their silliness,” Breakwater shook his head.

Senax smiled at him. “You like it.”

“Ughhh...”

“Hey Daylight? You do light magic and stuff so can’t you make a little heat too? Turn that horn of yours into a heat lamp for us,” Rainbow said, pointing to the appendage.

Daylight batted her hoof away. “That’s not how magic and special talents work. I can’t just generate heat from my horn with my light manipulation skills. If you want me to make an illusion of a camp fire, or a sun, I could help you out, otherwise there’s not much I can do right now. Furthermore I should conserve my magic as much as possible. I’m not some sort of limitless battery.”

“I know, I know, I’m just used to working with unicorns—and former unicorns—who can do everything. Sorry,” Rainbow shrugged.

“When you put it like that it sounds like you’re demeaning me,” Daylight frowned.

“I’m not, just saying why I may have a warped view of unicorns and what the average one can do with magic.”

“Daylight is still well above-average when it comes to magical ability,” Breakwater said.

“Sure is,” Senax also comfortingly laid a hoof on her friend’s shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to cheer me up...” Daylight tried to say but there was still the hint of a blush on her cheeks.

Something then caught Ballast’s attention on the controls of his ship and he leaned over to look at the sonar screen. “Hm? That’s weird.”

“What is it?” Breakwater looked over too. “Weird doesn’t exactly sound good when we’re in an experimental tin can thousands of feet deep in the ocean.”

“Something just pinged on the sonar,” Ballast said as he tapped the screen. “Something big ahead of us.”

“So? Couldn’t it just be another underwater mountain?” Daylight asked.

“Uhh… no. Cause it’s moving,” Ballast said, eyes not moving from the sonar screen.

The others crowded around him and Breakwater now and tried to look at the sonar screen as best they could. What they saw was a mostly black screen with the steady beat of a green line as it blossomed out of the bottom middle of the screen. At the top of the screen though, instead of fading away uninterrupted like it had been, it now hit a large oval shaped object that was briefly registered before fading away. Waiting until the next pulse. They were facing the long end of it and from what it looked like on the screen the oval at least wasn’t coming towards them but moving perpendicular, heading to northern waters.

“So Ballast… according to this thingamajig, how big is that thing up ahead?” Rainbow asked.

“Big. Very, very, big. And it’s moving slowly, we might come close to hitting it if we don’t slow down or change course a little,” Ballast said.

“Just keep those lights on and take it slow for now,” Breakwater said. “I can’t imagine what this even is. There can’t be a ship that size, especially one so advanced to be down here in the first place. And it can’t be an animal either unless it’s Mother Ocean herself again. But what are the chances of us actually coming across her again?”

“Perhaps better than we could’ve thought,” Gilbert said.

“And perhaps we don’t need to be so curious at all...” Senax gulped.

The group slowly watched the lights of The Breakwater illuminate the darkness ahead. Waiting as they steadily approached the large “thing” in the ocean depths. Waiting until whatever it was became visible to them. However, because of the short range of the lights and limited view through the glass, it was going to be tough to actually see anything until they were practically right on top of it. Rainbow Dash didn’t like the idea of that—or the idea of maybe missing this giant mystery object completely—so she tapped Daylight Gleam on the shoulder.

“What?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

“I know you said you wanted to try conserving your magic or whatever but do you think you can make a brighter light for us? Or send some ball of light out ahead of The Breakwater to light up more of the ocean?”

“I… suppose so. The actual spell won’t be difficult to perform, maintaining shouldn’t take much extra effort either,” Daylight rubbed her chin as she thought it over.

“Did anyone ever tell you you get this big wrinkle in your forehead whenever you think hard about something?” Rainbow said.

“Did anyone ever tell you how annoying you can be?”

“Yeah. A lot. Quite often from you.”

“Rainbow Dash just let her concentrate,” Senax rolled her eyes.

After a second a glowing white ball was created at the tip of Daylight’s horn. It was so bright directly in front of them that they had to close their eyes until she shot it out past the viewport and into the ocean. It passed through the glass like it didn’t exist and very quickly started to light up more and more of the ocean in front of them. Everyone watched with bated breath, according to the sonar screen the large thing they had come across should be right there and visible any second.

They saw a shadow through the ocean waters. A shape growing larger and more pronounced. Bumpy gigantic, moving slowly from south to north, the light finally reached it completely and everyone couldn’t stop themselves from gasping.

The grey skin of a massive creature the size of a small island was swimming before them. It had the general shape of a shark or whale, but was so much larger and so… wrong.

“I don’t know what that is, but it’s not Mother Ocean,” Breakwater said.

The others who had also briefly seen the mythical whale earlier in their journey had to agree. Spikes and horns dotted the sides and back of this creature, its spine was visible through its back, pushing against its own flesh, while its massive dorsal fine was serrated and torn looking. Most convincing of all that it wasn’t Mother Ocean was the fact its tail fin was vertical and not horizontal. There was also something else, coming from the front of the great beast, drifting in the water from its mouth. Though they couldn’t see its face or eyes, they could see what looked to be large tentacles or other appendages connected to its mouth. A dozen in total, they worked to make the creature even stranger.

Though it had to know they were there thanks to the bright light from Daylight and The Breakwater, it didn’t turn to or acknowledge them in the slightest. They were beneath notice.

“By the ocean itself… I-I can’t believe it but… but I think that’s the Leviathan,” Breakwater said in wonder.

“The what?” Rainbow asked.

“I think I mentioned it to you once a while ago. A legendary creature, more legendary than Mother Ocean who at least comes to the surface sometimes, it’s a tale that’s been passed down in multiple Kingdoms and islands, from seafarer to seafarer. The gigantic Leviathan that swims the ocean depths. Meer considers it some evil counterpart to Mother Ocean—so do a lot of cultures for that matter. I just can’t believe it’s actually real,” Breakwater slowly shook his head, as if he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

“Are we in danger?” Daylight asked.

“I… I really don’t know,” Breakwater answered.

“Doesn’t seem to care about us,” Ballast said. “So long as I don’t accidentally hit it I doubt it’s going to suddenly change its mind and come at us.”

“It doesn’t look… right. Like a normal sea creature, you know?” Rainbow said as she looked at all the random horns and spikes across its body.

“More like some kind of monster,” Gilbert nodded.

Daylight glanced at Senax. “Do you think this ‘Leviathan’ has anything to do with Ponyseidon or Merlantis?”

“I have no idea either. There were no tales about such a creature in my tribe. I hadn’t heard of anything like it until we met Breakwater,” Senax said.

“How did rumors of something like this even spread if it always stays down here?” Rainbow asked.

“Pff, beats me,” Breakwater shrugged. “These are old, old, tales we’re talking about. Older than any of the Kingdoms for that matter. Maybe no one ever actually did see the Leviathan and the idea of it just came from ponies who saw Mother Ocean and other ponies later on twisted the message. I have no clue, my father told me about it first and my grandfather told him and so on.”

“Fair enough...” Rainbow trailed off and returned to look at the great Leviathan.

At the rate they both were going they’d pass by each other fairly quickly. She was still in awe of its size, just like Mother Ocean it would’ve shadowed the entirety of Ponyville just with its tail fin. The strangeness of its body was nagging at her too—there’s no way it was just some bigger version of a shark or whale. But if it was a monster of some freakish amalgamation she was happy that at least it didn’t seem malicious. There wasn’t a whole lot they could’ve done if it was.

Their trip would’ve been over veeerrry quickly.

All of them were silent, their eyes glued on the Leviathan until it safely had gone out of their way. It took several minutes because of its size but eventually it left far enough that even the light from Daylight’s spell no longer reached it. Now it was just a fading shadow to the north.

“I’m not sure I like deep ocean travel so far,” Gilbert said.

“Even I might have to be with you on that...” Senax said.

“Well let’s at least be happy that there definitely shouldn’t be anything else like that down here,” Breakwater said.

“Yeah,” Ballast nodded. “Also it should be morning soon… not like we’ll be able to tell, but still.”

“As long as Daylight still has her light ball up that’s all we need. You can keep it going until we get to Merlantis?” Rainbow asked the unicorn.

“Of course,” Daylight answered.

“Just gotta keep on chugging then,” Rainbow Dash said.

They had all forgotten about the cold.

Ages

“According to the depth gauge we should actually be reaching the ocean floor in just a moment,” Ballast said as he looked at his controls and instruments.

“Cool! So it shouldn’t be much further till Merlantis then?” Rainbow asked.

“Actually there’s still a fair bit of distance to travel,” Senax answered instead. “We’ve gone down all the way, but not over all the way yet. From what the visions tell me… I’d say we’re about halfway there.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “I guess that’s better than nothing.”

“And you were managing your patience so well,” Daylight said.

“The closer we get the more excited I get.”

“Me too,” Senax whispered.

“Look on the bright side, you can enjoy the fact that we’re making history right now. No one has seen this kind of stuff in hundreds of years,” Daylight said. “We’re the first ponies—and griffon—seeing the ocean floor since probably the age of Merlantis itself. That’s special enough to me to take some pride in and celebrate over. Just think how long it’s been since pony eyes have looked upon this.”

She gestured out the viewport for emphasis… even though it was still just showing water and bubbles for the moment.

“Wow, really amazing,” Rainbow sarcastically rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean, we’ll see it soon,” Daylight frowned.

“The old treasure hunter and explorer part of you getting stirred up?” Gilbert asked her.

Daylight shrugged. “Perhaps.”

“You know if you want you could give us another light ball so we can see the bottom of the ocean better?” Breakwater suggested.

“That’d actually just be normally helpful anyways so we can see all the rocks and stuff around us,” Ballast said.

“Easily taken care of,” Daylight said and concentrated for the second time inside the submersible. Her desire to conserve energy until they reached Merlantis was easily curbed by the practical use of her magic. She couldn’t help that she was uniquely qualified for this sort of work.

A second ball of magical light went out from The Breakwater and into the dark depths of the ocean, lighting it up along the way. It sank down with them, occasionally showing off a deep sea fish or other kind of creature, as they both steadily made it down to the sandy and rocky bottom of the Grand Ocean. Somewhere a thinking creature may not have seen or touched in well over a thousand years. Rainbow Dash couldn’t pretend to care about that kind of thing too much but she did have to admit that it would be nice to look at something new.

They passed by a school of giant transparent jellyfish on their way down, then past some kind of large-mouthed fish with huge teeth, then these weird little shelled creatures with tentacles on their fronts. She wasn’t surprised that some weird animals lived down here, and they’d probably see some even weirder ones the further they got. Like the Leviathan there could be some magical beasts too, maybe some that even existed purely because of Merlantis. Rainbow wasn’t exactly frightened by the idea but she couldn’t fight down here either. It didn’t make her happy to know they’d be helpless if they ran into trouble.

It was less than a minute that they started to see the rocks and cliffs of the very bottom of the Grand Ocean. First they saw the tips of the underwater rock formations, then their bodies, and the labyrinth of rock and crags everywhere. It grew and grew until Rainbow Dash felt like she was looking at something like an underwater version of the Bad Lands or how the landscape north of Hoofica had been. Everything looked blue, black, or gray eve with Daylight’s light. There wasn’t a lot of color down here. At least that was the case until they had really descended to the true ocean floor, deeper past the high spires of the rock formations, into trenches, and down to the sand. Rainbow saw something red and white, tubular, shooting up like weeds all over.

“What are those?” Rainbow asked.

“No idea,” Breakwater shrugged. “No one alive has been down here and whatever those are you definitely don’t find them in shallower waters.”

Rainbow kept quiet along with the others as they looked at everything down here. There were gigantic clams latched to rocks, big orange squid that went swimming by, weird crustacean looking creatures walking across the sand, and all kinds of just downright creepy looking fish. Fluttershy would probably say that every animal is beautiful in its own way. Rainbow wasn’t sure she could agree with that. A grin still came to her face as she thought about Twilight trying to categorize every fish and other animal down here. Rarity would probably be grossed out by some of this stuff, Pinkie would be chattering about something inane—or the party she planned to throw when they reached Merlantis, and Applejack would probably be just as apathetic as Rainbow but a little more focused on what they were doing.

“Does it look like a nice place to live?” Gilbert asked Senax.

Senax just rolled her eyes.

The Breakwater then finally made it right where they wanted it to, floating just a few feet from the surface. Now as far as they knew they just had to go straight and eventually they’d reach Merlantis. The lights of both their vessel and Daylight’s helpful orb showed a mostly straight path ahead, they were in a wide valley down here now with only a few smaller piles of rock around them. Instead of just drifting ahead and down on minimal power like before, Ballast now put more into the engines and the propeller sped them forward. Behind them a cloud of sand and debris was kicked up and with it a whole mess of critters went fleeing away for calm safety elsewhere.

“We’re on the way!” Ballast smiled as they went.

“No sharks, no giant squid, no monsters, no underwater volcanic eruptions please,” Daylight said.

“Don’t jinx us,” Breakwater said to her.

“That’s not jinxing us, saying “I know nothing bad will happen” is jinxing us. But I’m not saying that,” Daylight frowned.

“I could,” Gilbert suggested.

“Don’t,” the rest said.

“Well instead does anyone want a snack? Now that it seems things have quieted down and we shouldn’t have anything to do until we reach Merlantis,” Gilbert said.

“I could go for something actually,” Senax said.

“I’ll grab some of the fruit we brought with us then, it’ll be good to get a little energy,” Gilbert tried turning around as best he could but all he really managed was knocking Rainbow Dash against the hull and pressing Daylight forward into Ballast’s chair. “Um... hm. Not exactly a lot of space to move here.”

“Let me get the stuff, I’m smaller,” Rainbow finally said. She backed up and squeezed past Gilbert to get at their supplies. Even for her it wasn’t easy and she spent way too much time rubbing up against her griffon friend for her tastes. She at least did manage to get into the case they had brought into The Breakwater before leaving Palm Floats and started passing out fruit to the others. Even Ballast could eat now with pretty much no trouble thanks to Daylight’s guiding light and the sonar. Smooth “sailing” they could call it.

“By the way, Gilbert-” Rainbow said as she bit chunks out of a pear. “Don’t worry about it if anything bad happens, I promise I’ll blame Daylight this time.”

“Oh, real mature.”

Breakwater cleared his throat before the two of them could begin arguing. “I’ve been wondering—but do you think there might be anything else down here built by Ponyseidon and the ancient merponies besides just Merlantis? Even just things like statues and monuments, or anything that might be a sign that we’re getting closer to Merlantis.”

"I don’t know to be honest,” Senax shook her head.

“Merlantis is already a whole city from the way Senax described it,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yeah but was everything they did down here really concentrated in just one place?” Breakwater mused.

“Maybe that’s just how they liked it. They didn’t want to take the glory away from Merlantis by building a bunch of other stuff in the ocean,” Rainbow shrugged.

“It’s hard for me to get into the mindset of my ancestors and think about what they would’ve done. I kind of don’t want to get into their mindset in the first place,” Senax said. She finished eating the peach she had and let Gilbert take the core away to wrap and put back in their little case.

Senax still felt a little cold as she calmly sat back and looked out the viewport at the dark ocean. Daylight was keeping the light at a much lower power than the one she had previously used for practicality’s sake and it didn’t allow them to see much more than sand and rocks out there. It was so desolate. So quiet. Knowing how dark and cold it naturally was down here she wondered how and why her people stayed here in the past. Wouldn’t a tropical island up above have been better? Hopefully Merlantis itself was special. She could see it perfectly in her visions as if it emitted light itself and there was always a great sense of belonging when she laid eyes on it. But would she truly love it? Would it truly be the place for her people to return to and live happily ever after?

She hoped. She hoped so much. But the things she had learned... the doubts in her mind...

She shook her head. There were more immediate matters to deal with. That stuff could wait for when she was on her way back to East Glade.

“You know I kind of always wondered what the ancient merponies did for food down here for that matter,” Daylight said.

“Seaweed?” Rainbow suggested.

“Fishing?” Gilbert added.

“Maybe with the empire they supposedly had they were able to transport large amounts of food from islands above,” Breakwater said.

Daylight shrugged after thinking about it for a moment. “I guess we can only really speculate about something like that. We’ll have to find out when we get to Merlantis.”

“Now I’m kind of curious about that too...” Senax said.

“You’d be surprised what magic can do. I’ve seen food and stuff grown in the weirdest places and situations,” Rainbow said. She shook her head, eyes looking up at the ceiling of The Breakwater. “There’s probably some kind of crazy underwater farm in Merlantis, or magically generated carrots or something.”

“Senax you also kind of brought this up earlier when we were first coming down but do you think your people had any sort of actual transport to get to and from Merlantis in the old days or did they just swim everywhere on their own? It’s a really long swim from the surface if that’s the case,” Daylight asked.

“Dangerous too with sharks and everything else,” Gilbert said.

Senax sighed. “I really don’t know, you should all know that by now.”

“Sorry. I guess we’re all just too curious to help ourselves right now,” Daylight said.

“Actually I’m kind of the same level of curious as always,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Rainbow Dash, shut up, stop lying,” Daylight frowned at her.

Senax smiled at the two of them and resumed her quiet contemplation only broken up by her attention getting grabbed by the occasional colorful fish outside the viewport. Regardless of other issues at the moment, there was a peacefulness to this deep sea world that hadn’t been trespassed upon in ages. It might have seemed cold and empty to them but it had a life and existence all its own just the same. She figured it would probably be a good idea to become familiar with it. And appreciative.

Unfortunately another errant thought of Gilbert’s was about to drag her mind somewhere else it didn’t really want to be.

“Do you think there are going to be a lot of skeletons down in Merlantis?” Gilbert wondered.

The others turned to look at him.

“Well I was just thinking, we don’t really know how that whole slave revolt went… there could be a lot of merponies and slaves that were left down there when everything ended,” he shrugged.

“Gilbert, that may be true but I really don’t think we need to think about such morbid things,” Daylight said.

“Yeah—if there are a bunch of skeletons down there we’ll just move them out of the way,” Rainbow shrugged.

“I’m kind of regretting coming on this trip now…” Ballast blanched.

“Welcome to my world,” Breakwater smirked.

“If there are any skeletons-” Senax said. “We’ll give them a proper burial. Somehow, someway, but they don’t deserve to be just… lying around the halls of Merlantis or whatever. We’ll treat them with respect. In fact, we should treat everything about Merlantis with respect. Aside from getting the Trident to make sure it can’t fall into the wrong hooves there’s nothing else we need to do or acquire. We’ll just look and leave. I’d like to leave it as we found it if possible.”

“It’s your home you know?” Rainbow Dash said. “No one’s going to be able to, or have any right, to call you out over what you do down here.”

“It’s just a matter of respect. Until we’re really living down there, until we can figure it all out, I don’t want to disturb things.”

“There’s definitely going to be a lot to see and sort through. I don’t know about treasure or art or anything, but there’s no question that Merlantis is going to have a lot of ancient stuff in it. Your people will have their work cut out for them, and you’ll probably have to be careful not to break anything,” Daylight said.

Gilbert coughed. “I’ll um… I’ll be extra careful not to break anything either.”

“We’ll do whatever you ask us to, Senax,” Rainbow Dash said.

“So we’re not looting the ancient underwater city?” Breakwater sarcastically asked.

“Certainly not,” Senax frowned at him, but immediately turned it into a smile. “But if there is treasure down there I wouldn’t mind maybe some day giving you some of it. Consider it a thank you gift.”

“The only one who would’ve really looted anything is Daylight anyways,” Gilbert said, winking.

“Only the old me…” Daylight grumbled.

Senax giggled. “Let’s just stay focused… although I get the feeling when we get there we won’t have the time to be silly anymore.”

“Probably not,” Rainbow nodded.

The Breakwater then continued its way east along the bottom of the ocean. The rocks and sand, never having been disturbed in an eon, shifted from the propeller’s current. Senax closed her eyes for a brief moment and centered her mind on thoughts of Merlantis. It wouldn’t be much longer now.

Merlantis

There was no need for Daylight to keep her light going so she had let it fizzle out some time ago. Instead the group quietly watched the ocean floor slowly unfurl before them purely with the power of The Breakwater’s lights and the help from its sonar. Not like there was anything new to see yet. They had figured that out after about five minutes worth of traveling through these deepest reaches of the ocean. Merlantis was dead ahead but still out of sight and there was no other indication for its existence so far. Just water. The group was starting to get antsy that maybe Senax’s visions weren’t entirely accurate.

“I guess I forgot how big the ocean really was,” Rainbow Dash said as she tilted back and forth on her left and right legs. She had been standing still for too long and really wished there was enough room to spread her wings in here.

“Me too to be honest,” Gilbert said, in much the same position as she was.

“Well remember that the only reason you ended up joining with us was because you learned you couldn’t fly across the whole ocean recklessly with your own two wings? It shouldn’t be that surprising,” Daylight said.

“Still have a lot of flying to do after I’m done here...” Rainbow Dash said, wistfully looking up at the ceiling and imaging the sky high above.

“Considering how much further you’ve traveled so far I would think the flying you have left to do would be a breeze,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Never know what you might found out there. Who knows how long it’ll really take me.”

“I’m sure whatever comes up you’ll get through it without much trouble,” Daylight grinned. “Wouldn’t you like there to be some trouble anyways?”

“I’d like there to be fun. Trouble? Not necessarily,” Rainbow huffed.

Senax listened to their conversation even as she still watched the ocean. The truth was that it made her think some more about how this was hardly the end of her own journey. Just one part of it. Finding Merlantis, making sure it was safe and really ready to be used for her people’s home, finding the Trident and deciding what to do with it, going all the way back to East Glade and somehow getting everyone and everything together to come back here... adjusting to their new life, making friendships with everyone on the ocean, fixing the relationship with the Sarraroccons and the Lizard People. It was almost too much to think about. Her entire life would probably be spent working to fix things and properly settle their people.

She had already chosen to be the one who would do everything she could for her people as their leader. She didn’t want to use the word sacrifice because it sounded to serious and... fatal... to her. But that’s essentially what she chose to do for the good of everyone else. It was worth it. This was her dream too after all, something she had wanted to do ever since she was a child.

The conversation in the submersible continued while she stared at the water. If anyone had asked her a question she hadn’t answered or followed along. Instead she closed her eyes and focused on her visions of Merlantis. It was close, she knew they were so close. She wanted to see it for real so badly it almost hurt. Would it be everything she dreamed? Would it be a disappointment? Would it look like her visions or would it be a dilapidated and decaying mess after the thousands of years since it was lost? She sighed internally, trying to think as positive as possible. Rainbow had certainly tried to force into her the power of positive thinking. It seemed like it did wonders for her.

“Has sonar picked up anything new yet?” Breakwater asked Ballast from right beside her.

“Nope, nothing different yet,” Ballast answered with a shake of his head.

Senax decided to open her eyes and look at the screen. It was the same as always to her, the steady beeping and the green lines. She didn’t know if that or the lights from The Breakwater would be what unveiled Merlantis to them. Either way she was beginning to lose some of her patience, especially with her anxious thoughts.

“Um, let me try to think of a way to pass the time...” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m thinking of a number between 1 and-”

“Wait a second. Hold on there,” Ballast said as he furrowed his brow and looked across his instruments. “I think there might be a cliff ahead of us.” He glanced up and looked out the viewport before double-checking his controls. “Yeah... there’s a drop-off coming up.”

“What does that mean?” Daylight asked.

“It means there’s a change in elevation coming, we’re moving from a higher part of the ocean floor to a lower valley,” Ballast answered. “Gotta remember that the ocean floor is really no different than the landscape up above. It just happens to be underwater.”

“Uh, and what’s that?” Rainbow said as she pointed out the viewport.

Everyone else looked to see what had grabbed her attention—and through the darkness they saw the smallest twinkling light. It was far past where the lights from The Breakwater could reach, almost like a star in the night sky. The six of them were enraptured by the sight as slowly more and more little lights became visible. Past the drop-off in the distance it was like the lights from a city were starting to rise up and illuminate the darkness of the ocean.

Ballast reached forward and turned off the lights of The Breakwater so they could see the natural lights only. Immediately the water around them darkened but the lights in the distance became more pronounced. Instead of just the twinkling it was almost like something huge and glowing was resting just past the cliff and in the valley below. It grew stronger and stronger the closer they came to the cliff, Ballast slowing down to almost a crawl.

Senax gulped expectantly and Breakwater put a reassuring hoof over her shoulders.

“I think we’re about to find what we’ve been looking for,” Daylight said.

“Going by those lights we should have a pretty good view of it from up here too,” Rainbow said.

From there they were silent, all of them expectantly leaning in and waiting for what was in the valley past and below the cliff to reveal itself. Finally with the light growing stronger they reached the edge of the cliff and were able to see what existed beyond. At first, pearl white towers and the tops of large domes of the same impeccably clean color appeared. Senax felt herself freeze up when saw it and the others were barely able to move or blink either. More and more quickly became visible, smaller domes and towers, large circular buildings connected by pearly white stone hallways, safely enclosed to keep water out. Gigantic glass windows, some stained and some reinforced by golden metal rings peppered the buildings and domes. It all sprawled out on a totally flat valley, wide and expansive, with no sand on the ground but instead a smooth marble floor that must’ve covered at least a hundred square miles. The light that illuminated it all seemed to be coming from inside the buildings themselves, through the glass windows, but also almost like the pearl stone that made the buildings softly glowed as well. Everything was interconnected by the same long enclosed paths, there was almost no outward architecture, carvings, or statues of note on the domes or the marble grounds of the great underwater city. In the center of the city was the largest dome of all, with towers also branching out from its base at every hour position and a large glass window at its apex. There was no decay. Nothing was broken. It was as pristine and perfect as Canterlot. It was even grander than Senax’s own visions had shown her.

“Home...” she whispered.

“Well uh, what do we do now?” Ballast asked.

“Senax?” Daylight glanced over at her. “Can you tell where the Trident is?”

“Yes,” Senax nodded as she stared upon the city. Mesmerized.

“Um... where is it?” Daylight asked.

Senax reached up and pointed at the largest dome.

“Ohhh, big surprise,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “The incredible treasure of incredible power is inside the biggest building right in the center of the giant underwater city. Wow. Totally didn’t see that coming.”

“Well yes, I certainly can’t say that’s surprising either,” Daylight frowned.

“But how do we actually get there?” Breakwater said. “I’m looking and I don’t see any way inside the domes. Or any of the other buildings for that matter.”

“There has to be someway to get inside...” Gilbert said.

The six of them all crowded the viewport as The Breakwater was now slowly making its way down the cliff and into the valley that contained Merlantis. A few hundred feet and they’d be at the marble ground, level with the smaller domes and buildings on the “outskirts” of the city. They were looking for any sort of berth or open tunnel that looked like ships could enter or merponies could swim into. There had to be something. Rainbow Dash and Gilbert had the sharpest eyes and the two of them were scanning the nearest domes, their eyes narrowed and squinting.

A sharp whistle came from Rainbow Dash and she pointed at a dome at the far edge of this side of the city, pretty much in the middle of the marble floor and facing directly west. Along the bottom edge of it on the same western side was an overhanging archway, under which looked to be several circular openings in the pearly white stone.

“That looks like a way in to me,” Rainbow said.

“Better than anything else we’ve seen,” Daylight shrugged.

“Take us over to those holes, Ballast,” Breakwater said.

“We’re on the way,” Ballast nodded and sped up the travel of their submersible. They were essentially in the city already and it didn’t take long to zoom over the marble grounds to this first dome.

The whole while Senax watched silently, taking it all in. There was nothing for her to say yet anyways. She had no words. But inside her she felt something tugging, pulling her towards the middle of Merlantis. It had to be the connection between the magic of the Necklace still imprinted on her and the Trident of Ponyseidon itself. It was almost like she could see that line of golden light that still led right to the Trident.

The Breakwater made it to the bottom of the dome where the marble floor met the large building, now facing the holes directly under the overhang. Thankfully they were all more than big enough for The Breakwater to fit inside and light seemed to be pouring out from inside them. There was definitely a room further in and not just a dead end, but whether it would be a place with air or dry land wasn’t certain. None of them liked the idea of having to navigate The Breakwater through these buildings—there was no way they were designed to allow something like that. But if they were all filled with water for only merponies to get around in... that could really put a hamper on their ability to get anywhere.

Instead though as soon as they actually entered the dome they were faced with a wall in front of them and a light from above. Ballast checked his instruments and told them that it seemed like there was a pocket of air directly overhead. He let his vessel float up and up about thirty feet until it broke the surface. Bubbles and water cascaded over the viewport as the top half of the submersible bobbed out of the water, floating in the receiving pool inside the dome. Through the viewport they could now see that the pool ended just right in front of the submersible, a stone floor taking up the second half of the room. There were ramps and steps leading down directly into the water from the edge of the floor while above them the ceiling was painted white while a glowing crystal orb sat in the center—responsible for the light in here. At the back wall of the room was an arched entry leading into a hallway.

“It’s like a beaver’s lodge,” Daylight said. “Sort of at least. Technically I believe the water should still be flowing in since the entire thing is below water. There must be some sort of magic to it.”

“Is um... is there actual air to breath in here? Are we safe going out there?” Breakwater asked.

“There’s probably only one way to find out,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked up at their vessel’s hatch. She then glanced over to Senax. “Do you want to do the honors? Seems like it’s only right that you’re the first one to set hoof on the ground in here.”

“Y-Yes,” Senax nodded.

Rainbow Dash and Gilbert moved so that Senax could get out of her seat and be the one to climb out of the submersible first. They were all hoping that the air was breathable inside Merlantis. Senax put her hoof on the handle, before twisting it to open the hatch she looked down at everyone else and shrugged.

“Moment of truth.”

With a hiss of air and the clunk of shifting metal, she popped the hatch and pushed it open. Immediately the warmth from the pool room rushed into them along with a very brief feeling of pressure before their ears popped. Whatever pressure difference there was, or if it was some kind of stabilizing magic field, it already safely washed over them. After a second they all took a deep breath or two and didn’t have any problems.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Alright, things are going good, better than good!”

Senax managed to smile as she pulled herself out of The Breakwater and stood on top of it while the others then came out with her after Ballast made sure it wouldn’t sink or drift away. Together the six of them stood there, looking around at the room, though there wasn’t much to see inside what was clearly just a simple entrance to the city. No writing, map, art, sculptures, or anything else. Perhaps that kind of stuff was kept for other areas, like where merponies lived and worked or used for leisure. There had to be some kind of museum or “park”, Rainbow assumed. Some sort of great hall where one could look at the glory of Merlantis. Having a city like this in the first place, with magical treasures, it screamed a civilization that would create all sorts of art and monuments to itself.

“I guess then... I guess I should take my first step,” Senax said and walked off The Breakwater, letting herself gently down into the water before paddling her tail over to the edge of the pool. She pulled herself up onto the stone as the water cascaded off her scales and stood there. Stood inside Merlantis. It didn’t feel real. It was so simple, done so quickly and with such little fanfare, but here she was.

Rainbow Dash then grabbed Daylight and Gilbert picked up Breakwater and Ballast, the both of them flying over to drop down beside Senax. All of them stood there with her, silent. The entire party all together inside Merlantis.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she strode out in front of Senax and gestured to the open hallway that led further into the dome. “Welcome to Merlantis, population: Us.”

Author's Note

To keep from catching up to myself, chapters will be released every other day for a short while.

Exploration

“I suppose we just go straight then?” Breakwater asked. “We wouldn’t want to get lost in a place this big and that dome at the center of the city seems to be where we need to go.”

Daylight nodded. “Yeah, we’re going to want to take as few turns as possible. If we can find it we need to get into the long enclosed pathway that leads from this dome to the next large building. Then the next one and so forth until we’ve made it to the central dome.”

“Long way for you guys to walk, guess it’s going to take us a while,” Rainbow Dash said as she was already floating over their heads and preparing to go down the nearby hallway.

“Yeah,” Daylight flatly looked up at her.

Gilbert meanwhile looked over at Senax, who had still been rather quiet as she took everything in. “Are you alright, Senax?”

She nodded. “Mm. I’m alright... just, a little overwhelmed at the moment. Being here is a lot to take in. I feel... shocked in a way. I just don’t know how I should be feeling. Should I be ecstatic? Hopping around in joy? Crying? Mournful and appreciative? Quiet and somber after learning all I have about Ponyseidon and my ancestors? I just... it’s a lot...”

“Take all the time you need. We’re here for you after all,” Gilbert smiled.

“Thank you,” Senax managed to smile back.

“Rainbow Dash is right though, we have a long way to walk sooo...” Daylight’s unspoken prompt to “hurry up” was left hanging in the air.

“Are we in that much of a hurry though?” Gilbert asked. “Now that we’re actually here I thought we could take our time.”

“I just don’t see any reason to lollygag when we have important things to do. And there’s no telling how much trouble your brother could be getting up to in the meantime,” Daylight said.

“True...”

“I’m ready to go now anyways, it’s alright,” Senax said and stepped over to join the others. “I can feel the Trident, it’s going to take us a few hours to get to it. And that’s if we actually have a straight path to it. There’s no telling if doors might be locked or our path blocked along the way, or how big and complex that central dome is. We might have to do a lot of looking around before we can actually get to whatever room the Trident is held in.”

“Then it’s time for a move on,” Rainbow Dash grinned and went to go speeding into the hallway-

“Um, actually...” Ballast said from behind them all. “I was thinking it’s better if I stay here with the ship.”

The others looked back at him, surprised.

“How come?” Breakwater asked.

“Well we just probably should leave someone here to make sure The Breakwater’s safe and nothing happens to it. It is our only way back to the surface after all,” Ballast shrugged. “And that someone should definitely be me, it being my ship and me being the only one who really knows its ins and outs and how to pilot it.”

“That’s a good point but... you’re going to miss out on really seeing Merlantis, discovering the Trident, everything else,” Daylight said. “Are you okay with that?”

Ballast gave her a bashful smile and held up his hooves. “Believe me, I’m fine with that.”

“I suppose you’ve gotten enough taste of what adventuring with us is really like,” Breakwater snorted.

Ballast coughed and looked away.

“I’m a little worried about us splitting up still but I guess this is probably the best way to do things. We definitely wouldn’t want something to happen to the ship,” Daylight rubbed her chin in thought.

“You want us to get you a souvenir?” Rainbow Dash asked, immediately getting a frown from Senax.

“That’s alright,” Ballast chuckled. “You all just do your thing.”

“Just be careful here on your own,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, watch out for anything suspicious,” Breakwater said.

“I’ll be here, ready to go whenever you’re done with what you’ve gotta do,” Ballast said and gave a small salute to the rest of them.

Rainbow Dash saluted him back before cracking her neck and turning back to the hallway. “Guess we better get right back on schedule.” She started flying out of the pool room, slowly though so she didn’t really leave the others behind.

“Have fun here,” Breakwater nodded to Ballast as he and the others started to follow the impatient pegasus.

“Good luck,” Ballast said back.

With that, the party separated and the five usual suspects traveled further into Merlantis in search of the Trident. As soon as they passed the threshold leading from the large pool room and into the hallway, the ones walking noticed a change underneath their hooves and claws. A far smoother sensation, with a polished appearance to it, seemed to be the flooring that would be used for the rest of this dome.

Daylight peered down at the floor and tapped it experimentally. “Quartz I believe. The stone floor right next to the pool was cement.”

“It’s very smooth,” Senax said as she let a hoof glide right across it.

“Seems like your ancestors were good at sculpting, this is all very well made,” Breakwater said as he looked up and down the walls.

“And what are these lights?” Rainbow said as she flew up to the ceiling. Every few feet was a shining orb half stuck in the ceiling, smaller versions of what illuminated the entire pool room. She held her hoof up to one and felt a steady heat coming from it. “It’s hot, kind of don’t want to tap it or anything. I wonder if they’ve always been on or if they turned on when Senax got the Necklace back from the matriarch.”

“Who knows?” Daylight shrugged. “Either way there doesn’t seem to be anything else right here, let’s keep walking.”

It was mostly just a normal hallway, going east towards the center of the city. The quartz that made up the floor, walls, and ceiling were perfectly white. Unnaturally so even. Every now and then they reached a crossroads where the hallway would branch off to their right and left—leading elsewhere into this first dome. Though the desire to explore was high, and the curiosity inside Senax especially high as well, they still kept on the straight and narrow path towards the Trident. Unless they really needed to they weren’t going to budge from that path. Hopefully at some point in the future Senax would be able to really see what else was inside this dome. And whatever other buildings they passed through.

The hallway itself was quite long, they had already traveled at least a few hundred feet before they saw anything new. All the while they were silent with each other out of respect for Senax. They wanted her to be able to look at and think about whatever she wanted without interruption. That was how it was until the hallway actually “ended” at a round room with a pair of heavy doors blocking the way. There was no visible lock on the door, the long golden handles were unchained, but still the group stopped for the moment before they progressed beyond it.

“Just going by my own judgment... but I think beyond here we’d be leaving the dome and entering the walkway that connects us to the next building,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Rainbow nodded.

“Are we hoping that the air and everything will be just as good on the other side of this door?” Breakwater said.

“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be,” Daylight shrugged.

Gilbert looked over at Senax and raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to do the honors and open up this door as well?”

“Yes, I’d like to see what’s coming next,” Senax nodded.

As the others watched she stepped forward and grasped the golden handles of the doors, pulling them both open at once. A new air current rushed in, buffeting them all and ruffling their manes and tails. When the currents stabilized they were able to look into the new hallway they now had to travel down. Immediately beyond the door was another round room identical in design to the one they were standing in aside from the fact that for the first time they now had some art to look at.

To the right and left of the doors were twin statues of armored merponies standing on pedestals and holding tridents. They seemed to be expertly carved from one solid chunk of marble each as there was no noticeable seam anywhere. And over their head was a painted mural of ocean waves centered around another glowing orb light. The statues and painting were together the first thing they had really seen from Merlantis that wasn’t just simple and practical architecture. Something that didn’t have “use” but was merely there as an indication of their culture.

After checking out those statues and the painting when they all walked through the door they were then able to look down the new hallway they’d have to walk through for however long.

It was different in one very peculiar and unique way.

While the floor and ceiling were the same quartz, and the same glowing orbs were shining light as far as they could see, the walls were replaced by floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Rainbow Dash floated towards the mirrors and looked into them, almost instantly becoming disoriented because of the reflection in the mirror behind her. She frowned and dropped down to the ground, tapping the glass of the mirror, which didn’t even smudge. Despite how long without any care or attention they had to be down here they weren’t dusty in the slightest.

“A hall of mirrors is it?” Gilbert said as he also walked forward and looked into the glass.

“Guess so. Don’t know why anyone would do this, it’s just weird looking,” Rainbow said.

“Maybe the ancient merponies really liked mirrors,” Daylight shrugged.

“What do you think about mirrors?” Rainbow asked Senax.

“Mirrors are fine...” Senax mumbled as she walked beside her, looking at her reflection and going from panel to panel of glass.

“It is kind of creepy though,” Breakwater said.

“Let me show you around the Crystal Empire one day then,” Rainbow chuckled.

“Still though... the statues, the painting, and these mirrors... I feel like we’re really in Merlantis now. Not just some building for going in and out of the city. It makes me happy to know there are things like this here, and I’m sure we’re going to see even more,” Senax said.

Daylight nodded. “Agreed. Whatever may have happened here in the past, it’s nice to see stuff like this. This kind of thing tells me that a lot of happy merponies used to live here.”

Senax stared into the mirror she was standing in front of for a moment longer before finally tearing her eyes away. “We should keep walking. It’s interesting but the Trident is still far away.”

“Right-o,” Gilbert said with a smile and resumed walking down the mirror-covered hallway.

Breakwater, Daylight, and Senax followed after him, all of them walking together while Rainbow Dash briefly looked into the mirror next to her before following along. She lazily dragged a hoof across the mirror’s surface before flexing her wings and getting ready to fly in the hallway again. It wasn’t a high ceiling or anything but she was grateful there was still more than enough room for her.

This place will be your grave.

Rainbow Dash paused in the middle of what she was doing and frowned. Narrowing her eyes, she looked back into the mirror and saw a shadow behind her own. It shouldn’t exist, and she should be able to see whatever was making the shadow thanks to the mirrors on both sides of her body, and yet she couldn’t. And unsurprisingly, when she looked away from the mirror and glanced behind herself she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

I warned you enough times. Now you and all of your friends are going to die a pathetic death down here. Enjoy the last day of your life, Rainbow Dash.

She didn’t respond to the voice. Didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. When she looked back into the mirror the shadow was gone.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Her head turned to see everyone standing ahead, looking back at her in concern.

“Is something wrong?” Daylight asked.

“No, nothing. Just got kind of dizzy looking into the mirrors too long,” Rainbow said, shaking her head. She opened her wings and smiled, flying up and over their heads to lead the way again. “Let’s go!”

Now in front of them and where they could no longer see her face, her smile vanished, replaced by a hard-set frown and furrowed eyebrows. There might be a certain promise she made in the past that she was about to have to follow through on. She hoped nothing serious would happen, for the sake of her friends, but now she was prepared.

Overwhelming

Several hundred yards worth of mirror-covered hallway later, the group walked into another one of Merlantis’s many underwater buildings. Without any windows to the outside they couldn’t really tell what this one looked like or if perhaps it was just another dome, but the long path still opened up into a much larger room that led to many other rooms and passages. There were stairs going up to four additional levels, all with their own walkways and balconies, and at least one hallway going each cardinal direction. Not to mention what grabbed their attention most of all—a large golden fountain in the middle of the room where water still poured freely from. The tiles of the floor radiated out from the fountain in perfect concentric circles. Not a single one showing even a crack.

“It looks like a sort of hub, a place to meetup at and travel wherever you needed to go in the rest of the building,” Daylight said. “Which makes sense considering what hallway it’s directly attached to.”

“I’m just surprised the fountain still works,” Gilbert said.

“Yeah... Merlantis appears to be perfectly functioning. There just aren’t any merponies here,” Daylight frowned at the fountain.

“It has to do with the Trident. I’m almost certain of it,” Senax said.

“Hey, there are more paintings and stuff here on the other levels!” Rainbow Dash said, she had flown up to look around and found that the walls of every floor were covered in a variety of great murals. Instead of the mere ocean waves of the last painting they had seen, these showed islands, storms, proud merponies standing tall on sea rocks or swimming in the ocean, coral reefs, fish and whales, in every possible color one could use to paint. Rainbow didn’t really know many art terms or what different styles there were, but she could tell these were all pretty realistic and true to life paintings. Not heavily stylized or exaggerated.

“Gilbert? Can you take me up to look at them for just a moment?” Senax asked the griffon.

“But of course!” Gilbert said and let her climb onto his back before flying up to join Rainbow Dash.

“I suppose another minute or two here isn’t a problem...” Daylight sighed from the ground floor.

“Better just let it happen,” Breakwater patted her back. “It’s no big deal. Besides, faster than her walking up the stairs herself.”

Senax, Gilbert, and Rainbow Dash flew from floor to floor and around the room to check out all of the paintings. While Gilbert and Rainbow could certainly appreciate the art, to Senax it was becoming close to an emotional and spiritual experience. A part of her people’s long lost history and their very culture was being bared right in front of her. This was what her people did. This is what they created. Those thoughts were going through her head and heart as she silently viewed the paintings. She had to close her eyes for a moment and catch her breath, suddenly aware of how much her heart had been beating and how much it was truly affecting her.

“Uh, Senax?” Rainbow Dash said from beside her.

“Huh? What?” Senax jolted up, not expecting the sudden words from her friend. A slightly awkward look was on the pegasus’s face.

Rainbow Dash pointed at her face. “You’re crying a little bit.”

Senax lifted her hooves to her face and found that Rainbow Dash was right. Small tears had gathered at her eyes and were beginning to trail down her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t even realize, it’s just... I don’t know what just came over me!”

“You don’t need to apologize, you know?” Rainbow said, grinning and reaching out a comforting hoof to her friend. “We get how this is for you.”

“What she said,” Gilbert nodded.

“Thanks... um, I think we should go back down now though. We should get back to walking,” Senax said.

“Whatever this building is it looks like there’s going to be a lot more to get through before we hit another one of those long hallways. Bet there’s going to be even more art and stuff the further we go,” Rainbow Dash said. “Geez, Twilight would be so super jealous right now.”

The three of them dropped back to the floor to join up with Daylight and Breakwater, they had seen everything they needed in this room, Senax had seen everything she needed to, and now they could move on. A small smile was all Senax needed to show Daylight and Breakwater that she was feeling okay. The two were not entirely sure about how their merpony friend was actually doing on the inside, but they trusted her. From there they resumed their walk straight on into the next room, going down the central hallway that led east. It was their best bet for being the right way to go.

“Do you think we’ll find where merponies used to live at some point? I mean like actual homes or places for sleeping,” Rainbow Dash wondered as they walked down the white hallway.

“I actually doubt that,” Daylight said. “The reason being that on a straight path like this to the Trident it would be strange if we actually passed through a residential area. It just seems like housing would get in the way, or merponies wouldn’t want to live right next to what’s clearly a main thoroughfare for the entire city. I imagine houses or whatever Senax’s people used to use is in an entirely different area, probably down one of the many branching paths in these buildings.”

"Cities back in Equestria kind of had their housing all over... but yeah, this place is a little different,” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s more... planned,” Gilbert said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded.

Breakwater then pointed ahead of them. “Looks like this hallway is a lot shorter than the last one.”

They followed his hoof to see that they were already close to emerging into a new room, just as brightly lit as the rest of Merlantis had been so far. With the Trident still in that direction the group walked on until they passed the threshold and emerged into the new room. For a moment they all just stood there and looked up—they suddenly had a lot more to take in.

It was a bigger room than the previous one by an order of magnitude, higher and wider, with the middle of the ceiling being a circular glass dome that allowed you to see the ocean above it. The great chamber was almost entirely taken up by one thing, leaving only a ring of walkable floor on the outside of it. Rocks were piled up, whether natural or artificial Rainbow Dash couldn’t tell, inside of a large pool of water. Streams of water also cascaded down from the top of the rocks and into the pool like it was another sort of fountain. But it was what stood on the rocks that really drew their eyes. A gargantuan statue of a merpony, with just as gargantuan of a golden trident held over his head, and a golden necklace worn around his neck while a golden horn rested on his back. Three treasures very familiar to them all.

“Is this him? Ponyseidon?” Rainbow Dash asked. The statue itself had almost no distinguishing features other than the body shape being distinctly male compared to Senax’s much more lithe form. But the face, the eyes, the mouth, there were no details carved in whatsoever.

“I think it must be...” Senax said as she looked up at it.

“No descriptions of him or anything passed down by your people?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“None,” Senax shook her head.

“Well—I’m just going to assume he wasn’t actually this big,” Rainbow joked.

“Pff,” Senax couldn’t help the brief giggle. Rainbow Dash always knew how to lighten the mood.

“I wonder if there are a lot of statues like this down here?” Daylight wondered as she walked closer. “This is the largest room, and largest statue, we’ve seen in Merlantis so far. I wonder if it’s special or just… normal.”

“I say, what’s that?” Gilbert said and pointed to something in front of the statue and the rocks it stood on, in an indent between the walkway and the watery base.

In that small space there was some sort of raised stone altar. Plain, but it stood out all the same because of where it was positioned. The top of the altar stood just a few feet off the floor, and it was rectangular in shape except for having the edges ground down to technically make it an octagon. Just a very elongated one. It was probably seven or eight feet in length, around it the floor was also curved ever so slightly downward in the direction of the water and statue of Ponyseidon.

As the others walked up and inspected it, Breakwater scratched his head. “I uh, think that’s just a table, Gilbert.”

“But why here? Why the only one? It’s so out of place,” the griffon said as he looked the altar up and down.

“Who knows?” Daylight shrugged. “Far be it for us to know why the ancient merponies did things.”

“I haven’t got a clue either,” Senax said as she shook her head.

Rainbow Dash though—the more she looked at it, the more a cold pit formed in her stomach and an unsettling feeling crept through her body. She didn’t know what it was either but her instincts were telling her it was something bad. Something wrong. Her hooves shivered as she dropped to the floor and tried to hide her discomfort from her friends. “Let’s uh—let’s go to the next room. I don’t think there’s anything else to see here.”

Daylight nodded, still looking at the altar and not noticing Rainbow Dash’s pale face. “Yeah, you’re right, we should go.”

“Gotten enough of the statue?” Breakwater asked Senax.

“Yes, we can move on,” she said.

Together the group walked around the statue to the opposite side of the large chamber, Rainbow Dash occasionally glancing up at the statue as she ground her teeth. As expected there was a set of doors probably leading to a new hallway, or at least a new room, for them to go through. Senax of course went to open them again while everyone stood with her. But Rainbow still couldn’t shake her uneasy feeling. She bit her lip to keep anyone from seeing.

When Senax opened the doors there was no extra breeze this time as it seemed the air currents had settled in Merlantis. Instead, they were greeted with a hallway much darker than what they had been through before. It wasn’t because of the lighting, there were still the same glowing orbs ensconced everywhere in the ceiling, and the floor was the same impeccable white as well. The reason things before them suddenly looked much darker was because the walls of the hallway were covered in paintings of a much darker color than any seen before in Merlantis. It was puzzling at first. The paintings of the ocean and all the various sea creatures had been so vibrant and lively. What was different about these now?

Rainbow Dash frowned as she stepped forward into the hallway and looked upon them directly. Black was the color of choice for these paintings, giving them a disconcerting feeling after so much color and white everywhere else. The others walked in and came to look at the paintings as well, scowling and curious. Their faces all quickly grew even more displeased.

“What is this?” Daylight asked, unable to fully keep the worry and distaste out of her voice.

What they were looking at, what each and every painting put together showed, was a series of ponies, griffons, and other creatures being led along the dark ground and under black skies. While being watched over by merponies standing above them with black tridents in their hooves. The paraded creatures had their heads hung low, collars around their necks and chains around their limbs. At the bottom of the paintings was a sea of red so dark that Rainbow and the others had thought it was black first as well.

The further they walked, the more the collective paintings evolved. Some creatures were taken off into other lines or to other places, but most kept being led forward and the red sea at the bottom grew bigger. Rainbow Dash felt an innate revulsion in her soul as they reached the end of the hallway and saw the final sequence of the paintings. She didn’t want to look, feeling as if she knew what she would see already.

The chained creatures were being led by their merpony captors to a great statue just like the one they had seen in the previous chamber. But not directly too it. Instead one by one they were led to the altar right under it. Placed on it.

Rainbow Dash blinked. She shut her eyes and turned away from the paintings, sadly looking over at Senax.

“Senax… I’m sorry but… I think something horrible happened here. I think a lot of horrible things happened here.”

The merpony herself was staring at the paintings until she finally managed to tear herself away from them as well, unable to look any longer. She blankly stared ahead down the hallway. “Yes. I think you’re right, Rainbow Dash. I wish it wasn’t true but…”

“I…” Daylight gulped and tried to push the others along. “I think we should keep moving.”

“At the very least I don’t want to be in this hallway anymore,” Gilbert said.

“Me neither,” Breakwater grimaced as he walked past the last paintings.

Rainbow put a hoof on Senax’s back and tried to guide her out too. “Come on, let’s just go.”

“Yeah…” Senax glanced one last time at the paintings before letting Rainbow Dash usher her out. It was just one more thing she had to think about in the future.

Booby-Trapped

“I think we’re about to enter the central dome.”

“What was your first clue?”

Daylight glared at Rainbow Dash but had to admit that what she stated was pretty obvious. After traveling through more of the city they emerged into a large atrium where the walls and ceilings were all glass, held up by a frame of golden metal. Outside they could see the endless waters of the ocean and more of Merlantis all around them while directly ahead was one of the large towers that shot up from the base of the central dome. There was nowhere else they could be going.

And thankfully they hadn’t seen anymore disturbing paintings or anything else on the way here.

“How much further is the Trident?” Breakwater asked Senax—cutting off Rainbow and Daylight before they could get into another argument.

“I don’t know for sure but it’s definitely inside there,” Senax said, looking up and up at the towers and the dome itself.

“That’s still quite a lot of space to search...” Gilbert said.

“Well we know the direction to go in so that’s going to help,” Senax said.

“Is the Trident up or is it on the ground floor?” Daylight asked.

Senax closed her eyes and concentrated briefly, vaguely feeling out for the Trident with the connection she had to it. After a second she opened her eyes and frowned. “It’s up… but not at the top. It’s somewhere else on the higher levels.”

“I would’ve figured it was at the very top,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Me too,” Gilbert nodded.

“Maybe they wanted to put it somewhere less conspicuous,” Breakwater said. “We won’t know for sure until we actually find it.”

“Well we aren’t getting any closer by just standing around out here. Let’s go,” Daylight said and walked to the tower, ushering the others to follow her.

Again they had to open up another garishly large door to get inside the tower and then the dome itself. Immediately inside the tower they could look up and see almost all the way to the top as a large staircase on either side of it led up dozens of floors. That wasn’t where they planned on going though. Instead, ahead of them was another atrium with doors and hallways going to the north and south, running along the outer perimeter of the dome. And to the east was an extravagant series of marble steps. No mere staircase or stoop, it was like the entrance to a palace with how wide and high up the steps went. Hundreds of ponies could go up or down it at a time. And with the golden archway at the top of it they knew it had to lead into the heart of the central dome of Merlantis.

“Hopefully no more big doors for a little while,” Rainbow Dash said.

“My legs are getting a little tired of pulling them open...” Senax agreed.

“Well I’m going to head up those steps the fast way-” Rainbow said and flexed her wings for emphasis. “Gilbert—you can come and join me if you feel like it.”

“Very well, I’ve been walking enough,” Gilbert said and joined her on the quick trip up the steps while waiting for the others.

“Oh yeah, meanwhile we’ll just walk up the gigantic steps,” Daylight rolled her eyes.

From by the archway at the top, Rainbow Dash looked around at the next level of the dome and then back to her friends. “If you want to hurry up a little bit, you guys are going to want to see this.”

“Indeed,” Gilbert nodded.

“Something special up there?” Daylight asked.

“You’ll see,” Rainbow said.

When the rest of them finally made it up the steps and joined Rainbow and Gilbert at the archway, they saw what she had been talking about. The archway led into a gigantic galleria several stories high that gently curved in both directions until they couldn’t see where it ended. It was possible that it curved around the entire dome and made a full circuit. Along the floor was an even amount of statues and fountains built at regular intervals, stairs and ramps led up to other floors and hundreds of doors that were visible across both sides of the dome now. Surprisingly there were hanging plants of a viny and green type on a lot of the higher floors as well. There were plenty of walkways going from one side to the other so you had easy access to wherever you wanted to go whichever floor you were on. Down at the ground floor were plenty of doors and halls too, so much that they had no idea where to go next.

“Well this is just great, now where do we go?” Daylight frowned. “And are those really plants up there?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “They’re fake, I can tell from here. They’re just decorations or whatever.”

Breakwater scratched his head. “Daylight’s right though, there’s not just a straight path we can take anymore. This place is becoming a maze.”

“Got any suggestions, Senax?” Gilbert asked her.

“Umm...” Senax looked at the imposing wall of floors and doors in front of them. “Well we need to go up at least… and… I think to the left a little bit. It’s not like I can see through walls to make sure we won’t have to backtrack but that’s still the general direction we need to go in.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow shrugged and started lazily flying ahead, not going too fast so the others could keep up with her.

When they went up the very first level, curiosity got the better of Rainbow Dash and she opened the first door they came across. Only to find an empty room about the size of a small house. Strangely though, despite how abandoned it and the rest of Merlantis clearly was, there wasn’t a speck of dust. It was like dust simply didn’t exist in Merlantis. Just one more additional weird thing that was probably magical about it. They silently walked up several more floors, continuing their way left around the dome. Clockwise technically. North technically. Not that descriptions like that particularly mattered right now with Senax steering them on.

“There must be a break at some point. Some change in the structure and some new path that leads further into the dome,” Daylight said as they walked. “There’s no way there’s only one way into this place and it doesn’t lead anywhere else.”

“It’s very big though, we might be walking for a while again,” Gilbert said.

Daylight sighed and looked over at Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash? Would you mind flying out ahead a bit and seeing if you find anything?”

“Mind? I think I’d prefer it,” Rainbow grinned at her and took off once more.

She probably could’ve made a full revolution around the entire dome (if this place actually went the whole way around) before the others could blink if she wanted. Instead she kept a simple pace while looking out for anything different. She found it when she reached around what would’ve been about the 10 o’clock position of the dome. From floor to ceiling at each individual floor there was a short hallway that led to a golden door. It might’ve just been another door to nowhere, but it was certainly something different looking so Rainbow was willing to call it a successful flight. Quickly she made her way back to the others.

“Yo! Found some doors that might take us deeper inside this place,” Rainbow Dash told them.

“What floor are they on?” Daylight asked.

“Every floor, they all look the same so I bet they go to the same place or same kind of place.”

Daylight looked to Senax. “Which floor should we go to?”

“The top floor, if they’re all the same. That’ll take us closest to where the Trident is,” Senax said.

“More walking then? I was hoping we wouldn’t have to go up anymore stairs,” Breakwater said.

“I could carry you,” Rainbow Dash smirked.

“No thanks, that’s just embarrassing in a situation like this,” Breakwater rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep my whining to myself.”

First the group had to travel upwards to the top floor of the great gallery but then it was really just a straight shot onward to the golden door Rainbow Dash had seen. The whole time they walked, Senax concentrated as best she could to feel out if they were getting closer or farther from the Trident. At best she still only had a vague idea of its location. She was certain though that if they were able to turn into the deeper reaches of the dome again that they’d be on the right path. After a few minutes they reached the spot where there was a break in the seemingly endless wall of doors. A marble finish highlighted the floor, walls, and ceiling, with a thin golden threshold going around the perimeter. Together they looked down the new hallway at one of the golden doors she had seen. It held the promise of allowing them further into the dome and that was all they needed right now.

This time Daylight decided to open the doors with her magic and they all entered the new room. On the interior was two decorative suits of armor on stands flanking the door—different from the plain statues they had been seeing. The armor was blue and back, shiny, and more ornamental looking than practical, with numerous fins and greaves studding it. They stepped past the armor after a curious look or two and really looked around the circular room they were now inside.

It was just a connecting room so there wasn’t much actually inside this small space besides the armor, it just led to a few different places. To their right was a stair well going down, likely connected to similar rooms below. The fact that the stairs ended here made them think it was only for all the rooms that went up in this spot. To their left was a small empty doorway that led to another room, where the sound of rushing water was coming from. And directly ahead was another hallway leading to yet another golden door that was flanked by two more suits of armor.

“Alright, where to?” Rainbow Dash asked Senax.

“Well we need to go ahead but… what’s that sound?” Senax said as she started walking over to the left.

“It sounds like running water,” Daylight said.

“Yes, but it’s not a fountain, it sounds far too fast,” Senax said.

The others followed her over to the other room and walked into it, where they found possibly the strangest thing they had seen so far. They didn’t really know what to make of it. In the middle of another small room was a circular railing, about chest height for a pony, running around a hole in the floor. The five walked up to the railing and looked down at the hole to see it was covered by a metal grill and below it was a swiftly running stream of water. Very swiftly, it would’ve pulled any of them under if they had somehow accidentally fallen into it. The hole itself was easily big enough for that too if there wasn’t a protective grill over it.

“What is this thing?” Gilbert asked.

Senax shrugged. “I honestly have no idea.”

“Hm...” Daylight rubbed her chin as she looked at it.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her. “Got an idea?”

“I think maybe...” Daylight trailed off as she looked around the walls of the room and found what she was looking for on the opposite side of where they had come in—a small lever attached to the wall. “Aha!” She walked over to it with a grin on her face and placed her hoof on it. “Stand back from the railing for just a second.” She said before pulling it down.

The other four backed up and as soon as Daylight pulled the lever, the grill split down the middle and swung down like a trapdoor. Once she released the lever the grill swung back up and locked into place.

Daylight proudly walked back over to the railing with a smile on her face. “This is a garbage chute.”

“Garbage chute?” Rainbow said.

Daylight nodded. “I’m almost certain of it. Think about it—how else would they get rid of trash in a place like this?”

“Good point...” Senax said as she looked down at the rushing water.

“Where does it go though?” Breakwater asked.

“The water has to be flowing through some kind of tunnel or pipe built between the floors of the dome, I’m willing to bet it’s connected to one on every floor and probably part of a much larger system spread throughout the dome. There must be hundreds of spots like this. Looking at how fast the water goes it’s designed to carry out any sort of refuse. It probably either then expels it directly into the ocean through special holes or takes it to somewhere else in Merlantis where the garbage is actually processed and recycled,” Daylight said. “I’m amazed something like this is still working—but then again everything else in Merlantis still seems to be working just fine too.”

“Well that’s interesting—I guess—but it doesn’t help us with finding the Trident,” Rainbow Dash said and floated up to head out of the garbage room. “Come on, let’s go to that next room.”

Senax gave a lingering look at the “chute”. “I hope we don’t just throw our garbage out into the ocean...”

They filed out and approached the other set of doors that was flanked by the two suits of armor, opening those up, they emerged into a larger square room with doors on each wall and an ornate ceiling decorated with chandeliers and a painting of the sky. It was different than other artwork they had seen down here so far which was mostly ocean themed, this one really was the bright blue sky with swirling clouds, birds, and rays of sunlight painted around the glowing orb in the center of the ceiling. Directly opposite on the floor was painted a very specific emblem, right under the “sun”. The Horn of Listening and the Trident and Necklace of Ponyseidon all crossed over each other in a circle.

“Fascinating. I wonder if there’s something special about where we’re going for the art to change like this?” Daylight wondered as she strode in and looked around.

“I have a question,” Gilbert said as he walked into the center of the room. “This painting of the treasures… is this what the Trident of Ponyseidon actually looks like?”

The others walked over to look at the emblem as well. Rainbow Dash, Breakwater, Daylight, and Senax all peered down at it. Before this they had only seen that giant golden Trident to go along with the huge statue of Ponyseidon. This painting was far different. Unlike the golden color of the Horn and Necklace, the Trident was a deep sea green, with its outer prongs having barbed edges while the middle prong went so thin it practically became a needle at the end. Directly below the three prongs a series of sapphire jewels were inlaid in the neck of the shaft. Meanwhile the pommel at the other end was rounded before the last few inches twisted out in a drill shape and ending at a point. If the painting was to scale it would be about six feet long in total.

“I think it is. I just… feel it,” Senax said, blinking in wonder. She reached out a hoof to gently drag it across the emblem…

The moment she did so a pulse of light came from the emblem, shooting out across the room and through the walls. A small vibration went through the floor and everyone looked around in a panic as the room shook.

“Well uh, that can’t be good,” Breakwater said.

Heavy thuds then came from behind the doors. Plodding, the grinding sound of metal, stomping, from behind all four doors that led out of this one room. The group formed a circle to watch each other’s backs and saw as the doors were all opened at once—revealing the suits of merpony armor, empty, but animated and moving. Two stood at each door, but behind them more could be seen coming.

“Isn’t this just perfect,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

“Should’ve known there would be a problem or two to be honest,” Daylight sighed.

“Oh dear...” Senax grimaced. “Um, don’t worry about damaging them, I won’t hold it against anyone if something here gets broken.”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Thanks for the okay.”

Ballast slowly paced back and forth along the cement floor near the pool The Breakwater was securely floating in. He was kind of bored—and halfway to thinking maybe he should’ve just gone along with the others.

“Maybe we should’ve brought a deck of cards down here with us like Rainbow Dash said,” Ballast murmured.

His musings were interrupted however when the water next to The Breakwater started to bubble.

“Huh?” Ballast blinked right before the head of a gigantic green eel shot out of the water.

He backed up.

“That can’t be good.”

The eel though didn’t take any notice of him whatsoever. It simply rested its chin on the cement and opened up its wide mouth. And then something very strange to Ballast happened. Ponies in black cloaks started to walk right out of it and into Merlantis, being led by a mare with a sandy mane full of seashells, with a confident and powerful smile on her face. She walked right onto the floor and stood up tall and proud, the light reflecting off her deep purple eyes.

“Merlantis. Where the treasure I have been destined to claim is to be found,” Coral Sea said. A low chuckle came up from her throat. “Still—we have work to do. Wasabi? You and three others will come with me, the rest of you will stay here and watch that strange ship. I don’t know who came here before us but we won’t be letting them get away and-”

“Ahem, Priestess,” Master Wasabi cleared his throat and pointed over at Ballast—who had so far gone unnoticed by the High Priestess as he stood off to the side like a statue.

Coral Sea blinked at him for a moment, a brief embarrassed look of bafflement and surprise on her face before she regained her smile. “Well, well, well… if it isn’t Ballast the shipwright. Friend of Captain Breakwater and Senax the merpony. You must have quite a lot to tell us right now, don’t you?”

Fighting is Just the Norm Now

“So how exactly are we supposed to fight living suits of armor?” Breakwater asked.

“Uhh… break them?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“That works for me,” Daylight Gleam said and grabbed two of them in her magic before smashing them together. The two suits of armor fell to the ground, but were otherwise undamaged and quickly picked themselves up, returning their slow march towards the ones in the center of the room. Daylight frowned. “Okaaayyy, so I’m not strong enough to do that.”

“I think I’ll end up handling most of this,” Rainbow grinned.

“It looks like there’s a lot though,” Gilbert said. “I see more pouring in from the other rooms, coming towards us from down the halls.”

“To be honest I’m very upset that ancient artifacts like these are being used in such a way...” Senax frowned.

“Gotta blame your ancestors then,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Anyways, I want you, Gilbert, and Breakwater to stay back. Daylight? Cover me, or shield yourself and the others if some of them end up getting too close.”

“Can your hooves break metal armor so easily?” Daylight raised an eyebrow.

“I’m hoping that if I just knock their helmets off the rest will stop.”

“And if they don’t?”

“Then I keep knocking other parts off until they stop moving. Easy.”

“You and I have very different definitions of-”

“Instead of the two of you chatting like this could you please possibly take care of the armor now?” Breakwater exasperatedly said to them.

Rainbow blinked and looked at the lumbering suits of armor as they slowly approached. “I mean I think I still have some time, but sure, if you’re that worried about it.” She cracked her neck and flexed her wings, inhaling, and shot at the two suits of armor she was facing.

If these things really had much fighting capacity instead of just being scary, they didn’t get to show it right then as Rainbow Dash kicked the helmets right off the bodies as she flew past. She made a button-hook and looked to see how the armor was acting now without their “heads”. From what she could tell there was no change at all. In fact they didn’t try to attack her in retaliation or anything, they just kept marching forward and left their lost helmets behind. Rainbow Dash frowned, if they didn’t care about retaliating against her then what were they doing? She tried to follow their line of sight, and see where all the other suits were going.

Her eyes narrowed.

Every last suit of armor was walking right for Senax. She could see it that their “faces” were just barely turned more specifically at Senax than just the group of her friends in the middle of the room.

“Okay then,” Rainbow Dash said and flew up towards the ceiling before coming down hard and fast on one of the suits of armor she had just earlier attacked. She stomped down hard on its back with all four hooves and felt it buckle and collapse to the floor, part of the armor plating on its back bending and warping. It didn’t exactly shatter or fall to pieces like she was hoping but she did some damage at least.

But still, she could feel it trying to rise and push itself up. Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and jumped on it again to smack it back down and then kicked at the joints of the front leg armor where it connected to the body. The front legs fell away from her two well-placed kicks and she flapped up off the armor to see what it would do now.

It flopped about, still trying to stand despite only having its two back legs. But all it did was continuously tip forward and clang against the floor, barely able to push itself. Finally it fell onto its side and couldn’t stand back up—instead inching forward now along the ground. Rainbow looked at the disconnected legs and helmet that were still lying immobile on the floor. At least it seemed like the power that drove these things was concentrated in the body of the armor. So she had an answer for what she could do. The problem was that there were so many coming and they were flat out ignoring her. She wanted them to be concentrated on her, she could fly circles around them, it was more dangerous that they were all making a beeline for Senax. Because of their sturdiness it would take time for her to knock apart every single one and she couldn’t just recklessly fly into them or she’d hurt herself.

Rainbow Dash flew towards the other suit of armor she had knocked the helmet off of and knocked it to the floor, where she kicked the legs of its right side off to hobble it. She then looked to her friends. “Daylight! Forget backing me up or attacking them, just make a shield now!”

“Got it!” Daylight nodded without questioning as the suits of armor continued their approach. A powder blue dome blossomed out of her horn and safely covered the four of them for now.

“I don’t know why but the armor is all going right for Senax, it doesn’t care that I’m attacking it, so just hide out there and let me break them all apart!” Rainbow shouted.

“Me?! Why are they coming after me?” Senax yelled.

“Don’t ask me, but that’s what they’re doing. Don’t worry, we’ll handle it!” Rainbow said and blasted to the two next closest suits of armor.

“It doesn’t make any sense though, if this is some sort of defense mechanism of Merlantis then why would Senax be their target?” Daylight asked.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she pushed one set of living armor into another to turn them into a tangled heap on the floor. “How should any of us know?! Just be happy that I can take care of it by myself! Once these things are all broken up we’ll just be able to walk over the trash piles.”

More just kept piling into the room though even as she continued to disable the closest ones. It was impossible to tell how many of them there actually were and Rainbow couldn’t stop them all before they started to reach the shield. While she knocked off the legs of one suit of armor, a few more had started walking into Daylight’s shield and banging against it. They weren’t very smart, not striking it with full force, instead just repeatedly headbutting it. Even then that would eventually wear down on Daylight’s shield.

Rainbow Dash grabbed one of the leg pieces of armor and flew over, whacking away all the slow suits at the shield. She knocked them to the ground and then flapped her wings harder to create a whirlwind and scattered some of the smaller and lighter pieces of armor all around the room. With the mess on the floor now, and the armor’s complete focus on Senax, a lot of the walking suits started to trip and fumble over their fallen brethren. Even then their focus never left the merpony and they still tried to just make a straight line to her. Eventually the room would be completely filled with them if this kept up.

“Is there an end to these things?” Rainbow growled.

“I can’t keep this shield up forever, we’re going to get crushed sooner or later!” Daylight shouted.

“What direction do we need to go in? Maybe we can get away from most of them,” Rainbow asked.

Senax pointed to the northern door. “That way!”

“Okay,” Rainbow nodded. “Daylight, can you move with your shield?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“Then do that, I’m going to clear a path for you.” Rainbow dropped to the floor and picked up another leg of armor. From behind her and to her sides was a cacophonous symphony of armor clamoring against each other and falling to the hard floor. In front of her was a steadily approaching column of new armor, coming down the hallway from a so far unknown location. Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Crazy.”

She charged forward at full speed, using the leg as a combination of a weapon and a shield, bashing through the entire line of living armor. Behind her the others followed at a bit of a slower pace as Daylight’s shield pushed away all the armor on the ground. Armor was scattered and thrown into the walls of the hallway by Rainbow Dash, much of it breaking apart and becoming harmless as the suits could no longer move properly. Still, despite the armor not attacking her, it was tiring her out simply because of how heavy each suit was. A lot of it was practically falling on her as well. She wondered if that was the real strategy with these things. They didn’t seem to care about attacking, they just wanted to smother whatever their target was. That’s why they were so single-minded, eventually that entire room back there would’ve been buried by armor all trying to pile over each other.

Rainbow Dash finally pushed through the last suits in the line and came out into a new, much larger, room with a crescent shape. She could see that the living armor was coming from two different stairways to their right and left now. Again she saw no end to what was coming.

Behind her a loud bang came as Daylight and the others pushed out of the hallway, knocking away all the broken armor. They came to a stop right behind Rainbow Dash as more armor was converging on them.

“Now what?” Gilbert asked.

“I dunno,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Let’s just keep ahead of them—they’re not very fast at least.”

“There’s another door on the other side of this room,” Breakwater pointed ahead to it.

Rainbow Dash looked, he was right, there was a door at the apex of the crescent that they could go through. And at least there wasn’t any armor coming directly from it. There were several pillars along the far wall radiating out from the door, and several empty pedestals, but she saw nothing that could obstruct them as long as the door wasn’t locked.

“Right, let’s go!” Rainbow shouted and knocked over the nearest suits of armor to clear the way for the others.

Behind them the hallway was becoming a crowded mess as seemingly an entire wall of armor was pushing through it to try and reach Senax. Some of the suits in this room bumped into Daylight’s shield and made her wince.

“I think I’m going to have to drop this soon,” Daylight announced.

“That’s fine, it might be better for us to all be able to just run anyways,” Breakwater said.

“I can carry Senax if need be,” Gilbert said.

“Let’s just get out of this room first and get a little distance, then we can figure out how to really deal with all this living armor,” Rainbow Dash said as she kicked the helmets off two more suits. She finished by knocking the armor to the floor and out of their way. “Okay, you’ve got a straight shot to the door now!”

Rainbow flew low and fast while Daylight dropped her shield and wiped a little sweat from her brow, everyone running to the door while the mass of armor poured into the crescent room. Rainbow came to a stop at the door and dropped to the floor, kicking her back legs out to buck the door open. It swung open with almost enough force to smack into the walls on the other side. Instead of rushing in though, Rainbow Dash stood there to shuffle the others through and have their backs. She didn’t want to let any of the living armor in and planned to knock away and dismantle any that were close.

“Go, go, go!” Rainbow waved the others through as first Senax and then the others right behind her ran out of the room. Rainbow Dash then tensed up and got ready to fight the armor off—but found she didn’t need to.

Perhaps it was the moment Senax passed through the doorway that things changed, but the armor was no longer pursuing her. The various suits that were still moving trembled for a moment before straightening up and turning around—walking back to wherever they came from. Rainbow Dash blinked. Did they only have a limited range? She had no idea what sort of magic this was, maybe they couldn’t move through more than a few set rooms?

“Well… that’s fine I guess,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Um, Rainbow Dash?” The wavering voice of Daylight came from behind her.

“What’s up—oh.” Rainbow said as she turned around to join the others in the new room.

What she saw, and what the others were already fearfully looking at, were the six huge stone statues menacingly standing in front of them. Mammoth-sized merpony marble statues holding stone axes and hammers, staring down the interlopers who had entered their chamber. A golden solar with a row of pillars all along the outer walls and a stairway leading up to another floor of the great dome. The statues were right between them and it.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “For the love of...”

Grand

The five of them walked up the steps of this new large chamber while behind them six smashed statues lied piled up on the floor.

Rainbow Dash’s hooves were sore.

To be fair though, she had mostly used their own weapons against them. Not like she had Blizzard or Karkona’s raw strength after all.

“Let’s hope that’s the end of any fighting we need to do down here,” Daylight said as she walked up the stairs.

“I wouldn’t jinx it if I were you,” Breakwater said.

“No big deal. Armor? Easy. Statues? Easy. If Merlantis decides to throw anything else at us I’ll take care of it all over again,” Rainbow said.

“I still would mostly just like to know why the armor and statues were coming after me though...” Senax said as she looked over her shoulder, down the stairs at the piles of rubble.

Gilbert nodded and looked back as well. “That has me worried too.”

“Yeah… of all of us you’d expect you to be the only one they weren’t coming after...” Daylight said.

“They only started coming when Senax touched that emblem too. Everyone else saw that, right?” Breakwater said.

“It’s like whatever was left to defend Merlantis has been changed somehow. Instead it’s doing the opposite of what it should be doing. Attacking merponies instead of protecting them. Although this could all be some weird sort of “trial” or something. Not like any of us could possibly understand what was going through Ponyseidon’s and the ancient merponies’ heads,” Daylight shrugged. “We still don’t know if these things in Merlantis were always like this or if perhaps they were only triggered when Senax activated the Necklace. Without knowing that it’s impossible to come to a real conclusion.”

“So this could either be some kind of trap for real or it could be some sort of warped way for the reclaimer of the Trident to prove themselves worthy?” Gilbert said.

Daylight nodded. “Pretty much what I was thinking.”

“But we just don’t know,” Breakwater said.

Daylight shook her head. “Nope.”

“Well Senax is definitely worthy of the Trident, she’s proved that more than enough,” Rainbow looked over and grinned at her friend. “Considering how you won’t abuse its power or plan to do anything horrible at all—I’d say you’re even more worthy of it than Ponyseidon was in the first place.”

Senax blushed in appreciation and smiled back at Rainbow Dash. “Thank you… I could certainly use some reassurance right now.”

“To take our mind off things like that, how far away do you think the Trident is now? Are we still going the right way?” Daylight asked.

“We’re going as “right” of a way as we can. It’s close to being on the same level as where we are right now but I can tell there isn’t a straight path to it from here. There might’ve been a different way to go back in the room where all the armor was going into but from here as long as we can go up one more floor I bet we’ll be able to turn around and find a way to get to it.” Senax said. “Right now the Trident is sort of… to our right a little bit. If we could go in a straight line it would be up and through that wall there.” She pointed out the eastern facing wall for emphasis.

“Well that’s not great but it’s not terrible I suppose,” Daylight shrugged.

“I think we can just take this one step at a time—literally—and see what’s at the top of these stairs first,” Breakwater said.

“Excellent pun,” Gilbert gave him a thumbs up.

“If I was trying to be funny I wouldn’t have added “literally” in there,” Breakwater rolled his eyes.

When the group did reach the top of the stairs they found themselves on a terrace that overlooked the great chamber they had just crossed. From here the ceiling went high, higher than in any normal room. The purpose seemed to be to accommodate the much larger than normal door at the back end of the terrace. It was more like the gateway into a castle than a normal door, its wooden form decorated with almost impossibly intricate carvings of ocean waves. Though it looked incredibly heavy they found that they were able to push it open quite easily. In fact, it practically opened on its own, each side of the door flowing open until they stopped at the furthest their hinges could take them.

“Oh hey, more stairs,” Rainbow Dash huffed.

There were indeed more stairs right in front of them but there was also a long hall, similar in size to the great galleria and tower atriums they had been in before, stretching to their left. From what they could see there were many more doors just like this one that all fed into this new chamber. But only one single set of stairs going up.

“I think we might have arrived somewhere fairly important,” Daylight said.

Breakwater nodded. “A lot of traffic flowing through this place would all come right here if it wasn’t abandoned. There must be something special up this staircase.

Senax looked at it and focused, closing her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. “It’ll take us to above where the Trident is but I’m willing to bet there’s going to be somewhere else to go once we get up there.”

“Okay—well I think we’ve taken enough time so let me speed things up a little bit. Gilbert? If you’d help out?” Rainbow said and immediately flew over to pick up Senax, toss her on her back, and then grab Daylight before the unicorn could complain and zoom up the stairs with them.

Gilbert figured out what she wanted him to do fairly easily. Chuckling awkwardly he shrugged at Breakwater, who frowned but allowed the griffon to carry him up the stairs anyways. Gilbert flew up right behind Rainbow Dash and as soon as they reached the top of the marble stairs they set their passengers down and took a look at where they were now.

Every other room.

Every piece of art seen in Merlantis.

It all paled in comparison.

The size of the room itself was enormous—it shouldn’t even be called a room, the word simply wasn’t grand enough to describe it. Circular in shape like many others, it spread out for hundreds of feet while the domed ceiling itself stretched up another hundred feet. At the top of the ceiling, a great glass dome let one look out into the ocean and see all its wonders. They had seen similar things before in Merlantis but nothing to this scale. The walls going up about twenty feet were sculpted and painted showing merponies swimming, standing proudly among rocks and breaking waves, riding in chariots, holding up golden tridents, and looking down on numerous other creatures who had been carved in the lowly recesses of the walls. Higher than that though, the rest of the wall as it reached up towards the glass dome was all an incredibly deep blue, swirling in different shades and hues like a giant whirlpool with the glass ceiling being its eye. The floor though was just as much a miraculous piece of art as the walls. Not just simple quartz or marble flooring, it was a series of perfectly inlaid ceramic tiles all painted in a variety of colors. Something about it tickled Rainbow Dash’s brain and when she flew up a little bit she figured out what it was—all the thousands of tiles together made a single large “picture” of the entire Grand Ocean. A map of the whole ocean sat there on the floor of this gigantic room.

The level of effort and intricacy that went into this was insane, it must have taken ages to complete.

“Wow—you guys are going to want to see this,” Rainbow said as she flew around a bit, looking at the map.

“Everything about this chamber is already wondrous enough,” Gilbert said as he looked around at the sculpted walls.

“I think-” Daylight said as she walked further onto the floor and looked up at the ceiling. “I think this is the very top of the dome. We’re right in the middle of it, this must be a special sort of convocation chamber or hall, something for huge announcements or ceremonies where a large amount of merponies can be gathered at once.”

“I wonder how thick that glass up there is,” Breakwater said. “That’s a much bigger glass dome than anything we’ve seen so far.”

“Must be strong enough to not break after a thousand years or so,” Rainbow said as she dropped back to the floor.

“Do you have any thoughts on this place, Senax?” Gilbert asked her.

“It’s big,” Senax replied as she looked across the massive room. “I know this place must have been important… I can see the merponies who would’ve been gathered here in the past in my head. So many of them. So many of us.”

“One day you want that to happen again?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” Senax nodded. Her eyes then roamed to some of the sculpted walls and the destitute figures of ponies and other creatures on them. “There might be some redecorating to do first though.”

“Hm… I bet the entire population of Ponyville and then some could fit in this room,” Rainbow said. “Actually I can picture Celestia giving a big declaration to all of Canterlot here.”

“From that balcony over there?” Gilbert pointed.

On the south side of the grand chamber was a set of two curving stairways that crawled up the walls and led to a single large balcony in the middle that overlooked the rest of the chamber. On the banisters of the wall were evenly spaced merpony statues and behind the balcony was a series of stone pillars that led back into another part of the dome. It was the only other destination they saw in here aside from the stairs they had entered through. Gilbert was right to think that balcony was the prime place for a leader—Ponyseidon in this case—to stand and speak to his subjects.

“That’s the direction we need to go in too,” Senax said.

“I wonder… looking at Merlantis, this dome, this huge chamber, I wonder if past that balcony is where the royal chambers used to be—where Ponyseidon himself lived,” Daylight said.

“Could be,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Honestly I’d want my own private building if I was going to live anywhere down here. Living in this dome when it has to be the busiest and most crowded place in the city? No thank you,” Breakwater said.

“Well you’re not a king, they have to live in their castle where their subjects can congregate and meet them,” Daylight said. “Orrrr… if they’re a bad king they could stay locked away in their castles like a fortress and just dictate to everyone else.”

“It at least seems like Ponyseidon was good to his people,” Gilbert said.

Senax frowned, a glum expression coming to her face. “About the only good thing I can say about him and my ancestors after learning what I have...”

“I want to say nobody’s perfect but… Ponyseidon definitely wasn’t as great as he seemed to be from what you knew,” Rainbow Dash said. She bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck, a little ashamed of how unfair it felt to say something like that. “That’s… not important now though. Not anymore. It happened so long ago, what’s important now is you, Senax. Maybe one day this chamber won’t be full of just merponies—but friends of yours from all around the Grand Ocean, and even the rest of the world. You can bring them down here to announce how much nicer merpony civilization will be from here on out. How much friendlier the whole ocean will be.”

“Heh, maybe you could even try and get the Hundred Kingdoms to stop fighting each other too. Really fix this ocean up,” Breakwater said.

“Bosche is gone, it’s already looking a lot better,” Daylight said.

Senax’s frown slightly turned upwards into a small smile. “Well, that all wouldn’t be so bad.”

“It’d require quite the bit of work but after everything we’ve been through to get down here in the first place I could hardly imagine it’d be harder,” Gilbert said.

“One day at a time. Like always,” Senax said, now fully smiling at her friends. “What’s important is I’ve learned to not give up—not let myself become depressed and forget what’s really important—thanks to all of you.”

“So does that mean it’s time to get that Trident?” Rainbow grinned and began to fly over to the balcony.

“Yes it is!” Senax nodded and walked after her. “I can feel it, it will almost be straight ahead through there. We’re very close to it now.”

“Then let’s hope… um, I was about to say let’s hope there aren’t any more traps or anything, but I already did something similar to that. And it probably is a bad idea to jinx us,” Daylight said.

“Very,” Breakwater nodded.

Together the five of them made it up to the balcony, the floor on the middle of which was emblazoned with a giant golden sun, and looked past to the long rows of pillars leading down to what had to have once been the inner sanctum of Merlantis. The marble pillars were painted a seaweed green, while the floor was white and the ceiling blue. They couldn’t see where exactly it ended but it looked to angle down a bit, the ceiling already wasn’t particularly high but the fact Rainbow Dash couldn’t see the far wall told her things had to be sloping a bit. There might have been a ramp or another set of stairs to go down at the back.

Senax though just seemed happy as she stared down the long gallery. She knew if she had the Necklace right now that the beam of light would be shooting dead ahead. She was the first one who started walking from the balcony to their final destination—the others followed close behind.

Decisiveness

“I hope you don’t actually plan on doing something so stupid. These four are the greatest warriors of the Sarraroccon Order—and there are more who would be willing to fight and chase you down for me. The only way for you to survive is by giving me what I want. So let’s not cause trouble for me. Otherwise I might not be so forgiving,” Coral Sea said. The whole time a smug smile was on her face as she stared down Rainbow Dash.

“Those might be your greatest warriors but I really don’t think you know who you’re dealing with here,” Rainbow said as she pointed the sharp tips of the Trident at Coral Sea. She then glanced up and behind her at her friends. “The rest of you get down here too.”

Coral Sea merely chuckled as Senax and the others came down the stairs to stand behind Rainbow Dash. “I know you’re the only one in your group who can fight for real. This isn’t going to end well for you.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see about that,” Rainbow said as she started to walk and circled around to the side of Coral Sea, Wasabi, and the others. She kept them in front of her and her friends behind her, the power and threat of the Trident keeping the enemies at bay for now.

Wasabi and the warriors as well were quick to put themselves in front of Coral Sea and the groups shifted a little until Rainbow and her friends weren’t completely blocked off. If they hugged the wall behind the pillars they could run back to the convocation chamber. Rainbow wanted that, and Coral Sea had to know that too but she merely kept grinning.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at her opponents as she quietly spoke to her friends. “Okay—you guys get out of here. Go somewhere safe while I deal with them.”

“Rainbow Dash-” Senax began.

“Go!” Rainbow yelled and glared back at her before her expression softened and she winked. “This is my job, remember?”

“I… yes. I understand,” Senax nodded. She looked to the others. “Come on, let’s go!”

They all started to run by, going back to the big chamber.

Daylight briefly looked over to Rainbow Dash. “Good luck.”

“Pff, like I’ll need it!” Rainbow Dash snorted and grinned.

“Someone is certainly confident in themselves,” Coral Sea said as she watched the others go, seemingly not worried about it.

“If you knew me better you’d get it,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Heh,” Coral Sea laughed and turned to stare down Rainbow Dash. “I’m going to give you the opportunity to throw down that Trident one last time. It belongs to me anyways, it’s my legacy to claim, not the merpony’s or anyone else’s. It’s what I will use to bring every last island and kingdom on the Grand Ocean under the hooves of the Sarraroccon Order. We deserve that power. The Sarraroccon Order will reign supreme above all!”

“Well then I really can’t let you have the Trident,” Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes. “We came down here to keep it away from ponies like you. You’re not going to use it for anything bad, and you’re definitely not hurting my friends. Deal with it.”

Coral Sea shrugged. “It’s no matter.” She glanced at Wasabi. “Kill her and bring the Trident to me. I’m going to kill that merpony personally before she can get away.”

Her horn then lit up with golden magic and she disappeared with a powerful spark and crackle of energy.

Rainbow Dash blinked—and then groaned in annoyance. “Oh of course she can teleport.”

She opened her wings and strongly flapped them, rising up above the floor and getting ready to jet over the warriors and make sure her friends were alright. But before she could build up any speed, before she had gone five feet, two of the warriors had jumped up into the air—much higher than any normal ponies could jump, after spring-boarding off the others—and threw off their black cloaks at her. Rainbow Dash squawked in surprise and flew back, avoiding getting tangled or covered by the cloaks, but right as she did two weapons came out from the cloaks at her while her vision of the warriors was obscured.

Rainbow brought up the Trident to defend herself and the weapons clanged off the metal of it while she momentarily dropped back to the floor, facing off against the four warriors. A brief check showed her the Trident wasn’t dented or damaged in the slightest by what had hit it. Not surprising.

The two warriors landed as well, Master Wasabi and the fourth one joining the two of them in removing their cloaks and revealing the weapons they carried.

Both of the ones who had jumped at her were pegasi. One wielded a three-section staff while the other carried a spiked flail. The other warrior she didn’t recognize was a unicorn, he raised two short scythe weapons that Rainbow hadn’t seen before in his magic. And Master Wasabi stood without any noticeable weapon at first—until Rainbow looked at his hooves and saw the black metal gauntlets he was wearing. Simple but effective for a warrior trained in hoof-to-hoof combat like him. The four of them were completely stoic, they said nothing, looked at her and the Trident as if this was the most normal thing in the world. They were doing their job well.

Of course that didn’t make Rainbow Dash happy.

“Do we really have to do this, Wasabi? You don’t have to fight me. I kind of don’t want to fight you at all,” she spoke with a resigned look on her face.

He didn’t answer. Instead the four of them just started to walk towards her.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “If that’s the way it’s gotta be.”

“Where are we going?” Gilbert asked.

“I don’t know, away from there!” Daylight answered.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere down here that’s actually “safe” right now...” Breakwater said.

“Just trust in Rainbow Dash,” Senax said. “When has she let us down before?”

“That’s not nearly as reassuring as you’re making it sound, Senax,” Daylight said.

“Only if you’re pessimistic,” Gilbert smiled.

“And I am.”

They were running up the steps and long hallway that had led down from the convocation chamber to where they had found the Trident. At the moment they were close to getting back out to that big balcony but from there they weren’t exactly sure where they’d go. There was only one way back out of it but then what? They’d be lost in here and Rainbow might not be able to find them if they went too far.

Thinking ahead proved to be pointless though.

Right as they made it back to the balcony and could see the high walls of the convocation chamber, a pony poofed into existence in a cloud of golden magical energy right in front of them.

The four of them came to a screeching halt as Coral Sea smiled at them.

“Well hello there. I hope you weren’t expecting to actually get away?”

“Something like that,” Breakwater said, both he and Gilbert stepping in front of Senax.

“Please… please don’t do this...” Senax said to her.

“Hahahaha… oh merpony, you have to know that isn’t going to work,” Coral Sea said. “And The stallions protecting the poor defenseless merpony? How nice,” Coral Sea mockingly clapped for them. “Must feel awkward knowing you danced with me, Captain Breakwater. And how you watched a play with me, Gilbert. And even how you spent a nice afternoon on a warm beach with me, Daylight Gleam. Are you all willing to die for that creature?”

Daylight stepped forward and glared at her. “Maybe you’re not familiar with the meaning of friendship.”

“I see. A pity then,” Coral Sea sighed.

Daylight looked back at Gilbert and Breakwater. “Come on you two—we can take her. She’s just some priestess, we can handle her and protect Senax until Rainbow Dash gets here.”

“Oh can you now? Let me show you why I came to kill that merpony alone. You’re the ones who should be afraid right now,” Coral Sea smirked maliciously at them as her horn lit up and a bright light covered her hooves. It crawled up them, leaving amber metal armor behind, then went up her legs, then body, and finally neck, leaving the segmented and highly ornate amber armor behind everywhere it traveled. Her tail whipped about behind her while her mane stayed free for the moment, a blood-red ruby in the middle of her gorget. “I am going to record the moment I snuff your life out in history, merpony. The first of many of your kind that will die by my hooves.”

Her horn flashed again and an amber helmet with a platinum horn guard appeared around her head, visor swinging down over her face.

The other three gulped while Daylight grimaced. “Okay… we might have a problem.”

The spiked flail came at Rainbow’s face before she knocked it away with the Trident and had to immediately block a thrust by the staff while jumping backwards to avoid the scythes coming down and decapitating her. Pushing the pommel of the Trident into the floor she used it as leverage to do a backflip and avoid the punch from Wasabi as he came at her from behind. Landing, she was immediately set upon by the pegasus with the staff again as he made numerous quick thrusts at her with one end before swinging the other end at her. She had to block again with the Trident before flipping her weapon around and thrusting it towards the unicorn to keep him at bay. He jumped away from her thanks to her weapon having greater reach, and then Rainbow Dash ducked lower to the ground and spun the Trident around in a circle over her head to hit away the flail and block a second punch from Wasabi, who had to use his gauntlets to not get cut. The four warriors hopped away from Rainbow Dash for a brief second to get their bearings while she stood up and spun the Trident around in her hooves before holding it across her body in a defensive position.

For a second they faced off against each other. Rainbow Dash letting them make the first move—if they dared.

The unicorn spun his scythes around in his magic on either side of his head and slowly walked towards Rainbow Dash while the two pegasi began to circle to her left and right. Rainbow backed up slightly towards the stairs that went up to the Trident room so they couldn’t surround her. Seeing that she wasn’t going to just let them get behind her like that, the three of them swiftly changed tactics and charged her at once.

The scythes created a high-pitched whine as they sliced through the air each time the unicorn swung them at Rainbow Dash. At first she tilted her head to the left and right to avoid them before catching the blades on the shaft of the Trident and kicking the unicorn away—just in time to jump over the flail from one of the pegasi as it went for her body. The other pegasi gripped his staff by the very end of one of its sections and swung it at her but Rainbow caught it between the prongs of her Trident and yanked it from his grip. She swung the Trident at him so his weapon came loose and smacked into his body.

When he stumbled away from that, Rainbow jammed the sharp spears of the Trident into the floor (impaling it like a knife into butter thanks to how otherworldly strong and sharp the Trident was) and pole-vaulted over the staff-wielding unicorn right as the flail came back down where she was and obliterated the floor tile there. The unicorn came running at her with a fast series of swipes from his scythes that Rainbow turned away with the Trident. Sparks shot off each time his metal blades struck the green shaft, the unicorn made a scissors attack against the Trident, catching the treasure and pulling his blades in both directions to lock Rainbow Dash up. The two pegasi then came at her from behind, Rainbow only had a second to act.

She put one hoof above where the scythes were and another below them—putting all the muscle she had into it she spun the Trident around to knock the blades off. Once she was free she quickly brought the pommel end of the Trident up and smashed the unicorn in the ribs with it. He wheezed in pain and stumbled away.

Her ears told her the attacks were coming at her from behind so practically on reflex Rainbow Dash raised the Trident over her head to catch the flail and staff on it. She pushed them back and flapped her wings to make a wing-assisted jump, jumping between the two of them and over their heads. She kicked out her back legs and caught both warriors in the back of the head—making then stumble forward and join their unicorn comrade.

As soon as she landed though, Wasabi jumped over them and came rushing at her. While he didn’t have the same kind of weapons they did, Rainbow soon realized it didn’t matter.

She pointed the Trident at him to keep him back but he swiftly knocked the prongs away with one of his gauntlets and punched towards her face with his other hoof. Rainbow twisted the shaft of the Trident up to block it as a resounding thunk rang out when his gauntleted hood hit it. She was pushed backwards slightly—surprised that he had that kind of muscle on him at his age. And he didn’t let up in his attack either, coming at her low and throwing several punches towards her chest that she had to all block or turn away with the Trident.

On the latest punch she pushed away his hoof and swung out with the Trident in a wide arc aimed at his head. But Wasabi ducked under it and spun around, throwing a sweeping leg kick to take Rainbow’s legs out from under her. Unfortunately for him her reactions were just as quick and she easily jumped over it, but she still found herself being pushed back by the elderly warrior. Her hooves reached one of the dual staircases and she had to walk backwards up it for a moment while swinging her Trident at him as he blocked and deflected all the blows with his gauntlets while pushing forward.

Rainbow Dash was surprised at how he moved and fought for his age. Looking at him she would’ve guessed he was in his 80’s but he still moved like a pony not even half as old. He fought like a warrior in the prime of his life, moving as water while striking with the strength of steel. Compared to Godfrey he was probably much better trained and more knowledgeable of martial-arts, but didn’t have the same speed or power that Godfrey had. But Godfrey was unusual. Wasabi would almost surely dominate some of the others she had fought with on her journey like Sia’Lorna and Vox. It wouldn’t even be close.

Before she had gone to train at Black Sand Island he’d probably have been much more dangerous to her as well.

She really didn’t want to fight him like this. Or seriously hurt him. But it looked like there was probably not going to be any way around that. They were all far too loyal to Coral Sea. If Wasabi was having any trouble with fighting the pegasus he had helped train, he showed no signs of it.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Rainbow Dash hopped up the last steps and fought with Wasabi by the railing. She was able to mostly keep him at bay with the superior range of the Trident as any attempt he had to close in on her was met by her taking another step back. Every thrust and swing of the Trident she made against him though was either blocked or parried without effort on his side. They were in a bit of a stalemate.

Trying something new, Wasabi ducked under her latest thrust and threw one of his gauntleted hooves up at her higher hoof grasping the Trident. Rainbow grunted in pain as the metal brace whacked her hoof and she let the Trident go with that hoof out of reflex. Put in an awkward position, unbalanced, and unable to effectively utilize the Trident with only one hoof grasping too far down its shaft, Wasabi pressed forward in the effort to deliver a devastating punch to her face. He wanted to take her out in a single blow. But while he expected Rainbow Dash to maybe attempt to back away, or clumsily dodge or block the punch, he didn’t expect her to move forward and lower her head towards him.

Moving into his space before he could punch her—Rainbow Dash bowed her head and gave him a strong headbutt to the face. He grunted (the most noise she had gotten from any of them) and had to step back, his hind legs trembling before he had to half-sit and half-lean against the stair railing for support. He wasn’t bleeding and certainly wasn’t down for the count but he was dazed for the moment.

Rainbow brought both hooves back to the Trident to hold it steady once more and got ready to continue the fight. The flail-wielding pegasus then flew up the opposite stairs and came at her from behind while she was recovering. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see him bringing the spiked ball of pain down at her and jumped to the side—onto the balcony’s railing—to avoid it. It crushed down onto the tile she had been standing on, obliterating it and sending debris everywhere, and the pegasus swiftly lifted it back up and swung it at the balcony railing she was standing on now to force her away and maybe take out her hooves at the same time.

Rainbow was still too fast to actually be hit by the flail though. She had already jumped and extended her wings to glide away from the balcony when the flail destroyed the ancient stone her hooves had just been using for rest.

She had planned to simply land back on the floor below but on the way she was accosted by the other pegasus. He jabbed his staff towards her stomach and Rainbow Dash was barely able to block the thin end of his weapon with the staff of the Trident. Even then the force of the blow knocked her back a little and she landed on the floor with her back hooves first, sliding to a stop.

The flail pegasus went to help Wasabi up while the staff pegasus and unicorn came to attack Rainbow Dash again.

One to her right, the other to her left, one by one they either swung or stabbed their weapons at her while Rainbow Dash blocked them with the Trident. She wondered if they were becoming frustrated at their inability to overwhelm her despite their numerical advantage. She was just some random pegasus to them too, and they were the elite warriors of the Sarraroccon Order. Yet she calmly withstood their attacks and had already landed hits on them earlier in the fight. Stoic as these ponies were she couldn’t believe that it didn’t bother or worry them at least a little. Even if their only real worry was not finishing her off as quickly as their High Priestess would like that was still something. Failing her was likely the only thing they cared about if what she knew of them was true.

She knew she was probably wrong—personal failure didn’t bother them. They had no ambition. No pride or ego. It was all about living up to the High Priestess’s expectations and successfully carrying out her commands. If she could knock out one or two of them, the others might be shaken as doubt crept into their minds as to their ability to do the will of their priestess.

Rainbow Dash grinned, the longer this went on the better things were for her.

Not like they had the chance of wearing her out after all either. She was Rainbow Dash.

On one swing of the three-section staff, Rainbow Dash slammed the pommel of the Trident down into the link of the chain that connected two of the sections. It impaled it to the floor and she used the Trident to jump up and kick the unicorn in the face while he was in the middle of swinging his scythes at her. She then wrenched the Trident up, tore the pommel from the floor while also tearing the staff from the pegasus’s hooves, and spun the staff around before throwing it back at its wielder. He was caught off guard as it smacked into his face, which was right on time for the flail pegasus and Master Wasabi to come back into the fight.

The flail came down at her back but without even looking Rainbow stabbed the pommel of the Trident back at the pegasus. He had to back away, the drilled end of the pommel being almost as dangerous as the sharp prongs on the other end. It caused him to abort his attack so Rainbow could focus entirely on trading blows with Wasabi for the moment instead. She had the Trident gripped in one hoof, right at the neck where the sapphires were, it was a little awkward but the only way she could fight with it in close-range combat like this. Her body had left the floor so she didn’t have to worry about balance, instead hovering very close to the floor with her wings.

She loved being a pegasus. She loved the advantage it gave her here as she didn’t have to worry about hoofwork, about tripping, about balance, how it gave her so much freedom of mobility and more avenues to attack and defend. At this point she could probably fly away from them with a quick opening but since they’d just follow her she wanted to beat them now.

Wasabi’s hooves were like lightning fast blurs as he struck out at her face each time only for her to block with the three prongs of the Trident. Clink, clink, clink, each time his gauntlets struck the green metal of the Trident.

A sudden intake of breath behind her told her the flail was about to be coming at her again. She had to thank the training she went through at Black Sand Island that sharpened her ears and other senses so she no longer relied on just her eyes for a fight. The flail came swinging at her left side so Rainbow Dash very simply flapped her wings a little harder and flew over it. As it hit nothing but air, Wasabi jumped up to try and punch into her now unprotected stomach. She scrunched up slightly and moved her free hoof to block him. It still hurt a bit thanks to the gauntlet he wore, but nothing broke and it was at least better than taking a solid hit to the stomach.

She pushed him away and slid her hoof down the Trident a little to give her more range as she swung it at his head to try and keep a little distance between him and her. Wasabi ducked under it but Rainbow quickly brought it back and kept swiping at him with it until he realized he had to hop back a few steps. The flail pegasus then also jumped up at her, using his wings for a little extra height, and swung the flail towards her ribs. Truthfully, if that spike ball hit her there at full strength like that, even she probably wouldn’t be getting back up. So of course she blocked it with the Trident, a loud clang coming from the clash of their weapons.

The pegasus didn’t stop there though, he stayed airborne with her and repeatedly swung the flail around at her, spinning with it and throwing his entire body weight behind every attack. Rainbow was able to block every swing with the Trident but it was a little annoying. Thanks to the weight of the spike ball, and the pure kinetic energy behind each swing, blocking it was much more of a hassle than with the other weapons. Each time the flail connected with the Trident it sent tremors up her hooves. A little stronger, a few more times, and it could potentially wrench the Trident right out of her grip. So she decided to end that possibility. On the very next swing she did something similar to what she did with the staff before—when the flail was coming towards her she jabbed the needle-thin center prong of the Trident into one of the chain-links to catch the flail on the Trident. Stopping its momentum (and relishing in the surprised look on the warrior’s face that she could actually do something so precise at such speeds) she spun the Trident around in her hooves and yanked the flail from the warrior’s grip.

Rainbow tossed the flail over her head and behind her where it crashed into one of the stone pillars in the room before falling to the floor. A quick swing of her Trident over her head later and she brought it back around to smash the pommel end into the side of the pegasus’s face. He went falling to the floor like a brick and bounced off it once before lying still.

Well he’s definitely out. Rainbow thought as she landed back on the floor and faced off against the other three.

While she had been hoping that seeing one of their comrades taken out would shake their confidence it didn’t exactly work that way. The staff pegasus and the unicorn with the scythes now came at her again just as quickly and confidently as before. The pegasus shot his staff out at her that she jumped to the side to avoid so it only scraped along the floor. A spinning scythe to her head was blocked by the Trident while the other went for her body, Rainbow twisted the Trident to the side to knock that weapon away too. The unicorn still kept coming at her with his screeching blades that sent sparks everywhere whenever they slid against the metal of the Trident. Left and right she kept blocking with the Trident even as he pushed her back.

Suddenly he jumped out of the way and Rainbow’s eyes went wide as the staff pegasus had been coming right behind him—using his comrades body to block her sight of him. He thrust his staff at her and she had to hastily block it with the center of the Trident. A whirring sound from her right brought attention to the fact that a scythe was coming right for her head and with no opportunity to block it she had to duck her head and hope for the best.

It passed by right behind her ear, shaving off a few hairs of her rainbow mane but otherwise leaving her unharmed.

When the pegasus tried another attack with his staff she flicked the Trident upwards to deflect it and then swung it around and into his side. He grunted in pain as he was knocked to the floor. Down momentarily but certainly not out like the other pegasus.

Wasabi and the unicorn then came at her together. Hoof strikes and scythe swipes coming at her from both sides but her reflexes and speed with the Trident were enough for her to block their attacks for now. She turned Wasabi’s hoof away on one punch and slapped the pommel of the Trident against the side of his face. It didn’t have enough strength to knock him down but it stunned him for a moment so he couldn’t constantly attack her. That gave Rainbow Dash the opportunity to kick the unicorn in the side the next time he came at her since she didn’t have to focus on Wasabi for the moment.

Like that she got into a rhythm, each time one of them tried to attack her she was able to block and counterattack them instead. They weren’t able to attack together to keep her on the defensive. Instead she focused on one and then the other. Wasabi punched at her. She blocked and whacked him in the side with the Trident. The unicorn swung his scythes at her. She blocked and kicked him in the ribs. Back and forth they went like this with neither of them actually landing a single blow on her while she steadily chipped away at them and slowly injured them more and more. It was just small bruises and pain at first but it was adding up the longer the fight went on. Rainbow Dash may have been stuck in the middle of them but she was completely controlling the fight.

Clang!

Slice!

Whack!

A grunt of pain from Wasabi as he finally had to retreat briefly—his age perhaps catching up with him as he stumbled away from Rainbow Dash and leaned against one of the pillars in the room for support.

Rainbow turned to focus entirely on the unicorn. He brought both his scythes up in front of him and crossed them over each other before fearlessly attacking her. Slices and swings to her head, to her hooves grasping the Trident, anywhere he could try and land a blow. Rainbow Dash hovered low to the floor as she blocked with the Trident and pressed him back. Every now and then she stabbed out with the Trident towards his head to make him dodge and weave around it. He brought one scythe at her head that she ducked under while another came from below at her throat that she blocked with the Trident.

Rainbow Dash then flew back just barely an inch and when he raked his scythes at her again she flew over his head. In the middle of flying behind him he turned and swung his scythe at her belly—Rainbow kicked the flat of the blade away and then landed on the floor. She swept out with the Trident and knocked the unicorn’s legs out from under him. The moment he fell to the floor she cracked him between the eyes with the Trident’s pommel. He rolled over onto his back and his scythes clattered to the tile.

Out.

Before Rainbow Dash could even catch her breath though, the staff pegasus jumped over his fallen comrade and wildly swung his weapon at her. He was attacking much more frantically than before. The flailing end section going for her head most of the time but he also sent a few swings to her wings to try and clip her mobility. Heavy thuds resounded in the chamber as the staff and Trident smacked against each other while Rainbow defended herself. The pegasus was the angriest she had ever seen any of these warriors get. Together they moved as they fought until they were on the floor between the staircases.

His staff came swinging at her temple so Rainbow ducked under it but the pegasus let it swing around his own neck as it came back around and pulled it forward so the staff was now jabbing right between her eyes. She did something a little unexpected again. Moving her head just enough so the end of the staff sailed past her safe, Rainbow leaned forward and “grabbed” the staff, holding it under her chin and against her body before the pegasus could pull it back. Jerking her head to the side she pulled the staff out of his hooves—leaving him weaponless.

And then she tossed the Trident to him.

“Here,” she said as he caught it in his hooves.

The warrior blinked and looked down at it—right before Rainbow came flying into him, kicking him as hard as she could and sending him flying backwards into the stone railing of the right staircase while the Trident went flying into the air. He smashed through the railing, breaking it to pieces, and came to a rest on the stone steps. Meanwhile the Trident flipped end over end before Rainbow caught it, twirling it around with a grin and stamping it on the floor.

The heavy hoofsteps walking towards her told her it wasn’t over yet.

Rainbow Dash sighed, turning to face Master Wasabi. “You don’t have to keep going.”

The old master took a deep breath and dropped into a fighting stance before lunging at her.

“Alright then,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes. She stabbed the Trident out to him as he ran to close the distance with her, he turned the prongs away with one of his gauntlets as she flipped the weapon around and brought the shaft up to block his first punch. More and more punches towards her body were blocked by her perfect defense and reflexes. As good as Wasabi was he couldn’t match her, especially after being worn down the way he was. Every punch he made was either blocked or turned away, a steady bang, bang, bang, from the repeated strikes of metal against metal.

After one blocked punch, Rainbow feinted with the spear end of the Trident before pulling it back and flicking the pommel end towards Wasabi’s head. He blocked it with a hoof and threw another at her face that Rainbow avoided. She swung the Trident down at his head but with both hooves raised over his head he blocked it and pushed it off him.

Using that moment he stepped forward—Rainbow’s Trident still raised high in the air where she couldn’t properly defend her whole body with it now. He threw a punch towards her face but Rainbow Dash used her own momentum from when he had pushed the Trident up and away to flip backwards and dodge his punch completely. At the same time she stabbed the Trident into the floor halfway through her flip, landed sideways on it, and tensed her body and wings to get ready for jumping off it.

Glancing at him, she locked eyes with Wasabi for a split second before shooting forward.

And with the full power of her body and wings propelling her faster than he could defend himself she punched him in the throat. The old warrior gasped and staggered backwards to give Rainbow Dash enough time to land, reach back for the Trident, pull it out, and spin it over her head. He looked up just in time to see her swinging it down at his face.

A painful crack as the blunt sides of the prongs impacted his skull rang out. And Master Wasabi collapsed to the floor.

Rainbow Dash sighed, catching her breath, and wiped the sweat from her brow. She sadly looked down at him and shook her head. “Sorry...”

Then her eyes turned to the Trident she was still holding and narrowed. How did I fight like that with this? I’ve used spears and staffs before, occasionally, but I’ve never fought like that with them. It was almost like the Trident was moving me before I moved it. You’ve really got some crazy magical powers running through you, huh?

She didn’t have time to ponder that anymore though. Her friends were still in danger. Rainbow Dash stretched for a second to make sure she was still doing good, and then shot off to fly back up to the great chamber.

Finality

Daylight Gleam coughed and sputtered in pain as the armored hoof pressed down on her throat, spittle mixed with blood coming out with each strangled breath.

“Stop! Stop, you’re killing her!” Senax yelled from her place sprawled out on the floor of the grand convocation chamber. A few feet away but helpless to do anything. Gilbert and Breakwater, unconscious but alive, lied on either side of her.

“Just another filthy merpony lover. Who cares if she dies?” Coral Sea said as she ground her hoof down harder.

Daylight tried to force some power into her horn to counterattack—but as soon as the powder blue glow appeared around her appendage Coral Sea removed her hoof from her throat and stomped on her horn instead. Daylight cried out in pain while her magic failed, and then felt another heavy kick to her stomach, rolling her across the floor to Senax and the others. She coughed, horn throbbing in pain, barely able to breathe properly, and struggled to stand. Senax tried to help her up but the merpony was also injured from a prior assault. The two didn’t know what to do as the armored High Priestess stared them down, her purple eyes only barely visible behind the visor of her helmet.

“It would’ve just been the merpony who died down here if the rest of you were smart,” Coral Sea said. “But now I’ll kill the three of you first. Make her watch. Make her suffer as much as I can before finally ending it.”

“Why… just why?” Senax cried, hugging Daylight.

“Ahahahahaha!” Coral Sea loudly laughed as the armor she wore shook. “Because you deserve it!”

“Nnnghh...” Daylight groaned in pain, coughing, as she sat up and glared at Coral Sea. “You’re a… you’re a monster...”

“No. I’m the one getting rid of the monsters. And every other pony and creature on the ocean can then wear the chains my ancestors wore—but now we will be the masters. All others will be under the control of the Sarraroccon Order!” Coral Sea exclaimed.

“You know, that doesn’t sound so great.”

Coral Sea, Senax, and Daylight looked up at the high balcony where Rainbow Dash was now slowly flying down from. Trident in hooves.

“You-?!” Coral Sea flipped up her visor and glared at Rainbow Dash. Surprise, confusion, anger, all flashed across her face. “How are you still alive?”

Rainbow Dash landed on the floor between her and her friends. She shrugged. “I think I told you you didn’t know who you were messing with.” She then turned to her friends and frowned. “Are Gilbert and Breakwater okay?”

“T-They were just knocked out, they’ll be fine,” Senax nodded.

“And are you fine?” Rainbow asked.

Senax hesitated but nodded again. “I will be.”

“It took you long enough to get here by the way,” Daylight coughed again.

“Sorry—unlike you I had to fight four ponies all by myself,” Rainbow grinned. “If you can make jokes you can’t be hurt too bad anyways.”

“None of you will be making any jokes soon. I’ll just have to take that Trident from you myself. It’s mine. It was my ancestors who made sure I would eventually claim it,” Coral Sea glowered at Rainbow Dash and flipped her visor back down.

“The Trident belongs to Senax. Not you,” Rainbow narrowed her eyes.

“Then I’ll make it mine through force. No matter.”

Rainbow Dash squared off against her and pointed the Trident of Ponyseidon at the armored priestess. “Senax, Daylight, try and wake up Gilbert and Breakwater and stay back. I’ll handle her.”

“We can help-”

“I don’t want her to use you against me,” Rainbow said. And that was that.

The two stood still, sizing the other up, in the grand convocation chamber. If they had been out on the surface, a breeze would’ve blown through their manes and a tumbleweed would have gone rolling by. Rainbow had no idea where Coral Sea’s fancy armor had come from or how good she was at using that horn. Coral Sea was more worried than she was willing to admit after Rainbow Dash had defeated her best warriors.

There was no signal, but both of them moved at once.

Coral Sea fired a beam of golden magic at Rainbow Dash while she ran at her. Rainbow Dash flew around it and swiftly stabbed the Trident out at the unicorn’s armored side while she flew by, aiming to shred the armor apart but not cut the pony inside it. However, when her Trident was close to cutting into the armor, a golden aura appeared around it and yanked it away, just barely enough so it didn’t even scrape the surface. Rainbow felt the Trident being pulled against her will and quickly glanced at Coral Sea’s horn, seeing it lit up and knowing she was using her telekinesis to try and either deflect the weapon or outright take it from Rainbow’s grip if she wasn’t careful.

If she lost the Trident Rainbow wasn’t sure she had the physical strength to punch through armor like that.

Still, for the moment she flapped her wings harder and finished her flyby of Coral Sea, pulling the Trident out of the golden aura with her superior strength and velocity. She swiftly flew around in a circle and came by the other side, swinging the Trident at Coral Sea’s head to knock her out. She doubted the armor could fully protect against that sort of blunt force trauma. Especially since she knew whatever the Trident was made out of had to be stronger than the priestess’s armor.

Coral Sea’s visored face turned as the Trident was coming at her and a golden glow enveloped it again. Rainbow grunted as her swing was slowed down to a stop and the two of them fought for control of the Trident. Just as suddenly—Coral Sea let go and Rainbow went flying backwards—followed by numerous beams of magical energy. Rainbow Dash had to dodge and weave through the barrage, the beams of magic exploding behind her against the walls and floor of the chamber.

She’s definitely more powerful than Daylight… Rainbow frowned as she flew around.

The magic still wasn’t as fast as she was though and Rainbow didn’t have any worries that Coral Sea would actually hit her with one of those beams. She looked down at the floor and saw that Senax and Daylight had managed to wake Gilbert and Breakwater, now the four of them were moving to the stairs that would leave down and out of the chamber. Good. One less thing to worry about for the moment.

“Give me the Trident already!” Coral Sea shouted and fired a wave of magic at her.

Rainbow Dash dipped below it and flew close to the floor, coming straight at the High Priestess again. Coral Sea this time fired a beam of concentrated magic at the floor in front of her, blowing apart the tile and kicking up a cloud of dust, smoke, and rock. Rainbow had to pause midflight, raising a hoof over her face to shield it from all the debris—and was thus surprised when Coral Sea came jumping out of the cloud of smoke at her.

The armored pony crashed into her and took the two of them to the floor. Despite not having the natural strength of an earth pony, the armor Coral Sea wore gave her more than enough weight to pin Rainbow to the ground. The metal itself was a sort of strength as every physical hit she made was going to hurt far worse. Right now the Trident was pinned between both their bodies, Rainbow unable to really pull it free, and Coral Sea was staring at her through her visor, her purple eyes shining and a happy smirk on her face.

“You could’ve lived if you weren’t such a fool,” Coral Sea said. With her left hoof she pressed down on Rainbow Dash’s throat and started to choke the life out of her, using her other hoof to keep one of Rainbow’s wings pinned down so she couldn’t try and break free so easily.

“Ghh!” Rainbow sputtered as the cold armor cut off her airway.

But just because she couldn’t pull the Trident free and one of her wings was pinned down didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything. Rainbow jostled the Trident as best she could and with one hoof on the top of it she pressed the pommel end down against the floor while on the other side she pressed upwards to create some leverage between her body and Coral Sea’s. Thanks to the power of fulcrums and physics she was able to lift the unicorn off her a little bit. While Coral Sea snarled and tried to choke her harder, Rainbow brought up her hindlegs with the small amount of room she now had and placed them under her stomach. With a grin, Rainbow pushed up with all the strength she had, pushing with the Trident, her legs, and her entire body.

Coral Sea was launched over her head and roughly onto the floor if the loud banging of the armor was any indication.

Rainbow Dash instantly jumped back up and turned around while swinging the Trident out to where Coral Sea should be. She hadn’t bothered to waste time and look first.

The spear end of the Trident caught the unicorn on the back of the head as she rose from the floor. Just the blunt side of it and not the sharp tips, but it was still enough to dislodge the helmet from Coral Sea’s head and send it bouncing across the floor. Coral Sea’s sandy mane, still covered in shells, flowed out freely now as she grunted in pain from the hit and turned to glare at Rainbow Dash.

“You’ll pay for that.”

“Or you could give up here,” Rainbow said as she twirled the Trident around a few times. “Don’t you get it? You’ve already lost.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t get it,” Coral Sea smirked. “Your friend Ballast? That ship you came here on? I have them in my possession now. Wasabi and those three weren’t the only warriors I brought down here with me. You are not escaping from me. All of you are going to die down here now.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “We’ll see.”

Coral Sea fired more beams of magic from her horn at Rainbow Dash—at close range like this it was dangerous to both of them. Rainbow’s reflexes were sharp enough though where she was able to immediately fly back up and avoid the shots, most harmlessly flying past or blowing up chunks of the floor. Coral Sea kept firing more and more as Rainbow flew above her, spiraling and corkscrewing around the huge room, every now and then she would dive at the unicorn and strafe by her with Coral Sea either jumping away or using her magic to turn away the Trident. The High Priestess was getting tired about this lack of progress.

Changing strategy, the next time Rainbow Dash started to fly in at her she grabbed some of the rubble off the ground and threw it at Rainbow Dash. Trying to catch her off-guard with throwing something new at her instead of the very obvious beams of magic. The largest piece of rubble was going right at Rainbow Dash’s face, but the pegasus only smirked and whacked it back straight at Coral Sea with the Trident.

Her eyebrows shot up as the rock came screaming back at her and smashed into her face. Coral Sea yelped in pain but kept her eyes from squeezing shut—still watching Rainbow Dash as she came in. Rainbow stuck her Trident out and Coral Sea realized she wouldn’t be able to stop it in time with her magic. She had to jump to the side right as its sharp prongs scraped across the armor of her front right leg. It shredded it to pieces but she avoided being cut.

Or perhaps her opponent didn’t want to cut her in the first place.

Rainbow Dash came to a stop at the floor and looked over her shoulder at Coral Sea, raising an eyebrow at the High Priestess.

“Tch,” Coral Sea clicked her tongue and tore off the broken armor on her leg with her magic. Leaving her looking rather mismatched.

“Still going through with this?” Rainbow asked as she fully turned around.

“Until I have my Trident,” Coral Sea nodded. Her horn lit up once more but instead of any beam coming out, an aura enveloped her entire body to give her a second armor. “Come, pegasus.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t disappoint her. She flew at Coral Sea and swung the Trident at her head but Coral blocked it with her armored hoof and threw a surprisingly fast punch at Rainbow’s face. Rainbow ducked under it and brought the other end of the Trident around in a swipe to Coral Sea’s side. However, Coral Sea simply let the pommel smash into her magic and armor where it couldn’t really hurt her or knock her back. She lifted up and swung her armored hoof down at Rainbow’s skull—who had to backstep right as the hoof came down and shattered the tile she had been standing on. Without pause the unicorn lowered her head and jabbed her horn forward at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow though was able to block it with the shaft of the Trident and push the unicorn away.

She was surprised though that the High Priestess actually knew how to fight. Maybe she had gone through some training of her own at Black Sand Island.

Coral Sea charged her, punching and swinging with her hooves while occasionally ducking down to make quick jabs with her horn at Rainbow Dash. Like she had with Master Wasabi, Rainbow Dash turned away or blocked every attack with the help of her Trident. Though Coral Sea was a decent fighter she lacked the patience that the warriors Rainbow just defeated had. Her face was an angry snarl and Rainbow could see her getting angrier and angrier as time went by.

She didn’t have the stamina of Rainbow Dash either. Not by a long shot. Her punches were ever so slightly becoming slower and her guard weaker. Occasionally after blocking a punch, Rainbow would swing the Trident around and smack either the pommel or the spear end into her side or legs. It was taking a toll on her magic.

“You won’t… you won’t!” Coral Sea growled and threw a punch at Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow ducked under it and flicked the pommel of the Trident up at her chest and ribs. It hit the aura of magic around her armor and broke through it before smashing into and denting her amber armor. Coral Sea grunted in pain, coughing as she lost her breath and stumbled back.

“Done yet? I’m telling you it doesn’t have to be this way,” Rainbow said to her.

“Aaaarggghhh!” Coral Sea bestially yelled and ran at her. She crashed into a surprised Rainbow Dash, grabbing the Trident and trying to pull it from Rainbow’s grip. The two of them spun around from her momentum—both fighting to control the ancient artifact and make it their own.

Rainbow grit her teeth and put all the muscle she could into holding onto the Trident and trying to pull it away from Coral Sea. She tried flapping her wings to fly up briefly but Coral braced herself against the floor, her heavy armor making it impossible for Rainbow to fly away right now. Rainbow was still stronger than her and would’ve won the tug-of-war normally but Coral Sea’s horn flared up once more and she started to grab the treasure with her magic as well. The two of them now evenly matched in the power they were using to take the Trident.

Both their hooves shook as they glared at each other around the green shaft of metal, sharp prongs of the Trident pointed up at the glass dome ceiling.

Neither was giving up.

“Nghh...” Coral Sea struggled for dominance, furious that Rainbow still wouldn’t let go. “The Trident is mine! It’s MINE!”

Rainbow’s glare morphed into a knowing smirk. “You don’t deserve it.”

“What?”

“You don’t deserve the Trident. This thing belongs in the hooves of someone who would fear and revere its power, who would never use it for personal gain, or to make others suffer. Someone like Senax! Not you. If you only wanted the Trident to make sure no one would do what was done to your ancestors in the past with it then fine, I wouldn’t have a problem with that, Senax wouldn’t either. She might have even let you take it as a show of goodwill! But you’re not like that. You don’t just want to protect your people, or make sure this thing isn’t misused, you want to do exactly what Ponyseidon did except this time you’ll be on top. You want to enslave others, control them, rule over them, do things just as wrong as when they were done to you in the past! I never trusted you, but I wasn’t sure if maybe you were okay but just a little suspicious and untrusting of Senax. But now I know exactly what you are; just another bad pony.”

She headbutted Coral Sea right below the horn and made the unicorn yelp and lose her grip on the Trident. Then brought the weapon around and smashed it into her ribs, crumpling the armor there and forcing her to collapse to the floor. Coral Sea sputtered and coughed, blood dripping from the bruise on her forehead.

“Alright, that’s it,” Rainbow said, rubbing her own forehead.

Coral Sea slammed her hooves onto the floor and stood up. Shaking. Her eyes red and full of fury.

Rainbow Dash frowned. She didn’t think the priestess would actually be able to stand again. She lowered the Trident and pointed it at her. “Just stop.”

Without another word, Coral Sea ran directly at Rainbow Dash and the Trident.

Rainbow had to turn the Trident away slightly so it wouldn’t stab the priestess—but her eyes widened as a golden glow covered the Trident once more and moved it back against the will of her hooves. The sharp prongs aimed directly at Coral Sea’s chest. The momentum of the pony and the impossible sharpness of the middle spear was all that was needed. The tip of the Trident penetrated the amber armor like it was nothing and skewered Coral Sea’s body down to the bottom of the prong. Coral Sea immediately spat up a mouthful of blood as her eyes shot open, pupils shrinking down to pinpricks.

“No!” Rainbow yelled and on reflex pulled the Trident out. A stream of blood shot out with it and just kept flowing and flowing down Coral Sea’s body and onto the floor.

The unicorn’s legs failed her and she collapsed onto the floor, only barely moving and breathing.

Rainbow dropped the Trident and grabbed her, holding her head and trying to see if she could stop the bleeding or do anything to help. As she saw how much blood had already pooled out onto the floor though she knew there was nothing she could do. “Why… why did you do that?!” Rainbow yelled just as much in shock as in anger and regret.

Coral Sea’s eyes managed to turn to face her. A cough of blood came out from her mouth again and splattered on her chin. “Now… now my blood… joins… joins the blood… of my ancestors.”

Her eyes rolled back. Her head fell. Her body went limp.

Rainbow held her there for a few minutes longer. She didn’t know what to say. Then she stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes before grabbing the Trident again and going to find her friends.

At least they were safe now.

Oh No

Rainbow Dash flew with a grim face down the stairs out of the convocation chamber while she went to find her friends. A glimpse of something red caught her eyes and she looked at the Trident of Ponyseidon, seeing Coral Sea’s blood still on it. Rainbow frowned and stopped, flicking the Trident towards the wall so the blood would fly off and then started flying back down again. That wasn’t how she wanted things to go. She wasn’t remotely happy with how things had ended, even if Coral Sea was not remotely a good pony. There wasn’t enough chance for them to come to an understanding and for Rainbow to maybe get her to change her ways and goal. She didn’t think the High Priestess was irredeemable. But now she’d never get the chance.

She shook her head. There was nothing she could do about it anymore. If what Coral Sea had said was true then they might end up having to fight through some more warriors once they made it back to The Breakwater, but at least the immediate danger was over with. She just wanted to meet back up with her friends right now and make sure they were all okay. Then the annoying stuff could be dealt with.

“I say, getting punched in the face with an armored hoof is a rather unpleasant experience,” Gilbert said. His jaw still ached.

“Yeah, remind me to not do that in the future. Next time we should just try and stall longer for Rainbow Dash,” Breakwater said.

“Things are okay now at least, I’m sure of it,” Daylight said.

They were back in the room where they had fought and destroyed those big stone merpony statues. Resting. Waiting for Rainbow Dash to show up. The four of them really needed it after almost being killed by the High Priestess. Senax wasn’t in the mood to talk, she had some bruises and was a little sore, but besides that was unharmed. It was the rage and hatred Coral Sea had shown that really got to her. She wasn’t used to something like that being directed at her, and no matter what she said or did nothing seemed to help. Some part of her even felt like she deserved it after what had been learned.

“Guys! Hey guys!” The loud voice of Rainbow Dash came from above.

They turned to see her flying down from the terrace, a collective sigh of relief coming from all of them.

Rainbow came to a stop right in front of them, still safely holding onto the Trident. “Are you all okay?”

“Never been better,” Gilbert wryly grinned.

Rainbow Dash grinned back but it was a little shaky. “Good to hear.”

“So everything’s alright? Coral Sea isn’t...” Daylight asked.

“It’s… it’s taken care of,” Rainbow said, her lips thinning.

Senax’s eyes widened slightly in realization. “She’s dead?” It came out as a whisper.

“I-I’m sorry, she… I couldn’t do anything,” Rainbow nodded.

“Ohhh...” Senax squeezed her eyes shut and sadly lowered her head to the floor.

Daylight frowned as she looked between the two of them. “You know considering what she did and what she was going to do I don’t exactly think she’s worthy of pity from either of you.”

“That may be easy for you to say but it’s different for me. I don’t like things ending like that,” Rainbow said. “Not with a pony I never got a real chance to talk to especially.”

Daylight wisely stayed quiet while both Gilbert and Breakwater awkwardly shuffled about.

“L-Let’s just go. If it’s over it’s over,” Senax finally said, lifting her head again.

Breakwater reached over to place a comforting hoof on her back. “Don’t forget, we still found your home. And now we don’t have to worry about anyone misusing the Trident. I know things aren’t as perfect as we wanted them, but this is still a time to be happy I’d say. We’re doing pretty good right now. And you’re going to have some great news for your people when you get back to East Glade.”

“That’s absolutely right!” Gilbert nodded along. “Don’t forget that!”

Senax managed to smile at the two of them. “Thank you. I know you’re right, and that really does mean a lot.”

“Hate to be the bearer of some more bad news but we’re not entirely out of the woods just yet… out of the ocean… out of the, whatever, what I mean is we’ve still got some more Sarraroccons in here to deal with,” Rainbow Dash said.

“More Sarraroccons?” Daylight raised an eyebrow. “She mentioned there would be more to chase us down but I didn’t know she meant right here.”

“Yeah. Coral Sea said she left some to guard The Breakwater and Ballast. She captured him when she got here.”

“Just fantastic...” Breakwater frowned. “I hope he’s okay.”

“From the way she was talking I’m pretty sure she at least didn’t kill him or anything,” Rainbow said.

“But we’re going to have to fight our way out of here still?” Gilbert asked.

Rainbow sighed. “Yeah. It looks like we’ll have to do that. Shouldn’t really be any danger though, whatever warriors that are left aren’t going to be on the same level as the others. Just stick behind me when we get back to The Breakwater and I’ll take care of everything.”

“At least we also know why everything has been so strange down here,” Daylight said, rubbing her chin as she mused.

“Huh?” Rainbow looked at her.

“Think about it. If the Trident was cursed, I bet Coral Sea’s ancestors were responsible for the armor and statues that attacked us—that were focused entirely on Senax. It was all another layer to making sure a merpony would never get the Trident,” Daylight explained.

“Guess that does make some sense...” Rainbow said. She looked down at the Trident she was holding and then offered it over to Senax. “Do you want to try touching it again?”

Senax grimaced and shook her head. “N-No… I think I’ll be holding off on doing that until we can get someone else to look at it.”

“Fair enough. Let’s get back to The Breakwater as fast as we can then,” Rainbow nodded and took to the air again, leading the way.

“It’ll take a little while but I remember the way to go,” Daylight said.

“Mhm, me too,” Rainbow said.

Rainbow kept a slow pace as she flew just a few inches off the ground, knowing the others were tired and maybe still hurting a bit. She passed by the rubble of the statues she had destroyed, giving them barely a passing glance. She wondered if the armor would try attacking them again? Or if perhaps it had all gone back to where it came from. Didn’t matter, it would at worst be an inconvenience again. She was more certain than ever that she could just power through that armor, especially with the Trident in hoof.

Opening up the doors leading back out of here they found themselves in a familiar crescent room. No armor around, it was all completely gone. Even any scattered pieces that might have been lying around had vanished.

Nope—not quite. Rainbow and the others blinked and looked to their sides, seeing that armor stood upon the formerly empty pedestals. That same fancy merpony armor, now completely stoic and still, just as an empty suit of armor should be.

“I’m willing to bet that once Rainbow Dash pulled out the Trident that the armor went back to where it’s supposed to be,” Daylight said.

“We’ll see for sure in the next couple of rooms,” Breakwater said.

“Those doors-” Gilbert said as he pointed ahead. “Most of the armor would’ve gotten stuck in the hallway right behind them.”

“Moment of truth,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. She flew right over to the doors and opened them up.

Senax sighed in relief as it was just a normal hallway. The armor was picked up and gone aside from two suits that were standing by the doors on the other end of the hallway. That would lead to the room where she had stepped on that emblem on the floor and brought the armor to life in the first place. This time she was planning on not doing that.

Rainbow Dash grinned and led them down the hallway. “I’d say things are looking good.”

She pushed open both doors together and the group walked into the room.

And stopped as just across the room was Godfrey Goldenwing.

Rainbow’s face fell into an uncomfortably sad frown. “Well… that ended quickly.”

“Well ain’t that a great coincidence,” Godfrey said, smiling at them all.

He had quite the party with him too. Standing right next to him on his right was some fairly grungy looking stallion with an expression on his face that said “I really wish I wasn’t here right now” that Rainbow Dash didn’t recognize. And next to him was the unfortunately familiar geezer Old Diver and his two butlers. Old Diver looked ecstatic as his eyes searched around the room while his butlers’ faces were unsurprisingly miserable. And then on Godfrey’s left was Ballast, looking frightened but now a bit hopeful that his friends were here, and to the left of him were four other rather dangerous looking stallions holding spears. Rainbow had no idea who they were, but she recognized the spears as looking exactly like the ones Bosche soldiers would use. The four of them did seem to know her though, their eyes widened and they snarled angrily, two of them lowering their spears as if they were about to fight her before the other two held them back and gestured to Godfrey. Seems whoever they were they weren’t doing anything without the pirate’s permission.

“Ballast!” Breakwater shouted as soon as he saw him, he moved to take a step-

“Ah!” Godfrey interrupted him and reached a talon around Ballast’s neck, pulling him close while also pulling his cutlass free with his other talon. He held the blade right to Ballast’s throat. “I’d suggest nobody do anything stupid. Unless you want a very dead friend right here.”

“Godfrey!” Rainbow yelled. Behind her Gilbert and Daylight tensed up and walked over to stand by her sides and back her up.

Senax meanwhile calmly strode forward.

Godfrey raised an eyebrow at her and pushed the cutlass further against Ballast, making him squeak. “Not another step, merpony.”

She stopped. Rainbow and the others were looking at her. Wondering what was going through her mind.

“How dare you come here,” Senax said to Godfrey. She stared him dead in the eyes, unflinching. “You don’t deserve to be here. None of you do.”

“In my defense I really never wanted to come here...” the grungy stallion Rainbow didn’t recognize mumbled.

Her words also got the attention of Old Diver, who seemed to be snapped out of his stupor as he glared over at her. “What? What? Don’t deserve to be here! This is my discovery! My grandfather’s discovery! The most wondrous, most impossible and most incredible discovery ever made on the Grand Ocean! Of course I deserve to be here—you… you just want the credit don’t you?! Well I’m not sharing it. Not with you or anyone else!” He started pointing at the others in the room one by one. “None of you will take Old Diver’s credit!”

Godfrey rolled his eyes. “Anyways. I see you’ve already acquired what I came down here to steal. Thanks for taking out some of the leg work for me, Rainbow Dash.” His eyes glinted with desire at the Trident of Ponyseidon. “I think just like with the Necklace I’d like you to give that Trident to me now. In fact—speaking of that-” He let go of Ballast with his free talon while still keeping the cutlass at his throat and reached up to his neck where the Necklace was still tightly wrapped around. Putting a single claw under the golden chain he yanked it off his neck and tossed the treasure right over to Senax—who caught it with a yelp of shock. “You can have that back now. Don’t need it anymore anyways, figured it was the least I could do for you.”

“Y-You-!” Senax angrily sputtered at his dismissive attitude and rough treatment of the Necklace. Her hooves were shaking as she placed the Necklace around her own much thinner neck and tied the chain into a knot to keep it on.

“Yes. Me. Now the Trident, Rainbow Dash,” Godfrey narrowed his eyes at her.

Rainbow’s hooves tightened their grip on the treasure, looking between Godfrey and Ballast. “You’re not getting the Trident, Godfrey. Just let Ballast go free. I… I can’t let you have this thing.”

“And yet if it came down to it you’d still never let me kill him when you could’ve saved him,” Godfrey said and pressed the cutlass just further enough to draw blood.

“Ngh!” Ballast flinched.

“Stop!” Rainbow shouted. Beside her, Daylight was sweating, thinking if she could or couldn’t do anything. Breakwater grit his teeth in anger, clenching on them so hard they were close to shattering.

“Brother do not do this!” Gilbert tried to plead with him.

“I won’t do it if I get that Trident! That thing is the only treasure on this entire ocean I actually care about! The things I could do with it, the adventure, the excitement, it would all be on a new level from what I’ve done so far in my life,” Godfrey grinned, looking up and down the ancient treasure. “Oh yes, Rainbow Dash. I know why you can’t give it to me. You know what I’d do with it. But you can’t give up the lives of your friends. It’s just how you are.”

“We don’t even know if the darn Trident actually does anything...” Breakwater growled.

“The other Treasures have their own properties that I know work. I’m sure the legends of the Trident are true as well,” Godfrey shrugged. “So just hurry it up, Rainbow Dash. Hurry it up, then we can fight one last time and end this all. I’m going to enjoy beating you for good.”

Senax looked back at Rainbow Dash, uncertainty in her gaze. Both in her own heart and what she thought Rainbow Dash might do. Daylight bit her lip and also sent the pegasus a sidelong gaze. Everyone was waiting on her. Though they might have their own ideas, their own desires, in the end they would move the way Rainbow Dash did.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and stared Godfrey straight in the eye. “I won’t fight you.”

“Huh?” The griffon pirate frowned.

“If you care that much about fighting me. Then let Ballast go and let’s decide it right here, right now. But if you make me give up the Trident first? Then forget about it. I won’t fight back after that. And you’ll be robbed of what you really want. A real victory over me. You cared enough about beating me on your terms that you didn’t kill me back when you had the chance on the Lost Isle. To be honest—I’d like to finish the fight with you too. So enough with the hostage business.” She pointed the Trident at him. “Just come at me right now. If you’ve got the guts, that is.”

Godfrey’s face became predatory as he smirked at her. “Well don’t you love trying to push my buttons. Trying to get me to do something stupid and impulsive again just because it’s more fun? Even when I hold all the cards?”

Rainbow smirked back. “Well you’re like me in a lot of ways so I figure it’s got a good shot at working.”

“Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed. “True, very true. Even if I did get the Trident I’d be very unhappy with not getting to fight you after. There’d be no satisfaction. After all this time, all the other times we fought, if it ended like that I’d never get over it. I think you’ve got the right of it.”

“So then let-”

“However.”

Rainbow stiffened, not liking the tone of Godfrey’s voice.

A darker look than she could ever remember seeing in his eyes took over. “I hate how fearless you act around me. And have since we met again on the Lost Isle. You can’t get one over on me, Rainbow Dash. You can’t control how things go. Not this time. And I need to remind you of your place. I need to remind you of who I am. You can’t look down on me, because no one can look down on me. Because no one is better than me. You’ll fight, Rainbow Dash. You will for sure. Let’s just see you get angry first!”

He tightened his grip on his cutlass and prepared to slice it across Ballast’s throat.

Rainbow Dash got ready to lunge forward. Senax raised her hooves to her mouth as she felt herself about to scream. Daylight’s horn lit up even though she had no idea what she was going to do with it. Breakwater’s mouth was already opening to yell in rage. And Gilbert’s wings were spreading as he prepared to fly at his brother.

Everyone in the room was then interrupted when another door opened up. All of them paused in mid-action and looked over. The door to Rainbow’s right and Godfrey’s left.

A pony stepped out.

Rainbow’s entire body paled. “Oh no...”

Godfrey's Rage

“Hi, Rainbow Dash! Wow! You’ve got so many more friends with you this time!” Heartless said as she looked around the room. Her gaze stopped on Godfrey and she positively beamed as she pointed at him. “That griffon has such a strong and warm light of life too! So much more than any ordinary creature’s!” She looked back over at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Still not like yours though.”

“Who’s this nutjob?” Godfrey scowled at the pink pony.

Rainbow Dash was breathing harder, she couldn’t stop the cold sweat from starting to drip down her face. Her friends were all looking between her and the new arrival in confusion. The rest of the ponies in here were just as puzzled.

“Everyone… run,” Rainbow Dash said. “Please, I know it’s going to sound crazy, I know you won’t want to listen to me. But just run. We have to get out of here now. Just run as fast as you can back to The Breakwater and whatever way you guys got here.” She said as she glanced at Godfrey’s group. “That pony is dangerous, believe me. Forget about everything else, we’ve just gotta run and get away from her.”

“Rainbow Dash, I’m not letting you get away again after taking so long to find you,” Heartless smiled. “We’re all going to be down here together for the rest of your lives.”

“Shut up, Heartless! I’m not letting that happen!” Rainbow growled at her, she pointed the Trident at the pink pony despite knowing it wouldn’t worry her at all.

"Rainbow Dash can you please tell us what’s going on?” Daylight asked.

“I’d like to know too cause I’m thoroughly lost,” Dredge said. He looked over at Ballast and had the decency to look worried for his fellow shipwright’s predicament.

“Look—just listen to me and stay away from her, okay? Don’t let her touch you!” Rainbow shouted. She turned to face Godfrey. “Godfrey, I’m serious—we can fight later but we have to get out of here first.”

He scowled at her, the cutlass still at Ballast’s throat. “What are you so afraid of her for? I’ve never seen you act this way before. I’m the one who should make you shake in fear. You’re telling me this bubblegum pony scares you but you can talk all confidently to me? Like you’re not worried at all?! You think I’m going to let that stand?”

“There’s a big difference between a tough rival and what she is, Godfrey!” Rainbow yelled back at him. “I’ve never looked down on or underestimated you—but we’ve got bigger problems right now!”

“Talking, talking, talking,” Heartless said as she took a single step away from the doorway. Her head tilted to the left and right with each word. “Every single time now, Rainbow Dash. The last two times we met you just talked and talked trying to trick me. I’m tired of talking. It’s been so long since that first day we met. I want to feel what I felt back there again. I even swam aaaaallll the way to the bottom of the ocean for it.”

Rainbow grimaced and took a step back while Godfrey just glared at Heartless. It seemed the griffon pirate had some words he’d like to say for her—if he hadn’t gotten interrupted by someone else first.

“No! No, no, no, no, no!” Old Diver said as he ditched his two butlers and practically ran up to Heartless. “Swam? You swam down here? It was bad enough that others were here trying to take my credit for finding Merlantis but I absolutely won’t stomach anymore of you!”

“Old guy, stop! Get away from her right now!” Rainbow yelled.

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as Old Diver continued to bark at Heartless as he reached her. “You’re another liar! Another delinquent trying to steal things away from me!”

She was completely ignoring him. Her eyes still focused right on Rainbow Dash.

Until he stepped in the way of her view. Old Diver had gotten in front of her face so half her view of Rainbow Dash was blocked. He was still sputtering and going on about nonsense the entire time. But it was only right then that she acknowledged his existence at all.

Rainbow Dash watched as her smile fell away instantly and a colder expression than any she had ever seen on Heartless took its place. A face void of feeling. Eyes that were black holes. Those eyes slightly turned to look at Old Diver, and then her head followed them. It was so wrong. A pony that was all smiles, or at worst childish pouts, suddenly seeing that mask of nothingness on her face was even more disturbing than Heartless already was.

She knew she should have acted. Flown to attack Heartless or flown to pull Old Diver away. But she couldn’t move. Her hooves were glued to the floor.

Instead she could only watch as Heartless lifted her hoof and tapped Old Diver on the forehead.

“Don’t get between me and Rainbow Dash.”

He fell to the floor. Dead before he even hit it.

Heartless vacantly looked down at his body. “It’s been too long, I won’t let anything get between me and Rainbow Dash again.” She then immediately looked back up at Rainbow Dash and smiled—back to normal. “Okay, your turn.”

“What did she just do?” Godfrey said, his brow furrowed as he looked at the limp body of Old Diver.

The Bosche soldiers were flummoxed but they could identify something dangerous when they saw it. The four of them shifted so they were no longer looking at Rainbow Dash, instead lowering their spears at Heartless.

“Sir…?” His butlers also said as he lied there, unmoving. It was clear the two wanted to go over and see what had happened to their master, but they were too afraid. They were just as stuck as Rainbow Dash had been.

Rainbow Dash of course grit her teeth and struggled to keep her eyes free of tears. She didn’t even like that crazy old guy, but he didn’t deserve to die like that. And Heartless just killed him like it was nothing. Like every other time she had done it. It had been so long since she had seen Heartless, she never truly forgot about the monster, but she had been so far back in her mind. Now, faced with her again, the primal terror was inside her heart again. She hated how paralyzed she felt. She should have acted but she couldn’t! Now another pony was already dead and everyone else was in danger. “Everyone… please just listen to me again, please run. Godfrey, let go of Ballast and let’s get out of here. Please.”

“D-Did she really just kill Old Diver?” Daylight said, horrified. Her eyes were glued on the corpse of the old stallion. “Rainbow Dash, who is she?”

Gilbert and Breakwater were equally horrified. They could feel the fear rolling off Rainbow Dash and it was making everything inside this room worse. Senax though, as afraid as she was, was also looking at the strange pink pony with a perplexed expression on her face. She was vaguely familiar for some reason, as if she had seen her once somewhere a long time ago.

Dredge gulped and backed up until he was pressed against the wall—looking to maybe slink away if he thought he could get away with it. And Ballast was still doing his best to avoid accidentally cutting himself on the blade held to his throat. Godfrey seemed to be the only one in the room not afraid, just angry instead. Even he then still could tell that that pink pony was certainly dangerous. “Heartless” was what Rainbow Dash had called her. Her name though only told part of the story and not really who she was.

The rage was still building in him too. The rage born from Rainbow Dash instantly changing her tune and seeing this pink pony as a bigger threat. Her confident swagger that she had shown to him had disappeared. It was infuriating. He never let anybody treat him like that.

Rainbow Dash’s attention should be on him right now. She should be afraid of him. She should be preparing to fight and end things with him. Call it petty, or fragile, he was just self-centered.

Everything that had been started since the first time they fought had been building and building and was now boiling over. Godfrey truly had never had such a fun, but infuriating, time as chasing down and fighting Rainbow Dash. He honestly felt they were being inexorably pushed together until they could finish things for good. And now here she was acting like she didn’t care at all. Like she had something else that was more important going on.

“For the love of—just drop it for now! Trust me enough that we need to get out of here!” Rainbow Dash yelled at Daylight and the rest of her friends. She didn’t usually blow a gasket like that but right now she really couldn’t help it. She looked over at Godfrey with a frown. “Godfrey? You saw what she did so if you want to live through this-”

“Are you kidding me right now?!” Godfrey exploded. Interrupting Rainbow Dash and also getting Heartless’s attention as she glanced over at him. He took his cutlass away from Ballast’s neck, turned it over, and slammed it into the floor where the blade embedded itself into the stone. Letting go of Ballast, he tossed the shipwright away and reached over to one of the Bosche soldiers beside him. Godfrey grabbed his spear out of his hooves and pulled his powerful arm back, aiming it right at the pink pony. With all the strength in his body he threw the spear straight at Heartless.

Before Heartless could even blink the spear struck her through the throat and with the sheer force of the throw it carried her into the door behind her and impaled her right to it. She hung off it limply, for all intents and purposes looking dead.

“There! She’s dead!” Godfrey roared and picked up his cutlass. “Now fight me, Rainbow Dash!”

He immediately lunged for her, pushing himself with his powerful wings, and made a great sweeping swing with his cutlass at her body. Though Rainbow Dash was a bit caught off-guard by what he had done, she still lifted the Trident in time to block the sword from cutting her in half. Thanks to Godfrey’s great strength though the blade of his sword still pushed the Trident against her and lifted Rainbow off her hooves, sending her flying past her friends and bouncing off the wall behind them.

Godfrey flew over her friends and came down at her with his cutlass but Rainbow rolled out of the way right as the blade slashed where she had been. She swung her Trident at him but Godfrey blocked it and the two locked weapons for a short time.

“There we go, Rainbow Dash. This is how it should be,” Godfrey said to her.

“You have a real knack for messing things up, you know?” Rainbow Dash glared at him.

“I know. And I love it,” Godfrey grinned and pushed her away.

Rainbow took to the air, hovering around the room and flitting away from him as he chased after her. She clicked her tongue and looked to her friends. “Guys! I’ll take care of Godfrey, you need to deal with Heartless somehow, but be careful!” Godfrey’s cutlass came at her head and she blocked it with the Trident, turning his blade to the side she almost whacked him in the head with the Trident but he ducked under it. Rainbow flew down and kicked open the door that led to the crescent room they had come from, letting Godfrey come in after her.

Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater looked in after her as she and the griffon fought all over the hallway, weapons clashing again and again.

When their weapons locked again and Rainbow was holding out against Godfrey’s strength, she met the eyes of her friends.

“I’m sorry—but listen to me! You can’t get near her, and whatever you do don’t let her touch you! Magic won’t work on her either but you’re still going to have to find someway to stop her! She’s dumb, trick or trap her somehow!”

Godfrey pushed her away from him and stabbed towards her eye. Rainbow zipped away from it and the sword left a gouge in the wall behind her. She now went to the far door of the hallway and prepared to lead Godfrey further away from the rest of them.

She grit her teeth as she angrily stared at the big griffon. “Alright, Godfrey. You want to fight me? Let’s do this.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Godfrey chuckled.

Rainbow Dash then opened up the door and disappeared through it with Godfrey flying in right after her. For the next few seconds before the door closed, everyone else could hear the sounds of metal striking metal.

Her friends stepped back from the hallway and let their door close. Breakwater brought up a puzzled hoof to his head and started scratching atop it.

“Uh, is anyone else confused by what she was saying? Godfrey just killed that other pony, didn’t he?”

“Perhaps not,” Gilbert said.

The others looked to him. He had stayed watching Heartless the whole time while they were paying attention to Rainbow Dash and Godfrey. Right now the expression on his face was one of terrified confusion and revulsion as he pointed with one of his talons at the impaled pink pony. Ballast, Dredge, Old Diver’s butlers, and the Bosche soldiers were all also completely transfixed on her. When Daylight, Senax, and Breakwater looked as well, they understood why.

Heartless had reached her hooves up around the shaft of the spear, right in front of where it pierced through her throat. And yanked on it. The first pull freed it from the door and she fell halfway to the floor before catching herself. The second yank tore the blade of the spear back through and out of the wound in her throat and she then dropped the weapon without a second thought.

It clattered to the floor. Loudly. Especially since everyone else in the room was completely silent.

There was far less blood than there should’ve been, and what blood there was was vanishing into nothingness.

While everyone watched, the wound in her throat that was big enough for them all to see through closed up on its own. It didn’t leave the barest hint of a scar.

Heartless turned her head in the direction Rainbow Dash had gone with a pleasant little smile on her face. “Gone again? Oh well, I’ll get to you soon.” She then looked over at Daylight, Senax, Breakwater and Gilbert. And her smile widened a little bit more. “The four of you are her friends, aren’t you? I guess I’ll have your lives first.”

Dual Battles to the Death

Godfrey’s cutlass zinged right over Rainbow Dash’s head and she slashed at his midsection in turn with the Trident. His wings gave a single backwards flap that carried him just out of reach and the two hovered in the middle of the crescent room. Staring at each other. While he now had an amused grin on his face, she was as angry as ever.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash. I know you’re happy to fight me too. You love a good fight just as much as me,” Godfrey taunted.

“Not in this situation,” Rainbow scowled. “I know I’m a hypocrite for saying this—but your ego is something else.”

Godfrey shrugged. “I get what I want. And you’re right, what I want most right now is to beat you.”

“Yeah? I get what I want too. And what I want right now is to stop you and save my friends,” Rainbow said. She squeezed the Trident in her hooves and glared at him harder. “Godfrey… seriously, if you don’t stop and let me deal with that pony back there we’re both going to die down here.”

A vein popped in Godfrey’s forehead and he angrily flew at her. He swung strongly at her, Rainbow was forced to block with the Trident once more but thanks to his strength she was still knocked to the ground. “I don’t care!” He roared as he came at her on the floor. “All that matters now is beating you, Raindow Dash!”

“Grr!” Rainbow Dash blocked his next attack and sparks shot everywhere. “Godfrey!”

“I’m going to enjoy prying that Trident from your dead hooves! Gehahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed and swung indiscriminately at her. His swings were uncoordinated, flailing, blows. A big difference from the warriors she had fought earlier. But it didn’t really matter since he was so fast and vicious too. And she knew if he felt like it he could fight normally. Fight “better”. He was just having fun right now.

Rainbow Dash blocked and parried all his swings for now, each one making the metal of their weapons scream. She was lucky the Trident was so otherworldly or the sheer force behind his blows would’ve broken it already. On one swing she decided to mess up his rhythm—she wanted to take control of the fight or eventually he’d just wear her down. As soon as the sword came at her she stabbed the Trident up and caught the blade between its prongs, then swiftly twisted the Trident to lock it in place and almost wrench it from Godfrey’s wrist. He frowned as his wrist was turned, almost enough to either make him lose the sword or break his wrist from the awkward twist, but he was strong enough to avoid either outcome. Instead now the two of them stared from much closer than they had before, each challenging the other and trying to overpower their rival.

Rainbow’s muscles were clenched, she was putting all the strength she had into her hooves to keep Godfrey’s blade pinned. He was only using one arm but matching her strength equally. Even then it was another improvement for her compared to the first time she had fought Godfrey. Even the last time just back at the Lost Isle.

“I guess if you were too easy to overpower—again—this wouldn’t be any fun,” Godfrey grinned once more.

“I feel like you wouldn’t really care too much. You just want to win now. Scratch that big ego a little bit? Annoy you too much how I keep coming back for more that you wouldn’t mind if we weren’t fighting at our best?” Rainbow smirked.

Godfrey didn’t rise to her provocations this time. He chuckled a little bit as he pushed against the Trident. “Gotta admit you might be right, but in the end I guess I’m just a lucky griffon. Since here we are able to fight all out at our very best together. Everything else is moot.”

“Fine,” Rainbow said and stepped back, letting him push her on for now. “I’ll admit something too; you were right earlier. I’m going to have some fun fighting you as well. Rival.”

Rainbow twisted the head of the Trident around and down towards the floor, taking Godfrey’s cutlass and arm with it, and swung her body around the Trident to kick Godfrey in the chest. It was enough to finally free his cutlass from the Trident and he went sailing back with it into one of the room’s pillars. Godfrey grunted in pain as he slammed into it, almost falling to the ground but he held himself up with his free talon. And of course he still had managed to not let go of his cutlass. Rainbow wasn’t surprised by that. She flew at him quickly, low to the floor, and thrust the Trident at him. He recovered from her kick and jumped out of the way just as the Trident gouged out a huge piece of rock from the pillar.

Bits of rubble from it went flying everywhere, Godfrey picked up a piece as he got back to flying and threw it at her. Rainbow knocked it away easily but it still put her on the defensive for when he came at her with his sword again. This time he did attack in a more controlled manner, not swinging wildly and wasting energy. He was precise and swift, his stabs and cuts left no big openings for her to respond so she just had to parry everything with the Trident.

And be extra careful doing that, since some of his attacks were aimed at her hooves holding it. She didn’t have a guard like his sword did. The moment she blocked he would pull back his sword just slightly to throw another slice or stab at her. His sword arm and blade were moving so fast it looked like he was holding ten at a time. Of course Rainbow Dash’s response was just as impressive—she didn’t let him land a single attack on her. Her own hooves and Trident blurred as the two of them flew around the crescent room. Rainbow Dash wanted to get further away from Heartless but right now Godfrey still had control of the fight. She needed to do something more proactive against him.

Rainbow Dash suddenly flapped her wings as hard as she could and flew backwards and away from Godfrey to make some distance. His reflexes were sharp enough where he pretty much immediately followed her, but he was a little surprised that she’d “turn tail and run” like that. Flying over to one of the pillars, Rainbow Dash went around it and quickly slingshotted her way from right behind it and threw herself towards Godfrey again with the Trident spearing out towards his broad chest. He stopped where he was and quickly brought up his cutlass to block between the Trident’s prongs and stop it from hitting him. He had one talon grasped around the hilt of his sword and the other pushing against the back of the blade to keep it from snapping or from Rainbow Dash being able to push the Trident further.

She still flew forward and down to the floor with all her might, trying to press Godfrey back and carry him with her. Though it’s likely he could’ve fought back with how powerful his own wings were he let her take them to the ground before his back legs dug into the tile and they were stuck once more trying to overpower the other. Rainbow Dash didn’t mind—she at least had him where she wanted to be.

Giving up on the power struggle—Rainbow pulled the Trident away and jumped back before kicking the door to the next big room open. She had moved them to where she was right in front of it and now she backed up into it.

“Heh,” Godfrey smirked and calmly walked in after her, taking a look at the destroyed statues around them and the big stairs at the far end of this new chamber.

Rainbow started hovering above the ground once more and kept the Trident pointed at him. Her eyes were narrowed but otherwise she seemed calm and in control of herself.

“Going further away? That’s a mistake, Rainbow Dash,” Godfrey said as he looked over his shoulder and watched the door close back up. “If you had brought your friends to help you fight me you might have been able to survive.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, Godfrey, but I don’t need anyone’s help to beat you,” Rainbow said to him.

As soon as he turned back to look at her and deliver another mocking remark, he instead had to duck under a swing of the Trident that would’ve cut right through his brow and then bring his sword up to block another swing coming at his right. The blade and prongs of the weapons clashed together once more. Hooves and talons holding them shaking. Pony and griffon stared into each other’s faces from a foot away.

“Prove it then, Rainbow Dash,” Godfrey sneered as his beak turned up in a grin. “Let’s see which one of us wins—and which one of us is dead—by the end of the day.”

“Okay—look, I don’t know who you are or what your relationship with Rainbow Dash is, but why don’t we all just calm down and talk this out?” Daylight Gleam said to Heartless.

Heartless of course didn’t bother to respond, or even indicate that she listened to the words at all, as she started walking towards her and the rest of Rainbow Dash’s friends.

“D-Daylight, I think we need to go...” Breakwater said.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room the Bosche Soldiers, butlers, and Dredge had already left after seeing the pink pony pull a spear out of her neck like it was nothing. Only Ballast was still there, and he was terrified. Wanting to leave too but unwilling—and perhaps unable—to leave his friends.

Daylight bit her lip and frowned at the pink pony. “Hey! I’m warning you!”

“N-Now I’m sure we can resolve this peacefully,” Gilbert said to Heartless, holding up his talons with open palms defensively to show her he meant no harm. “Whatever issue you have with Rainbow Dash, I’m sure we can be friends. There’s no need to resort to-” his eyes flickered down to Old Diver’s corpse. “-that.”

Senax also gulped and took a step back as Heartless continued on. “Your name is Heartless, isn’t it? What are you down here for?”

“You guys, really… I think we need to listen to Rainbow Dash...” Breakwater began to sweat.

“Don’t take another step!” Daylight shouted at Heartless.

The pink pony didn’t listen. She took another step.

“Ngh!” Daylight grit her teeth and put all the strength she had into her horn. It lit up powder blue and she emitted a shield from wall to wall, cutting off the half of the room they were in. Shields weren’t her specialty but she knew she could block off one little pony.

Heartless walked into the sudden wall and her head bonked off the transparent shield before she could stop herself. She didn’t seem too miffed though, merely raising an eyebrow at the soft blue magical energy blocking her from the others. She got a thoughtful look on her face as she moved her head from side to side. Like this—closer to them—they could see how ordinary she looked. She wasn’t muscular, or have any sort of strange color to her mane or tail, or anything remarkable. She was a normal looking earth pony.

Daylight exhaled and stood up straight, narrowing her eyes at the pony. “Okay, now maybe you can behave. Why don’t you tell us what you have to do with Rainbow Dash?”

“No thank you,” Heartless said and pressed a hoof up to Daylight’s shield. Immediately the shield wavered and shortly after all the magic began to be sucked into her hoof. She absorbed it until Daylight’s shield had disappeared completely.

While the others gawked in fear and disbelief—Heartless smiled.

“Magic is okay, but it doesn’t feel nearly as good or fulfilling as the light from a real, living, creature,” Heartless said. “You can try running if you want, but you can’t hide or escape from me. I’ll feel the warm lives you have—and then finally, finally, I’ll get Rainbow Dash too. I’m a little bit impatient after coming so far and having her fly off again though so could all of you just stay here and let me take your lives? I’ve had enough of barriers and interruptions.”

“I guess this is what Rainbow Dash meant by magic not working,” Gilbert said.

“Who—no—what are you?” Senax asked.

Heartless shrugged, looking as ignorant as they were. “Just me.”

Breakwater tensed up and looked over to Ballast. “Ballast, get to The Breakwater and get it ready for departure.”

Ballast just dumbly looked back at him, still in shock.

“Hey!” Breakwater yelled. “You with us? We need your help right now!”

That got Ballast moving, he stood up and nodded his head. “Y-Yeah, don’t worry about me! I’ll have The Breakwater ready!” He nervously looked at Heartless, who wasn’t paying attention to him at all. “You all be okay, and get Rainbow Dash too!”

He turned and ran down the hallway, out of the room where the entire trip to Merlantis had turned into chaos. Senax may have found her home and the last treasure of Ponyseidon, but now things had gotten truly crazy. The adventure was different now. The mission that they had all come with Senax on had ended. The new mission given to them by Rainbow Dash looked even worse—but if she was doing her part, they had to do theirs.

Heartless smiled at the four of them. And started walking forward again.

“Okay-” Daylight Gleam’s horn glowed once more. “If that’s how it has to be, then how about this!”

Her horn flashed and a bright light filled up the room.

Get Moving

Ballast ran faster and harder than he ever had in his entire life. Here he was, on his own again, leaving his friends in what was certainly a lot of danger. But hopefully what he was doing now was still going to be a huge help. He had no idea what that pink pony was, but she terrified him even more than Godfrey. The sword held to his throat didn’t scare him as much as what she had done. Running back all the way through Merlantis to The Breakwater wasn’t going to be fun but it was important. Forget everything else, hopefully they’d all get back to the entrance safely with Rainbow Dash and then they could leave together.

That was enough to spur him on. Even though he wasn’t a very athletic pony. He knew at some point he was going to have to stop and rest, already his lungs were burning and his legs straining, but he wanted to go as far as he could before his body gave out on him. Both his mission and his fear of the pink pony were behind that.

Why’s this place have to be so darn big? Ballast wondered as he charged through hallways, down stairs, and tried to not get lost.

So many white hallways, everything looked the same, Godfrey might as well have blindfolded him on the way here. He liked to think he had a sharp mind though and knew the proper way to get back. It would be pretty embarrassing to die down here because he turned the wrong corner and got lost. All the work he had to do, all the planning and calculations that went into making The Breakwater, there was no way he was dumb enough to turn the wrong corner.

The next corner he turned though he ended up coming to a skidding halt anyways. There he found the others who had already left before him—resting and catching their breath in an alcove of the hallway. The Bosche soldiers had ditched the rest of their spears somewhere else while they had been running. It was funny that despite how stalwart they had been, how scary they had looked with their scarred faces, how much they wanted revenge on Rainbow Dash, they had seemingly all had the rather smart epiphany that it really wasn’t worth it after seeing Heartless. The two butlers were equally scared and finished with all of this (though there might have been a slight amount of relief they were feeling as well) and wanted to get out of here so they didn’t face the same fate as their former master.

Dredge looked a little different. He just seemed done. Just flat out tired of everything he had been through in the last day. Or to Ballast’s lack of knowledge, what he had been through ever since Godfrey had rounded him up for the trip to Merlantis. He didn’t have an expression of fear on his face—more like resignation or apathy.

The usual immediate anger Ballast felt whenever he saw his old apprentice had to wait a few seconds as Ballast caught his breath. As soon as he did though he yelled: “Dredge!”

The ponies all turned to face Ballast, and the one shipwright among them blinked.

“Huh—oh. Hey, Ballast,” Dredge said, sounding just as tired as he looked.

“Don’t just “Hey” me! This is all your fault you lying thief!” Ballast accused, stepping forward and roughly poking Dredge in the chest.

Dredge surprisingly just took it, only raising an eyebrow as Ballast poked him. “You know I really don’t have the energy to fight right now or argue over who stole who’s idea. I’m really happy to just be alive and I’d like to hurry up and leave this place behind and never ever come back to it. So can you quit it with that and let me get back to my own ship? I figure there’s way bigger things to worry about right now.”

Ballast frowned but he had to admit that Dredge had a point. Scratch that, he had to admit that Dredge was right. This wasn’t the time or place for their petty feud.

“Okay fine, we might as well go back there together. And in fact—if you just want to leave immediately then go right ahead, my ship can still take all my friends.”

“Hm…” Dredge scratched his head. “I would like to do that, but I’m also kind of afraid that if I did, Godfrey would somehow track me down and kill me. We’ll see. I just… for now I’ll be happy to just safely sit there in my ship where that… where whatever that pony was can’t get to me.” He glanced at the butlers and soldiers. “You all okay with that?”

“Very much so,” one of the butlers responded between breaths. The other nodded vigorously.

One of the Bosche soldiers scowled at the others. “I told you we should’ve just gone and become farmers somewhere.”

Dredge shrugged at Ballast. “Guess that’s that. Let’s please get out of here already.”

“Sure, I think I’ve caught my breath enough anyways. My hooves are going to be killing me by the time we get back to our ships though…” Ballast said.

“You and me both,” Dredge nodded.

The eight of them didn’t waste anymore time and quickly started running again, making their way through the halls of Merlantis. They wanted to get out of the large central dome since once they did it was practically a straight walk back to the ships. Straight run. Much like Ballast they were all not pacing themselves at all. Primal terror forced them to run as fast as they could even though the soldiers at the very least had to know there was a better way. It didn’t matter. Running like this got them as far from that pink mare as fast as possible. That was more important in all their minds right now. A scared pony didn’t act logically.

Either way, despite the occasional stops they had to make to catch their breaths, heaving while their lungs and legs ached and burned, they were making good progress. Things were going much faster than they had been when they were looking for Rainbow Dash’s group. It would’ve been even worse if Godfrey didn’t have that Necklace that gave him a direct path to the Trident. Now that was in the past and Ballast had to also agree with Dredge that he was really happy to not have gotten stabbed or anything by the griffon pirate.

No longer were they gawking at the art or architecture. No longer were they curious about absolutely anything. No longer were they moving to the orders of a vicious monster.

They were too busy running from a different sort of monster.

Getting to the gigantic tunnel leading out of the central dome brought a sigh of relief to them all. The biggest problem was dealt with. They allowed themselves to stop again for a brief moment. Only a few more buildings, only a few more hallways, and they were “safe”. As safe as they could call it.

“Honestly I think I might just retire when we get back to Malkonrik. Move to the interior or Alth-Verika or something,” Dredge said.

“I don’t know about that, but you won’t be seeing me on an adventure ever again,” Ballast said.

“Yeah. Let the ones who want to have fun use the submersibles,” Dredge agreed.

Ballast was getting a little annoyed at how casually they were able to converse down here after years of hatred between them. But there was nothing like a world-changing adventure and horrible monster chasing you to put things into perspective. He took a deep breath and got ready to run some more. Though retiring wasn’t something that interested him, he might take a vacation for a few weeks. And take up jogging afterwards.

Bait the Hook

“Haaagh!” Rainbow yelled as she swung the Trident at Godfrey’s face.

He sucked in his breath and pulled his head back but as Rainbow reached the arc of her swing she let the shaft of the Trident slip slightly through her hooves until she was only holding the very end of it. Increasing its range like that the sharp spears on the end of it were now primed to slice right through his face. Godfrey’s eyes widened and he had to make an even more impressive dodge—ducking his head back enough to strain his neck—but the Trident in the end went harmlessly sailing by.

Godfrey stepped back and reached up to adjust his hat while recovering from the near hit. He grinned at Rainbow Dash but his beak twitched slightly. “You almost ruined my hat!”

Rainbow Dash snorted and twirled the Trident around a few times before hitting the pommel into the floor. “Just steal a new one.”

Idly she looked over to the stairs that eventually led up to the grand convocation chamber. It was funny to think that the way the fight with Godfrey was going she kept moving back closer to where she had gotten the Trident from in the first place. It’s not like it was part of any specific plan, but she figured it was still good to put more distance between herself and Godfrey and her friends. And Heartless. She also hated to admit that she was being kept on the back hoof for most of the fight and he kept pushing her further and further. That was just a testament to the power, energy, and aggression he had.

“Heh,” Godfrey laughed. “You know you’re a lot better at using that thing than I expected.”

“Call it instinct.”

“Call it magic. There’s something special about that Trident.”

Rainbow glanced up at the sharp spears and shrugged. “Maybe. Doesn’t really matter to you since you’re never getting your talons on it.”

“Now that remains to be seen,” Godfrey said and flew at her.

Rainbow leveled the Trident at him once more but along the way Godfrey picked up a piece of rubble from one of the destroyed statues. He threw it at her as hard as he could and she had to jump out of the way of it—the piece was too large for her to block or hit away with the Trident. Putting her off-balance she had to instantly raise the Trident over her body to block the slash from Godfrey, he pushed the Trident back with his superior strength and knocked her to the floor, pressing the blade down further and trying to cut into her shoulder.

Like this he’d probably win if she didn’t do anything, she just didn’t have the raw strength to actually get free. But this position made him vulnerable thanks to his large body standing over her, he had absolutely no way to stop her back legs from kicking him. While she couldn’t put a lot of force into the kicks thanks to the prone position and inability to swing them back and build up momentum, she still continued to strike hoof after hoof into his stomach and ribs. Though for a while Godfrey took it like it was nothing she saw him start to wince even as he kept trying to press down and either crush or cut her with his sword. After another strong kick he clicked his beak and jumped off her. Rainbow took the opportunity to swing the pommel of the Trident at him as he moved but he raised his left arm up and blocked it on the wrist.

If she had been able to put more power into the swing she bet she could’ve broken his wrist but from where she was she couldn’t do that.

He hopped away and she scrambled back to her hooves, the two of them circling around and glaring at each other.

Godfrey shook his left arm. “You know that thing is really tough.”

“Tell me about it. All the stuff I’ve been smashing and breaking lately and it doesn’t even have a mark.”

“I was never that fond of spears and other pole-arms you know? But I guess when I have that Trident I’ll have to get over it. Seems like it’ll make a better weapon than any sword.”

Godfrey then flew at her all over again and Rainbow took a deep breath to prepare. She didn’t want to just stay near the floor where her movement was restricted so she flew up and started to lead him up the stairs that led to the terrace on the higher level of the chamber. Here there wasn’t anything else around for him to throw at her either. He caught up with her halfway up the stairs and swung at her, Rainbow Dash parrying it with the Trident. He came at her again and again as they continued to cross weapons in the middle of their flight, flying by her at high speed and aiming to decapitate her, or slice off a wing. They never locked weapons or spent more than a second meeting each other in the air. Godfrey would swoop down at her and just as quickly retreat higher towards the ceiling before coming again.

Rainbow Dash scowled—despite the power of the Trident his reflexes, speed, and strength made him more difficult to fight than the four Sarraroccon warriors at once. She reached the terrace at the top of the stairs and turned around, this time flying at him while he was in the middle of coming at her. Rainbow Dash stabbed the Trident at his head but Godfrey batted it away with his cutlass before swinging it at her face. She dove under and around it, flying to his side and repeatedly jabbing the Trident at his wing in multiple short, quick, thrusts. Godfrey grit his teeth and flapped away just in time but Rainbow continued to press after him, the Trident becoming a lightning-fast blur in her hooves as she thrust and swung it at every part of his body. It didn’t matter if it was a fatal or debilitating hit, she just wanted to land something and wound him.

A thrust to his face.

A swing at his arm.

A swipe at his broad chest.

Another thrust to his throat.

Clang!

Every single time he brought his cutlass up and blocked or turned away the Trident, quite often making a return strike at Rainbow Dash that she had to block or dodge from. She clicked her tongue and thrust the Trident at his body, he grinned and flapped over it before bringing his cutlass down in a strong overhead strike at her. Rainbow brought up the Trident and caught the attack on the middle of it right between her hooves but was still launched backwards by the force of the blow. Her wings struggled to recover and stop her before Godfrey came flying around to her side.

He had his cutlass grasped in both talons and with the muscles of his arms practically bulging he made a great horizontal swing at her that probably would’ve bisected her completely if she didn’t block it.

Rainbow Dash moved the Trident in front of his sword and placed a hoof right behind the spot his sword would impact but the strength of his swing still pressed it into her body and knocked her completely from the air. It had been more like he had come swinging at her with a warhammer than a sword. Rainbow Dash collided hard with the floor and bounced off the tile, cracking it, and rolled into the door that led to the next area of the central dome. All that time though and she never let go of the Trident. She still kept it safely in her hooves.

She stood up and pressed her back to the door while Godfrey calmly dropped down to the terrace as well.

“Come on, all you’ve been talking, is that the best you can do?” He mocked.

“I’m still getting into my groove,” Rainbow said and glanced at the door behind her. “Also… I’ve got a better place we can fight.”

“Oh?” Godfrey grinned and casually rested his sword on his back. “If that’s the case then lead the way.”

Rainbow Dash pushed the big door open by placing the pommel of the Trident against it and pushing back. Keeping her eyes on Godfrey she walked back through it and into the final room where the stairs leading up to the convocation chamber were. He raised an eyebrow as he looked past her and walked in as well.

“This place is certainly fancy, they love their high ceilings,” Godfrey said.

“You haven’t seen nothing yet,” Rainbow said.

“Give me the tour then,” Godfrey said and suddenly lunged at her. He swung for her head and Rainbow Dash jumped away, before having to jump again as Godfrey immediately followed her.

Now in midair she blocked his third swing and grit her teeth, furiously glaring at him as both hovered in one spot, wings trying to fight dominance and weapons sliding against each other. Rainbow Dash turned his cutlass away and broke off—flying backwards after seeing the pointless situation. She turned around and went for the stairs. Behind her she heard Godfrey laugh and a blast of wind come from his wings as he shot after her.

Heartless walked into a new room, a lounge of sorts that stretched quite far, with many pillars holding up the ceiling, lots of alcoves with benches, and numerous fake potted plants to give the normally white interior some color. She was smiling. After that bright flash of light, the four friends of Rainbow Dash had vanished. But she had still followed them here. She knew they were here even though to anyone else it would look like she was alone in this room.

“You know it doesn’t matter if you’re invisible-” Heartless said as she walked by a few pillars, her eyes looking behind each one, she made a zig-zagging route around them. “I don’t need my eyes to see you.”

She giggled. “And it doesn’t matter if you don’t make a sound. I don’t need my ears to hear you.”

She took a longer gaze at one empty alcove in particular before turning away and continuing on. “What I feel is something far deeper than that. It’s not a sense. It’s your life itself—your warm, bright, lives. They all reach out to me, every last living creature. Right now your lives are just fuzzy little bright spots around me. I can’t feel everything, and if you went far enough away I’d lose sight of you. But when you’re this close I can tell exactly where you are.”

“Rainbow Dash is different you know?” Heartless said as she trotted around another pillar. “She’s always there. Her life is so bright and so warm it’s like staring into the sun. I could feel where she was even if I was on the other side of the world now. I can always see her light in my head—calling out to me.” She briefly glanced at another alcove before walking on. “You must know she’s special too, right? Even if you don’t understand her the same way I do. Even if you can’t feel her the same way her warmth has to reach you too if you’ve spent enough time around her.”

Heartless dragged her hood along the next pillar as she happily hummed. “I can’t wait to take every last bit of warmth and light from her. For now though, like I said, I’ll enjoy myself with you four first.”

She stopped and looked around another pillar—staring and smiling at an empty space of air. “Hi there.”

The air shimmered and wavered as the cloaking spell disappeared—revealing a frightened Gilbert and Senax holding each other.

“And the unicorn is behind me,” Heartless said and looked over her shoulder, where sure enough Daylight Gleam was standing with a lit horn and a frown. “And the earth pony is hiding behind the next pillar.” Heartless pointed over to it.

“Please, just… we don’t know why you’re doing this, but please just let us go,” Senax said.

“Nope!” Heartless happily shook her head and walked towards the merpony and griffon. She lifted her hoof towards them-

A tug came on it. Heartless looked down at her hoof and saw a ring of powder blue magic was holding it back. She looked back at Daylight Gleam, who was standing firm and delivering her most impressive glare through narrowed eyes at the pink pony.

“Get away from my friends.”

Heartless just smiled. “Don’t you know by now that doesn’t work?”

The magic around her hoof was sucked right into her body, absorbed, melting into it.

“It’s a good thing that my magic isn’t all we have to work with,” Daylight said.

“Hm?” Heartless tilted her head.

From around the next pillar, Breakwater came rushing with a frenzied battlecry. “AHHHHH!”

He had a spear in his hooves—the one Heartless had dropped after Godfrey impaled her with it. She had never bothered paying attention to it after that, they must have grabbed it after that initial bright light from the unicorn when they ran off. Breakwater charged at her and stabbed the spear into her side. He didn’t have the strength to skewer her completely but he was still able to slam her into the pillar next to her where she collapsed to the floor from the impact.

“Now run, run!” Daylight yelled.

Gilbert and Senax needed no other signal, the both of them got up from behind the pillar and started running towards the other end of the room.

Daylight then grabbed a potted plant with her magic, lifting the stone pot over her head and throwing it as hard as her magic allowed at Heartless. She caught the pink pony in the head right as she tried to rise and knocked her back to the floor again. There wasn’t a groan of pain. Or even a grunt. Not from either the pot or the spear. The strangeness of that might have made Daylight and Breakwater pause if they weren’t full of so much adrenaline and knew they had to run out of here too.

As soon as she had been struck by the pot, Breakwater yanked the spear out of Heartless—with barely a drop of blood coming with it—and started running away with Daylight. Gilbert and Senax were already in the next room and holding the door open for them so the two quickly ran out and let the doors close.

Right before they did, Daylight looked back and caught a glimpse of Heartless standing back up. Two things that would’ve been fatal for a normal pony hardly slowed her down at all.

Once the doors were shut, Breakwater jammed the spear into the handles and the group of four ran further away. They went down another hallway, into another room, and ran out of it before they found themselves in another square connecting chamber where every door was flanked by suits of armor. They decided to stop here for just the moment and catch their breath. Continuing to run right now would be pointless without a plan.

“That spear blocking the door isn’t going to stop her for long. And there might be other ways for her to find her way around and get to us,” Breakwater said.

“I know,” Daylight took a few deep breaths. “I’m thinking.”

“Do we just keep running until Rainbow Dash is done with my brother? I-If that goes well that is...” Gilbert said.

Daylight shook her head. “She left us to deal with this problem. She needs us to. We can’t rely on her right now.”

“But what do we do? How can we stop her? You saw what she just did...” Senax said.

“Rainbow Dash didn’t say to kill her. She said to trap her or trick her if we could,” Breakwater said.

“And how do we do that?” Gilbert asked.

“I have no idea,” Breakwater shook his head.

Daylight took a moment to calm down thought. Her brow furrowed as she racked her brain and tried to come up with an answer. What could they do? They couldn’t touch her, couldn’t kill her, magic didn’t work, and they didn’t have anything like chains or rope to tie her up with. How did they stop her? She looked over at the suits of armor by the closest door.

An idea formed in her head.

“I’ve got something. But we’re going to have to run around for a little while longer—and it’s pretty dangerous if it doesn’t work cause we might be trapped,” she said to her friends.

They shared a worried but accepting look with each other. It’s not like they had any other ideas.

“So what’s the plan?” Breakwater asked.

“Here’s what we’re going to do...”

One Down

Rainbow Dash dropped to the floor the moment she came out of the stairs with Godfrey right on her tail. He flew down at her and stabbed at her ribs with his sword. That attack was blocked and it turned into a slash at her throat that she backed away from. Godfrey then landed on the floor as well and took another step forward, thrusting his cutlass at her head to skewer her on it. Rainbow brought up the Trident and once more caught his blade between the prongs of it, twisting it to the side and keeping him from pulling it back. The two were now briefly locked in a battle of strength once more—though Rainbow knew she couldn’t really win it or keep it up forever.

While stuck like this, with one talon firmly grasped around the hilt of his sword, Godfrey took a look around the impressive chamber. “My, you were right, I really hadn’t seen anything yet.” He saw the impressive art on the floor, on the walls, the huge glass dome showing the ocean above. “I think when I get that Trident that maybe I’ll make this my throne room.”

“Throne room?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow as her legs twitched and flexed while she pushed back against his sword. “I don’t think that suits you. Thought you just wanted to go out on bigger adventures and be even more of a terror than you already are.”

“Everyone gets old. One day maybe I’ll get tired of the same old adventuring and terrorizing, I think it’d be kind of fun to lord over the Grand Ocean, making everyone bow to me, do what I want, or I sink their island in a huge tidal wave. You gotta admit it’d be pretty awesome to be king down here after conquering the ocean. Everyone would have to obey me—feed my ego—or die.”

“You and I have different definitions of awesome.”

“Eh. You get it, you just don’t like it. Either way, everyone would be in awe of my accomplishments. They’d know how great I was. That’s the fun part.

“Well you can forget about all that in the first place because it’s a dream that’s never coming true!”

“You’ll have to stop me if you want to stop it first,” Godfrey grinned. He then caught sight of Coral Sea’s body, still lying where it was from earlier. “Well, well, looks like you were already busy down here with those other ponies too. I suppose getting the Trident in the first place was tougher than I thought.”

“Shut up,” Rainbow glared at him.

Godfrey raised an eyebrow. “Did I touch a nerve? You know that pony?”

“She was like you—someone who wanted to use the Trident for her own selfish reasons. Someone who had done terrible things and wanted to do even worse. But unlike you, I never got the chance to help her or change her. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. You… you could’ve been different… but you threw it all back in my face at the Lost Isle.”

“Oh—I’m wounded! Gehahahaha!” Godfrey laughed.

“Tch!” Rainbow Dash growled and pulled the Trident away, jumping back from Godfrey. “Come on. Let’s finish this already.”

“Gladly,” Godfrey grinned maliciously. He jumped and spread his wings to fly at her with a quick overhand slash.

Rainbow Dash brought the Trident up to block the blade-

CLASH!

Heartless merrily skipped along through the halls of Merlantis. “Come out, come out, wherever you are! I can still feel you nearby, you can’t hide from me!” Her voice was singing with joy as she got closer to the lights that no wall could block out. “Running won’t help for long either~”

“In fact if you keep running I might even get bored and go look for that other friend of yours who ran off. There were a few more ponies with him—I can still feel them all, they’re not too far away,” Heartless said as she opened up a door. She walked on into a heavily decorative room with a golden chandelier over her head and paintings along all of the walls.

She didn’t care about any of it.

It was meaningless to her.

“I sure hope you haven’t tried to block anymore doors,” Heartless smiled and walked up to the next door she was sure she needed to go through. It was at least the one that had the most direct route to the lights. She didn’t know if there might be a dead end or something ahead, but she’d go as straight as she could for as long as she could. A straight path was always the quickest way to get anywhere! That’s how she’d been following Rainbow Dash all this time.

“Are you going to try and turn invisible again to hide?” Heartless spoke to empty air as she stuck her head into another room. It was a big room with multiple floors, stairs going up to other areas, and a fountain in the middle of it where several spouts of water were arcing out of carved fish. She looked around, her “eyes” focusing on the lights from Rainbow Dash’s friends. They hadn’t gone up to a different floor. They were on the same level as her.

And they were close enough where they should only be a few rooms away at most.

“I don’t get it, why bother running? If you’re not going to try and stop me or get out of here then what’s the point at all? It’s always the same. You scream and run, I get called a monster, everyone looks so scared, I really don’t understand it at all. It feels so good, it makes me so happy when I feel the light and warmth from another. What’s there to run from?” Heartless brought a hoof to her chin and thought for a second before giving up. “Oh well! I don’t mind! Find you soon!”

Heartless giggled as she walked past the fountain to the door on the other side of the room. “I feel like it’ll finally be different with Rainbow Dash. I’ll finally feel… fulfilled.”

She stopped and looked up as a sudden thought struck her. “Oh—you’ll all be dead by then though so it doesn’t really matter to you.” She shrugged. “You understand though. I already told you how special Rainbow Dash is. And I know you understand what I mean—even if you can’t put it into words. Even if it’s just a feeling in your chest.”

She reached up and felt her heartbeat. “Yep. Just like that.”

Heartless left the room and found herself at a three-way intersection of hallways. Two of those halls were utterly irrelevant to her. She turned left and started walking in the closest direction to the lights. It wasn’t a perfectly straight path but it was closer than going down the center hallway would have been. She could see that at least. Along the way she started humming to herself as she realized something—they had stopped moving. Whatever the reason was she didn’t care. It wasn’t as important as the fact that it had happened. Whether they had given up, hit a dead end, were resting, were making a trap, she didn’t care at all.

She was just happy she’d get to them sooner now.

“Heehee!” Heartless giggled and picked up her slow pace just a little bit. She preferred walking whenever she could, whenever she didn’t absolutely need to do something else, since she had all the time in the world, but right now she was just excited!

“I’ll see you soon, Rainbow Dash! I’ll see you so, so, soon!”

At the end of this hallway was another intersection, giving her the ability to turn either right or left once more. She turned right—which she was pretty sure was going north and further into the heart of this big building. The important part was just getting to those friends and this was the way for her to go to reach them.

Closer.

Closer.

They weren’t far away at all now.

Heartless felt her smile growing wider.

There was a door ahead of her. A white door, in the white hallway. She stopped in front of it and closed her eyes: four lights inside. Warm lights waiting for her. She giggled and opened her eyes again before pushing the door open and stepping into the room.

“Hello!”

What greeted her wasn’t entirely what she was expecting—but she didn’t really care. Like always, hardly anything bothered her enough for it to show on her face.

Still, all she saw with her eyes was the unicorn standing in the middle of the room. She was standing on top of some kind of metal grill over a pit in the floor. Heartless didn’t know or care why she was doing that. The unicorn was still just standing right there for her, and there was nowhere else to go in this room. She couldn’t escape. Neither could the others who were still here.

“Are your friends invisible again? I know they’re in the room,” Heartless said as she started walking towards Daylight Gleam.

“I want to make a deal with you,” Daylight said, she had a serious look on her face, and a bead of sweat was trailing down the side of her head.

“Deal?” Heartless tilted her head—still walking.

“Y-Yeah,” Daylight nodded. She gulped down her fear and continued. “I’ll let you have me. W-Whatever it is that you do to ponies, I won’t fight back or run. Just so long as you let my friends go. Please. Take me but don’t hurt them.”

“Why would I do that? I want them too,” Heartless said. She had almost made it to where Daylight was.

“B-Because! Because can’t you even do something nice?! You really can’t grant the wish of a mare who’s willing to die for her friends?”

Heartless shrugged. “Why? I don’t get it.”

“You really are just a monster, aren’t you?” Daylight sadly frowned.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” Heartless said and walked onto the grill with Daylight. “It was nice meeting you, your light is very bright and warm too. I think it’ll be fun to feel it right before Rainbow Dash. Goodbye.” She reached forward to tap Daylight on the chest.

Thunk

“Huh?” Heartless blinked as her hoof struck something cold and hard. She looked and saw that her hoof was just barely not touching the unicorn in front of her. She frowned and furrowed her brow—annoyed at the sudden denial of what she was expecting.

“Heh, sorry,” Daylight smirked and her horn flashed, immediately the invisible suit of armor that she had been wearing became visible—as well as Gilbert floating near the ceiling, carrying another empty suit of armor, and Senax and Breakwater near the back wall of the room, holding onto some sort of lever. “You know though? With everything you’ve said and done—I don’t feel bad about this at all. NOW!”

Daylight jumped off of the grill, at the same time using her magic to shed the armor and throw it onto Heartless. She tried to affix as much of the armor onto Heartless as she could while the pink pony stood there in confusion. It looked like Heartless was about to walk forward after her—when the suit of armor Gilbert dropped the moment Daylight shouted landed on her and knocked her down.

“Haha, got her!” Gilbert cheered.

Daylight safely landed on the floor off the grill and looked at the pony struggling to get up from all the heavy metal dropped on her. “Now it’s goodbye.” She looked over her shoulder at Senax and Breakwater and nodded.

Together they pulled down the lever and the grill swung open.

“No!” Heartless yelled, her eyes going wide as she fell into the raging water stream right below it, all the armor weighing her down, and getting almost instantly carried away.

Senax and Breakwater pushed the lever back up and the grill swung back into place. Daylight looked down at it, breathing heavily, sweating. Gilbert also dropped from the ceiling right beside her and stared with her. All four of them both intensely relieved but also still wondering if it was truly over or not. They just stood there in that room, not moving, not making a sound. Only the relatively subdued sound of the water in the trash chute was making any noise. Finally after a couple minutes of nothing, Daylight turned her head to the others.

“I think that’s it.”

“Will she drown?” Gilbert asked.

Daylight shook her head. “I somehow doubt it, but she should be trapped or shot far outside of Merlantis.”

“Let’s just hope we never see her again,” Senax said.

“Seriously,” Breakwater nodded.

“Now… I think we need to get moving again,” Daylight said as she looked around the room. “Um… to where though I have no idea.”

“I do,” Senax said, smiling she pointed to the Necklace of Ponyseidon she was wearing.

“Oh right,” Daylight blinked.

“Do you… do you think Rainbow Dash is alright? What if she’s still fighting my brother?” Gilbert said.

“Let’s just hope for the best...” Breakwater said.

SCHWING!

The Trident of Ponyseidon went flying through the air behind Rainbow Dash before falling to the floor and stabbing into the stone tile, embedding itself there and standing up straight.

Godfrey’s cutlass went flying through the air behind him before falling to the floor and stabbing into the stone tile, embedding itself there and standing up straight.

The two combatants locked eyes and glared at each other, fire burning in their veins. Hooves shot off the floor. Talons jumped to the air. Rainbow Dash pulled back a hoof in preparation to throw out a punch and Godfrey pulled back a fist to do the same.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

The Fight

Hooves skidded along the floor before coming to a stop while a drop of blood fell onto the tile between them. Rainbow Dash spat the rest of the blood in her mouth out and brought a hoof to wipe any lingering mess from her lips. Across the way, Godfrey almost fell to his knees before catching himself and rubbing at the spot on his chest that was surely going to be swollen and bruised by this time tomorrow. If he was still alive. If Rainbow Dash was still alive to see it.

The two glared at one another and started walking—stalking the other like a pair of apex predators—in a circle. Standing in the center of the great chamber with not a single soul to bother them.

Rainbow Dash moved first and started running at him with Godfrey quick to follow. He punched at her head as soon as she was within range but Rainbow ducked under it and delivered an uppercut to right under his chest. He however had predicted that and was already rolling back with the blow, bringing his other fist towards her and punching her in the side, making her ribs ache and her body roll over onto the floor a few feet away from him.

Godfrey leaped up into the air and came crashing down towards her with his sharp talons opened wide. Rainbow Dash kicked off the floor and went spinning away, landing safely on her hooves while Godfrey’s talons obliterated the painted tile where he landed. He took almost no time to jump at her again, his wings enhancing his movement, and throw another powerful punch over and down at her. Rainbow knew that if she put up her hooves to block it—even after her strength training—that she’d just break her hooves without having any momentum of her own built up. So she backflipped out of the way and Godfrey’s fist came down to the floor, shattering another tile and sending cracks several feet all around.

She took a deep breath in the middle of her flip and as soon as her hooves touched the ground she lunged at him.

He looked bigger, angrier, and stronger than he had before.

She was full of so much more energy and drive than ever before.

Rainbow Dash jumped in the air and delivered a kick to his face that had enough force to lift him off the floor. Godfrey went tumbling away but quickly recovered and flew up into the air to join her. Coming at her, he dipped slightly to the left and thrust out his wing in an attempt to clothesline her with it. Rainbow dodged under it and flew to his side to land another kick to his ribs but at the last second Godfrey flapped away from that as well. Again he brought a fast and powerful punch around towards her and Rainbow couldn’t react in time to dodge or block it. He punched her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her, grunting in exertion he launched her towards the wall of the chamber with the follow-through.

Rainbow gasped as her pupils shrank and she had a brief difficulty with filling up her lungs. However she managed to recover in time and flip around before impacting the wall, instead just hitting it with her back hooves and launching herself off it. Springing right back into action and right at Godfrey.

He was surprised by her recovery and the speed she came shooting back at him with and he was too slow to block her—Rainbow Dash punched him hard right across the face. A small spurt of blood came out his beak but Godfrey just angrily glared right back at Rainbow Dash and swiftly grabbed the hoof that had punched him. Rainbow Dash went to kick his wrist to get her limb free but before she could, Godfrey threw her towards the floor.

She would have to sharply come out of the throw very quickly if she didn’t want to smack her face into the tiled floor. Her wings had snapped open and she was just starting to glide up safely—when Godfrey slammed into her from above after diving for her. His talon grasped around her skull, claws poking into her flesh, and pressed her into the floor while the both of them flew across the chamber—Rainbow’s face now being dragged against the hard stone. He was carrying her forward while she was almost totally helpless, her head and face feeling like it was being forced through a rough gravel pit.

Still, he didn’t expect her to fight back in this condition, and that gave her an opening. Though his arms were long she still had enough reach to kick him with her back hooves. Rainbow Dash gathered her strength as best she could, grabbed Godfrey by the wrist to keep her body steady, and then struck out and kicked him in the throat. Godfrey coughed and jerked to a stop while dragging her, Rainbow got out from under his talon, flipped over, and threw him over her back.

He hit the floor headfirst and rolled across it before smashing into the bottom of one of the staircases leading up to the chamber’s balcony.

Rainbow Dash didn’t let up for a second. She flew after him and aimed a punch right for his gut—but Godfrey placed a talon on one of the steps and hoisted himself up it. Rainbow had to screech to a halt to keep from flying into the marble steps and instead only let herself be kicked by one of his back legs into the banister of the stairs. With not a second to spare he came across the steps to punch her.

Rainbow moved right as his fist was coming at her face. Instead it plowed right into the stone banister and obliterated it. To keep Godfrey from immediately pressing the attack, Rainbow Dash kicked one of the pebbles that had gone flying into the air right at his face. He ducked out of the way of it but it was enough time for her to go a little higher.

He clicked his beak in annoyance and rose after her. She wasn’t running away from him in the first place though, she just wanted some space so she could build up a little momentum and put some real strength into her blows. She needed that if she wanted to match the raw physical power he had in his body. That’s why the blue pegasus made a quick, nearly hairpin, turn and came darting right back at Godfrey in less than a second. He wasn’t surprised, and he was still fast enough to block. Godfrey crossed his arms in front of his chest right as Rainbow’s hoof struck with startling force. Flexing—he shoved her away and went for a punch to her face. She ducked under it and flitted to the side, trying to attack his wing, but he barrel-rolled and reached a talon out towards her at the same time in an attempt to rake across and cut up her stomach.

Reluctantly she moved away and let him finish his roll—immediately upon exiting which he came back at her. A series of heavy punches from him, all delivered with prize-fighter precision, kept her on her proverbial toes. The two darted around the chamber with Rainbow Dash perpetually kept on the edge by the blurring punches of Godfrey. He wasn’t giving her an opportunity to attack back. Every time she went to move around him he would match her. And his long arms and strikes kept her at bay from a direct attack.

On the next punch she decided she wasn’t going to let him keep doing this. He threw another straight jab at her body that she stretched out of the way from and while his fist was still in range of her she shot up a knee and threw down an elbow—hitting it on both top and bottom of Godfrey’s wrist. She trapped his talon, pinned down, and refused to let him draw it back. If she had been stronger she could’ve flat out broken his wrist, but Godfrey was a little too tough for that. Of course like this she couldn’t defend herself against new attacks either and Godfrey knew that, he pulled back his other fist and went to shatter her skull with a single punch.

But all Rainbow needed was to mess up his rhythm for a moment. As soon as the other punch was coming at her she dropped her cross-block and kicked Godfrey’s other arm in the elbow joint as soon as it was close enough.

Godfrey grunted and had to abort the punch. Rainbow went in to try and land some direct blows on his body. Being right up in front of him his longer limbs were actually a detriment compared to her compact form. But he was still a master fighter with the best instincts of anyone she had come across. Before she could do anything he lowered his head quickly and aimed his beak at her—trying to stab an eye out if she got too close.

Rainbow had to immediately dart back while feeling his beak slice through the air right in front of her face. And of course that left her open once more to a punch coming in at her right. Rainbow put her leg up to block it but still felt the powerful blunt strike send waves of pain through her limb while also sending her flying away with Godfrey on her heels once more. He flew right over her, practically gliding right in front of her face, and punched at her head.

She moved her head so fast it almost left an after-image, then grinned and bit his talon hard as it went right past her. If he was going to use his beak, she could use her teeth.

Godfrey winced and Rainbow took the moment to grab his arm and throw him around towards the wall of the chamber. He smashed into the stone, breaking part of the wall and sending cracks around him. Rainbow Dash yelled and shot at him again, delivering a kick to his stomach and smashing him further into the wall. She went for another kick but Godfrey grabbed her limb and pushed off the wall—he flew towards the center of the room with Rainbow Dash firmly in his grip and threw her up in the air—then went right at her and uppercutted her in the gut. Rainbow Dash nearly lost the contents of her stomach but instead kept herself together and punched Godfrey in the forearm to knock him away and escape. The two were now high in the chamber, closer to the ceiling, and they started to fly in circles around each other, looking for a new avenue of attack.

Their eyes narrowed as they met and both flew at each other. Full speed. Nothing but colorful blurs.

A sonic-boom shook the entire chamber when they clashed. And then they came around and flew at each other once more. Each time they flew by each other a single lightning-quick strike came from the both of them. A punch, a kick, a wing jab, and the grand chamber shook from the force and speed of every single blow. They were a pair of comets shooting through the air with explosive energy. Looping, corkscrewing, diving, and coming back to meet each other head on.

On the latest pass, Godfrey stuck out his wing and Rainbow stuck out hers to match him. When the two collided in air once more their wings smashed into each other and both of them had the veins and muscles in their bodies popping with exertion as they tried to overpower the other. It only lasted a split second, but it seemed to take ages as they met under the glass dome. Godfrey’s wing ended up being victorious while Rainbow’s crumpled and she ended up spinning away helplessly.

Before she could recover, Godfrey flew down and grabbed her tail. With a grin on his face he started spinning around and the two of them became like a tornado in the air. She couldn’t fight back or do anything until he finally let her go and she went flying towards the ground. He had been spinning at such high-speed when he released her that there was no way she could get out of the fall in time.

She covered her head with her hooves and tucked in as best she could—and smashed into the stone floor of the chamber. She immediately went sprawling out across the floor, sliding across the cold hard tile and digging up quite a bit of it, and ended up coming to a stop between the double staircases leading up to the balcony. Rainbow Dash took less than a second before she started to climb back up to her hooves.

There was no time to rest.

No time to check if she had broken anything.

She could hear the air whistling as Godfrey dove at her.

There was a lot of dust and small pebbles on the ground around her though from the crash. As soon as she could hear that he was practically on top of her, she got up, spun around, and strongly flapped her wings to kick up as much dust as she could right into his face.

He probably hadn’t been expecting her to mount much of a resistance at all. Godfrey slowed as the cloud of dust hit him and squeezed his eyes shut while an annoyed growl came from his throat. The next thing he felt was a solid kick being delivered to his ribs that sent him flying into the banister of the right staircase. The force of the kick and his own bulk obliterated the stone railing and sent more rubble flying everywhere while he flopped onto the steps in a pained heap.

Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily as she took a few steps out of the cloud of dust and back towards the middle of the room. Godfrey coughed and stood up on the stairs, he spat up a bit of blood and walked down them, glaring at her.

She met his eyes and frowned.

He stretched his body and cracked his neck.

They ran at each other once more without any hesitation.

Godfrey punched her across the jaw and Rainbow Dash just took it, staggering to the side before glaring back at him and jumping up to punch him in the face. The next time he tried to punch her she ducked under his hook and darted to the side, grabbing his wing and attempting to throw him to the ground. He stood his ground though, planting his legs and talons to the floor, and instead yanked her around when he pulled his wing back in. She had to let go of his wing and went stumbling to the floor after losing her balance. He opened up a talon—the sharp claws practically glittering—and slammed it towards her body.

Rainbow rolled away from it so he only impaled the floor.

She turned her roll into a spinning jump to get back to her hooves and charged at Godfrey, keeping as close as she could. He got into a boxing stance and delivered two quick jabs to her face that she weaved in and out of before throwing a few hooves of her own. He protected himself just as well as she did though and neither of them was capable of landing a solid punch on the other at the moment. A glancing blow was the best they got even as they threw enough hooves and fists at each other to overload the eyes of anyone watching.

Evenly matched.

They hated that that thought went through their minds.

Godfrey pulled back his right fist and Rainbow Dash pulled back her right hoof at the same time. The two of them snarled and threw all the strength they had into their next punches. Hoof and fist collided with enough force to ruffle their feathers and almost break their own bones. The impact pushed the both of them backwards, legs sliding over the tile floor. Both of them stood there, panting and glaring at the other. Rainbow’s hoof shook with dull throbbing pain while Godfrey’s fist couldn’t stop shaking either. Together the two of them ignored the pain they felt and placed their four legs back on the floor.

A few feet away from each other they narrowed their eyes—a new well of energy emerging from deep inside their souls. The pain was nothing. They were too agitated and had their blood pumping far too much from the fight. This time they didn’t run for each other, both pegasus and griffon opened their wings and flew hard and fast, parallel to the floor and ready to strike the other with everything they had. The pirate threw a fist out to punch her while Rainbow Dash turned her body around while flying and threw a flying kick towards his face so she could actually reach him before his punch hit her away.

His punch and her kick landed at the same time. Godfrey’s powerful fist smashed into her face, turning it to the side and nearly breaking her neck. Her hoof, with all the weight of her body behind it, kicked into his cheek and did much the same. It was only adrenaline and battle rage keeping the both of them from being knocked out cold.

Instead they were launched away from each other, flying to the floor and skidding across it nearly fifty feet apart.

Rainbow Dash looked beside her and saw the Trident sitting there in the floor.

Across the way, Godfrey was lying right next to his cutlass.

A few deep breaths was all they took. The both of them heaved as they got up and pulled their weapons free. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and hovered above the floor while twirling the Trident around. Godfrey stayed on the floor for the moment and dragged a single claw along the flat of the blade of his cutlass.

They flew at each other and covered the fifty feet in an instant. Rainbow and Godfrey both swung their weapons horizontally from the right at each other. When the weapons clashed into each other with a loud bang the momentum spun the both of them around as they grit their teeth and beak. The blade of Godfrey’s cutlass slid against the sleek metal of the Trident as they pushed against each other. Sparks shaved off and scattered to the floor before both of them pulled back and went for another attack. Rainbow swung the long and sharp spears of the Trident at Godfrey’s face and he brought his cutlass in lower to carve apart her ribs.

Both knew if they continued on that trajectory they’d die—so a quick aborting of those attacks happened and they jumped away from each other, letting their weapons glide harmlessly through empty air. Godfrey was the first to lunge back at his opponent and brought his cutlass up in an overhand swing down towards Rainbow Dash’s head. She dodge to the side instead of blocking—letting his sword smash into the tile and break yet another piece of the floor—and brought the Trident up towards him in a swift stabbing arc. He also ducked down low, bending his knees and hunkering towards the floor so the Trident only ended up shaving off a couple feathers on his wing. Godfrey then brought his cutlass back up towards her and swung at her open side.

Rainbow was barely able to jump away in time to avoid the slice of his cutlass. And even then it wasn’t perfect. The blade had managed to nick her just barely over her left wing, leaving a thin red cut in her coat.

Godfrey was already turning his hand to swing at her again but this time Rainbow Dash flapped over the wide swing entirely and smacked the blade down with the spear-end of the Trident as it passed under her body. Twirling and flipping the Trident over in her hooves she then brought the pommel-end down in a high smash towards Godfrey. He was too close to avoid it completely so the best he could do was turn his head to the side and let the spiraling metal slam down onto his shoulder. A pained snarl came from his beak on impact.

She was hoping to take him out with a hit to the head but with this it just left him open to grab the end of the Trident and slam both her and it to the floor. Godfrey then brought his cutlass down at her while her back was still on the floor but she was still able to bring the Trident up and block it right between her hooves. It smashed her into the stone floor, but she stayed strong and didn’t lose her grip on the Trident. Again and again Godfrey raised his sword up and swung it down at her, at her body, her head, her wings, her hooves holding the Trident. Each time Rainbow Dash was just barely able to block him. It was taking a painful toll on her though, she just had to take all the force from his blows lying on the ground like this. Her legs holding the Trident were starting to strain from the pressure and her back ached as he hit her further into the stone, almost like he was trying to bury her in it while the tiles broke around her.

After one swing, as soon as he pulled back, Rainbow Dash lashed out as quickly as she could with the Trident. She didn’t have as much range or ability to really move it well thanks to the position she was in and how she was holding it, but she had just enough to barely slash the middle spear across Godfrey’s other front leg. The thin spear tip cut through his feathers and skin right above his talon and drew a spurt of blood from it. Godfrey hissed and stepped back out of reflex instead of bringing another smashing blow down on top of Rainbow Dash. She had just enough time and space to climb up from the floor, flap her wings, and take to the air.

She only wanted just enough distance to be able to turn around and maneuver. And sure enough, Godfrey was already coming up right behind her and stabbing his cutlass at her body. Rainbow Dash juked to the side and swung the Trident towards his face, he flapped his wings hard and went above it while delivering another slash to her head that Rainbow shot away from. A few rainbow hairs from her mane went falling away though. The two continued attacking each other at range, each one of their long swings merely connecting at the ends of their weapons. They seemed more concerned with attacking what was attacking them rather than the body of their opponent. Each possibly trying to force or knock away the enemy weapon so they’d have an advantage.

It caused the sound of screaming metal to fill the great chamber each time the weapons clashed, and a shower of sparks fell down to the floor in unison. The faster and more volatile they became with their weapons, the more that wind started to whip around them and buffet their manes and headfeathers. Slowly they pressed closer to each other while still violently swinging and stabbing their weapons as fast and chaotically as they could. It was a blur of metal but now they were finally in range to actually cut the other.

Their eyes were locked on each other, unblinking, red, focused. It was a purely offensive battle. The Trident went screeching across Godfrey’s wing. His cutlass stabbed right past her hoof.

Ear. Leg. Talon. Wing. Neck. Cheek. Chest. Ribs.

Nothing more than a shallow cut each time, but soon they were both bleeding from a dozen fresh new wounds. Godfrey grasped his cutlass in both his talons and brought it towards Rainbow Dash’s face in an overhead smash. She brought up the Trident and caught the blade between two prongs and both of them started flapping their wings hard against the other to fight for position. The veins in their necks and foreheads were threatening to pop with both how angry they were and how much exertion they were pumping out.

Godfrey’s greater strength won out and he was able to push the Trident back and get in close to Rainbow Dash. He had the prongs of the Trident and the blade of his cutlass pressing up close to her face and neck while the two were close enough where Rainbow could reach out and touch him with a hoof if she had a free one.

Rainbow decided to ditch the contest of strength and suddenly let herself fall back, pulling the Trident to the side. The sudden lack of resistance surprised Godfrey and caused him to lean forward, his cutlass slicing through empty air. Rainbow Dash then swung the pommel of the Trident into his side as hard as she could to hit him away—but that left her open to getting elbowed right in the muzzle by him as he drifted away through the air. It was a different sort of pain from the light cuts and both of them were flying a little haphazardly after that. Rainbow’s vision was blurry for a moment and Godfrey struggled to pull in a breath before they both recovered. After that it was only a moment before they flew at each other again, ready to continue.

This time they made powerful flights right by the other—letting their weapons clash for just an instant before flying around and coming in again. Both left trails in the air thanks to how fast they were moving. It was an absurd sight. The speeds at which they flew, the way they were able to suddenly turn and maneuver, the forces pulling at them would’ve torn apart a normal pegasus or griffon. Their wings and muscles had to be screaming in protest.

Or perhaps this was just easy for them.

The both of them flew to the walls of the great chamber before quickly shooting up, arcing towards the ceiling, directly under the great glass dome. Rainbow had the Trident held out in front of her, the spears aimed directly at Godfrey’s chest. Godfrey held his cutlass in front of his body, ready to protect himself and slice her in two all at once.

CLANG!

The loud bashing noise erupted across the entire grand chamber. Both pony and griffon spun past each other and started falling to the damaged floor. Neither fully recovered in time, only half able to pull themselves out of the fall to not break their necks when they hit the gouged up tile. Instead they merely landed roughly and skidded to a stop after a few feet.

Both still firmly grasping their weapons.

Both breathing heavily. Bleeding and injured.

They were facing different directions after crashing to the floor and had to stand up and turn around to face each other. They didn’t need to ask if one of them was giving up. Rainbow Dash placed the pommel of the Trident on the floor to steady herself and Godfrey did the same with the blade of his cutlass. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath before walking towards her. She cracked her neck, stretched her back, and started walking towards him.

Once they were close, Godfrey swung towards her neck to decapitate her.

Rainbow Dash ducked under it and stabbed the Trident towards his face.

Godfrey tilted his head to the side and brought the cutlass back sweeping towards her legs.

Rainbow Dash blocked it with the pommel and let herself roll over the sword strike, landing on her hooves and swinging the Trident at his side.

Godfrey pivoted and slid across the tile so the swing of the Trident went wide before thrusting the cutlass at her face.

Rainbow Dash parried it with the Trident so the blade went skimming over the top of her head. She then ran in and tackled Godfrey to knock him away.

Godfrey coughed and fell back but not before punching Rainbow Dash in the side the moment she hit him.

Rainbow Dash wheezed and almost dropped the Trident, instead just backing away before he could also bring his sword back at her.

Godfrey took a second to steady himself and then swung down at her once more.

Rainbow Dash caught the blade with the Trident and diverted it to the floor, spears of the Trident and tip of the cutlass cracking the tile they impacted.

The two stood there with their weapons connected once more—catching their breath and glaring at each other. Trident and cutlass shook as Godfrey tried to pull his weapon up while Rainbow tried to keep it pinned down. Both metal weapons scraped across the tile floor as the struggle continued until they were pointed right between each other. Godfrey lifted the blade up but Rainbow still had it caught in the Trident and refused to let it go so simply. A push and pull went on between them for another minute while blood dripped from their wounds and onto the floor. Muscles were being strained to their limits. Lungs burned. Rainbow grit her teeth so hard they were close to cracking. Godfrey’s talons were gripping the sword so hard they were going to be all scraped up and calloused.

Metal screeched and the two weapons were yanked apart, Rainbow and Godfrey both stumbling back a step. Their eyes were lit up with fire as they pulled their weapons behind their heads. And with another yell they swung them at each other with full force once more.

Mirror Image

The Trident and cutlass clanged off one another and both pony and griffon lowered their weapons for the moment. They stared at one another, not even keeping a defensive stance. Both were tired and feeling the pain from their wounds more clearly now that a lot of the adrenaline had worn off. It was a far cry from how they wanted this fight to be.

Godfrey took a deep breath. “I guess you still haven’t had enough?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really need to ask?”

“Guess not.”

The two of them stood across from each other during the lull in the fight, taking the time to look around the grand chamber and see the damage they had done to it. The formerly glorious room, and especially the painted tile floor, had so many cracks and craters in it. Rainbow didn’t exactly feel bad about it considering who had made the place—but she was probably going to have to apologize to Senax.

“You’re sad, Rainbow Dash,” Godfrey suddenly said to her.

She looked up at him, frowning. “Excuse me?”

“Look at that thing you have,” he pointed at the Trident. “You’ve gotten the most powerful artifact to be found on the entire Grand Ocean. And the only thing you mentioned doing with it? Keeping it away from people like me. Think of the great things you could do with it. No… you probably can’t even picture that with the way you are. You can’t see yourself doing anything great, still too caught up with caring about others, worrying about them. Worrying about right and wrong.” He scoffed. “It’s tragic a pony like you—who could be so much more—is stuck like this. I get depressed looking at you. I wish you were more like me, but you really don’t have what it takes.”

Rainbow Dash caught her breath for a moment, thinking about his words before she replied. “Great, huh? I love doing great things. I love it when I’ve just gotten finished with something that’s so amazing everyone has to look at me in wonder and say how great I am. Like this trip I’m going on in the first place.” She chuckled and grinned as she looked him in the eye. “But you know what’s really great? You know what’s greater than anything in the whole world? Helping a friend.”

Godfrey rolled his eyes and shook his head. “That might be the most pathetic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say something like that,” Rainbow shrugged. “We’re alike in a lot of ways but that just makes the differences even more obvious to be honest.”

“True enough,” he held up his cutlass. “Want to hurry up and finish this then?”

“Probably should,” Rainbow nodded and lifted the Trident, holding it defensively across her body.

There wasn’t going to be as much of a fight as before by the look of things. They seemed like they’d be staying on the floor too instead of flying again. Both of them were on their last legs, even if neither would admit it to themselves or the other. But they still had more than enough energy and want to fight and finish things once and for all. A few pebbles fell from one of the cracks in the wall of the chamber, clattering to the floor. Behind them, a piece of the banister Godfrey had smashed through finally tumbled over as well and broke on the steps.

Godfrey stepped forward and slashed diagonally at Rainbow Dash’s face. Rainbow stepped away from it to the right and immediately again to the left as Godfrey brought the cutlass back to slash at her again. On the third slash she blocked it and the two held tight in that position.

It was a little slower than than the previous fighting.

That was the warm-up they needed.

Godfrey pulled back his cutlass slightly and then swung much harder than previously, intentionally hitting the Trident and knocking Rainbow Dash back several feet. She skidded to a stop and charged back at him, this time aiming the Trident at his body instead of using it as a shield. The first strike was diverted by his cutlass, and the next one, and the next one after that before he had to jump over a sweep at his legs. He sailed in the air over Rainbow Dash’s head and came down behind her, thrusting the cutlass at the back of her skull. She turned and blocked the thin edge of the blade with the Trident just in time and pushed him away.

“Still not good enough!” Godfrey grinned and began a faster assault on her, swinging his cutlass wildly and trying to cut her to ribbons.

Rainbow Dash held her ground as the blinding attack came at her, the cutlass so fast and sharp that it whistled through the air each time Godfrey brought it at her. She blocked or outright dodged the attacks even as the effort became more of a struggle for her. She was being pushed hard by him—it was a brutal fight now that had lost any semblance of finesse.

“I’ll decide that!” Rainbow Dash shouted at him and turned his cutlass away the next time he stabbed at her, swinging the pommel of the Trident around at his outstretched arm at the same time. It whacked him in the elbow but instead of Godfrey falling back or momentarily freezing from the pain he punched at her with his free talon. It caught her off guard and she found herself knocked back and almost to the ground by the stiff punch to her face.

She stopped from stumbling over in time and glared at him while holding up the Trident for defense. His arm where she had hit him was twitching—it definitely hurt him pretty bad but he had momentarily been able to ignore the pain to land a hit on her too.

Rainbow’s vision after the punch was slightly blurry, and no matter how she blinked it wasn’t getting better. There was a darkness creeping at the corners of her vision that she was doing her best to stave off.

“It’s going to be a real blast trying that Trident out for myself,” Godfrey said as he stalked closer to her. “I’m already picturing it—I’ll get a new ship even bigger than The Scourge too. It’ll be just like my old reign of terror on the ocean, but even better, and soon I’ll conquer it all.”

“Can’t knock you for dreaming big I guess. Just wish you could be a little more constructive with that energy,” Rainbow snorted.

“Meh,” Godfrey shrugged.

He leaned in and slashed at her, Rainbow Dash blocking the blade right at her neck. It sent tremors throughout her body and she was visibly struggling to hold it back. Godfrey pulled back and slashed at her other side, where she blocked it again. Sweat dripped from her brow and he was breathing heavier. But it was easy to see which one of them was in better condition, Rainbow Dash would have to do something soon or…

Another series of blinding cuts came at Rainbow Dash that she did her best to parry and dodge—the cutlass at most shaving away a few errant strings of hair from her mane. She edged backwards after one swing and then ran forward, stabbed the Trident into the floor, and used it to pole-vault herself at Godfrey. She was happy to see his eyebrows lift in surprise right before she kicked him in the face and sent him sprawling back to the ground.

As soon as she landed on her hooves she pulled the Trident free and went to attack him once more. She thrust the Trident at Godfrey’s body and intended to end this fight all at once.

It would’ve skewered his heart if he didn’t move or block it. Godfrey growled and brought up his cutlass, catching it between two of the Trident’s prongs and stopping it before it could reach his body.

“Nice one—but not enough!” Godfrey smirked and stood up, pushing away the Trident.

He brought his cutlass up and then swung down at Rainbow Dash with the full power of his body behind the attack. Rainbow Dash had to jump away, not confident that she could fully block an attack like that in her current condition, and watched as his cutlass obliterated the floor tile she had been standing on. He immediately swung it back up at her from the floor but Rainbow parried it with a swing of her own weapon. Bringing it around again he stepped in close and tried to cut through her face but Rainbow Dash held up the Trident and caught the blade on its shaft, between her blue hooves.

The two glared at each other, up close and personal.

“You really think you can beat me, Rainbow Dash? You think you can stop my dreams and ambition?” Godfrey yelled.

Rainbow Dash grunted as he pressed his cutlass further against her, the blade almost reaching her face. “As a matter of fact—yes! I’ve dealt with worse than you, Godfrey. And if it wasn’t me to stop you here and now, who else would?”

She managed to push him away for a brief second before he growled in rage and came at her once more. Rainbow didn’t just sit back defensively this time. Every slash and strike he made at her she met with one of her own. Metal crashed and screamed throughout the chamber as they both put all their strength into this latest trade, both of them sweating, somehow still standing after everything else they had been through.

Rainbow had her eyes narrowed, her face twisted in a snarl. Godfrey’s eyes were red with fury.

“HAAAAH!” They both shouted as their weapons clashed again.

The blade of Godfrey’s cutlass caught just below the neck of Rainbow’s Trident, right under the prongs and around the jewels. The two of them pressed against each other, shuffling in a circle as they tried to overpower the other. Fire burned through their veins. Their muscles raged as both of them put more power into their bodies than they ever had before.

Godfrey tilted his blade down and then just as suddenly swung up with all the strength he had in his body. He hit the underside of the prongs and launched the Trident out of Rainbow Dash’s grip, sending it shooting high into the air towards the ceiling while Rainbow stumbled back, minus her weapon.

The Trident continued shooting up like a rocket before it finally hit the glass dome and embedded itself deeply inside it—sending cracks spider-webbing throughout the entire dome.

Rainbow Dash stepped back, eyes wide, while Godfrey stood over her. He grinned victoriously and raised his sword high over his head, a deep chuckle coming from his throat as he got ready to end things.

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. It’s too bad you couldn’t be more like me.” The great pirate prepared to swing it down at her-

A droplet of water hit his wrist.

Godfrey blinked in confusion and looked at the drop of water now running down his arm. He and Rainbow Dash both looked up and saw the glass dome above them, full of cracks, starting to fall apart. Bits of glass were falling from it and more water was starting to leak through.

Seeing he was distracted, Rainbow Dash moved.

She jumped in at him and delivered a swift kick to his chest. Godfrey grunted and doubled over while Rainbow Dash back-flipped and kicked the bottom of his wrist, knocking the cutlass out of his talon and into the air. As it fell, Godfrey recovered and threw a punch at Rainbow that she ducked under while spinning around. When his cutlass passed right in front of her she opened her mouth and grasped the hilt between her teeth.

Rainbow wasn’t facing him. She was still in the middle of her spin. But she could hear another punch coming at the back of her unprotected head. Her legs spread slightly and she tilted her head down while turning, letting herself skid across the floor and just barely under his punch, before fully coming out of her full spin and stabbing the cutlass she held in her mouth towards him.

Thunk!

Their shadows connected on the floor. A small, quiet, gasp of shock came from Godfrey.

He looked down to see his own cutlass stabbing into his chest, held firm by Rainbow Dash. His beak was open in disbelief. The pirate blinked a few times as if it would change what he was seeing. At last the rage came once more to his face as he truly realized what had just happened and he lifted his talons to grab Rainbow Dash.

She twisted the sword and stabbed it deeper into his chest, another inch piercing his body.

“Haahhh...”

Godfrey gasped again, all the strength leaving his body, the air leaving his lungs. Rainbow let go of the hilt and he stumbled back and fell to the floor, sitting on his haunches while his shaking talons tried to reach up to the blade. Whether he was going to try and remove it or hold it steady, neither of them knew.

“You know something, Godfrey?” Rainbow said to him, nothing more than a frown on her face. “You’re right. I’m not like you, I’m better. Have fun down here!”

She turned around and flew towards the stairs leading out of the grand convocation chamber right as the glass dome shattered entirely and thousands of tons of glass and water, and the Trident of Ponyseidon, came crashing down. Godfrey’s eyes widened as far as they could go and he held up his arms helplessly as it rushed towards him.

“OOOOOOOOAAAAAAUUUUUHHHHHH!”

Rainbow Dash heard the impact and the tidal wave of water that was now surely coming down towards her as well—preparing to fill up the central dome and more. She didn’t look back.

“Bye, Godfrey.”

So Long, Merlantis

Ballast stood atop The Breakwater while Dredge and the others all climbed aboard his ship. They had made it back without issue and would pretty much be ready to leave as soon as Rainbow Dash and the others got back here. But suddenly the room they were in shook just ever so slightly and the water of the entry pool bubbled and rippled. Dredge and Ballast both looked around confusedly before glancing at each other.

“What was that?” Dredge asked.

“I don’t know,” Ballast shook his head. “But probably not anything good.”

Ballast ducked inside The Breakwater and started getting it ready for departure, leaving the hatch on top open. He had the gut feeling that they were going to need every extra second. Dredge quickly got into his vessel and closed his own hatch, and probably really wanted to leave immediately, but he stuck around for now.

The two had their state of the art submersibles side by side in the exit from the underwater city now. Waiting.

In one of the central dome’s hallways, Senax, Daylight Gleam, Gilbert, and Breakwater all came to a stop. A slight tremor had just gone through the building and it was followed by a continuous low rumbling coming from deeper inside. In the direction they had been going until just now.

“Did anyone else feel that?” Breakwater asked.

“Yeah, what was it?” Gilbert wondered.

“It felt like an earthquake,” Daylight said.

Senax bit her lip as the rumbling refused to stop—it elicited a worrisome feeling in her chest. “I really don’t like the sound of that. It’s coming from the direction Rainbow Dash should be in.”

Daylight and Gilbert shared an uncomfortable look.

“Let’s hope she’s okay but… she is the type to get into trouble,” Daylight said.

“What can be worse trouble than what she was already in?” Gilbert said.

Daylight scoffed. “That’s a good point, but let’s still not tempt fate.”

“We still going her direction then?” Breakwater asked.

Senax nodded. “Y-Yes, she might need our help.”

Gilbert smiled and started ahead at a faster pace, staying in front of the others. “We need to just believe in her, like she’s always said. It’s Rainbow Dash—how bad could things be?”

“Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud, oh crud, oh crud.”

Rainbow Dash flew at top speed through the white hallways of Merlantis. Behind her she could hear and feel the unrelenting torrent of ocean water that was proceeding to drown the entire central dome. The ocean wanted to claim the city and as far as Rainbow knew, nothing could stop it. If there was some kind of barrier that could stop the water from reaching everywhere else in Merlantis she wasn’t aware of it. You’d think the ancient merponies would have some kind of failsafe in case something like this happened. Just one more thing she’d like to chew them out over.

Of course maybe they did and Rainbow and her friends just hadn’t come across it.

She sped down a corner as she heard the water violently filling up the rooms just a few spots behind her. She’d need to get her friends quickly for them to escape.

That’s if they were okay. Rainbow remembered the unfortunate situation she had left them in.

She might still have another horrible problem to deal with right now.

Rainbow shook her head, trying to dispel the bad thoughts. No, no, no. Don’t think like that. Believe in your friends! They’re okay, and you’re all going to get out of here safely! I just really, really, wish I knew where they were right now!

That was the big issue. While they would’ve had a general idea of where she was when they had parted ways, Rainbow had no idea where they could be in Merlantis. The best she could do was head away from where the water was coming in and go back in the direction The Breakwater was docked. Hopefully her friends would already be heading there if they were safe. If they had dealt with Heartless on their own they might have moved to get on the way with getting out of here and waiting for Rainbow Dash to finish her fight with Godfrey. After all, since Rainbow had the Trident—had, the Trident—there wasn’t any other reason for them to stay down here in Merlantis once the dangers were taken care of.

“Just please be safe,” Rainbow whispered.

Thankfully she was still the greatest flier in the world and she was able to make quick work of these hallways and actually get some distance on the encroaching ocean. The water had to spread out and fill everything up after all, not just follow her path. It wouldn’t last forever but she was comfortable with how she was handling herself for now.

Her attitude was about to change as things got even more hectic when she turned the next corner.

Her four friends were right in the middle of the hallway, running towards her.

Rainbow’s pupils shrank.

Daylight’s mouth opened up as she started to say something-

“No time!” Rainbow Dash loudly interrupted her. “No time, no time, no time! Gilbert—grab Breakwater and fly with me, I’m grabbing Senax and Daylight, just follow me as fast as you can—we have to move right now!” She shot like a rainbow lightning bolt at them.

“What are you-” Daylight again tried to say before Rainbow picked her and Senax off their hooves, she tossed the merpony on her back and grabbed the unicorn, holding her tight to her barrel, and sped down the hallway without slowing down. Gilbert thankfully knew when it was the right time to shut up and listen to Rainbow Dash and had also quickly tossed the captain onto his back and was flying right beside her now.

“Can we please learn what’s going on?!” Breakwater shouted.

“Uhh…” Rainbow grimaced. “Well the good news is, I won. The bad news is that sound you’re hearing right now? That’s the ocean coming in to bury all of Merlantis underwater. Uh, double underwater.”

“Excuse me?!” Daylight yelled.

She and the others turned their heads to look behind them—and caught sight of a massive wall of water turning the corner and crashing towards them now.

“Oh dear… that’s not good,” Gilbert gulped.

“Yeah you know that glass dome in the big chamber with the map painted on the floor? Kind of sort of got broken while we were fighting,” Rainbow said.

“You did what?” Senax glared at her.

“It was Godfrey’s fault!” Rainbow complained, trying to defend herself.

Daylight whined in disgust from beneath her. “You’re bleeding all over me...”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m sorry about that, but could you maybe wait to complain about it until we’re not about to die!”

“T-That’s fair,” Daylight nodded.

Rainbow and Gilbert were both flying at full force with their passengers through the halls of Merlantis, back the way they had come in. It would be quite the trip to reach where The Breakwater was waiting for them but they’d have to do it. Both were going to push their wings to the limit. Rainbow’s were already burning, but she found in times like this, where her friends really needed her, she had an inexhaustible energy inside her.

They reached the exit from the central dome quite quickly, no time to look around or gawk at anything anymore. And from here it was one straight—though very long—path back to their ship.

Breakwater was quietly praying to Mother Ocean on Gilbert’s back, saying something about moving to Meer if he survived this.

Daylight was grumbling in annoyance. Typical, thought Rainbow Dash.

Senax was quiet with a grim expression on her face. Rainbow couldn’t even begin to imagine the mess of thoughts and emotions going through her right now.

And behind them the unstoppable wall of water was coming. It made an unnatural, monstrous noise, as it came for them. Almost like it was actually trying to catch and drown them. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t, but it didn’t stop Rainbow’s imagination from going places. No matter what it was so loud, now as it was shooting down the long hallway with them, towards the outer domes and buildings, it smothered all other noise. Rainbow couldn’t hear herself think, she couldn’t hear what anyone else might have been saying, the only sound was the crashing and tumbling wall of water behind them. They still had distance on it, and it would get better once they reached some of the other buildings down here where the path branched off, but it was still much too close for comfort.

Rainbow Dash pushed herself harder, a little more distance would be nice. If they just had a little more time to get onboard The Breakwater before the water reached them. Gilbert saw the necessity of speeding up and tried his best as well.

After a short time they reached the first of the other buildings on their path. They had to maneuver around some tighter corridors and some old artwork and statues, but otherwise it was still a mostly straight path back out. Rainbow Dash figured that if they made it to the hall of mirrors in decent time that they’d be in good shape. As long as they could get through it without the water being in that long corridor at the same time, they should be okay.

Behind them the sound of the raging water lessened slightly—that was a good sign.

“Please don’t let me die down here, please don’t let me die down here...” Daylight started repeating.

“Yeah, right there with you,” Rainbow said.

“You said this was Godfrey’s fault but I swear I’ll haunt you anyways,” the unicorn frowned.

“Save your energy for later, Daylight,” Breakwater said to her.

“Save your energy he says...” Gilbert huffed and panted heavily as he flew along. “Easier for some of us than others!”

“We’re almost there!” Rainbow shouted to try and keep them focused. She left out the “Sort of” that came at the end of that sentence.

They kept flying while the walls of Merlantis around them continued to shake—and now with greater force as more and more water was flowing through it. It didn’t matter that they had gotten some distance on the rushing water behind them, the chaos and sheer volume of water that had already entered Merlantis was causing tremors to reverberate throughout the entire city. When Rainbow Dash saw the hall of mirrors she smiled, hoping they had enough room. If she could’ve pulled Gilbert along right now she would have, but since she refused to leave him and Breakwater behind she stayed at essentially the same speed he was going. They were all getting out of this.

Their reflected bodies was almost a dizzying experience as they jetted past the mirrors. It truly was not much further now.

If Ballast wasn’t there they might have a big problem.

“This is seriously bad...” Ballast said as he looked around the entry room. The water in the pool had started to rage for some reason and his and Dredge’s ship both were bouncing around in it. Right now Ballast himself was standing inside the hatch, holding it open and looking ahead in the hope that any second his friends would burst through the door and they could leave.

He found himself counting the seconds while the tremors continued to shake the walls around them unceasingly.

37 seconds later and the doors practically exploded when Rainbow Dash and Gilbert flew through them while carrying the rest of his friends.

Ballast’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re-”

“No time!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she and Gilbert flew right towards The Breakwater. “Get down to the wheel and get us out of here!”

Ballast gulped. “C-Can do!”

Next to him he saw Dredge’s vessel finally sink down into the water and get ready to leave. He was pretty surprised that his former apprentice and rival had actually stayed here for this long. It was impressive, it spoke better of him than Ballast would have ever thought. But he definitely had the right of it—it was time to go, whatever was happening, Rainbow Dash’s attitude told him they had to get out now. He dropped from the hatch and got right into the driver’s seat, thanks to earlier the vessel was primed and ready to go as soon as the hatch was closed.

Once Rainbow Dash reached the hatch she practically threw both Daylight and Senax down into it, where they both landed with a painful thwump on the floor, and stood by to let Gilbert and Breakwater head down just as quickly. As soon as the griffon and earth pony were inside, she spared one last glance down the hallway and saw the rushing wall of water coming closer. It was almost about to pour in and drown this room along with the rest of Merlantis it had already raged through.

Rainbow Dash frowned and jumped down as well, pulling the hatch closed.

“Take us out of here!” She shouted.

“Working on it!” Ballast replied and had The Breakwater start to submerge.

Just outside the viewport, directly in front of them and right before the ship submerged completely, the great wall of water burst into the chamber and swallowed everything up. Gilbert screamed as The Breakwater was tossed about, Ballast grit his teeth as he almost lost control of the wheel and fought to keep them steady. It was like they had sailed directly into a powerful whirlpool, the ship and everyone inside was being treated like a rag doll, a loud bang erupted through the interior as they smacked into the wall of the pool room. The water was so chaotic they couldn’t see anything clearly out of the viewport, Ballast was moving it on pure instinct.

Senax nearly slammed against the bulkhead before Rainbow Dash grabbed her to keep her safe. But another sharp and sudden turn of The Breakwater sent them careening the other direction.

And Rainbow Dash’s head smacked against one of the metal lockers.

Everything went dark while The Breakwater spun around in the water.

Surface

The last bit of bandages from The Breakwater’s first-aid kit was being wrapped around Rainbow Dash’s front left hoof. She had so many small cuts and bruises there almost hadn’t been enough to cover everything. Luckily Senax had made it work. The merpony looked over her work and smiled at the nearly mummified Rainbow Dash.

“Feeling better now?” Senax asked her.

“Everything hurts really bad. But yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered.

“And you’re not bleeding all over the place anymore, so I’m feeling better too,” Daylight said.

The Breakwater slowly drifted up and up from the depths of the ocean with Ballast at the controls, peering out the viewport at the dark water. They had only barely managed to make it out of Merlantis before the vessel had gotten too damaged. Rainbow had woken back up only a minute ago while Senax was in the middle of fixing her up. Now things were calm and cold inside the vessel. A lot had happened… a lot needed to be talked about for the first time.

Rainbow Dash leaned up against the bulkhead of the vessel, she felt every last wound she had received in her fight with Godfrey. Now that she was “resting” and had come to a stop it was unavoidable. She’d been in worse condition before though.

“So...” Rainbow Dash breathed out and looked at the others. “Heartless is taken care of?”

Daylight and Breakwater shared an uncertain look and the unicorn shrugged.

“For a given meaning of the word. We tossed her into one of the trash chutes—who knows where she is now.”

Rainbow nodded. “Good enough. You guys won’t have to worry about her anymore at least.”

“What was she?” Breakwater asked.

“Just… just another problem. I think it’s for the best if you guys try and forget about her.”

“Rainbow Dash?” Gilbert looked at her with a downcast expression. “My… my brother then?”

Rainbow took a few deep breaths. And nodded.

“I see...” Gilbert’s eyes turned down to the floor. “I… I see...”

It was all he could say at the moment.

Daylight exhaled and fidgeted in place, if there was enough room to pace around in here she probably would. “Everything that happened… and Merlantis now...” She looked over at Senax. “Are you alright, Senax?”

Rainbow had to admit she was curious about that too.

Senax replied with a soft smile on her face. “I’m shocked at what’s happened, it’s true. But in the end… we’re alive. My people are still alive back at East Glade too. And no matter what happened, we still found it. I’ll be able to lead my people back there one day—and we’ll fix it. We’ll rebuild what we have to, no matter how long it takes, or how much water we have to somehow pump out. Nothing changes the fact that our home is still there. It’s just a little wet right now.” She winked at Rainbow Dash.

“I really wish we could’ve avoided that...” Rainbow sheepishly rubbed the back of her head.

“But so… what about the Trident?” Breakwater asked.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Gone. It must be drifting down there in the water somewhere. Maybe somewhere still in Merlantis, I don’t know.”

“Well Senax will always be able to find it again,” Daylight said, pointing at the Necklace Senax still wore.

“You’re right,” Senax nodded and reached up to take hold of the Necklace—and ripped it in half, letting the chain fall to the floor and then stomping on the crystals with her hooves until they were pulverized. She smiled. “Much better.”

Daylight and the others gawked at her.

“W-W-W-Wha-what did you just do?!” Daylight screeched.

“Ponyseidon left a lot of things behind. Not all of them were good. The Trident doesn’t need to be found again—and I’m not sure I want it to be. Treasures, trinkets, we don’t need those things from him anymore. I want us to cast aside the terrible legacy he left us with. To do that, these treasures he used for such ill purposes must go, even the Horn of Listening. And one day Merlantis will be a city of peace where others can come and visit as well, and merponies will be friends with everyone else in the Grand Ocean.”

“Priceless magical artifact… one of a kind ancient heirloom...” Daylight sounded like she was about to faint.

“Oh get over it,” Rainbow grinned and playfully punched her in the shoulder. Her grin then turned into a morose frown as she looked down. “The… the Sarraroccons though… Coral Sea and the others...”

Senax sadly looked down as well. “All the ones that came down here perished...”

“I didn’t… I didn’t want that to happen!” Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof down, despite the pain it caused her.

“Me neither, Rainbow Dash,” Senax shook her head, tears coming to her eyes. “I just wanted us to be friends. After what she told us, after learning the truth about Ponyseidon, I wanted us to heal. I wanted things to get better.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, thinking back to her final moments with the High Priestess. “Senax… Coral Sea never really understood what you came here for. Or what you saw in Merlantis. She wasn’t able to let go of her hatred. Even if she was here right now I don’t think she’d believe or care about what you were saying. But yeah… I wish I could’ve tried convincing her too. I wish things didn’t end that way.”

“We’ve all got much to think about it seems,” Gilbert said.

“Things definitely didn’t go perfectly,” Breakwater nodded.

“No, no they didn’t,” Senax agreed. “But—it’s a new day, and we’re all alive. And… it’s over. We found Merlantis, we found the Trident and we know no one else can misuse it now, Godfrey is gone too. Our journey here on the Grand Ocean is finally over. After so long… it feels so strange thinking about it, but we can finally rest.”

Breakwater smiled. “And even better, Bosche is gone so the rest of the ocean is going to be a much better place.”

“And without Coral Sea the Sarraroccons likely can’t cause any problems anytime soon for your people either,” Daylight said to Senax.

Senax nodded. “Yes. It’s not perfect, not nearly, and there’s a lot I’m still going to have to do, but I think we’ve got a pretty bright future ahead of us.”

“Speaking of bright—it’s daytime. Once we get back to the surface we should have a bright and sunny day to enjoy,” Ballast said.

“Now that, is perfect,” Rainbow smiled.

Breakwater chuckled a bit. “It’s strange to think we’re finally done. It really is. Spent so much time looking for Merlantis and now we’re already heading back up.”

“We did what needed to be done,” Senax said. “I won’t say I don’t have any regrets but right now at least I’m happy.”

Rainbow Dash’s stomach growled.

Everyone turned to look at her as the pegasus grew slightly red in the face.

“Well come on… I doubt I’m the only one here who’s hungry?”

“She has a point,” Gilbert grinned.

“There’s still food stocked up in here,” Ballast said. “You might as well have something to eat since it’s going to be a few hours before we get back to the surface anyways. Shouldn’t be anything else we have to do along the way.”

“Could be playing cards right now if we brought a deck,” Rainbow said.

“Oh deal with it,” Daylight snorted.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at her. “Deal with it? Was that another pun?”

“No!” Daylight shouted in denial. “I don’t make puns!”

Ballast rolled his eyes as he listened to them. “Already back to normal, huh?”

Senax’s ears perked up as she heard that. The smile on her face widened and she started to giggle, then giggled louder, before finally erupting into full on laughter as she held her stomach. The others looked at her in confusion, wondering what was up that she found so funny. Senax didn’t care, even if they thought she was crazy, she couldn’t stop laughing even as she started crying.

“Uh, Senax? What’s going on?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“It’s—It’s-” Senax tried to speak between bouts of laughter. “It’s normal! Nothing—nothing’s changed! Everything we’ve went through, every crazy thing that happened, but we’re still the same! We’re still friends, we can still laugh and joke just like always!” She finally managed to stop laughing, her body still being wracked by little giggles. “Everything really is alright… everything’s going to be alright...”

Breakwater put a friendly hoof on her shoulder. “You bet it is.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and nodded. “Definitely!”

“No question about it!” Gilbert gave a thumb’s up.

Daylight sighed. “And I suppose it wouldn’t be right to be the cynical one.” She smiled. “Yeah, I think things are going to be okay too.”

The five of them grouped up to hug each other—just on pure instinct.

“As soon as we get to the surface, I’m taking a big breath of fresh air!” Rainbow Dash announced.

“And I’ll be right behind you,” Senax smiled.

Much later, after they had eaten, after Rainbow Dash had complained some more about being bored, The Breakwater rose from the depths and made it to shallower water. A hundred feet from breaking the surface, the sunlight from above illuminated the ocean around them. Schools of fish happily swam by, a single big jellyfish floated in front of the viewport, and a group of sea turtles stopped to see just what they were before swimming away.

The view became bubbly and white the closer The Breakwater got to the surface before it finally broke from the water and jumped on out, bobbing in place for a second before coming to a calm float. Water cascaded down the viewport as Ballast let go of the wheel, checking the instruments to see if everything was okay, and then turned with a smile to the others.

Rainbow Dash pumped a hoof in joy—and winced from the pain—before grinning anyways and flying up to the hatch.

She popped it open and flew on out, hovering above the submersible and basking in the warm sunlight. She shut her eyes and let the breeze go through her mane, her wings, her tail, and took a deep breath.

“Ahhhh… that’s the stuff.”

Senax came right out after her—and jumped into the ocean. She splashed and swam around the ship, laughing and enjoying herself.

One by one the others came, even Ballast, and stood on top of The Breakwater. Everyone together to savor being back on the surface.

Rainbow Dash plopped down next to them while Senax continued to swim without a care in the world. She looked up at the blue sky, the white clouds, and the sun higher than them all. A few seagulls went by and Rainbow pictured herself up there with them. It’d be great. As soon as she had all these bandages off at least.

“So what now? Do we go back to Palm Floats immediately or-” Breakwater said.

“Let’s take a little break,” Senax said as she swam up to the ship. “Let’s just—let’s just enjoy ourselves here for a moment. If no one else has a problem with that?”

“Not really,” Breakwater shrugged.

Ballast grinned and took a seat. “It’s always been your trip. I could use a stretch anyways after all the time spent crammed in there.”

“I just have one thing to say first then,” Gilbert said.

“What?” Senax asked.

The griffon smirked. “Hehe—CANNONBALL!”

He jumped off the side of The Breakwater and into the cool ocean water, creating a large splash and dousing Daylight from horn to hoof.

“Aghh! Gilbert!” She shouted at him.

“Oh relax,” Rainbow said and pushed her overboard.

“W-W-Wagh!” Daylight teetered for a second on the edge before falling in. Rainbow Dash and everyone else laughing heartily at her predicament. Her head came back out of the water in just a second with an angry glare on her face. “You are very lucky you’re injured right now or I’d drag you in here too.” She frowned at Breakwater. “So I’ll settle for someone else who finds this amusing.”

“Wait, wha-” Breakwater said before Daylight telekinetically grabbed him and yanked him into the water too. He sputtered and paddled in the water, fighting his way back to the side of the ship named for him. “Ugh! I didn’t deserve that!”

Rainbow Dash giggled, and much like Senax earlier found herself laughing harder and harder. It was more than worth the pain that came from it.

The Future

The Breakwater cruised beneath the waves once more as it made its way to Palm Floats, the short break was over with and now everyone was back to being cramped and packed inside the submersible. They would’ve liked to have been up on the surface but the ship wasn’t built to move in that position. Good news was they could still see clearly out the viewport and had a nice view of the ocean and all the fish swimming in it. The trip was going to be less boring than the one on the way to Merlantis.

“So more seriously-” Daylight said while they traveled. “What are we going to be doing when we get back to Palm Floats?”

The small smile Rainbow Dash had on her face turned into a sad frown.

“What do you mean?” Gilbert asked.

Daylight shrugged. “Well… we’re done, aren’t we? The adventure’s over, there’s nothing for us to do out here, no reason for us to keep traveling together. And I’m pretty sure we all have different things we wanted to do once we found Merlantis. Senax needs to go back to East Glade to contact and gather her people, Gilbert and Rainbow Dash are both going back to traveling again, Breakwater and Ballast have to go back to Malkonrik at least, and I don’t even know what I’m going to do.”

“Huh. When you put it like that...” Breakwater mumbled.

“This is kind of it. Isn’t it?” Senax whispered.

Rainbow Dash sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. “I’ve kind of been putting off bringing it up, but yeah. Now that things are done here I’ve gotta get back out there on my own journey. Gotta get back to flying all the way around the world, you know? I didn’t really want to have to say goodbye but… yeah.”

“Well it’s not going to be immediate or anything,” Daylight awkwardly looked around, a little uncomfortable with the emotional atmosphere that was starting to build up. “You’re going to want to wait a couple days for your wounds to heal. We can all stick together on Palm Floats and relax for a little until you’re okay to travel again.”

Rainbow grinned. “Yeah. Yeah that sounds pretty good.”

“But hold on, if we’re all going our own way from here, how are the rest of you going to travel anyways?” Ballast asked. “Breakwater has to use the Heart of Azure to tow The Breakwater back to Malkonrik. What are you guys going to do?”

“We’ll have to get transport of our own I suppose,” Daylight said.

“How?” Ballast asked.

“What do you mean how?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “We have a treasure chest more than halfway full of coins still. That oughta be more than enough for us all to pay for travel elsewhere, right?”

“Call it a parting gift from Coral Sea,” Senax smiled.

“Huh, kind of forgot about that,” Breakwater said. “But yeah—there’s definitely enough Malkonrik coin left in there for all of you to travel anywhere you want on the Grand Ocean.”

Gilbert coughed to get their attention. “Ehem. Actually, I believe I’ll be going back north with you and Ballast, so you won’t need to do anything for me.”

“You’re coming back to Malkonrik with us? What for?” Breakwater asked.

“Well...” he looked over at Rainbow Dash. “I kind of want to see more of the world. I admit I’ve gotten curious from all of Rainbow Dash’s stories, I was always planning on doing this but… I want to see what she saw.” He shrugged. “I plan on going north on the path she made, only backwards, visiting the places she’s been, going to the True North, and coming back out where we met long ago past the Yaket Range. I’ve always been an adventurer—though not a very good one—and I don’t want things to stop yet.”

“That’s a daunting task, Gilbert...” Daylight said.

“And dangerous if Rainbow’s stories are true,” Senax said.

“They are,” Rainbow nodded. “I… don’t want to rain on your parade, but if you do that you better be prepared. I’ll tell you everything you need to know.” She grinned. “But you know what? I believe in you.”

“So that means I’m going to have to keep sailing with Gilbert for a while longer? Great,” Breakwater rolled his eyes, but there was amusement in them.

“I will do my best to not be annoying on our return trip,” Gilbert smirked and bowed for him.

“Sure,” Breakwater snorted.

“I’ll use some of the leftover money to get passage back west. It shouldn’t be hard to do the reverse of what we did to get to the Grand Ocean in the first place,” Senax said. “It would be easier if I could just get directly to East Glade but the cliffs and the monsters that live in those mountains makes that impossible. I think I’ll have to travel all the way to Griffonstone first and head overland.” She smiled sadly at the floor. “It’ll be… lonely without the rest of you.”

Rainbow Dash reached over her shoulders and pulled her in close. “Just look forward to the day we see each other again.”

“That’s going to happen?” Senax looked up at her hopefully.

“Sure is!” Rainbow nodded. “I don’t care how long it takes—you bet I’m going to come by to say hi again!”

“Considering how loud you are I bet we’ll all hear you coming well before you get here,” Breakwater said.

“Pff, whatever! As if you all aren’t looking forward to it,” Rainbow grinned.

“Before that can even happen though—how are you going to make your way south from here? I mean the whole reason you even stumbled across us back in Malkonrik was because you couldn’t fly yourself the whole way across the ocean. We’re only in the middle of the Grand Ocean right now, how are you going to make it all the way to the south pole from here? And how are you going to survive flying across the south pole to the other side of the world? It’s nothing but ice and snow,” Daylight asked her.

“Uhh…” Rainbow Dash looked up and tapped her chin. “You know, those are some pretty good questions.”

“Ugh!” Daylight groaned and dragged her hoof down her face.

“Since we’re going to have a few extra days I’ll make you an itinerary,” Breakwater said to Rainbow Dash. “You’ll need to get to the island of South Light, it’s the southernmost inhabited island on the Grand Ocean. A day or two flying away from it and I bet you’ll start to see icebergs. We can use some of the money to find a vessel at Palm Floats willing to take you there or at least part of the way. I’ll personally handle it.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash grinned to him.

“That still doesn’t solve everything though. You’re not going to find any food at the south pole,” Daylight said. “And it’s going to be freezing—even though you traveled through the True North do you want to fly through something like that again without winter clothes?”

Rainbow Dash shuddered. “No—and I’m probably not used to the cold anymore.”

“I doubt you’ll be able to find appropriate stuff at Palm Floats but as you get further south there should be places selling warmer clothing. And definitely places selling food that’ll last a long time that you can take with you. Maybe we can just buy a bag for you at Palm Floats to keep your money in and you can stock up on the rest of what you need after heading off?” Breakwater said.

Rainbow shrugged. “Sounds good to me. Huh, I usually don’t plan my trips out at all, usually just fly and let stuff happen. Kind of weird to actually put thought into it.”

“Kind of weird to actually be smart you mean?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. She then turned her own questioning gaze to Daylight. “Well what about you? What’s your plan for after Palm Floats?”

Daylight thought for a second and then shrugged. “Guess I don’t have anything that’s really set in stone. One day I’m going to go back to Griffonstone too, and I’d like to come back here and visit Senax and her people once Merlantis is inhabited again, but that might not be for a long while. I think for now… I’m not quite done with exploring the world either. But I’ll take the long way around instead, actually I’ve had the idea to go east. Keep going east until it becomes the west again.”

“East, huh?” Rainbow asked her.

Daylight blushed a little bit. “Just an idea that’s been floating around in my head lately.”

“So we’re really all going to be going somewhere completely different,” Senax murmured.

“Palm Floats might be the last time we’re all actually together...” Gilbert said.

The inside of The Breakwater was quiet for a bit after that. It was definitely a somber thought after they had been together for so long. After everything they had been through. Rainbow realized it was even worse for the others who had known and been traveling with each other since well before she got here. Especially Daylight and Senax. The two of them in particular had known each other for months before they even left East Glade.

Now in just a few days they would part.

Rainbow Dash blinked as she realized this was by far the longest she had ever spent in “one” place with one group of friends. She had been at the Eternal Pegasus Empire for a decent amount of time, and the Mammoth City, and Hoofica, but two of those places she was “indisposed” for a while as well. It was crazy now. It was crazy that she was going to have to say goodbye too.

The Heart of Azure was almost like a second home at this point.

It would be weird. It would be so, so, weird when she was gone again. When she was flying off on her own and didn’t have Gilbert to mess around with, or Daylight to bother, or anyone to play cards with. When she wasn’t trying to help Senax find Merlantis. When she wasn’t learning about sailing or the ocean from Breakwater.

Weird. Just weird.

“Hey, we’re going to be back at Palm Floats pretty soon,” Ballast said while looking down at his instruments. “Still the middle of the day—guess a lot of vacationers are going to be surprised when The Breakwater pops up out of the water.”

“Can’t really avoid that this time,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Eh, not a big deal anyways. At this point I don’t really care if it’s kept a secret or nothing. Almost dying in ten different ways kind of puts a lot of your life into perspective,” Ballast said. “I’ll be happy just to be able to make more of these with my plans in the future.”

“Speaking of this ship and surviving through a bunch of stuff… what about the others? Dredge and Old Diver’s butlers? We never saw what happened to their submersible,” Daylight said.

“They left before we did so I’m sure they at least got out of Merlantis before the water crashed together,” Ballast said.

“I bet they were going as fast as they could back to the surface and well away from here,” Breakwater said.

“So long as they’re okay too. Not like I have anything against any of them,” Rainbow said.

“Heh—me neither actually,” Ballast smiled.

Gilbert decided to bring up a different subject. “So then, what’s the first thing we do when we get back to Palm Floats and The Breakwater is nice and secure?”

“Well—Rainbow Dash should probably go see an actual doctor,” Senax said.

“Eh,” Rainbow shrugged and looked her bandaged stuff over. “I’ll be fine, trust me.”

“Then I’m assuming the first thing we can all agree on doing is getting a nice bite to eat,” Daylight said. “Snacks are okay—a meal is perfect.”

“Oh yeah,” this time Rainbow grinned.

Senax found herself smiling too. “I think so.”

“Yes,” Gilbert nodded.

“The busy stuff can come after that,” Breakwater said.

“Well then I won’t keep you waiting,” Ballast said. “Full speed ahead to Palm Floats!”

The Breakwater sped on through the waters of the ocean, looking to return to Palm Floats shortly. Though they’d be saying goodbye there, they knew they could still enjoy the time they had left with each other. Nothing could change that. And nothing could stop them from making a few last happy memories.

It Was Pretty Awesome

“OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH—VIVA!”

The dancing mare wore a grass skirt and a bowl of fruit on her head as she gyrated her flank around on the middle of the beach. Beside her several other mares danced in unison with her while behind them a group of stallions banged sticks on coconuts for music. It was a bright and sunny day on Palm Floats and the ponies visiting here were being treated to one of the many daily shows put on by the locals.

Naturally the visitors—eating tasty fruit and drinking alcohol—were enjoying it immensely.

And that included Rainbow Dash and her group of friends, who had now been here for three days. The pegasus herself was free of bandages and on her third pina colada of the day. She sat at a palm-leaf covered table with the others, watching the energetic ponies dancing around the sand.

She really had no idea how that bowl of fruit stayed on that pony’s head.

The main dancer jiggled her way across the beach, dancing hoof-in-hoof with some of the other ponies enjoying their time here. She had a tropical, light-blue, coat and a sandy blonde mane that was tied up high behind her head. Rainbow Dash had seen her a few times before now, and even danced with her once pretty much right after the bandages had come off. Midway through the dance, some stallions came out onto the beach and set up a limbo pole while the other dances lit up flaming batons and began tossing and twirling them through the air. It probably looked eve cooler at night but even in the middle of the day it was impressive.

When the dancing and fire-spinning was done, all the performers got in a long line (with Miss Fruit Bowl in front) and proceeded to the limbo pole. They made a conga line while going under it and invited other ponies around to join in the fun. Rainbow didn’t know how the lead mare was flexible enough to go under the pole with that fruit bowl on her head and not fall or spill anything.

While that was going on a mare came to their table and dropped off a new round of drinks for everyone.

Yep, Rainbow Dash could get used to this hospitality. They had seen so much more of Palm Floats since coming back. With the money they had they rented a private bungalow on a just as private beach away from the more touristy areas. It was nice to rest at, and the food they could order was divine. But of course when it came to the parties and spending their day nothing beat coming to the big public beaches like this one—right by the docks and only major town on the island. They had enjoyed a lot of parties and shows here.

It was the last day. Tomorrow they were all going off on their own.

Rainbow Dash’s smile almost faltered but she managed to keep it up. Today was still a day for kicking back, relaxing, and having fun with her friends.

Gilbert whistled to the conga line of dancers as they finished limboing. “Bravo! As lovely a performance as always!”

The main performance was over with and now the local mares and stallions were going around the beach, visiting with vacationers and dancing with a few to spread the fun around. Later in the evening they’d have another big party and show while cooking up grilled pineapple and all sorts of other food. Rainbow planned to at least be on her tenth drink by then.

“Anything you all want to do now before the next show?” Daylight asked.

“I wouldn’t mind getting another massage,” Senax said. “Or going back to that exclusive lagoon behind our bungalow. Rainbow, you still haven’t gotten the chance to swim in it, the water’s beautiful.”

“If I was doing anything in the water I’d want it to be surfing to be honest. Too bad they don’t have anything like that here,” Rainbow shrugged.

“You’d have to go back to the Sea Lion Reefs,” Gilbert said.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Yeah—that was a lot of fun. Surfing wasn’t perfect but I bet I could super get the hang of it next time I tried.” She leaned back and thought for a second. “You know, if I could go back anywhere though I’d kind of want it to be the Three Spears. That was supposed to be the very first island I visited on the ocean, my first stop. But it got kind of ruined and we didn’t really get to enjoy it or anything.”

“Hm, if I could go back anywhere we visited I’d like to check out the Wandering Island again,” Daylight said. “I feel like we didn’t see a tenth of what it had to offer. There must have been so many interesting items and ponies floating along with it.”

“Despite the truth of it—I’d like to visit the Sarrarocco Archipelago again. I made some friends there and I’d certainly enjoy sampling more of their entertainment,” Gilbert nodded.

Senax pondered for a moment before smiling. “I’d have to go back to the Lost Isle of the Lizard People if we had a choice. I’m going to be going back there at some point in the future eventually, but I’d really like to just go there to say hi and revisit all of them again. Princess Fairscale, Smooth Tongue, Firescale, everyone… I think a visit where I wasn’t there for any important reason would be nice. Instead next time I show up there again I might have my whole tribe with me so we can reconnect.”

“Well unlike the rest of you, aside from the Lost Isle I’ve already been to all of these places more than a few times. I think I’d just like to get back to Malkonrik and hope none of the other Kingdoms are going through a civil war or something again,” Breakwater said.

“Don’t worry—without the rest of us with you, I doubt your luck will be that bad anymore,” Rainbow said.

Breakwater snorted. “I can only hope.”

Rainbow Dash laughed and glanced around the table at the others, memories, good and bad, of the long trip they had taken all over the ocean were flooding back to her. She let out a deep, content, sigh. “You know, there were definitely some bad times, but in the end? I think this was a pretty awesome adventure.”

“A slightly better ending would’ve been nice but overall I’m not complaining either,” Daylight said, a small grin tugging up her lips.

“We’ll all certainly have a lot of tales to tell to anyone willing to listen,” Gilbert nodded.

Senax lifted up a hollowed out coconut filled with a fruity beverage and took a big sip from it. “Regardless of everything else—that’s certainly true. And I had the best friends anyone could wish for during this adventure. Ponies, and griffons, who I’ll treasure in my heart for the rest of my life. I’ll never forget any of you. How could I?”

“Before things can get anymore mushy, what do you say we just join the partiers on the beach and dance? Save the mushy stuff for tomorrow,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing at both the locals and visitors having fun on the white sandy beach.

Senax giggled. “Well I’m completely fine with that too.”

“I’m not exactly interested in dancing...” Daylight said.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Of course you’re not.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Daylight frowned.

“You know exactly what it means.”

“Oh I see—more of how I hate fun and how Daylight Gleam is a big killjoy.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Well you know what? Since this is our last hurrah, I’m going to prove you wrong. Right to your face!” Daylight huffed and stood up from the table, grouchily stomping her way through the sand.

“Does she know she looks like she’s having the exact opposite of fun?” Gilbert asked.

“Just give her a minute,” Breakwater said.

They all watched as the grumpy looking Daylight made her way through the crowd on the beach until she found the tropical dancing mare—who was still wearing her big fruit bowl. While the others couldn’t hear what they were talking about, the dancer was smiling along to whatever Daylight was saying and grew more and more animated throughout the conversation. After a couple of minutes the dancer followed Daylight to a more open spot on the beach and the two began to tango.

“Wait, what?” Rainbow Dash blinked.

The entire group watched as Daylight and the dancer elegantly tangoed across the white sand in the middle of a large crowd of beachgoers. Daylight actually took the lead, holding hooves with the dancer and twirling her around, dipping her (in a way that kept fruit from falling), and sashaying in perfect step together.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at the others. “Did any of you know she could do that? She just said she didn’t like to dance.”

The others all shook their heads as they watched, just as perplexed as Rainbow Dash.

“No idea,” Senax said.

Daylight used her magic to pick a flower off the arrangement on another table and gave it to the dancer to hold in her mouth. They continued tangoing around for awhile longer until Daylight pulled the fruit bowl of the dancers head with her magic and rested it on her own—before dipping the mare down low to the ground and letting her arch her neck back. They stuck that pose while the dancer’s normal partners and entourage along with the vacationers cheered and applauded them. Finally, they let each other go and stood up straight, the dancer smiled and waved goodbye to Daylight while Daylight did the same and walked back to her table.

The unicorn had her nose turned up as she sat down and calmly grabbed her new drink, taking a sip before tossing a hoof through her mane.

“Hmph.”

Gilbert scratched his head. “Well—so that just happened.”

The night sky was even clearer than it was during the day. A cloudless sky allowed you to see up at the countless twinkling stars and the bright moon as they all shown down upon you. It was so dark, but that made them all stick out even more. So pretty, so peaceful, it was much later than any partying that went on at the island—or at least any that was loud enough to reach the six of them at their bungalow.

Breakwater and Ballast were already asleep while Rainbow Dash laid back in a hammock strung up between two palm trees. It was perfectly warm even at night, something she was very grateful for.

Daylight sat next to one of the palm trees, her head resting against it and her eyes slowly opening and closing. Tired, but not asleep just yet.

Gilbert lied on his back on the grass with his talons clasped behind his head. Like Rainbow Dash he was looking up at the starry sky—quieter and deeper in thought than he practically ever was.

Senax was sitting on the sand in front of Rainbow’s hammock, but was staring out at the small ocean waves as they broke upon the shore. The water was dark and nearly invisible in the night, but she could still see the white seafoam whenever the waves broke. The quiet sound of the waves rolled across the beach all the way to their bungalow, producing a calming music.

“First thing in the morning, isn’t it?” Rainbow Dash said, grabbing their attention.

Daylight rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Yes… which means we really should be getting some sleep right now.”

“You’re not going to regret on missing more time to spend together?” Rainbow grinned.

“Not when I’m this tired,” Daylight frowned. “It’s not missing out on much.”

“Breakwater already has everything taken care of, I’m sure we can waste a little time having breakfast tomorrow before we all leave,” Gilbert said.

“We do have a schedule but I’m sure a little extra money can loosen that up,” Senax smiled. “Long enough to say our goodbyes.”

“Especially since some of us might get a little sentimental and drag things out,” Gilbert said, looking at Daylight and Rainbow Dash.

They both frowned back at him. “Why are you looking at me?”

Senax giggled. “Well—I think Daylight is right that we probably should get to sleep. As nice as it is tonight.”

“Thank you,” Daylight said as she stood up, stretching. “I think I’m going to do what I should have done hours ago and hop into my bed.” She paused before she left. “And… I’ll see all of you in the morning.”

Gilbert and Senax went to follow her soon after, the griffon raising an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash while she was still reclining in her hammock.

“Staying up?”

Rainbow nodded. “For a bit longer. I’ve got some stuff to think about.”

They gave her her solitude and soon Rainbow heard the door to the bungalow open and close. She swayed back and forth in her hammock a bit, continuing to stare up at the sky. Though she was proud of what she had accomplished here, and the friends she had made, a frown still tugged down her face.

“Am I forgetting about something?”

Further down on the beach, as the waves slowly lapped up on the shore, something crawled out from the briney depths. Like a drunk struggling to stand, it pulled itself out of the water, stomach dragging through the sand.

A pony. A drowned mare who had decayed and rotted ten years in the span of a few days. Her insides pulsed, her white bones visible, her organs black and liquidy. Her former colors were dampened and replaced by an ugly blue and green.

She had a question mark on her flank where her old Cutie Mark used to be.

And a trident embedded through her back.

She managed to stand up, though her legs in the state they were should never have been able to function or support her weight. Her dead eyes turned to the bungalow in the distance, barely visible in the darkness. The Trident of Ponyseidon and her horn both pulsed together with magic and behind her, the water of the ocean receded, and continued to recede. Further and further… further…

It started to come back. A tidal wave.

Cardinal Directions

Rainbow Dash’s nose curled. “Ugh! What’s that smell?”

She sat up in the hammock after accidentally dozing off at some point, woken up by the absolutely rancid smell that had come out of nowhere. Still the middle of the night, what had suddenly started stinking up the place?

Her ears flicked up—there was a weird noise too that wasn’t there before.

The ocean sounded different. Rainbow Dash frowned and looked toward it, noticing for the first time that she couldn’t see the waves anymore.

“What the?”

Plop

Plop

Plop

Plop

“Uhhh…” through the shadows, she could hear the sound of something wet smacking across the ground. Like a wet hoof stomping through mud. It was the direction the smell was coming from too. Rainbow Dash jumped out of the hammock and stood her ground, eyes narrowed at the darkness.

As the shambling sound and vile smell got closer to the bungalow, it stepped out of the shadows and Rainbow Dash could finally see what it was. Her eyes went wide and bile rose in her throat. The pony that emerged was a bloated, water-logged, corpse of a mare. Chunks of flesh were missing, enough to see muscle, bone, and vital organs, her coat was a blotchy dead blue and green, her eyes were like a fish, and seaweed, starfish, sea urchins, and barnacles stuck attached all over her body.

Rainbow Dash recognized her immediately. “Coral Sea… what happened to you?”

The former High Priestess took another step forward and stumbled on the sand. Rainbow Dash saw the Trident impaling her back—and the question mark Cutie Mark on her flank.

Rainbow hissed, sucking in a deep breath as her eyes narrowed in anger. “He got you. He must’ve thought Godfrey or Heartless would kill me, or I’d drown when the dome broke. When I didn’t he found you and the Trident…”

“Have it…” the guttural groan came from Coral Sea’s throat, impossible as it was, and her dead eyes focused on Rainbow Dash. “I have it… now die… die… die…”

The sound from the ocean grew stronger and Rainbow Dash looked past Coral Sea—her sharp eyes now seeing for the first time the massive wave that had risen in the distance. It sped towards the island of Palm Floats, the top of it dwarfing the island. If it reached Palm Floats the tidal wave would swallow the island completely and leave nothing behind.

“Well isn’t that perfect?” Rainbow Dash growled as she began to sweat. “Everybody wake up!” She yelled to her sleeping friends in the bungalow. “Wake up and get out here RIGHT NOW!”

“Yes… the merpony… she will die… I will… I will kill her,” Coral Sea sputtered, ugly, grimy water billowing from her mouth.

“You’re just being used, Coral Sea… it’s already over,” Rainbow said while behind her the door to the bungalow swung open.

“What’s going on?!” Daylight shouted—horn lit while the others stood in the doorway around her.

“And what’s that horrid stench?” Gilbert pinched the top of his beak.

“Just an old friend who’s come back to say hi,” Rainbow said and pointed at the zombie Coral Sea.

The others gasped at the frightening sight, not able to believe what they were seeing. Even though she was a total mess they could all still recognize her and the artifact embedded in her body. And dead as her eyes were she still seemed able to recognize all of them as well. Her head turned and locked eyes with Senax while more water dripped from her mouth and the foul stench persisted.

“Coral Sea?” Senax whispered.

“Not even death… not even death will stop me… I will kill you,” Coral Sea said to Senax.

“This is impossible…” Ballast said, pale in the face.

“Seen a lot of crazy things on the ocean but yeah, this is something else,” Breakwater nodded.

“That’s not the real problem either,” Rainbow said and gestured at the ocean past the beach.

Her friends looked to the ocean and saw the approaching tidal wave just as clearly as Rainbow Dash now. It was closer, in only a few minutes it would hit Palm Floats and level the island. They had a more subdued and terrified reaction than Rainbow Dash, with Ballast’s legs failing him and Gilbert’s mouth slowly opening in horror.

“The entire island… everyone on it…” Breakwater said.

“She’s using the Trident, isn’t she?” Daylight frowned, her eyes zeroing in on the treasure.

“Yeah,” Rainbow said. “We have to get her to stop.”

Coral Sea shook her head, seaweed falling out of her mane. “Will not. I will never stop this… kill the merpony… kill you all… and everyone else.”

Senax stepped past Daylight, walking towards Rainbow Dash and Coral Sea.

“Please. Don’t do this. I don’t know what happened to you, but don’t do this, Coral Sea.” She pleaded. “Think about what you’re doing, I know you hate me, I know you hate my people, but please see that what you’re doing is wrong.”

“Listen to Senax. This isn’t you, Coral Sea. You’ve been corrupted, you’re being manipulated by someone else to do this. And… even how you are, you can tell that you won’t be here like this for much longer, can’t you? What’s the point of any of this? You were so unwilling to give up your hate when alive that you killed yourself, you sent your loyal subjects to their doom, and you would’ve gladly killed me and my friends even though we aren’t merponies. But is it really worth it? Is it worth hating something that much? Something that doesn’t even really exist anymore? Can’t you let go? Things would be so much better. You know that’s true. Senax wanted to be friends. She wanted your two people to get along. Isn’t that proof that your hate was meaningless?” Rainbow said to her.

Coral Sea shook her head a few more times. “No… no… no… kill her. Make the Sarraroccon Order lead the ocean… have to…”

“Did you really want to do that?” Rainbow frowned. “Did you want to be as bad as Ponyseidon and the ancient merponies? I don’t think you were really that megalomaniacal. I think you were angry and wanted to take revenge on everyone who wronged you—who you thought wronged you—whether they deserved it or not. You were an angry, hate-filled, pony in life. That doesn’t mean you can’t change. I’ve known worse than you, Coral Sea. And right now you’re getting a chance to finally let that hate go. You can pass on peacefully with no regrets. Don’t—don’t do this instead.”

“She’s right. I forgive you for what you did. To begin with… I know you weren’t wrong to hate merponies, but I wanted you to be able to see that things have changed. Things are better now. We. Can. Be. Friends!” Senax shouted. “Instead of thinking about what you hate, can’t you think about what you love? Can you not imagine what it would have been like for our people to have lived happily together even after what happened in the past? Wouldn’t that have been beautiful, and amazing?”

“You’re wrong… I must kill you… hate you… hate you…” Coral Sea shuddered, though her eyes appeared brighter than before. She stepped forward while the question mark on her flank pulsated. “Hate you… die… die…”

“Well if you want to hurt Senax you’ll have to kill me first,” Rainbow said and stepped in front of her friend.

“And me!” Daylight joined them.

“And me!” Gilbert said.

“Me too!” Breakwater shouted.

“M-Me too!” Ballast finished.

Coral Sea looked between them all as they stood in front of Senax, she was surprised, confused.

Even more so when Senax pushed between them all to stand directly in front of her.

“No. If it has to be like this—then kill me. But just me. I… if it will save my friends and the rest of the island… I will let you kill me, Coral Sea. Just promise me that you’ll stop the tidal wave after. Please. Just take me,” Senax begged.

Coral Sea blinked, more light returning to her eyes even as the question mark started to bubble on her flank. “Why do you… how do you care so much? You’re a merpony.” She looked at the others. “Why would you die for her?”

“It’s because she’s our friend,” Rainbow said, standing side by side with Senax and putting a hoof over her shoulders.

“But I…” Coral Sea shivered and steam came from her flank. “I have the power to do anything now… I can get revenge on the merponies… I can do great things…”

“Just having power doesn’t mean you should use it any way you want. I know that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“And being able to forgive those who have wronged you is a power too,” Senax said.

Coral Sea was despondent, unable to look them in the eyes she had to face away.

“I’ve done so many terrible things… and was going to do so much worse…”

“Being able to feel regret for that and willing to make up for your mistakes is the first step,” Rainbow Dash said to her, a small smile now adorning her face.

Coral Sea looked at her and Senax—seeing the honest friendship on their faces. Her eyes turned down towards the sand. “Maybe… I’ve been wrong…”

Her horn lit up and the Trident radiated with magic again. The approaching tidal wave grew slower and smaller, the waves dissipating evenly and the water level going back to normal over the span of thousands of feet. In the end, a three foot wave rolled onto the beach and crashed ashore. The foam didn’t even reach halfway to them.

“I’m sorry…” Coral Sea said and the question mark on her flank melted away.

With it, Coral’s body collapsed to the sand, cracks appearing all throughout what remained of her and leaking out water. Slowly her remains melted away entirely into water as well, only leaving behind a messy pile of wet sand and the Trident of Ponyseidon in the middle of it.

Senax was downcast as she stared at what was left. “I’m sorry too…”

Rainbow Dash pulled her in for a small hug. “It’s alright. That’s… the best we could do at this point.”

“Umm…” Daylight Gleam interrupted, she bit her lip and pointed at the Trident. “Sooo…?”

“Yes, I suppose it isn’t lost anymore,” Gilbert said.

Breakwater raised an eyebrow at Senax. “What do you want to do with it now?”

Senax looked at Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash looked back.

After a second, Rainbow smirked. “You sure?”

Senax smiled back and nodded. “I’m sure.”

Rainbow reached down to pick up the Trident and opened up her wings—before shooting off high into the night sky. Reaching hundreds of feet above the island, and still going at full speed, she chucked the Trident of Ponyseidon into the air. Arcing it far into the ocean to the west of Palm Floats. For a little while she saw it glittering in the moonlight before it disappeared down towards the water. Wherever it landed, wherever it came to rest beneath the waves, she had no idea.

Both she and Senax knew it would never fall into the wrong hooves again.

“So I guess this is it?” Rainbow Dash said to her friends.

They were assembled on the docks of Palm Floats early in the morning with the Heart of Azure ready for Breakwater, Gilbert, and Ballast, and the other means of transportation ready to depart for Senax, Daylight Gleam, and Rainbow Dash. Breakfast had been quick. And they didn’t talk too much until they had actually gotten here. Down one dock was the merchant vessel Rainbow Dash would be taking south all the way to Bluegill before making the rest of the way to Southern Light on her own. She had a bag of Malkonrik coins resting on her side to make the trip easy. Down another dock was the pleasure ship that would take Senax all the way to south of Griffonstone, where she’d then board another vessel to finish her trip. And lastly on another dock was the ship that would take Daylight to the far eastern reaches of the Grand Ocean. Her trip had the least planning to it ironically, but she said she’d make it work.

“Yep, the captains on your three vessels are just waiting for you. They’ll leave as soon as you’re onboard,” Breakwater told them. He coughed. “Uh, they would have already left by now, so as much as I don’t want to rush things you probably shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

“Then this really is goodbye,” Senax said.

More than any of them she had a wistful look in her eyes, as it was her adventure they were really on this whole time. The only reason any of this happened was because of the kindness and loyalty of her friends. Now it was ending, or perhaps in a more positive light—turning into something new.

“You always have to say goodbye at some point,” Daylight sighed. “Though… I’ll admit this is tougher than most of the times I’ve had to say goodbye before.”

“Indeed,” Gilbert nodded. “I’m going to miss all of you.”

“Well you still get to spend some more time with me and Ballast,” Breakwater rolled his eyes.

“Oh. That’s true.”

Rainbow and the others chuckled, but then the pegasus felt something rolling down her cheeks. She looked down and saw little tears falling to the dock and lifted her hooves to her face to find that she had started crying.

“Come on...” Rainbow groaned. “I started crying first? That’s so lame...”

“T-That’s nothing to be embarrassed over,” Senax said, sniffling as she started to cry as well. “There’s n-nothing wrong with that at all.”

Gilbert also began to shed tears, big old ones that were indeed a little embarrassing on the griffon. “Nothing wrong at all!”

“You kids...” Breakwater shook his head and smiled while Ballast grinned beside him.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the tears away as best she could, looking across at Daylight who had been doing her best to avert her gaze from everyone else. “Oh don’t try and act tough. If I’m crying then you better cry too.”

“Pff, whatever…” Daylight snorted, glancing back at Rainbow Dash with slightly watery eyes. She seemed to reconsider for a second before stepping forward and hugging Rainbow Dash tightly. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. I’m definitely not going to miss you.”

Rainbow laughed. “Heh. Bye, mom.”

The two detached and the four separate groups stood facing each other. Rainbow almost took a step back before she remembered something, eyelids going wide at Gilbert.

“Oh, by the way. Since you’re going up north, if you ever come across a town in Vissidia by the name of Arondel. Say hi to Wish for me.”

Gilbert smiled and gave her a thumb’s up. “Certainly.”

“That sounds like our cue then,” Breakwater said. “Come on, Gilbert, let’s head on out of here. The rest of you… good luck, safe travels, and… I never had a better crew.”

The four smiled to him. Just as appreciative for everything he gave to them.

“What say we all start walking away together?” Daylight said. “Don’t leave anyone feeling awkward?”

“I’m fine with that,” Senax said.

"Then it’s, well… goodbye,” Breakwater said.

“Goodbye!” Gilbert said.

“Goodbye!” Senax said.

“Goodbye,” Daylight Gleam smiled.

“Goodbye, and I’ll see you all later!” Rainbow Dash said.

They waved to each other.

They walked towards their separate ships.

Gilbert, Breakwater, and Ballast heading north.

Daylight Gleam heading east.

Senax heading west.

And Rainbow Dash heading south.

Author's Note

And thus, another chapter of the story comes to a close.

Southern Waters

Southern Light was a small, rocky, island with a population of exactly three. It was far enough south where it was always cold though it never quite froze over. There were but two buildings on the small island, a stone tower about forty feet high and a small house. At night, firewood was placed at the top of the tower, doused with oil, and lit up. It was a beacon to everyone sailing the southern waters of the Grand Ocean. Well, more like a warning sign to not sail any further. For there was nothing else beyond. No other inhabited islands, nowhere to get food, no one to help you, and all it did was get colder and colder until icebergs filled the water. If you ended up shipwrecked or lost south of Southern Light—you were as good as dead.

Even to Southern Light itself, a ship only came by once a month to restock the firewood, food, and other supplies that the three denizens needed to live here and do their job. It was a lonely place and a lonely life but you didn’t come here to begin with unless you were fine with that.

Arctic Tail was the youngest of the three on the island, and even he was well into his thirties and on his eighth year of working the beacon. He stood on the southern edge of the island, watching the cold water lap up against the rocks. It was part of his usual daily activities, he appreciated the calm, and he loved the beauty of these cold southern waters, a deeper blue than nearly anywhere on the Grand Ocean. He could spend hours out here if he wanted to, and most days he did, quietly observing the world and letting the cold breeze run through his mane.

When he first got here he used to have to wear a jacket—despite his name. Nowadays what would have made him shiver in the past felt normal. Hay, more than that, it felt good. It was the warmer season right now but even in winter he liked to be out here while frost coated his mane and body.

With his two fellow workers in the house he was the only soul outside on the island at the moment. The only other sign of life out here was the occasional seabird that would fly by in front of his eyes, heading either south or across the ocean. Occasionally it would rain here, though the air was usually too cold for it. Those were the only days he wouldn’t go outside. Instead he’d be huddled up with his fellows around the fire, playing cards to pass the time, or reading one of the many nautical journals they had with them. Quite a few of those got dropped off here, old reports and logs that nobody else cared about but made good reading to pass the time when there was nothing else going on.

Nothing else going on was a good way to describe most of the time spent on Southern Light.

“Hey!”

The sudden shout startled Arctic Tail, he jump up in fright and looked around before finally looking up and seeing a pegasus come down from the sky. She dropped right onto the rocks next to him and he was able to get a good look at her.

Unlike him, she was wearing a heavy winter coat with a fluffy hood up around her head and goggles over her eyes that only barely let him see the sky blue color of her coat and the wisps of a rainbow mane. On her hooves was a quad of thick boots that looked brand new and on her sides she carried four full looking saddlebags, two on each side. Her wings fluttered upon landing and she tucked them inside two slits on the coat, keeping them safe and warm from the elements when not in use.

She flashed him a perfect white smile. “This is Southern Light, right?”

He dumbly nodded before frowning and getting his wits about him. “You scared me half to death, who are you?”

She grinned a little awkwardly. “Hehe… sorry about that, just got kind of excited when I saw you. My name’s Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m Arctic Tail, one of the ponies who mans the beacon here at Southern Light,” he looked her up and down. “Well you’re certainly not from around here—what brings you to Southern Light?”

“Heading south, heard this was the last inhabited island on the Grand Ocean and the last place I could stop at. Just wanted to rest my wings for a second though—not like I’m spending the night or anything,” Rainbow Dash said.

Arctic Tail blinked as if he didn’t hear right. “Heading south… whoa—wait a second! You don’t mean flying south from here, do you?”

“Yeah. Why?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“Miss—even as a pegasus—it’s my job to tell you that that’s a bad idea. And pointless too, there’s nothing out there beyond this point. You won’t find anything but ice and then the south pole itself.”

“Exactly,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Huh?”

“Where do you think I’m going? The south pole is where I’m flying to. And don’t worry about food or anything else-” she patted her saddlebags. “I’ve got that covered.”

“But why? Whatever you’re doing, it’s dangerous, there isn’t going to be anyone to help you if you get in trouble.”

“It’s okay, I’m more than capable of taking care of myself and I’m way better prepared than usual for when it comes to flying somewhere new. Seriously dude, I appreciate the concern but you really don’t have to worry about me. Trust me when I say that I’ve flown through worse places than this.”

Arctic Tail scratched his head. “If… if you say so. Still don’t get why you’d want to do something like this.”

“I’m on a long trip and the south pole just happens to be the next place I’m going,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

Arctic Tail sighed. “Well I warned you, and if you still want to go it’s not like I can stop you or anything. I still don’t think you should go there but good luck.”

“Thanks!” Rainbow smiled and her wings shot back out from inside the coat. “I’m gonna get going then, you have fun with… uh… whatever else you do here.”

She hunched down and got ready to take off before she stopped. “Oh! Almost forgot.” Rainbow Dash reached over to one of her bags and opened it up, rooting around inside it before pulling out a smaller drawstring bag. “You can have this, since I won’t need it anymore.”

She tossed it to the ground between them and Arctic Tail gawked as a dozen gold coins spilled out of it.

“Bye!” Rainbow Dash grinned and waved before shooting off into the sky.

Arctic Tail watched her go for a little while before shaking his head and picking up the coins and bag. “Crazy mare… well at least I’ve got an interesting story for Silver and Rocksteady.”

When he went back inside the house on the small island to tell his fellows about the strange mare he had just met, there was not a soul outside on the rocky ground of Southern Light. The still unlit beacon tower meanwhile stood tall, casting a shadow down into the water. Far in the distance—Rainbow Dash was still just a barely visible speck.

In a few more seconds she disappeared from view.

Eyes in the shadow of the tower opened up and a pony stepped out, frowning deeply in Rainbow Dash’s direction.

“How?” Harlequin Grey said. “How, how, how? Every single time she somehow survives! She never should have been able to escape Merlantis, and then she should have been killed by that worthless revenant after, and yet she still lives! Worthless, pathetic, annoyances! Can’t anyone do anything right?!” He growled, shaking in rage. “That other unicorn refused me too, and now Rainbow Dash is close to returning to Equestria… unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable!”

He was breathing heavily at the end of his tirade before instantly calming down. The rage evaporated. His face became stony once more. It was like he was never angry to begin with.

“Getting emotional never helps anything. But I can’t let her complete the circuit. What do I have left?” He thought deeply before frowning. “Nothing. I don’t have anything to work with anymore.”

Harlequin Grey paused, pondering the situation. “So it really has come to this then?”

His body started to subsume back into the shadows.

“I’ll finally stop you myself, Rainbow Dash.”

Cold Again

Rainbow Dash flew south.

Compared to when she first went north at the start of her journey—she was well-prepared for the colder weather that the arctic and south pole would bring. She had bought all this stuff at a few stops, and a few ships, before reaching Southern Light. Though she knew from experience she could handle the cold she didn’t really want to be flying through an icy wasteland with nothing to warm her body up.

She had enough of that. What was left to prove?

And finally she had some goggles for the first time in forever too. Those were going to be a huge help dealing with the cool breeze and when it started snowing. Rainbow Dash knew there was something especially awesome about recklessly heading into danger not knowing what was coming and just dealing with it like that, buuuut she had to admit at the same time that being prepared was pretty nice too. In its own way. Considering her body wasn’t quite as acclimated to the cold anymore, the heavy coat and boots were going to be especially nice. Despite how thick and insulating they were she could already feel the coldness in the air.

This was going to be the first truly cold place she had been since getting out of the True North.

She wasn’t looking forward to being that cold again. Even though she still probably hated the desert more than really cold places, she didn’t like them either. Almost freezing to death will do that to you.

For now, trying to ignore the small bits of cold seeping through her heavy jacket, Rainbow Dash looked down at the deep blue ocean. There hadn’t been any other islands or rocks since leaving Southern Light but she assumed she’d at least see a few before the glaciers, icebergs, and shore of the south pole appeared. Thanks to still being over water this was at least a fairly different view than she had when flying through the True North. Eventually it would all be white and boring. Even on the horizon already it was cloudy and nothing but cold and muted colors.

Continuing to look at the water she wondered what kind of fish and other animals would be swimming down there now. Did sharks like nearly freezing water or did they hate? Things like sea turtles couldn’t live here, right? She probably should have paid more attention to Fluttershy. The water at the moment was too dark to actually see into anyways, a whale would have to breach its surface entirely for Rainbow Dash to be able to see it at all. Nope, the only animals she had around were a few seabirds. It was a nice feeling to casually fly around with the birds again—it had been so long since solo flight was her main method of travel.

The cold wasn’t the only thing she was starting to feel right now either. She hadn’t eaten yet today. Though she had plenty of dried food and bread, that didn’t take up much space, she was rationing it since she really had no idea when she’d be able to find food again. Her four saddlebags were full of food and it was time for her to have a small snack to keep her energy levels up.

Rationing didn’t mean starving yourself when you still had a lot of sky to cover. She needed to stay healthy too.

She was going to wait for a second longer though. If she found a small island or rock to land on she would rest there and eat. And if not, in a few minutes she’d make a cloud to sit on instead.

It was supposed to be only a day or two until the south pole if she remembered correctly. At some point she’d likely need to make a cloud bed to sleep in unless she got lucky. Never before on her journey around the world had she been flying over some place where she couldn’t land for so long. Ocean travel actually was kind of harrowing in that way. She wondered what she would have done if she never stumbled upon Daylight, Senax, and Gilbert back at Malkonrik?

A smile twitched up her face but she quickly suppressed it. She didn’t want to reminisce right now because she knew where that would lead—and the tears would freeze to her face in these temperatures.

She didn’t need that.

A few more minutes of travel and Rainbow Dash did actually find what she needed. A small cluster of rocks jutted out of the deep ocean water, not a comfortable place to rest but it was enough for her to set down on and have a bite to eat before taking off again. She had to imagine if the weather was worse then the waves would be smashing up and over these rocks, but with how mild things were that wasn’t a problem.

Rainbow Dash went down and landed in the middle of the rocks, briefly stretching her wings out wide before drawing them back inside the heavy jacket. She stretched her hooves a bit as well—it felt awkward to wear boots like these all the time but the warmth was worth it. Her tail whipped about behind her for a second before she reached up to pull her hood back and let her mane out as well.

“There we go… was starting to get a little itchy.”

She could feel the cold air through her mane and around her face more easily now but getting to toss her mane around and scratch her neck was a nice consolation. Lastly she pulled up her goggles too and let them rest on her forehead before reaching into one of her bags and pulling out her meal for the day.

Hardtack.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Well it’s not like I was expecting gourmet meals and apple cider everyday.”

She bit into the hardtack and took as big of a bite as she could. Chewing was an exercise all in its own. It’s too bad the hardtack was so convenient and easy to carry. She had some dried fruit with her too, among other things, but she figured it would be better to save that for when she really needed an extra kick. There were some regular rolls and bits of bread that she would need to eat in the next couple of days before they went stale too.

Chowing down on the hardtack took a bit longer than she expected since eating it was such a chore. When she was almost done a cold breeze blew across the rocks and Rainbow Dash shivered.

She clicked her tongue and tossed the rest of the hardtack into her mouth, chewing it roughly while pulling her goggles back down over her eyes and putting her hood up. If it was already getting this cold she really wasn’t looking forward to what came next. As long as she kept moving though it wouldn’t be so bad. She knew that from the True North. And the south pole—to her knowledge—wasn’t as magical or crazy of a place.

Rainbow Dash gulped down the last of the hardtack and took another brief stretch before extending her wings once more. A single flap carried her up into the sky and she resumed her flight to the south pole.

Icebergs

Four hooves dropped onto the top of a floating iceberg and Rainbow Dash stared at the freezing ocean in front of her.

Lots of icebergs and smaller ice floes dotted the cold blue water, stretching out seemingly infinitely to the south. She knew it couldn’t be much longer before she reached the glacial shoreline of the south pole. For now though it was still the ocean she was traveling over, half-frozen as it was. The sky above was almost cloudless too but all the sunlight in the world wasn’t going to help melt these icebergs. Not with how cold things were down here.

Again she had to thank the special winter clothes she was wearing. It would have been truly miserable without them. How did she get through the True North with just her bare feathers?

Funnily enough though, despite being in a much colder and frozen place, there was way more wildlife around her too. Looking down at some of the larger ice floes she could see whole groups of sea lions and walruses, lazily lying about, their blubber protecting them from the cold. Rainbow wished she could lay down on ice like that as if it was normal. To think they even swam through this icy water and probably didn’t even feel it.

“And the cold’s gonna get a lot worse before it gets better,” Rainbow Dash shook her head in annoyance.

She took the time to pop a biscuit into her mouth before gliding off the top of the iceberg. She still had to be thankful that the weather was overall good. No storms or heavy snowfall yet. It was probably as nice out as she could ask for to be flying over the frozen reaches of the ocean. She didn’t expect that to last—knowing her luck when it came to these things was the exact opposite of her luck with cards and gambling.

Rainbow Dash let herself glide fairly low to the water instead of staying high up in the sky. She wanted to get a closer look at the ice and the fat seals lounging around. There was a smell in the air the closer she got, no surprise there. The natural smell of saltwater mixed in with the stench coming from the sea lions and walruses and whatever else was around. Fish probably. She knew these big guys ate fish so there were probably huge schools underwater here.

When she had gotten close enough to the floes a lot of sea lions started to notice her and raise up a fuss. Loudly orking and braying at her while she glided by their floes in an attempt to scare her off—obviously a territorial group. Quite a few of them scrambled, waddling awkwardly, across the ice floe before diving into the water. She grinned at the display—they swam well but they were funny looking on land. When she passed by the biggest and most crowded floe of sea lions she got closer to one of the ones that had walruses on it. They were far more relaxed. The large, orange, animals with their big tusks only spared a passing glance or two at her. Unconcerned with the pegasus flying through the arctic sea.

Rainbow Dash smiled and waved to them—for all they cared.

Seeing an empty ice floe coming up, Rainbow dropped out of the air and landed on it, skidding across the surface with her boots. Instead of just flying around, why not have some fun before it got too cold? As soon as she got to the edge of the floe she jumped, right over the water to the next one. It wobbled in the water and she used her wings to propel herself forward, skating across it. The rubber soles of the boots were perfect to slide over the slick ice. The next ice floe was too far away for any normal jump so as soon as Rainbow Dash reached the edge again she flapped her wings once and used them to glide over quickly.

While the ice floes had been floating calmly before her arrival, now the ones she had jumped off of were careening through the arctic waters and bumping into each other. Loud bangs and cracks as the hard ice smashed into one another started erupting in the cold domain. It startled some of the sea lions and walruses and jostled their own large ice floes. Rainbow Dash paused after jumping to another new one and looked over her shoulder at the chaos she had left behind.

“Oops,” she winced.

She bit her lip and looked ahead—there were some larger icebergs directly south of here. No matter what she did to those she wouldn’t be able to budge them or change their course. Rainbow Dash nodded and flew up, heading towards the closest one.

It was shaped like the top of a big ice cream cone swirling out of the water. And big was an understatement, the visible part of the iceberg was probably a good fifty feet tall and very wide and blocky. Rainbow Dash didn’t know a ton about icebergs but she knew that below the water there had to be an even bigger part she wasn’t seeing.

She landed right on the very top of it and looked down the other side.

“Perfect,” Rainbow Dash grinned and jumped off.

Her boots hit the ice and she started zooming down the side of the iceberg, she kept her wings folded into her sides to stay as aerodynamic as possible while sliding at high speed on down. It wasn’t a single flat slope or anything, in fact it was pretty rugged with a lot of bumps and cracks everywhere, but Rainbow Dash enjoyed the challenge of hoof-skating down the iceberg. How many ponies could brag about doing something like this? Just one more awesome thing she could add to the book of her life.

Whenever she got Twilight to ghostwrite it.

She was getting close to the bottom of the iceberg and her eyes started searching for any sort of lip or ramp she could use to launch herself off it. Finding an edge right at the bottom that jutted out over the water, she grinned and tucked her head in, shooting right towards it. Rainbow Dash blasted off the iceberg and spread her wings to sail far over the water once more.

For a while she just glided along, not flapping her wings, wanting to see how much distance she could make before she’d hit the water.

After being carried on the wind for a couple hundred feet, her boots were about to dip into the cold water. Wanting to avoid that she finally flew up a little higher and resumed her normal flight.

There were more icebergs in the water ahead. Most not quite as big as the one she had just gone down but she could still have fun “hopping” from one to the other. She kept a smile on her face as she made her way to the next one. It was certainly a much more fun way to get across the arctic ocean than just flying straight ahead. Though not nearly as fast. Rainbow was fine with that. Since the weather here was still good enough where she could act care-free, since it still wasn’t as cold as the actual south pole would be, she might as well enjoy herself while she could.

Iceberg surfing, skiing, whatever it was to be called, she was having fun with it.

She hummed to herself as she jumped and glided along the wind from iceberg to iceberg. Below—in the middle of one of her jumps—something broke the surface of the ocean. Rainbow Dash looked down to see white water rushing out of the way as the humped back of a whale pushed out of the cold depths. It was visible for just a moment before the blue closed back in and the whale dove down once more.

“Not as big as Mother Ocean are you?” Rainbow Dash grinned down at it.

The biggest “normal” whale in the whole world wouldn’t have been as big as one of Mother Ocean’s flippers. Or Leviathan’s for that matter.

On the next iceberg she reached she had to pause as there were no more ahead. Just ice floes, so many that the ocean merely became a series of cracks and lines between them. Finally the ice outnumbered the water. Another day at most and she knew she’d be hitting the coast of the south pole. Rainbow Dash took the moment to stretch her muscles again on the flat top of the iceberg. Shaking her hooves, cracking her neck, briefly moving up her goggles and blinking, just doing anything to get limber before she got back to her usual long-range flying.

She looked over her shoulder at the icy ocean she’d been flying through—at the ocean even further back that she’d spent months in.

“Wonder when I’m going to be flying north again instead of south? Heh, shouldn’t be too long.”

She returned her gaze to the south and took off from the iceberg.

South Pole I

Rainbow Dash set down on a snowy hill as the wind whipped against her heavily-clad body. Naturally a lot of snow was kicked up thanks to the windy weather but it wasn’t so bad she would call it a snowstorm just yet. It was still cold though, much colder than when she was flying over the ocean. Even the warm clothes she had on couldn’t change that. They were just keeping her from being frozen solid. Some frost still caked her wings, her tail, and threatened to fog over her goggles if she didn’t clear them away every now and then. And the longer she stood here, standing still and looking at the white landscape ahead, more and more snow would come to cover her and the colder she would get.

Rainbow Dash had only one thing to say in this situation:

“I hate the snow.”

The south pole spread seemingly endlessly all around her, she had no idea how big it really was but she was certain she hadn’t yet crossed the halfway mark and made it back to the Equestria side of the world. Thankfully thanks to her rationing and preparation she still had more than half of her food in her saddlebags so she was feeling decently good about the trip.

Aside from how cold it was.

She really didn’t miss that.

To the east and west—many miles away—mountains rose up. But ahead of her was a mostly flat landscape of snow and ice with only a few lackluster hills and drifts. It was as boring as most of the landscape in the True North had been, only now was she remembering the sheer monotony of flying over all that ice and snow. Hopefully there would be more to see at some point. More to occupy her time with, otherwise she’d be at the mercy of boredom just as much as the cold.

Rainbow Dash flew off from the hill and took to the sky again to avoid freezing where she stood. The wind and snow whipping through the air was still a bother but thanks to her goggles she at least didn’t have to lift a hoof in front of her face to protect her eyes. It wasn’t going to be a fun flight for the rest of the day but it wouldn’t be terrible either. It probably wasn’t going to be very long before she stopped either, it was already closer to evening than it was noon and before it got too dark and too cold she’d need to go and create some shelter to pass the night in. Likely that meant she’d have to do the same thing she did a lot in the True North; go down and create a small burrow or igloo in the snow. Probably going to be miserable but—she also had a light tarp packed away in one of her bags to keep the snow from directly touching her clothes and body.

Rainbow grinned as she imagined bragging to Daylight about how well she had actually prepared for this. It would’ve been fun to rub that in her face.

The wind remained steady the further she flew, not getting worse but not letting up either. The snowfall was steady because of that and Rainbow could still see decently far ahead. If it got any worse than this her vision would be shot. There’d be nothing she could see but howling wind and snow, even seeing her hoof in front of her face would be difficult. That’s just how it got in environments like this sometime. Rainbow Dash knew that well.

She was going to tempt fate and hope that she never had to deal with weather that bad while she flew over the south pole. Maybe she hit it at a good time? Maybe it was the right season to avoid big storms down here.

She could deal with minor winds like this just fine if that was the case.

Just don’t give her snow blasting in her face at hurricane speeds and hail the size of walnuts.

While flying south again, Rainbow looked over at the eastern and western mountain ranges in turn. They weren’t particularly large mountains and she couldn’t see any of the stone that had to make up their cores. A skin of ice and snow covered them completely, they were white jagged teeth jutting up from the ground. She couldn’t imagine what climbing a mountain like that would be like and she didn’t envy any creatures that might have to do it one day. Being able to fly over any mountains like that if they ended up being directly ahead of her was a nice perk.

Everything about being a pegasus was a nice perk.

Still, the more she looked at the mountains the more she realized how desolate this place really was. The True North, on her side of the world at least, still had trees and animals and other stuff in it. She hadn’t seen anything like that so far on the south pole. Even the birds had left the skies back around the time she made it to the coastline. While it wasn’t so unnaturally cold and cruel like the other half of the True North beyond the Gate of Winter, it wasn’t exactly inviting either.

When she flew into the True North there had been a yak in a shack there to greet her. There was a valley full of trees and woodland creatures not far from him. Here she had flown much further already and still come up with nothing. Was this place truly so dead where nothing could really live or grow? Was it all ice, rock, and snow with nothing that could sustain life?

Was it just going to be cold winds for company the whole time?

“It’s not like that would be too unfamiliar at this point,” Rainbow Dash snorted.

She shivered from the next cold breeze and doubled her efforts to make it a little further along before it got darker. She wanted to still be feeling a little warm and have her blood pumping when she went down to make her shelter. Possibly the one good thing about a lack of wildlife here was that she didn’t have to worry about being bothered by anything when she slept. With the way she flew, she’d never be caught by any sort of arctic predator unless it crept up on her while she was sleeping.

“Doesn’t seem like it matters though.”

She took her eyes away from the mountains and looked at the expansive empty snowfields below her again. Another mile and she flew over a large crevice that ran across the snow, separating the two sides like a violent cut. It went down deep, very deep, enough for the bottom to be totally shrouded in darkness. She kept her gaze on it for a second to see how deep the ice went before it became stone only to realize that she couldn’t see where the ice ended. The glacier below her must’ve been hundreds of feet deep. It’s possible it went all the way down to water or the very bed of the south pole. No wonder she didn’t see anything growing here, it was just ice. There had to be actual “land” elsewhere, like by the mountains, or on other parts of the south pole.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the clouds to try and guess what time it was. It had gotten slightly darker so she probably only had an hour or two until evening came by.

Trying to pass further over the glacier she made a slow, slightly sloping, descent to the snow. She still went several miles before eventually she touched down on the spot she planned to spend the night at. A glance up at the sky again told her she still had plenty of time to dig out her little snow cave and make some walls to block the wind.

“Been a long time since I’ve done this...” Rainbow muttered as her hooves started to dig into the snow. “The boots sure make it a lot easier.”

That was indeed true. While her body might have been fairly cold from flying through the wind and snow, the added protection of the boots kept her hooves from going numb. The cold didn’t pierce them at all. With her wings now folded inside of the jacket too she had a pretty warm situation going on actually. She knew that was going to change and get much worse at night though so she didn’t slow down at all when it came to making her shelter. Rainbow Dash pawed, dug, and packed up the snow to make an acceptable hovel. A sunken pit in the middle with decently think walls around it was created after an hour of hard work and Rainbow Dash was just about ready to turn in. She reached into one of her saddlebags to withdraw a small roll to eat so she wouldn’t be starving when she woke up, then found the waterproof—and therefore snowproof—tarp that she could lay down and wrap herself in.

She knew she was still going to be cold and maybe even freezing when she woke up. But overall things weren’t so bad. The south pole was looking easy.

South Pole II

Rainbow Dash woke up under a pile of snow. If it had been touching her directly she’d be colder than… well… snow. But with the tarp, with her winter clothes, it all just insulated her fairly well. The shelter hadn’t worked perfectly though, or there was more snowfall over the night than she had expected, because she didn’t want to be this buried when she woke up. The snow was pretty solid and packed on top of her and she had to fight her way up through it, tossing and kicking it off her before she was back on the ground and could look around. A bright morning greeted her when she popped her head out of the tarp and snow. The clouds previously over the south pole had vanished and the wind no longer blew to create a snowstorm around her. She could see the open blue sky overhead and the sun beating down on her—its rays probably providing enough warmth for her to be comfortable for the rest of the day.

“Wow, this is better than I ever expected it to be,” Rainbow said as she fully climbed out of the snow. She shook herself off and pulled the tarp out after her, wiping it down and getting it ready to put back in her bag.

Feeling something a little stiff though after shaking herself off, Rainbow looked down and noticed that her tail was frozen solid. A sheen of frost had coated over it, turning the many strands of hair into one flat board. Rainbow snorted and rolled her eyes in annoyance before grabbing her tail and breaking the thin layer of ice on it. Once it was free she whipped it back and forth a couple of times to get the last few snowflakes out of it.

Satisfied, she nodded and walked away from her shelter before taking a stretch. Soon she’d be back in the air. Hopefully she’d pass this huge glacier soon and have some more stuff to look at instead of just a bed of ice with another bed of snow on top of it.

Now that she had woken up all the way—Rainbow Dash extended her wings back out through the slits in her jacket and gave them a few practice flaps before ascending to the sky. The air was chillier than it was on top of the glacier but the cold was still manageable. As long as the sun stayed out for the rest of the day she wasn’t worried. Right now, with the clothes she had, it felt like a winter day in Ponyville. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

She reached a good altitude and without hesitation shot off south.

“Now this is more like it.”

While there was nothing even approaching vegetation or giving her much color to look at, the landscape beneath had changed once she made it off the large glacier. Actual stone was occasionally visible beneath the snow and ice, along with wide chasms, valleys, and a series of small mountains that she was now flying over. Rainbow Dash was more than high enough in the sky to easily glide over the tallest of their peaks and take everything in at her leisure. The day had continued to be just as nice as when she woke up in the morning, the weather calm, the sun as warm as it could possibly be down here, and nothing to bother her.

“This is like the exact opposite of the last time I was in the cold,” Rainbow Dash mused.

It really was. Her memories of travel through the True North were mostly ones of terrible weather and pushing herself through freezing death. There were a few times when things were nice, and she got used to the cold for the most part eventually, but it was hardly ever pleasurable. She considered it her luck being better. Or maybe the world was just that much of a happier place after everything she had done in the Grand Ocean and it was being reflected here.

Either way, Rainbow Dash swiftly flew on. No frozen wings this time. No falling helplessly into the cold snow and having to walk up and down mountains. All they were was scenery for her flight. Some birds to join her up here would’ve been nice too—and maybe they’d be here in the future. Rainbow was going to be optimistic enough to think that could happen.

She kept an easygoing smile on her face the more she flew over the mountains until it reached about noon and she decided to descend to a large icy cliff to have her snack for the day. Up here she could see a large valley expanding out on the southern side of the mountains, at the far end of it a high cliff of ice rose up to box it in. To the east and west it was just a white snowscape that went to the horizon with nothing else to see. Weather might have been nicer but it was still a reminder that this place was pretty desolate. Just not in an unnatural or unnerving sort of way like some places she had been.

After looking at her future path for a second she sat down in the snow and reached into one of her saddlebags. Feeling like something sweet this time she ended up taking a few dried strips of mango out to chew on. She sat there, chewing, savoring the flavor that still existed in the dried out fruit. To the far east was a column of clouds moving across the sky but not in any way that would hit her soon. Rainbow might as well take the time to relax and rest for a moment after having flown for hours. Part of her was saying that she should use the good weather to its fullest and keep flying—the other part was saying why not be a little lazy? And right now the other part was winning out.

Feeling a slight amount of soreness from how long they were in the same spot, Rainbow Dash reached up and moved her goggles to her forehead.

She blinked her eyes a few times and took in the view once more without any filter. Everything came off as so much brighter and whiter even than before. It was almost shocking how stark the world was.

Rainbow chewed the last bits of mango to pieces before swallowing it down, getting ready to leave the icy cliff. Her energy reserves were once again refilled and her wings were warm after getting to rest inside her jacket. She was planning on making short work of the rest of these mountains and the valley beyond them. If the weather stayed this good she was going to fly for even longer today than she had yesterday.

Just like earlier this morning she gave a few test flaps before she jumped off the cliff, diving down sharply and enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing through her mane. Only a few seconds from hitting a rocky landing did she swiftly pull up and made just as sharp of an ascent, climbing over the mountains and reaching the open sky. The moment she cleared the tallest peaks she slipped her goggles back over her eyes and aimed south.

She hummed a happy tune in her head before blasting forward at full speed. The valley was going to be left behind quickly if she had anything to say about it. Though she wasn’t expecting much else to actually pop up at this point she still wanted to see if there was anything new ahead that the south pole could show her.

The feeling of flying, of the wind going through her mane even faster, nothing could beat it and no cold could dampen her joy.

“Awesome as I wanna be...”

South Pole III

The snowy world below her was an everlasting mass of rolling hills that looked more gray than white at the moment thanks to the cloudy sky over her head. Sunlight was not a comrade right now. It wasn’t horribly windy at least, but snow was falling regularly from the clouds overhead and the formerly white winter wonderland was now a murky twilight. Rainbow wanted to fly until she saw something new—a landmark or something—and then she’d stop for the night.

So far though it was hills of snow on the ground and she couldn’t see particularly far in any direction thanks to the cloudy sky and falling snow.

The temperature had dropped quite a bit as well. Whether it was just because of the lack of sunlight or because it got colder the further into the south pole she got, Rainbow Dash didn’t know. What she did know was how miserably cold it was. How it was cold enough to make her constantly shiver. Her happy thoughts and her optimistic outlook on the south pole were both starting to take a few hits.

While she was flying fast enough that the falling snow couldn’t really come to a rest on her, frost had still started to cake her back, her wings, and her tail. She attempted to flap her wings harder and move in a way that broke it off her but it would just come back after not too long. Since it seemed the falling snow and turning of the weather wasn’t going to change anytime soon she was beginning to think she should just go down and make her shelter now.

That would kind of be like giving up though and she really wasn’t a fan of that.

It’s a good thing the goggles she had bought on her way down here were a more expensive pair than the others she had seen. She had to worry about them frosting over all the same but they were easy to clean up and without them she knew she’d be able to see even less around her. She couldn’t see the horizon anymore, it was a wall of gray and white, and she couldn’t go higher into the sky or she’d be stuck going through all those clouds. So for now she decided to go a bit lower to the ground, where she could still easily see all the hills and drifts of snow. Like this she wouldn’t miss anything and it was better since she couldn’t see far-off distances anyways.

If she came across another mountain or the weather opened up and she could see ahead, she’d make a stop. But not until then.

Perhaps a little recklessly she still flew as fast as possible through all of this, even though a wall could very quickly pop up through the snow. She was confident enough to avoid any sudden obstacles. And really she didn’t want to slow down and let the cold start to get to her. The shivering, the way it seeped in already, was bad enough. She didn’t want it to get down into her bones.

She was going to guesstimate that she had flown about ten miles through increasingly poor visibility while remaining close to the ground. Her earlier fears when it came to flying in weather like this started to emerge and soon Rainbow could barely see ahead at all. Snow and wind ruined everything—it was just a dark haze. Frost and snowflakes were collecting on her hood and she had to shake it and pull it down a few times to keep it from getting into her mane.

“Stupid snow… stupid cold weather…” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Seriously might have to move snow back to my number one most hated place to be.”

Of course the fact that deserts made it to number one after her spending way less time in them than the snow was saying a lot.

The wind picked up and a harsh rain of snow was blasted in her face while she continued to power through it all. It was becoming a real pain now with the wind actively working against her instead of just coming from her right or left. She didn’t want to call it a serious storm, but with heavy snow being blown into her too it made it tougher to fight. This was the exact kind of thing though that she absolutely refused to lose to. It was just some lame weather!

Rainbow Dash growled under her breath and pushed even harder against the wind and snow.

Perhaps the world listened to her grumbling for only a few miles later did the snow start to let up and the world stopped being so dark and gray. The clouds overhead must eventually part and let some sunlight back down, she could see a slight brightness ahead. The wind was still bothering her but even that wasn’t as terrible as it had been. Whatever bad weather she had hit she must almost be out of it for this to happen. Rainbow Dash felt a little bit of extra energy in her now that she could see the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel and pushed harder to finally fly out of this snow and wind.

She decided to fly a little higher too to make sure she’d clear any possible hills, cliffs, or mountains that might be in her way once she got out of here. Though things were brighter ahead it was still a vague blur and she couldn’t actually see too far.

Several more miles of her fast flying and that finally changed completely. The shroud fell around her, the wind dying down until it was a slight breeze while no more snow fell from the sky thanks to most of the clouds parting and disappearing. Rainbow was now gliding high in the sky over another flat open range of the south pole. She could see pretty far in the distance and saw mountains to the south.

Rainbow Dash stopped for a second and grinned. “Alright, I’ll get to those and stop for the night.”

As soon as she started back up again she looked down at the snowy ground below her and her eyes almost bugged out at the befuddling, bewildering, thing she saw.

Instead of the white plains of snow she was expecting, most of the ground was covered in a solid black mass. She almost came to a halt at the surprising sight, instead tilting her head in confusion and slowly gliding over it. The black mass was shuffling very slowly to the west, moving, and when Rainbow Dash blinked at that odd realization, she figured out what it really was she was looking at.

“Oh, you’re penguins,” she said with a happy smile on her face as she looked down at the gigantic flock of penguins shambling across the snow. Because of where she was, they all just looked like one huge black spot, all of them waddling so close together they were almost indistinguishable from one another. And there were so many of them. Thousands, maybe ten-thousand, it was an insanely huge crowd of penguins. But she was very happy to see them. It showed her that life existed down here too, she finally found some animals.

“Guess this place isn’t as empty and whatever as I thought,” Rainbow Dash said, waving down at the penguins as she flew by even though they probably couldn’t see her. “Hey! Have fun doing your penguin stuff down there!”

She giggled a bit to herself before speeding on towards those mountains. Looks like the day was going to end pretty well at least.

Down on the snow, the horde of thousands and thousands of gigantic, seven-foot tall penguins shuffled along together. They were massive birds of black and white with orange beaks, fat and muscle both bulged from their bodies.

The flock looked up when the blue pegasus flew overhead. They saw the strange creature flying by and all the adult male penguins stopped and watched her intently. Their black eyes became red and they opened up their large beaks, revealing large, razor sharp teeth on the inside.

A loud screeching came from the penguins and they raised their flippers. They flapped them up and down, fast enough to look like the wings of a hummingbird.

Despite their oversized bodies, despite them having flippers and not wings, despite them being penguins, they lifted off the ground and flew after the pegasus.

South Pole IV

“Penguins can’t fly!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she was chased through the sky by what were indeed flying penguins. An entire legion had come after her and with them close behind her she was now able to see what horrible monsters they really were. These weren’t ordinary penguins like she had first thought when she flew over them. They were almost some kind of nightmare monster with beaks full of teeth, blood-red eyes, and gigantic bodies that were double the size of any normal penguin at least.

And they were fast. They came at her relentlessly, darting at her and trying to bite and slam her out of the sky.

Rainbow Dash dodged out of the way of another over-sized penguin that dove at her. Scowling, she refused to hit it back at this point. If they were just animals she didn’t want to have to hurt them unless absolutely necessary. And she wasn’t quite sure if they were true monsters or not. They might have just been really weird animals upset with a pegasus flying through their territory.

The red eyes that flashed by her when another penguin attacked kind of hurt that theory, but Rainbow was confident she could get out of here just by flying fast.

Three penguins came from above, screeching loudly while dive-bombing at her with open beaks. Rainbow Dash weaved between them as they came down, having to not just avoid their teeth but their entire bulks as well since they could easily hit her and knock her out of the air. She decided to take a glance over her shoulder and saw that the several thousand flying penguins that had come after her were still hot on her tail. Enough had come up that their black masses blocked out the sky behind her and they weren’t losing speed one bit.

Because of the cold weather and the heavy clothes she was wearing, she couldn’t fly at her usual top speed either. Soon enough the penguins might be able to just fall on her like a wave and there wouldn’t be anything she could do about it.

The way they flew like hummingbirds was also pretty distracting.

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and sped up as best she could while penguins shot at her some more. Corkscrews, loops, and sudden turns became her best friends up here as she did everything she could to avoid the ravenous raptors short of beating on them. Every movement she made was still followed closely by the rest of the swarm and it’s not like she could shake them in open air like this. Hopefully they got tired before she did or realized she was too much trouble to chase.

“How in the hay does something like this even happen?” Rainbow shook her head. “Why do I always run into the weirdest stuff? I want awesome—not weird.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine, a daring escape from the horde can still count as awesome.”

A penguin came from the right with teeth going for her wing in an attempt to bite it off. Rainbow Dash rolled out of its way just in time to avoid it and then dove down under another penguin coming from above at her head. These things had nothing on her.

Except numbers. And they made that obvious when more and more started to swarm her at once to make avoiding them all almost impossible. A full group of seven came in from her left at an angle and when Rainbow Dash flew away from them she found another group already waiting at the right. With two directions covered she dove down instead and let the penguins come after her. She could take away the vectors they had to attack her with by flying closer to the surface. It might give her less room to maneuver but she was sure it would be worse for them. Let them recklessly dive at her and crash into the ground every time she avoided them.

The penguins squawked and screeched at her as some of them narrowly avoided hitting others in their flock before the ones closest to her regrouped and followed her down to the snow. Quite a few did exactly what Rainbow Dash wanted and sharply dove at her—only to smack right into the snow when she moved out of the way. She kept herself hovering barely a couple of feet above the snow, their bulky bodies would’ve been ill-suited to flying along with her here. Instead the smarter penguins began trying to strafe by her, diving in gently and pulling up as soon as they flew by her while nipping at her wings or body. Rainbow Dash had to watch out and move very minutely to avoid them and the dozens of bites they came at her with.

Quite a few continued trying to land on and crush her, whenever Rainbow flew away from them they created explosions in the snow, kicking up huge clouds of it like dynamite had just gone off. Rainbow flew through all of that chaos while snow peppered her body and more of the sky above her became blotted out by the mass of angry penguins. She chanced another glance up and saw that her situation wasn’t exactly improving.

None of the penguins had slowed down or given up. Even the ones far away at the very back of the flying horde were still chasing her with all their might.

Thousands and thousands still coming at her. And she was the one who had already been flying at high speed for the better part of a day. These things might not get tired like normal animals, depending on how crazy they really were. Rainbow Dash didn’t like to think about it—but she was a little worried that they might never let up. They might chase her down and tear her to pieces before she could actually get away from them. At some point she would have to eat and sleep, these penguins might not be the same.

“Stupid birds that shouldn’t even be flying right now...” Rainbow grumbled. “I’m really doing my best to handle this nonviolently but do you even know that? Huh? Do you even care how I’m trying to help you?”

She turned her attention ahead again to see if maybe there was something she could use to help herself with. Nothing really out here, not close by at least. It was just snow and hills of snow. The penguins had been wandering on a mostly flat and empty part of the south pole. Looking further ahead... the mountains were still there. If she could reach those she might be able to lose the penguins somewhere in them.

Or she could turn and fight now. Outnumbered three-thousand to one wasn’t so bad.

“Fluttershy you better know that I’m only doing this for you...” Rainbow scowled and blasted towards the mountains.

The penguins had no intention of letting her reach those mountains though, the many close above her brayed loudly and came down with their razor beaks and teeth. Rainbow Dash had to double her efforts to get away from the unyielding assault and was rewarded by a number of penguins planting themselves headfirst into the snow. It was still tough going for her though, a lot of them came close to hitting her. Black missiles coming from the sky all aimed right at her.

Rainbow swiftly darted to the left, then the right, then back to left, the penguins exploding the snow around her. It was good they were full of so much bloodlust they could hardly coordinate together.

Until one dive-bombed directly in front of her and she had to sharply pull up—practically right into a crowd of a dozen more penguins ready to devour her.

“Dumb birds!” Rainbow Dash shouted as they all came at her. She twisted her body and blurred by them as penguins came from every direction, some smacking into each other and pushing others out of the way as they all went for the colorful prey in the middle of them. One penguin came up directly in front of her—its beak open wide—and Rainbow Dash vaulted over it, flipping around before coming out and sliding in-between two more penguins.

She had to juke two more before she got out of the big group, now higher in the sky again with penguins crazily swarming around her. The mountains were close though. The icy mountain range seemed fairly big, the individual mountains close together. She knew from experience there would be plenty of ridges, mountain passes, caves, and crevices, and ravines for her to hide or lose the penguins in. Whether she ended up hiding out for the night or continued through as fast as she could and hoping the penguins wouldn’t follow, she wasn’t sure yet. What she was sure of was those mountains were where she needed to go.

And if it came down to a fight, then so be it.

She’d make them regret thinking she was easy prey.

South Pole V

Rainbow Dash crept through the narrow crevasse in the ice of the mountain glacier she had found.

She knew they hadn’t given up even though she had been able to lose them momentarily. She could still hear them screeching and flying about over the mountain range. Her gamble might have backfired since now they undoubtedly surrounded her in all directions. The temporary safety of the mountains might be functioning more like a prison right now, and they were the guards waiting for her to try and escape. She had to hope there would be some path she could take to sneak through the mountains completely and leave the horde of penguins behind. The thousands covering the range would surely converge on her the moment she was spotted. If she was still here when that happened she’d have nowhere to go. They’d be a gigantic dome covering the sky. A wall of black no matter where she looked.

Good news is she was still dressed for the occasion and her internal sense of direction was guiding her through the mountainside glacier perfectly well. While this wouldn’t have been her first choice it was good she could rest her wings after the exercise she had just put them through. She had already taken a quick bite to eat the moment she was sure the penguins weren’t about to immediately set upon her once she had gotten in here. But she couldn’t afford to camp out or hide in here. They might be able to out-wait her in the first place and she needed the food she had to last for the rest of the trip through the south pole.

“Stupid impossible flying penguins…” Rainbow said as she walked along. The ice crunched under her boots, every step she took she wondered if she was getting closer to a dead end or the edge of the glacier. She might end up on the mountainside or inside a rock cave soon.

She glanced up at the crevasse’s opening, twenty feet over her head, just a relatively narrow crack in the glacier. Sunlight still came down it so she knew it hadn’t turned to night just yet, the ice walls surrounding her gained a blue hue from the light.

“And to think this isn’t even my first time doing something like this,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

The noise from the penguins above was constant and almost deafening the further she walked through the glacier. She chose to ignore it as best she could. If they wanted to flip out over losing her, that was fine. Maybe they would finally take the hint and go back to the rest of their flock. Of course if they were more like ravenous monsters and less like normal animals that’s probably not how it would go. There were too many cases at this point where Rainbow had come across relentless predators.

It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t also somewhere with such bad weather.

Rainbow Dash took another step-

Thud

That wasn’t her. Frowning, she looked up towards the opening and the surface of the glacier.

Thud

Thud

Thud

“Oh great,” she sighed.

Hearing the rumbling coming from above, Rainbow Dash bit her lip and tensed up. She kept her eyes on the crack in the glacier as sunlight came down through it—certain of what was coming next.

In the next instant half a dozen beaks and angry heads shot themselves into the crack, all of them screeching down at Rainbow Dash and trying to muscle their way into the crevasse. They were too big and bulky though and they kept bumping into each other. It was a scary sight, all those teeth and beaks snapping at her, but it didn’t look like they could get down here at her. However—more were coming. She knew it, she could hear it, and feel them waddling across the icy surface of the glacier. More and more penguins were going to come and try to get in here at her.

And if she reached a dead end she’d have no way to get out of here with them blocking the only exit.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue and started to run.

Every few feet and more penguins would stick their heads in at her, shoving aside their brethren to try and squeeze their way down into the crevasse. Cracks appeared around the edges as some of them broke away at the ice in an attempt to make the hole bigger. Rainbow ignored their efforts. It didn’t matter. What mattered right now was finding a safe way out of here.

Some of the penguins were able to squeeze their shoulders down into the crevasse—and promptly got stuck.

Rainbow was actually glad that there wasn’t enough room in here for her to spread her wings now.

The penguins kept trying to get at her while she zipped through every curve and corner of the glacier. She was running fast and breathing hard, her breath easily visible in the cold air.

She turned one more corner and almost came to a screeching halt as she saw the crevasse come to an end fifty feet ahead. But she couldn’t waste any time. Glancing up she saw that not all of the crevasse’s opening was full of penguin teeth yet. They hadn’t reached the end because all they had been doing was following her.

“Okay, I’m going to show you guys why you shouldn’t be messing with me,” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and jumped as high as she could. She only needed to kick off the wall once before she had the speed and height to clear the crevasse. Her wings shot open immediately—and just in time too as a dozen penguins jumped right where she had come out of.

She couldn’t keep the grin off her face when she heard them all smash into each other.

Rainbow Dash took a brief look around at where she was and then came to a stop on one of the snowy slopes of the mountain. She was on its southern face and hundreds of penguins were coming at her or circling above. Most of the horde that had chased her to the mountains seemed to be dispersed across it, so she at least didn’t have near as big of an army to face.

Since she wasn’t running away anymore. That looked pointless. She was going to get these penguins to turn back by force, make them see that she wasn’t worth the effort. Beat them enough that they realized she was the predator here. It was time to fight—and to apologize to Fluttershy later if these big guys weren’t the monsters she thought they were.

Rainbow was standing in the snow, facing the oncoming penguins down.

One screeched loudly and dove at her so she jumped up and kicked it in the side of the head. The massive penguin fell to the snow and rolled down the slope before coming to a stop.

Its brethren paused to look at it—whether they were worried for its well-being or worried about the same thing happening to them, Rainbow Dash didn’t know. But she knew fear and hesitation when she saw it.

“What? Didn’t expect the little pegasus to be able to do that? Either hurry up and come at me or just fly away already. I’m Rainbow Dash, and this—the south pole? All it is is one more stop for me on my way around the whole world. If you penguins think you’re the ones, after everything else I’ve been through, that can stop me. Then go ahead. Try.”

They tried.

Days turned to weeks and Rainbow Dash still carried on through the harsh and unforgiving world of snow and ice that was the south pole. Not a day went by that she didn’t have to fight or hide from a squad of the ravenous and relentless penguins. It didn’t change when she had left what obviously had to be their territory. It didn’t change when she made it past the very tip of the world and started traveling north again. It didn’t change and they never stopped.

Aside from how she kept making them stop. Slowly. Little by little. She whittled down their numbers every single time they tried to get her. Beaten and broken penguins left a trail all the way back to where they had first set upon her. Sometimes a group of several dozen would be left lying in the snow on the side of the mountain—a warning that went unheeded by the rest of their number.

She still kept drawing them out, always defeating the furthest of their hunting party before the rest could catch up and getting on the move again. She fought on the snow, in the sky, on glaciers, on mountains, inside ice caverns, never resting more than she absolutely needed to. The penguins outnumbered her, they were much bigger than her, and they never seemed to rest themselves, but she was keeping true to her word of showing them why chasing her was a bad idea.

She was Rainbow Dash after all.

A beak full of teeth came chomping at her head-

She ducked under it and uppercutted the penguin in the stomach, making it retch and stumble away from her as two more penguins came at her right and left. Rainbow Dash jumped up while spinning around and landed kicks on both their heads to knock them over—coming out of the jump with her wings open and flying through the sky while more penguins came at her. She turned around and flew directly at them, weaving through their number while landing punch after punch on each one of them that they were all too slow to avoid or counter.

Their dark bodies fell from the sky and into the snow while Rainbow dove back down to finish off the rest of them. A few stragglers that had been too slow to fly after her could only blink as a rainbow blur flashed by them and they all collapsed to the snow. The very last one was the one she had just hit in the stomach, his red eyes looked up at her just in time for her hoof to collide with his face and send him flying back in the snow.

Rainbow gently came to a stop in the snow—surrounded by collapsed penguins—and with no more flying towards her in the distance. After all this time they had been whittled down to nothing.

She surveyed her work and took a deep breath. “All of you, go back to your flock, pick up the others along the way. And don’t come after me again. Got it?”

Rainbow Dash knew they couldn’t respond. She turned around, with her saddlebags now nowhere near as full, and took off into the sky.

Northward bound.

At the Precipice

Dazzling lights shone in the sky of the south pole, Rainbow Dash had no idea what they were, some sort of beautiful natural event if she had to guess. They lit up the night, dancing around, predominantly green in color. Behind them the stars twinkled even brighter and Rainbow found herself staring at them the whole time she flew. Normally she’d be asleep by now but she didn’t want to waste seeing something so magnificent.

“Wow...” she quietly whispered, in awe of them. A Sonic Rainboom might have been cooler but there was still something majestic about these lights covering the entire arctic sky too.

How long had she been crossing the south pole? She had lost track of the days thanks to all the chaos with the penguins. Taking a quick pat of the one saddlebag that still had food in it, Rainbow realized she would only have a few more days worth of food till she had to resort to eating snow. Or scrounging up something else edible here, but she hadn’t seen anything like that yet. And if she hadn’t by now she likely wasn’t going to ever. But she knew she had gone far, made a lot of progress, there couldn’t be that much left. Not when she had a general idea of how big the south pole was.

Any day now.

Any day now.

Rainbow Dash woke up buried in snow, her torn up tarp not providing her much protection from it anymore. Her coat, her boots, her goggles, all brand-new and top quality, were worn out, scuffed, and full of holes and tears. She had won the battle of attrition against those penguins but it had definitely taken its toll on her gear and food supplies. Growling under her breath, she angrily fought her way out of the cold snow and emerged onto the more solidly packed snow on top of the ground, shaking herself off and breaking any frost that had gathered on her body.

She sighed. “I don’t regret anything I did to those penguins.”

Good news was—as she looked up at the sky—was that the sun was out and shining bright. It was as warm as any day could be down here. Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and took a big stretch before rising up to the sky and beginning her flight for the day. Her flight north as she had realized some time ago. For a while she had been too preoccupied with the penguins to notice that she was back on her side of the world. She knew now that she had been here for some time, it made her feel pretty good. It made her really feel like she was close to finishing this journey—finishing and accomplishing something so awesome.

Her scuffed gear and dwindling food supply didn’t even really compare to knowing that. It was always easier to push herself on when the goal was in sight. And the south pole really was the last “unknown” spot to her. North of here and she actually knew what was coming.

Rainbow Dash could push her body as hard as she could knowing that.

So she just really hoped that indeed she was getting close to the end of the south pole. She wanted to see that icy shoreline soon, she wanted to see the ocean north of it. As soon as she did she might cry out in relief and thank Celestia.

“I know this is the day. I know it,” Rainbow Dash said and sped on.

Below her the snow was so white and perfect it reflected the sunlight brightly back up at her. It went on and on like that for miles in every direction, to the west she saw some mountains but aside from them it was an endless plain of snow. She could see pretty far ahead to the horizon but so far there wasn’t yet anything for her to really see. She wondered if she would actually see something new first or feel the breeze from the ocean instead.

Either way Rainbow Dash swiftly flew for miles and miles. The day was young and she truly wanted to finish her time at the south pole today.

Hours passed by like that and Rainbow spent the time humming contentedly to herself—the sun still just barely in its noon position. The mountains to the west became mountains to the southwest. And clouds started to appear in the sky ahead.

She stopped for a second to toss a few wheat crackers into her mouth.

She turned over and flew on her back to look at and admire the perfect blue sky.

She stopped again because her head was itchy.

She sung a song or two.

She thought about how long it would take to get to Equestria from the ocean.

And looking ahead once more, Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes and peered as far as she could. The sheer whiteness of the snow and ice was giving away to something. It was turning into a broken and jagged edge of a glacier that was reaching out over something… something…

A grin appeared on Rainbow Dash’s face. “The ocean...”

She could only barely see it but she knew an ocean when she saw it. Closing her eyes she sniffed the air to see if she could smell the saltwater—too far just yet. And the air was calm and without any sort of breeze blowing in from the ocean either. But it was still there. Some of the ice at the shoreline of the south pole was sticking up like spikes right before the edge of the glacier met the water. At some point there must’ve been some kind of event where a large portion of the glacier broke away or an iceberg smashed into it.

She didn’t really care. That was the end of the south pole.

That was the next big step back home.

Rainbow Dash was still high in the sky the closer she got to the coast, her eyes looking down at the water and the small icebergs and floes she could see in it. She took a glance back at the spikes jutting up from the edge of the glacier and tilted her head to the side. A small frown appeared on her face. Stretching her lips thin.

She saw something.

There was something standing on the icy spikes. A pony.

And even at this distance she could tell they were looking right at her.

Rainbow Dash slowed down, her wings beating much more leisurely. She let out a great exhale and started to slowly descend down to the edge of the south pole instead of just flying over it like she planned. A blank, slightly bored, expression had taken over her face. “I see...”

She landed before the spikes. And took off her boots, took off her saddlebags, pulled back her hood to remove her goggles and drop them in the snow, and finally took off the heavy winter coat as well.

“Decide to show up for real this time?” Rainbow asked Harlequin Grey.

“Unfortunately you’ve left me no choice,” he spoke down to her from his position up on the ice spikes.

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes. “Yeah you’ve made that clear enough. All the scurrying away, refusing to fight me yourself, all that weird stuff you go on about. I guess you really ran out of ponies to sic on me.” She narrowed her eyes and glared up at him. “I haven’t forgotten what I said to you the last time we met for real south of Hoofica.”

“Neither have I. And like I said, I felt the same way.”

A mocking grin now stretched Rainbow Dash’s lips. “Oh? So the big coward is finally going to fight me himself?”

“That is indeed the case,” he stared her down, not rising to her provocation. “And you are going to die here, Rainbow Dash. I truly can’t allow you to continue on.”

Rainbow kicked a pile of snow and growled. “You keep saying stuff like that! But why? All this time I still don’t even get you! I don’t get why you tried to convince me to turn back in the first place, I don’t get why you were willing to do so many horrible things to stop me when I didn’t, I don’t get why you would do all those other things you mentioned! I know you’re not even a pony but I don’t know what you really are! This whole time you’ve been a thorn in my side and I don’t even know why. So what is it? What’s the big deal with me flying around the world? What’s the big deal with you? What do you want?!”

She was huffing loudly and angrily by the time she finished shouting at him.

Harlequin Grey peered down at her, slowly blinking.

“I want Nothing.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes again. “Oh don’t give me-”

“You misunderstand-” he cut her off. “I mean Nothing with a capital N. I want a world of Nothingness. A world without harmony, without chaos, without happiness, sadness, love, or hate. A world without change or growth. A world without emotion or will. I want a cold, neutral, stagnant, world of gray.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, her brow furrowed as she reached up to rub her head with a hoof. “I-I don’t understand...”

“Of course you don’t. You’re not particularly bright,” Harlequin Grey huffed. “Even though as an Element of Harmony and a witness to so many incredible things you should be in a better position to understand than most.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow frowned.

“This world we live in is not a simple world of logic and the physical. Thoughts and emotions are far more than just concepts and ideas here. Harmony and chaos are real, living, things that affect the world. The hearts of ponies and other creatures can change and affect the world around them. Surely you know this at least?” He asked.

“Well yeah—duh. Everyone would,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, thoroughly confused by the obvious and wondering what he was getting at. “You can see it in the Crystal Empire, and how Twilight and all of us saved Princess Luna and stopped Tirek. And like, a million other things. Friendship is magic, I’ve heard Twilight say that how many times now?”

“And I hate that,” Harlequin Grey announced, a bit of anger seeping into his voice and surprising Rainbow Dash. “I hate how this world works. I hate how the whims of any silly creatures can bring forth a cavalcade of change—whether it be good, bad, constructive or destructive—in the world. That’s why I wanted you to turn back mainly. Because no matter if it was good or bad, you were changing things. You are a disruptor, a bringer of harmony and chaos. The exact opposite of what I want for this world. You, just by your mere existence and your visits, would destroy what I’ve been working to do.”

Rainbow Dash’s hooves shook in anger. “Like what you did in Hoofica. That’s what that was about. You said you wanted emotions drained or deadened right? You wanted the entire country to be some empty, emotionless, void, didn’t you?”

“Correct. The best laid plans of mice and ponies however...” Harlequin Grey shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. It’s all ruined. Everything has been ruined, like I told you. My entire life’s work—I’ve been working tirelessly since I was created to stagnate this world and deaden the powers of chaos and harmony.”

“What—how could you even do that?” Rainbow asked.

“Like we both know, thoughts and feelings are just as real as the ice and snow around you now. Though I hate how this world works, that is also the way I will get my wish and kill how the world works forever. The more stagnation there is, the more places and creatures stay the same, the less emotions are felt through the world—the more harmony and chaos will naturally weaken. Slowly. Ever so slowly would it work. I started small, finding many ways to spread Nothingness, always taking the long view of things.” Harlequin Grey sighed. “And in just a short amount of time, you, your friends, and other random annoying ponies have ruined everything. I’ll have to restart all over again once I’ve killed you.”

“But then why does killing me even matter at this point? Everything’s already been ruined for you. I know you’re afraid of fighting me directly. You’re not a risk taker, you could lose it all here. You’re going to try fighting me now when everything is already over?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

“It’s not over. And I can still stop things from getting worse,” he glared at her. “If you complete your trip around the world you will have done something no one else ever has. And you will have done it as a symbol of harmony and friendship. The world itself will change. The powers of harmony and friendship will grow stronger. And I can not have that. You will die here.”

Rainbow Dash planted her hooves firmly in the snow and opened her wings, ready to move. “If you really want to fight, I’m not going to stop you. In fact—this is something I’ve wanted for a long, long, time. So come on then, try me.”

“You’re going to regret your arrogance. Every taunt, every insult, every ignored warning, I’ll make you regret everything,” Harlequin Grey narrowed his eyes at her. “You’ve wanted to fight me for so long? Here is why that has always been a terrible idea.”

For a moment, Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure if he was a pegasus, unicorn, or earth pony. His form seemed to shift faster than she could blink.

But just as suddenly a dark energy came from his body, spreading out like an aura and enveloping him completely in a black and white cloud of magic and electricity. It covered the icy spikes and swirled around Harlequin Grey—centered on him, the energy so dense she couldn’t see him anymore. There was a great raging fluctuation from the dark energy and a beam of pure magical power shot into the sky, blasting through the clouds overhead and sending a shockwave out across the icy shoreline.

Rainbow Dash ducked her head low as the shockwave buffeted her, holding a hoof up and blocking the wind from getting into her eyes. As soon as it dissipated she stood up straight and looked at what was going on.

Black and white smoke billowed off the spikes where Harlequin Grey had been standing—and through the smoke Rainbow Dash could make out a familiar shape.

A hoof stepped out from it and all the smoke was suddenly blown away.

Atop the ice spikes she saw a long horn, a pair of wings, a strong body, black mane and tail shiny and swept back, and a series of three question marks on a flank.

The Alicorn Harlequin Grey peered down at her from his perch. “Your journey is at an end, Rainbow Dash. I will not allow you to connect the world in harmony.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced and sighed in annoyance. “Aw crud.”

Rainbow Dash vs. Harlequin Grey

“You’ve gotta be kidding me… I guess this is another optical illusion? Or me remembering wrong? You were always an Alicorn?” Rainbow Dash mockingly teased him.

“This is most certainly no simple illusion. But the time for talking is over,” Harlequin Grey said and extended his wide and powerful wings, jumping from the spikes and swooping down at Rainbow Dash.

She shot up from the snow to meet him and the two flew directly at each other. Rainbow Dash pulled back a hoof and Harlequin Grey mirrored her. Their hooves collided with enough force to create a thunderclap. One light blue hoof and the other navy blue.

That’s definitely earth pony strength… Rainbow Dash frowned as their hooves shook from the collision.

The horn atop his head then lit up red, a powerful sparkling growing brighter and brighter right at the tip of it. Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up and she flew away just as a red laser flashed right through where she had been. Harlequin Grey turned his head to follow her and shot small laser blast after laser blast at her that Rainbow Dash had to constantly evade, flying through the sky like the trained stunt flier she was.

Rainbow dove low towards the snow and scooped up a snowball along the way, tossing it at him immediately after dodging the next volley of laser blasts.

He scowled and blew it up before it hit him but it created a cloud of vapor in front of him to block his view. He immediately fired another laser blast through the cloud—suspecting Rainbow Dash was trying to surprise him. Only to end up surprised when she indeed came from underneath the cloud instead of right through it.

Her hoof came up towards his jaw but a powerful flap of his wings temporarily carried him up and out of her reach. Rainbow Dash followed close behind, not letting him charge up and aim his horn again. She consistently got in his face and pressured him, throwing quick punches and flitting about so much she was leaving after-images behind. Harlequin Grey surprisingly kept up with her, not throwing pointless attacks, and just dodging her punches while trying to fly away and get some distance. His wings were large and gave him a lot of propulsion but not quite as much maneuverability as Rainbow Dash had. Every time he tried to make a grand escape she would move first to get in his way and keep him boxed him.

She continued to throw a punch at either his face or anywhere else she could hit—only to grow increasingly annoyed at how he slipped away from every punch like water. The way he moved wasn’t right. It was almost like his body really was liquid sometimes. Meanwhile she could see the annoyance plain in his own face despite his professed hatred of emotions.

They were at an impasse.

Until at the next punch Rainbow Dash sent towards Harlequin Grey’s face he simply scowled and vanished in a burst of red light.

Rainbow immediately realized what had happened and growled. “Oh of course you can teleport too.”

She heard something to her right and turned to see Harlequin Grey hovering in the air while a far more powerful and concentrated surge of magic was gathering at the tip of his horn. The light this time a much darker, maroon red. A deep frown settled on his face as he narrowed his eyes and aimed his horn at her.

“This is payback for all the trouble you’ve caused me!” He roared and unleashed the accumulated magic at her.

It came out as a long, continuous, beam from his horn, slicing across the sky at her. Rainbow Dash flew under it, feeling the intense heat, greater than lava, as it went right by her. Taking a quick glance at where the beam of magic went she saw it shoot for miles past her all the way to the southwest mountains. It decapitated the peaks of the two closest ones, carving right through them with pure heat and force and leaving red molten rock and melted ice behind while the peaks exploded in a fiery blast. Even the sky briefly flashed a shade of red after he unleashed the magic beam.

Note to self, don’t get hit by that. Rainbow Dash gulped.

She flew low to the snow and then towards him while he worked to build up more energy in his horn. Rainbow Dash didn’t intend to give him the time to do that. As soon as she was moderately close she flapped her wings at the ground and kicked up a cloud and whirlwind of snow at him. Not only did it buffet him and force him to close his eyes and focus on his flight more than his magic, it also allowed her to escape his vision.

He unleashed the energy built up in his horn anyways to blow away the mini-snowstorm and flew up a little bit to get a better view of the battleground.

Only for a series of snowballs to come flying at him from above.

Harlequin Grey scowled and created a red shield around his body to block them—the snowballs splattering against it. He looked up and had to squint his eyes, she was coming down directly from the sun, using its light to hide herself. He dropped the shield and prepared to fire another beam at her as she swiftly shot towards him.

Seeing that, Rainbow Dash grinned and threw a final snowball she had been keeping with her as fast as she could.

It hit the tip of his horn and disrupted his spell. And surprised him enough where she was able to fly down and kick him square in the chest. A satisfying impact and a grunt of pain and Rainbow Dash carried him down to the snow where the two landed with enough force to kick up a huge blast of snow and create a crater in the hard ice below.

As the snowfall cleared Rainbow Dash looked down at where she was standing—and found he had disappeared from under her hooves.

“What the-” She felt a shadow behind her and jumped up as a beam of magic nearly hit her. Rainbow Dash flew higher to avoid more coming at her and looked down to see Harlequin Grey standing there, looking no worse for wear, and aiming his horn at her. “How’d he get behind me? And I know I heard him get hurt but there’s not even a bruise or scuff where I hit him...”

A beam of red magic was shot up at her, but with it was also purple lightning crawling around it. Rainbow Dash dodged the beam but the lightning arced out at her as soon as it reached the sky. It spread in every direction—covering the sky above the south pole and sending flashes of light through the clouds and creating a dazzling display. For a brief moment the horizon turned purple to match the lightning, the colors of the world slightly changing in hue as the strange magical energy erupted.

Rainbow Dash had to twist her body to avoid the violent and dangerous sparks of lightning, flying and juking to the sides to avoid the storm.

Another beam of magic was shot at her with green lightning climbing with it to start the chaos all over again. The world flashed green when the lightning crackled and tried to claim its prey in the sky. All the clouds that still remained over the south pole and the southern ocean were soon blow away. Rainbow Dash had to squeeze her eyes shut as the colors and flashes of lightning were too powerful, dots blossomed behind her eyelids as she relied on her ears to dodge now.

Black lightning now came with the latest beam of magic and Rainbow forced her eyes back open despite the disorienting colors. She just barely shot to the side to avoid the beam and the black lightning while the sky flashed red as far as she could see.

She grit her teeth and looked down at Harlequin Grey. Magic of all colors swirled about his horn—she could feel from here how wrong it was. With that horn, those wings, it was an insult. Any fear that she might have was squashed down and Rainbow Dash glared at him, diving down directly at him with the full force of her wings behind her. “I don’t know what you are—but you’re not an Alicorn!”

His eye twitched and his form wavered for just a second, so fast that Rainbow Dash herself didn’t even notice, before her hoof collided with his face.

What was a normal day in Ponyville turned slightly panicky as the sky started flashing a strange array of colors. Purple, green, red, they came one after the other and as the ponies of Ponyville are normally wont to do—they started running around screaming about the end of the world. So yes, just slightly panicky by Ponyville standards.

One of the mares that did keep her head about her was no less confused and worried though.

Princess Twilight Sparkle looked out one of the windows of the Castle of Friendship and frowned as she saw the sky flashing colors aside from its normal blue.

“What’s going on?” It gave her an unsettling feeling deep in her stomach. She didn’t know why that was happening but she instinctively knew it was something very wrong.

A hum of magic came from elsewhere in her castle and Twilight turned around. She ran through the corridors of the castle, hearing something calling out to her, before emerging into the Cutie Map room. Twilight’s jaw dropped as she stared at the map—seeing something going on with it that she never had before.

The usual display was up but it was fuzzy and blinking and around its southern edge a black question mark floated with a familiar rainbow lightning bolt and cloud circling around it.

“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight whispered.

As soon as the words left her mouth the door to the room was thrown back open and Pinkie Pie came running in—nearly out of breath—and shoved her face right up into Twilight’s.

“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie Pie shouted loudly enough to nearly shatter Twilight’s eardrums.

Twilight grimaced and pushed her back just a bit so her vision wasn’t entirely taken up by the pink pony. “I know, Pinkie! We need to-”

“YOU NEED TO HELP ME BAKE A CAKE!”

Twilight Sparkle blinked. “What?”

“My pinkie sense is going craaazy, Twilight! It’s telling me I need to bake the biggest, greatest, cake that’s ever been baked in aaaalllll of Equestria!” Pinkie Pie threw her hooves out (somehow stretching from wall to wall) as she spoke. “I need your help to find all the ingredients and we need to use your kitchen cause it’s bigger!” She smiled ecstatically as she finished.

“Pinkie Pie, don’t you see what’s going on outside right now?” Twilight said in exasperation. “And the map-”

“That’s when my pinkie sense started going off!” Pinkie interrupted again and roped a hoof around Twilight’s neck, starting to drag her out of the room. “Now come on, Twilight! We’ve got rare ingredients to find and a cake to bake! Who knows how long this is going to take?”

“PINKIIIIEEEEE!”

In the realm of chaos, Discord sat inside his chaotic home and smelled an upside-down book listened in braille while outside his window a disco ball flew by.

That part was normal.

What wasn’t normal (for his home) was when the ceiling light flickered a few times. An electrical buzzing came from it as if the light-bulb truly was going on the fritz. Which needless to say shouldn’t be possible considering where any of this was happening.

Discord raised an eyebrow up off his head and looked up at it. A faint look of surprise and amusement came to his face. “A Harlequin? I thought all of those were dead.” He glanced down at his wrist where a mini-sundial appeared showing a tiny porcelain Celestia revolving above it. “Hm… almost teatime with Fluttershy.”

The lord of chaos shrugged. “Eh, sorry Rainbow Dash, you’ll have to take care of it yourself.”

Discord went back to his book.

Doubt

Harlequin Grey stood up after being punched to the snow by Rainbow Dash. He lifted a hoof and rubbed the sore spot on his cheek while staring disdainfully at her.

Rainbow Dash hovered in the air in front of him, scowling in confusion at him. “You’re a unicorn now… you’re not an Alicorn anymore...”

It was true. His body wasn’t as big and strong and his wings had disappeared.

Harlequin Grey raised an eyebrow at her in response to her comments. “What are you talking about? I’ve never been an Alicorn, you’re just misremembering things.”

A vein pulsed on Rainbow Dash’s forehead. “Well whatever! Doesn’t matter what you are, all that matters is I’m going to beat you!” She flew at him with a punch aimed at his face once more.

He didn’t move to dodge it. He didn’t need to. The moment her hoof made contact his body turned transparent and intangible. Rainbow Dash merely flew right through him while her eyebrows shot up and she accidentally crashed right into the snow behind him. She quickly jumped back up, shaking the snow off herself, and looked back at him with an angry frown on her face.

What just happened? She wondered.

Harlequin Grey turned around and tilted his head at her, mocking her. “Were you trying to do something just now?”

“How’d you do that?” Rainbow Dash growled at him.

“Who knows… why don’t you try punching me again?” He shrugged.

Rainbow Dash flew at him once more and indeed tried knocking his block off. Only for him to turn transparent again and for her to harmlessly sail through him. She clicked her tongue and sharply turned around, skidding to a stop in the snow.

“Can’t say I’m surprised you’re dumb enough to keep trying the same thing over and over again,” Harlequin Grey said to her.

“Haha, very funny,” Rainbow Dash spat and stood her ground.

“Not going to try one more time? Very well, I’ll come to you then,” Harlequin Grey said as his body went transparent and buzzed, going slightly blurry, before two copies detached themselves from him and now three Harlequin Grey’s stood before her. Not exact copies though. One earth pony, and one pegasus. The three together were a Harlequin Grey of each tribe.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, looking between all three of them to try and see anything signifying which was the real one. Was there anything special about one or the others? They all looked exactly the same apart from their identifying appendages. She didn’t know what was going on and this was even weirder than him transforming into an Alicorn in the first place. Was it just another magical spell like his beams of magic? But his horn hadn’t been lighting up. None of this made any sense to her and she wasn’t smart like Twilight or Starlight to figure it out!

“Now then,” all three Harlequin Grey’s spoke at once before the earth pony one ran at her.

He threw a punch at her face that Rainbow Dash blocked.

Solid. He was definitely real. Or at least had to be solid to touch her. Behind him she saw the unicorn Harlequin’s horn light up before a red beam of magic was shot at her. Rainbow Dash flew up to avoid it and was met by the pegasus one flying at her as soon as she had moved. He threw a punch at her too that she ducked under and met with one of her own going right at his stomach.

But her hoof once more hit nothing as his body turned transparent and she flew through him.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth but couldn’t dwell on it as another laser blast was shot at her, followed by more and more as the unicorn tried shooting her out of the sky. Rainbow weaved between them all, trying to figure out what was going on before an errant strike hit her or the pegasus came to attack her again. She could tell one thing for certain though: these magical lasers weren’t as powerful as before.

She glanced down at the one casting them. Is it because he’s in a unicorn body and not an Alicorn now?

“Tch, I hate it when I can’t just fly or punch problems away...” she muttered and flew low to the snowy ground.

A few lasers hit the ground around her and created explosions in the snow but Rainbow Dash didn’t care, she turned and flew towards the earth pony to put his body between her and the unicorn. She could tell by how things had gone so far that the unicorn at least was worried about friendly fire and hitting one of the other bodies. A quick glance above her and she also saw the pegasus hovering over her, ready to attack as well. That was also fine. She could take them if they tried to attack, she just needed to figure out how to hit them back.

When she started flying towards the earth pony Harlequin Grey he ran forwards to meet her and threw a punch at her. Rainbow Dash blocked on purpose instead of dodging because she wanted to physically touch him again to help figure out the trick. With her front hooves crossed and blocking his punch, she kicked out at him with one of her backlegs only for him to turn intangible. She fell to the ground as her hooves slid through him. Another punch came at her and this time Rainbow Dash tried to grab his leg before it hit her—instead grabbing nothing but also making his punch sail harmlessly through her head as his whole body turned intangible once again.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. At least she knew she could stop him from hitting her if she tried touching him at the same time.

The pegasus then came flying at her and tried to kick her in the back while smashing her to the ground. Rainbow Dash jumped out of the way at the last second so all he did was kick up a cloud of snow and ice. Both pegasus and earth pony Harlequin Grey still came at her together right after, each throwing a punch or kick in unison to put Rainbow Dash on the defensive. The pegasus shot behind her so she had to constantly look back and forth between them, blocking or ducking under their hooves. Any time she tried to kick out or punch one of them the same thing happened where they turned transparent and intangible. It helped if she needed to suddenly offset one of their attacks but it meant she still wasn’t getting anywhere.

Rainbow Dash ducked under a punch, jumped over a sweeping leg, moved out of a wing jab, flipped to avoid an uppercut to the chin. The pegasus Harlequin threw a hook at her body but Rainbow Dash matched it with a jab of her own to his face. He went intangible so she couldn’t hit him and he ended up going right through her. At the same time—Rainbow Dash ended up kicked in her other side by the earth pony Harlequin after taking her attention away from him for a second too long.

She stumbled away but kept on her hooves, glaring back at the two Harelquin’s.

Who jumped out of the way.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide for a split-second before a wave of red magic smashed into her and knocked her onto her back, rolling through the snow and coughing from the pain of the attack. She clenched her jaw and slammed a hoof down before standing back up. Before her were the three Harlequin’s, confidently standing together.

“Which one of us is the real one, Rainbow Dash?” They all spoke in unison. “Perhaps we all are.” Their bodies flickered and became transparent for a second. “Or perhaps none of us are.”

“You’re really annoying,” Rainbow Dash snorted. “That’s at least something I know for sure.”

“Well I’m afraid that won’t help you,” they said and came at her again.

Three on one was obnoxious enough but they fought with an impossible sense of coordination too. They could attack at all angles and in multiple different ways thanks to one of them being a unicorn. Normally Rainbow wasn’t one to complain about a fight being a little tough, but considering who she was up against and the reason for the fight being tough, it was pretty aggravating.

She blocked a punch, jumped up to kick at the pegasus, and then flapped her wings quickly to shoot higher up and avoid another laser blast. At least if she stayed in the air the earth pony one could never get her. It was her best bet to keep flying and keep the amount of opponents she had to deal with to two at the most. She was only going to go back down when she figured out how to actually attack them and do something. There had to be something going on she was missing. Earlier she had hit him, but even before he “split” he had started evading her attacks. How?

“Help me out here, Twilight. Really counting on you...” she mumbled.

The pegasus Harlequin Grey came flying at her while the unicorn had its horn lit and ready to use. Rainbow Dash stopped and met the pegasus in the air, matching his swift attacks blow for blow, never dodging, always blocking. He wasn’t any stronger than the average pegasus, that was for certain. Nor was he as fast as she was either. If it wasn’t for everything else he wouldn’t be hard to beat.

A red laser scoured the sky and Rainbow Dash flew away from it, the beam following her until the unicorn below ran out of energy for the moment. Still just in time for the pegasus to again attack her and not let her catch her breath.

A kick came at her head that she blocked with a hoof—throwing a punch at his open body after. He phased right through the punch and solidified again behind her. When Rainbow Dash turned to attack him she had to back off as a laser blast almost burned off her face.

Darn it! This is really annoying right now! Rainbow Dash scowled as she perpetually had to fight on the back hoof.

The pegasus flew at her and tried to strike her throat with his wing as he went by. Rainbow Dash ducked under it and flew to the side to avoid a few more lasers. The lasers didn’t let up for now either and Rainbow had to fly to her best to avoid them all. While in the middle of the deadly barrage she caught a glimpse of the pegasus flying on the outskirts and getting ready to attack her again the moment he had a free shot. Rainbow Dash focused on his wings and thought back, back to a long time ago in the True North.

That was the first time I saw you… you were flying right beside me. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. I know for sure you were a pegasus the very first time I saw you.

The barrage of lasers finally let up and the pegasus Harlequin came directly at her. He had a hoof already pulled back and ready to punch her with.

Rainbow Dash huffed and got ready to punch him instead. “I don’t know what your deal is or how you’re doing this—but you’re the real one, aren’t you?!” She shouted and threw her hoof at his head.

He quickly turned his head aside to avoid it and frowned.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide.

He dodged it… She thought. I would’ve hit him…

The pegasus Harlequin flew back down to the snow and landed next to the unicorn and earth pony Harlequin’s. Who now all stood together once more and glared at her—the unicorn in the middle, the earth pony to her left, and the pegasus to her right. A cold breeze blew by and lifted up a trail of snowflakes to drift around in front of them.

Rainbow Dash calmly flew down and hovered slightly over the snow. Her eyes searched between the three of them before stopping on the pegasus. She grinned. “Guess I found you out, huh?”

“Think you’ve figured something out, do you? You don’t know anything, Rainbow Dash.” The three said and their forms started changing once more. In an instant the one on the left was now a pegasus, middle was an earth pony, right was a unicorn. Then they changed again, and again. Suddenly there were three pegasi, then two unicorns and one earth pony, then three earth ponies.

Rainbow Dash’s pupils were spinning before he finally stopped and there was a pegasus to the left, a unicorn in the middle, and an earth pony on the right.

“Now then, care to guess which is the real one this time?” They raised an eyebrow in unison at her.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and bit her lip. She was frustrated, but not back to square one. She still didn’t know what was up for sure but there was something deep inside that was telling her she had figured out something important. Now she just needed to realize what the hay it was.

King of Kings

Rainbow Dash stood her ground even as the world around her started to go crazy. The rumbling in the ice below her increased heavily along with the crackling in the black thunderclouds above. Suddenly a huge spike of ice shot out of the ground in front of her, along with another and another, a whole line of spikes coming right at her. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and ran back away from them, all around her the formerly flat grounds of snow and ice were being pierced from below by these spikes. She opened her wings and was about to take to the air when the familiar crackle of lightning came from above her. Rainbow Dash looked up just in time for the cloud directly overhead to send a lightning bolt down at her. She had to jump to the side to avoid it as it created a crater in the ground and then run up the side of a spike to avoid more coming out of the ground. When she got up high enough she jumped and started gliding over the ice spikes while keeping mind on the lightning burning for her above.

“Guess he’s bringing out the weird stuff now,” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

Dozens of lightning bolts rained down around her, trying to fry her. She wove through them expertly so all they did instead was scour the frozen ground and obliterate most of the spikes that had come up earlier. A few explosions sent jagged blocks of ice at her like shrapnel, creating even more havoc in the sky. Rainbow Dash kicked away or avoided what she could, only a few very small pieces hitting her and causing a wince or two.

“This is nothing! I’ve been in way tougher fights and you still aren’t even fighting me for real!” Rainbow Dash yelled into the air.

A black figure then came down from the sky—one of the serpents that had exploded from Harlequin Grey earlier. It opened its mouth to reveal a sharp set of fangs and lunged at her.

Rainbow Dash frowned and kicked it away, looking to see more of the black serpents coming from both the sky and the ground at her. Not all of them stayed as they were though. Quite a few turned into shadowy black ponies, griffons, dragons, a mammoth, yaks, and dangerous animals like bears and huge gorillas. A smorgasbord of opponents had come to face her. At least they seemed to all have physical bodies—and they were all creatures she had faced before.

“Still got this,” Rainbow smirked and made a quick turnaround to immediately go on the offensive. If she could finally do some punching, she wanted to do some punching.

The first thing that came at her was a pegasus. Rainbow Dash decided to forego anything fancy and gave an extra flap of her wings as she flew at it, speeding herself up before the shadow pegasus could do anything. She smashed into it with her front hooves, hitting it so hard the shadow itself exploded this time like a popped bubble of ink. Wisps of shadow went everywhere before vanishing into nothing and Rainbow Dash grinned.

“Satisfying.”

She flew low enough to the ground where she could fight everything that couldn’t fly. Even though if those snakes were any indication it didn’t matter if these shadows actually had wings or not.

Around her though, the weather started to change once more, tornadoes started up in every direction while more lightning crackled and brewed—and out on the ocean the entire horizon was a strange kaleidoscope of colors and starbursts all melting together and changing. She didn’t feel like she was in danger from it, but it was disorienting and kind of unsettling. Was the world really changing like this or was it just an illusion for her?

She had no more time to think about it—not like she wanted to think—as the mammoth shadow swung its trunk at her. Rainbow Dash let it collide with her body and grabbed it, rolling with the impact to lessen it, and yanked the mammoth off its feet and threw it into one of the few ice spikes that was still standing. It hit it with a splat and burst apart. Certainly not as heavy or strong as a real mammoth.

Or perhaps Rainbow’s belief in herself and her victory made it easier to do something like that.

A bear swung its giant paw at her while a yak jumped at her and a griffon came flying from above.

Kick!

Slam!

Whack!

Rainbow Dash reduced all of them to nothing, flying through the rubble of the ice spikes while lightning threatened to strike overhead she went on the attack for the rest of the shadows. There were still a lot of them—Rainbow had no idea how many serpents there were in the first place or if he couldn’t make more. A unicorn shadow emerged ahead of her and Rainbow flew by it with her wings extended, decapitating it without any effort. A wall of lightning then came down ahead of her and Rainbow Dash had to come to a screeching halt, flying backwards and almost right into the jaws of a shadow manticore.

She moved right as its jaws snapped shut and flew over its head, coming down with a strong kick to the top of its skull and making it splatter.

A gorilla swung around one of the ice spikes at her and Rainbow Dash ducked under its free, outstretched, arm, kicking it in the back when it went by and making it fall to the ground where it too disappeared.

A huge snake curled up behind her and lashed out. Rainbow Dash grabbed its jaws and slammed them back shut before throwing it into a trio of earth ponies running at her. She then flew into a group of yaks and knocked them aside before kicking a bear in the head. Lastly—a pair of pegasi flew at her from the right and left—Rainbow Dash did a barrel roll and punched one in the chin and smashed the other on the top of the head. Finishing them off she flew up higher towards the storm clouds.

“Is that it?” Rainbow Dash said. “If I was fighting Discord right now he’d throw way crazier stuff at me! Where are the flying pigs, the boiling milk waterfalls, the dancing buffaloes dressed in tutus? Don’t you got anything better?”

The world shook.

Rainbow Dash blinked and saw eyes looking at her, the face of Harlequin Grey peering from the ice around and below her. Reflected in a bolt of lightning, transparent in the air, half merged with the clouds above. All at once he was everywhere and nowhere and the myriad of colors, the rainbow of colors, all around started to warp and change violently.

Insolent pest.

A stone pillar came down from the sky and tried to crush Rainbow Dash. Her eyes widened and she zoomed out of the way while more fell from the dark clouds. An inverted pyramid and great stone blocks started falling everywhere as well—another blink of her eyes and the world had turned upside-down. The sky was now below her and gravity had taken a break. Rainbow Dash started tumbling in the air, unsure of how to catch herself, while bolts of lightning and blasts of fire came from below.

She slapped the side of her face and turned over to fly with her back once more facing the “sky”.

“We’re not doing this! The sky is the sky and the ground is the ground! You’re not as powerful as Discord, I know you can’t go this far!” Rainbow yelled.

What do you know?

The world once more changed and seemed to right itself but just as quickly a shadowy tendril came up from one of the stone pillars and wrapped around Rainbow’s hoof.

“Uh oh,” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

The shadow tendril swung her around in the air like a lasso before letting her go. Rainbow Dash was launched through the air and collided with a stone pillar at high speed. She coughed and gasped in pain while falling to the snow, landing in a heap. Her body hurt, but she wasn’t unconscious. Rainbow Dash stood up on her four legs and growled.

“That’s not-”

Lightning crackled overhead.

“Aw geez...”

A lightning bolt crashed down in the snow right as she tried jumping away. It didn’t directly hit her but she couldn’t avoid it all, painful electricity crawled up her body and made her cry out in pain while the force of the explosive bolt sent her flying into the middle of an icy drift free of pillars. Rainbow Dash looked up and saw herself surrounded by more shadow ponies, earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. Reflected off the ice and in the sky was the visage of Harlequin Grey, staring disgustedly at her.

You could’ve lived your life in happy ignorance. Already a short life, the blink of an eye compared to me, but now this is how it ends.

The shadow ponies rushed her.

A worthless, pointless life, everything you’ve done, even on this journey, will be undone with time. I’ve never understood you ponies or why you do such things. Why didn’t you just go back home? Knowing it will all be meaningless one day…

Rainbow ducked under a wing and kicked away the first shadow pegasus. A unicorn came from behind to try and wrap its hooves around her body so Rainbow bucked it into a pillar. Two earth ponies came throwing punches from her left that Rainbow had to block and then counter with punches of her own to splatter them. The sheer amount was quickly starting to overwhelm her and she was unable to take to the sky though.

Just roll over and die, Rainbow Dash. Let it end as it always had to.

Rainbow Dash took a hoof to the face from one of the shadow ponies. She spat out a little blood before grabbing it and swinging it into three more coming at her. They all exploded while a couple of pegasi came down at her, landing on her back and smashing her down into the snow. Half a dozen more jumped on top of her.

Don’t you understand? For three-thousand years I’ve been working for this. What’s the life of one pony, even yours, compared to that? Everything you’ve accomplished in your life and on this journey is meaningless. It will amount to nothing with a little more time from me.

She threw them all off her back, satisfied when many of them popped and splattered against pillars of stone and spikes of ice. That satisfaction ended as a chunk of ice slammed into her back, pulled by the magic of a unicorn shadow. Rainbow went sprawling across the ice, rolled out of the way of a stone block being dropped on her, and jumped up before taking another punch to the face, then the ribs, then the gut. Repeatedly attacked by the horde of shadows she fought back as best she could, destroying two or three for every one that landed a blow on her.

A billion lives have passed by in this world while I’ve been around. Do you see the pointlessness of all you’re doing? Just give up!

Rainbow Dash breathed heavily as a shadow came at her. She moved her head to the side to avoid its punch and destroyed it with a swift kick.

“You’re not beating me…” Rainbow said.

I already have.

The shadow ponies subsumed into the ground and tendrils came from the ice, wrapping around her body and slamming her back and forth against the stones, the spikes, and finally against the icy ground. Rainbow Dash felt a dribble of blood coming down from her head but flexed her legs and wings anyways to break the tendrils and stand up.

Right as she heard something falling behind her. She chanced a look back and saw a stone pillar collapsing on top of her. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and jumped away as it smashed into the ground. Ice, snow, destroyed bits of rock, and dust were kicked up everywhere. The rumbling reverberated across the ice like an earthquake had gone off.

When it all cleared she was lying on the snow, tired and breathing heavily. Injured and for the moment unable to rise. Her eyes could see a storm around her, violent winds and clouds spinning and blocking off everything else as if she was in the eye of a hurricane.

“You’re the one who made it go this way.”

Rainbow Dash perked up and saw stone steps in front of her that hadn’t been there before, Harlequin Grey walking down them towards her.

“You could’ve just turned back. You could’ve chosen a life where you didn’t suffer.”

Rainbow Dash coughed and lifted her head up. “Wouldn’t have been awesome…”

“Instead now it’s nothing. Your already short life will end here. And what do you have to show for it?” His face flashed with anger as he stepped into the snow. “What was the point of it! What was the point of anything you’ve done to impair me?”

Rainbow Dash stood up and faced him.

“Now you’ll die here. Accomplishing nothing, doing nothing, being nothing. Failing. And I will go on to finish what I’ve set out to do from the start!” He loudly yelled as he reached her, bringing a powerful hoof up towards her face. “You are nothing, Rainbow Dash! And you will not be a thorn in my side any longer! There is nothing you can do to stop me! Nothing! NOTHING!”

His hoof pulled back and he went to cave her skull in-

Rainbow Dash caught his hoof with her own and glared at him. Harlequin Grey’s eyes widened in surprise.

“For someone who says he hates emotions, you’re pretty angry right now,” Rainbow said and yanked his hoof to the side, twisting and breaking it all in one motion.

“Agh!” He yelped in a pain that surprised even himself. “H-How-?!”

“I think I can see you clearly now for the first time ever. Yeah… I get it now. I didn’t have to think about it, I just feel it in my heart and know for sure, but I understand exactly what you are.” Rainbow Dash calmly said as she looked at him. A robust dark blue pony with a jet-black mane and tail, now angrily glaring at her and holding an injured hoof.

“You don’t… you can’t,” he sputtered.

Rainbow just sighed. “You’re so empty. Nothing this, nothing that. But you’re the one who’s really nothing in the end. Just an empty shell of negative emotions. You’re pathetic. You’re weak. You’re just a miserable… whatever… making everyone else in the world miserable too even if that’s not your real goal, even if you say that a stagnant world of nothing wouldn’t have either good or bad things, I’ve seen enough of the effect you have to know it wouldn’t be good. Only someone as empty as you, with no concern for anybody else, could want that world. So maybe I still don’t know what you are, but I know who you are. And that goes way deeper.” She pointed her hoof at him. “You’re nothing. A cowardly, wretched, hate-filled, nothing of a pony.”

She blinked.

Harlequin Grey stood before her on spindly, skeletal legs, his body wrinkled and faded, thin and emaciated, black mane now snow white. He shivered and trembled all over. Only his eyes still shone with an angry glare at her.

Ace of Aces

Rainbow Dash stared apathetically through half-lidded eyes and with a blank expression on her face at Harlequin Grey. There was no victorious smirk, no disdain in her eyes, just apathy. “So the outside finally matches the inside.”

“How dare you...” Harlequin Grey snarled at her.

A change in the air got Rainbow’s attention and she looked around to see the storm had disappeared along with the warped colors and most of the pillars and ice spikes. The south pole had practically returned to normal.

“You know in most cases-” Rainbow Dash started as she looked back at Harlequin Grey. “If someone asked for mercy or forgiveness, I’d at least hear them out. And if they genuinely regretted what they’d done, I’d give it to them. Because that’s just the difference between good and bad, you know? Oh wait—you don’t know. You never could. Even if you asked for mercy, or forgiveness, it wouldn’t be genuine.”

“That’s right! I regret nothing I’ve done in pursuit of my goal!” Harlequin Grey yelled. “I will change this pathetic, disgusting, world into a world of stagnant nothingness! And this. Is. Not. OVER!”

His body warped and grew into an insane amalgamation of other creatures, giant hydra necks emerging from his body, whipping tails and praying mantis scythes, spiky lobster claws, cobra heads with fangs dripping venom. His body was a mass of gelatinous, pulsing, flesh with innumerable appendages shooting off everywhere. The tallest neck was like an eyeless hydra with teeth the size of butcher knives in its mouth. It spasmed and whipped around in the air before launching down towards Rainbow Dash. The mouth opened impossibly wide—ready to bite her in two and tear her to pieces.

As soon as it closed its teeth on her it all evaporated into smoke. Nothing remained of the insane nightmare monster.

Only Harlequin Grey as a frail old pony was standing there again—looking at her in disbelief and rage once more.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I think you’re the one who doesn’t understand things. Do you know, really know, how many places I’ve been to and seen on my journey? All the ponies and other creatures I’ve met, just living their lives and trying to find happiness. This whole world is full of life, sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s good, but you’re trying to stop all of it out of total selfishness. It would never work. Every last creature I’ve met around the world and all the lives-”

Harlequin Grey exploded in anger as he cut her off, barking loudly at her. “Worthless, meaningless, lives! Every single one!”

A quiet breeze came over the south pole while Rainbow Dash sadly looked back at him.

“Worthless… and meaningless? Meaningless...” she closed her eyes and thought back far along her entire journey with images shooting through her mind of everywhere she had gone. From snow, to mountains, to forests, to deserts, to swamps, to the ocean. “This journey started just as a way for me to have fun and brag about something… but everywhere I’ve been, all the stuff I’ve done, all the lives I’ve met. It became so much more! Aurora and Summer Rains, Dust Bunny, Larkon, Eleanor, Wish, Senax and everyone else… them and everything we’ve been through, it isn’t meaningless, no life that’s just trying to live and move on is. Even ones like Blizzard, Karkona, Resin, Copper, Godfrey and Coral Sea—they all had dreams and things they believed in—even if they were wrong! It’s not meaningless! None of it is!” Rainbow Dash’s hooves shook. “But if you… if you really can’t understand something as simple as that!” She opened her eyes as tears of anger fell from them. “Then you’re nothing more than an unfeeling monster!”

Harlequin Grey opened his mouth to speak again when a blue hoof collided with his face and punched him into the sky. Rainbow Dash followed him up and delivered a series of rapid-fire punches to his stomach before launching him up even further. She flapped her wings and rocketed behind him faster than he was traveling, kicking him in the back, and then flew around even faster to get in front of him again and kick him another direction. Again and again this happened with her kicking him like a helpless doll in the air over the snow. She moved so fast and kicked him so hard that she appeared in two, three, five different places at once as he careened like a pinball. On one last kick she flew back in front of him and grabbed him by the mane, halting him while pulling her hoof back and delivering dozens of fast and heavy punches to his face while he bounced and swayed around limply. She finished with a powerful uppercut and flew after him once more to grab him by the tail and throw him up while kicking as hard as she could into his stomach again before starting to fly around him so fast she created a rainbow tornado. The force of the winds held him in place while Rainbow flew and attacked him from every angle and direction at even greater speeds than before. She pummeled him relentlessly with all four of her hooves and her wings, weaving tight circles around him so nowhere on his body was safe. The tornado became more like a rainbow sphere of wind as she wrapped around his body, not letting up for a second. She beat his legs, his body, his head, his back, his ribs, his stomach, his hooves, taking out all her built up rage at him with this endless barrage. And she wasn’t done in the slightest as she grabbed his tail, spun him around, and flung him up higher into the sky again. Following right after she uppercutted him in the chin to flip his body around and around. A downward kick to his stomach and a powerful flap of her wings sent them shooting back to the snowy ground. Before they hit, Rainbow Dash flew so fast she nearly teleported to land on the ground before him, turn around and buck him as hard as she could in the back to launch him back into the air. Rising up along with him, Rainbow Dash delivered devastating punch after devastating punch as they both flew up. Her punches so strong they sounded like explosions going off each time she pummeled his body, ear-splitting thunderclaps going across the edge of the south pole. Rainbow felt and saw her hooves impacting his body so hard it morphed, dented, bent, and crumpled, starting to lose its recognizable pony shape. And still she didn’t let up at all even as exhaustion tore at her. Her limbs and lungs burned from overexertion but she wasn’t close to stopping. She kicked him away and went spinning behind him to kick him again, kicking him up higher and higher each time until they almost reached the level of the clouds. When they did she started flying around him in a tight circle, spinning him around with her as she punched him again and again like a powerless punching bag. Her hooves softened his body up while his limbs flailed around at different angles in a way no pony’s should. A steady booming rhythm of snapping and cracking sounds filled the air as Rainbow delivered a series of faster and shorter punches with her hooves instead of the huge heavy blows of earlier. Hundreds, thousands, of times she punched him, her light blue hooves peppering his body with no break. It would’ve seemed like he was being hit ten times at once with how fast her hooves were moving. She stopped flying around him and grabbed his tail, holding him upside-down while delivering endless kicks with her back legs to his gut, letting him go and continuing to pummel him down to the snowy ground like that. Before they actually hit the ground she grabbed his tail once more with her teeth and swung him around, smashing him into the ice and picking him back up to smash him into the ice again and again, side to side with her head. On one up-swing she let him go, body floating in front of her, and delivered another series of full-power punches to him that would’ve been strong enough to smash a boulder apart. She heard and felt things breaking and snapping, turning to mush, bending the wrong way as the top half of his body went one direction and the bottom half went the other. Her hooves moved up to his face but she wasn’t looking into his eyes or thinking at all, just punching, punching, and punching. The sounds and sensation of a skull and everything else breaking went in one ear and out the other. Rainbow Dash popped him upwards into the air again and flew up under him, punching and punching into his body to carry him higher. Her hooves were even starting to hurt from how hard she was punching, they and the body she was hitting becoming little more than a blur in her raging eyes. There were no more special moves or flying around, she was merely laying into him with everything she had left, landing a dozen punches a second and propelling him further. Rainbow Dash exhaled and pulled back her right hoof to land a devastating uppercut to his stomach and flapped her wings to follow the flailing body. Inhaling, she grabbed him by the shoulder and laid several more powerful punches into his body. They were high up in the sky now and Rainbow Dash flung him up one last time while pulling her hoof back, her muscles screamed in protest as she put all the power and strength into her body behind one final punch that crashed into the side of his head and sent him spinning off into the sky away from the south pole.

Rainbow Dash watched as he fell towards the ocean and crashed through the thin ice and water below. Cracks in the ice and ripples in the water spread but eventually all calmed down and no movement or anything else could be seen. All was silent and still.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before smiling and opening them back up, looking north.

“Now I feel a lot better.”

Rainbow Dash briefly cracked her neck and resumed her flight north through the chilly arctic air. She didn’t give him a second thought. He didn’t deserve one.

Awesome As I Wanna Be

It was a beautiful and sunny day out over the southern ocean of the world. Though small icebergs could still be seen with how far south it was, the south pole itself had disappeared into the distance. In the sky above it was completely cloudless and a perfect blue with Celestia’s sun shining down and warming the world up with its rays. Fish swam in the waters, seagulls flew through the sky, there wasn’t a single cold breeze at all.

And a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail flew about in long, winding, curves. Taking a lazy and relaxed route through the sky.

“Awesome as I wanna be~” Rainbow Dash sung to herself. She grinned and moved her head side to side in tune with the imaginary beat in her head. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, awesome as I wanna be!~”

She made a few loops as she flew, flying forward just a little bit before flying into another big loop just for fun. There was no reason for any of it—she was just having some sorely needed and sorely deserved fun. It had been a long time since she had really sung too, hadn’t it? Normally she did it with her friends for the most part back home. She wondered why that was? But it still felt good to do it again while flying under the sun.

Rainbow Dash briefly glanced up at the sky and found her mood lift even higher thanks to how nice of a day it was. Everything just felt so good.

“First you see me riding on a sonic boom~”

To punctuate the line she shot ahead at high speed to leave a rainbow trail across the blue sky. Looking like a sparkling, colorful, comet to anything that might have been looking up at her.

“Got this beat and singing up my latest tune~”
“There is nothing you can do to beat me~”
“I’m so good that you can’t defeat me~”

Rainbow laughed to herself and made a spiraling corkscrew as she continued to sing and fly through the sky, bringing color and good feelings to the world around her.

And she sure couldn’t be defeated, as she’d proven time and time again.

“Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution~”
“Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be~”
“Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution~”
“Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be~”

Rainbow Dash spun around, flying up-side down and backwards and doing all sorts of her usual stunts through the sky. She didn’t care in the slightest how much distance she traveled today. She didn’t care about her next destination for the moment. She didn’t even really care about her journey at all right now. She was just basking in the moment and feeling good. If there were any clouds she would’ve taken her time to go out of the way and bust them. Rainbow Dash let the happy thoughts run through her as she enjoyed the beautiful day and the warm sun.

She made a figure-eight and came out giggling before continuing her song.

“Step aside now, you're just getting in my way~”
“I got sick chops you could never hope to play~”
“When it comes to making music, I'm the ruler~”
“You wish you could be twenty percent cooler~”

She hummed her own chorus to herself and kept flying hard, ahead of her there was a flock of seagulls and Rainbow Dash gave them a quick flyby. She sent a wave to the lead seagull in the formation and laughed when they all squawked and scattered. Then Rainbow Dash dove down to the cold, clear, waters of the ocean until she was barely a few feet above the waves. She flew between small icebergs and checked through the water to see if she could see any whales or anything else. A smile was plastered on her face the entire time, humming and humming, wondering if any animals could hear her. Rainbow turned on her side and let the tip of her wing dip into the water, cutting a line in it with how fast she was going. She curved and hummed to herself some more while flying above the ocean’s surface before shooting up again.

The wide blue world spread out before her, both the sky and ocean seeming to spread infinitely. She spun around and around in a circle, looking between the both of them while she flew on, before coming out once more to fly right-side up and sing some more and finish her song.

“Yeah, I'm awesome, take caution~”
“Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be~”
“Yeah. I'm awesome, take caution~”
“Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be!~”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey...” she mumbled in a sing-song tune to herself, the beat still continuing in her head even as she thought of no more lyrics to go along with it.

It felt good to just get it all out and sing even when nobody else who could really appreciate it was around. She definitely didn’t consider herself a song-lover like Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy but it was still fun. It always made the day better. Or improved what was already a great day. She could see Applejack teasing her about her recent bout of the song virus, and Twilight and Rarity being surprised, but if they said anything she’d just shrug and grin. Maybe once she got back to Ponyville they’d all give her a big celebratory song and party? Knowing Pinkie Pie that was probably already going to happen…

“Heh,” Rainbow couldn’t keep the fresh grin off her face as she thought about that. “Wow, I’m really close to being back. I really am...”

There wasn’t much left to get through now—she didn’t know exactly how many more days of flying it would take but it probably wouldn’t be for long that she saw that familiar stony shoreline. She was almost back to somewhere she had already been. It was crazy to think about after how far she had traveled and how long she had been gone.

Rainbow Dash found herself humming again and she lazily started flying up and down, enjoying the great day. “Awesome as I wanna be...”

Stormlands

Rainbow Dash woke up on a small island still in the southern ocean but thankfully north enough that things were no longer snowy or icy. It wasn’t a warm island to be sure but she at least didn’t have to worry about being frozen solid without her winter gear anymore. She yawned and stood up, her stomach decently filled after snacking on the edible flowers and grass she had found here. Not as good as real food but it suited her purposes just fine. Now she could get back into the sky and continue her flight north. A quick glance up at the sky told her it might not have even been six in the morning yet, she was going to get a lot of work done today.

Weather wasn’t as nice as yesterday though. The sky was fairly cloudy and there was a decent wind in the air, not a storm, but nothing that would be fun to fly through either. The further north she looked the more overcast it seemed to get as well. Maybe her good luck with weather was starting to run out and she’d be back to having to go through all sorts of garbage on this last leg back to Equestria. Oh well—kind of made it more interesting in its own way.

Rainbow Dash stretched and went to the edge of the island, looking down at the water as the waves lapped up against the rocky coast. The ocean was pretty choppy here too and like the weather in the sky it would probably get worse the further north she went too. Good thing she didn’t need to swim in it.

She took another look north to see if there were any islands she could see or perhaps something else out there but came up with nothing. Looks like she was still a far enough ways away from her next stop. If she didn’t find another island she was going to have to make a cloud bed at some point. Traveling distance may not have been nearly as far as when crossing the Grand Ocean but she was still a little worried about being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no solid ground beneath her. She might not be able to find another place with food for a while if she was unlucky. Getting that thought out of her head though, since it never paid to be pessimistic, Rainbow Dash opened her wings and took to the sky.

Letting the breeze partially carry her, she rose up high above the water and just beneath the lowest clouds. The early morning sun was only visible in gaps, big rays of sunlight punching holes through the clouds and onto the ocean. It was pretty in a way. Though the wind was a bother with it constantly whipping and pulling at her, dragging her mane across her face and ruffling her feathers. Seemed like that’s how it was going to be for the entire rest of the day.

Probably shouldn’t complain. It was better now than it would be in just a bit of flying.

Holding her hooves in front of her and making a great flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash sped off north.

The weather really wasn’t so bad. Not yet at least. Not compared to a few other stormy places she had been. It was just constant, constant and unyielding. But the sky was a darker gray now and the cloud cover no longer had any holes in it. In about an hour it looked like she’d be flying through a real storm, if the darker sky, rain and lightning clouds to the north, were any indication.

“I wonder if… I wonder if the Stormlands are right in front of me? Am I going to fly over them if I don’t change direction?” Rainbow Dash wondered.

She wasn’t purposefully trying to go to them or avoid them. She just knew they were somewhere close by, and it would make sense if they were at the epicenter of all the bad weather down here. Wouldn’t it be kind of fun if she went to the Storm King’s old home? She hadn’t really heard anything about it since the last time. There was probably something cool to do there.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Something cool? It’ll be a nice place to explore though.”

It wouldn’t surprise her if it was a place in bad shape that could use some help or fixing up either. She had gone from place to place without much of a plan, looking for either excitement or a way to help out even in places that seemingly didn’t need her at first. The Stormlands were a place she could think of that almost certainly could use her being there just for the sake of her being there. A pony like her would brighten up the place.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Let’s go have some fun.”

Rainbow Dash flew a bit harder and made sure she was going straight to the stormiest part of the sky. She couldn’t see the island yet or anything but it was a decently sized place, wasn’t it? She didn’t think she would miss it if she kept flying in this direction. It would be kind of nice to just stop at another random place like in the old days of her adventure. She was in the Grand Ocean for so long she had almost forgot what making a short stop was like. Choosing to see someplace new, just on her own, it would be like one of her old trips like in the swamp or through the desert.

The rumble of thunder and the howling of ever stronger wind grew the further she went. Rainbow every now and then looked down at the ocean and saw a restless surface of whitecaps and waves rushing about that would’ve made sailing a terror. Feeling a drop of water on her muzzle she looked up at the now black clouds overhead—there wasn’t a downpour coming from them but raindrops were becoming more and more common. She’d just have to power through all of this until she saw the Storm King’s island.

There were flashes of lightning on the horizon that she could see now, making Rainbow Dash grin as she was even more certain she was going to the right place. She could’ve done without the wind blowing in from the west and tearing at her body but she had flown through worse and unrulier wind. Anything that wasn’t directly trying to swat her out of the sky was easy enough to deal with.

Her stomach was starting to feel a little empty though—the lack of any real food earlier was becoming an issue. She wouldn’t starve in the next day or anything but it would be uncomfortable. Hopefully the Stormlands had plenty of stuff for a pony to eat. If not… eh, something always worked out. She wasn’t planning on doing anything super intensive or energy consuming for a while anyways. Rainbow knew how much she could push herself.

Gliding along like that for a while and the lightning started to crackle and strike more frequently. Rainbow Dash could now peer ahead and saw a dark spot rising up from the ocean behind a curtain of rain.

“Bingo,” she said as the island became more pronounced.

A large island of jagged cliffs and mountains as far as she could see. There might have been a forest tucked away on it somewhere too. The waters around the main island were filled with rocks that would’ve made getting to it by boat absurdly treacherous. Rainbow Dash couldn’t see any buildings on the island from where she was but she imagined there had to be a castle or keep somewhere that the Storm King used to reside in. It might’ve just been too dark right now to see thanks to the storm. It being the middle of the day didn’t matter if it was almost always going to be overcast with dark clouds and rain coming down.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and flew lower towards the island as she got closer. The wind had gotten worse and she wanted to land soon if possible. The worry of a random lightning bolt hitting her was there in her mind too.

She was pretty low in the sky now, pretty much in the middle of the ocean and below the clouds and going right towards the most level part of the island. Flapping along, going through the wind, she still didn’t really see anything.

She heard something though. Something soaring up at her at high-speed.

“Wha-” Rainbow Dash couldn’t finish before a rock going at practically supersonic speeds smashed into her left wing and nearly snapped it. She heard and felt the pop in the middle of her wing as for a second the world slowed down around her. A glance to her wing showed it bent and the outside half on the other side of her joint flailing loosely in the wind. Sprained? Broken? Dislocated? Then the world sped up again and Rainbow Dash was falling.

“Crud, crud, crud!” Rainbow yelled as she tried to recover, tried to glide on her one good wing even knowing that was impossible.

No way. She couldn’t fly or even glide with one wing possibly broken like this, her left wing wasn’t responding at all. She couldn’t straighten out and she went into a spiral towards the ocean with no way to pull out from it.

Rainbow Dash moved as best she could to avoid the rocks—the violent ocean waters growing closer in her vision—and closed her eyes tight.

Author's Note

I Remember You!

There weren’t exactly beaches on the Storm King’s old island. Just rocks and cliffs. The ocean was never calm either, you could hear it violently crash against the dark rocks all day and all night. If the barnacles and urchins that peppered the lower rocks cared at all they probably would’ve left by now. The southeast side of the large island was mostly higher cliffs but there were a few areas where you could come down almost to the water line. Though most would never want to, you were a freak wave or sudden bad wind from being carried into the water and never heard from again.

That was just life to the few who still called this place their home though, and they weren’t afraid of the deadly possibilities. After all they had made this trip how many times in their lives by now?

Heavy footfalls down the rocky edge of the island towards the ocean could be heard despite the bad weather and constant barrage of ocean waves—signifying how big the emitters of the footsteps were. A pair of Storm Creatures, both as large or perhaps larger than any minotaur, with bulky bodies and absurdly over-developed forearms. The two of them each carried a hooked fishing spear and net, perhaps here for a far more benign purpose than Storm Creatures were used for when under control of the Storm King.

Despite their size they rather deftly navigated the jagged and slippery rocks with practiced ease as they looked through pools of water caught between the rocks to see if any fish had been unfortunate enough to get caught too. If not they’d have to go down further and perhaps spear some right from the ocean itself.

Moving through the rocks and inspecting the usual pools they found an assortment of starfish and sea anemones stuck in place. Not many fish, though there were a few eels squirming around, that was better than nothing. It seemed they weren’t going to have a great catch today but that was also fairly typical—nowadays the Stormlands relied on imports from generous friends for most of their food. Instead of stealing it or collecting “tribute” in the past. These fishing Storm Creatures kept this up as part of tradition and habit. And it was simply nice having something to do.

A writhing eel at the end of a spear was put into the net, along with a few others, and the Storm Creatures slowly continued their sweep of the rocks.

While one went down to a lower set of rocks where the water was almost crashing up into them, he felt his comrade tap him on the shoulder a couple of times. With a grunt he looked back at his partner and saw him pointing down the rocks at something in the water, half bobbing in the ocean and half clinging to the dark rocks but not moving on its own. It was colorful, whatever it was. Far more colorful than anything else the two could remember seeing on the island.

Naturally curious, they both went over to see what it was. The two Storm Creatures navigated down the sharp and slippery rocks to the colorful object, their fishing and spearing temporarily forgotten about.

When they reached the rocks and shallow waters where the floating object was, the lead Storm Creature handed his spear to the other and reached down to pick up the soaking wet thing that had washed ashore on the island. It was a ragged mess of colors from blue, to red, to yellow, and green, with feathers and matted hair everywhere. Lifting it up to eye-level the Storm Creature tilted his head, finally realizing that what he was holding was in fact a very colorful and very unconscious pony.

You didn’t see many ponies here, but the both of them recognized what she was. And more than that they recognized what bad condition she was in.

The two Storm Creatures grunted back and forth with each other before they started climbing back up the rocks. A long and slow trip to back where they came from, and it came at the cost of aborting their usual business, but they had stumbled across something more important than any fish.

She had been dreaming.

On a boat, far from home, sailing over clear blue waters with the sun shining down on her and her friends. Applejack was at the helm, Pinkie Pie was swinging around on the rigging and mast, Fluttershy had a lifejacket on and was refusing to budge from the middle of the deck, Rarity was going on about how beautiful the ocean was, and Twilight was standing by the bow and looking ahead. Rainbow Dash herself was smiling, enjoying nothing more than getting to kick back with her friends. With the greatest friends a pony could ask for.

A drop of water hit her head. Followed by another and another.

In seconds a storm was upon them. Fierce and powerful, everyone chipped in to do their best to save the boat. It was hopeless though. One mighty wave was all it took and their boat was capsized, Rainbow Dash and all her friends thrown off the side and into the water.

It wasn’t so pretty anymore.

Rainbow Dash fought her way to the surface, reaching it and taking a deep breath of air while looking around for her friends. She didn’t see them anywhere. They had all vanished along with the boat. She shouted and shouted for them but no noise would come out. Her wings were heavy, as heavy as lead, she couldn’t flap them or fly out of the water no matter how hard she tried. Her wings had never failed her before but now all they were was dead weight. And she felt herself start to sink.

Her wings were weighted down, dragging her into the water. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath right before her head sank in and tried to fight her way back up with her hooves uselessly pulling at the water. Bubbles squeezed from her mouth each passing second. Her wings couldn’t even move, they were so heavy, and the more she struggled the more she began to run out of breath.

This wasn’t right. She knew this wasn’t right. But more than anything she just wanted to be able to find her friends and make sure they were okay. Even underwater she looked around to try and see if any of them were sinking with her. But the water was too dark now to see, it had been so clear and perfect earlier but the storm had ruined everything. Now she was sinking into a dark abyss, alone, and frightened for her friends. She had to do something. She had to somehow get her wings to work again and get out of here. It was all just impossible though, no matter how much she struggled her wings were just lead.

Rainbow Dash’s breathing grew more and more panicked as she accidentally opened her mouth underwater and let the air escape. The water was cold and the darkness started to come in all around her. But as water filled her lungs and she started thrashing back in forth, a warm feeling started to spread through her body…

Rainbow Dash groaned and blinked a few times while lifting her head up.

“Where am I?”

She felt something on her body and looked down to see that she had had a blanket lying over her that was now half off, and she was sitting up in what was a fairly soft bed. A quick glance behind her showed a big, fluffy, pillow for her head along with the metal backboard of the bed. Her wings felt strange though, oddly restricted and stiff. Tossing the blanket off she found that both wings were wrapped in a tight bandage.

Rainbow Dash frowned and tried to flex them only to be overcome by a sharp pain from her left wing.

“Ow!” She yelled in pain and curled up her body.

Rainbow’s brow furrowed as she thought back on how she had ended up here, her foggy memory clearing up as she remembered the unfortunate fall into the ocean. No wonder her left wing hurt so much and the both of them were wrapped up like this. She hoped it wasn’t broken. Sighing, she briefly laid her head back on the pillow and tried to remember anything else.

It was a rock that hit it. She was sure of that. But how something like that hit her where she was she had no idea. And it had to have come from the island… speaking of—this was the Storm King’s old island she was on now, wasn’t it? That had to be where she had been brought.

But by who?

Rainbow Dash this time leaped out of bed much more energetically—eyes darting about the room she was in while her face was stuck in a suspicious frown. Was it whoever had hit her and caused her to crash into the ocean the one who had brought her here? A quick test of her legs also told her that aside from her wing she didn’t seem to be injured. Looks like she didn’t hit any rocks on the way down or when washing up on the shore of the island.

The room she was in was small, nothing much besides the bed. The floor and all the walls were made in stone and there was only a torch on the wall for light. There was also a door facing the foot of her bed, a pretty big door, more than big enough for even the largest of ponies to get through.

She could try and see if it was locked. If it was she knew exactly what kind of situation she was in.

Rainbow Dash grumbled, grinding her teeth back and forth. “If you locked me in here you’re going to regret it real soon.”

A peak back at the comfortable bed though and she thought that maybe it was a little unlikely that whoever had brought her here was responsible for her crash. Why would they bandage up her wing either? Still, Rainbow was awake and she wanted to see if she could leave this room or not.

Before she could do anything though, Rainbow Dash heard heavy plodding steps coming from past the door. She tensed up and walked into the middle of her small room—prepared for anything that might come inside. What did she really know and remember about the Storm King’s forces and who lived in the Stormlands? Not much to be honest, she knew Twilight had given her a lecture or two on the subject that she had mostly tuned out.

The door was soon opened and two lumbering, rather large, creatures stepped in that Rainbow Dash vaguely recognized from the Storm King’s invasion. Instantly her mind went to negative possibilities.

“So you’re the ones who brought me here, huh? Still following the Storm King’s will? Well you’re not going to keep me imprisoned!” She shouted at the pair.

They just stood there in the doorway—puzzled.

Rainbow Dash frowned and stood up straight, letting the tension in her body go. Now taking a closer look at them she realized how non-threatening their posture and aura was.. “Uhh… maybe that’s not what you’re doing?”

The Storm Creature in front stepped aside and the other one walked up, carrying a silver tray with a big salad heaped on it that he held out for her.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

They nodded to her.

“Uh, well thanks...” Rainbow said and took the tray before putting it on her bed and looking back to them. “So I’m guessing you guys aren’t responsible for why I crashed into the ocean… but did you put this bandage on and bring me back here? And… where is here?”

They grunted.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “Okay… might have a little bit of an issue here. Thanks for bringing me the food though, but is there anyone else here I can speak to?”

The two Storm Creatures looked at each other and nodded before leaving the room without “saying” anything else. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes but she was at least convinced of their benevolence, it didn’t seem like she had anything to worry about right now. Hungry, and more than a bit tired, she got back into the comfortable bed and started eating the salad they had brought her. If they were bringing someone else to her that she could talk to then she could wait here.

With her wing injured it’s not like she was planning on really going anywhere far anytime soon either.

Rainbow Dash grumbled as she tried moving the wing a little bit and poking at it but only ended up making herself wince in pain. Not the worst she had been injured out here but it was never fun to be grounded. Ignoring that for now until she heard from whoever had wrapped it up in the first place, she let herself enjoy the salad. Fresh vegetables—she hadn’t had any in ages. She’d have to thank those Storm Creatures or whoever else was in charge for bringing her this the next time she saw them. The salad even had tomatoes and some kind of vinegar dressing on it to boot!

While chewing on a particularly crunchy leaf of lettuce, Rainbow Dash heard some much lighter footsteps—hoofsteps—now coming to her room.

The door opened up a second later and in strode a very memorable looking pony. She was tall, her pinkish-red mane somewhat spiky, her body a reddish-purple color that stood out against her black clothes, while she also had fairly uniquely colored eyes close to turquoise. What was most notable about her however was the scar over her right eye and the broken horn atop her head.

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped in surprise before a huge smile came to her face.

“Tempest!” She shouted and jumped off the bed, running up to the unicorn and pulling her into a big hug. “I haven’t seen you in ages!”

Tempest Shadow smiled awkwardly, surprised by the sudden hug and display of affection, only returning it slightly. “Heh, yeah I haven’t seen you in a while either, Rainbow Dash.”

“Nice to see you remember me, know we didn’t talk too much or anything but Twilight told me plenty too,” Rainbow let her go and grinned. “So what’s Tempest Shadow doing all the way out here?”

“I could ask you the same thing, you know? And you can call me Fizzlepop by the way. Going by that now,” Fizzlepop Berrytwist said.

Rainbow’s face fell. “But Tempest Shadow is so much cooler.”

Fizzlepop chuckled. “Heh… honestly yeah, I know, but that was the old me. Been going back to my roots and all.”

“Suit yourself,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Such a cool name...” She then looked up at the taller pony and raised an eyebrow. “So wait, was it you who found me and brought me here? And where’s here?”

Fizzlepop shook her head. “Actually no, the Storm Creatures found you and recognized who you were—they were the ones that brought you here and told me about you later after they made sure you were okay. I just let them know we should probably get you some food.” She pointed to the half-eaten tray of salad.

“So I’ve got you and them to thank,” Rainbow said.

“You don’t need to thank me or anything, just did what any pony would do,” Fizzlepop smiled.

“Guess Twilight really rubbed off on you then. She does that a lot,” Rainbow Dash winked and playfully elbowed Fizzlepop in the side.

“Haha, very funny...” Fizzlepop rolled her eyes. “Anyways—like you were asking—this is the Storm King’s old castle. Kind of needs a new name but no one’s really cared enough to give it one. If you’re feeling up to it you can walk with me to the throne room and we can talk there?”

“Figured that’s where I was. And sure, lead the way, I had plenty of that salad already,” Rainbow said. “Uh, what time is it though? Can’t really tell from in here.”

“It’s the morning after you were found. You were only out for a night,” Fizzlepop said.

“Guess that’s not so bad...” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked down at her bandaged wing. “My wing though—do you know how bad it is?”

“Yeah,” Fizzlepop nodded. “Don’t worry, it’s not broken but it was dislocated and pretty badly bruised. I’d say keep away from using it for a week and you’ll be good.”

“Then I guess that could be a lot worse too. A week though? Ugh,” Rainbow Dash sighed.

The two of them headed out of the small room Rainbow Dash had been staying in and made their way down the hallway towards the old throne room. Rainbow knew there wasn’t a Storm King anymore and she hadn’t heard of any new ruler of the Stormlands, so she doubted it was really used for anything other than meeting in or whatever. The walls (and probably the entire castle) were made of a black stone that didn’t reflect the light too well. Even if there were windows here she doubted there would be that much light in the castle. Also because of how it was constantly stormy outside. What they had instead were torches lining the walls, enough to give them a generous amount of light and show off the red carpet they were walking on.

Rainbow Dash turned to Temp—Fizzlepop—as they walked. “So you didn’t answer me earlier, what are you back here for? I would’ve figured you’d never want to come back to this place at all.”

“Well after that whole invasion of Equestria thing and the debacle with the Storm King, I really needed to find myself,” Fizzlepop explained. “I traveled around Equestria and most of the nearby kingdoms to tell them about the Storm King’s defeat, before eventually I decided to come back here. I wanted to help out and make sure everyone that used to be under his rule was doing okay.” She grinned down at Rainbow Dash. “I think you can probably tell for yourself already but the Storm Creatures are actually pretty nice. They’re harmless without some jerk to boss them around.”

“Yeah, they kind of seemed that way,” Rainbow agreed. “How long have you been here now?”

Fizzlepop shrugged. “Months? Some stuff has come up and… well, before I get to that, what are you doing here? Why are you so far away from Equestria? If you were coming down to the Stormlands I would’ve thought Twilight might try and get in touch with me first.”

“Twilight doesn’t know I’m here either, and it’s not like I was really planning on coming here, it just turned out to be on the way.”

“What are you talking about?”

Rainbow Dash flashed her a grin. “I’ve been flying all the way around the world, and this is pretty much my last stop before getting back to Equestria.”

“Flying around the world? You did seem a little more adventurous than the rest of your friends from when I met you before,” Fizzlepop said. “And if you’re almost done… what was your route?”

“Heh, I went north from Equestria and crossed the north pole before flying south down the whole other side of the world. Just a little bit ago I finished crossing the south pole too. I got a lot of stories I could tell you about my trip,” Rainbow smiled.

“Going by your tone it feels like you really want to tell those stories too.”

“Not gonna lie, kind of enjoy getting to tell other ponies about how awesome I am,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Well you can save it for a second, we’re almost at the throne room. I wouldn’t mind catching up and hearing what you’ve been through though,” Fizzlepop said.

Fizzlepop led her further down the hallway and it wasn’t long before they came to a large wooden door that she opened up for them. Inside was a large room, not quite as big as the throne room of Canterlot Castle but still big enough to throw a party in. Larger torches on the walls and metal rings hanging from the ceiling lit it all up, it was a pretty simple affair with a few windows to the outside on the western and eastern walls and a throne at the back, northern, end of the room. To her left, Rainbow Dash spotted a series of long wooden tables and benches to go with them that looked like they had been dragged in here from elsewhere. There were sets of silverware and place settings up and down them, making Rainbow wonder if everyone in the castle ate here together or if there was something else they were being used for.

Sitting on the throne was also the only other creature in the room at the moment. As soon as he saw them walk in he hopped off it and started walking over. Small guy, he was barely Spike’s size. Rainbow Dash vaguely recognized him but his name and whatever he was eluded her.

“Fizzle!” He shouted out casually to Fizzlepop, although Rainbow saw the unicorn rolling her eyes. “So your friend woke up?”

“Sure did,” Fizzlepop sighed but smiled at Rainbow Dash.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash waved. “You… you worked for the Storm King too, didn’t you? No offense but I don’t remember your name.”

“Eh, no offense taken, I don’t remember your name either,” he said.

“Fair enough,” Rainbow shrugged.

“This is Grubber,” Fizzlepop said to introduce him. “He’s a hedgehog, and an idiot, but besides that he’s alright.” She then patted Rainbow Dash on the back. “And she’s Rainbow Dash.”

“Right, right,” Grubber nodded. “Now I remember, you were one of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s friends.”

“One of her best friends,” Rainbow corrected.

“Well what are you doing here?” Grubber asked. “You’re pretty far from home.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and grinned down at him. “Buddy, you don’t know the half of it.”

For the next couple of hours, Rainbow Dash regaled them about her adventures across the world. It had been a long time since she had gotten to tell the whole story and she was happy to share it with a familiar face—and Grubber. While the hedgehog complained about being hungry and wanting to get something to eat halfway through, Fizzlepop was a perfect listener. There was a lot to tell her and Rainbow Dash had almost forgotten how much she enjoyed talking to other ponies about her journey. The theatrics she could get into when storytelling were just as fun as anything.

Naturally there were some details she left out, and some of the lamer stuff, like always. But by the end of it she had painted a pretty awesome picture of her trip around the world. Fizzlepop was suitably impressed and Grubber clapped for her.

“Thank you, thank you, I know it was pretty awesome,” Rainbow Dash smugly grinned. “Well, right up until I got hit by a rock and fell down here that is...”

“Sorry about that… we uh, know who’s responsible but it’s kind of complicated,” Fizzlepop grimaced and rubbed the back of her head.

“Yeah, pretty certain of it at least,” Grubber nodded.

Rainbow Dash was puzzled, she tilted her head to the side and looked between the both of them. “Wait—hold on. You know who threw that rock at me and did this to my wing? Was it a Storm Creature?”

“It wasn’t a Storm Creature but like I said it’s complicated right now,” Fizzlepop shook her head. “You saw the tables when you came in, in a little bit we’re going to have lunch with some other creatures who have business with the one that did that to you. Figure I can fill you in at the same time and you can ask them anything I don’t know. But you’re not the only outsider who’s arrived at the Stormlands lately—we’ve got a fugitive on the loose.”

Fugitive

Before Rainbow Dash could open her mouth and ask about this so-called fugitive, the door to the throne room was opened up and in walked a pair of Storm Creatures. Rainbow wasn’t exactly proud to say she had no idea if these were the same she met when she woke up or not.

Fizzlepop looked over at them. “Oh, is lunch ready?”

The two Storm Creatures grunted and Rainbow Dash had to wonder if anyone really understood what they were saying.

Apparently, Fizzlepop did, as she smiled back at them. “Great, let’s get things ready in here and you can go tell the Trolls they can come. Tell them there’s another guest for them to meet too.”

As the Storm Creatures swiftly departed, Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at Fizzlepop. “Trolls?”

“They’re the other guests that have been here for a while. They’ve been tracking down and looking for a fugitive from their homeland for a while,” Fizzlepop explained.

“Came here a while back because the Troll they’re looking for ended up on the island,” Grubber said.

“Yeah,” Fizzlepop nodded. “They asked for our help to capture him but we haven’t had much luck yet. He’s pretty tenacious. But the Trolls can fill you in better when they get here. I mean, if you even really care. You’re just trying to fly back to Equestria at this point to make it all the way around the world, aren’t you?”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “What’s a trip without a few fun stops? Come on, you already know about all the times I’ve stopped and helped out when I didn’t have to. And besides—this guy nearly broke my wing, I owe him one.”

Fizzlepop chuckled. “Heh, well if you want to help out with tracking down and catching this guy I doubt the Trolls are going to have a problem. They’ve been happy with any help they can get.”

“Good. I’ll be all the help they need,” Rainbow smugly said.

A moment later and the door to the throne room was once again opened. In strode three large creatures that were superficially similar to the Storm Creatures but with a number of key differences. They were as tall and as top-heavy, but their arms were a bit longer and without such dis-proportioned forearms. They had somewhat shaggy brown fur covering their bodies as well, with hunched over backs, and narrow faces with beady black eyes. Most interesting about them though wasn’t anything that had to do with their physical bodies but the clothes they wore. They wore garish, bright clothes, in weird unmatching styles. All three of them wore something completely different, with the one in the middle having an orange robe tied at the middle with a purple sash, the one to his right wearing a bright red suit with white flowers sewn all over it, and the one on the left with a sky blue vest and hot pink pants.

Rainbow Dash had to blink and just stare at them completely flummoxed. She didn’t know if Rarity would be impressed by the originality or if she’d start to cry.

“Hello, Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” the lead Troll said with a fairly gravelly voice.

Rainbow’s ears perked up. Oh, they could actually talk.

“Hello, Tyluck. Sleep well?” Fizzlepop said to him.

“Indeed,” the Troll—Tyluck—nodded his head. “We’re well rested and ready for another day of hunting. Hopefully a day that will not be fruitless like the rest.” His beady eyes then centered on Rainbow Dash. “Ah, is this the other guest we were told of?” The Troll made a great sweeping bow directed at Rainbow Dash. “Hello, dear pony, I am Tyluck of the Troll Kingdom, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Uh, hi,” Rainbow Dash smiled and waved a little awkwardly, not used to the royal treatment. “I’m Rainbow Dash. Uh, from Equestria.”

“While she was flying here she became an unfortunate victim of the fugitive we’ve been trying to chase down,” Fizzlepop said, nodding to Rainbow’s bandaged wings.

Tyluck and the other Trolls took a closer look at Rainbow and narrowed their eyes when they noticed her injury.

“I see… then we owe you quite the apology for not apprehending him sooner,” Tyluck said.

“Hey, hey, no need to do that,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You guys didn’t do anything—and I’ve literally had way worse welcomes in my life than this.”

“Still—we must apologize. It is yet another problem that could’ve been avoided had the criminal not escaped to here and avoided us even now for longer,” Tyluck sighed. “The fault is both ours for allowing that and for our culture producing such a dangerous criminal in the first place.”

Rainbow Dash frowned. “What’s the story behind this guy?”

“He is-” Tyluck was interrupted right as he tried to speak up by the throne room door again being opened up.

This time a line of Storm Creatures stood waiting, either holding trays or pushing carts with food on them. Rainbow Dash found the sight fairly surreal after her original encounter with these guys but if they were happy with their new job she might as well be happy for them. They even looked a little bashful standing there, like they weren’t sure if they should actually come in and start setting the tables, worried that they had interrupted the conversation.

Fortunately for them, Fizzlepop smiled and beckoned them forth. “Come on guys, don’t mind us, we came here to eat in the first place.”

“Yes, nothing will be accomplished on an empty stomach. Let us take our seats as well,” Tyluck said and nodded to his fellow Trolls. The three of them sat on one side of the table closest to the door while Fizzlepop nudged Rainbow Dash to sit across from them, Grubber also sitting right beside her.

The Storm Creatures got everything set up pretty quickly, all the food was placed down and then they themselves sat along the other tables. Rainbow was surprised these wooden benches were strong enough to support the weight of the Trolls and Storm Creatures with how big and muscular they all were. Now with the food right in front of her, Rainbow Dash could see what they had to offer besides just salad. Considering where they were she was surprised by the variety of the food on the tables. There was a lot of vegetables and fruit (which she was sure could never grow on an island like this) and a few big loaves of bread and a lot of biscuits and muffins. More than that there were a lot of fish and meat dishes that she did her best to avoid looking at so she didn’t go green in the face. She wouldn’t even know what to call them in the first place.

It was mostly the Storm Creatures that ate the meat though, the Trolls seemed perfectly happy to eat the same stuff Rainbow Dash and Fizzlepop were. Maybe they were just being kind to their host. Truthfully she’d think any creature built like them would be meat eaters.

Rainbow decided not to think about it too hard. Like usual. Instead she filled her stomach up even more with an assortment of food. She might have already had her fill of salad earlier, but after weeks of eating barely anything just to survive, she felt like she could eat way more than usual right now.

“So how does food from the Stormlands compare to what else you’ve eaten on your journey?” Fizzlepop asked her.

“Surprisingly good. Guess you’ve got good cooks and farms here,” Rainbow said as she tossed a cherry tomato into her mouth.

“You’re half right,” Fizzlepop grinned. “Almost all the food you’re eating is imported from Mt. Aris and a few other places. You can’t grow too much in the Stormlands.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said as she looked at the food. “I was kind of wondering about that actually.”

Tyluck cleared his throat to get their attention. “Excuse me, but did you say journey? I thought you just came down here from Equestria?”

“Heh, nope, not that simple. I came up here from Equestria,” Rainbow Dash grinned and sat back, ready to grab another amazed audience with her awesome accounts of adventure. “If you’re okay with sitting here for a little longer I can tell you all about it?”

“I see no issue with listening to your story of how you came to be here while we eat,” Tyluck shrugged. “I’ve known you ponies to be rather “fun” creatures with a flair for telling exciting tales.”

This time Rainbow Dash went on a slightly abridged version of what she had just told Fizzlepop and Grubber (who were now both completely zoning her out) as she entertained the Trolls. Who proved to be good listeners, they became enraptured with her tales very quickly due to (as Rainbow Dash also now learned) coming from a secluded, isolated, country on a small island to the southwest of the Stormlands. This was actually the furthest any of the three had physically been from their home. Anything about the outside world, especially some of the crazy stuff Rainbow Dash had to share, amazed them.

“And then when you finally got here...” Tyluck trailed off at the end of it.

“Yeah, I was attacked by your fugitive,” Rainbow nodded. She glanced between him and Fizzlepop. “Why did he throw that rock at me anyways? And could he really see me and make a throw like that from so far away?”

“He likely saw you flying in the sky and thought you were another pony looking for him. The time you were attacked yesterday is around when we were out searching the island, and he knows I’ve been looking for him too,” Fizzlepop said.

“His strength is great, even for a Troll. Throwing a rock like that would be easy for him,” Tyluck answered.

Rainbow Dash scowled. “Tell me more about this guy.”

“Of course,” Tyluck said and reached inside his orange robe where he withdrew a rolled up piece of paper. Unfurling it, he showed off a painting drawn on it to Rainbow Dash of another Troll. Though one that was quite different looking from the three in front of her. His fur was drawn a darker black but also covered in streaks, spots, and speckles of white while he wore simple and boring khaki pants. Aside from that though he had the same body and shape of the other Trolls, although it also looked like he was drawn with a bit more muscle on his body.

“This is Berten,” Tyluck told her. “The fugitive we are looking for.”

Rainbow Dash nodded a few times, getting a feel for the target. “And Fizzlepop said you guys would welcome any extra help with catching him? Well I’d like to lend my hooves. If he’s dangerous he needs to be stopped—and I need to get him back for attacking me.”

Tyluck sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it we need all the help we can get. Though he’s stuck on this island it’s big enough that it’s difficult to track him down, and on previous attempts we’ve run into traps he’s laid. If he has a single hideout he’s been using we haven’t been able to find a single clue to its location either.”

“Actually I was thinking about that,” Fizzlepop said, drawing the eyes of the others to her. “Considering Rainbow Dash was coming from the south, I’m willing to bet his hideout or wherever he spends most nights at is on the southern side of the island. It’s the only way he would’ve been able to see her and shoot her down what with the storm going on and what time of day it was.”

Tyluck scratched his chin in thought. “Mmm, you may be correct. That still leaves quite a lot of the island to search though...”

“Yeah,” Fizzlepop nodded. “I guess we should get started as soon as we’re finished eating?”

“Yes, we need as much of the day as we can get. Especially with how many days we’re forced to stay inside when the weather gets bad,” Tyluck said.

“Sorry about that, but hey, Stormlands and everything,” Grubber said between bites of food.

Fizzlepop rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”

Rainbow Dash looked out one of the nearby windows and saw that things definitely weren’t nice outside. While there may not have been a huge storm going on it was at the least overcast and would probably make searching the island tough. Added that she had decidedly fewer options to work with thanks to her injured wing and Rainbow was already feeling a little pessimistic about their chances. Considering the danger this guy clearly posed though, Rainbow wasn’t going to give up so easily.

“So what’s the plan then? We just comb the south side of the island?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We’ll split into two groups so he can’t slip past us and we don’t miss anything. That’s how we’ve been doing it so far. I lead the Storm Creatures, the Trolls have always made their own group,” Fizzlepop explained.

Rainbow Dash grinned and looked across the table at the Trolls. “I’ll join up with you guys then. Maybe you need a pony’s touch?”

Tyluck smiled back, though there was a weariness to it that Rainbow Dash didn’t miss, probably brought about by months of failing to catch their fugitive. “We would be happy to have you.”

“Great!” Rainbow Dash stood up on the bench and cracked her neck. “Then let’s get this show on the road!”

Searching on Hoof Unfortunately

The thick forest of the Storm King’s island was a mess to walk through with its lack of trails and the windy weather constantly pounding away at it. Rainbow Dash and the group of Trolls she had joined had gone to the east side of the island and were now making their way across it, leaving no stone unturned in their search for the fugitive Berten. The Trolls had changed out of their frankly gaudy clothes and were now wearing much more practical black pants while the two besides Tyluck carried large backpacks full of supplies. If those backpacks were any indication they planned to be out here searching for a while before they returned to the castle. Unless of course they found the fugitive first.

Thanks to the size of the island and the unfortunately slow rate of travel it was hours since they had eaten earlier. The sky wasn’t exactly darker (since it was still a bunch of black clouds for the most part) but it was already probably closer to evening than noon. Searching for this white-streaked Troll was apparently slow going.

Ugh.

She hated that.

She knew Tempest—Fizzlepop—was probably in the same situation over on the west side of the island. They had a lot of ground to cover and there was nothing they could really do about it. If she was in more familiar company she already would have been complaining. To these Trolls she had only just met though, she didn’t want to be so whiny or rude.

They would just have to slowly and slowly move from east to west on the southern side of the island, checking through the forest and also the rocky cliffs later on. Rainbow Dash noticed fairly quickly that this forest—and probably the entire island—was pretty quiet as far as animals went. She saw a few birds, a few piercing eyes coming from the depths of the forest, but that was it. The Stormlands probably weren’t the first choice for most animals to live in. She thought at first they might have been afraid of the large Trolls but they had to already be used to seeing the Storm Creatures here.

Rainbow Dash hopped over a moss covered tree log and her muddy hooves nearly slid out from beneath her on the slick ground. She frowned and looked up at the sky. “Sorry I can’t give you guys any air cover.”

“It is fine, another set of eyes is already a great help,” Tyluck said.

The four of them right now were fanned out through the forest, not walking in a straight line together or taking the same path, but still close enough where they could see or speak to one another. Rainbow thought what they were doing was kind of silly—how was this supposed to help them find the Troll? But when she realized they were also searching for any sort of traps, footprints, or other signs he may have been through here, it kind of clicked. They didn’t expect to just stumble upon him sleeping under a tree, they just needed to put clues together first or disable any traps they came across to make things easier.

Rainbow looked up again at the trees, some of them thirty feet high and the cloudy sky difficult to see past the canopy. There could be all sorts of stuff hidden in this forest. She kept her eyes peeled for anything that looked unnatural, any twigs broken in a strange way, any plants that looked like they had been pushed aside by a large body walking through them, anything tied down by vines. And she kept her eyes peeled on the off-chance that she actually saw the big Troll himself.

Good news was with his white coloring he’d be easier to spot than if he looked like Tyluck and the others.

That thought did tickle Rainbow Dash’s curiosity. She still didn’t know much about this “Berten” they were searching for. The next time their group came to a stop somewhere she should ask Tyluck what else he knew. She hadn’t even really gotten much of a crash course on the Trolls in general.

For now though she decided to keep her mind and eyes focused on searching the forest. She didn’t want to suddenly step into a bear trap or a snare or get picked up and stuck in a net. From the sound of it, this Berten guy was good with traps and she needed to be careful. Rainbow Dash’s wings pulsed impatiently at her sides, still bandaged down to keep them from moving. It was starting to get a little itchy but there wasn’t much she could do about that. Her eyes kept searching from tree to tree and from rock to rock, looking up and down the entire forest in front of her. While they hadn’t found anything yet she was at least sure that she hadn’t missed anything either.

That was progress in its own way.

She wasn’t expecting to find much in this forest, as considering where she had been shot down over the ocean she figured he was more likely to be on the rocky southern coast of the island. But they couldn’t skip any ground in case he was hiding elsewhere or trying to trick them. Skipping and not being thorough was just inviting problems.

Even if it also bored her out of her mind. Why couldn’t this guy just come and fight her right now?

Maybe if she was alone she could trick him into thinking she was an easy target.

That kind of thing probably wouldn’t fly with the others though. And with her wings bound she was an easy target. At least easier than normal. Would she have the speed to dodge a supersonic rock if it was thrown by this guy at her again? She was taken by surprise before but she still wasn’t sure.

Rainbow Dash came into a small clearing and checked the muddy ground for anything, but this kind of soft ground wouldn’t be good for laying traps in and there were no leaves to hide anything. The wind and rain common to the Stormlands would wipe everything away that wasn’t tied down every other day. It was probably really only the trees or areas of the forest floor that could stay covered in bushes and protected from the weather that she needed to be attentive of.

A sharp whistle came from Tyluck that grabbed her and the other Trolls’ attention. They all quickly converged on his position to see what he had called them over for.

Tyluck was pointing at the ground and a half rubbed out footprint on it that would’ve just about fit the Trolls if Rainbow Dash’s eyes were right. There was only one footprint though but the rest of the ground around it was disturbed and broken up.

“It looks like he went through here and tried to cover his tracks but missed one,” Tyluck said. “Whether this leads to where he’s hiding or if he was making traps in the area… not sure yet.”

“Guess we still need to look around here some more?” Rainbow questioned.

“Yes,” Tyluck nodded. “We should fan out from here.”

And moved out in a circle from that spot they did, looking for other tracks or other signs the fugitive may have left. It was still slow and boring going but Rainbow was happy they had something to go on now. Some proof that he had been here at one point and may still be nearby. The four of them moved like an ever-expanding spiral so they couldn’t miss anything and could even double-check each other just in case. Rainbow sorely wished she could get a bird’s eye view of it all but she was forced to deal with her muddy hooves.

A cold wind blew through the forest while they were working. Strong enough to make Rainbow have to pause and hold a hoof up to protect her face while her mane billowed about.

“Dumb Stormlands...” she audibly complained. As long as the rain didn’t come with it for now she supposed it could be worse. But they didn’t need strong winds like this to make finding stuff even more difficult.

“Has anyone seen anything yet?” Tyluck called out after about twenty minutes of fanning.

“No!” The three others shouted in unison.

Tyluck looked up past the trees. “Mmm… might not find anything again before nightfall. Another failed day by the look of things.”

“Keep your chins up and stay optimistic! We’ll find something!” Rainbow Dash called to the rest of them. She was used to being the one to reassure others all the time on her journey.

“Right,” Tyluck allowed a small grin on his face. “Right indeed, you ponies are always good at raising the mood. I suppose we shouldn’t give up until it’s too dark to see.”

“That’s right, we know he was here and if he was bad enough to leave one track for us to see I’m willing to bet there’s more we can find too,” Rainbow grinned back.

“Still need to be careful for any traps he might’ve set. For all we know the track itself was part of a trap or trick...” Tyluck said.

Rainbow Dash nodded. It was possible, but still. “Can’t second guess everything. Let’s keep looking.”

There were still a few hours before it would become too dark and too dangerous to search and Rainbow Dash wanted to make the most of them. Unfortunately the wind kept getting worse and worse, with the trees now bending in the wind and the howling from it loud enough that they had to shout to hear one another. Rainbow could hear a steady rumble of thunder above her but no rain or lightning had come down yet. It seemed it probably wouldn’t today. She wondered what a full on storm over the Stormlands was really like. Could it be as bad as the Strip of Storms or the massive hurricane she went through in the True North? It had to be pretty impressive, probably much worse than anything seen in Equestria.

Rainbow Dash saw something out of the corner of her eye and looked up to see birds flying through the trees, in the direction the wind was blowing. Seems like they wanted to get somewhere a little safer until this weather died down.

One bird though was having trouble with the wind and ended up being thrown out of the air, coming to an unpleasant crash on the ground not far from where Rainbow Dash was. Just a small sparrow, no wonder it was having trouble. Despite herself, Rainbow Dash walked over to it to make sure it was okay. Before she even got there though it had picked itself up and started hopping across the dirt.

Rainbow smiled—happy to see that it was okay.

Right up until it made one more hop and was suddenly caught in a net that came springing up from the forest floor. Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as the tightly woven net came up carrying mostly leaves and a scared sparrow inside of it that was chirping loudly with abandon. The net had been hidden perfectly under a thin layer of dirt and obscured by leaves so well it looked completely natural. And it shot up on a hair trigger considering how light the sparrow had to be.

“Probably wouldn’t have seen it until I stepped on it...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

She walked up to the net, both to inspect it and free the sparrow inside. It was woven so tightly though and the holes in it weren’t even half the size of her hoof. She’d have to break the whole thing apart or pull it down completely. The fugitive had clearly spent a ton of time on it—but it confused her as to why.

A net like this wouldn’t work on a Troll or Storm Creature—they were way too big and heavy. The only ponies it could’ve caught were her and Fizzlepop. But making this thing would’ve taken longer than Rainbow had been on the island for, unless this guy was really that much of a net making expert. And Fizzlepop could’ve just blown the thing up with her magic.

She took another look at the tiny holes and she got it. This net wasn’t a trap for any of them, he was using it to catch food.

And the chirping of the bird was loud and high-pitched enough to carry over the wind.

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up and she looked downwind. Staring into the dark forest. Staring at a set of trees a hundred feet away. A large shadow hiding behind them and a pair of glowing eyes stared back at her.

First Clash

“TYLUCK! I’VE FOUND HIM!” Rainbow Dash shouted as loudly as she could.

The shadowy figure and its piercing eyes disappeared back into the darkness, but Rainbow Dash could hear heavy footsteps even as the wind raged around her. She saw where he was going, there was no way she was about to lose him. Before she could run off and chase him though, Tyluck and the others came to her position.

“What is it, Rainbow Dash?” Tyluck asked her.

“I saw him!” Rainbow Dash pointed through the trees. “I saw him right through there! We can catch him if we go now!”

Out of reflex she attempted to open her wings and fly after him but the bandages quickly stopped that.

“Tch,” Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue.

“Alright, but let’s go after him together, and be careful too! There’s no telling what might be between us and him,” Tyluck said.

“Right!” Rainbow Dash shouted and started running through the darkening forest with the three Trolls right behind her.

It was a difficult trip though, the ground was muddy and uneven, trees and bushes got in the way, and the Trolls’ large size made it tough for them to run the same way she was. But Rainbow Dash didn’t let up in the slightest. After hours of searching she had seen him, she knew she could catch back up to a big guy like that no problem. And finally pay him back for that rock.

They could see trees and branches bent out of shape from where the fugitive had traveled through, he wasn’t trying to hide his escape route at all. Heavy footprints were in the mud and bushes had been trampled underneath. Still far ahead, Rainbow Dash could hear the plodding of the Troll and the splintering of anything in his way as he ran. He moved surprisingly fast for his size and the obstacles in the way. It was impressive, Rainbow Dash would give him that.

Running along after him, Rainbow Dash almost failed to realize when her hoof hit a tripwire made from the spun sinew of plant vines and snapped it. A pulled back tree branch came slinging from around the tree in front of her with sharpened stakes tied to the end of it. It was high though. Too high to hit her but not the Trolls behind her. Rainbow saw it sailing right over her head and looked back to warn the others.

“Tyluck, look-“

His large hand stopped the tree branch cold in its path—wooden stakes harmlessly held away from his body. The big troll squeezed his fist and snapped the branch in two before tossing it over his shoulder.

He grinned down at her. “Don’t worry, we’re not so helpless.”

Rainbow Dash grinned back at him. “I can see that now.”

“But it seems he is leading us through where he has already lain many traps. We must be even more careful from now on,” Tyluck said.

“Yeah—but we can’t let him get away either,” Rainbow nodded and started running after the fleeing fugitive again.

The traps left behind, that had to have been made at least a day in advance, continued to plague them as they went through the forest. Whether it was more swinging branches with deadly stakes on them, snares, deadfalls that had to be carefully jumped over, or swinging logs that would come falling from the trees, it was clear their target had put a lot of work into all of this. What bothered Rainbow Dash the most though was that she could still hear him. She knew he hadn’t gotten that far away despite them being slowed down every minute or two by one of his traps.

She bit her lip and voiced her concerns to Tyluck. “He’s not trying to escape, he’s letting us stay close enough to him so he can keep leading us where he wants. He’s trying to kill us with these traps.”

“And if we keep running after him he might inevitably succeed…” Tyluck said. “Do you think we can actually catch him or should we slow down at try to tackle this a different way?”

“I think I can catch him. If you guys don’t mind me leaving you behind that is?” Rainbow said.

Tyluck frowned. “He is very dangerous, I would recommend you not try and fight him and just slow him down until the three of us can get there to help you.”

“Try not to get me too excited,” Rainbow couldn’t help the smirk crawling up her cheeks. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

It was already about ten times easier for her to move through the forest than any of the Trolls, and the fugitive’s traps seemed mostly designed to hurt or slow them or the Storm Creatures down rather than a small pony like herself. The fact that he could still move through this deadly forest, remembering exactly where all his stuff was and not tripping any of it on accident, made Rainbow’s heart beat even harder. Tyluck was right that he was dangerous and it was no surprise how he had managed to evade them and Fizzlepop for so long.

The issue now was that Rainbow Dash had started having to run uphill. It wasn’t terribly steep but the muddy ground and the need to check for traps made progress slower than she would’ve liked. And he was still somehow casually keeping ahead of her as if nothing bothered him. It was annoying. She couldn’t let herself get shown up or outran by anybody. She had to catch him.

Overhead the sky had gotten worse, much darker thanks to the storm clouds covering everything and the sun having recently gone down. Though it wasn’t that late in the evening it was dark enough to look like midnight. Now she would’ve preferred some lightning just to be able to see better for a split-second. The trees though were getting a little less thick and every now and then she still got glimpses of white ahead. That was him, still leading her on. Rainbow wondered what was going through his head, if perhaps he was frustrated that she had evaded his traps and was still coming after him. Or maybe if he was impressed and looking forward to deal with her personally.

She’d get to ask him soon.

Rainbow Dash jumped over a snare and rolled under a swinging log as she exited the forest and came to a stop on the muddy and rocky slope of the hill she had been running up. She paused at what she saw.

On the top of the hill he stood there, looking down at her. Lightning flashed and briefly silhouetted the both of them against the darkness. Rainbow Dash could see the cold look on his face. She could see his piercing eyes and how he stood up tall. She resolutely stared right back with not an ounce of fear on her face. Rainbow Dash went to take a step towards him when he reached down and picked up the end of a rope. Her eyes looked to where it was connected next to him. A wooden stake had been hammered into the ground and the rope was tied around it while also stretching off the other side to another stake and holding back dozens of boulders from falling down the hill.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened while a grin split the fugitive’s face.

He yanked on the rope and undid the knot tying it to the stakes. It fell away and the boulders came with it, rolling and rolling down the hill towards Rainbow Dash. They went from the size of just a coconut or slightly bigger to being bigger than her entire body. She frowned and grit her teeth but on the inside she found the situation kind of laughable—if her wings were working this wouldn’t even be an obstacle. And yet here she was, now with death rolling down the hill at her and her wings bound to her sides. It was pretty funny how things worked out.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and ran at the boulders.

After all, she still had a Troll to catch.

She didn’t bother looking to see if he was surprised by her actions. Instead she sprinted through and evaded the rolling boulders, jumping, diving, dodging, moving between the rolling rocks like a master. She ducked her head under one that bounced up and almost caved in her skull before jumping to the side and avoiding another that would’ve pulverized her completely. All the while going up and up the hill. There were still more to run past but not as many and not as big, more rolled down that were basically just smaller rocks that all she had to do was make sure not to trip over. From side to side Rainbow Dash jumped and ran before she finally cleared the last few and made it to the top of the hill.

In front of her, twenty feet away on the summit of the hill with her, was the fugitive Troll.

He stared back at her in the darkness with only his piercing eyes visible unless lightning flashed again.

“The pony who was flying in the sky south of the island. I had figured you died when you fell down to the water,” he said.

Rainbow Dash snorted and flipped her mane back so none of it was in her eyes. “Sorry, but you underestimated me a little bit. And the name’s Rainbow Dash. You’re Berten, right?”

“Names are cheap. Did you come here just to find me? Helping those other pitiful traitors and the pony who was already here?” Berten asked.

“No actually. I was just flying when you hit me with your rock, didn’t know you were here at all,” Rainbow shrugged and then frowned at him. “And what do you mean by ‘traitors’?”

“That has nothing to do with you, pony,” he spat that last word out with derision. “You and the other one and the lumbering Storm Creatures here should’ve let me be. This is a quarrel between me and my former countrymen that none of you should have ever gotten involved in.”

“They said you’re a dangerous criminal… and after meeting them and chasing you I’m kind of inclined to believe they’re right. So sorry, but if that’s the case I can’t let you just go. That’s not the type of pony I am. And by the way, you’re the one who involved me when you threw that rock,” Rainbow said.

A low laughter rumbled up from the Troll’s throat as he nodded once at her. “Very well then,” Berten narrowed his eyes.

Lightning once more flashed between them and Berten kicked up a rock next to him and grabbed it out of the air before throwing it at Rainbow Dash in one quick motion. It practically broke the sound barrier with the force he chucked it with but Rainbow Dash still ducked her head out of the way in a split-second and ran at the Troll. He seemed surprised by her speed and the ability to dodge the rock he threw and stepped back into a fighter’s stance, raising his big arms in front of his body and face. Rainbow Dash jumped up when she reached him and punched him as hard as she could where he was blocking. Up close she could see the muscle packing his body beneath his fur and feel the iron strength in him when her hoof landed. He wasn’t pushed back by her punch and instead just easily took it standing before pushing her away with his arms. He lowered them slightly as Rainbow landed on the ground but still kept his fists balled and ready to fight with her.

“You’re pretty strong for a pony,” Berten said to her.

Rainbow Dash scowled and looked down at her hooves briefly, wondering if she had the strength to beat him without using her wings. “And you’re pretty strong too. But I’ve fought stronger.”

He didn’t rise to her bait. Instead he just held back and waited for her to come at him again.

But that was ruined when the sound of several large creatures rushing through the trees and up the hill reached their ears. Rainbow Dash looked and could barely see shadowy figures moving through the darkness on the same trail she had gone. Tyluck and the others were coming up here and would be with them soon.

“Tch,” Berten clicked his tongue and started to run off in the direction of the cliffs beyond the hill.

“Hey! Don’t run from me!” Rainbow Dash yelled and ran after him.

They were close to the edge of the island, up on the rocky cliffs a hundred or even two hundred feet above the ocean. Several streams of water from the forest or higher up on the mountains of the isle came down and turned into waterfalls that went off the side of the cliff. Rainbow Dash didn’t know why he bothered running like this, for someone who couldn’t fly there wasn’t really a place to escape to. She could even see ahead to where the ground ended with a split in the rocks caused by a river running through it below. The southern side of the island was going to be his prison.

He skidded to a step at the edge of the embankment and turned back to face Rainbow Dash.

She stopped too and glared at him. “Gonna fight?”

“No,” Berten shook his head. “But you can keep coming after me, if you’ve got the guts.”

Without another word he jumped off the embankment and into the river. Rainbow Dash gawked in disbelief and ran to the cliff where she saw him get carried by the river right over the edge of the cliff and down to the ocean below. It was too dark for her to see all the way, but a few seconds later she heard the splash of him landing in the water.

Rainbow Dash continued to stare down into the dark ocean for a while longer, even as she heard Tyluck and the others approaching. “Alright. I underestimated you too.”

Camping for the Night

They had set up camp on softer ground away from the rocky cliffs of the southern face of the island. For now the night of searching was over, it was time to sleep and see if they could get back on the fugitive’s trail tomorrow.

Three tents were set up and Rainbow Dash was going to have to share hers with Tyluck. For now though they had to eat first. The party of four was gathered around an impromptu campfire, ringed by some convenient rocks that Berten had tried to kill Rainbow Dash with just earlier. They didn’t need to cook their meals since they were just eating bread and vegetables, and the Trolls didn’t seem to mind the cold weather of the Stormlands, so Rainbow figured the fire was mainly for her own convenience. Thunder kept roaring in the storm clouds over their heads at a regular interval—threatening to drop rain at a moment’s notice.

Rainbow Dash put down the gnawed up corncob she had been eating and looked up at Tyluck. “I have some questions for you.”

Tyluck sat back and nodded expectantly. “Ask away.”

“Well first off-” Rainbow glanced at the two other Trolls next to her. “What are your names?”

“Bahahahaha!” Tyluck threw back his head and laughed loudly. “My! How rude of us! Of course you deserve a proper introduction to my comrades!” He smiled and nodded at both of the others in turn.

“I am Tyval,” the Troll to her right said with a polite smile.

“And I am Tornal,” the Troll to her left said with a polite smile.

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash nodded and imprinted the names on her brain. “I’m going to try my best to remember which of you is which.”

“Don’t stress yourself if you can’t,” Tyluck chuckled.

Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes before a more serious expression settled on her face. “Well anyways—got something else to ask. What’s that guy’s deal? Berten, the fugitive, there’s a difference between dangerous and suicidal. Who is he? What did he do that you’re chasing him for? I trust you that he’s a bad guy, that he’s a serious criminal, but I need to know more than just that now. He called you traitors too. Why?”

“Ah, I am not surprised he said that,” Tyluck nodded and scratched his chin. “And yes—you certainly have a right to know the details. There’s no reason for us to not tell you, especially when we would like our relationship with Equestria to grow even stronger and friendlier.”

“Okay, then lay it on me,” Rainbow shrugged.

“Well all of this started in the first place because our Troll Kingdom… it went through a bit of… political upheaval recently. We had a revolution. The old King, the old system, it was completely thrown out and we’ve been changing our ways for the better since. Berten—the fugitive—was a loyal servant of that old system. When the revolution happened he was imprisoned for being a dangerous element. He truly believed in and had always given his all to the old oppressive class system. Imprisonment was the only option we could see. However, as resourceful as always, he escaped. And we’ve been searching for him since,” Tyluck sighed and sat back. “That is the simple why of it all. But you wish to know more, yes?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. What do you really know about him? What was so bad about how your kingdom used to be and why was he so loyal to it?”

“The bad of our old kingdom I could go on about for ages...” Tyluck chuckled mirthlessly “As for his loyalty to it? I believe he wished to prove himself.”

“Prove himself?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Obviously you can tell he is different from the rest of us. The white streaks in his fur?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

Tyluck’s eyes turned downcast, a somber expression on his face. “A terrible tradition. To even call if a tradition hurts me. But the old ways, for as long as any Troll could remember, fur like that was seen as a terrible curse. It was a blight on the family who had a child with fur like that. They would be seen as unclean, others would shun them. The family would be forced to… dispose of the child.”

Rainbow’s blood ran cold and a disgusted frown appeared on her face. “Dispose...”

“It was a ritual,” Tyluck nodded. “The Troll Kingdom exists on a small island plagued by dangerous monsters and beasts in the wilds outside of our castle and a few small settlements along the coast. Any white-streaked child would be taken by their family far away from the castle and left in those wilds… helpless… defenseless… left to die. Only after that ritual was done would the family be welcomed back into society.”

“That’s horrible!” Rainbow Dash yelled and looked between the three Trolls. “How could your people ever do something like that?!”

“We know, Rainbow Dash, we know,” Tyluck said, still looking down at the ground in shame. “But it will never happen again now. I promise.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head. The horrors of the past couldn’t be undone… but you could make up for them. “Alright… so then what happened with Berten?”

Tyluck raised his eyes to stare into hers. “He came back.”

Rainbow Dash gulped.

“Years later, he appeared before the castle wearing the skulls and pelts of the monsters and beasts he had killed in the wilds of our kingdom. And demanded the King himself come to acknowledge him and allow him entrance into the same world that had cast him out. A company of a dozen beaten and broken warriors later and the King decided to allow him an audience. That is how Berten came back and eventually gained the powerful and influential position he had in the old system before the revolution.”

“Why the name Berten?”

Tyluck this time gave a brief snort of amusement. “A favor and an insult all in one. The King gave him that name, but made sure it would always symbolize his difference—his otherness. Every Troll would know, even without seeing him, that he was not one of us. On theoutside though he did not seem to care, in fact, I would say he wore the name with pride. It did not matter to him what other Trolls thought, from the King down to the servants and peasants, he only wanted to be acknowledged.”

Rainbow Dash thought for a second, what a life like that would be like. She couldn’t fathom it or even begin to put herself in his horseshoes. She wrinkled her brow and looked up at Tyluck. “What about his parents?”

Tyluck shrugged. “As far as I know he never spoke to them or even attempted to seek them out. They may as well not have existed to him.”

“That’s so… ugh… maybe he wasn’t wrong to not want to see them again honestly,” Rainbow Dash sighed and shook her head. “So what did he actually do after he got back into Troll society or whatever?”

“He was given a task that he was uniquely suited for—and at this point the King, Dukes, and other powerful Trolls knew of his strength as well—Berten was put in charge of a group that managed the dangerous monsters on the Troll island. Either killing or chasing them away from sensitive areas. When it was obvious how good he was at this job, he was given more and more responsibilities. Chiefly among them was that he was put in charge of chasing down and recapturing runaway slaves as well.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed at that word. “Wait. Slaves?”

Tyluck grunted and looked away ashamedly “Ah, right, we didn’t mention that...”

“No. You didn’t,” Rainbow glared.

“It was yet another flaw of the old system. We Trolls enslaved many others. But that is also over and done with, we will never do such a thing again,” Tyluck explained. “Please believe me.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her gums and rolled her eyes but relented. “I know you’re being honest so fine. I can tell you feel bad and it’s not like you were in charge or anything.”

“Back on the topic of Berten-” Tyluck returned to that. “He accepted any task given to him with no complaints and would always do them better than anyone else. It was like a point of pride, he wanted everyone to acknowledge him and know how great he was. It was unfortunate that our society treated him so poorly to begin with, I believe that contributed to him becoming what he is. It was because of that that he threw his all into everything and was more loyal to the King and old system that tried to throw him out and kill him than anyone. He needed to prove himself. He had to.”

Tyluck sat back and took a deep breath before continuing. “And because of his unique position it gave him a strange power in our society. He didn’t truly belong to any class, or have any power on paper, but because of his competence and ties to the King it was still like he was above anyone else anyways and the rules didn’t apply to him. Duke, Earl, Baron, servant, they were all strangely equal to Berten. He could do anything and was quite often given the task of reining in any Troll noble that was being truculent. Everyone was afraid of him.”

“I guess he really lost a lot when that revolution happened,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Indeed,” Tyluck nodded. “Not just position, or comfort, but his reason for living itself was taken away. I… do not blame him for escaping and seeing us as traitors. In his eyes that is the truth. But he is still a dangerous criminal who can not be left alone. There’s no telling what he could get up to.”

“What do you think he’s doing? He doesn’t… after meeting him, he doesn’t seem like someone who’s just running away for no reason,” Rainbow asked.

“I don’t know,” Tyluck shook his head. “But I know he wishes to get vengeance on those who participated in the revolution and tore the old kingdom down. How he plans on doing something like that, all by himself, is a mystery to me. But his tenacity and drive is too much—he will not give up.”

“Haahhh…” Tyluck exhaled greatly and stood up. “I believe we have spoken enough about him and the follies of the old kingdom. It is late and we must rest if we wish to be at our best to continue our pursuit of him tomorrow morning.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, had a good enough dinner anyways.”

“We’ll be up before sunrise. If we’re even able to tell thanks to the weather here,” Tyluck said.

“Could go either way,” Rainbow said as she looked up at the dark sky.

“I’ll douse this fire and we can all retire to our tents then,” Tyluck said. He reached down to the ground and dug his hands into the dirt, taking a huge chunk of it out before dropping it all on the fire and smothering it.

The moment it was gone the cold rushed in with the damp air and Rainbow Dash shivered. Night in the Stormlands was unsurprisingly miserable. Without fire or adrenaline running through her veins she felt the cold all around her, even just a light breeze in the air like now was terrible. It was almost totally dark too thanks to the clouds blocking off even the light from the moon and the stars. Rainbow was only able to see a little bit thanks to her eyes acclimating quickly to the darkness. She was going to enjoy getting into that warm tent. Shared or not it was better than sleeping outside with nothing.

She followed Tyluck to his tent while waving goodnight to the others, the Troll had a large down roll in the tent for him to sleep in while Rainbow Dash was making do with a spare blanket. Not super comfortable but at least she could wrap the blanket around herself so the ground wasn’t as rough to sleep on.

Now curled up like that she thought back to what she had learned. Berten was merciless, relentless, dangerous, and willingly engaged in many horrible things back in the Troll Kingdom. He had even attempted to kill her without question or warning. And yet she couldn’t hate him for it. Not after hearing about his past. He never had a real chance, did he? He never had a friend. And the world around him was just as miserable and responsible for everything.

Rainbow Dash decided then. She was going to make up for her last failure.

She was going to do what Twilight would do.

She was going to make a friend.

New Day, New Dash

The problem Rainbow Dash was having with her private declaration and resolution was that she knew after meeting him and after learning about him from Tyluck that this guy had drive. He was strong, loyal, and determined to do what he believed in. Rainbow wasn’t sure words were going to cut it. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of her friends if they knew, words usually didn’t cut it on her journey. If she wanted Berten to see reason and change—she was almost certain she was going to have to pound some sense into him first with her hooves.

She enjoyed that. But she knew it wasn’t exactly the kind of way to bridge harmony and friendship that Twilight would really approve of.

Unfortunately it was necessary. Some ponies and creatures just didn’t listen until after you had smacked them down. Rainbow Dash was going to have to fight him and beat him. He was strong, he was someone who fought for acknowledgment his whole life. It might be that he would only listen to her if she beat him or at least was able to fight with him equally. She needed him to respect her strength.

A glance at her wings told her that was going to be tough. Fighting at her best was impossible—and she knew she would need her best to win after seeing him jump off that cliff without hesitation last night.

Rainbow Dash yawned. She could think some more about that and what she was going to do when she actually found him. For now they still needed to track him down again. She, along with Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal, had woken up just a bit ago and were preparing a quick breakfast before they went to search the coastline. Berten had to be somewhere along the southern coast, he would’ve had to swim and find somewhere safe to rest down there. Either a hidden cove or cave.

They’d find him. The place where they had to search had become much narrower.

Tyval had been going through his backpack looking for food when he pulled out a turnip. “Want one?” He gestured to her.

“Yeah, hit me with it,” Rainbow Dash held out her hoof towards him.

“I... um,” the Troll frowned and looked uncertainly between the turnip and Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash sighed and dragged a hoof down her face. “It’s just—it’s an expression, okay? Just toss it to me.”

Tyval did so and Rainbow Dash got to eating her breakfast. Raw turnip wasn’t great but she could eat it fast and easy, it would fill her stomach up all the same and that was the important part. She knew all four of them wanted to get out there quick, there’d be no cooking this morning or time for idle chatter. Rainbow Dash took a few bites of the turnip while Tyluck and Tornal took down the tents and got their things back together. It was too bad they couldn’t just leave things here but Tyluck wanted them better to be safe then sorry. Even though they planned to find Berten today they didn’t want to be stuck somewhere without all their gear if things didn’t pan out.

Rainbow had to admit that was the smart thing to do even though she didn’t envy the heavy backpacks they had to carry or the time it took to get everything in order. The Trolls were certainly strong enough though that the extra weight didn’t seem to really burden them in the slightest.

At least the weather was decent. Rainbow was worried they were going to wake up in the middle of a rainstorm but it seemed that whatever water was up in those clouds didn’t want to fall just yet. She looked up at the sky and only saw a sheet of light gray clouds through the trees. Like always, the weather was never “good” here but it wasn’t a bad storm today. Seemed like they were just in for a cold breeze and a foggy looking island around them.

It was the coast they needed to go down to and scour so this might’ve been the best possible day they could do it. There wouldn’t be any huge waves lapping against the water or rain coming at them from above and making travel over the rocks even more treacherous. Maybe fortune was actually smiling down on Rainbow Dash once more.

Before she could really think further on the issue—the cawing of an eagle got her attention and one flew down right through the trees before landing in front of Tyluck.

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh-”

“It’s a messenger bird from Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” Tyluck said. “She’s been using it so we can correspond with one another while on the search for the fugitive.”

Now that Rainbow looked closer she saw that there was a little container attached to the eagle’s right leg that you could fit a little bit of scrolled up paper inside. She had heard of messenger pigeons and owls but had never seen an eagle used for the same purpose. And usually in Equestria you just had pegasi delivering mail anyways. Obviously Temp—Fizzlepop—was stuck using whatever she could.

Tyluck reached down and gently opened up the little container before withdrawing the small piece of paper inside. His eyes roamed over it quickly before he nodded. “As expected, she’s just updating us with her movements and how she hasn’t found him yet. We’ll be the ones to tell her the good news now.”

“I guess we can tell her to leave where she is and come over here to block off the coast and the forest?” Rainbow said.

Tyluck nodded. “Precisely. It will take her some time but I believe by the time we’ve scoured the coast she and the Storm Creatures will be in position. Soon Berten will be trapped with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.”

Rainbow Dash’s lips thinned. It was good news. She still wanted to be able to talk to him first. For now she kept all that to herself. She wasn’t sure how exactly Tyluck and the others would respond to her idea. Instead she sat back and let Tyluck write up a return letter for Fizzlepop and send the eagle away. The moment he was done he turned to her with a big grin.

“Ready to go?”

“You know it,” Rainbow answered.

Tyval and Tornal hoisted up their backpacks and all four of them got on the move. Today was the day and the time was now to find Berten.

It turned out that the weather in the sky didn’t have to be particularly bad for the ocean to be angry. Rainbow Dash saw that now as the rocky shoreline became victim to repeated crashes of salty waves and foamy white water. There was no sand, dirt, or plants here, just rocks and pools of water along the bottom of the cliffs that made up the coast of the Storm King’s old island. It had taken them over an hour just to safely descend from where they had been since none of them were willing to take Berten’s way down.

Once again, Rainbow Dash was wishing her wings were in good shape.

Somehow the three lumbering Trolls seemed to be having an easier time navigating over the slippery rocks than she was. Probably had to do with them coming from someplace with similar weather and geography. While she was used to walking plenty often she still usually had her wings to help balance herself and fall back on when she did. Now with them wrapped securely to her sides it just felt awkward and uncomfortable.

“Do we know which direction he would’ve gone after landing in the water? East or west?” Tornal asked.

“East. The current would’ve carried him that way last night,” Tyluck answered.

“I wouldn’t put it past him to be able to swim against it...” Tornal said.

“Yes... that’s possible, but Fizzlepop is coming from the west anyways, so we should still go east to cover the rest of the island,” Tyluck said.

“You know I don’t think he could put any traps here but let’s keep our eyes open just in case,” Rainbow said as she surveyed the rocks.

“Yes,” Tyluck agreed.

It was fairly slow going even though there wasn’t near as much ground to cover or stuff to look at. The uneven rocks, the waves, the harsh and cold breeze, it all worked against them right now. Searching this place at night would have been completely impossible. At least she didn’t have to swim in that cold water or anything. But the four of them also weren’t entirely sure what exactly they were looking for. If he had a cave he was hiding in or was doing something else, they just weren’t sure.

They needed to check everything and everywhere down on the southern coast.

Rainbow Dash looked out at the ocean that she had only so recently spun into. That was a close call, almost the end of her long journey. What a sad and disappointing ending it would’ve been if she actually died here? In such a boring, undignified, way, so close to home. Would’ve been the lamest ending ever. Her eyes then looked up high at the cliffs and a few streams of water that came down them from rivers above. How did he make that jump in total darkness? It was insane, did he not care that he could’ve died so easily? Maybe he was sure he wouldn’t.

Now that she thought about it it was possible that he had injured himself on the way down and had to slink away to wherever his hideout was to recover. He probably spent the whole night sleeping just like Rainbow and the others had. There was no way, even someone that tough, would be in the shape to do anything else after last night.

“There might not be traps but watch your feet for sea urchins and barnacles, and you never know when one of these little pools might have an angry crab in it,” Tyval said.

“Watch your hooves too,” Rainbow Dash cheekily grinned and waved at him.

He chuckled. “Yes, those too.”

They were hugging the cliffs enough where the water from even the largest waves didn’t directly splash onto them, but a lot of the spray was carried by the wind and dampened them anyways. Rainbow Dash quickly felt miserable with the cold salt water and the breeze ruining her mane, tail, and coat. A single very large wave could’ve potentially dashed them against the rocks and pulled them back out into the ocean if it ever came.

“Wouldn’t want to live here...” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

The rocks they were using to walk over started to sink into the water the further east along the coast they went. It was clear that soon they’d only have a sheer cliff going straight into the water, they wouldn’t be able to walk anymore. It would be either swim or give up. Hopefully they would find where he had managed to hide himself before that, but there wasn’t much left to check.

It was a jagged coast and the cliff was full of scars and hidden indents though. There were a lot of places where a cave could be hiding.

The fluttering of seagulls overhead grabbed Rainbow’s attention for just a moment before she returned to looking for any signs of Berten.

“Wait,” Rainbow Dash frowned and looked back up. Those weren’t seagulls flying up into the sky, those were bats. Where had they come from? She ran ahead of the other Trolls, despite the slick rocks, and ignored Tyluck asking what she was doing. There had to be a cave here where those bats had flown out of. Rainbow Dash jumped from rock to rock looking for it.

A part of the cliff jutted out in front of her, making it impossible to see what was on the other side of it from here. There could easily be something nestled right behind it, flush up against the cliff, hidden from any eyes that weren’t looking right at it.

She almost slipped on a rock and fell into a tide pool but she didn’t care. Rainbow quickly rounded the cliff that jutted out like the tip of a spear from the island and looked behind it.

It was like a crevice, a small hole right at the base of the cliff, hidden in the shadows of the rock that jutted out awkwardly into the water. A Troll the size of Berten would’ve only just barely been able to slip inside it if they sucked in their gut. Waves from the ocean lapped up against it and water kept flowing into and getting spit out of the crevice. Didn’t look like it was going to be a very fun place to search either. Rainbow Dash frowned at it, dark and uninviting, cold and wet. Just great. Just what she wanted. He couldn’t have been hiding somewhere else?

Tyluck, Tornal, and Tyval came up behind her finally.

“Is that...?” Tyluck asked.

“I think it has to be where he’s hiding,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“We haven’t seen anywhere else he could’ve gone off to,” Tornal said, taking one last look around the rocky coast.

“Can we even fit in there?” Tyval asked.

Tyluck grimaced. “It will be a tight and uncomfortable fit, but if we’re lucky it will open up wider a little ways in.”

“Unlike out on these rocks though, I’d be willing to bet that Berten has traps in there, or has tried to block the path somehow,” Rainbow said.

“We’ll have to be extra cautious. This is his turf now,” Tyluck said.

“I’ll go in first. It’s easiest for me to fit in and I’ll have an easier time avoiding any traps if there are any right in the mouth of the cave,” Rainbow said. “In fact, you three just wait until I say the coast is clear. I’ll find a spot big enough for us all to stand in.”

Tyluck nodded. “That sounds like the best idea. Good luck.”

Rainbow grinned back at him. “Like I need it.”

Seacave Showdown

She didn’t have much light to see with but she could manage at the moment. There was only a little bit of light that managed to come in from the outside world and as soon as there was a turn in the cave that would disappear. Rainbow slowly walked further into it, taking a look at the floor and walls of the inside of the crevice to make sure there weren’t any nasty surprises. It was narrow enough where she wouldn’t have been able to stretch her wings if she could. Berten probably banged and scraped his body on the walls every time he came in here.

Her eyes narrowed as she also looked for signs like scrapes along the rocks or broken pebbles or anything that he might have caused as proof that this was his place. She didn’t really see much of anything though, probably due to his survivalist nature, it was likely he had hidden or obscured anything that she could see. There weren’t any tripwires or hidden spikes though either, no boulders waiting to fall down and crush her. That was a plus.

The floor was wet with water running up past her hooves, foamy seawater that was difficult to see into. She dragged her hooves a bit to make sure she wouldn’t step on anything sharp either. In a second she had gone through the mouth of the cave, still shallow enough where some light came in, and stepped into a larger circular chamber. A single tunnel heading deeper into the cave and island went off from it but it was too dark to see into.

That wasn’t important right now—what was was that she was standing somewhere that Tyluck and the others could join her. Cramped or not they’d be able to fit in here.

“Hey! You can come in here now! I found where we need to go!” Rainbow yelled to them.

A couple minutes later and the three big Trolls had squeezed their way into the same chamber where Rainbow Dash was. It was cold and clammy inside with a draft coming in from the ocean. The already low amount of light practically disappeared entirely thanks to the Trolls blocking off the exit to the crevice.

“He has to be hiding somewhere down that tunnel-” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed out the only other way to go. “Not sure how we’re going to see where we’re going though. We could get lost really easily if there’s more than one passage.”

“Not a problem, we came prepared,” Tyluck said and nodded to Tyval and Tornal.

The two other Trolls reached into their backpacks and pulled out wooden sticks that they then wrapped pieces of dry cloth and twine around. Tyval withdrew a small glass flask of some kind of liquid that he then used to dampen the cloth while Tornal lit a match and voila—they now had two torches to see with. They must’ve kept all that stuff in some kind of water-proof pouch before taking it out in here, or the Stormlands would’ve definitely wrecked it already.

“That’ll help,” Rainbow said.

She still walked in front but Tyluck took Tyval’s torch and started walking right behind her to illuminate everything. The tunnel they were now heading down was big enough for the Trolls to more or less walk comfortably. The ceiling was covered in stalactites and the floor was a muddy, puddle covered, mess. So far they hadn’t seen any alternate tunnels, traps, or a sign of Berten.

Considering the noise they were making and the torches they had it was almost certain he would know they were coming before they actually found him.

Just something they were going to have to deal with.

“Do you think he’s running from us or do you think he’s going to lie in wait somewhere and try and ambush us?” Rainbow wondered.

“Not sure. I can’t imagine him running without at least trying to harm us first. Unless he’s injured after what happened yesterday,” Tyluck said.

“We don’t know how deep this cave goes either... it’s possible we could miss him,” Tornal said.

Rainbow Dash silently nodded in agreement. She had to keep her eyes peeled even more than the rest of them. It actually kind of worried her though, the further they went, that she didn’t see any traps. Was this not the right cave? Did he just not want to take the risk of putting anything like that where he lived? In a dark, claustrophobic, cave like this he probably could’ve set up any number of deadly traps. And yet they hadn’t come across anything. He had to be preparing something. He had to have some kind of plan of his own.

They slowly walked through the cave for almost another hour without finding anything of note. No branching paths, no larger chambers, and no traps. They just squeezed their way through the damp cave while grumbling internally. The air wasn’t great to breathe either, the normally cold and stale air in the cave was becoming smoky thanks to the torches.

Rainbow Dash squinted ahead finally after their long trek, seeing what looked to be the end of the tunnel as it opened up into a larger chamber. “We’re coming to a big room in a second. Be on your guard.”

They kept attentive as the tunnel ended and they came into a big misshapen chamber with stalactites and stalagmites all around it, big colums of rock going from floor to ceiling, pools of water, and crevices and holes that went who only knows how deep. There was no easy way to get around it that they could see and their torches didn’t light up all of it. This could’ve been the end of the seacave or it could have any number of other tunnels leading out of it. The four of them walked out onto the uneven ground and looked around as best they could, Tyluck and Tornal holding up their torches for the maximum amount of light possible.

Rainbow followed the light as it revealed more and more of the chamber. The right side of it sloped up steeper and steeper until it became practically a separate level. She held up a hoof to try and feel what direction, if any, the breeze was going in.

She heard the sound of a pebble bouncing down the rocks to her right. Tyluck and the others heard it too. They all looked up to the source of the sound, torches held up towards it and illuminating the far right wall of the chamber.

Berten stood there above them with a boulder practically as big as he was lifted over his head. Straining at the weight he hefted it right at the four of them. “RAAAAARRGHHH!”

“Look out!” Rainbow yelled and jumped out of the way.

The three Trolls jumped away too and the boulder slammed down right where they had been standing—completely blocking off their exit. Rainbow frowned as she realized that may have been his intention in the first place. Even altogether the four of them might not have been able to move it from its new spot. There wasn’t really anytime to think about that though as she saw Berten run along the cave wall towards a tunnel leading out of this big chamber.

“He’s trying to lose us or trap us in here! We have to get him!” She shouted.

“On it!” Tyluck shouted as he got back to his feet, holding his torch out in front of him and running for the white-streaked Troll.

Rainbow ran with him while Tyval and Tornal followed. It was tough to cover the ground in the uneven chamber, especially with how frantically they were moving, but they needed to do it. Rainbow was sure that as soon as Berten was in the next chamber he was going to be pushing another boulder in front of his tunnel to block them off and trap them in here. They all saw his large body run into one of the many tunnels leading out and quickly followed after him. Rainbow didn’t think they had to worry about other traps right now, Berten was scrambling just as fast as they were. He’d be in danger of hitting anything himself if he had lain it earlier.

As soon as the pursuers got into his escape tunnel, Rainbow was able to see how open it was and how easy they’d be able to run down it. Far ahead she could just barely see the back of Berten. He was a fast runner for a creature of his size. Rainbow knew she was once again going to have to briefly leave the other Trolls behind if she wanted to catch up to him.

“I’m speeding up to make sure her can’t lose us or do anything else!” Rainbow said and already started running ahead.

“Okay!” Tyluck nodded, seeing no need to tell her to be careful this time.

Rainbow Dash sprinted on, running as fast as she could over the rocky floor of the tunnel with the flickering lights behind her casting shadows everywhere. She needed to go do the Running of the Leaves again this year, she didn’t feel as fast on her hooves as she wanted to. If it was her wings she’d have already jetted right in front of Berten in an instant.

She saw the big Troll stop ahead as he exited his tunnel and went into a new room. Squinting her eyes, she saw him indeed attempting to roll another big boulder in front of the chamber Rainbow and her friends were still in.

“No way!” Rainbow yelled and pushed herself even harder.

Before he had even rolled the boulder halfway over the exit, Rainbow Dash had reached him and jumped up to kick him in the face.

Berten’s eyebrows went up in surprise right before her hoof crashed into him and both pony and Troll went sprawling to the ground of the next room. Rainbow got back on her hooves quickly but Berten responded by immediately kicking her in the stomach and knocking her away from him. She collided with the wall with a pained groan and fell to the floor of the cave. When she lifted her head to look across the room at him she saw a few things of note.

There was already a single flickering torch set up here, obviously by Berten earlier, along with a number of other supplies he had to have stockpiled here for ages. Rope, sharpened stakes, bags, pilfered food, tools, everything he needed to survive and make his traps on the island.

Another thing she saw was that the only other way out of this room, besides the tunnel he just attempted to block off, was a narrow one going upwards through the ground. It was too perfect, it had to have been dug by him at least partially. It was a steep tunnel that Berten would’ve had to squat to go through and it went up and up probably a hundred if not two hundred feet. Rainbow could see that because there was the barest sliver of light coming from the end of it.

Her eyes widened. It was an escape tunnel, from where it looked to be going it must take him to some hidden spot back in the forest above. He might be able to slip right by Fizzlepop and the Storm Creatures depending on how far it took him.

Berten saw where she was looking and narrowed his eyes. “Well, it seems you know what I’m planning.”

“What you were planning. It’s already ruined,” Rainbow replied. She quickly looked up and down his body, noticing he didn’t look injured in the slightest. “I guess that tumble into the ocean wasn’t too bad for you.”

“I’ve had to do worse in my life,” Berten said.

“Yeah. I heard from Tyluck about you,” Rainbow Dash nodded, a sad frown on her face. “And I was wondering if you’d be interested in just talking things out. I know you’ve had a bum life and things have been unfair for you, I understand why you’re angry, and let me tell you that I know how much better it is to get over stuff like that. Doing what you’re doing? You’ll regret it. And it’s not going to get you anywhere.”

Berten merely glared at her. “What do you know, pony? And I would rather die than give those traitors the satisfaction of bringing me back to that... that travesty of a new kingdom. I will not stop. I don’t care how long it takes or what I have to do, but I’ll fix things. I’ll turn my kingdom back to the way it used to be! And no pony is going to tell me otherwise!”

He stood up tall to attack her but before he could they both heard the sound of Tyluck and the others close by.

“Tch. Interrupted again. But let me give you a warning, pony. This doesn’t concern you—and if you chase me down again you’ll be dead,” Berten quickly reached over to his torch before Rainbow could react and dashed it against the wall. The light went out and the next thing Rainbow knew she was hit in the face with a ball of mud.

“Agh!” She groaned, less in pain and more in annoyance as she went down and tried to swipe it off her face.

Meanwhile she heard him scrambling up his escape tunnel.

“Hey! Come back here already! We can talk about this! Just give me a chance, you deserve a chance, you deserve having someone who will listen to you and... and...” Rainbow grit her teeth as she heard him not slowing. “Alright... punching it is.”

Tyluck, Tyval and Tornal then emerged into the room, lighting things up again with their torches. They took a quick look around before spotting Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow, where’s-”

“Up the tunnel,” she pointed it out. “He’s made some kind of escape route and I think he’s trying to slip past where Fizzlepop and her Storm Creatures will be.”

“Then let’s go!” Tyluck said and the four of them went straight for the steep tunnel too.

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue in annoyance at how things had gone but still ran up with them, taking point. She wouldn’t give up on talking just yet, she’d give him another chance, but she’d be ready to do the real talking with her hooves. When it came down to how she handled things, there was no better way she could think of.

The Net Closes In

Fizzlepop Berrytwist stood at the edge of one of the island’s many cliffs, looking down at the ocean. She had her force of Storm Creatures spread throughout this side of the island at any and every location where someone could come up from the water. There’d be no place the fugitive could slip through unnoticed. That was if the message she’d received from Tyluck had been correct about the fugitive hiding in a seacave on the southern side of the island. There shouldn’t be any escape for him now with her and the Storm Creatures here. He should be cornered.

The only thing she wished for right now was that the Storm King had mapped out all the tunnels and caves of the island at some point. She almost scoffed at the idea of him caring enough or not being lazy enough to actually do something like that. He’d call it boring and wouldn’t have even bothered assigning someone else for the task. Despite how useful it could be to know that information. Well his dumbness had gotten him killed, maybe as a gift to Grubber and the Storm Creatures she could do that instead before she inevitably left the island behind at some point in the future.

She had done most of what she needed to here, making sure things were still okay and the few creatures who called this place their home were happy and not wanting for much. The place wasn’t falling apart generally and that was pretty good. As soon as things were safe now too, and the friends of her friends had their fugitive, she could call it a day.

It was nice to see Rainbow Dash again too, she’d have to spend some more time with her before Rainbow left—since by the sound of it she’d be out of here even faster than her once things were over.

A grunt from a Storm Creature to her left pulled her from her thoughts and Fizzlepop looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

The Storm Creature pointed up to the sky and Fizzlepop took a look, immediately frowning.

Weather was getting worse. Seemed like an obvious statement in the Stormlands but there was a difference between good and bad weather here. Things had been fairly mild for the past few days but the clouds above now were a jet black and almost totally blocking off the sky. Soon enough no sunlight would be able to reach them and things would be dark across the entire island as if it was already nighttime. That’s really not what they needed when they were on the lookout for somebody.

“Great. I hope they find him and capture him in those caves. If he gets out he’s going to have the perfect cover…”

Up ahead, Rainbow Dash and the others could see the light at the end of the tunnel easier because Berten had smashed his way through the exit and this time clearly had no boulder to move to block it off for them. She was running up the steep slope while the Trolls practically crawled on their hands and feet up as fast as they could. The low ceiling of the escape tunnel probably causing their backs to ache.

On the last spurt, Rainbow Dash jumped out of the tunnel and quickly looked around to see where they were. The tunnel existed on the side of a hill somewhere in the forest, it had been obscured by a carefully made camouflage cover of grass, twigs, and leaves. Now that was all destroyed and torn aside while heavy footprints in the mud went deeper into the forest. Berten definitely didn’t have the time now to cover his tracks. He was running as fast as he could.

Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal came up right behind her, the three of them panting and wasting no time in standing up straight. They saw the footprints leading away from the tunnel but before any of them could get a move on, the low rumble of thunder came from above them.

Rainbow Dash looked up into the sky—past the trees—and saw utter blackness. Looking around the forest she noticed how much darker it already was than it should’ve been for this time of day. Tyluck and Tornal had their torches still but it looked like it might start raining too. The absolute worst possible weather for tracking somebody down in. At best their vision would be shot once it got just a little bit darker, the sun clearly couldn’t make it through all those dark clouds.

“This is bad, in less than an hour it will be impossible to find him,” Tyluck said.

“We found his hiding spot already, he won’t be able to stay anywhere else on this island for long,” Rainbow said.

“That’s the problem,” Tyluck frowned. “We’ll have lost our chance to get him and pushed him away from his only refuge here. He won’t stay on the island any longer. If we don’t find him tonight he’ll be gone.”

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s he going to do though? He can’t go anywhere and it’ll be pitch black with a storm raging here soon.”

“Would you put it past him to try swimming away from here in the middle of the night?” Tyluck asked her.

“Uhh…” Rainbow didn’t really have to think about it. “No. Good point.”

“We don’t know where he would go or where he might try to escape to next. It’s possible he could even try going back to our kingdom or even making his way to Equestria. And we must capture him. We have to do it for the sake of the kingdom,” Tyluck said.

“He could do far worse than simply hide the next place he goes,” Tyval said.

“If there are any locals around I wouldn’t feel safe for them,” Tornal said.

Rainbow took a deep breath and frowned. “Okay, so it’s really imperative that we don’t let him get away again. Well then in that case I don’t think we should stay standing around here talking about it anymore.”

“Good point,” Tyluck nodded. “Let’s follow these footprints!”

The four of them ran along the path Berten had left for them as he wildly fled from his pursuers. Into the forest they went once more while thunder rumbled above them and threatened to drop rain every moment. Rainbow Dash knew Berten was tough and had a lot of determination running in him, but he had to be fairly exhausted himself after everything he had been through the past couple of days. No creature could have the same kind of boundless energy that she did. He couldn’t be eating or resting as well as his pursuers. They had the advantage. Rainbow Dash knew they did. He may have had a small lead right now but the four of them would close it for sure and bring him down.

Then Rainbow Dash could have a second “talk” with the fugitive.

And she wouldn’t give up this time. There was no way she was taking no for an answer.

Regardless of how the details went, she was going to make sure everybody won today.

She didn’t want Tyluck and the others to get hurt either so she was planning on doing the hard stuff and letting them have their quarry peacefully when she was done. After a few life-lessons had been imparted. And she made sure Tyluck knew what was going on too, even if it took him a little convincing as well.

That was all just a bunch of maybes right now though. She still needed to put her bits where her mouth was cause Berten was looking like both a tough adversary and a tough guy to win over to friendship’s side. And they really needed to find him first before it became darker than midnight in the middle of the day. Stupid Stormlands. Rainbow Dash was definitely not going to miss this place when she left.

As they ran through the forest though, she also started to notice the haggard breathing coming from her friends. Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal were all starting to get tired. She shouldn’t be surprised—they were big guys and they had done a lot. It was clear they were pushing themselves hard because of how important things were right now. But it was also clear they wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long, they didn’t have the energy of either Rainbow Dash or Berten. She hoped they could hold out until they came upon Berten again.

The muddy ground gave way to mostly overgrown grass and plants and thus Berten’s footprints disappeared. But it wasn’t enough to shake them as they could still see where he had trampled through. Grass was flattened and some branches were broken and pushed out of the way. He had been running in a straight path since leaving the escape tunnel. Desperate? Or was he leading them somewhere?

Rainbow kept her eyes open for traps the whole way as well but she didn’t see anything. If there were any it would have to be something he prepared long ago.

“I can’t tell if we’re gaining on him or not but we haven’t lost his trail yet so I’m saying things are still fine so far!” Rainbow said as they ran.

“That’s all we need,” Tyluck said between breaths.

The trees were getting thicker for a while and Rainbow Dash kept seeing some of them bent out of the way or bark scraped off of them as Berten must have rushed by earlier. The big Troll had more obstacles than Rainbow Dash but they clearly weren’t a problem to him.

Pushing through some of the trampled brush, the four pursuers came out into a clearing with one huge tree on the side of it, its canopy large and hanging over the ground. The branches and leaves of it were thick enough where they still blocked out the sky completely. Rainbow Dash and the others could see a few flattened spots in the ground where Berten had ran through here to the other side of the clearing, and they started following his path.

Halfway through though and Rainbow Dash saw a pair of glinting eyes in the shadows of the trees ahead.

Berten was standing there. Watching them. Barely visible between the trees and low light but his eyes still peeked out in the darkness. It was obviously so much easier for him to see them thanks to the torches they carried.

And he was holding onto another rope.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as she noticed that and saw him yank on it to activate whatever trap he had prepared. The sound of something whipping and snapping echoed through the clearing and the leaves and branches of the tree above them shuddered. They all looked up to see cut up tree logs falling towards them.

“Look out!” Rainbow Dash yelled and jumped out of the way.

There were maybe a dozen logs coming down and she and the Trolls managed to move fast enough so none of them got crushed. But the moment the logs slammed into the ground, they saw the true trap activate. The ground gave away beneath them and Tyluck, Tyval and Tornal fell into a deep hole. Rainbow Dash only barely managed to jump onto and grab the side of it before pulling herself up to safety. Her friends weren’t so lucky though—they and the logs that had crashed down fell a good twenty feet down into a muddy pit.

“Tyluck!” Rainbow shouted and then whipped her head around to look over her shoulder. Berten was gone. This trap must’ve been an old one he spent ages on and he had gotten them all to almost fall right for it.

“We’re alright, Rainbow Dash!” Tyluck shouted from below, despite the groans coming from the three of them. “We’re not hurt… but I don’t think we can get out of here easily. Please, forget about us and go after him! Don’t let him get away!”

“But-” Rainbow said down to him.

“We’ll be okay! Just go!” Tyluck shouted.

Rainbow grit her teeth, she looked into the forest where Berten had gone and could still hear him snapping twigs and trampling over the ground. “Darn it, alright! But I’ll be back to help you out soon!”

“Good luck—and win!”

She grinned. “You bet I will.”

Without another word, Rainbow Dash turned away from the hole and went charging through the brush towards Berten. It was dark, without the torches she couldn’t see well, but she could hear well enough to follow after him. Lightning flashed in the sky above her and the clouds also rumbled with the sound of rain begging to pour. Rainbow Dash sprinted as hard as she could, her wings itching in their confinement.

Another bolt of lightning flashed and Rainbow Dash barely made out the white-streaked back of her target not far away.

“BERTEN!” She yelled as loudly as she could. “You turn around and face me right now!”

The Troll paused in the middle of running and Rainbow Dash stopped as well.

Slowly he turned around, glaring at her. “You should’ve just stayed there to help your friends out of that hole, pony.”

“Sorry, gotta stop you first,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“If you truly have to keep interfering then I’ll make sure you can never bother me again. I can’t have an unconnected third party get in my way anymore. I’ll find someplace better than this island, and one day I’ll take back the kingdom,” Berten growled. “If you learned about me from those three, I think you would understand why getting on my bad side is a very foolish idea. But now you’ve gone and done it.”

“And you should understand that I’m not your average pony. You don’t know who you’re up against. You’re not scaring me, and you’re not going to make me quit,” Rainbow said, exhaling and standing up as tall as she could.

Berten raised his fists and despite his mood a smirk came to his face. “Alright then. Let me do something a bit enjoyable before I leave this island.”

“Get your face punched in?” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “If that’s what you want.”

Enemies

“Something is wrong. I can feel it in the air,” Fizzlepop Berrytwist said. She glanced up at the dark sky, the world around her only barely visible thanks to some sparks from her broken horn that had generated some fires for her and the Storm Creatures to keep warm with out here.

One of the Storm Creatures grunted and tilted his head quizzically at her.

Fizzlepop sighed. “Call it a sixth sense, alright? I can’t really explain it but I think our friends are in danger.” She bit her lip, thinking about the hazards of the storm they were now in and the caves down below. She had her duty to guard this area but at the same time her gut instinct was telling her to do more.

“Maybe we should spread out...” she mused. “Knowing Rainbow Dash, if things were going smoothly she’d already be finished by now.”

Tyval stood on Tornal’s shoulders who stood on Tyluck’s shoulders as the three Trolls attempted to find a way out of the hole they had been trapped in. It was no good though, not only was it becoming exceedingly difficult for Tyluck to hold up all that extra weight, but Tyval was still a couple feet short of being able to climb out. They were stuck until help arrived.

“How did he even find the time to make this...” Tornal groaned.

“We shouldn’t be surprised by what he can do,” Tyluck panted. “H-Hurry up and get down you two, I feel like I’m about to break.”

The Trolls gave up on their tower and the three of them sat together at the bottom of the pit. It was quite muddy and uncomfortable but at least Berten hadn’t put any spikes down here. If he had it would’ve been a very unfortunate ending for them all. Tyluck sighed and looked up through the top of the hole, he couldn’t see the sky, the big tree that covered the clearing blocked everything off.

“Do we just wait until Rainbow Dash comes back or Fizzlepop finds us?” Tyval asked.

“Will Rainbow Dash be okay on her own? How can she fight him?” Tornal said.

“Normally I’d agree with you,” Tyluck said. “But… there’s something special about her. Let’s believe in her.”

“Actually, hold on, I wanted to talk to you again first to see if you-” Rainbow Dash was cut off as Berten ran forward and threw a punch at her head. She ducked out of the way of it and watched as his fist obliterated the trunk of a tree next to her, cracking it in half and sending it falling to the forest floor. That would’ve been painful.

Rainbow frowned. “I’m serious right now. I want to do this peacefully, we don’t have to fight.”

Berten however didn’t seem interested in talking. He threw several more punches at her with his long arms making up the distance he needed when fighting someone so much shorter than him. Rainbow Dash had to repeatedly hop and skip away from him while making sure she didn’t accidentally bump into a tree or get snagged on a root. It was a bit of a hazardous place to fight, there were so many obstacles and the larger Troll wouldn’t have much space to move freely. Like always though it didn’t seem a huge problem for him, he muscled through the thin trees and pushed aside anything that got in his way. When he threw another punch at her, Rainbow Dash decided to block it on purpose to see how strong of a punch he had.

With her hooves crossed in front of her body the anvil of his fist crashed into her and launched her backwards into a hard oak tree. Rainbow Dash coughed in pain and bounced off it towards the ground. Even with blocking that hurt more than she expected. Might have been a bad decision to test him out. She stood up and took a deep breath while lightning flashed overhead once more.

“Okay. I may have wanted to do this through talking, but I’m not going to lie and say I don’t enjoy a good fight too,” Rainbow Dash said and squared off against the big Troll.

Berten again said nothing as he charged at her but this time Rainbow Dash jumped over his punch, kicked off one of the nearby trees, and kicked the Troll right in the head. He grunted and was knocked back slightly but not off his feet. Rainbow Dash came back to the ground and raised an eyebrow at him, seeing the Troll rubbing where she had kicked. He didn’t look hurt.

And she hadn’t been holding back.

Is that all I can do without my wings backing me up? Rainbow frowned.

“You’ll have to do better than that, pony,” Berten said now—actually acknowledging her. “That was a better kick than I’ve taken from one of your kind before. But I’ve faced off against and defeated far worse creatures in my life.”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Big talk coming from the guy who gave me a handicap before we even met. I don’t think you’d be able to talk any trash if I could use my wings right now.”

“Cry me a river, a fight is never supposed to be fair,” Berten said. “I’m a hunter. I take down my prey through any means necessary.”

“Heh. Then it’s going to be even more awesome when I beat you anyways just with my bare hooves,” Rainbow taunted and ran at him.

Berten scowled but ducked down and put his fists up, keeping his eyes trained on her as Rainbow Dash darted through the dark brush in a zig-zag fashion. He was almost like a big sphere of muscle leaving no openings to attack. She wasn’t coming at him straight this time though but trying to get him to lose sight of her and constantly shift on his bent legs to face her. Like that she could possibly wear him down. A top-heavy guy like that just couldn’t stay squatting like that forever, his legs would fail him.

As she ran between two trees, Berten quickly realized what her strategy was. A huff of annoyance came from him as he stayed where he was and let her get behind him—intentionally losing vision of her.

Rainbow wanted him to put strain on his legs by having to constantly pivot to her, but if he was going to let her just attack him from behind she wasn’t going to throw that opportunity away. She ran at him and jumped up to kick him in the back. He didn’t budge. It really was like kicking a boulder. Rainbow Dash kicked him a few more times but couldn’t do any damage. Changing strategy she went low to sweep his legs out from under him. Those relatively thin legs had to be a weak point.

Berten heard her, he could tell exactly what she was trying to do. When she went low at his legs he jumped forward and did a front-flip. At the apex of his flip, head parallel to the ground, he shot his arms out at her and smashed them into her side. Rainbow Dash cried out in pain as she was knocked to the ground while Berten came out of his flip perfectly. Smirking, he turned around and looked at her to see the pegasus pushing herself back up from the muddy ground. Truthfully he was surprised she was still able to move.

And on her end, Rainbow Dash just glared at him. “What the hay kind of move was that? Are you kidding me...”

“Is that all you can do?” Berten looked down at her. “I’m impressed you aren’t unconscious, but you’ll need to do more if you want me to stop talking trash.”

“I just didn’t expect you to move like a circus performer,” Rainbow Dash rubbed her sore side. “But I’m not letting you hit me again.”

Rainbow Dash ran at him as fast as she could, generating as much speed and force on her hooves as she could. It bothered her that as strong as she had gotten on this journey she couldn’t really hurt him for real without her wings backing her up. Maybe if she got a few solid blows on his face or legs, but anywhere else and he didn’t care. To see if she could do anything, Rainbow jumped up at a tree next to her—kicked off it to another tree, kicked off that one, and dove at Berten’s head.

He held up his arms as her hooves crashed into him and she felt a little give in his position before he pushed her off.

Rainbow Dash skidded back across the ground and clicked her tongue. He’s too solid!

She ran back at him but chiefly at his legs this time—they were the only weak spot she could even attempt to attack with how he protected his head. Berten could plainly see what she was going for though and he pulled his right leg back before kicking into the mud and shooting up a huge spray of mud, dirt, and pebbles at her. Rainbow could easily jump over it but it still kept her from attacking the only target she could. And as soon as she was airborne the huge closed fist of Berten came right for her body.

Rainbow grinned.

She slapped her hooves down on his fist as it flew at her and vaulted over his arm—spinning around to kick him as hard as she could in the jaw before he could react to her slick moves. It was very welcoming to see his eyebrows shoot up briefly right before her hoof landed. Her hard kick knocked his head to the side but Berten didn’t go off his feet, he only stumbled a bit before bumping into one of the trees. Lifting up a hand he rubbed his jaw but that was it. No blood, no knockout.

“Troublesome ant,” Berten growled and ripped a branch from the tree.

“I’m the one who should be annoyed right now...” Rainbow Dash muttered. Again her hits just didn’t do enough.

Berten launched the branch at her like a spear with his absurd strength, throwing so powerfully that it could’ve split her in two if it hit.

Instead, Rainbow deftly leaned out of the way so the branch just barely didn’t brush against her side. She didn’t bother looking behind her but she could imagine it impaled itself fully into the ground when it hit. Berten though wasn’t done either. He pulled off another branch and kicked a rock up into his free hand, throwing both of them in quick succession at her. Rainbow jumped to the left and then to the right to avoid both his projectiles and tried to run at him again. She didn’t really know what she was going to do but she couldn’t let him keep her at bay like this. Eventually he might actually hit her again—the speed at which he threw those things was enough that they blurred in her vision. Not only could they kill her if they hit, but it’d mean her boast about her not letting him hit her again would be ruined.

She couldn’t have that.

So he continuously threw anything in reach at her while she barely managed to avoid them and steadily made her way towards him. He would throw something at her and then immediately at where she was moving to dodge it, but her reflexes were enough that he couldn’t actually land something on her straight on. It was probably frustrating him considerably too.

The both of them were annoyed that they were stuck like this even though Berten had the clear advantage. When Rainbow Dash stepped forward once more, Berten growled and jumped back, smashing his fist into a small boulder behind him and pulverizing it.

Rainbow Dash’s eyebrows shot up as he grabbed a handful of pebbles and grinned at her.

Throwing his arm out in a wide arc he let them all go at her. The storm of rubble came at her lightning quick and all Rainbow Dash could do was dive behind a nearby tree as the small rocks shot through all the open space between them. She heard and felt some of the rocks slam and burrow into the tree while others screeched past her and embedded into other trees and rocks. The deadly arrows would’ve torn her to pieces if she hadn’t gotten behind cover. There was no way she could dodge something like that without her wings to simply fly above the storm.

“You going to come out from hiding or what?!” Berten shouted at her.

“You going to keep throwing rocks?” Rainbow shouted right back.

“No. I promise,” Berten said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “I know I shouldn’t believe that but…” She sighed and ran out from behind the tree, going at him once more. It’s not like she had any better options.

He was being truthful though. He was just getting ready to throw another tree branch at her instead.

Rainbow jumped over the spear as it came at her and pushed as much extra energy as she could into her limbs to close the last bit of space between her and Berten. Getting close he hunkered down into a defensive stance right as Rainbow dashed up to him and punched him as hard as she could right into his protecting arms.

He bounced back a little but held his ground.

“You should know by now that you can’t beat me. Why don’t you give up this foolish mission, pony?” Berten sneered at her.

Rainbow Dash fell back as lightning flashed again and briefly lit up the dark forest. They were close to each other, but neither was moving to attack during this lull in the fight.

Finally, Rainbow Dash audibly breathed out through her nose and nodded up at him. “Yeah. I can’t beat you.”

Berten grinned. “Then leave me to my-“

“Like this. I can’t beat you like this,” Rainbow finished and reached back to tear her bandages off.

Berten’s eyes widened as Rainbow Dash spread her wings. The pegasus winced slightly when her left wing failed to fully extend but she quickly shot an angry glare back at the appendage.

“Deal with it,” she said to her wing and forced it open all the way. She then took a breath and smirked at Berten. “Okay—now we can start.”

What Loyalty Deserves

“By the way, this is your last chance to accept friendship and come peacefully and live happily ever after and all that without getting beaten senseless first,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Your words and actions are rather contradictory you know?” A perplexed Berten said.

“Kind of just how life is sometimes,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Either way, you’re still just a pony and your wings aren’t going to help you here,” Berten said.

Rainbow Dash smiled. “That might be the quickest way anyone has ever said they don’t know me.”

She flapped her wings to hover above the ground, now getting to eye-level with Berten. He raised his fists again as he prepared for the fight to continue and Rainbow Dash flitted into the trees next to her. Berten kept his guard up and his watchful eyes on her colorful form as she flew through the trees at high-speed. Seemingly going around randomly and just dipping and squeezing through the tight forest for a few seconds she suddenly came out and shot right at him. Once more just going straight on at him while he had his guard up.

Berten grinned, how foolish could she be? She was just trying the same thing over and over again. She should know by now that it wouldn’t work, perhaps after he shrugged her off again she’d finally give up. Stupid overconfident pony.

For half a second before she hit him, he thought his vision had gone blurry. But it wasn’t that, he realized. She had gone so fast he couldn’t fully register her. His eyes had trouble keeping up.

The next thing he knew a hoof impacted his stomach and Berten wheezed while sliding backwards through the mud and dirt until he smashed into a tree. The trunk cracked and Berten coughed in pain.

“Gah!” Berten grunted and caught his breath. He angrily glared up at the pegasus now hovering in front of him, a cocky, smug, smirk on her face. “What… how can you… how can you move like that?”

“I’m just awesome like that. Ready for more?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

Berten clenched his teeth but kept his fists raised. “That was hardly enough to stop me.”

“I know, I’m not just stopping with that though,” Rainbow started to fly around again in the dense forest, occasionally rising above the treetops for some extra space to fly.

Ready and aware of what she can do now, Berten focused harder on her movements. His pupils shrank down and he somehow forced his eyes to follow and keep up with her. There was no way he was going to lose her again. He wouldn’t even blink.

She came shooting at his back from above. Berten pivoted around and brought an arm up, blocking her hoof strike and truly feeling all the force she could muster behind it. That was a big difference from when she was just on the ground. His arm didn’t buckle, or break, but he felt the impact strongly all the same. And before he could retaliate, Rainbow kicked off him and flew around to his side, punching him there right below the ribs. Berten took it with just a small grunt and tried to bring an elbow down on her head but Rainbow Dash flapped backwards to avoid it. It was annoying how quick and small she was. Even in this cramped forest she could move too easily.

The next time she came around she threw several punches towards his head in quick succession. Berten had both the skill and reflexes to duck and dodge away from her punches but all the ones he returned towards her were equally dodged. His fists may have been moving like lightning but at best they only matched Rainbow’s hooves.

She quickly flew around to his back and while he was still in the middle of turning—though his eyes and brain could keep up with her his body just couldn’t turn as fast—she kicked him stiffly in the small of his back. Berten lurched forward and almost fell to the ground before catching himself, his hands sunk to the ground and he pushed himself up, doing a front-flip and landing safely. He could hear Rainbow coming at him again and now turned just in time to block her next punch with his forearm. The fight continued like that with her constantly pressuring him and him being able to barely block the attacks or just take them. She didn’t give him the opportunity to retaliate and Berten wasn’t sure he could hit her anyways. Rainbow Dash seemed to have limitless energy as she peppered his body with minor blows, the extra strength from her wings adding up to actually make Berten scowl as he started to feel the pain and fatigue from them.

So Berten jumped back and smashed his fist into a nearby tree, spraying bark and splinters of wood everywhere. He grabbed some while they were in the air and threw them at Rainbow Dash as she came at him.

Not relegated to simple ground movements though, Rainbow Dash was able to easily fly under the broken pieces of wood he flung at her. She came up from below towards his face and Berten threw a punch down at her. Rainbow turned to the side to avoid it and kept flying up, bringing her hoof up and delivering a devastating uppercut to the Troll’s chin.

Berten’s eyes shut tightly as she popped him off his feet and for the first time so far he fell back and was knocked to the ground. His heavy body made the ground around him quake and Berten grunted in pain before looking up at the pegasus hovering above him.

“Still not enough, is it?” Rainbow said.

Berten hopped back to his feet immediately and threw a barrage of punches at her—rage and sheer determination powering his body. He attacked with a totally renewed fury that even surprised Rainbow Dash and she was having a harder time weaving in and out of his punches. A few times his fists scraped her body and feathers. On one powerful swing she ducked under his fist and quickly punched him half a dozen times in the stomach but her merely took them all and tried smashing his fists down on her head once more.

Rainbow jetted away from that and kicked Berten in the side to make him stumble into the bushes and against some of the trees. The Troll rebounded in a second and came at her again—despite knowing Rainbow had so many advantages with the ability of flight.

It was something that she had to give him credit for, he was going all out. He had to realize how badly things were going now that she could fly again. That he didn’t really have any way of beating her when she was serious and even throwing stuff like they were missiles wasn’t working anymore. But he wasn’t giving up.

It was respectable. It was the kind of thing that really lit a fire in her.

Rainbow Dash kicked aside one of his punches and used the momentum to spin around and kick Berten in the side of the head with her other back leg. Knowing that wouldn’t be enough to really stop him, she immediately followed it up by flying behind his back and kicking between his shoulder blades. To finish off the trio of attacks—as soon as he stumbled forward from the kick to his back—she shot around to his front and jammed an elbow into his gut.

Berten clenched his teeth as he took a couple of steps back before he narrowed his eyes in fury at her and sent a haphazard haymaker towards her head.

It was easy to avoid. But Rainbow wasn’t satisfied just doing that.

Instead, as his fist passed by her head, Rainbow Dash grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm over her shoulder. To his surprise she pulled him off his feet and swung him around. It was even a bit of a surprise to Rainbow Dash that she was actually strong enough to lift him and do this. She couldn’t manage it for long but it’s not like she was planning on really “carrying” him. Just throwing him around using leverage and momentum mostly.

With a vein bulging out of her neck, Rainbow Dash swung him into a tree—and when that was smashed to pieces she swung him into the tree behind that one. And finally after that second tree was also obliterated, she let go and Berten collided with a large boulder, sending cracks throughout it.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and dropped to her hooves while Berten slid forward and fell to his knees, then onto his face.

She stared at him for a few seconds. Breathing heavily. Not blinking. He didn’t move.

She turned around. “Okay then-”

“Not yet.”

Rainbow Dash turned back to see Berten pushing himself to his knees.

“You know I was going to give you a big speech on embracing friendship once you woke up again,” Rainbow said to him, sighing.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Berten growled. A bit of blood dribbled down the side of his head as he stood up straight and glared defiantly at her. “It doesn’t matter how many times you hit me or knock me down. I will not give up until I have returned my kingdom to the way it should be. I gave my whole life to them, I was their greatest subject, everything I am is because of that society that was torn down by traitors and ponies! And I will not let it go away! I will not let things stand as they are! I don’t care what I need to do, where I need to go, how long I need to fight, I will return my true kingdom! My loyalty will not die. MY LOYALTY WILL NOT DIE!” Berten bellowed loudly, shaking the trees and all the leaves around them.

Rainbow Dash stared into his eyes for a little while. Neither of them making another move yet.

She took a deep breath and gave him a slight nod.

“Being loyal like that… is something I can appreciate. But loyalty like yours deserves something in return. Respect, acknowledgment, friendship, equality. Things I know you never got,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “I know loyalty. I’ve experienced and seen a lot of different kinds of loyalty over the years, over the course of my journey around the entire world too. When you’re loyal to something… you don’t ask for anything in return. You shouldn’t go into it expecting anything in return. Because that means being loyal for the wrong reason. But they’re things you naturally get out of everything you put in! Things that anyone or anything worth being loyal to will always reward you with!”

Rainbow Dash was frowning, anger and pity both mixed in her eyes as she stared down Berten. “Did you ever get the acknowledgment you wanted—that you deserved after being so loyal, so much better than your peers, for so long? When no one in the world could’ve possibly blamed you if you had turned your back on it all, turned your back on the world that had turned its back on you first. But you wanted to prove yourself, you had to be acknowledged by them, so you embraced loyalty fiercer than any Troll. But was the loyalty ever returned? Was it?”

She watched as Berten’s expression wavered and his fists lowered slightly. There was pain, anger, sorrow, all of it and more rolling about in turmoil inside him. He grit his teeth and Rainbow almost thought she saw tears welling in his eyes. “It was… it was not. It didn’t matter what I did… but I can’t turn my back on it. I can’t give up! If I do… I’m nothing. My entire life has been to seek that acknowledgment, to prove they were wrong to cast me out and look down on me! If they’re gone… if it’s gone… they can never...”

“You can be something. Something new. You always can,” Rainbow told him. “Your loyalty deserves better.”

Berten’s eyes shifted from side to side, struggling internally he shook his head. “It’s not that easy. I am… the things I’ve done… and to give up, to betray the cause I’ve fought for for so long, it would be betraying everything I’ve believed in. I can’t throw away my loyalty like that.”

He stood up straight and stared her down—casting aside his doubt and inner turmoil for now and preparing to finish this fight.

“You’re not throwing it away. The ones who never gave you what you deserved for it threw it away a long time ago. If it’s just going to you, to someone else, anyone that will respect it is better,” Rainbow said. She sighed afterwards and hovered up, holding her hooves in front of her face and getting into a fighting stance herself. “But I get it. Sometimes you need to be broken down before you can be built back up.”

She smirked. “And I’ll give you one thing. You may not be some huge monster, have any crazy magical powers, or an army standing behind you. But you-” she pointed at him. “Are the strongest guy I’ve ever fought. Let’s finish this.”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air again before shooting right at him. Berten reacted quickly. He reached over and grabbed a tree, sinking his fingers into the wood of the trunk, and lifted. Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide as he pulled the entire tree, roots and all, right out of the ground. Swinging it like a bat he smashed the leafy branches right into her and caught her inside it. She was tangled up in all the branches as he let it go tumbling to the ground and tried to jump on top of her and pummel her into submission while she was stuck.

Rainbow freed herself at the last second and flew up right as Berten obliterated the trunk of the tree beneath his feet. Splintered wood shot everywhere as it sounded like a bomb just went off. Berten backhanded some of the pieces of wood and knocked them towards Rainbow Dash—who didn’t see that coming. She had to fly down slightly to avoid the splinters but that put her right in the path of his fist.

For the first time in a while he landed a real hit on her.

His powerful fist plowed into her stomach as he punched her to the ground. Rainbow Dash bounced three times off the muddy ground before she hit a tree and came to a stop, groaning in pain.

She heard him running at her without any hesitation.

Rainbow Dash flew up into the air right before his fists slammed into the ground where she had been. He threw another punch at her fleeing form but just barely couldn’t reach her. She quickly tried to fly around to his back and kick him but he ducked under her—acting purely on his ears. A blind punch was thrown at her that she dodged away from before spinning down and getting in front of him again. He brought his fists up as she jumped at him and the two of them traded punch after punch—Rainbow Dash mainly avoiding or turning aside his punches but also hitting his outstretched arms and trying to bruise and weaken them whenever she could.

Berten treated every little punch like that as nothing more than a mosquito bite though. He didn’t slow down or lessen his assault at all. If anything he was even faster than before.

One punch couldn’t be turned away fully and it grazed along Rainbow Dash’s cheek, sending her flying away. She managed to still land on her hooves and only slid around on the muddy ground for a bit before stopping.

Berten was standing in the same spot, catching his breath and glaring at her. Rainbow Dash decided the frontal approach was still the most fun. She shot off from the ground with enough force to send mud and rocks flying in every direction and slammed a hoof into his stomach. The Troll slid back slightly but didn’t double over or so much as grunt. He probably could’ve blocked it or tried to dodge. But instead he just let her hit him as a show of strength.

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and punched him again and again, dozens of times right into his stomach while propelling herself with her wings. She continuously pushed him back through the muddy ground but Berten just took it all. At last he got tired of her efforts and smacked her away.

She rebounded off a tree and fell to her hooves, wiping some sweat from her brow she prepared to attack again. She didn’t need to wait though as this time he came at her again. One fist creating a crater in the ground. A second fist creating a crater. She jumped away from both of them and flew up to kick Berten in the head. His head snapped back but he kept his eyes open and as Rainbow Dash tried to hit him again he blocked her with a forearm. His own punch towards her was blocked by her hooves crossed in front of her chest that only blasted her back a few feet in the air.

Several more times Rainbow Dash dove in at him lightning quick, striking at his arms, shoulders, chest, and head while avoiding getting any direct hits returned on her. She knew she was wearing him down even though he was trying not to show it. The repeated hits to his head and his body—even with his crazy determination—were hurting him. She could see the mounting frustration and lack of coordination in his attacks that he directed at her.

And still she had to give him respect for not giving up or hesitating.

His arm came at her like a wrecking ball and she just barely ducked under it before landing a devastating kick in his side, right under his ribs. Berten crashed through another tree with his large bulk and as the trunk was coming down he grabbed it and threw it at her. Rainbow Dash hopped over and kicked off it—punching him in the face. Berten roared in anger and brought his fists down on her, slamming the closed fists on her head.

She felt an intense pain in her head as she was slammed into the ground and everything went black for a split-second. When her vision came back it was blurry and there was ringing in her ears. It didn’t slow her down. Rainbow looked up to see Berten pulling his fist back to finish her. She shot up with surprising speed and uppercutted him in the chin.

The Troll stumbled back and into the same cracked boulder Rainbow Dash had flung him into earlier. He composed himself quickly and threw another punch at her but Rainbow went inside his reach and kicked him in the crook of his elbow to knock his arm away. She then delivered two quick punches to his face, one with her left and one with her right. But Berten’s eyes were still alight with fire and he tried grabbing her to crush the life out of Rainbow Dash.

She stopped flying. She let her wings drop and landed on the ground before springing right back up and this time punching him hard enough in the stomach to make him double over. Berten’s chin was wide open and she made a wing assisted jump to deliver the most powerful uppercut of her life. The Troll went snapping back up but Rainbow Dash wasn’t finished. She got eye to eye with him and grabbed him beside the head with both her hooves—pulled her head back—and headbutted him so loudly it sounded like two icebergs smashing together.

Berten was thrown backwards into the boulder with enough force to shatter it completely. A rain of broken rocks erupted through the forest as Berten flew through it and finally landed on the ground, on his back, bouncing once before coming to a stop. His eyes were closed, his hands open and unclenched, arms spread wide, unmoving beside the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Rainbow Dash fell to her knees and took a deep breath, lowering her bleeding head and clenching her shaking hooves. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH—VICTORY!”

Friends

Tyluck sighed as he sat in the mud, wishing he could do something right now but being forced to wait for someone else to come around and help him. There wasn’t even anything for them to do to pass the time. It was just three Trolls, bored, annoyed, and hoping that their new friend was okay. Tyluck certainly had a lot of negative thoughts mulling about in his mind, it would be disastrous if Berten somehow escaped from them again. And even worse if Rainbow Dash ended up wounded.

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself after such a colossal failure. He’d never be able to look the Trolls back in the kingdom or any other ponies in the eye again.

And all he could do about it was sigh and hope for the best.

They had heard some sounds for a brief time but now it was quiet up there aside from the occasional rumble of thunder and the sound of wind picking up. Thankfully it hadn’t started to rain on them but it looked like that might be approaching with every second. A miserable experience down in this muddy hole to match their moods if it actually started to pour before they were rescued.

Tyluck shook his head and leaned back against the wall of the hole to at least attempt to relax. He didn’t care about getting any dirtier.

“Hey down there! You guys need a hoof?”

Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal looked up to see a smiling Fizzlepop Berrytwist surrounded by Storm Creatures looking down at them.

“Most definitely!” Tyluck shouted up. “You’re certainly a sight for sore eyes, Fizzlepop!”

“Just had a feeling something had happened… been looking around for a little while and we finally found you. I’ll have you out of there soon somehow,” Fizzlepop said, her eyes looked between the three of them and she frowned. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Tyluck frowned as well. “Oh, I was hoping you had already found her too… she went off to chase down and fight Berten alone.”

Fizzlepop bit her lip. “I hope she’s okay...”

“Me too.”

Berten groaned and opened up his eyes, his entire body and most of all his head hurting quite a bit. There was a blurry and very colorful shape standing right over him and a few more blinks revealed it to be the pony he had been fighting. She was smiling. He could’ve sat up, or perhaps even tried to attack her, but instead he merely stared back at her.

“How are you feeling?”

“The physical pain is nothing compared to the knowledge that I lost.”

Rainbow Dash wryly grinned. “Kind of figured you’d say something like that.”

Berten sighed. “Doesn’t even matter… nothing matters anymore. You defeated me, and if even a single pony could do that it means everything was pointless and bound to fail anyways. And now I’ll simply be returned to the kingdom, in chains, and thrown into the dungeons once more. Fitting at least. I can’t say I don’t understand the irony of the situation and how the rest of my life will be spent.” He glanced into her eyes. “You understand as well don’t you, after learning about me, pony?”

“Yeah—you tracked down slaves and brought them back to the castle or whatever, right?” Rainbow Dash said. “And my name is Rainbow Dash, I’ve already told you that, you can use my name Berten.”

“Pony names are silly… and you don’t feel any hatred or disgust towards me for what I did? You aren’t laughing at how now I will be treated the same way—even worse maybe—than all those runaway slaves I caught?”

Rainbow Dash briefly looked up, thinking as deeply as she usually did. “You did some awful stuff. You worked for an awful kingdom. But no, I don’t hate you. The only way I would would be if you kept being that same Troll after day.”

Berten frowned. “What are you talking about you madpony?”

“Heh. Well you didn’t lose any of your edge after that headbutt, that’s for sure.” She smiled back at him. “How can I hate a guy who never knew what friendship is? Who never had anyone to help him out when he was at his worst? Who just wanted to feel like his life was worth something—but only had awful Trolls who could give him the acknowledgment and respect he craved. You’re smart enough to know what you did was bad, so I can’t say you’re blameless, but you didn’t have much a chance to begin with. I’m offering you that chance now. I’m telling you to be better, and I hope you’ll see that it’s a lot more enjoyable of a way to live. Just… don’t turn your back on it. Don’t do it when you’ve finally got someone here who wants to help you. Who wants to give you that friendship that you needed more than anything.”

“What’s so great about friendship?” Berten grumbled. “And what sort of silly life would I lead now, after giving up, losing everything...”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and plopped down right next to him, on her back, her eyes looking up at the sky. “You ever just lay back and look at the sky sometimes? Just let yourself have a lazy moment where you aren’t doing anything—even if you have something to do—and watch the clouds or check out the stars if it’s night?”

Berten breathed heavily a few more times but didn’t answer.

“It’s kind of a cruddy sight right now though… can barely see through the trees and it’s just a bunch of dark clouds. Dumb Stormlands...” Rainbow frowned.

“Back when I was younger,” Berten said, blinking at the sky. “Back when I was younger… in the wilderness… I had many quiet nights where all I did was stare at the sky. I don’t know why I did it.”

“You don’t need to know. Just like you don’t need to know everything about what’s coming next. Sometimes it’s fun to figure things out yourself, find something new and exciting that you never would’ve expected. Aren’t you a little curious about what the big, bad, Berten will do now that he doesn’t have to do such awful stuff anymore? Who knows, maybe you’ll find you really like painting, or basket-weaving considering how good you are with making those traps. It’s going to be your life, you’ll figure something out.”

Berten chuckled without humor. “So you say but in reality I’ll just be in a dungeon for the rest of it.”

“No you won’t be,” Rainbow Dash turned her head to look at him. “I promise. I’ll convince them to not throw away the key… it’s not… it’s not my kingdom or anything, and they’re probably going to want to imprison you for a while yeah, but it won’t be forever. I get the feeling they’ll be pretty willing to listen to me too.

“Such a strange pony you are… willing to do these sorts of things,” Berten shook his head.

“It’s called doing what’s right. I think you understand that, even if you probably feel a little spiteful to the idea. Besides, I know a certain school in Ponyville that’s a way more fitting place for you than any dungeon,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“You wish for me to go to school? Now I’ve heard everything...”

“Don’t knock it until you try it, I’m serious. Besides it’ll be easier to find a new life for you in Equestria. I bet there are a ton of new things you’ll enjoy, and it’s the perfect place to make friends and have new experiences. And come on, help me out here a little, give me an idea. You have to have a hobby or some kind of food you like or something? You didn’t spend all your time working, did you? Tell me something and I’ll help you find it in Equestria.”

Berten blinked a few more times at the sky. Rainbow Dash for a moment thought he wasn’t going to respond.

“There was a beverage I enjoyed.”

Rainbow smiled. “Yeah? What was it?”

“Apple fire. A spicy apple-based beverage. I didn’t have it often, but it was quite tasty.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide. “Wait, really? You’re serious right now?!”

Berten quizzically looked at her. “Of course I am.”

“Then that settles it. As soon as you come to Equestria, I’m taking you to Sweet Apple Acres and we’re having a mug of cider together. You’ll love it, I promise,” Rainbow grinned.

“How silly… it will still be a long time until then,” Berten said.

“Meh. I can wait. And I promise, I’ll be right there for you once you’re out. What are friends for?” Rainbow shrugged.

Berten just stared at her. That honest, smiling face. A pony who had beaten him completely in both body and spirit. A pony he had only recently just met, with no relation to him, who had put everything on the line and was earnestly trying to help him.

“What are friends for?” He said. “I wouldn’t know. But… having some friends… spending the day just watching the clouds go by… it doesn’t sound so bad.” A smile, not a smirk or sneer, but a true smile, spread across his face. “Hehehe… it doesn’t sound so bad at all.”

Say Hi to Twilight for Me

Rainbow Dash grumbled as a fresh new bandage was wrapped around her left wing to keep her from opening it again. Not that she could really complain with how painfully it throbbed. She had been running on pure adrenaline and forcing herself to ignore the pain from it, but the wing simply hadn’t fully healed yet when she tore the old bandage off. Now she was dealing with the consequences of her action—at least a few extra days would have to be spent here on the island before she could fly again.

At least things with Berten were taken care of. Tyluck, Tyval and Tornal were all okay too after being found by Fizzlepop and rescued from their hole.

Berten came back willingly to the Storm King’s old castle. Though surprised, everyone was willing to take Rainbow Dash’s words that he didn’t need to be chained up. However, he was now in a private cell by his lonesome. Rainbow knew it would go this way but she still felt pretty bad, she was going to have to drop in and say goodbye to him before she left. Or he left with the others. Whichever came first.

Tyluck trusted her but sense still dictated that Berten needed to be imprisoned until they were ready to leave. She couldn’t blame him. The history they had… the history Berten had with the kingdom. It was too much to really just ignore. Berten for his part didn’t complain or have a problem with it, both he and Rainbow Dash knew it was coming and knew more was coming once he was returned to his homeland. She’d have to talk with Tyluck more to make sure whoever was in charge of the Troll Kingdom knew what she had talked about with Berten. There was no way she was letting him get thrown into a dungeon there forever.

He’d do his time as punishment for some of the bad things he had done in the past (and on this island) but at the end of it he’d have a new life. A clean record.

As soon as he was out she wanted to be notified. It would be fun for her to go grab some apple cider and introduce a new creature to the School of Friendship anyways. Keeping her promise about being a good friend was also a nice bonus.

That would be a pretty long time in the future though by the sound of it.

Rainbow Dash sighed, wondering what she would do now for the rest of the time she was stuck here in the Stormlands.

The Storm Creature that had been wrapping her wing finally finished up before giving her an affectionate pat on the head and a thumbs up.

“Thanks dude,” Rainbow Dash smiled at him. “I promise I won’t take them off before my wing’s fully healed this time… probably.”

He grunted and turned to leave the room—a makeshift infirmary. Rainbow Dash let herself fall back on the bed she had been sitting on and looked up at the ceiling. In a minute she should probably head out and let Fizzlepop and the Trolls know she was okay. Right now though she kind of just wanted to ponder how her journey had gone lately and how close she was to finally making it back home. She was basically done. Less than a day after leaving here she’d be able to make it to the southern coast of the continent and then she’d practically be flying over Equestrian skies a few days after that too.

There was barely anything between here and home. Mt. Aris a bit out of the way to the east, but Rainbow had already been there and didn’t plan on visiting now. Then there was, ugh, Klugetown, directly ahead. She’d probably end up hitting that. And then it was really just the Badlands or some other stuff and after that she’d be in southern Equestria.

“Wow. It’s so weird...” Rainbow Dash mumbled.

Who am I going to see first? Who am I going to visit with? Will I get everyone together once I get back to Ponyville so I can tell everybody what I’ve been up to all at once? Maybe I’ll just want to take a nap right when I get home first. Honestly—that sounds pretty dang good.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash chuckled and rolled off the bed. “It really has been a long time. Hope they didn’t get too worried about me or anything.”

She took a big stretch, seeing how the rest of her body was feeling after the fight and some rest. Nothing was really hurt bad like her wing was so at least she didn’t really have to worry about straining anything. She was a bit stiff and sore in places but all in all she’d call herself decent. After sleeping tonight she’d be in top condition aside from her wing. Her stomach was a bit empty at the moment though so she kind of wanted to get something to eat and drink first before she turned in for the night. Though she didn’t really know where to go to get any of that stuff herself, she was going to have to rely on Fizzlepop or Grubber for help with that.

Hoping they were in the old throne room she decided to leave this little infirmary and go look for them there. If they weren’t she’d just have to wait until they found her. Which was kind of unfortunate. This dark old castle wasn’t really a good place for spending time in, what was there to do for fun in here? Nothing, that’s what. Of course it wouldn’t have been any better outside. Everything about the Stormlands was pretty miserable.

She realized she had been pessimistically thinking about what the rest of her stay here was going to be like.

Maybe she had been a little too kind to Berten after what he did to her wing…

“Ugghhhh… everything cool I needed to do here is already taken care of and now I’m going to be stuck on this dumb island for a week?!” Rainbow Dash groaned. “I’m gonna be so bored!”

She did her best to push those negative thoughts away as she made her way to the throne room. One of the only places she actually knew how to reach in here. Thankfully, thankfully, one of the negative things she was worrying about didn’t come to pass. Fizzlepop Berrtytwist and Grubber both were in the throne room along with a number of Storm Beasts. The room was fairly active compared to the last time she was here, a lot of tables had stuff on them and the Storm Beasts were conversing with one another.

Fizzlepop saw her enter and gave her a smile. “Hey, guess you’re doing alright?”

“Sort of,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and walked over. “Wish I could fly right now, but everything else is good. How about you?”

“Well I kind of wish I could’ve helped out more with apprehending the fugitive but I’m happy things have turned out for the better. You must’ve really gotten through to that Troll. He’s different,” Fizzlepop said.

“Just took a page you should recognize from Twilight’s book is all,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Fizzlepop rolled her eyes. “Certainly do. Anyways though it looks like things are going to calm down here, the Storm Creatures can now focus on building their new home.”

“Hope it becomes a great place to live,” Rainbow said.

“I’ll still be helping out for a while to make sure of that,” Fizzlepop nodded.

Rainbow Dash nodded along for a second too before she remembered why she had originally sought the other pony out. “Uhh… by the way, I haven’t eaten anything in a while. There any food in here?”

Grubber belched. “I just ate a salmon but there might be some left over if you want that.”

Rainbow went green in the face. “N-No, something else. Something for ponies to eat.”

“Here,” Fizzlepop said and levitated an apple off one of the tables. She tossed it over to Rainbow Dash. “Have as much as you want.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow grabbed it out of the air and looked it over. A shiny red apple, though a little darker than the ones that could usually be found at Sweet Apple Acres. “I just wanted something before I went to sleep, so this is enough.”

She took a big bite out of it and found it to be disappointingly bland. It might have been an alright apple on average, she didn’t know, but compared to the apples she was used to eating there wasn’t really a comparison at all. Of course she ate the whole thing anyways, getting as far down to the core as she could. She’d had way worse things than a bland apple on this journey around the world and she wasn’t going to spit it out or anything. It filled her stomach up all the same and that was really all she needed. Getting some nutrients in her would make her feel better overnight and even speed up the healing of her wing.

“Going to get some rest now? I kind of recommend it,” Fizzlepop said.

“Mhm,” Rainbow Dash nodded while chewing up the last bits of her apple. She swallowed it down and wiped away the little juice left on her lips. “Gonna be nice getting a real bed to sleep in again. I can still use that same room I woke up in here?”

“Of course, it’s just the way you left it, you can use it the rest of the time you’re here,” Fizzlepop said.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Well no offense but I kind of hope that isn’t that long. I’d like to get back out there and finally make my way back home.”

“I get it. But while you’re here we’ll still give you the best hospitality we can,” Fizzlepop smiled.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said before yawning. “Guess I’m more beat than I thought…”

“I was thinking of getting some sleep soon too. We’ve both been up for a while.”

“Seriously…”

“You two have fun then, I’m gonna get some more food to eat,” Grubber said, snapping his fingers and pointing at them before waddling over to another table.

Fizzlepop sighed and shook her head while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

As it turned out, the Trolls wanted to leave the Stormlands and return to their home as soon as possible. So early in the morning the very next day everyone had gathered at a small, broken down, dock on the west side of the island where a boat was waiting to leave with them. Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal would be sailing it back themselves with Berten captive onboard.

And as was the luck of everyone out here right now—the rain that had been threatening to fall for days had finally made its entrance. It was a monsoon. Pouring down incredibly hard and unrelentingly on all of them. The Storm Beasts had brought some big umbrellas and were holding them up for everyone, but it didn’t protect them against it all, especially when the wind came in.

Rainbow Dash stood in front of Tyluck, smiling at him. “You guys have a safe trip back, alright? You’re not worried about the weather?”

He shrugged. “We’ve dealt with worse before.”

“If you say so,” Rainbow said and looked past Tyluck at the other three Trolls.

Berten was standing between Tyval and Tornal. Shackles on his wrists.

“Are those really necessary?” Rainbow frowned up at Tyluck.

“I asked for them,” Berten said. “After spending so much of my life putting others in chains, I felt it was a fitting punishment. I will willingly wear these while I am imprisoned. It is only fair.”

Rainbow sighed. “I mean… if that’s what you want. I think it’s kind of excessive...”

Berten smiled to her. “It’s alright, you needn’t worry about it. This is only my penance.” He glanced to Tyluck. “And because of you I believe I will not even be imprisoned for that long anyways.”

“We owe much to the ponies of Equestria. Your words and recommendations hold much weight,” Tyluck said.

“You think your King or whoever makes the decision about Berten will listen to what I’ve said?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“Most certainly—King Terluff is a great, and kind, ruler,” Tyluck nodded.

“It will be an awkward reunion,” Berten wistfully sighed. “But I now have much to look forward to when I am released. I will enjoy traveling to your home and seeing you again, Rainbow Dash.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it too. And there’s always going to be a spot open for you at Princess Twilight’s School of Friendship,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

“Thank you,” Berten said. He looked up at the rainy sky. “We should depart now, no sense standing in the rain anymore than we have to.”

“Agreed,” Tyluck nodded. “Goodbye everyone, thank you for your help.”

“Goodbye, take care. Tell the Troll King he’s welcome to visit anytime,” Fizzlepop said and waved to them.

“Same for Equestria,” Rainbow Dash said.

As they started to walk back onto their boat, Berten briefly looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash—my first friend.”

“Goodbye, Berten. I’ll see you soon,” Rainbow waved to him and also to the others. “You too, Tyluck, Tyval, and Tornal. It was cool hanging out together. Maybe next time I’m in the area we can go kick the butt of some monsters messing up your island.”

Tyluck laughed. “Hahahaha, I would not refuse that offer, it sounds like a fun time. Until we meet again, Rainbow Dash.”

He and the others stepped onto their boat and quickly raised the sail before Tyval and Tornal dipped large paddles into the water and started pushing away from the dock and into open waters. She hoped they really were going to be safe in that thing, it didn’t look like much. But if they had gotten here in it in the first place it meant they probably had already dealt with a lot of bad weather beforehand. From the brief time she had known them she knew the Trolls to be quite resourceful, she wouldn’t doubt them any longer. If they could safely navigate away from the treacherous, rocky, waters around the Storm King’s island then everything else after that should be considered smooth sailing. So she stood there on the dock, waving for quite a long while. She could make out all four of them on the boat and wondered if they were talking about anything. Were they trying to get along with Berten? Did they feel awkward? Did he just want to stay quiet until he got back home?

She put her hoof down and just watched when the boat became nothing more than a dot on the ocean.

When it disappeared entirely she sighed and turned around, getting ready to walk all the way back to the castle.

“I know it’s just because you’re bored, and not because you’re disappointed, but you’d think you’d be in a better mood right now,” Fizzlepop said from beside her.

“I’m happy for them,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “But yeah—time to be bored until my wing heals all the way. I’ve never liked sitting in one spot, doing nothing, when I could be going somewhere else. This place doesn’t need me anymore. And I’ve always left as soon as I was no longer needed, I would learn fun stuff, stop any bad guys that needed stopping, and then moved on. Now I’m stuck without anything to do or look forward to until I leave again.”

“Eat and sleep all day,” Fizzlepop suggested.

“Normally I’d be fine with that, just not when I want to keep moving and finally get back to Equestria. You don’t know this but I love taking a nap and chillaxing. It’s just impossible to do that when there’s something else I want to do way more.”

“Good luck on surviving the next week then.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Thanks.”

The long walk back to the castle was one where they were constantly accompanied by the rain. If anything it seemed to get worse and huge streams of water were dripping off the large umbrellas carried by the Storm Creatures. Rainbow was pretty sure that it could easily rain everyday for the next week by the look of the sky. Typical Stormlands apparently. There weren’t any trees or dirt on the path to and from the castle either, just rocks and slippery steps carved into the cliffs. Water practically cascaded down the steps thanks to how heavy the rain was so they had to be cautious even just walking up it like this. What Rainbow Dash wouldn’t give for both her wings to be okay right now. The Storm Creatures were still doing their best to keep the two ponies from getting soaked but at this point Rainbow wouldn’t mind if they gave up completely.

It took them well over an hour before they did finally make it back to the castle and Rainbow Dash simply wasn’t really in the mood to do anything else. The sound of the pounding rain couldn’t be kept out even by the thick stone walls. If anything it seemed to make everything louder, and now there was rolling thunder and even stronger wind to go along with it. She couldn’t even go outside and run around like this with hurricane winds, super heavy rain, and lightning coming down.

She walked back to her room and plopped down on the bed. “Ugh!”

Maybe it would be best to just sleep the rest of the day. Even though she was feeling so anxious actually falling asleep would be tough. But the more rest she got the sooner her wing would heal. Sleeping an entire afternoon away would probably help quicken that up. And if it didn’t? Well what was she missing here anyways?

Closing her eyes to try and force sleep to come on—she ended up drifting off far easier than she expected.

Day one: it rained and she did nothing besides wander around the castle and found a bunch of spiderwebs.

Day two: it rained some more and she counted how many different lightning strikes she saw through the windows.

Day three: it somehow rained even harder than it already had been and the castle nearly flooded.

Day four: she, Fizzlepop, and Grubber played tic-tac-toe since there wasn’t a single deck of cards in all the Stormlands.

Day five: she slept in.

Day six: she went outside despite how horrible the weather still was just because she needed something else to do. Drenched and disheveled, she quickly came back inside.

Day seven: it was still raining. But now at least her wing was finally being looked over by one of the Storm Creatures.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at the Storm Creature as he prodded and examined her wing, now free of its bandages. “It feels fine so is it fine? Is it back to normal?”

The Storm Creature looked at the wing for a moment longer before grunting.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“He says it’s healthy. You can start flying again,” Fizzlepop helpfully explained.

“Alright!” Rainbow Dash shouted in joy and immediately jumped into the air, buzzing around the ceiling of the room on her wings. Any use of her wings felt great right now. To be in the air, to feel her blood rushing through them and a little air current ruffling her feathers. Celestia did she miss that. Another week of no flying and bad weather and she might have gone totally insane.

She came down from the ceiling but still hovered in the air a foot above the floor, getting the most out of her freshly healed wings.

“Having fun?” Fizzlepop grinned.

“You bet!” Rainbow grinned right back. “Feels so good to be able to use my wings again.”

“So you’ll be leaving right now? You’ve kind of been saying you would...” Fizzlepop said.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Oh yeah—I’m out of here! Uh, no offense or anything.”

“None taken,” Fizzlepop snorted in amusement and the Storm Creature just grunted. “But are you sure you want to go exactly right now? The storm is still going on and it’s raining like crazy.”

“If a little rain was enough to keep me from flying then I’d never have gotten anywhere in the first place. Going through a storm is nothing—the only problem was not being able to fly in the first place,” Rainbow confidently stated, puffing out her chest.

“Well it’s not like I don’t believe you. You’re a pretty incredible pony, I just want you to be as safe as you wished the Trolls to be when they left in the middle of this,” Fizzlepop said.

“Fair enough,” Rainbow agreed.

“Going to miss having you around though. I know the past week was boring to you but it was a little more fun with another pony here,” Fizzlepop shrugged.

“Yeah, sorry that you’ll only have Grubber around again...”

Fizzlepop threw her head back and laughed. “Hah! Don’t worry about that, I’m used to him too.”

“Well since I’m going back to Equestria do you have anything you want me to tell Twilight? Anything you want to say to her?” Rainbow asked.

“Hmm...” Fizzlepop thought for a second before she simply shook her head and smiled. “Just tell her that I say hi. If I want to talk about anything more important I’ll come back to Equestria myself some day.”

Rainbow Dash saluted with a smile. “Can do.”

“Want some food before you leave though? Might be a little while before you can eat anything else,” Fizzlepop suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s get something tasty.”

Instead of going to the throne room like they normally did to eat, Fizzlepop and Rainbow Dash walked up to one of the higher levels of the castle where Rainbow could quickly leave from once she was done. There were a few towers reaching up from the roof of the castle with open balconies and Rainbow could fly up and off any one of them. For now though they stopped in a high up room that already had tables in chairs in it, while the pair of Storm Creatures that had come with them dropped off some food.

They actually had real sandwiches to eat this time. Just water to drink though so it’s not like it was too fancy, but better than just eating a freshly pulled carrot.

Despite wanting to get out of here, Rainbow didn’t rush through the meal. She was still friends with Fizzlepop and didn’t want to be rude. If she swallowed her sandwich in one bite and flew off without saying anything her friends would never forgive her. And Fizzlepop clearly could still use and deserved the company. The past week had only been bearable thanks to the fact she was around. If the unicorn wasn’t here, Rainbow probably would’ve lied down in the rain outside until she was washed away. Still, despite the fact that they were about to say goodbye, they mostly kept quiet as they ate their sandwiches. They didn’t have much to talk about and Fizzlepop was naturally fairly reticent.

Both of them were fine just eating in peace. Enjoying their food until Rainbow Dash finally got up and left.

Outside they could both hear the intense storm still raging. Rainbow saw the hard flying she would need to get through it as a fun challenge after being grounded for so long.

“I hope you get home safe from here, I know your friends are going to be happy to see you after so long,” Fizzlepop suddenly said.

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Oh yeah, they’re gonna go just as crazy as I am.” She then tilted her head and thought for a second. “And… honestly I think this is it for me? Technically I’d say my journey is over already. I mean, I’m back to where I’ve already been. I’m basically home—and I know for sure that I’m not going to suddenly run into an ancient civilization that needs my help, or find myself in the middle of a war, or find a dictator that needs to be stopped, or an evil pirate, or get involved in some search for a powerful magical artifact up in Equestria. All the stuff that I left Equestria in search for… I won’t find anymore of it. And I’m fine with that, cause I’ve done all I needed to, and helped the world and so many creatures in it. Now the only thing to do is make it all the way back so I can say I’m the first pony to fly all the way around the world—just for my own ego. Heh, not a bad way to end things.”

“Then have a fun final leg. Enjoy the nice flight as soon as you’re out of the Stormlands,” Fizzlepop smiled.

“Oh I will.”

Rainbow Dash finished the sandwich she had been eating and took a deep breath. Contemplatively she looked down at the table before spreading her wings and hovering into the air. “Well, I think I’m ready to go. It was great seeing you again—even if your old name was way cooler.”

Fizzlepop snorted. “Thank you, it was nice seeing you again too.”

Rainbow flashed her a grin. “I’ll see you later.”

Ocean Waves

Rain and wind beat down against Rainbow Dash as she flew away from the Stormlands. It was as she expected, and though she was only a short distance from the Storm King’s Island, it was already impossible to see if she turned back to look at it. Dark clouds, fog, and rain blocked it off entirely. She wasn’t going to take things slowly though. She wanted to be hitting the coast by this time tomorrow. That stony shoreline would be a welcome, familiar, sight. The first truly familiar sight since she had left the Crystal Empire behind to be honest.

Rainbow Dash could hardly believe it.

It was something she was really looking forward to.

Partially because she had long grown tired of flying over oceans.

The clouds rumbled loudly over her head and Rainbow briefly glanced up at them to make sure she wasn’t in danger of being struck by lightning. There didn’t seem to be much lightning though the winds were starting to form vortexes and waterspouts in front of her. Looking down at the ocean she saw how violently it was raging thanks to this storm, the waves at the mercy of the heavy weather. She wished she had a raincoat or her usual Wonderbolts uniform right now.

If she flew any higher right now she’d be blind in the dark storm clouds so she wanted to just stay right below them. That way she could at least tell when she was close to getting out of the storm. She might later decide to fly down closer to the ocean’s surface though, maybe have some fun going in and out of the waves, being a dare-devil and just barely avoiding when they came crashing down. Having some extra fun while flying could make up for being stuck on her hooves for so long. The wind and rain trying to beat her down was actually welcome right now—she enjoyed beating it. Proving to the world what an awesome flier she was.

The hurricane force winds pulled at her mane and tail pretty intensely, the only thing really annoying. The rain wasn’t much of a bother once you were already wet. Not like she could possibly get more soaked than she already was a few seconds into flying.

She wanted to get totally out of this storm, leave the area that could be called the Stormlands behind, before she rested or slept for the night. There weren’t any islands that she knew of between here and the coast so she’d have to make a bed of clouds. And to do that she needed clouds that weren’t stormy like these ones all around her. So flying against the wind and the hard rain without pause was what she needed to do for the rest of the day.

Fizzlepop was smart to recommend her having something to eat before she left. Her stomach would be growling right now if it wasn’t for those sandwiches.

Full stomach, healthy wings, full of energy, this storm didn’t stand a chance against her.

Rainbow Dash grinned and flapped her wings harder, springing out ahead at a faster pace. Sometimes she just had little bursts like this. Any thought that put her in a good mood and a put a smile on her face led to even more energy filling her body.

Humming to herself she decided to put that earlier thought into motion and dove down at a steady slope towards the ocean. The waves were so large and frantic that it reminded her of the few storms she had been in back on the Grand Ocean. She could see the Heart of Azure fighting its way over the water in her mind…

That brought back good memories. The weather was bad, but the memories were good.

She made it low enough where the tips of the highest waves could reach her and smash her down into the water if she wasn’t careful. Of course, she was Rainbow Dash, and she could easily fly around here without a problem. It was just another obstacle course—and not a particularly dangerous one at that. The violent waves did try and reach up to claim her but a single lazy flap was all she needed to move just out of their range.

Howling wind blew against her from every direction—sometimes all at once—and the rain poured hard onto her back no matter how far she flew for now. A waterspout in front of her swirled around on top of the ocean, almost tall enough to reach the clouds. Rainbow Dash flew past it, feeling the currents in the wind trying to draw her in. She fought against it, not fully at first, not wanting the fun to end so quickly. The winding waterspout was even moving closer to her direction so Rainbow finally decided to put a little effort in and broke away from it. After that it was only more waves with the only sounds around her being that of the howling wind and the endless rain pounding against the surface of the ocean.

Rainbow Dash yawned. Nothing special.

The more than week long storm centered over the Stormlands stretched on for quite a ways over the rest of the ocean as well. Rainbow Dash was unfortunately realizing that as the miles and hours went by and she was still being rained on. The dark clouds over her head seemed to not have an end.

Annoying, but still hardly the first big storm that took a long while to get through. She couldn’t change her direction either—going straight north would still be the fastest thing no matter what.

Looking east and west for a moment though she just wanted to take in the ocean. The stretch she was flying over wasn’t nearly as big as the Grand Ocean but it was still nothing but water for as far as the eye could see. She admitted that she was always kind of impressed by how big the ocean was, sometimes she needed a reminder of it. So many big waves right now too thanks to the storm.

It was impressive. And this would pretty much be her last time seeing it, or at least really traveling over it, for who knows how long. One really big change. She hadn’t really gotten to think about it too much when she was traveling over the south pole thanks to her having to constantly fight and evade those penguins…

Not a bad thing though. She did prefer having ground beneath her when she was flying. There was just something calming and familiar about it after spending basically her whole life in the skies above Equestria.

Lightning crackled in the clouds overhead and Rainbow sped up some more to avoid getting struck.

Unlikely, but it could happen.

She was still relatively low in the sky, dancing around and over the big waves that the storm kicked up. The rumbling of thunder was the only thing louder than the wind right now. A casual glance over her shoulder showed her nothing but darkness and rain, it was possible she was already halfway to the coastline, it was possible she was almost out of the big storm. It wasn’t possible to tell any of that for sure yet. So Rainbow Dash flew on.

An hour of humming to herself to listen to something other than the wind, rain, and thunder, and the dark clouds ahead slowly began to break. The rain had begun to let up ever so slightly, and the raging ocean below her had gone from impossibly treacherous for sailboats to just really dangerous to navigate instead. Sunlight. She actually saw real, unobstructed sunlight coming down from the sky for the first time in a week. It was still a fair bit away but there it was.

Rainbow Dash grinned. She wasn’t going to miss the Stormlands at all.

Cloud Nap

Blue sky. Blue water. White clouds.

What more could a pegasus ask for?

The storm and thus the Stormlands had been left behind, though Rainbow could still see the massive swarm of dark clouds and bad weather if she actually looked behind her. Ahead was nothing but a nice, calm looking, ocean and a blue sky with a bright sun shining down on her. Since most of the day had been taken by flying through that storm though she was pretty sure the sun would be going down soon.

Once darkness came she was going to take a quick rest before waking up even earlier tomorrow morning to put the ocean fully behind her. She was estimating that only a bit over twelve hours from now and she’d be hitting the southern coast of the continent. Then maybe she could take another rest, just because it would mean so much to finally be back. If she found a small town or something to stop in—tell any locals about who she was and where she had been—that would be nice. Although if nothing had changed since the last time she had been in this part of the world she was pretty sure only Klugetown was ahead of her now. Ugh.

Well, that place definitely felt like it could be an exciting place to stop. Maybe she’d find something fun to do there, or another bad guy to stop. Seemed likely with what she new about the creatures that lived there.

Rainbow Dash grinned. The last leg of her journey was still looking fun.

She sped up and flew a little faster, now able to make better distance since she was no longer fighting the wind and rain of the storm. Every second of daylight was going to be used to its fullest. She wanted to hit the next part—the final part—of her trip quickly. Especially since by the time she woke up next morning, probably before even dawn, she’d be hungry and want something to eat. The sandwiches were only good enough to last about a day.

Rainbow glided high in the sky, sunlight reflecting off the water below. Shimmering. Seagulls flew both above and below her, and she bet if she went lower she’d spy all sorts of fish and other sea creatures in that clear blue water. A nice day. The first she had seen since before the Stormlands.

And honestly considering how much she hated the cold and snow she would say it’s been even longer since she had a truly nice day like this.

She flew on like that for over another hour while the sun above slowly crept along and down to the horizon. The color of the sky steadily changed from blue to a dusky orange and then got darker still. Even as evening approached she could still see a lot better than when she was back in the storm, the steady light still peeking over the horizon along with the stars and moon coming out made for a pretty sight. Rainbow Dash kept going on and on for a while still until it was actually nighttime. All the seagulls that had been flying with her were gone and there was no sound in the world except for the steady cool breeze of the wind. More and more stars came out and soon the moon was directly overheard. Shining down on her just like the sun had been not long ago.

At least Celestia and Luna were as on point as always.

A small yawn came to her, which was a bit of a surprise since she usually felt like she could go on for days without getting tired. Maybe because of how nice things were out now it had lulled her into a more tired, sleepy, mood.

But the yawn was perhaps a signal that maybe she should stop and make that bed of clouds already. She knew she had already made good progress over the ocean at this point. Tomorrow, barring any horrible disasters, and she’d hit the Stony Shore fairly early in the morning. Resting, getting a long and well-deserved night of sleep, and she’d be full of energy when she woke up—in a good enough mood to conquer the world and whatever it could throw at her.

So she flew up a little higher towards some of the low, but still very puffy, clouds that were nearest to her.

How many times in her life had she taken a nap on some clouds?

How many times had she made a little bed of clouds, or busted some up for the weather service? It was beyond second nature to her. She didn’t need to think, her body pretty much acted on its own as she pushed the fluffy bits of cloud together and made something that would be comfortable to sleep on.

A big circular bed of clouds soon formed—bigger than she needed but why not go big? It was a Rainbow Dash way of doing things.

She plopped down onto her back and looked up at the starry sky.

It wasn’t cold. Despite being night it wasn’t cold at all. Things were pretty mild in the sky above the ocean, proof she was far enough away from the south pole. Proof she was closer to the warm, sometimes scorchingly so, southern part of the Equestrian continent. It made things quite comfortable up here. It would make it easier for her to fall asleep when she finally got tired of looking at the stars and closed her eyes. That wasn’t just yet though, Rainbow Dash was enjoying the peace and quiet right now after so many previous nights were compounded by the steady sound of rain and wind.

The sky was so beautiful.

She’d never be caught saying that out loud where any of her friends could hear.

Rainbow Dash exhaled and then breathed in deeply, a smile stretching across her face. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”

Eventually she looked away from the stars and turned onto her stomach before curling up into her usual napping form. Exhaling through her nose once more she closed her eyes—her mind still going a mile a minute and thinking about any number of things, but knowing that she needed and deserved a bit of rest. Tomorrow was a big occasion.

Rainbow Dash was still smiling, still in a great mood. She knew her dreams would be full of the smiling faces of her friends.

With those pleasant thoughts she forced herself to calm down and slowly drifted off to sleep.

She was right about the dreams, but they also happened to be filled with her flying around and fighting monsters. The best kind of dream.

A Familiar Shoreline

Rainbow Dash took a big stretch and an even bigger yawn as she woke up the next morning. As she opened up her bleary eyes and blinked away the sleep, she took a look around and realized her internal clock had come through. It was probably still an hour before dawn and she’d be able to get in the air and make good progress before the sun was fully out. Rainbow Dash stood up on the cloud to better stretch her hooves and wings and work all the kinks out of her joints before she left. A few hours of straight, fast, flying and she’d be back over land. Then she’d have the entire day to make it even further back to Equestria and then… two? Three days at the most? And she’d be home.

Unless she got sidetracked during the brief stop she planned in Klugetown. But even then she’d still be close to finally ending this journey.

Rainbow Dash hopped up and down a few times and rotated her wings a moment to complete her stretching and exercising before she jumped off this cloud and got on her way.

“Okay!” She announced with a happy smile. “Everything’s good!”

With a nod and a spread of her wings, Rainbow Dash leaped off the side of the cloud. She let herself dive for a while
before leveling out and gliding northward. Once she felt herself start to naturally fall due to gravity, she started flapping her wings in earnest and sped forward.

“Here I come!”

The sun rose up over the horizon, at first a few beams of light were the only thing she saw, lancing across the sky and ocean. Before eventually it rose higher and higher until the morning sky was lit up completely. Warm rays of sunlight now poured down on her and Rainbow Dash hummed along in pleasant flight. The weather literally couldn’t be better for flying long distance right now, there wasn’t even a breeze.

Since dawn had now come she was estimating another hour at most before she hit the shore. She had kept up a fast pace since she had woken up and hadn’t slowed down for anything. No cloud gazing, no going down lower to the water just for fun, no searching around for small islands that might have some food on them. She was going straight to the southern coast.

“Goodbye ocean, hello… land,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “That’s not really that exciting when I say it like that is it?”

She shrugged and flew on.

Truthfully the first land she would see, that rocky coast, would have a lot of bad memories to go along with it. That was where things almost fell apart with Twilight—something she never wanted to relive. But unfortunately it was directly ahead and it would be way more of a pain to go around it all. She’d deal with it. Not like she planned to land there and dwell on bad memories or any dumb thing like that. She’d just be flying over it and go on her way. In fact, aside from the couple of times she’d been to Mt. Aris, she didn’t really have happy memories of the southern reaches of the continent at all. Everything was just sort of a mess down here.

The one good thing she could say now was that thanks to Fizzlepop the Stormlands would be getting better.

And that perhaps Berten’s home island might be a nice place to visit in the future too.

It wasn’t as much of a mess as… pretty much the entire other side of the world had been, but there was room for improvement. She did, after a considerable amount of relaxing and catching up, plan on making a few return trips and seeing how things were going elsewhere. It might be smart to first start here. Twilight herself would probably really want to visit Fizzlepop though.

The thought brought a smile to her face. Here she was about to finish her journey and she was already thinking about going back out there again. She couldn’t help it, she had made too many friends, seen too many cool places, knew that some of those places needed checking up on. Had left… some things unresolved or not in as good of a spot as she needed to.

Rainbow knew it would be easier next time. And maybe she could bring some friends with her, show them everything she had seen. It’d be fun. A lot of fun.

The world was a better place now thanks to her.

And that wasn’t just egotistical boasting. Even though she could visualize most of her friends rolling their eyes if she announced it like that to them.

Feeling energy welling up in her thanks to the positive thoughts that had eclipsed the bad memories of the stony shore, Rainbow Dash sped on at an even faster pace.

Sunlight, fluffy white clouds, and the shimmering ocean below were her companions. She knew it wouldn’t be long at all until she saw land. It was still pretty early in the morning too, just like she had predicted. She bet she could even reach Klugetown itself before the sun went back down today if she kept going this fast and didn’t get stopped. She was humming a song to herself to keep her mood up and her energy from ever depleting—going fast, fast, fast to north.

Ten more minutes.

Twenty more minutes.

Thirty more minutes.

Forty-five more minutes.

Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes, lifted up a hoof to block out the sun, and looked far ahead.

She could see the line of the stony shore emerging from the water. She could see the rocks piling up and up, right out of the water. She could see the land beyond.

And in ten more minutes she was there, flying above it. Flying somewhere familiar, somewhere she had been before, for the first time since leaving the Crystal Empire behind. A sense of calm came over her and Rainbow Dash let out a big sigh of relief. Just something about being here again was incredible. It was like she had passed through some sort of invisible veil—in a lot of ways it felt like she was already done. She was already back. There had been no finish line, no great ceremony, nothing to break through, or stop, she had just finally returned to her world.

She was flying through a sky she recognized. Over land she recognized. A place that was close enough to where she lived that she could easily travel to and from here without issue. The ponies and creatures that lived nearby would know her name, would know Equestria and the Princesses, wouldn’t be under the control of a tyrant, or victim to slaving pirates, or have some kind of magical plague attacking them.

It was just… home. Pretty much home at least.

Happy, happy, home. Where her friends were waiting for her.

Rainbow Dash looked down as she passed over the stony shore completely, now the waters of the ocean fully behind her and only visible if she looked back. Which she wasn’t planning on doing anytime soon. There were grasslands, rainforests, small mountains directly ahead now. And after that would be the scorching hot desert that Klugetown sat in.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the faces of Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. She opened them back up with a grin. “See you all soon.”

Empty

She flew over the rain this time.

Her memory had been hazy apparently, she remembered nothing but desert down here. That was clearly wrong though as there were extensive forests and green hills slightly further north that covered the southern tip of the continent. It was only beyond that—where she could see if she squinted her eyes—that the desert began.

And right now it was pouring a steady rain over the forest, but the clouds were relatively low and Rainbow Dash had no problem flying above them. She didn’t feel like getting soaked again.

She had slowed down a little bit, not feeling in as much of a hurry anymore. She had made it over the ocean and that was the big part done. Now she could take in the sights a little more before she reached the desert and Klugetown. Ugh, it wasn’t just Klugetown that she wasn’t really looking forward to, but yet another dumb, hot, desert that she had to fly over. She had been through this one before and knew exactly how miserable it was too.

Rainbow Dash looked down for a while as she flew. “I should probably fly down there and find some fruit or something to eat before I get into the desert...”

It was a smart idea. A stream to drink out of would’ve been welcome too. She’d fly past the rainy parts first though before she went down. If she didn’t find a clear looking stream she could go back and drink the falling rain but that was a last resort. So she glided over the forest, occasionally flapping her wings to keep from going any slower, and kept her sharp eyes on the lookout for anything. Thankfully the rainy weather here wasn’t so major or all-encompassing as the Stormlands and Rainbow Dash was able to make it to the foothills of the forested area where water was no longer pouring down.

She nodded to herself and dove low, down into the trees, and quickly landing on the forest floor. The ground was covered in healthy grass and flowers—for the first time in a while Rainbow enjoyed standing somewhere that was both alive, pretty, and not the victim of constant terrible weather. She could just eat those flowers but she wanted some real fruit or something. Walking around, sniffing the air with her nose, she searched for something to eat.

It didn’t take long before she found a raspberry bush overflowing with the delicious little fruits. Rainbow Dash licked her lips and dove in—devouring every last raspberry on the vine. She ate more than she needed to, until she felt almost too full, since she wasn’t sure when her next meal would be. She somehow doubted she’d be able to rely on the creatures of Klugetown generously offering any free meals.

Finishing up with the raspberries she spent just a few more minutes looking around the forest until she found a small creek. Running water, not standing, check.

Rainbow Dash dipped her head down to it and took a few big gulps and then a few more in preparation for the desert ahead. Any way to make traveling through the desert slightly less miserable was welcome. She lifted her head up from the water with a big gasp of air and smiled. After that she looked up past the canopy of trees—moved to an open spot—and shot back up into the sky. Replenished, full, and healthy, Rainbow Dash was going to make it a quick trip over to Klugetown now.

She flapped her wings hard and jetted north, over the green hills and a few seconds later she was flying over the desert. It didn’t take long for it to start getting hot as it was still the middle of the day. The sun combined with the sand were already doing their best to bake her.

It wasn’t as bad as the Great Camel Desert, for that she was thankful, but she could already tell that a single day here would be too much for her sake. She’d become a dehydrated mess.

“Can’t believe I want to get to Klugetown faster just cause there might be some shade...” Rainbow grumbled.

Didn’t help that her travels through the much cooler oceans and of course over the south pole had again wrecked her heat tolerance. She’d gone from one extreme to the other too many times now. Her body was probably more than a little angry with her.

But things weren’t all bad right now. It didn’t take long before she could see her next destination rising out of the sea of sand.

Klugetown was a misshapen monstrosity as out of place in the desert as Rarity was at a rodeo. It was big though, and the buildings quite tall and very easy to see even from a distance. The city seemed to be constructed with no planning in mind, no rhyme or reason, no style, just junk towers made of scrap and salvaged metal heaped up on top of one another. An ugly place. Rainbow didn’t want to be too rude or disrespectful but she kind of felt like the appearance of the city reflected the creatures that lived there. The place really didn’t leave a good first impression. That was all in the past now though and Rainbow didn’t plan on stopping here for long this time. In fact it should be a very brief visit, just a place to rest and perhaps find something to drink before she left and put the rest of the desert behind her.

Closer and closer Rainbow Dash got to the big city and she started to go lower towards the sand as she made her approach. She didn’t know exactly where to go here or anything but she didn’t want to do anything someone might take issue with. So she’d walk on in down whatever street she saw here on the south side of the city.

Dropping down onto the hot sand finally she blinked and looked up at the towering junk skyscrapers. So many haphazardly built right next to and leaning on or on top of each other. Even she had to shake her head at the crude city.

“What a mess,” Rainbow Dash muttered and walked into the city.

Immediately she did feel cooler, so that was a plus. She was surrounded on all sides by messy storefronts, small buildings, walls, and entrances to the larger junkscrapers. Shadows reached across the hot sandy street and a few sheet metal awnings provided extra shade.

Immediately she noticed something was wrong.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and looked around. “Uh… where is everybody?”

She hadn’t noticed when flying towards Klugetown, or when she had touched down on the sand and started walking in, too caught up in her own thoughts. But now walking down the street, entering the city, it became immediately apparent how quiet and still everything was. Gone was the strange and diverse assortment of creatures Rainbow Dash remembered. Gone was any animals or pets. Gone was anything. The more she walked the quieter everything became.

Klugetown was a ghost town.

Rainbow Dash walked into the middle of an intersection. Every storefront empty. Every door closed. No shadows in any windows secretly watching her.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” She called out.

There was no answer. There wasn’t even a tumbleweed blowing down the street, no open door banging against a wall in the slight breeze. Rainbow Dash held her hooves up in confusion as she looked around and shrugged. Did something happen here between the last time she had been here and now? Had the city been abandoned for a long time or was it recent? She honestly wasn’t sure. She had no way to tell.

Rainbow Dash frowned and scratched her head. Annoyance and confusion her chief feelings, but she also felt a little bit worried for the creatures that lived here. Or used to anyways. She couldn’t say they were friends with her or Equestria at all but it was still concerning. She flapped her wings and took to the sky a little bit, getting some altitude so she could fly between the buildings and look around easier. If there was anybody still here she wanted to find them.

She flew around through Klugetown, seeing much of the same everywhere. Empty buildings and completely abandoned skyscrapers. Not a sign of where anyone was or what might have happened. She would call out for any others, whistle, and push her head up against windows to look inside them to see if she could find anybody.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zilch.

“I guess there really isn’t anybody here anymore,” Rainbow said as she flew back down to around street level and started making her way to the other side of the city. “Some water must be out of the question too then, huh? Pff, whatever, might as well get out of here.”

Since Klugetown was empty there was no reason to stay. She was heading north out of town and back into the desert—might as well get out of the desert as quick as she could after all.

Despite the odd feeling growing in the pit of her stomach at the emptiness of the city, Rainbow Dash kept on her way out. It just didn’t seem like there was anything here to actually figure out. She still kept her eyes peeled as she made it through the tight, winding, streets of Klugetown in case she saw anyone but she wasn’t holding out hope. Her ears didn’t pick up any sounds either. It was just an abandoned junk heap of tall buildings in the middle of the desert now.

Surprisingly though, as she made her way to the northern edge of the city, she saw something that was kind of out of place.

Something a little odd that made her stop and check it out.

“What’s up with that?” Rainbow Dash said as she flew down towards the entrance to a large junk skyscraper. All around the door leading inside it on the sandy street there were boxes stacked up and strewn about. Some pushed right up against the door while others looked like they’d been thrown or knocked aside. She was a bit puzzled. It looked like someone or a group of someones had tried to block the door off but got interrupted. When she looked through the door’s window she found that there were boxes stacked up on the inside too.

Regardless of why any of it was like this, she still didn’t see anyone inside the building.

“Weird...” Rainbow Dash said and walked away from it.

She stood in the middle of the street for a little while longer, looking around, walking in a circle and checking out each individual building. Thinking that maybe she’d finally spot someone hiding away somewhere. And yet there was still not a soul about and the city remained as quiet as the grave.

Rainbow Dash frowned and without stopping this time she took to the air and flew out of Klugetown.

A Million Lights

Flying.

North.

A blank expression on her face.

Going much more slowly than usual.

The jungle, the world below her, was ignored. She flew on and on with her eyes glued to the north.

Waiting until she saw her.

She knew the pony would be impossible to miss. Somehow she could just feel it. Heartless would want to be seen after all. She wanted Rainbow Dash to find her, to come to her. Rainbow didn’t know how it ended up this way, but Heartless was no longer the hunter. And Rainbow Dash could no longer avoid her. Ignore her. Put her out of her head.

They were going to meet again.

Up ahead the jungle mostly gave way to rocky orange mountains, not entirely, but mostly. Beyond those was Equestria proper. She hoped Heartless hadn’t gone that far. She hoped she was waiting closer. That pony had already done enough.

Please don’t be waiting at her home.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and slowly exhaled before opening them again. There was no reason to get pessimistic or afraid like that. She had to stay strong, stay confident, and be ready for anything. She had to stay like herself or things would never turn out good. It was always when she was at her best—her most positive and optimistic—that she was able to do anything and overcome anyone else. She had beaten Heartless before, or at least stopped her, she could do it again.

Right?

It felt different though.

Rainbow Dash had to admit that things felt different this time.

She quickly reached the mountain range, now with the jungle only existing in the valleys and gaps between the various mountains and rock formations. Her wings were still flapping relatively slowly. Casually, as she went over the land. Now she kept her eyes open wide as she searched around for the one waiting for her. There was no point thinking about anything else.

Going and going. Unable to fly away anymore. Having to deal with something she probably should’ve dealt with for real a long time ago. But she had been afraid. She was still afraid—in a way none of the other villains and monsters she had faced on this journey made her feel. She hated finally outright admitting that to herself. Now that everything was pulled aside she had to though. There was just something about Heartless different from everyone else. And yet she still had to gather her courage and stop her, because if she didn’t who else would?

That thought actually reassured her a little bit. She would just have to do what she always did, what she had resolutely stated she would do ever since leaving Pinetree Warren.

As Rainbow Dash.

She scanned the mountains below her, none of them high enough to have snow on them, especially not with the weather so nice and warm. There were a few scattered rivers and streams going through the mountains and the jungles between them, nothing big though. She didn’t hear any birds or hear any animals. The world was still and quiet.

Rainbow Dash lifted her magenta eyes and looked at a cliff in the middle of the mountain range—situated between two jungled valleys on either side of it.

A deep, lingering, breath came out of her mouth as she emptied her lungs.

There she was. Just sitting there on the edge of the cliff. A pink pony looking north, just like Rainbow Dash had been not long ago. She didn’t turn to look up at Rainbow Dash even though she obviously knew she was there and had been coming for a long time. Heartless just continued to gaze north.

It was noon. The sun directly over both of them.

The sky was blue.

White clouds that you could lay back and look at and imagine them as any number of things floated by.

It was a beautiful day.

Rainbow Dash landed next to her—only a few feet away—and sat down. She too looked from atop the cliff and could see the mountains disappearing into the landscape that made up the south of Equestria beyond. Letting out another sigh, she finally turned her head and looked over at Heartless. The mare was still sitting there as if Rainbow Dash hadn’t at last reached her, she was looking with her sparkling blue eyes, not blinking, ahead. A small smile on her face. Her Cutie Mark the same as it always was.

“Hi, Heartless,” Rainbow said.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” Heartless finally acknowledged her. She turned her head to look Rainbow in the eyes as well. “I’m good at waiting, you know? I never had to be anywhere, or ever cared about where I was going, so I never really needed to be in a hurry for anything. So I just figured I’d wait here for you again. Since I had the chance.”

Rainbow Dash said nothing, and Heartless returned to looking north.

“It’s incredible. It’s so, so, amazing. I’ve been to soooo many places in the world now but I’ve never been somewhere like this. I can see so many lights—and they’re all so much warmer and brighter than most of the lights in the rest of the world. None quite like you I don’t think, but it’s still so amazing. I just feel so special, so warm, looking at it,” Heartless said and glanced out the corner of her eyes to Rainbow Dash. “This is where you’re from, isn’t it?”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, that’s my home. It’s called Equestria.”

Heartless beamed, her smile growing even wider. “It’s magical! I think… ever since I felt you coming, I always thought I’d finally be satisfied, finally feel fulfilled, if I could only have the light and warmth from your life. But if I don’t—I know where I’m going next.”

“You know I’m not just going to let you do that, right?” Rainbow said to her, a sad frown on her face.

“Oh I know,” Heartless nodded repeatedly. “And I know, even though I don’t get why, that you aren’t just going to let me finish things with you right now. Are you? If you came down here… you’re not going to just try and run away, but I don’t think you’ll give me what I want either.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and stood up, also giving the pink pony a solemn nod. “Yeah. If you still want to take my life, you’re going to have to work for it. I don’t quit.”

Heartless also stood up and faced her. “That just proves how special you are. That just makes me know you’re full of life! It’s going to be like nothing I’ve ever experienced when I take all that warmth from you. And all those thousands and thousands of lights in Equestria, they’ll be shining and calling out for me too.”

A humorless grin twitched up a corner of Rainbow Dash’s lips. “That’s where you’re wrong. Those lights are shining for me.”

Rainbow Dash and Heartless I

Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky.

Heartless shot up right after her.

There was no true thought in Rainbow Dash’s head at the moment—she acted on instinct. Thinking had never been a huge help to her anyways, and Heartless defied all logic, common sense, and expectation. There was nothing to really think about when it came to her, Rainbow Dash thought.

Er…

Rainbow Dash frowned and shook her head. Maybe I do still need to figure out how to beat her, since nothing else I’ve seen happen to her has worked.

The past experiences and encounters with Heartless played back in her mind. She had seen the mare crawl out of a vent she should’ve never been able to get through—survive being jettisoned off the side of a mountain in a metal container that she should’ve bounced around helplessly in and been broken to pieces. Then she somehow came back after having a weight tied to her tail and being dropped into a massive, impossible, and probably magical whirlpool. A huge stalactite had crushed her and didn’t stop her for a minute. A bomb had gone off in her face and a mine tunnel collapsed on her head. She had been sucked into the Avatar of Despair and then crushed once more under a falling castle. A spear had been thrown through her throat. And finally whatever had been done to delay her back in Merlantis. But here she was again. Looking no worse for wear and speeding after Rainbow Dash. As fast and cheerful as ever.

Gaining on her with a big smile on her face.

“Good thing I wasn’t tired before this,” Rainbow Dash muttered as she looked down at Heartless trailing right behind her.

She couldn’t touch her directly for more than a second.

She couldn’t let Heartless’s hooves touch her.

She didn’t have any magical powers or weapons to work with.

She didn’t have a volcano or anything to drop her in.

That all didn’t matter, because she still needed to make sure that Heartless never hurt anyone again.

“I just wish I had something to work with here...” Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “I stopped that jerk, whatever he was, and I know I can stop you too Heartless. I’m just going to have to do my best.”

She quickly turned around in flight and shot towards Heartless. The pink pony’s eyes shot open in surprise right before Rainbow Dash punched her in the face and sent her spinning around backwards.

“And like always, I think I’m going to start with punching,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

Heartless came to a stop and hovered in midair despite her lack of wings or even any sort of magical aura. She rubbed her chin for a second before pulling her hoof away and tilting her head at Rainbow Dash. “I don’t get it. Why do you keep doing these things that you know won’t do anything? You know it doesn’t hurt me—you know it won’t stop me. I like how you keep showing me how full of life you are, but I just don’t get it. You’ve seen me survive so many things at this point, you know what touching me can do to you, I really don’t understand. I’m going to get you and there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s nothing around us to stop us or interfere this time.” She smiled. “But if you just want to have some fun before you die then okay. You’ll be still soon, still and cold, so move all you want.”

Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “There’s something seriously wrong with you, did I ever tell you that?”

“Yep!” Heartless nodded. “Lots of ponies and other creatures have told me that! I don’t really get it either but oh well.” She shrugged. “I’m just going to keep being me and getting what I want—the life and warmth that calls out to me.”

“And I’m going to keep trying to stop you. I will stop you,” Rainbow declared.

She flew at Heartless once more and zoomed to the side when Heartless reached out and tried to touch her with her hooves. Coming in at the pink pony’s right, Rainbow Dash kicked her as hard as she could. Heartless was pushed away slightly but otherwise was completely unhurt, as expected. It was frustrating though—Rainbow Dash had gotten physically much stronger since the last time she had actually fought Heartless directly. And yet hitting her just felt like punching the ground, like it was pointless. It might give a little bit but you were never going to get anywhere. Any bruises disappeared in seconds and she knew that her wounds would close up, her broken bones would knit back together, and it would be like she was good as new again. Heartless wasn’t even that strong or robust herself, but nothing stuck. Nothing lasted. And she never got tired.

Heartless smiled and lunged through the air at Rainbow Dash, who quickly flew up to avoid her. She led the life-sucking pony on a chase through the air as she tried to figure out her next move. The two of them wove around through the sky with Rainbow Dash purposefully making as erratic and difficult of a path to follow as possible to shake Heartless up. It was second nature to her to fly like this so she was able to do it without thinking at all. Unfortunately it wasn’t really that difficult for Heartless, who acted pretty much completely on instinct and followed her tightly. Even Godfrey and Blizzard didn’t fly like that. But there was nothing to distract Heartless. No other thoughts in her head. She apparently didn’t have to follow or move like something with wings either.

Her eyes couldn’t be torn away from Rainbow Dash’s colorful form and no matter how Rainbow banked and turned she was always right there behind her.

“Maybe I shouldn’t just be flying around in the sky?” Rainbow asked herself. Though it was her home, where she felt most alive, most natural and most at ease, the place she would want to fight anybody else in, against Heartless there wasn’t anything to help her.

Of course there wasn’t anything she could think of at all that would really work to stop Heartless for good. If she could trap her or tie her up somehow that might be the best she could do…

Rainbow Dash looked down at the mountains and jungle. If anything, she could at least make it harder for Heartless to get to her if she started flying through the thick trees down there. She might be able to fight back better too or find a weapon or tool. Repeatedly touching Heartless with her bare hooves was probably a bad idea. But she needed to do it at least one more time to get a little distance.

Quickly glancing over her shoulder, she saw Heartless right on her trail.

Rainbow Dash suddenly halted. Scrunched herself up. And bucked Heartless as hard as she could square in the chest when the pink pony failed to stop or move out of the way in time. There was a resounding crack and the feeling of her legs breaking something in Heartless’s body—for all that mattered—before the pony was launched away.

At the tail end of it, Rainbow Dash gasped for breath, suddenly feeling something slip away from her. A sweat broke out on her brow and her body trembled, lungs burning with imaginary exertion. It had been for just a second and Heartless hadn’t even touched her with her hooves, but some of Rainbow’s lifeforce had been drained away all the same in the brief contact. Heartless was being quicker with how she worked.

“Can’t let her… can’t let her touch me for real,” Rainbow Dash panted and swiftly started flying down to the jungle. “If it’s that bad just from that...”

Behind her, she could hear Heartless already coming for her again.

Rainbow Dash and Heartless II

Her wings clipped through leaves and knocked many of them off their branches where they scattered about and ended up blown away by the wind she kicked up. A second later and Rainbow Dash was zooming past and around trees in the jungle, swiftly moving like a snake to not smack into any of them. But she couldn’t slow down at all either. And all at once she was also scanning every tree and every single thing she saw to see if she could use anything against Heartless.

Speaking of…

“Why’d you come down here? You know you can’t hide from me!” Heartless shouted from behind her, a few trees back.

Rainbow Dash ignored her for now and flew on. It at least gave her more time to think and act than just flying in the open sky. She saw branches, heavy vines, big wavy leaves from some of the plants down here. All things that could help. Nothing that could stop her for good but maybe she could at least disable or tie down Heartless in some way until she could somehow come up with a more permanent solution.

Whatever that was.

With at least an idea of her next move in her head, Rainbow looked out the corner of her eye and saw the bright pink color of Heartless peeking out through the trees behind her. Both she and Rainbow Dash stuck out like sore hooves in the jungle. Even if Heartless couldn’t sense her life as well, Rainbow doubted she’d ever be able to hide effectively anyways. Not that she would hide.

“Think fast!” Rainbow said right as she passed by a heavy tree branch. She grabbed the end of it with her hooves and pulled it back with her, stretching and bending it to its limits before finally letting it go right as Heartless came behind her.

The tree branch whipped right back into its normal position—which was currently occupied by Heartless—and smashed into her face. Heartless was knocked back like a pinball, bouncing off three other trees before falling to the ground. She got up and looked to see Rainbow Dash still continuing further into the jungle. A frustrated pout came to her face for a second before she shrugged and smiled once more and returned to flying after her target. She was far too excited to ever really get upset right now. This felt different than the last few times they had met—they were truly alone. This would be it, Heartless would finally get her. Rainbow Dash couldn’t lie, or trick her, or get saved by anybody else. She wasn’t even trying to and Heartless would make sure that nothing Rainbow Dash said would stop or stall her like on some of the previous occasions. It was just them.

Rainbow Dash for her part was at least thankful that she had come down here. She could fight and protect herself much better than before. The tree branch proved that, and just maybe she could wear Heartless out. There was no way she could actually just survive and keep going through anything, right? There was no way she didn’t actually not have to sleep, eat, drink, or breathe… right? There was no way she could just keep coming no matter what and outlast her. Outlast Rainbow Dash.

Right?

Rainbow gulped, not liking the fact that she couldn’t even convince herself right now. She who always believed in herself and her greatness. Who always optimistically (and egotistically) told herself she could do anything.

Why couldn’t she find herself doing the same right now?

Why did being around Heartless just make all of that feel impossible?

But that didn’t mean she was giving up either.

The next big tree branch she passed she broke off and then went flying towards a tree that had a bunch of hanging vines on it. Not as strong as actual rope or chains, but maybe she could still tie Heartless up with them. She didn’t know how Heartless had freed herself back at the north pole, but she did a similar thing back there when she tied that big weight to her. She knew stuff like that could work temporarily. And she knew she was fast enough to tie her up without touching or getting touched.

Before she could reach the next tree though, Heartless had already caught back up to her.

She hadn’t been flying through the trees on the same exact path as Rainbow Dash. She went up and came back down almost right on top of her. The benefit of being able to sense exactly where she was.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth as Heartless almost landed on her but turned around just in time to whack her in the side with the tree branch and knock her away. “Someone actually got a little smarter...” She looked at the tree branch in her hooves. “Good thing I brought this with me.”

Heartless crashed into a tree but still quickly jumped off it to keep coming at Rainbow Dash with a big smile on her face. “Found you, found you, found you!”

“Keep coming then!” Rainbow yelled. “If you want to get beaten by me again!”

She flew to the tree where many heavy vines were coming down from its branches and intentionally flew between them as closely and complexly as possible. Ever so slightly she pushed and nudged some of the vines aside so they’d swing a little bit. That way when Heartless followed her, the vines were in her way as she passed through. She quickly got some wrapped around her body, neck, legs, and became tangled up in them as she tried to fly after Rainbow Dash. There was once again the briefest flicker of annoyance on her face that she had been held up and inconvenienced, but she still just as quickly attempted to break free and catch up to Rainbow Dash. They were just vines after all and though she was a little tangled its not like they were tied around her or really holding her down.

Heartless blinked and looked ahead. Oh wait, Rainbow Dash was coming right back towards her.

Rainbow Dash was flying fast at her with the tree branch pulled behind her head. She swung it out and hit Heartless in the face as hard as she could. There was a devastating crack as the branch broke and Heartless was knocked out of the air with all the vines wrapped around her snapping and their remnants carried with her. She crashed to the ground and tumbled around and around in a heap before coming to a stop in the roots of another tree. She sat up with the broken vines hanging off her just in time to hear the whistling noise of Rainbow Dash swiftly flying around her.

Grabbing each bit of vine, Rainbow Dash worked incredibly fast. She had to before Heartless could react and either try and move or touch her. Her form was a complete blur as she pulled the vines around Heartless’s entire body, over her head, behind her back, through her legs, and tied them all together.

In the space of a blink, Heartless looked up to see Rainbow Dash pulling a vine taut in her mouth and she fell back onto her side. The knots were tied extremely tight and she couldn’t do anything more than struggle with the vines around her entire body. Her front and back legs were tied together with loops going around her back to keep her from even being able to straighten up.

Rainbow Dash spat the vine out and grinned at her. “Caught.”

Heartless merely blinked once more and smiled. “Its just vines, Rainbow Dash. Its not the same as life from you or another pony—but the jungle has a warmth that calls out to me too.”

Immediately, the vines tied around her started to decay and die. They went from green, to brown, and started to flake and disintegrate. Even the grass she was lying on, all the bushes around her, the tree, they all started to die as well. Anything her body was directly touching just withered and went from a luscious, lively, green to a cold putrid brown and then even worse. The leaves from all the branches of the tree fell and disintegrated as well before they could even touch the ground.

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash blanched as she watched. “I guess that kind of makes sense when I think about it.”

The dying brown vines around Heartless turned an ashen grey and began to break apart into dust. She easily started to break them to free her legs and the sight of that finally snapped Rainbow Dash back into action.

She swiftly turned around and flew away through the jungle to make as much distance as possible between her and Heartless.

“Don’t go too far!~” Heartless called out to her from behind.

And all around the pink pony, the jungle continued to die.

Minutes later, Rainbow Dash finished wrapping a heavy banana leaf around her front right hoof, tying it into place with a thin vine, and looked over her hoofiwork. Her four hooves. Her midsection. Her back. Her neck. All covered now with the only thing she head available—leaves. It wouldn’t work that well, especially after what she had just seen, but it was the only armor she could manage. At least this way she could sort of fight Heartless.

“Okay,” Rainbow Dash nodded and turned in the direction she knew Heartless was coming. Steeling herself and narrowing her eyes, she prepared to fight.

Rainbow Dash and Heartless III

Heartless popped out of the brush and saw Rainbow Dash standing there waiting for her while wearing her strange new “armor”. Heartless of course merely tilted her head in confusion a little bit, still smiling. “What are you doing?”

“You care?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

Heartless brought a hoof up to her chin and thought for a second. “No, not really. Here I come!”

She ran at Rainbow Dash and pretty much tried to just jump on and tackle her to the ground. Heartless didn’t exactly know how to fight, her movements couldn’t even be described as amateurish, it was more like a kid or an animal trying to run up and hug you. And her reflexes were slow, probably because of how she didn’t really feel pain or anything, so she couldn’t react that fast like this. She only had speed when moving directly towards her target—on instinct—without having to think about or do anything else. So Rainbow had an easy time just sliding to the side and bringing a covered hoof up into her face, punching her hard and sending her sprawling to the ground again.

“Oooohhhh. I get it,” Heartless said as she stood back up. She shrugged at Rainbow Dash. “Won’t help you.”

“You know, I’m not sure how far I’ll get either. But it’s going to feel good punching you anyways,” Rainbow admitted.

“I hope you don’t get too tired trying. I want to take aaalllll the life and energy you have for myself. It wouldn’t feel as good if you spend so much of it before that,” Heartless said and started walking towards her.

“I think we both know by now that I’ve got energy to spare,” Rainbow said and matched Heartless—walking straight towards her as well.

“Yes you do. I’ve known it ever since I saw your light coming towards me.”

“So enough with the talk. I prefer action anyways. And words have never gotten through to you.”

“I just don’t see what’s so wrong.”

“You can’t. That’s the only thing that makes me sad about this.”

Heartless’s hoof shot up towards Rainbow Dash’s face who ducked to the side to avoid it while throwing a punch towards Heartless’s face as well. The blue hoof wrapped around and protected by the banana leaf crashed into the side of Heartless’s head, turning it to the side and making her stumble back. Rainbow made sure to draw her hoof back after a split-second so the contact time was as short as possible. She then brought her other one up and punched Heartless again in the other side of the head. The pink pony stumbled back but didn’t fall over, the blows simply not hurting or affecting her like they would a normal pony of her size. It was like the times she had seen Heartless get struck by other things or magical beams, unless something had a truly huge amount of force behind it it would do nothing more than stagger her slightly.

And so Heartless came right back at Rainbow Dash. Smiling as she tried to tag her, grab her, hug her.

Rainbow Dash jumped and dodged out of the way each time, thankful that Heartless always made such simplistic movements. Every time she had an opening she punched or kicked Heartless in return or even grabbed her by the tail and swung her into a tree. But the pink mare just kept getting up. Rainbow Dash wasn’t getting tired yet but she was getting frustrated. And she was starting to notice something else going on in the jungle around her.

Everywhere Heartless stepped, whenever she touched a tree or another plant, it was starting to wither and die. She was draining the life of everything around her while fighting Rainbow Dash—probably not even actively thinking about it either. Whatever that strange life-sucking power was it was constantly trying to get Rainbow Dash. And in the meantime was now killing the jungle thanks to how interconnected so many roots, trees, vines, and all the grass on the ground was.

Rainbow jumped out of the way of Heartless again and her pink hoof instead landed on the trunk of a tree. Heartless held it there for only a second and the tree turned gray while all the branches shrunk and the leaves turned to dust.

Heartless blinked and tilted her head from side to side. “Different. When I touch other ponies it’s just a tap and they fall over, no more light or warmth in them.” She shrugged and turned back around to face Rainbow Dash. “Oh well, I’ve never understood anything about myself anyways.”

Because of what she was doing though the canopy of the jungle started to thin and fall apart. Sunlight from the clear blue sky poured down on the two of them and Rainbow Dash found herself standing in the middle of a gray and dying circle of ash. She heard a fluttering noise from behind her and looked to see a flock of colorful birds flying away from the jungle. They had to sense something really wrong was happening nearby, and she definitely couldn’t blame them for flying away. Looking at her hooves she also saw how the leaf “armor” was already decaying as well. Seems like it wasn’t mattering as much anymore that she was only coming in contact with Heartless for a split-second.

Perhaps Heartless was unconsciously getting stronger thanks to having Rainbow Dash right before her eyes.

“I’m not… I’m not giving up!” Rainbow roared and flew at Heartless. She shifted around and kicked Heartless as hard as she could while flying forward, carrying the other pony off her hooves and launching her into the jungle where she smashed into and broke through numerous other trees. It was the strongest thing she could do with her wings at close range.

Taking a brief glance down she looked at the hoof she had hit Heartless with and saw the banana leaf withering and falling apart.

“Are you really?”

Rainbow Dash looked back up and saw Heartless walking out of the destroyed brush towards her. Smiling.

“Because it seems like you should.”

“Tch!” Rainbow Dash flew at Heartless again and punched her several times, knocking her around the jungle clearing. “I’m going to stop you for everyone you’ve killed! I’m going to make sure you never hurt anybody again! There’s no way I can give up—because I could never rest knowing that you were still out here, that you would go to my home, and, and—argh!”

Rainbow angrily threw her down to the ground where Heartless rolled along the dead grass before stopping.

She was breathing heavily. Her anger was doing more to tire her out than anything else. And looking down at her hooves the banana leaf had almost entirely gone brittle and gray and was beginning to flake apart. She wouldn’t have the opportunity to put new wrappings around her hooves again. Not with Heartless free and already standing back up.

There was nothing more she could do down here, and despite her previous attitude, Rainbow Dash was starting to worry.

The fear was seeping back in.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her head.

Heartless started running at her and Rainbow Dash shot up into the sky, there was nothing else she could do down in this jungle. If she was going to win—or if she was going to die—she wanted to do it while flying in the sky. She was always at her best up here, free as a pegasus, anyways. In a second she heard Heartless zooming up after her but Rainbow Dash kept climbing higher and higher until she reached the same altitude as the clouds. She pushed herself harder, to fly even faster than before. She wasn’t going to get outdone by a pony that didn’t even have wings!

There was a cloud directly in front of her and the moment Rainbow Dash broke through it she made a tight loop and came speeding back towards Heartless right as she was going through the cloud as well. As soon as Heartless broke through the cloud, Rainbow Dash was already slamming into her back and kicking her away. She then flew around and hit Heartless from the other side, and continued to fly around her like a rainbow blur, hitting and kicking her through the sky. Not letting up, not giving Heartless the chance to react.

She couldn’t take this forever, Rainbow knew she couldn’t.

The sound of something crumpling and breaking reached her ears and she looked to see the leaves on all four of her hooves finally breaking apart completely and falling away, scattering in the wind.

“Darn it!” Rainbow growled, but she couldn’t stop just because of that. Heartless was still there, a pink ball in the sky, and Rainbow Dash shot towards her. “You aren’t getting what you want, Heartless! I don’t know why you’re like this, and why you can’t see that what you’re doing is wrong, but it won’t continue! Even if you did take all the life from me, it would never satisfy you! You’ve told me you’ve spent your whole life doing this without meaning, without stopping, without ever being fulfilled! And it’s not going to change unless I’m the one who brings you down!”

She practically collided with Heartless, punching her heavily a few times before letting the mare spin away through another cloud. A feeling of exhaustion was tearing through her after that. Heartless didn’t have to directly touch her with her hooves anymore. Even just a fraction of a second was enough for part of Rainbow’s life to be taken away.

And Heartless was still there—hovering in the air in front of her now. Still smiling.

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and flew at Heartless. She pulled back her hoof and punched the pink pony right across the face. She pulled it back to deliver another punch and-

Stopped.

Rainbow Dash looked to see Heartless holding onto her leg, holding her in place and keeping her from flying away or pulling back.

“You got a little slower. So I caught you,” Heartless smiled.

With eyes wide in horror, Rainbow Dash watched as Heartless pulled her in, wrapped her hooves around her body, leaned her head into the crook of Rainbow Dash’s neck—and hugged her. Rainbow couldn’t move. She was frozen. Her legs and wings stiffened, her eyes almost rolled back into her head, and her mouth opened wide in a silent scream.

Rainbow Dash and Heartless V

Heartless danced in the sky.

She twirled and spun around in childlike glee. Truly feeling better than she ever had in her entire life. From the moment she was born till now—there was nothing that could compare to the glorious light and warmth filling her up. She knew it would be different, she knew since meeting Rainbow Dash that for the first time she would be fulfilled. And she was.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t be even more fulfilled.

Heartless stopped her playful dancing while Rainbow’s body continued to plummet to the ground. She looked to the north and smiled.

“Equestria… so many bright lights are there. And… five… five others almost just like yours, Rainbow Dash. Yes. It will be even better once I’ve felt all their lives too.”

Rainbow Dash fell.

Falling through darkness.

She didn’t know where she was. She wasn’t anywhere. She couldn’t feel anything. Were her eyes open and she couldn’t see anything? Did she still have eyes? Nothing she tried to do or think about got her anywhere. It was just darkness and a sense of falling.

I guess this is it… I guess… it’s all over. It’s the end. I’m… I’m dead.

The realization hit her. She was dead. She had lost, failed, been stopped. Heartless had killed her and now here she was, in darkness. Perhaps it was just part of being dead, but Rainbow Dash felt calmer about it than she knew she should have. She had done her best. She had done everything she could. Now she could finally rest. She had done so much, helped so many, it was a good life she had lived. No one could say otherwise, that was for sure. If this was the end—this calm, this rest—she had earned it.

Rainbow Dash closed her ethereal eyes and let herself go. She could feel a sensation of sleep coming on, she could feel herself drifting off. Alright… this isn’t so bad… I’m okay with this…

“Oh please, as if that’s true. Wake up, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. Who?

“Come on, get some sense back through your thick skull and snap out of it already.”

Rainbow Dash lifted up her hooves and rubbed her head at the sound of the familiar voice. Looking around now, she saw that it wasn’t so dark anymore, there were stars and twinkling lights all around her. She wasn’t falling but had come to a stop on the “ground” and she could see her body again.

“That’s better. It’s good to see you again, you know?”

Rainbow blinked. “I know that voice… can’t be.” She looked up at the source of it and her lip quivered, eyes opening wide.

“I guess it can be,” the indigo pony with the orange mane said to her.

“Anathema...” Rainbow Dash stupidly blinked a few more times at the mare. “But you… how… what’s going on?”

Doctor Anathema smiled and shrugged. “I don’t know myself really, I just… heard you and had to come. You don’t seem to be doing very well and I am a doctor after all. The last time… we didn’t exactly part in the best of ways now did we? I think-”

She was cut off as Rainbow Dash jumped forward and hugged her. Tears already streaming down her face. “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry you died! I’m sorry I couldn’t save you!”

“Oh geez...” Anathema awkwardly grimaced under the hug. “Physical affection isn’t exactly my strong point...” She pushed Rainbow Dash off her a little and smirked. “Can’t you at least be happy to see me again instead of apologizing like that? You know it was all my choice too, right?”

Rainbow Dash sniffled and wiped away some of her tears before nodding and letting Anathema. “I-I know… but I just… I can’t...”

“It’s alright, I understand,” Anathema patted her on the shoulder. “Didn’t think you’d cry so much though.”

“Pff!” Rainbow Dash pouted and crossed her hooves in front of her in indignation. “Let’s see you not cry when one of your friends comes back from the dead. Or… whatever it is you’re doing.” Rainbow Dash frowned. “But really, how are you here? Am I… am I really dead? Is this really happening?”

“Hard to say in my opinion. I’m not really an expert in life after death,” Anathema said.

Rainbow snorted. “Well, yeah.”

“But I could hear you… it’s like you were calling out to me. And I’m not the only one I think.”

“Huh?” Rainbow blinked.

“How have you been, Rainbow Dash?”

“Seems you’ve had quite the adventure since I saw you last.”

Rainbow Dash turned around, her jaw dropping at the two stallions. “Barnaby! Crush! You guys too?!”

“It’s like Anathema said,” Barnaby smiled at her. “We could just… hear you. We saw your light in all this darkness and we knew you needed us.”

“Thanks for taking care of my sister by the way. As best you could at least,” Crush nodded in appreciation.

“Y-You guys...” Rainbow Dash felt herself on the verge of tears again.

“Well don’t go crying just yet—what’s this about giving up?” Crush asked her.

“Yeah, that certainly doesn’t sound like the Rainbow Dash I know,” Barnaby said.

Her teary face turned to a frown instead. “Well… well that’s easy for you to say!” She accusingly pointed a hoof at them and Anathema at well. “Huh? What did you all come here to say to me? Is that it! Well that’s not… I’m… she’s...” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and threw up her hooves. “She’s scary, okay?! She scares me! And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with being afraid of her? I’ve fought and beaten so many monsters and bad guys fearlessly, so what’s wrong with finally being afraid for once? What’s wrong with not wanting to go back and fight her? What’s wrong with not wanting to just die again, it’s scary! I don’t want to go have to face her again, I’m scared!”

Barnaby, Crush, and Anathema shared a look with each other, pitying and understanding both.

“No one can blame you for being scared, Rainbow Dash,” Anathema said.

“Yeah. And we all know how scary dying can be,” Crush said.

“We’re here to support you. Not criticize you,” Barnaby reassured her.

Rainbow Dash huffed and walked away. “Support me, huh? Support me to do what! I don’t even know what to do anymore! And I don’t even know if this is really happening or if I’m just going crazy right before I die? Like what—is Godfrey going to come out next and cheer me up?”

“We could maybe go get him,” Barnaby pointed behind himself.

“Ugh!” Rainbow snorted and sat down, placing her chin on her hooves. “Forget it! There’s just nothing I can do, okay! I can’t beat her, I can’t stop her, if I go fight her again she’s just going to kill me. Again! What do I do?” She jumped back up in frustration and looked at her returned friends. “Do you have any bright ideas—cause I’m at a loss here!”

“Maybe you’ve just been going about it wrong from the start,” Anathema suggested.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow frowned.

“Well… you haven’t always won with brute force on this journey you’ve been on. Have you?” Crush asked her. “Not like you beat into submission or killed everyone in your way, right?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip. “No… I mean, I like a good fight, and most of the ponies and creatures I’ve fought needed to be beaten like that but… it’s not like that’s all I’ve done. There were a lot I could talk to or help in other ways. And, and I really never wanted to kill anyone! Even the worst ones! I always wished there could be something better...”

Rainbow looked up at the dark, but twinkling and starry, sky. “I guess if Larkon was dead he’d be here talking to me right now too. Talking about wanting a world where nobody has to fight anymore… where I could’ve just talked it out with Supernova, Vox, Dreamweaver, and everyone else. Am I just supposed to do that with Heartless now? Talk things out? She doesn’t listen… she won’t listen, she doesn’t understand!”

“I think that’s why you need to do it then,” Anathema said. “She seems like she needs it more than anyone.”

“Anathema, do you have any idea what she’s really like?” Rainbow glared at her. “All the ponies she’s killed—she even killed Crush!” Rainbow wheeled around and gestured to him. “How do you feel about that, Crush? You want me to talk things out with Heartless? She’s a monster! She-”

“She’s a pony who understands what she’s doing about as well as a little filly who accidentally breaks something important to their parents,” Crush said and shrugged. “How do I feel about not just fighting her like you have been? Well, I’d say it reminds me about my sister a fair bit.”

Rainbow scowled and looked at Barnaby. “What about you? You’re the Chief Constable of Oreville—you want me to somehow magically find a happy end with this pony who’s killed who knows how many others?”

Barnaby shook his head. “I don’t have the right to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Or what needs to be done to stop that mare. I just want you to be you again. Figure out a way to do things that can leave you happy and without any regrets. You don’t have to justify yourself to anyone. And I… well I think you should know that I trust you, I think you can come to a good decision. You’re not a pony that gives up, Rainbow Dash.”

“You’re the one who told her that even if this happened she’d never be fulfilled,” Anathema said. “You know that what she’s been doing, what she’s been looking for, and what she’s been taking from others is wrong. Get it through to her, Rainbow Dash. Show her.”

Rainbow Dash sadly looked down at the “ground”. “She doesn’t understand what others can really give her… that’s why she’s never fulfilled no matter how much she takes.”

“Exactly,” Anathema smiled and reached forward to hug Rainbow Dash slightly. “Isn’t that sad? I don’t know what will happen either, I don’t know if it will be a happy ending, but I think you can at least do your best to show that mare what she’s been doing wrong all this time. She talks and talks about warmth—but you know the real warmth that comes from others.”

Rainbow nodded, a few tears coming from her eyes and dropping down. “Y-Yeah… I do.”

“Thanks to you I was reminded of it before I passed on,” Crush smiled to her.

“Thanks to you, Oreville survived in more ways than one,” Barnaby told her.

Together they joined the mares and the four engaged in a group hug centered on Rainbow Dash, who cried more freely, not holding herself back anymore.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save all of you… Crush, I hardly even got to know you… Barnaby, I didn’t do as well as I could’ve to protect Oreville… and Anathema, I really miss just talking to you...” Rainbow sniffled and tried to stop her body from shaking. The next words from her mouth were barely a whisper: “I’m still scared.”

“You can do it. What would you normally say? ‘I’m Rainbow Dash after all’, or something like that?” Barnaby said.

“Pft,” Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, probably...”

“You’ve got this, we believe in you,” Crush said.

Anathema pet her mane and pointed up at the sky. “And you don’t need to be sorry about us or anyone else who has passed on, Rainbow Dash. We’re at peace. Besides—there are others who your mind should be on right now, others who are living happily because of you, others who you can still save and protect by being you.”

A white fissure of light opened up in the sky and Rainbow Dash found herself looking like through a sparkling window at ponies and other creatures she had met through her entire life. It was like every scene of her adventures before and after leaving to fly around the world was being played back to her. The day she did her first Sonic Rainboom, the day she met Twilight, becoming a Wonderbolt, saving the world how many times? All the faces of her friends and family were there. And as she looked further she started to see more recent faces like Aurora, Larkon and the other mammoths, the northern griffons, Ark’Nogt, Raalzeron, Turnip, Miss Valentine, Wish, Gilbert, Daylight, Senax and Breakwater. And so many, many, more.

The color of the light became pink and Rainbow Dash and the others were suddenly looking at Heartless as she flew in the sky above Rainbow Dash.

“Equestria… so many bright lights are there. And… five… five others almost just like yours, Rainbow Dash. Yes. It will be even better once I’ve felt all their lives too.”

There was a deep shudder that ran through Rainbow Dash as she narrowed her eyes and frowned deeply.

But it just as quickly abated, replaced by warmth and positive energy.

“Heh,” Rainbow Dash smirked. “Well… I definitely can’t let them down now can I?”

“That’s the Rainbow Dash I know,” Barnaby smirked.

“And I think that means that its probably time for us to go then,” Crush said and the three of them detached from Rainbow Dash.

Her face fell. “Go? Already?”

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash, but you don’t need us anymore. We’ve gotta get back after all,” Crush shrugged.

Rainbow sniffled. “Lame… I wanted to hang out more...”

“You should be happy enough,” Barnaby chuckled. “Something like this probably doesn’t happen everyday if you know what I mean?”

“Well yeah...”

“Bye, Rainbow Dash,” Anathema said and gave her a last little hug. “I believe in you.”

“Me too,” Crush said.

“Me three,” Barnaby said.

Together they turned around and started walking away as the white fissure grew bigger and bigger, it reached down and opened up a new hole directly in front of them. Barnaby and Crush both walked right in, but Anathema paused and looked over her shoulder back at Rainbow Dash. The dazzling light silhouetted her as she smiled.

“One last thing… though it’s something you already know, even if you have to be reminded a little bit.”

“Yeah, what?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

Anathema smiled. “Your friends are always there for you. Whether in body, or just in spirit. So you should be there for them too. Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?” Without waiting for the response, Anathema stepped into the shining portal beyond as well.

Rainbow Dash blinked at her before a smile slowly stretched across her face. She looked up with determination and confidence towards the bright light that had taken over the darkness. “That’s right. That’s right!”

A brilliant explosion of light and warmth went off beneath her and Heartless looked down.

With wide eyes she took in what would’ve blinded any normal pony if they stared directly at it for more than a second. White light, brighter than the sun, gave way to rainbow light sparkling and shooting out across the horizon. Heartless stared and stared in both confusion and wonder as the center of the light rose up towards her—and finally she began to smile and feel her heart beat in joy once more.

Inside the light was a shape growing more defined every second. The light show lessened, but didn’t disappear entirely, and Heartless both saw and felt a familiar presence.

The pony in the light was smiling at her as well.

Rainbow Dash had changed. Her mane and tail had both become longer and sharper, her wings blossomed with the colors of the rainbow, lightning bolts of all colors sparkled over her body, magical energy glimmered all around her. Heartless saw it all as the light finally diminished until a mere aura of rainbow light was around her.

And now she was there in all her spectacular glory.

Sonic Rainboom Around the World

Rainbow Dash floated up to eye-level with Heartless, defying all sense of physics and logic. It was as if the magical power around her was holding her up and causing her to levitate without any need for her to move her wings.

Heartless of course was ecstatic. Her eyes sparkled in delight and her tail swished back and forth like a dog’s. “What’s this, what’s this?! What’s happening, Rainbow Dash? I took everything from you but you’re still—you’re back and even brighter than ever!”

“This is just me making sure you can’t hurt my friends, Heartless. I’ll do anything for my friends—and for any pony who needs help,” Rainbow Dash grinned.

“I’m so happy! It already felt so good before, this is going to be even better!” Heartless practically pranced on her hooves in the air.

“There’s something else, Heartless.”

Heartless blinked and tilted her head at Rainbow Dash. “Huh?”

“Any pony who needs help?” Rainbow Dash said and pointed at her. “That includes you too.”

“What do you mean? I don’t need help. I just need you.”

“Oh yeah—you need help. You don’t even realize it, and that makes it even more obvious. This whole time you’ve been chasing me, you’ve been looking for the wrong thing. Your entire life you’ve been looking for the wrong thing. You’re taking the wrong things from others, Heartless. You don’t know what others can really give you. But now I’ll make you understand. I’ll give you what you’ve never had, what you’ve been missing, your whole life.”

Heartless lifted up her hooves and held her head. She frowned as she listened to Rainbow Dash and kept rocking her head back and forth. “What are you talking about? You always confuse me so much… you’re just trying to confuse me again and trick me, aren’t you? I know what others can give me—the light and warmth inside them. And since you’re back, I’ll get to take all of yours all over again.”

Rainbow Dash smirked and hovered where she was, she held out her hooves and left herself open, inviting Heartless to come. “If that’s what you want then come on. I’m right here waiting for you.”

“Okay then—fine by me,” Heartless shrugged and smiled. “Ready or not, here I come!”

She shot towards Rainbow Dash with just as much ecstasy and eagerness as she ever had before. Her smile was wide, her eyes were sparkling, she was going so fast her pink form almost blurred. Heartless collided with her and immediately wrapped her hooves around Rainbow Dash’s body again, tightly hugging her and once more draining all the light, warmth, and life out of her.

There was a different feeling this time.

Heartless, she instinctively noticed it in just a second. Rainbow Dash’s lifeforce, everything that made it up, had always felt overflowing and so much brighter compared to any other pony she had ever met. But now, now it felt endless. It felt like she was peering into and taking the light from a bottomless well. It amazed her at first. It excited her. She loved the feeling and she wanted to take it all away—she would’ve been fine doing this for as long as it took. It would’ve made her happy to take all this new life from Rainbow Dash.

But then something else came with it.

Heartless’s eyes shot open wide as an image, a sensation, a memory, all of those things at once, came over her. She could see Rainbow Dash, just a filly, standing proud with a smile on her face, on top of a podium with other fillies around her. And her parents were there—Heartless didn’t know how she knew who Rainbow’s parents were—cheering there for her. Then hugging her while Rainbow Dash hugged them back. She saw the smiles, she felt the love and happiness as if it was happening to her herself. Her heart beat hard in her chest and a sudden spike of something shot through it. This was strange. It was different. Something she didn’t understand or recognize was happening. It hurt, not physically, and she didn’t know why, but her heart suddenly hurt.

Heartless let go of Rainbow Dash and flew back, clutching her chest. “What… what is this? What am I feeling? That… what I saw… I don’t understand.”

“I told you, Heartless,” Rainbow said to her, causing the pink pony’s face to snap to attention. “I’m not giving you what you want, I’m giving you the only thing you’ve ever needed. This is what you never understood, but by the end you will. I’ll keep showing you what others can give you until you get it.”

She flew slightly towards Heartless.

And Heartless flew slightly back.

Rainbow Dash grinned, though there was no mocking spirit behind it. Nothing smug or mean about it. “Come on, Heartless. I finally want to give you something and you’re moving away? I’m trying to help.”

“You’re… I don’t want that! I just want your life!” Heartless yelled and flew at her again.

As she reached Rainbow Dash, her hooves outstretched, Rainbow simply lifted one hoof up and let Heartless touch it. They became joined as if holding hooves in the air. Silhouetted by the sun above them, one smiling and one grimacing in unfamiliar anger. Not embraced in a hug like before but touching just slightly like how Heartless normally killed. But this time she got far more than what she expected.

It was just like before—warmth flowed into her, but along with it so did memories, images, and emotions. They poured in even harder and faster from Rainbow Dash than before.

There was a memory of Rainbow Dash as a filly flying through the sky, there was a memory of her hanging out with Fluttershy, and Gilda and other friends. She grew older and older until Heartless saw her meeting Twilight Sparkle, and refusing the Shadowbolts, and then finally as she joined with her friends to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Princess Luna. Everything Rainbow Dash felt, she felt. All the warmth—a different kind of warmth—that came from her friends with all their smiles and happiness. It all ran through Heartless as well.

Her heart was beating out of control and she flew away from Rainbow Dash, groaning inarticulately and holding her head.

Rainbow Dash saw how afraid she looked, how unhappy, almost on the verge of tears. Her lip trembled as her eyes darted back and forth in confusion.

“I don’t like this! I don’t like this, Rainbow Dash!” Heartless shouted, her hooves digging into her mane and scalp as she fervently shook her head. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!”

“You’re just seeing and feeling what you’ve been missing out on. It’s a lot better than what you’ve been taking from other ponies. Isn’t it?” Rainbow offered.

“No, no, no! I don’t like how this makes me feel—I don’t understand it! Why… why does my heart hurt so much?!”

This time Rainbow sadly looked back at her. “Because you’re starting to understand everything I’ve been saying.”

“I’ll just… I’ll make it stop! I’ll make you stop! I’ll take all your life this time!” Heartless once more flew at her in a rage.

Rainbow Dash just sighed and waited for her.

Heartless smashed into her, almost like she was trying to tackle her out of the air. A pink trail was left behind her as they spiraled through the sky and Rainbow Dash’s sparkling aura joined it, creating what would have been a beautiful display to any soul looking up and watching. The faces of the ones making the light show were not quite as happy or elegant. Heartless almost snarled with strange fear and anger while Rainbow sadly smiled back at her. They were holding onto each other, flying, spinning, in unison together. There was so much draining out of Rainbow Dash but it just kept coming back and refilling her again and again, there was no limit to it. And just as suddenly Heartless felt more memories coming on.

The running of the leaves with Applejack.

A Sonic Rainboom to save Rarity.

Everyone working together to stop Discord.

Finding her new pal in Tank.

Learning to love books thanks to Twilight and Daring Do.

Helping Fluttershy out to make the reservoir filling tornado.

All the fun jokes and pranks traded with Pinkie Pie.

All the fun spent with Scootaloo and the other Crusaders.

Heartless let go and flew away. “No, no, no, no!” She screamed and shook her head while tears—the first in her life—fell from her eyes. She clutched her chest as her heart thumped and thumped so hard it almost felt like it would break free. “This isn’t what I want! Stop making it hurt! It’s supposed to feel good, it’s always made me happy! I finally had you, I finally felt more fulfilled than ever before, I finally had a real purpose! Stop doing this!”

“I can’t,” Rainbow said and started to fly towards her. “I can’t until you get it all.”

“N-No more!” Heartless shook her head and flew high into the sky with a pink trail of magical energy around and behind her.

Rainbow had to admit she found some humor in Heartless running away from her. But the situation was too serious to laugh or get caught up in the moment. She flew up right after her, leaving her own sparkling rainbow trail. The two of them quickly made it high above any clouds in the sky, where only open blue and the sun hanging even higher awaited them. Heartless could feel her coming and looked behind her to see Rainbow Dash gaining on her. There was still a small, pitying, smile on Rainbow Dash’s face. So Heartless made a wide curve in the air and came around to fly at Rainbow Dash, intending to just fly right by her and only touch her for a moment, just take some of her life without anything else if she could.

Rainbow Dash met her head on and the two colorful ponies and the trails behind them clashed. Brilliant light shot everywhere, Heartless’s hoof just barely scraping Rainbow’s outstretched leg.

The memories of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance’s wedding flooded into her.

The two of them flew around in a wide circle, staring at one another, the circle got smaller and smaller as they flew in towards each other before they finally clashed again.

Saving the Crystal Empire and all the crystal ponies from Sombra.

Again.

Twilight Sparkle becoming an Alicorn.

Again and again and again. The memories and strong emotions from Rainbow Dash’s life found Heartless every single time the two of them touched. On every pass, every time their hooves reached out, Heartless found herself reliving and feeling the moments of pure love and joy from Rainbow Dash. It eclipsed the warmth she had taken from Rainbow Dash just earlier. Eclipsed it so completely.

“How?! How, how, how, how, how?!” Heartless screamed. “How do you still have so much?! How—why is this happening! Why can’t I just take it all from you—why are you giving me these things I don’t want?!”

“It’s because of everything I’ve been through!” Rainbow yelled back at her. “Everything—through my entire life—before I left on this journey and everything I’ve seen and experienced since! There were times it was tough, times I almost died, and almost gave up! But I overcame it! And now after all of that I’m here for you too, Heartless! Whatever happens from now on, it’s the culmination of everything! I don’t know what the ending will be, and it doesn’t matter if you want it or not, cause like I’ve said—I’m finally giving you what you need for the first time in your life!”

Heartless cried and dove at her and the two flew right by each other once more, rainbow and pink beams of light reaching far across the sky.

The memories Rainbow Dash had made since starting this journey around the world came into her now. She saw so many things, so many ponies and other creatures, so many places. Felt so many things. From her entrance into the True North, to moving to the other side of the world, to finally making it almost all the way back home. Heartless experienced everything Rainbow Dash did. Everything flashed by so fast but it didn’t lessen the feelings from it at all.

The pink pony could only clutch her chest in pain and fly up even higher into the sky while Rainbow Dash watched her.

“I can’t—my heart’s beating… it’s out of control!” Heartless yelled. Her pink trail ended just under the sun with the open sky all around her. “I can’t take anymore! I don’t want anymore! Stop this, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and smiled. “It’s not over yet, Heartless. You wanted Rainbow Dash? You wanted everything I could give you? You’ve got it!”

She loosened up—and then shot back far, down and away from Heartless, creating a bunch of distance between the two of them.

Heartless blinked in confusion until Rainbow Dash stopped just above the jungle. She was so far away now but Heartless could still see that she was smiling. Her voice even carried on the wind just as easily.

“Okay, Heartless!” Rainbow Dash shouted so loudly her voice echoed through the jungle and mountains around her. She splayed her colorful wings open wide and held her hooves out in front of her. Electrical, magical, energy, coursed down her long mane and tail and Rainbow Dash felt like her whole body was charged up. The air itself seemed to be gathering around her, almost like a cyclone was building up beneath her. A big and confident grin lit up Rainbow’s face. “Here I come!”

“N-No! Stay back!” Heartless held her hooves in front of her, shaking, futilely trying to stop Rainbow Dash and keep her away.

Rainbow Dash blasted off into the sky with enough force to nearly flatten the trees around her. The gathered wind blew across the entire jungle while a cone of air wrapped around her entire body and a dazzling trail of rainbow color followed her. She flew fast enough that she almost started to blur together with her colors, becoming nothing more than a brilliant arrow. All towards Heartless. All aimed straight at that pony that had followed her around the world. Her mouth was open in shock. Her blue eyes open wide. And the smile from Rainbow Dash was reflected in them at that very last moment.

An incredibly loud kaboom exploded in the sky and a humongous circle of rainbow colors and energy burst from where the two met. It was the biggest, most glorious, most awesome Sonic Rainboom Rainbow Dash had ever made in her entire life. So high up in the sky it blew away the clouds beneath and around it as it expanded. Fast, faster, bigger, going and going the rainboom waves traveled north, south, east, and west to every horizon…

In Ponyville, it was like the sound of an erupting volcano and every pony looked up in the sky as the Sonic Rainboom traveled overhead. A familiar but never any less wondrous sight, the ponies felt waves of positive energy practically coming from it. They stared up in awe, mouths ajar, as the Rainboom kept going and going…

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie were on the ground, lugging two big wagons full of luxury cake ingredients back to Twilight’s castle, when they saw and heard the Rainboom. Both of them looked up just the same—a befuddled expression on Twilight’s face and a huge ear-to-ear grin on Pinkie’s.

“Oooohhhh, pretty!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as well now, knowing exactly what that Sonic Rainboom meant. “It sure is.”

Far to the west, a beaten and bruised Amethyst Star stood on a cliff as the Rainboom reached her, blasting through the sky overhead. She looked up in amazement and wonder at it as well, and the warmth and beauty of it washed over her—making her wounds not feel so bad anymore. A short while later she started walking her way back home.

And Miss Valentine, who happened to be in the same area, found herself taking off her sunglasses so she could watch the Rainboom directly with her own deep blue eyes. Never having seen one before she didn’t really know what to make of it. But she felt in her heart she was witnessing something truly amazing.

In the Crystal Empire, the royal family was eating together when they started to hear the commotion from outside. Wondering what was up, Princess Cadance grabbed Flurry Heart and the three of them went out to the nearest balcony that overlooked the city. Just in time were they able to see the Sonic Rainboom reach the spire, its waves shooting high over it, higher even than Mt. Everhoof in the distance. The beautiful sight brought a smile to all their faces, Flurry Heart reaching up towards the Rainboom as if she wanted to fly up there and touch it.

Shining Armor and Cadance giggled and caught each other’s eyes with a glance. The stallion smiled and leaned in to give his wife a quick kiss on the cheek.

North, on a frosty river, the Yak checkpoint stood as it always had.

Archibald saw an unusual splash of color outside one of the building’s windows and looked outside it, seeing the huge Sonic Rainboom traveling further north.

The big Yak snorted. “Yaks can make better rainbows than that...”

In what was formerly the Eternal Pegasus Empire, the floating mountain city was abuzz with activity. It always was to be honest, what with all the very active pegasi that lived there, but as they saw the Rainboom approach and soon reach over their mountain they all flew up and watched it in fascination. Some with a bit more fascination than others.

“It’s her. I-I don’t know how I know, but it’s her,” Summer Rains said as he watched it with his family. One hoof over the shoulder of his wife, Snowshine.

Aurora, buzzing on her small wings, nodded along in awe. “You’re right… it’s Rainbow Dash.”

Skychaser, Flashbolt, Clear Skies, and Fierce Current all watched it as well from elsewhere in the city—feeling the same thing that Summer Rains did.

With hammer in hoof and nails held in her mouth, Dust Bunny hammered together a few planks of wood to bring the frame of a house closer to creation. Ever since the huge storm died down they’d been slowly rebuilding their city. It was a nice place again with many buildings rising up inside the mountainous valleys but they still had a long way to go. Progress though was steady thanks to the directions of Pile and the plans of the big-brains from the now decommissioned weather lab. There was a lot of hard work left but Dust Bunny could still smile thinking about it—they were in a good place now.

Right as she thought that a booming rainbow wave of colors shot over the mountains. Dust Bunny’s jaw opened in shock and her nails went spilling everywhere. She didn’t even notice.

“Wow…” She blinked. “Guess we just get strange weather up here sometimes.”

In the Mammoth City, Larkon wheeled himself down the road—right up until one of the wheels on the supportive frame that held up his back legs got caught in a rack on the road.

“Confound it!” Larkon muttered in annoyance and tried to shake himself free.

“You can just ask for help,” Samarkon sighed from beside him and easily tilted the wheel out of the crack. “Was that so difficult, father?”

“Yes, yes, let us continue on to the Hall. Your teacher tells me your lessons are coming along well,” Larkon smiled to his son.

Samarkon blushed. “It’s nothing… Alykon has her sports… I wanted to follow in your footsteps.”

Larkon patted Samarkon on the back with his trunk. “You’ve already made me proud in more ways than one.”

A blast of air fell across the valley that the Mammoth City resided in and the two Mammoths looked up to see the Sonic Rainboom spreading from the south and flying fast over their heads. They heard the rumbling from other Mammoths in the streets around them as the rest of the population looked up in wonder and confusion. But the two of them didn’t have to think about where—and who—that strange flying rainbow had come from.

“I see you’re doing alright,” Larkon smiled at the sky.

“Better than alright… wow,” Samarkon said.

Father and son stood there, watching the Sonic Rainboom go until it fully disappeared.

Beneath the shrine at the Sacred Spring, in a room filled with darkness, a single Mammoth stirred. He could not see the Sonic Rainboom as it passed by, but somehow he could feel it in his heart. And when it passed, an unfamiliar, but joyful, feeling of warmth was born in his chest.

A single tear fell from his eyes as he looked to find the door leading out of his prison…

Further north, the former Captains East and West Wind flew together across the many chasms of Ice Valley in their new jobs as mailponies. They along with the hundreds of thousands of ponies, wolverines, and reindeer living in Ice Valley got a nice treat that day when the Sonic Rainboom zoomed across the massive city. There was an inkling of familiarity in the two of them as they saw it and they found themselves giving each other a small hug before returning to their work.

The Metal Mountain had changed considerably since the day it almost all fell apart.

Sections that had been jettisoned were replaced by outdoor balconies, with freshly planted trees and flowers to color things up. The insides had been cleaned and better taken care of, and garbage and waste was no longer carelessly dropped off the side of the mountain. The former gangs, the former workers, the former security ponies, had all come together to return their home to its former glory.

There was one pony though who refused to participate—who had never so much as spoken a word since the day her flame was taken away.

The ponies she had oppressed though were kind to her, and Resin had been given solitude and peace along with a new room of her own to live in that had a window so she could at least see the sun outside when she wanted to. She was staring out that window now, looking at the sky with her one good eye. That was why she saw it before anyone else. She saw the miraculous ring of rainbow energy flying over the mountains, higher than any cloud, right over their home and then going further and further north.

Her eye and mouth were both open wide as she watched it. “Beautiful...”

On the snowy mountain peaks of the Griffon Houses, many griffons flew about in celebration as the heir to House Stormwing, Glaive, and his wife had announced they were with child. Galia and all of Glaive’s siblings joined him at the huge platform where balls were normally held. They proudly ate and danced together on this most joyous of occasions.

It was made even better when the Sonic Rainboom scattered the clouds and snow, wondrously lighting up their world as it passed their mountains. Naturally they’d take it as a sign that the day was truly blessed.

At the North Pole, in the Reindeer city of Nogt, the magical city living inside the swirling tornado and above the great whirlpool. A city that by all accounts shouldn’t exist. The citizens felt a strange shaking beneath their hooves, felt a strange wind blow in from the south, and for a moment the huge tornado that blocked them off from the outside world stopped and dissipated.

While they watched that, a rainbow wave of energy shot over the great walls that connected at the top of the world. Shot over the artificial sun that gave Nogt its light. All the Reindeer and every other creature here could see it. As soon as it had fully passed by, the tornado winds started up again and Nogt returned to its normal self.

Ark’Nogt though stared up at the sky for quite a while longer. “I feel like… but it couldn’t be? Could it?”

On the other side of the world, in the coldest reaches of the True North, there were two souls.

One—the last of the ice dragons. The other—a particularly gigantic pegasus who had finally found a nice and quiet place where he could live in peace.

Both of them rested atop some of the largest mountains in the icy north together. Both of them felt the incoming Sonic Rainboom and lifted up their heads, watching as the dark sky parted and the rainbow ring filled their world with light and warmth. It was an incredible sensation for the both of them and they smiled together in joy until the wave finally disappeared.

South of the Gate of Winter, in the Ore-Range mountains, Eleanor watched as her children played around outside with others from the neighborhood. Ever since the partial collapse of the Copper Section of Oreville, a large amount of families had moved to live above ground. Using repossessed wealth from Lord Copper and some of his affiliates, housing and other buildings and facilities had been constructed up here for everyone.

Things had been good recently, though difficult at first, the ponies of Oreville had come together to fix things after the disaster. Most of Copper Section was still closed off and likely would be lost forever, but they were an industrious folk that always moved ahead. More would be built—and while the tragedy would not be forgotten, it would heal over time. They had decided to foster closer ties to the small mountain villages around them as well as the pegasus home of the Weeping Mountain to make things easier. And just because it felt nice to have more friends in the world.

Eleanor sighed. She still missed her husband and always would, but she refused to wallow in sadness for the rest of her life. So many had died—she had to live on and provide a place to live in for the sake of them and her children.

There was a crack of almost lightning overhead and she and every other pony looked up to see the Sonic Rainboom flying in the sky.

Eleanor gasped and clasped her hooves over her chest. A second later tears were streaming down her cheeks.

“And there you go, all better now aren’t you?” Doctor Swab said to the young colt of Pinetree Warren as he finished giving him his flu shot.

The colt rubbed his leg and grimaced. “Guess so...”

“Oh come now, no need for that, you were very brave,” Doctor Swab patted his head and smiled.

The windows of the clinic shook and the both of them looked around in confusion while outside they could hear many other ponies gasping and shouting about something. Both ponies went to the nearest window and looked up, seeing the tail end of the Rainboom as it passed by Pinetree Warren.

“My word…” Doctor Swab blinked.

Down in Two Hump Oasis in the middle of the Great Camel Desert, Shireva the fortune-teller shivered in her tent despite the heat. The smoke and incense thickened and the old, withered, camel rose from the dark depths of her tent for the first time in ages. She opened the front flap of the tent over so slightly and peeked an eye out—just in time for her to see the Sonic Rainboom spreading across the desert.

The dazzling colors reflected, dancing, in her old eye as she watched it. “That pegasus… even I didn’t foresee something so amazing...”

In the small village of Dacty, giraffes walked among giraffes.

Giraffes casually chatted with giraffes.

Giraffes ate and contemplated poetry with giraffes.

Giraffes saw the Rainboom in the sky and watched it with blank faces.

Giraffes spoke with one another after it had passed that it would make a great inspiration for new poetry.

Giraffes got back to casually chatting with other giraffes.

“And so with what the Vissidians are bringing up along with the caravans from the Camels up north, we’re finally in what I’d say is a good spot. There aren’t going to be food or supply shortages anymore and the new farms are coming along nicely. Restoration on the castle is nearly complete too,” Brass Hoof told Red Wing.

Red Wing—one time Captain of the Hoofica Royal Guard, now current Regent of the kingdom—nodded in appreciation. “Thank you. And on a more somber note, Star Petal told me earlier that all the orphans and missing ponies have finally been accounted for.”

“Mm… at least that line of work is finally over.”

The two of them walked along the southern balcony of the capitol’s courthouse, which had been made the center of government since the day of the revolution. The King had…. temporarily… seen fit to defer rulership of the kingdom to someone else even after being freed from his mind control. Red Wing did not find himself to fit the role, but there were few still trusted as much in Hoofica. And slowly but surely, with help from their friends and neighbors, the large kingdom had picked itself up.

The balcony faced the castle, and though no towers remained it at least no longer looked like a completely collapsed mess.

“Still a long way to go,” Red Wing said, mostly to himself.

But from the horizon came a booming wave of rainbow coloring the sky. The two were shocked to see it, and so were the ponies of the capitol if all the noise was any indication. They didn’t know what it was or where it came from—only that it was something good. Something that brightened up their day and let them know that things were going to be alright.

“Look, Gilbert, look!” Wish shouted and pointed at the sky as the Sonic Rainboom reached Arondel.

“I say—that’s quite the miraculous sight! I’ve never seen something like that before,” the griffon said as he stared up in disbelief at it.

Wish smiled, her rose red mane cut in a shorter, messier, style. Taking in the dizzying rainbow of colors, she felt tears start to well up in her brown eyes. “It’s her. It’s Rainbow Dash.”

Gilbert nodded. “It’s certainly quite the extravagant thing I could see her being responsible for.”

“She’s still out there…,” Wish sniffled and wiped away the tears. “I bet she’s doing great.”

“No question about that,” Gilbert grinned.

“What is that?” A voice came from behind them.

The two looked to see Dotted Easel walking over with Rosalie by her side. The both of them were far more awestruck and befuddled than Wish or Gilbert.

“That is Rainbow Dash,” Wish proudly exclaimed.

Dotted Easel blinked at her and looked up again as the Rainboom kept going and going. “Well… I’ll take your word for it.”

“It’s so beautiful...” Rosalie said in wonder.

Gilbert patted Wish on the head. “I think that’s the proof we need that we really will see her again one day. Not that I ever doubted.”

“Me neither,” Wish said.

Together the four of them sat and waited for the Sonic Rainboom to completely disappear. They wanted to see all of it, watch it for as long as possible. The memories of Rainbow Dash felt fresh in their minds as they saw it. That mare who had changed all their lives—even saved most of them—they all had unquantifiable gratitude and love for her. Wish in particular couldn’t hold the tears back at all as she watched, much as she tried. She hoped she would get to see Rainbow Dash again soon…

In the swamp south of Vissidia, even the heavy foliage, canopy, and fog couldn’t block out the light and color from the Sonic Rainboom. The various denizens scattered throughout it, including Belle, the Elder, and Claude of Mile Moss Crannog, got treated to the wondrous and very uncommon sight. They didn’t know what to make of it either but it was beautiful enough that they’d remember it for the rest of their days. The entire swamp would likely have tales to tell of this day when the miraculous rainbow ring flew over their beloved swamp and blessed it with its light and warmth.

In dry dock at the port of Malkonrik, Ballast and Dredge along with several workers (who may or may not have been former soldiers from a certain country) were busy constructing the first commercial submersible using upgraded plans based off both their earlier designs. Things were going swimmingly as they had managed to get several competing investors interested in their idea.

They had to open up a new place where they could build a larger vessel, but it was well worth it.

The Sonic Rainboom that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, crossing the sky, gave them all pause. Gave everyone on the coast and everyone in the Hundred Kingdoms pause as they saw it. Ballast looked over at Dredge—who merely shrugged in return. As soon as it was gone the shipwrights and their workers got back to work. As amazing as that was they still had a lot to do.

Breakwater, taking the Heart of Azure out for a casual trip along the coast of the Hundred Kingdoms, felt a strange sensation in his bones and looked up right as the Sonic Rainboom passed over his head.

“Well that’s new,” he said, rubbing his head. “Hmph, Rainbow Dash… probably you, isn’t it?”

He shook his head while a big smile came to his face. “Miss having you four around...”

At the great pyramid on the no longer lost Isle of the Lizard People, Princess Fairscale and Firescale presided over a grand ceremony officially reuniting their people’s as one. The formerly dilapidated and decaying city on the western side of the island had seen great improvements. There was no longer any fighting between them, and both leaders had confidence that things would get even better as time passed. Already they also planned on fully opening the island to the outside world and visiting and inviting others to meet them.

The Sarrarocco Archipelago and what was left of the Order were first on that list.

The sight they saw when the Sonic Rainboom passed by them caused most lizards to cry out and pray. It was only Princess Fairscale who felt she truly knew the meaning of that strange rainbow phenomenon. Both she and Firescale stared up at it wonder as the noise from the city died down and a serene calm overtook the island.

The town of East Glade was going through a bit of commotion—and had been ever since Senax returned and announced she had discovered the merponies’ ancestral home of Merlantis. From then on they had been preparing to leave, and the ponies and griffons that also lived in East Glade were helping them out. Naturally the others were sad to know they’d be leaving soon, but also happy knowing they had finally found their true home and would be returning there.

A lot of work had to be done before they could go though. Most merponies had never left East Glade either. Now they were picking up and taking their whole lives with them, and Senax had already told them of what awaited them. It wasn’t going to be easy.

That said, when the ring of the Sonic Rainboom came from the west and blew away the clouds and bad weather hanging over East Glade, it was like all their fears and worried had alleviated. Every merpony, pony, and griffon was dazzled by the sight. Suddenly—everything just seemed like it would be okay.

Senax smiled at the sight of it. “It’s her… thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

In the reaches of the Undiscovered West, Daylight Gleam stood on the balcony of a castle’s highest tower. She saw the Sonic Rainboom coming and merely raised an eyebrow as it passed through the sky.

“Pff,” Daylight snorted and rolled her eyes. “Oh you showoff...”

Fizzlepop Berrytwist and the Storm Creatures were out attempting to build a better dock for future boats to use on the island. Unfortunately it hadn’t stopped raining the whole time they’d been trying to construct the thing and Fizzlepop was ready to put a torch to it out of frustration.

The ring of the Sonic Rainboom coming in from the north was a true blessing. It blasted away the storm around the Stormlands completely—no trace was left behind.

An unusually bright and sunny day was now here and by the looks of it would be here to stay for awhile.

Fizzlepop smirked up at the sky and the receding Sonic Rainboom. “Seen one of those before.” She then grinned at the Storm Creatures. “Alright—let’s not waste this! We’ve got work to do!”

The Troll Kingdom was calm and quiet with most having no knowledge of what had recently gone on concerning one of their own. That one—as a show of faith from the King—was confined to a tower in the castle instead of a dungeon. If Berten had really changed, they wanted to be able to trust him.

While contemplating the recent absurd changes in his life and the absolute rollercoaster he had been on, the Sonic Rainboom washed over the small Troll island, visible from his window.

“You really are something else,” Berten said with an amused shake of his head. It was obvious to him who was responsible for that. He watched it go, feeling it warm up his soul as he did.

And back south of Equestria.

Back where it had began.

One pony holding another hovered in the sky.

Rainbow Dash and Full Heart

Rainbow Dash had returned to normal after the Sonic Rainboom. The extra long mane and tail, the colorful wings, the body decals, had all disappeared. She was just her ordinary awesome self again.

And she was holding Heartless, gently flapping her wings to keep them both suspended in the air.

Heartless had changed too. Her body had become deathly pale—looking and feeling like ash in Rainbow Dash’s hooves. Her bright pink coloring was gone, her sparkling mane faded, her eyes dull and empty, reflecting nothing. The big red Cutie Mark on her flank, the eye-catching heart, had lost its black outline and was faded as well. The only thing that told Rainbow Dash she was still alive was the steady thump, thump, thump that Rainbow Dash could feel from her heart now that she held her close.

And Heartless blinked, first looking up at Rainbow Dash with sadness and confusion, and then holding up her hooves in front of her face and blinking once more. There were cracks in her hooves, small pieces of her breaking off into dust, and beneath seemed to be all dust too.

“What’s happening to me?” Heartless whispered.

Rainbow Dash looked at her in a struggle to speak before she at last answered.

“I… I think you’re dying.”

“Dying?” Heartless blinked—and to Rainbow’s surprise a pair of real tears, not dust, came from Heartless’s eyes and left trails down her face. Lingering confusion and fear was visible to Rainbow Dash. “But how can I die? I don’t even know what I am.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced and bit her lip, unsure of how to respond. Heartless didn’t feel cold in her hooves—she didn’t feel like anything. She hardly weighed anything either, feeling like an empty shell of a pony. She then dropped her hooves and let her head rest against Rainbow’s body. More small cracks like those of incredibly dry ground cracking and breaking started to spread over her body.

Heartless closed her eyes as she limply rested where she was, it was certain she’d fall to the ground if Rainbow Dash wasn’t carrying her.

“I’m scared, Rainbow Dash.”

That brought a surge of emotion through Rainbow but she held her tongue. Her hooves clenched and she almost screamed at the pony in her grip. Even Rainbow wasn’t entirely sure how she felt anymore. What right did Heartless have to feel fear and be held like this? What right did she have to cry? Everything she had done, all those she had killed without any consideration or hesitation, without remembering any of them. It made Rainbow Dash so angry, angry enough that she wanted to yell and tell the pony she deserved to be scared, deserved even far worse than that and what was happening to her now. But she couldn’t. With the anger was also sorrow, regret, and while not exactly compassion or sympathy flooded her veins there was still a part of her that wished things could’ve ended happily.

This pony she was holding. She was a monster, she was something Rainbow Dash didn’t understand either. She was someone Rainbow couldn’t save completely. She was someone who never really seemed to understand what she was doing, like the others had said. It made her different. Scarier in some ways, pitiable in others. And that was finally what Rainbow Dash realized. Would her friends have wanted to help her too? Would they be upset that a better outcome couldn’t be reached? Would they think Heartless deserved forgiveness or to be helped?

Instead of saying anything, Rainbow Dash only sighed and held Heartless close. It was over anyways.

She just hoped that Heartless understood now… felt what Rainbow Dash was trying to make her feel. If she did, it could help her rest peacefully.

There wasn’t a single cloud anywhere around them thanks to her Sonic Rainboom. Just the sun above as it shined down on the two of them. It made Rainbow Dash warm but it didn’t change the lack of feeling from Heartless’s body. The day, just like Rainbow Dash had noticed on her approach, was still beautiful.

She even heard birds tweeting in the jungle below, something that had been absent before.

The pale pony had grown even more faded, and felt even lighter. Rainbow Dash watched as bits of her mane and tail, her back, and the bottom of her hooves all started to crack and fall away, carried on the breeze. Cracks had appeared all around her Cutie Mark and soon it peeled away too. Heartless’s entire body was crumbling to dust.

“It’s okay,” Rainbow Dash found herself saying in an attempt to comfort the other mare. “I don’t think you’ll need to be scared anymore.”

Heartless opened up her eyes again, eyes that used to sparkle above a face that normally had such a happy smile on it. Instead now she was blank. Empty. With just the slightest imprint of sorrow visible on her features. Her ears and the sides of her face were falling away, her chin, the back of her head… Rainbow Dash knew it wouldn’t be much longer.

Heartless seemed to know that too as she looked into Rainbow’s eyes.

“Can you hold me? Just like this?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Yeah. Yeah… I’ll keep holding you.”

Heartless closed her eyes and returned to merely resting against Rainbow Dash while more and more of her fell away.

A small smile returned to her face.

“I remember this. This feeling. Being held like this… it’s the first thing I can remember,” Heartless said calmly, peacefully. Quietly. She nestled further into Rainbow Dash as her back legs completely crumbled into dust and most of the rest of her body soon followed. “I like it… Rainbow Dash… you’re… warm...”

A final sound of cracking and crumbling before there was silence and Rainbow Dash’s hooves were empty.

She looked on as the last remnants of dust blew away in the wind, scattered through the sky.

“Goodbye, Heart-,” she stopped. “Goodbye, Full Heart.”

Author's Note

Three chapters remaining. Though I may release the final two at the same time.

Boy it’s been quite the ride. This story has been a blast to write and its funny to think of how different it is from the initial concept I had of it. In the very beginning, this was meant to be a much sillier story with far wackier things going on in the north. Blizzard was going to be more comedic and he was going to die choking on a carrot while stopping someplace in his pursuit of Rainbow Dash. The north pole was going to be an interdimensional wormhole where strange creatures came to do battle in a fighting tournament. Stuff like that. However, considering I had already written some silly adventures and parodies of classical adventures, I decided it would be far more fun to write a normal adventure for Rainbow Dash.

And so the story kept evolving from then on. Even after deciding it would be serious, some arcs are completely different from their first concept. Especially Hoofica. Would you believe that Wish didn’t even exist at first? Neither did Vox, the King and Queen, or Dotted Easel. Dreamweaver’s plan was to collect all the leftover negative energies from Nightmare Moon, Sombra, the Pony of Shadows, etc. and merge them into one new super-monster where he’d spread despair and take over the world. Hoofica would’ve been far more of a destroyed and dark place with almost no civilization left aside from a small resistance. I found the idea for the story fun but in practice it didn’t come out to much and eventually I decided to totally rework it.

The Metal Mountain/Eternal Furnace was also almost completely different. It was meant to be a gigantic floating airship/Laputa kind of place that spewed trash and refuse everywhere and Rainbow Dash would be trying to stop it from polluting everywhere it went, only to discover what had really happened on the inside. And most of that with Resin was the same. But I found the story difficult to work and it changed again.

The Great Camel Desert was completely different too, it originally was going to end on a sand train with Rainbow Dash fighting against essentially a random thug in a small room in a claustrophobic fight similar to James Bond’s fight with Red Grant. Meanwhile Daring Do would be fighting a unicorn like Supernova. I never really came up with a satisfying way for that arc to end so I changed it once more and it became what you got.

Oh yeah originally Supernova had nothing to do with Harlequin Grey. In fact, Harlequin Grey originally appeared and did even less in this story than he actually did but I realized I had to make him appear more so added some stuff. That whole little excursion with him and White in the desert south of Hoofica? That was written in the middle of me publishing the story. That was the last thing I came up with and put in the story. The bit with Coral Sea at the end of the Grand Ocean too, I kept going back and forth if I wanted to include it or not but felt that Harlequin Grey needed to do more in the story. Originally it was also going to be Godfrey raised from the dead to become Grey’s puppet but I didn’t like that idea and there was more to do with Coral Sea at that point anyways.

The Sarraroccon Order in general were also last minute additions to the story. So was the brief Wandering Island arc because I saw that I didn’t have enough of the crew of the Heart of Azure actually just out searching for Merlantis and the Trident. There needed to be more regular adventuring on the ocean so I put that in.

I also made sure to have just the right amount of chapters of Giraffes so “The Happiest Pony in the World” could be chapter 100. Did that on purpose.

Also throughout both stories I had a number of chapters I wanted to name “Rainbow Dash vs. Blank” but decided to keep that naming convention just for “Rainbow Dash vs. Harlequin Grey”.

My favorite three new characters to write were:

Godfrey (Big surprise)

Wish

Anathema

Also for this story I had a theme going with most of the major characters representing one of the Major Arcana. But I could never find a non-cringe, non-blunt way of conveying this in the story so I’m just putting it down here right now:

The Fool: Gilbert
The Magician: Tempest
The High Priestess: Daylight Gleam
The Empress: Senax
The Emperor: Breakwater
The Heirophant: Barnaby
The Lovers: Dotted Easel
The Chariot: Godfrey
Strength: Wish
The Hermit: Anathema
Wheel of Fortune: Miss Valentine
Justice: Captain Red Wing
The Hanged Man: Raalzeron
Death: Berten
Temperance: Daring Do
The Devil: Vox
The Tower: Dreamweaver
The Star: Coral Sea
The Moon: Supernova
The Sun: Rosalie
Judgement: Lord Copper
The World Upright: Rainbow Dash
The World Reversed: Harlequin Grey

And of course Heartless exists outside of everything so she isn’t included.

I’m very happy with how these stories have come out but I know I could’ve done more at the same time. It might sound silly to say, but that original concept for the story was that it would be twice as long as this. 3 million words. You might think 1.5 million words is already a super long story, but when you think of what the story contained, how many places Rainbow visited, that it isn’t really that much. It certainly doesn’t compare to large epics such as A Song of Ice and Fire or our big fimfic series such as Austraeoh (which I’d like to reiterate I did not start reading until after finishing writing Ego and having Around the World fully planned). I know if I was a better writer, better at prose and descriptiveness, better at naturally and organically padding and developing things, I could’ve improved a lot of these arcs. Four in particular stand out to me as arcs that I really could have and should have done more with. True Pegasus, Mammoth of a Problem, Eternal Furnace, and Hoofica.

All four of those arcs should be twice as long as they are. You might balk at that but it’s true. With the worlds I created there, there was so much more to do with them, so many characters and things to develop. I should have had more of a real war going on with the pegasi, should have had Rainbow come into conflict with Karkona more times and develop the city more. And especially with Hoofica—there was a ton to do there. I really wanted to show off more of the average life in Hoofica, and Wish’s life in the castle, more. The first part of the story before she actually met Rainbow Dash in the dungeon should have gone on a fair deal longer. In the end though, too many characters were just left as one-offs or props. If I was a better writer I could’ve made these places feel so much more alive and have Rainbow’s journeys through them feel more natural.

I’m proud of these arcs but there are disappointments too of course because of things like this.

The Grand Ocean though I’m happy with, I think I wanted the characters to spend a little more time in the Archipelago and down in Merlantis, but for the most part I’m happy with what I wrote there. That arc was essentially half the story—with everything after being what I consider a long epilogue—and I had built up so much leading to it and its conclusion that it truly felt weird to move on and no longer be writing it. I had a lot of fun writing it. The Grand Ocean and Hoofica were the two arcs I was most looking forward to writing, I knew they would be big undertakings but it was exciting to write them.

Also, although I had the ending planned for a long time obviously, even I wasn’t totally sure what Rainbow Dash and Heartless would actually say to each other.

And that about wraps things up for Rainbow Dash. There were also a few rules I had in place that are mostly the same rules I have for all my main adventure fics:

No bat ponies or changelings as I find them overused

No romance involving Rainbow Dash (There were some times I wanted to break this but in the end it really wouldn’t fit the story’s style or atmosphere)

No excessive violence (the story being T-rated instead of E thanks to everything about Hoofica allowed me to be a little flexible with this occasionally)

I’m very tired.

One Last Look

If Equestria had an actual physical border, if there was a line on any maps, she had flown over it a moment ago.

After taking a bit of time before moving again, Rainbow Dash was flying through the night sky. She did plan on resting somewhere soon but for some reason couldn’t bring herself to stop just yet. But it felt good to be home. In fact, she totally recognized, even in darkness, the lands below her. She had been to the hot and dry lands around Appleloosa a couple times by now after all. If she looked down she could even see the rail tracks that led to and away from it. There was just enough light from the moon and stars.

She could’ve easily flown down into Appleloosa, see a familiar face or two, have a nice apple to eat, and fall asleep in a comfortable bed. She didn’t want to. Rainbow Dash wanted her friends to be the first familiar faces she saw. Just… she just had to see them, back in Ponyville. So no stopping at Appleloosa, no going to bed in any town.

She’d find some nice quiet hill to rest on or some clouds a little north of Appleloosa.

And then after she woke up the next day—she’d fly right into Ponyville and the journey would be over.

“All the way around the world...” Rainbow Dash said to herself.

There were no companions with her now at the end of her journey, nopony chasing her, nothing watching her. She had flown by them all. She had left behind those she cared about—in a better place for the most part—and she had surpassed those who had tried to stop her.

Rainbow Dash was home free.

And yet she wasn’t smiling just yet.

For some reason, ever since saying farewell to Full Heart, Rainbow Dash just felt tired. It had been too much. She really needed to stop and she knew that but she still just couldn’t right now. She felt like she might breakdown completely if she didn’t keep moving. Her emotions and her body had both been stretched to the extreme, rubberbanding back and forth had done such a number on her. Terrified, angry, dead… straight to joyous, sympathetic, and more alive than she ever had been. That was kind of a weird hour now that she thought about it. How was she going to explain all of that to Twilight once she got back home?

In short, Rainbow Dash had been through a lot today.

And within the hour she was actually looking down on the town of Appleloosa. She could see lanterns lighting up the streets, a few beams of light coming out from windows from ponies who hadn’t gone to bed yet. Some buildings she recognized but not much else—she had only been to Appleloosa once or twice after all. In the distance she could see their apple orchards though and her mouth briefly twitched upwards into a smile before settling back down.

A big sigh came from inside her and Rainbow Dash just as quickly passed over the northern outskirts of the town, heading into the heartland of Equestria.

She took a look around the sky—flying actually quite a bit lower than she usually did—and didn’t see any clouds. Probably would be best to find a comfortable hill then. Hopefully things out here weren’t too dry and rocky and she could find some grass to lie down on. Thankfully even as she left the brighter town behind and the night got darker and darker her eyes were more than sharp enough for her to keep seeing. It was probably midnight by now but the lack of clouds also let all the light from the moon and stars through.

So she kept going for a bit longer because why not?

If she didn’t want to stop yet who was going to say otherwise?

Exhaustion—exhaustion greater than she had expected—was hitting her though. Her body and mind needed that rest as much as Rainbow Dash was trying to deny it. No matter how she tried to fight, the late night was weighing on her.

Shaking a little bit even though she didn’t fully understand why, Rainbow Dash finally let herself slowly drop towards the ground below.

Her hooves hit a hill of dirt and rocks. No grass. It wasn’t going to be a pleasant night of sleeping by the look of it. That didn’t really bother her though, not with knowing that home was so close, and not when she had just gotten done with something far more important. She had just about completed the circuit—connected the world in harmony—that was something bigger than being comfortable for a night.

Rainbow Dash finally pulled her wings in and closed them, sighing as she stood atop the hill and looked north.

In the darkness, tears began to spill from her eyes and flow down her face.

Her entire body quivered and shook while drops of moisture rained down on the ground.

Her legs failed her and she first fell to her knees and then onto her side.

“Ahhhhh...” Rainbow Dash cried out, wailing, words completely failed her. All she did was cry, and cry, and cry. There was too much inside her, too much had happened, and now she had to let it all out. It wasn’t about being sad, or happy, triumphant or disappointed, or any single thing. It was just… everything. Everything hitting her now that she was at the end. Especially after some of the very recent things she had been through.

She couldn’t help but cry. Lame as it was.

“I don’t even know why! E-Everything… everything just!” Rainbow sobbed and cried even harder, crying for minutes on end in the middle of the night. “F-Finally… I’m finally home...”

She quietly wheezed and sniffled for a long while after that, still lying limply on the ground. Too tired and worn out from crying to move. Her chest went up and down a few more times and with each breath Rainbow Dash felt her eyelids becoming heavier. She’d be sore when she woke up but she lacked the will to move. It was too much effort to care about something like that right now, she just wanted to sleep and wake up and not have to cry anymore. At least it was all out.

Tomorrow she’d wake up and that would be it. No more crying, nothing, she had had her moment.

There was no way Rainbow Dash could come back into Ponyville and start crying in front of her friends. So it was even better that she had done this now. Collapse and get all her feelings out here before it happened sometime after she got back. Obviously, she knew she was going to get emotional again whenever she told her story to her friends, but it would be different. She wouldn’t breakdown. And she could talk out everything with them if need be.

While her eyes closed fully and she started to drift off to sleep, Rainbow Dash thought about her friends. Seeing them again for the first time in… she never had kept track of the days. Didn’t matter, it had been too long. Much too long.

A smile lifted up the corners of her mouth as she fell asleep.

As Awesome As Can Be

“Geez… I wonder if Pinkie Pie is going to be disappointed that I didn’t bring any gifts back?” Rainbow Dash wondered as she lazily flew through the sky. “Twilight’s going to be fine just hearing all the stuff I have to tell her about the rest of the world… but Pinkie will definitely want a gift. Shoot! I don’t even have a souvenir or anything!”

The rest of her friends probably wouldn’t care either, they’d just be happy to see her. Especially Fluttershy. Hm, Spike would also want a souvenir. But for the most part she was hoping her awesome tales would be enough of a gift for everyone.

And boy did she have a lot of those.

Right now she was only a few hours flight from Ponyville if she sped up a little bit but she was taking a more scenic pace. She wanted to just look at Equestria a little bit. It was morning, the sun was out, the weather was nice, all the green forests and blue rivers and lakes below her looked great. It had been so long since she had been here she wanted to savor every last inch of her home. After waking up she had a big smile on her face knowing this was the final day.

So far she had even seen a couple of tiny villages on the way back to Ponyville. Not that Ponyville was big or anything but the places she had seen, nestled in their little forests, were truly out of the way. They didn’t even have train stations. Small towns mostly cut off from the rest of Equestria, where everyone knew each other, all gathered in one small area of the forest. Rainbow Dash wasn’t an expert on the country or anything but she still knew the names of every major town and city—and everywhere she had done a Wonderbolts show or something special. The names of these places escaped her.

She had seen ponies down there too. The first ponies she had seen back in Equestria since she was a little too high up and a little too late at night back when she went over Appleloosa. If any of them looked up they might have seen her flying through the sky as well. But Rainbow wasn’t planning to stop and say hi, maybe wave or something.

The small village she was traveling over now seemed to mostly be earth ponies going about their daily lives anyways. It brought a smile to Rainbow’s face to see something so simple. It really stamped home the fact that she was finally back—she was done.

She left the village behind and started flying over a thinner section of the forest leading towards some hills. There were a fair amount of rocks and large boulders on the way, a canyon to the west with a river running down it as well. Rainbow was humming to herself, looking around, looking ahead to where Ponyville lied far in the distance.

“The perfect day to make it home,” she said.

Taking another glance down at the ground, something caught her eye.

Rainbow Dash frowned, looked over her shoulder back at the village, and then back down at the ground. She halted in the air and folded her hooves. “What are you up to?”

“Thunderbolt, I really don’t think you should be doing this!”

“Cram it, Chocolate! I know what I’m doing, geez!”

A young pegasus filly was climbing atop one of the large boulders between her home village and the hills to the north. On the ground below her, a colt the same age was watching with trepidation. Thunderbolt was a bright yellow filly with a pink mane with jagged white lines going through it that was flat on top and spiky at the back. Her white teeth sparkled and her emerald eyes were just as bright. Chocolate Swirl was just about the opposite, an earth pony with a brown coat and an even darker brown mane that hung loosely over his head while his yellow eyes nervously darted back and forth. Neither of them bore a Cutie Mark just yet but Thunderbolt was hoping that was one of the things that happened today.

Thunderbolt’s face was a confident grin with her brow sharp and her eyes narrowed as she made it to the top of the boulder and proudly stood there. At the tip top of it like she was, she stood twenty feet above the hard ground below.

When she looked down, that confident grin wavered slightly and she gulped. “O-Okay, time to do this.”

“Thunderbolt...” Chocolate Swirl whined.

“I can do it!” Thunderbolt frowned at him.

“But your parents said-”

“And that’s why we didn’t tell them that we’re out here, sheesh!” Thunderbolt rolled her eyes. “You’re my best friend, Chocolate, so have a little faith. I brought you along for moral support, not to try and talk me out of this.”

“But the last time you tried you broke your leg and this boulder is way bigger than the last one,” Chocolate tried to persuade her.

“Exactly! If it’s bigger it means I can get more air beneath my wings! All I need is a little more time in the air and I know I’ll finally be able to do it. So quit with the whining and get to cheering me on! I need to get pumped up before I jump!” Thunderbolt said and took a deep breath before nodding and putting the grin back on her face. She stood up proud and tall and looked at the sky. “Okay, okay, okay, I’ve got this, I’ve got this.”

“You can do it… hooray… go Thunderbolt...”

Thunderbolt groaned at the lame cheering from Chocolate but got over it. That was pretty much the best he could do.

The pegasus filly opened up her small wings as far as they could go and then started flapping and beating them as hard and fast as possible. She was getting ready to take off but her hooves hadn’t left the boulder just yet. In fact, despite how she was flapping her wings, she hadn’t budged at all.

“Just jump… just gotta jump and I’ll be flying through the sky, I can do this. I can do this,” Thunderbolt said to herself. She took another deep breath and then ran to the edge of the boulder, sprinting and jumping right off it.

She spread her limbs wide, she flapped her wings as hard as she could, and she smiled.

And she plummeted.

Much to Thunderbolt’s horror, there wasn’t a successful flight. There wasn’t even a successful period of gliding. She almost immediately started to plummet straight to the ground.

Chocolate Swirl gasped and ran to where it generally looked like she was falling to try and catch her. Thunderbolt’s eyes were wide open as she fell towards the swiftly approaching ground and despite her best efforts she found herself opening her mouth as a high-pitched scream started to come out. She was only a few feet from hitting the ground and at the last second she squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that somehow, someway, that would keep her from getting hurt. Bracing herself she waited for the painful impact-

And was grabbed out of the air at the last second, a feeling of weightlessness taking over and a pair of hooves wrapped around her body.

“Whoa there, that was a close one.”

Thunderbolt looked up in shock to see the up-side down face of a pegasus grinning at her.

“Yeah that would have been a pretty nasty fall if I wasn’t here,” the pegasus said and put her down.

Chocolate Swirl ran over and hugged Thunderbolt, nearly crying. “Thunderbolt! Are you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine you big baby...” Thunderbolt said and pushed herself out of the hug. She gulped, still a little shaky and looked up at the pegasus as she landed in front of them. “T-Thank you Miss...”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow Dash winked. “And don’t mention it. But what in Equestria were you doing? I’ve got some experience with dangerous stunts and all, but it looked like you were just jumping right off a boulder...”

Thunderbolt frowned and looked down in embarrassment, her wings fluttering slightly. “I was just trying to fly...”

“Ohhhh,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “Don’t know how to fly yet, huh?” She took a brief look at her wings, they were average-sized for a pegasus filly her age and there didn’t seem to be anything else wrong. It confused her a little bit since most every young pegasus could fly from very early on. “If you’re having some trouble why don’t you get your parents to help you?”

“Because both my parents are earth ponies,” Thunderbolt snorted.

“Ah. Yeah, that happens sometimes,” Rainbow said.

“Our whole village is earth ponies. Thunderbolt’s the only pegasus,” Chocolate Swirl told her.

Rainbow Dash scratched her head. “Yeah… I suppose even if you’ve got the right instincts and everything it might be tough actually learning to fly without anyone who can really teach you around. Oh and what’s your name, kid?”

“C-Chocolate Swirl,” the shy colt said to her.

Rainbow smiled. “Nice to meet you two kids.” She glanced over at Thunderbolt and raised an eyebrow. “So there’s never been a pegasus around to teach you? Parents haven’t gotten an instructor or anything?”

“They’re considering it now but they say it’s expensive,” Thunderbolt shrugged. “And we’re so far out of the way from everywhere else. So that’s why I’m going to keep jumping off boulders until I can force myself to learn how to fly!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no,” Rainbow Dash aggressively shook her hooves and head.

“But I wanna fly! I wanna be like a normal pegasus—you know, like you!” Thunderbolt pointed at her.

“I get it, but there are better ways to do that,” Rainbow placatingly grinned, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head.

“Like what?” Thunderbolt asked.

“Weeeellll...” Rainbow Dash briefly looked up at the sky to check the time before raising an eyebrow at the filly. “How’d you like an impromptu flying lesson from the best flier in Equestria right now?”

“No, not like that, it’s not about just flapping your wings hard, get it?” Rainbow Said as she flew over the ground, carrying Thunderbolt in her hooves while the filly tried to get the motions right.

“No, I don’t get it,” Thunderbolt frowned.

“Sorry. Kind of always was just instinct for me. But I’ve taught ponies how to be better fliers for a while now,” Rainbow said. “You’ll get the hang of it, I promise.”

“If you say so...” Thunderbolt sighed. “All I want to do is fly, my parents and nobody else back in the village understands. And neither does Chocolate Swirl down there looking like he’s still about to cry!”

“I’m just worried for you!” Chocolate yelled back up at them.

“Heh, you just keep your mind on flying for now, okay?” Rainbow grinned. She appreciated the fiery spirit this filly had. “Now you keep your wings out and your front and back legs extended too okay?”

Thunderbolt did as she said, getting into the prime flying position. “Okay...”

“Now tilt your wings down just a bit. Can you do that?”

Thunderbolt nodded and did so. “Yep.”

“Good,” Rainbow nodded. “Now don’t panic, but what happens next is I’m going to drop you.”

“WHAT?!”

“I’m going to drop you and you’re going to glide in a circle down to the ground. You keep your wings tilted and your body straight and you’ll naturally glide down. Just move ever so slightly to the left while you do and you’ll make a circle until your hooves hit the dirt. And don’t worry about anything going wrong. I’m here to grab you in that case. I’m fast—there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Rainbow said.

“Pff, I’m not afraid...” Thunderbolt gulped.

“Uh huh. Anyways kid, are you ready?”

“R-Ready,” Thunderbolt nodded.

“On the count of three. Just stay like this and do what I told you, everything else should be instinct,” Rainbow Dash smiled and started to count. “One… two… three!”

On three she let Thunderbolt go and the filly clamped her mouth shut and practically froze up as she started falling to the ground. But she listened to what Rainbow had said and realized she was falling much more slowly than normal. She wobbled a bit, trying to keep her legs straight, but she still was gliding. It was way different from how this usually went and Thunderbolt had to admit a giddy feeling was spreading through her body. She tried to stay calm and keep steadily gliding but the further she went the more nervous she became. The ground was rising pretty quickly, would she be able to land safely? Thunderbolt tilted slightly to keep that steady circle going but her breathing was becoming faster and she started to sweat. In just another second she had started to wobble too much and on reflex began to flap her wings and disrupt the gentle gliding to the ground.

“Wagh!” Thunderbolt yelped as her gliding completely broke and just started to fall. She saw Chocolate Swirl down there running around in a circle like he was trying to break her fall…

“Gotcha!” Rainbow Dash said as she caught Thunderbolt a few feet off the ground. “Heh, see? Nothing to worry about.” She put the filly back down on her hooves and calmed down the panicking colt as well. “Relax kid, you really need to learn how to take things easy by the look of it...”

“S-Sorry,” Chocolate Swirl said, huffing and puffing.

“T-T-Thanks for catching me,” Thunderbolt said while her hooves wobbled a bit.

Rainbow Dash patted her head. “I said I would. And you did good, a few more times and I think you’ll have gliding down pretty well. Then we can move on to flying for real.”

“For real?” Thunderbolt immediately brightened up. “For real for real?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, kid. I’ll have you flying for real at least a little bit before I go. You’ll get the basics down for sure, I promise.”

“Then let’s get to it!” Thunderbolt grinned and stood up proud.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Rainbow said and grabbed Thunderbolt again, carrying her up in the air.

For the next two hours Rainbow Dash did her absolute best to teach Thunderbolt the basics of pegasus flight. Carefully watching over her as she glided around and even moved a bit under her own power. The filly actually turned out to be a quick learner now that she had a teacher. Rainbow was proud that she was able to steer things this direction so quickly, but not nearly as proud as Thunderbolt was of herself. That filly’s smile was sparkling the more and more she practiced and the better she got. Chocolate Swirl had gotten a lot better when it came to genuinely shouting encouragement too. All in all, things were really going well for all three of them out here.

Of course, Rainbow Dash eventually had to get going. She couldn’t stay around here forever. Once she was satisfied that Thunderbolt at least knew enough to not hurt herself—badly—in the future, she got ready to leave.

The filly came down from a glide and landed on her hooves right in front of Chocolate Swirl. “See that?”

“Yeah! You’re amazing, Thunderbolt!” Chocolate said.

“Glad you’re getting the hang of it so easily,” Rainbow grinned and patted her on the head. She sighed though and took a look a north. “That’s good cause I, uh, well I’ve kind of gotta get going now. Really got someplace to be.”

“What?” Thunderbolt’s jaw dropped. “B-But you can’t! I still don’t really know how to fly that well yet! I still need your help!”

“Heh,” Rainbow rubbed the filly’s head and mussed up her mane. “Relax, did I say I’m just totally abandoning your flying lessons?” She looked back in the direction of the village. “What’s the name of your village?”

“It’s Clover Grove,” Chocolate Swirl answered.

Rainbow nodded. “Clover Grove—I’ll remember that. In one week I promise I’ll come back here to check up on you and give you another flying lesson. How’s that sound?”

Thunderbolt’s eyes widened in joy. “You really mean it?”

“Sure do!” Rainbow winked. “Just uh, in the meantime if you go jumping off boulders again make sure that there are adults around to watch you. Can you promise me that too?”

“Yeah! No problem! So long as it means you come back,” Thunderbolt nodded vigorously.

“Oh yeah, I’ve gotta make sure a promising new flier like you gets everything she needs,” Rainbow said.

“So will you keep coming back then?” Thunderbolt asked.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes but kept smiling. “Sure, as long as you need me to.”

“Thank you!” Thunderbolt said and launched herself forward to hug Rainbow Dash. “Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash! I can’t believe I’m finally learning how to fly!”

“Oof, yeah, yeah, don’t mention it,” Rainbow Dash awkwardly chuckled.

“Um, thank you too, and goodbye,” Chocolate Swirl said to her.

Rainbow Dash patted his head to. “And you have a fun time keeping your friend from going crazy while I’m gone. She seems like a hoofful.”

“Hey!” Thunderbolt glared at her while Chocolate Swirl grinned.

“Don’t take it badly kid—I’m a hoofful too,” Rainbow laughed. Cracking her neck, she took a step back and opened up her wings. With a last smile she looked down at the both of them. “Well I’m taking off—watch how I do it kid. In fact, watch me fly for as long as you can. I won’t go that fast so you can see everything easy.”

“Okay!” Thunderbolt nodded. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash!”

“See ya Thunderbolt, see ya Chocolate Swirl,” Rainbow Dash saluted and without another word shot up into the sky.

She had to hold herself back from zooming up at full speed out of reflex. As soon as she cleared the trees, she looked over her shoulder and waved at the two little ponies down on the ground. They waved back.

And Rainbow Dash flew on to Ponyville.

Home

Rainbow Dash could see the castle in the distance. It was pretty hard to miss after all.

The school was also easy to see.

Sweet Apple Acres off to the side as well.

And finally the rest of Ponyville came into view.

She had an easygoing grin on her face and let out a simple sigh of relief when she finally saw it all. Gliding low, barely high enough to clear some of the buildings, Rainbow Dash made her approach. It was good to be home. For years before leaving she had woken up almost everyday and seen or gone into Ponyville—either hanging out with her friends or doing some other work.

It truly was a sight for sore eyes.

She had missed it even more than she realized.

Ponyville today shimmered and shined and Rainbow Dash could see how alive and busy it was. Ponies she recognized were out on the streets, walking, talking, working. It was a normal day in Ponyville and that’s what made it so perfect. Rainbow Dash slowed down the closer she got so she wouldn’t miss anything. There was Carousel Boutique, there was the spa, there was Big Mac and Sugar Belle at their apple cart together, there was city hall, there were the flower ponies, there was the schoolhouse, there was Sugarcube Corner.

Rainbow was low enough where quite a few saw her. How aware were they of what she had been doing? Either way it probably wouldn’t have changed their reaction—they smiled and waved up to her like the friendly ponies they were. Seeing those smiling, familiar, faces, it filled Rainbow’s heart with warmth.

She had made it. Despite everything she was back. She was home.

She was the first pony to fly all the way around the world. Nothing had stopped her. She had completed the circuit and done so many things, changed so many lives, on the way.

Now she was home.

Now she could rest.

After she said hi to her friends of course. She hadn’t seen any of them outside and didn’t know where most of them would be right now, but she was willing to bet Twilight was in her castle. Would probably be best to start there anyways. That’s where she had left from and that’s where her journey around the world would truly end once she touched hooves down there. Then Twilight could either gather everyone together or tell Rainbow Dash where she could find them.

Rainbow Dash nodded, flying straight to the Castle of Friendship. A normal friend or visitor might use the door, but Rainbow Dash planned on flying right into it from one of the balconies. She usually did that anyways. Cooler way to announce her return, shock Twilight and Spike right out of the blue.

A smirk lit up her face as she made it to the castle and zoomed on in, first check would be the map room and then the library.

Place was kept as immaculately clean as ever as she zipped through the hallways. She hadn’t seen anyone just yet but just one more corner and she’d be right before the big doors that led to the map…

There they were, closed, waiting for her.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, preparing to loudly shout and announce her return right as she threw the doors open.

What she saw inside instead brought her to a pause and Rainbow Dash dropped to her hooves with her mouth hanging open.

There was a gigantic cake sitting on top of the Cutie Map. It was easily ten feet high and had seven huge layers, going up and up like a big frosted pyramid. Candy, sprinkles, cookies and all sorts of sweets decorated it. But that wasn’t all either, a huge banner going from wall to wall across the ceiling hung, reading: “Welcome back Rainbow Dash!”. There were party cannons, loads of confetti, balloons, party hats, and everything else that was a signature of a Pinkie Pie party filling up the room.

And there were her friends, in the middle of setting it all up.

Fluttershy hanging more streamers from the ceiling.

Rarity setting the table around the huge cake.

Applejack tying off some balloons.

Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie standing there with a surprised look on their faces. The others also had heard the door get thrown open and were now looking her direction as well, surprised but happy.

Pinkie Pie pouted and withdrew a stopwatch from her mane, frowning at it. “Aw phooey! She got here thirty-two seconds early! Now the surprise party is ruined!”

“Uh…” Rainbow Dash blinked, despite what Pinkie Pie had just said, she was still the surprised one here.

Twilight though regained her composure and smiled at Rainbow Dash. There was only one thing that needed to be said to a friend after she was gone for so long. “Welcome back, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her and the smile from before found its way back to her face. She chuckled and shrugged at the big cake and the surprise party with all her friends in front of her. “I’m home.”

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story.

A Fun Fight

“C-Captain, it will take some time before we can free The Scourge and have her back completely in the water. But by then...” Sea Shanty grimaced and looked up at the dark sky.

“By then the storm will be fully upon us and we’ll have to wait it out at the Three Spears before continuing our pursuit,” Godfrey finished.

“Yes, Captain,” Sea Shanty nodded.

“Heh… oh well. They pulled one over on us again,” Godfrey grinned.

“I’m sorry, Captain...”

Godfrey shrugged. “How many days do you think this storm will last?”

“The storms that split off from the Strip of Storms usually last less than a week and it already had to have traveled for a few days to reach the Three Spears...”

“So we won’t be waylaid too long I suppose,” Godfrey tapped a claw on the bow off the ship, still looking far ahead, far south, where the Heart of Azure had now recently vanished. The distance and the darkness from the storm had made him lose sight of it.

Though he still knew the general direction it was going in.

“Ahh...” Godfrey stood up tall and stretched his limbs, first his great wings and then his strong arms. “Well, you had best work as fast as you can to get The Scourge off this sandbar. If it’s not done by the time I’m back I’ll cut off another leg of yours.”

Sea Shanty twitched in fear but still couldn’t help furrow his brow in confusion. “B-Back? What do you mean, Captain?”

Godfrey reached a talon to his cutlass and pulled the blade from its scabbard, holding it before his broad chest. “I’ve got something to do.” He flapped his wings and rose from the deck of The Scourge… before dropping back down. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot about something, gehahaha.”

He turned to look at his eyepatch-wearing, newly promoted, gun deck chief.

Who had been trying to remain as small and quiet as possible and hope no one remembered he was there. But when Godfrey’s glinting eyes landed on him, all the blood drained from his face.

“You remember what I said about incompetence just earlier, right?” Godfrey walked over to the pony with his sword raised.

“W-Wait, Captain! I-I… I mean, I’m sorry! B-But please—please don’t!” He pleaded in horror, getting down on his knees.

Godfrey got ready to swing the sword down right at the pony.

“Please, Captain! PLEASE!”

Godfrey swung the blade down—and stopped right at his neck. The new officer shivered and shook, his pupil from his one eye frozen on the blade that was just barely touching his flesh. Just enough to let out the slightest drip of blood.

“Just kidding. Gehahahahahahaha!” Godfrey laughed uproariously and pulled the blade away, turning around and jumping off the bow of The Scourge while opening his wings and gliding over the water all in one quick motion. A few strong flaps and he was flying higher into the sky at a fast pace, flying south in the direction of the Heart of Azure.

The newly promoted officer fainted on the spot.

“Unfortunately we have a lack of fruit right now but we’ll have to make do. I was really looking forward to having pineapple to eat...” Gilbert said as he and Senax brought plates into Breakwater’s cabin for everyone else. Sans Breakwater himself ironically, as he was still at the helm getting them as far away from the Three Spears as possible right now.

“Carrots, cheese, and milk will have to do,” Senax said with a happy smile, setting the plates down at the table.

“And a little cured meat for me as well,” Gilbert said. He had his own extra plate with that on it.

“Yeah just so long as you keep that far away from me,” Rainbow Dash grimaced.

“You’ll get used to it,” Daylight said. “The place we’re going next has ponies that eat a lot of fish and shellfish after all.”

“Don’t remind me...” Rainbow stuck out her tongue.

“It’s a tropical place though so we should also be able to find some fruit there. If nothing else I’m sure the locals will at least have some to trade,” Senax said.

“Good enough,” Rainbow shrugged and grabbed a carrot off her plate, taking a big bite out of it and lazily chewing it to pieces.

It was dark through the windows at the back of the cabin even though it wasn’t exactly late in the day yet. The storm was making a lot of the sky dark, even far away from it and the more powerful clouds the made up its center. A layer of gray clouds (at the lightest) was covering the sky over this portion of the ocean—probably a long off-shoot of the storm. For an ocean that had been so bright and cheery before the last two days it was a stark difference. If they were actually directly under that storm, Rainbow wondered how the ship would handle it. Maybe she could work her pegasus magic to make it easier. Or maybe the weather was uncontrollable in the same way storms from the Everfree had the tendency to be.

Either way, the dark and overcast look didn’t exactly fit the mood of celebration. They had escaped from Godfrey but it wouldn’t be until tomorrow that they saw the sun again. The mood was still up on the Heart of Azure regardless. Gilbert and Senax especially joyful to be well away from the griffon pirate. Rainbow Dash satisfied to have gotten her friends to safety but… but…

There was something lacking at the same time too. Something she was missing out on when it came to her confrontation with Godfrey. Something that kind of made her want to see him again soon—to settle things.

She frowned and got back to her meal.

Satisfaction. The thing that made her keep going further and further on her journey. Especially when she was back in the True North. If that was how things ended with Godfrey, there would be no such satisfaction. Even if she helped Senax find her Trident and ancient home. For now though she couldn’t really do anything, she wasn’t being selfish anymore either, and she had joined up with everyone to help them. That took precedence over her simple desires.

“I’m going to go take some up to Captain Breakwater now,” Senax said—yanking Rainbow Dash out of her inner musings. The merpony gathered a few morsels along with a mug of milk and carried it along to the cabin door.

“And I think I’m going to go meditate out on deck. I need to rest my horn and mind,” Daylight said. She lifted a hoof to the stitches on her forehead. “Can’t wait to take these out, even if there’s a scar left afterwards.”

“Scars are cool anyways. Gives you a story to tell,” Rainbow said.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “Oh yes, the wonderfully awesome and interesting story of how a crazy griffon almost chopped my head off. Instead he just wounded me and almost made me put myself into a coma after I strained myself using my magic later. Certainly a story I’ll be aching to tell others.”

“Well that’s not how I would put it, but yeah.”

“Yes you’d jazz it up and exaggerate my “awesomeness” or something, wouldn’t you?”

“Yep.”

“And that’s simply not the type of pony I am, so no thank you.”

“I mean I already knew you hated fun, sooo…”

Daylight frowned, her eye twitching. “I’m going someplace quieter.”

Rainbow Dash snickered and waved as the unicorn left the table, also heading out of the cabin. “See ya out on deck.” She looked over at Gilbert. “What about you? Fancy another race?”

“Not today I’m afraid. It’s been far too hectic lately, I’d like to rest my feathers,” Gilbert smiled apologetically.

“Naw, that’s fine,” Rainbow shrugged. “Honestly I don’t know if I really wanted to anyways… I just feel kind of… wired right now. Like I can’t sit still.”

“How come? Our plan succeeded smashingly and Godfrey’s no longer a threat—for now at least. What’s there to be worried about?”

“It’s not worry it’s just-” Rainbow Dash bit her lip and scratched the back of her head. “It’s hard to really explain it in words…”

“Well I’m sure you’ll be fine, you do seem like a pony who picks up her own mood easily!” Gilbert clapped her on the back.

Rainbow snorted. “Heh, yeah you’re right about that…”

“I suggest looking forward to all the great food you’ll be able to acquire at the Sea Lion Reefs that we missed out on! And I promise you that as soon as the sky opens back up and the sun is shining I’ll give you another race. Though if you’re taking it seriously again it won’t really be much of a challenge for you.”

“We can just use me as motivation for you to get faster then. I’ll whip you into shape.”

Gilbert cleared his throat. “Y-Yes, that would be a good exercise, wouldn’t it? Or perhaps you could challenge Senax to a swimming race.”

“I’ve seen Senax swim. That would be even less close than me and you racing,” Rainbow laughed mirthlessly. “And I’m already in perfect shape.”

“I’m sure she’d be happy to give you a lesson of some sort at least.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Ehhh, maybe one of these days then. I guess when I return to Equestria I can become a Decathlete or something on the side.”

“You’d probably smash the competition,” Gilbert nodded. “I wouldn’t mind watching you compete in something like that, it would likely be quite the treat.”

“Dude, if you ever watched me do anything it should be a Wonderbolts show one of these days.”

“Well I’m sure I’ll be visiting Equestria or going back to Griffonstone one of these days… I can always come see one of those I suppose.”

“I’ll get you the VIP treatment if you come. Promise,” Rainbow grinned.

“Then one day you’ll see me for sure in Equestria,” Gilbert bowed with a smile.

After that the both of them left Breakwater’s cabin to join the others out on deck. It was far too early to sleep so they just wanted to get some fresh air again. Daylight, as expected, was calmly sitting by the bow while up by the helm Senax and Breakwater were engaged in friendly conversation. Gilbert stretched the moment they came out of the cabin (his big wings almost smacking her in the face—which he didn’t even notice) before he walked over to the starboard side of the ship and looked out across the ocean.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Not really. Her eyes turned up to the crow’s nest, as inviting a spot on the ship as it ever was, and then up higher to the cloudy skies above. With how much energy she still had she didn’t want to just sit down so if anything she’d rather go flying a bit.

There was a cool breeze coming from the north, also likely the result of the storm. Cool was almost a comical word to her now though. After the time spent in the icy True North anything above absolute zero was generally “decent”. She wondered how easy of a time she’d have when she finally made it to the south pole as well. Snow crunching under her hooves, blizzard winds blowing into her face, that white landscape again…

“Wait. I hate the snow,” Rainbow blinked.

Gilbert looked over at her. “Did you say something?”

“Just talking to myself,” Rainbow shook her head. “Forget about it.”

She then walked over to the port side of the boat and looked at the cool dark blue water they were coursing over. It was slightly more wavy than it had been on their journey to the Three Spears, but at most the waves only went up two or three feet. Nothing the Heart of Azure couldn’t handle. The water was actually kind of pretty in the low light like this—impenetrable to the naked eye, impossibly deep, how many fish were right underneath the surface? Rainbow was no poet but the ocean was at least a beautiful place, she had to admit.

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and flew up and over to Breakwater and Senax at the wheel, landing right beside them. “Yo.”

“Good meal?” Breakwater asked her.

“Yeah. Yours?”

“Good. Nice to eat in company too,” he smiled to Senax.

Rainbow Dash walked over to the back of the boat and looked out at the frothy water they were leaving behind. She stared at it for a few seconds before looking over her shoulder at Breakwater. “Are you going to be sailing the ship through the night? Making up for lost time?”

“That’s right,” Breakwater nodded. “And to just get us as far away from Godfrey as possible.”

“Sounds smart. I really want to get to the next place now and do some real treasure hunting. Get to what we’re really out here for,” she said as she walked over to stand beside Breakwater, on the other side of him from Senax.

“Me too… the prize is...” Senax trailed off.

Rainbow Dash just nodded quietly while the Heart of Azure sailed to the southern horizon.

Her ears perked up when the sound of something sharp and fast moving through the sky reached them. A split-second later a sword impaled itself into the wooden railing in front of the ship’s wheel, practically right between the heads of Rainbow Dash and Breakwater. Breakwater stumbled and fell to the deck in surprise while Rainbow Dash jumped away and turned around, looking up in the direction the thrown weapon had come from.

“Yo!”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed at Godfrey hanging in the sky right behind their ship, slowly descending to get level with them, waving a talon in a sarcastic greeting. “Godfrey...”

“Y-You chased after us even with the storm already reaching the Three Spears?” Senax said as she helped Breakwater up.

“Heh, gonna be a tough flight back, that’s for sure,” Godfrey grinned. He then pointed at the cutlass he had thrown into their ship. “That was just a hello by the way. I could’ve taken off one of your heads.”

“Godfrey!” Gilbert shouted upon noticing his brother’s arrival and flew up to join the others—facing off against him. Daylight Gleam was also running from the bow. “What are you doing here?!”

An amused chuckle emerged from Godfrey’s beak as he dropped down gracefully onto the back of the Heart of Azure, sitting there like a cat. He then raised one of his talons up and pointed directly at Rainbow Dash. “She knows why I’m here. She’s the only one of you who gets it.”

Rainbow Dash glowered at him, tensing her muscles and getting ready to spring as the others looked at her in confusion.

“Yeah. I know why you’re here, Godfrey,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“I knew you would. You want the same thing, don’t you? Hehehe...” Godfrey laughed and cracked his knuckles. “Yesterday wasn’t good enough. The way things ended today wasn’t good enough either.”

Rainbow stepped in front of the others and squarely faced off against the large griffon pirate.

Godfrey was smirking the whole time as he glanced over at his brother. “You want to know why I’m here, Gilbert?” He flapped his powerful wings and jumped up, hovering in the air and gazing down at Rainbow Dash with excitement and bloodlust in his eyes. “I’m here for a fun fight!”

Don't Worry, We Aren't That Dumb

“East, huh?” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she stood in the Heart of Azure’s crow’s nest and looked to the horizon.

It was the first time she had traveled east since coming to the Hundred Kingdoms and Grand Ocean. Until now it had been south and then shooting across west to the Sea Lion Reefs. Now she was on her way to seeing the east side of the Grand Ocean for the first time. They had left the aforementioned Sea Lion Reefs behind days ago and were now more or less in the middle of the Grand Ocean. Middle, but still close to the northern part of that.

She turned around and stared behind the ship to the west, blinking and remembering what had gone on over there. She hoped all those slaves they rescued were on their way home, back to whatever friends and families they had. If Bosche hadn’t taken them too.

She scowled. Just thinking of that country made her angry now. She understood why everyone else had such a nasty reaction to them.

And of course the other thing going through her mind was how absolutely bored she had been the last few days. And this was just the beginning! They still had so much water to cover until they reached the Smoking Island. It was just like before, all over again. That was partially why she spent so much time in the crow’s nest, so she could be the first one to spot anything interesting. Not that she expected anything after days of nothing and being outright told there was nothing in this part of the ocean. What a chore. This was the average, the norm, for ocean travel? She could never get used to it. Not with how she usually liked to fly under her own power.

Of course though, in just a few moments something would come up that might alleviate that boredom a little bit.

Rainbow Dash was lazily draped over the side of the crow’s nest by her own volition, only half paying attention to the ocean now. That changed when she noticed something coming up from the southeast. Practically springing into action, she jumped up and grabbed the spyglass, opening it and looking through it to view the ship in the distance. She was sure that’s what it had to be. And hoping that it wasn’t a vessel she recognized… there were only two ships that she would and she didn’t want to see either of them right now.

Thankfully it wasn’t a ship she recognized, and in fact looked far more normal. White sails just like the Heart of Azure, and she didn’t see any cannons or ballistas on it. What she did see that was kind of interesting were what looked like oars coming out the middle deck of the ship and going into the water. That must’ve been how it was traveling in a different direction from the Heart of Azure despite the wind and current. It was larger than the Heart of Azure too, but not so large as some of the bigger vessels she had seen back at the port of Malkonrik.

She whistled down to Breakwater. “Yo! We’ve got a ship coming up!”

He frowned. “It’s not The Scourge is it?”

“Naw, this one looks normal, let me show you! Coming right from southeast,” Rainbow said and flew down with the spyglass. Breakwater met her on the starboard side of the ship and they looked out together across the water while he left Senax at the wheel. Rainbow hoofed him the spyglass and he looked through it while she kept her eyes open on the dot approaching from the distance.

“Hm...” Breakwater mumbled as he gazed at the vessel through the spyglass.

“Is it anything serious?” Daylight asked as she walked up to them, Gilbert listening from the bow.

“Nope. It’s just a normal merchant vessel,” Breakwater said as he put down the spyglass. “Doesn’t look like it’s part of any big companies, no insignia on the side or any flags, must be private. Still, nothing to worry about. In fact… maybe we can get something from them. We’re going to be crossing paths and they’ve probably spotted us too by now.”

“Get what?” Rainbow asked.

Breakwater shrugged. “Food, rum, supplies, we’ll have to see what they have.”

Rainbow Dash’s curiosity was certainly piqued. “Sounds good to me...”

For the next thirty minutes the two ships got closer to each other, steadily slowing down. When they got near enough, the merchant vessel pulled up its oars and Breakwater had Rainbow Dash furl the sail so they could just drift next to each other. It was clear the larger vessel had determined they weren’t a threat. Now, side by side, Rainbow and the others looked up at the larger vessel. It had at least two more decks than the Heart of Azure, making the main deck much higher over the water. In a second a few ponies looked out over the railing of the other ship and waved down at them.

“Hello there! How goes it?” One of the ponies shouted.

“Goes well! This be Captain Breakwater of the Heart of Azure, who do I have the pleasure of speaking to?” Breakwater responded.

“This be Captain Mizz of Meer’s Bounty! Well met, Captain Breakwater!” Captain Mizz nodded.

“Well met,” Breakwater nodded back.

“Anything we can do for you? It doesn’t seem like your vessel travels the ocean to trade,” Captain Mizz said.

“Not first and foremost, no, but we have things to trade if perhaps you have anything we might be interested in.”

“Oh? Meer’s Bounty has a full cargo, I trust your look enough to tell you that. What kinds of things might you be looking for?”

“I would say food firstly. We have plenty of fruit that we might be willing to trade for you if you can offer us a more varied diet.”

“Aye, that’d be possible. We’ve got salted meat if that’s to your liking, or if’n you be the vegetarian types why we’ve still got a farm’s worth of eggplant and cabbage too.”

Breakwater grinned. “The eggplant and cabbage will do.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly raised her hoof to grab the other Captain’s attention. “Hey! Besides food I’ve gotta ask if there’s anything else you’re carrying onboard?”

“Course’,” Mizz nodded, and grinned lasciviously at the colorful pegasus, though he said nothing untoward to her. “There anything in particular you mean by that?”

“Well… what do you have to kill time with out here?”

And for the next couple of hours after that initial meeting the two vessels continued to drift together with neither being in a huge hurry to lead and both respective crews taking things from one ship and moving them to the other. Including the several recreational items Rainbow Dash had been given at no extra cost, purely as a courtesy. Captain Mizz came down to the Heart of Azure to chat with Breakwater about their recent travels and where each of them were going. Rainbow Dash caught the end of that conversation as she was lifting a barrel of dried seaweed into the hold.

“I see… then I’m assuming you’re taking the southern passage?” Captain Mizz was saying.

“Yep, from where we are now it’s much closer than going north,” Breakwater said.

“Aye, true indeed. A shame that it’s such a hassle having to go around it all the time, but you’d have to be insane to try and go through just to cut back on time,” Captain Mizz said.

Breakwater laughed. “Hah! You’ve got that right. And you definitely don’t have to worry about us, we wouldn’t do something so stupid. A few extra days is nothing compared to having your boat capsized and smashed to pieces by the waves.”

“Too true. Most every sailor has learned not to do something so reckless by now,” Captain Mizz nodded.

“Hope you have an easy time making it back to Meer by the way. With all the cargo you’re hauling I think you’ll be able to make quite a bit of coin if you can get it all there in one piece. Especially with those rare spices.”

“Meer isn’t used to such flavors, I’m hoping they’ll turn quite the profit,” Captain Mizz smiled.

The two of them chit-chatted for just a little longer until all the loading and unloading was done. When that was taken care of the two Captains said goodbye to each other and Mizz went back up to Meer’s Bounty. It took some time before they were all ready to leave, but Breakwater kept the Heart of Azure bobbing in the waters there until the much larger vessel had its oars extended again and was pushing its way north. Up by the port side of Meer’s Bounty, Captin Mizz and some of the other sailors waved down at the Heart of Azure and its crew. Rainbow Dash and the others waved back at him—she especially happy with the gifts she had received.

Once the merchant ship was out of their way, it was time for them to unfurl the sail and get back on their own way. Once the sail was back down, Rainbow Dash flew over to Breakwater.

“Hey, what were you and that dude talking about back there anyways?” She asked him.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow at her.

“I heard you talking about taking a southern passage and avoiding something? Aren’t we just going east to the Smoking Island?”

“Heh,” Breakwater grinned and shook his head. “Already forgot? Directly east from here is the Strip of Storms. We’re taking the south way around it and then heading up north to get to the Smoking Island. Can’t go through it—the Strip would make that storm we went through a few days ago look like a bright and sunny day. Just about the dumbest thing anyone could do out here is try and sail through the Strip. And we aren’t that dumb.” He looked out across the bow. “It’s annoying how much more time it adds to our trip but there’s nothing else we can do about it. You gotta either go north or south around it.”

“Right...” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “So the storms in there are really that crazy?”

“Oh yeah. It’s completely different from a normal storm. You thought those waves and winds were bad last time? You haven’t seen nothing.”

“So their ship was coming from the southeast, did they go around the Strip of Storms too?”

“They’re making a wide trip around it after coming from an island much further to the south. A few other stops are on their route before they finish up back at Meer.”

“I figured that from the name.”

Breakwater grinned. “Glad you at least remember the names of some of the Kingdoms.”

Rainbow Dash looked to the east for a brief moment, noticing how calm and clear everything still looked in the distance. “So it really gets that bad if we keep going straight?”

“Oh yes. In a day or two you’d see things start to change right before your eyes,” Breakwater nodded.

Rainbow shrugged. “Oh well, I mean, we’ve already been out here for days. What’s the big deal about adding another one?”

“That’s the spirit. You’re finally getting used to traveling the ocean.”

“Yeah… somehow that doesn’t fill me with joy the same way it does you.”

“Hehe, still a good thing. Maybe you’ll be able to deal with your boredom better.”

This time Rainbow Dash grinned. “I already got a way to deal with that thanks to those guys.”

“Right, almost forgot. You’re lucky they had that stuff just lying around their ship and they were willing to part with it.”

“Well when it comes to that kind of thing I’m usually lucky.”

“You got it all sitting in my cabin now?”

“Yeah. Felt more appropriate than putting it down in the hold or something.”

Breakwater shrugged. “Do whatever you want with it. I’m sure Gilbert at least will enjoy having that stuff here too. You know though, with you being a pegasus who can fly around and do pretty much whatever you want, I’m surprised you can’t really conquer your boredom on your own.”

“Ehh… no offense but it’s kind of an issue when I have to keep to the same slow pace as the ship. I can’t go too far away from it or anything. Also, usually never took me more than a couple days for me to get someplace interesting when I was journeying up north,” Rainbow said.

“Fair enough. Well at least we’re back on our way now. What do you say we have some food to eat soon? And then I’ll take over at the helm and the rest of you can have some fun.”

“You know there’s nothing keeping you from joining in too, right?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow at him.

He simply waved her off. “Somebody has to mind the wheel. As Captain it’s best to let you four enjoy yourselves more.”

“Suit yourself. Now the only thing I wish those guys had with them was some rum.”

“Or beer? Or wine?” Breakwater smiled.

“Yeah those would’ve been really good too…”

A minute later and Breakwater was up at the helm, steering their ship east to get them to the Smoking Island as fast as possible, while everyone else was in the cabin below him enjoying some of their newly acquired foods. For the first time in a few days they were having a varied meal—and it was a pretty high-quality meal too. Senax had made some mixed vegetable salads for them topped with goat cheese, and Gilbert was able to enjoy some salted meat. A “delicacy” they were also lucky to pick up from the Meer’s Bounty was several bars of dark chocolate. Very dark. It wasn’t Rainbow’s preferred type of chocolate but she missed eating stuff like that so pretty much anything was good.

Like always, both she and Gilbert were absolutely destroying their own food while Senax and Daylight ate much daintier. It gave Rainbow Dash plenty of time to sit around and think afterwards. Despite the boredom, these moments with them all just together on the open ocean were still nice. It felt like there was nothing else in the world going on. Just four friends eating at a table and a fifth friend helping them out up above.

Rainbow Dash bit into her bar of dark chocolate and broke it in half, chewing the bits to pieces as they melted in her mouth. “Some sweet cider to go with this right now would be perfect. Even some milk too.”

“You’ll have to make do with lukewarm water for now,” Daylight shrugged.

“And there’s another thing I’ve gotten used to…”

“It may be a while, but when we return to Malkonrik I’m sure we can get you some ice water.” Gilbert said.

Rainbow grinned over at Senax. “I guess even if we find your treasures at the Smoking Island there’s still a few things left to do.”

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “We’ll have to return to Ballast’s shop at Malkonrik regardless to stock up on more supplies. And then we’ll still need to get to Merlantis itself…”

“We’ll get there,” Rainbow Dash told her. “But first-” She looked over at a pile of her newly acquired things stacked up in the cabin. “Since we’re all just about finished eating, what do you say we have some fun? Well?”

“I don’t-” Daylight began.

“You don’t want me and Rainbow to continue on about how you hate fun, right?” Gilbert grinned at her.

Daylight frowned. “Fine. That sounds fun.”

“I’ll join in,” Senax said.

“Great!” Rainbow Dash cheered and rubbed her hooves together. “Let’s get this started!”

Temple

Godfrey zoomed low over the top of the green jungle as he made his way to the volcano. Now about halfway there and he hadn’t heard or seen anything of note on this entire island so far. The Smoking Island should be renamed the Dead Island if it was like this. And the closer he got to the volcano, the sense of foreboding danger from it increased. But for Godfrey that merely made his blood pump harder, There was a great thrill to be had here for certain, any day he defied death was a good day for him. Choosing to go into the Strip of Storms was a decision based on the same thing.

“If only there was something in this jungle to hunt on my way to the volcano, I could use the brief excitement,” he grinned. The stores of The Scourge were low after they had been at sea for a while, especially where meat was concerned. He was actually kind of hungry.

The Smoking Island should’ve been a good stop for getting some meat—but since it was now the Dead Island he wasn’t going to get any by the looks of it. Fruit and vegetables maybe, gathered up by his crew later, but nothing else probably.

Boring. And even he wasn’t the type of creature that would eat pony meat. That was just plain gross, so Rainbow Dash and those others couldn’t help him there either.

“Hehe… bet I could scare them good about that when I see them though,” Godfrey laughed. He looked up at the sky to see if he could tell the time of day, but the heavy clouds of smoke above didn’t allow him to figure out anything more exact than it being sometime in the afternoon. “What a pain.” His sharp eyes then looked to the jungle below him—looking for a few certain types of plants in particular.

He grinned as he saw what he was looking for and flew down to the trees, pulling his cutlass from its place. Dropping through the canopy, he stopped on the roots of a particularly large and overgrown tree. The branches and leaves from it spread out over a wide area and long vines dropped down from it to the jungle floor. One of those vines he grabbed with his talon and cut it in two with his cutlass. The bottom fell to the ground while the top half started to leak water out from within. Godfrey brought it to his beak and started to take a few big gulps of it—it was refreshing considering the humidity of this place.

“Ahhh… surprisingly good stuff,” he said as the vine went dry and he let it go. It swayed back into place as he stretched and looked around the heavily-wooden jungle he was now in the middle of. Looking for fruit or the apparently unlikely possibility that he’d see an animal.

He did see some bananas. But no monkeys scurrying up the trees to get them.

“Whatever,” Godfrey shrugged and put his cutlass away before flying up to the banana tree. “A snack before I go say hi to my brother.”

“Looks like the jungle thins out ahead, from looking at the volcano I don’t think much vegetation grows on or around it,” Rainbow Dash said as she and her friends made it near the end of the road. It seemed to come with a stop along with the jungle several hundreds of feet from the base of the volcano.

“What’s it look like out there then?” Daylight Gleam asked her.

“I’ll check,” Rainbow said and flew up to take a look at the next area they’d have to travel through.

Grey. Grey and ash covered dirt.

The jungle came to a full and complete stop all at once and transformed into what looked like an empty wasteland. It might as well have been the burned remains of trees and grass for how desolate it looked. The road even disappeared into the ashy ground and left them with no clear path to the volcano. Of course since there was no jungle blocking their way anymore that didn’t really matter so much. Looking at things, Rainbow thought at one point there might have been a lava or ash flow that was responsible for the stark difference in the landscape. It must’ve come down from the volcano ages ago.

Her eyes drifted to the mountains that lied around the volcano. They didn’t have such a barren landscape around them, the jungle actually reached them. But that’s not where they were going.

Rainbow Dash flew back down to the others, who were close to reaching where the jungle fell away already.

“How’d it look?” Breakwater asked.

“Well we’ve got a straight line to the volcano—see for yourselves,” Rainbow said and pointed ahead.

The four of them now also took their first look at the volcanic landscape and got an eyeful of how unwelcoming it was.

“Not a very charming place, is it?” Gilbert said as he looked at the ashen ground.

“I dunno, I think it still beats climbing through a jungle,” Daylight shrugged.

“Perhaps,” Gilbert nodded.

“Did you see the temple anywhere?” Breakwater asked Rainbow Dash.

“Uh… no. Kind of forgot to look. Should just be somewhere on the volcano, right?” Rainbow asked.

“Actually I thought it was on one of the other mountains and not directly built into the volcano itself. But looking at how the road went and the situation here… everything kind of points to the temple being on the volcano,” Breakwater said.

“Walking into a volcano—certainly a swell idea. And not even the first time I’ll have done something so stupid,” Daylight shook her head.

“Let me check it out again, I’ll find that temple,” Rainbow said and flew up a bit. “You guys can start walking towards it and I’ll come back and get you!”

From her first glance at the volcano it was clear that any temple wasn’t on its western face, but hopefully they didn’t have to navigate too far around it. She didn’t know if the temple would be seated directly at the base or further up its slopes but she figured it had to still be pretty easy for her to spot. After all it was just a barren volcano otherwise—any building on it had to stick out like a sore hoof. Rainbow Dash decided to fly to its south side first, glancing up every now and then at the dark smoke that continued to billow from its mouth. She couldn’t keep her eyes off it for long no matter how many times she told herself there was nothing strange about it. Nothing had changed at all about it since the first time they had seen it from the ocean though. It may have not been a dormant volcano but it at least hadn’t gotten any worse.

There was one thing Rainbow Dash could say was lucky about today though—she spotted what had to be the temple sitting on the south side of the volcano. Right at the foot of it and directly facing true south.

“Bingo,” Rainbow grinned and went back to tell the others.

Her flight was quick as she practically rocketed down over to them while they were still midway to the volcano, stepping over ash and dirt. A rainbow flash settled down right in front of them with a wave and a smile.

“Yo! I found it!”

“So what’s it look like?” Breakwater asked.

“Uh… didn’t really take a close look at it. Just wanted to find it,” Rainbow shrugged. “But whatever, we can all check it out together now, just follow me!” She started flying away again back towards the temple, this time at a lower altitude.

“You heard the mare,” Daylight sighed and followed along.

As a group they all walked in the direction she had went, to the south face of the volcano. Every now and then their eyes as well would journey up to the top of the volcano to take in the smoke rising into the sky. That’s what they were walking inside. They all knew it was a horrible idea, yet none of them spoke up to try and convince the others to not to. It was the path they had chosen on their search for Merlantis.

It only took a few minutes of walking from where they already were to make it to the south side of the volcano thanks to how flat and unobstructed the ground was. As they approached closer, the temple Rainbow Dash spotted became clearer to see. Or more accurately, the entrance to the temple became easier to see. It became very obvious that the temple of the ancient civilization was largely built inside the volcano and what was on its exterior was a mere entrance.

Large stone pillars—as gray as ash—held up a stone archway that jutted out from the side of the volcano. The pillars and archway were cracked and dirty, looking like they were ready to collapse if someone touched them the wrong way. A few carved steps leading up to them were equally dilapidated, chunks of them missing and bits of volcanic rock sitting around of and on top of them. It looked like at one point it might have been painted over with something, or had some more intricate carvings along the top of the archway, but time and ash had worn all of that down.

With the five of them now standing in front of it, they noticed a couple of other things that didn’t belong and were most certainly the result of the scientists and archaeologists who had more recently lived here.

The first was a sign hammered into the ground right in front of the steps that they were now all looking at. It was about as simple a sign as one could possibly be.

DANGER: DO NOT ENTER

“Well it’s not like that’s a surprise,” Rainbow Dash scratched her head.

“I wonder if they put it up after too many archaeologists and treasure hunters didn’t come back out,” Daylight said.

“Likely,” Breakwater said and looked behind the sign at the entryway. “That would also explain that.”

The entrance beyond the pillars and archway was all boarded up. Strong planks of wood had been nailed in place to seal the entrance to the temple. The wood wasn’t rotted or falling apart at all, it must’ve been done very recently. Especially long and thick nails, closer to railroad spikes, had been used to gouge right into the stone of the entryway and hold the boards in place. The ponies on this island really didn’t want anybody else going in here.

“I guess we’re still going in though?” Rainbow glanced over at Senax.

The merpony nodded. “Yes. We have to.”

“Okay-” Rainbow Dash nodded and raised an eyebrow at Daylight. “Hey, want to help me pull those boards off the temple?”

“I suppose there isn’t anyone better for it...” Daylight said and the two went up to start their demolition.

As Rainbow and Daylight started on that, Gilbert and Breakwater wandered around in the ashy dirt, looking at the other mountains and up at the volcano some more. If the island wasn’t so eerily empty it probably would’ve been a nice place. But the lack of absolutely anything around them now made it supremely uninviting. Gilbert glanced around the ground and around the temple’s entrance to check if there was maybe anything else left by the current inhabitants or some sign of the old civilization while Breakwater kept his eyes on the sky for the remote possibility that he’d at least see a bird or something. All the while, Senax stayed completely focused on Rainbow Dash and Daylight Gleam as they tore down the blockade to the temple.

“This is not what my magic is specialized for,” Daylight grunted as a powder blue glow slowly yanked one of the large nails from the stone.

“Well we don’t have a hammer or crowbar so unicorn magic is the next best thing!” Rainbow said as she tried to ply the side of the board away at the same time. The nails were too flush against the wood for her to actually try pulling one out herself.

It took some time and effort but they did manage to steadily pull each board away, tossing them and the nails down the steps and out of the way. By the time they reached the last one, Senax, Gilbert, and Breakwater were standing right behind them and eagerly anticipating the opening of the path into the temple. The board was pulled away and clattered down the steps—as soon as nothing obstructed the way into the temple any longer a blast of heat seemed to emerge from inside the volcano like the breath of a dragon. The ponies, merpony, and griffon had to shield their faces as the hot air billowed against them and ruffled their manes and feathers.

“Not a bad sign or anything...” Breakwater said.

“It’s just some hot air, it’s a volcano after all,” Daylight said, frowning and perhaps not entirely believing her logical explanation.

Rainbow Dash peered inside the temple, seeing the stone walls stretch deep within and eventually the entire hallway ended in darkness. Not like she didn’t expect that. There couldn’t still be any torches lit in there, and the light from the sun outside was already low thanks to the clouds of smoke from the volcano. It really was hot in there too, no fires to make any light, and yet the heat was almost oppressive. The humidity in the jungle didn’t remotely compare.

“Well it’s not like we have a torch or anything for this buuuuut, we kind of have the next best thing,” Rainbow said as she looked over at Daylight.

Daylight rolled her eyes and stepped forward into the temple’s entrance. “Yes, this is what my magic is specialized for.”

The unicorn put a bit of magic into her horn and the powder blue glow switched over to a bright light that easily lit up the walls around her and spread deeper into the temple. With a slight narrowing of her eyes, Daylight focused the magic like a flashlight so it almost entirely faced forwards and wasn’t blinding anybody behind her. That allowed it to illuminate nearly the entire hallway and for them all to see a series of steps going up at the end of it—maybe just one or two hundred feet away.

“I figured we’d be going down, not up,” Gilbert said.

“Guess the ponies who built this place thought differently,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “What would you consider the heart of the volcano? The middle of it or the magma pool at the bottom?”

“We have no idea if that’s what they were thinking in the first place,” Daylight sharply said from the front.

“We have no idea what the purpose of this temple even was at all,” Breakwater snorted. “Let’s just go in and keep our eyes open, what we do know is this place is dangerous.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that, I’m keeping a lookout,” Rainbow Dash said, her eyes roaming across the walls just in case there was anything irregular with them. She adamantly refused to be taken off-guard by centuries old booby-traps in this volcano.

“We’ll be fine, I have faith in all of us,” Senax said and took a step into the temple.

“Right on,” Rainbow grinned and started flying right behind Daylight as well.

Gilbert and Breakwater brought up the rear and now the entire party was heading inside, in search of the treasure within.

Treasure, But-

“You know I’ve explored a lot of temples and ancient ruins earlier in my life back when I was a more… selfish sort of treasure hunter. But even with that experience I couldn’t even begin to tell you how old this place is,” Daylight Gleam said as she led them up the stairs and deeper into the volcanic temple.

“I mean I’ve been in a lot too but I’ve got no idea how to tell how old something is either,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“It’s not as old as Merlantis or Ponyseidon’s treasures,” Senax said.

The others looked back at her and Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I know how long my people have been scattered—give or take a century or two. This place just doesn’t look as old as it should be if it was around back at the same time as Ponyseidon or his direct descendants,” Senax said.

“Do you know how long Ponyseidon lived? Cause from what you’ve said about him and those treasures he had, he doesn’t exactly sound like a normal merpony,” Rainbow asked.

Senax frowned uncertainly. “It’s… unclear. T-There’s a lot I just don’t really know about Ponyseidon, Merlantis, and our history in general that I wish I did. We had books and stories hoofed down from generation to generation… but a lot was missing.” She sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t speak so certainly about anything, but I still don’t think this place looks as old as Merlantis should be.”

“Hm...” Rainbow Dash murmured as she floated around. “Also you know it’s not like I expected there to be lights on in here but I did think that maybe some lava pools would be giving us some glow.”

“I’m glad there aren’t any of those,” Daylight frowned.

Rainbow shrugged. “Just saying, it would be easier to tell where we’re going.”

“As long as I’m around we don’t really need any extra light,” Daylight said. “I can keep a spell like this going for hours, even if I need to put more power into it and light up bigger rooms.”

The group at last reached the top of the stairs and took a look around. They had ended up in a circular chamber with a roof formed out of black volcanic rock, just left in its natural state and not sculpted at all. Around them—all across the walls—were a series of doors. Seven in total, they weren’t wood like a normal door but instead large slabs of rock, but they had grooves to pull them open and were still very clearly doors.

“Well, um, this is something,” Daylight said as she rubbed her head.

“Perhaps this was built to trick and slow down intruders? Or maybe there really are this many important places to go inside the temple,” Gilbert said.

“It’s obvious none of the doors are locked or blocked at least, they swing out,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Which one do you think we should try?” Senax asked.

Daylight walked up to the first one to their left. “If nothing’s impeding us then we really just need to try all of them one by one, even if it takes some time that’s about all we can do. So let’s see what’s behind door number one.”

She put her hoof in the groove of the door and pulled it open. It slid across the stone floor surprisingly easily and Daylight took a step through—and immediately felt the floor fall out from under her. Daylight barely had time to gasp at all as she felt herself falling forward into a pit right past the door, her eyes looked down below and saw a pool of bubbling lava waiting for her. Right as her back hooves had tilted up and she was about to fully fall in, a strong hoof grasped her mane and painfully yanked her back into the main room where she collapsed with Rainbow Dash onto her back.

The two ponies sat there breathing heavily and Gilbert quickly slammed the door shut.

“A false door. I see we’ve found our first trap,” Gilbert said.

Breakwater and Senax helped Daylight and Rainbow Dash up and Senax worriedly put her hooves on the unicorn’s shoulders.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah...” Daylight nodded. “That was just kind of close. Thank you, Rainbow.”

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash nodded and wiped some sweat away.

“Uh… I think we should probably be more careful when opening up the other doors,” Breakwater said.

“Most definitely,” Gilbert nodded.

“Then let me do it,” Rainbow Dash said. “I can fly and I’ve got the quickest reaction time. If the floor falls away it’s not a problem for me and any other trap I bet I can deal with too. Just uh, you guys just be ready to help me out if I need it. But I’m going to take point from here.”

“I’ll keep the light on you,” Daylight said.

“Thanks. Door number two then?” Rainbow grimaced as she flew to the next door in line. She was sweating due to a mixture of the heat and anticipation.

The second door was much the same, a lava pool waiting only ten feet below the door. That’s all the room was, a simple shaft with bubbling lava at the bottom. Rainbow even took a brief look around it to make sure she wasn’t missing anything before closing the door back up. The next few doors proceeded the same way—the traps were all the same, pools of lava waiting for any pony not paying enough attention when they walked through. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to think about how many ponies had unfortunately met their fates here.

On the fifth door, the third from the right, they finally revealed something different. A decrepit looking path that was crooked and surrounded by crumbling walls that led into darkness. Daylight shined her light down the path and Rainbow Dash dropped to her hooves, being the first to walk down it and checking to make sure it was safe for the others.

“This is starting to look more like a natural cave than a temple,” Breakwater.

“Yeah. I don’t think this was ever a place of worship or somewhere most ponies from the civilization that built it entered,” Daylight said. “In fact, because there were traps practically right from the beginning, I would say this was actually a tomb or vault that the civilization put someone or something very important in. I’ve seen a decent amount of these, there’s only one true path and it should have a lot of obstacles in the way. Luckily for us, there are a lot of other ponies who would’ve removed those obstacles for us already.”

“But they still never got to the treasure,” Rainbow said.

Daylight nodded. “So at some point we’re going to have to get through something no one else ever has.”

The cave they were walking through grew warmer and up ahead Rainbow Dash saw light that was coming from a different source than Daylight’s horn.

“Careful, I think we’re getting closer to some lava again,” Rainbow said.

“Certainly feels like it...” Gilbert said as he sweated heavily through his feathers.

“You can say that again,” Breakwater agreed.

The left side of the cave opened up and the group of five found themselves on a narrow cliff over a river of lava below. Not only that, but streams of lava dripped out of holes higher up and poured into the river as it all flowed deeper into the heart of the volcano. The heat at this point was nearly unbearable for all of them, and the fact they had to practically push themselves flush up against the rock on the other side of the cliff to avoid tumbling down it only made it worse.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward and a piece of stone crumbled off the side of the cliff and rolled down it before falling into the lava river. “Okay… everyone watch your step. Seriously. And Gilbert? Be ready to grab someone if they slip.”

“Right,” Gilbert nodded.

Together the five of them very slowly walked along the cliff. Rainbow Dash would’ve loved just flying right now but she had to make sure the ground was stable for everybody else. Luckily it wasn’t long before the cave returned to normal and they left the lava river behind. From ahead of them now a breeze of air came, slightly cooler than the rest of the volcanic heat they had been walking through.

“I think we’re coming to a big chamber,” Rainbow Dash said. “One without lava this time.”

“I think you’re right,” Daylight said and nodded at something above their heads.

Rainbow Dash looked up and saw they were about to walk through what was another sculpted archway. Once they did so, the ground and walls became far smoother and thanks to Daylight’s spell she could see several statues of headless ponies placed in recesses along the walls.

“Okay, that’s a little creepy,” Rainbow said.

“I wonder if they were always headless or if they broke?” Breakwater wondered aloud.

“I don’t know, but don’t touch them, they could be traps too. You hear that, Gilbert?” Daylight said.

“I wasn’t going to...”

“Sure you weren’t.”

“Hey, hallway’s starting to open up,” Rainbow said.

They quieted down and with another few steps they emerged from the eerie hallway into a massive chamber—so big that Daylight’s spell couldn’t illuminate the ceiling and the far walls. All they saw for sure right now was the floor stretching out in front of them and the walls behind them. The air was far cooler in here and almost pleasant. But there was a distinct feeling of stagnation and death hanging around it as well. All of them could sense it even if the chamber was still yet a mystery to them.

“Hang on, I’ll light this place up in a second,” Daylight said and pushed more magical power into her horn.

The light at the tip of her horn grew stronger but instead of just sitting on her horn it also shot up into the sky like a flare. It rose higher and higher until finally the ceiling was illuminated and then it sat up there, shining down on the entire chamber and acting like a miniature indoor sun. Now with the entire chamber visible almost as well as if they were out in the sun, the party’s collective jaws dropped at what they saw.

Along the far wall of the chamber was an intricately carved and sculpted series of buildings—built right into the volcanic rock. They climbed from floor to ceiling despite there being no stairs or any other way besides flight for anyone to reach higher up. The buildings created the facsimile of a city street—the doorways right across from them going into nothing. It was like a stage, a set for a play. It stretched hundreds of feet in both directions and even with Daylight’s spell they couldn’t see where it ended from here. As the five approached the wondrous creation, Rainbow Dash noticed that every now and then a horizontal slit was carved into the walls, at every elevation she started seeing these. And it looked like something had been placed inside the shallow slits. Only when they got closer did she realize what it was.

Mummified remains of ancient ponies, nearly nothing but dust and bones piled up inside the slits.

“I see now. This whole place isn’t some temple, it’s a mausoleum,” Daylight said.

“At least the adventurers and archaeologists who reached this far before us had the decency to not disturb those resting here,” Gilbert said, exhaling deeply.

“May they continue to rest in peace,” Senax closed her eyes and nodded.

“Yeah that’s all well and good… but we’ve still got to go in further, don’t we? I mean, this isn’t exactly a golden treasure or anything like that,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Yes. There must be more to this place than just this one chamber—otherwise so many ponies wouldn’t have failed to make it back out,” Senax said.

“So we’ve still got more to explore,” Rainbow said and looked to her left and right. “Which way?”

“Hm… if I haven’t gotten turned around or anything then that way-” Daylight said as she pointed to the right. “Goes to the outside wall of the volcano, and there shouldn’t be much room for anything else there. But down to our left the chamber should continue into the heart of the volcano and probably leads to many more places.”

“Left it is,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and started walking.

Overhead—Daylight’s artificial sun slowly weakened in intensity while she started emitting her normal flashlight light from her horn again. They stayed mostly along the sculpted wall of buildings, following it until they found something new.

“Everyone still needs to be careful, we don’t know what else could be in here,” Daylight said.

“I’m going to assume more lava at some point,” Gilbert said.

Daylight rolled her eyes. “That goes without saying.”

Eventually they reached a point where the wall of “buildings” stopped and curved around, to the inside of the volcano, and into a new chamber of pillars going from floor to ceiling. They were built without any sort of plan, no set rows, no regular distance between each other, it was more like a forest of random stone pillars than what you would see in a normal building. Cautiously, Rainbow Dash took point and started to lead them through the strange maze of pillars. A lot of them were cracked, rocks lay strewn about the floor, and a few pillars had broken entirely and had fallen down or were leaning against each other.

“I don’t understand this at all...” Breakwater said.

“Imagine going through here without any light, or only a single torch,” Daylight said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few adventurers got lost in here. I think it’s designed to disorientate ponies. There might be traps waiting behind some of the pillars too.”

“No question of that,” Gilbert said and pointed at a boulder lying stuck between two pillars. “Daylight, would you turn your light up at the ceiling for a second?”

She did so and the rest of them saw a broken chain hanging high overhead, right above the boulder.

“As I suspected. That boulder was being held up by that chain at some point—whether through time or being tripped in some other way it crashed to the floor.”

“Then...” Daylight grimaced and shone her light across the rest of the ceiling. More and more broken chains were discovered, and a quick glance down showed the boulders that were once connected to them. “Well… I think we’re actually a little lucky. The traps here have all been tripped by prior visitors.”

“Just like we figured some would be,” Breakwater said.

“Let’s keep walking,” Rainbow said. “These pillars can’t go on forever.”

“Yes… but at some point we’re going to come across a trap or barrier that no one else has gotten through. I think from here on out we need to be extra careful,” Daylight said.

Because they were being extra careful it took longer than they had wanted it to before they had actually made it through the forest of pillars. The one good thing about the experience was that it was proof that they were going in the right direction. The more important treasure or tombs had to be deeper behind these traps and obstacles. And in the end the five of them were standing before a wide open floor in a chamber just past the pillars—but they had paused before crossing due to the number of holes in the floor where the oppressive heat and glow of lava was bubbling up from.

“It looks like the floor breaks open if you step in the wrong spot,” Daylight said.

“And leads to a lava bath below,” Gilbert added.

Rainbow Dash just shrugged as she looked at it. “Well big deal? I guess these ponies didn’t have pegasi in mind when they came up with these traps. Gilbert and I can just fly the rest of you across. It’s not that far, I can see the next hallway on the other side.”

“Oh. Good point,” Daylight blinked.

“Come on, let’s go!” Rainbow Dash grinned and grabbed the unicorn before she could protest. Gilbert grabbed Breakwater and had Senax ride on his back, and together the party of five easily made their way past this obstacle.

Short on Cash and Nothing to Do

Their trip back to Malkonrik was mostly uneventful. There was a bit of explaining they had to do to the soldiers on the other side of the border wall when Rainbow Dash and Gilbert carried the rest of their friends over, but that was resolved quickly. Most seemed to realize they clearly weren’t invading pirates. After that it was another walk back to Ballast’s shop and that was it. The group only about half as happy as they wanted to be, since they were still broke and couldn’t get any money back.

“All that money i had saved up...” Breakwater shook his head despondently.

“Pirates,” Daylight patted him on the back.

“It leaves us in a real predicament though. We don’t have the money for more extensive repairs, or to buy new food and supplies for whenever we leave next,” Gilbert said.

“Who knows when that will even be. We’ve still got nothing to go on,” Senax glumly stated.

Gilbert grimaced. “Well... yes.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she floated alongside everyone. “I usually come up with something dumb every now and then.”

“Ballast at least should have some coin on hoof, or some stuff to sell or trade so we can get some food for the next day or two,” Breakwater shrugged.

Rainbow Dash flew up a little higher and flipped over onto her back, putting her hooves behind her head and lazily flying upside-down. “Hmm... we could always sell Senax’s Horn of Listening. That’s gotta be worth a lot of money, right?”

Senax glared right up at her. “You are absolutely not-”

“I’m just kidding,” Rainbow Dash playfully grinned as she dropped back down next to the merpony. “Don’t worry about it, we wouldn’t sell that.”

“Hmpf,” Senax indignantly huffed, getting a few chuckles from Rainbow Dash.

As they walked down the road, Rainbow took a few glances at the harbor every now and then. Naturally it was still pretty empty, things wouldn’t just go back to normal over night, but she was hoping that within a few days there’d be more and more traffic coming back. Of course she also hoped they wouldn’t actually be here to see that. It was just something that gave her peace of mind to think about. She had seen the look in “Commodore” Redbeard’s eyes and knew he was too genuinely afraid of her to go back on his word. Things would be changing back for the better around these countries pretty soon. That was pretty much the only thing she was genuinely happy about right now.

If only that little jaunt into Ullsorth had resulted in them getting their money back too they could consider the whole thing behind them and get back onto the ocean, regardless of any rumors or leads to follow. As things were though they were still stuck no matter what. So things hadn’t quite ended here in the Hundred Kingdoms just yet. And Rainbow Dash was now working her brain to think of something that could get this expedition back on its hooves.

“There’s our temporary home,” Breakwater suddenly said.

Rainbow Dash looked forward and saw Ballast’s shop dead ahead. They’d be there soon. Not that they had anything to do there right now aside from give Ballast back his important plans. Rainbow was hoping the joy on the shipwright’s face would be enough to make this all worth it. She exhaled quietly, not having much else to say right now after teasing Senax, and not really in the mood to do much of anything else either.

“Well even without any money, I’m going to be looking forward to a comfortable night’s sleep,” Daylight said. “That’s one thing that nobody can take away from us right now.”

“I’ll admit some time hanging in a hammock sounds delightful,” Gilbert agreed.

“Just so long as you don’t poke me awake with one of your sharp talons,” Daylight frowned at him.

“I stopped doing that after Rainbow Dash told me...”

“It’s all okay,” Senax said. “Even I think we could really use just a simple night of relaxing after everything we’ve been through recently. We don’t need to immediately get back out there or go crazy looking for a sign of the Necklace.” She glanced back at her tail. “I’ve learned my lesson on not carelessly rushing forward and trying to force things.”

“You know that is true. After the time out at sea and just now in Ullsorth... taking a break for a few days doesn’t sound so bad,” Daylight said.

“Are we really in much of a hurry?” Breakwater shrugged.

“I mean, I’m kind of always in a hurry, just saying,” Rainbow raised a hoof.

“No, you’re just impatient,” Daylight frowned at her.

“I just don’t like to be sitting around doing nothing when there’s adventuring to do,” Rainbow frowned right back.

“And the thing is—there isn’t adventuring to do,” Daylight countered.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort but couldn’t think of something. She looked down at the ground and rubbed her chin. “Well... I enjoy naps too so I’ll focus on that instead.”

Senax smiled. “I guess things are settled for now then.”

“Unless something else comes up,” Breakwater said.

Another few minutes of walking brought them back to Ballast’s personal little shipyard. The usual knock on the locked door was all they needed for him to come open it up. He definitely kept his promise of making sure his place was locked up tight after the previous robbery. When he saw the five of them standing there his eyebrows rose up and he expectantly leaned towards Breakwater.

“D-Did you-?”

Breakwater held up the folder they had taken back from Redbeard. “It’s all here, friend.”

A huge smile stretched across Ballast’s face as he laughed and grabbed the folder, hugging it close to his chest. “Thank you, thank you so much, Breakwater. I don’t think any of you really know just how much this means to me. These plans... what I’m building... I’m not even joking when I say it will revolutionize ocean travel!” He brought a hoof up to wipe away a tear that was forming at his eye. “Did you get your money back too?”

“No,” Breakwater frowned.

“Oh... well,” Ballast coughed sheepishly.

“It’s fine, we’ve gotten through way worse situations than simply not having any money,” Breakwater shook his head and sighed. “For now it’s getting late and we just wanted to come back to get some rest for the night. Tomorrow we’ll start trying to figure things out.”

“You still have some money lying around here don’t you?” Daylight asked.

“Of course,” Ballast nodded. “Just some loose coins, and I’ve got some stuff I could sell I suppose.”

“That’s all we really need to last then I’m sure,” Daylight shrugged.

“Well considering you all just returned my life’s work to me I’ll scrounge up everything I can while you’re still here. It’s really the least I can do. I owe you again.”

Breakwater smiled and patted him on the back. “Thanks. We might be here a few extra days now.”

“It was going to take some time to get a new sail and make all the repairs anyways...” Ballast sighed.

“We’ll work it out,” Rainbow said as she flitted on in through the door. “How about some grub and a nice hammock for now?”

The following morning the group—minus Ballast who remained at his shop to work on the Heart of Azure—made their way to a more casual spot on Malkonrik’s port in search of a breakfast diner that Breakwater told them about. Apparently it was his favorite place to eat at the entire harbor. Rainbow Dash wondered if a place like that would even be open right now, but Breakwater assured them all that it would be.

And he was right. Not only that—but the owners were supremely grateful to have customers with how slow things had been lately. Now the five of them were seated at a large table with a variety of drinks and side plates around them as they poured over the menu to decide on what they would get. It reminded Rainbow Dash of the last time she was here where she had spent Godfrey’s gift of a single coin at a similar restaurant. This place was now obviously less crowded than that place had been, and Breakwater had started up an easy conversation with one of the owners.

“I’m really not sure about whether I should get the waffles or pancakes right now...” Gilbert said as he looked over his menu.

“What kind of pancakes? They have so many,” Daylight said as she looked at her own menu. “Hazelnut, pumpkin, chocolate, caramel, blueberry, and that’s just to start. I don’t know if I’ve ever been to a restaurant with so many different kinds of pancakes.”

“That’s what’s making the choice even more difficult,” Gilbert said.

“I think a crepe sounds very nice. A tasty, sweet, strawberries and cream crepe,” Senax licked her lips.

Gilbert frowned, now looking at the part of the menu that had the crepes. “Well—I’m stumped. What about you, Rainbow Dash? What will you be eating?”

“Dunno. Omelet maybe? Waffles?” She shrugged, just as unsure as him.

“Cinnamon sugar oatmeal...” Daylight muttered.

“Do you all want coffee?” Breakwater suddenly asked, taking a break from his conversation.

“Yes,” all replied at once.

Breakwater grinned. “Five coffees. And I’ll have the poached egg over toast.”

“Well at least some of us know what we want,” Rainbow Dash scoffed. She frowned and scratched her head. “Ugh, just get me a big huge plate of waffles and plenty of syrup.”

“And I will take the caramel pancakes,” Gilbert said.

“A strawberries and cream crepe please… with extra whipped cream,” Senax blushed.

Daylight huffed before finally closing the menu. “The cinnamon sugar oatmeal, please. And an apple on the side.”

“We’ll get that all to you as quick as can be,” the owner said with a smile and waved goodbye to Breakwater as he headed back to the kitchens.

“I sure hope,” Rainbow muttered out of earshot. “The bread and fruit they brought out is good but I need more than that.”

“Agreed,” Gilbert said as he popped a mini blueberry muffin into his mouth.

“I’m just happy we can afford this...” Daylight said.

“You let me and Ballast worry about that sort of thing,” Breakwater said.

Senax meanwhile reclined in her chair and closed her eyes for a moment. “Well I’m just happy we can all be together like this. I know there’s not nothing to worry about, but we’re not exactly in a bad place right now either.”

“I certainly treasure moments like this,” Gilbert smiled.

“Mmm… I treasure the food part,” Rainbow grinned. “I mean… if we did sell the Horn of Listening we could eat like this every day.”

“Very funny,” Senax frowned at her.

“Well thanks to the slower situation at port and me knowing the owners I was at least able to get us a discount this one time. But after this we’re going to need to be really careful with any money we spend until we can find a way to make some more,” Breakwater said.

“We’ll make that money back somehow,” Gilbert optimistically stated.

Daylight and Breakwater rolled their eyes together.

“If you say so,” the unicorn said.

“I’m being serious. We’ve charged through similar things in the past and still came out fine. We just need to put our heads together and think of a good way for making money,” Gilbert said.

“And a quick way,” Rainbow added.

“And a quick way,” Gilbert nodded.

“Cause that’s always been easy,” Daylight snorted. “You know what a quick and easy way to make money sounds like around here? Illegal. Criminal. That’s what it sounds like. And I highly doubt any of us want to get involved in something like that.”

“Leave it to Daylight to do her best to bring down the mood,” Rainbow snickered as she playfully elbowed Gilbert in the side.

A vein throbbed on the unicorn’s forehead. “My apologies for attempting to be sensible.”

It thankfully didn’t take much longer for their actual meals to come out and the group was practically salivating at the sight of the delicious dishes. Who knew when they were going to get to eat like this again? It was also generally the first time in a while they had a meal like this, a real professionally cooked and prepared meal. Even the normally much “daintier” eaters like Daylight and Senax wanted to just dig in and forgo any sort of decency.

So of course while they ate conversation pretty much died down entirely. Not just because of the hunger and ravenous mouths of the customers, but because Rainbow Dash in particular was thinking hard about what would come next. Daylight was right about it not being easy to make quick money like that. So what could they do to scrounge up some coins and buy what they needed to for their next long voyage? And secondly—where would they even go? Rainbow Dash didn’t know where the rumor mill was around here and with even less ships docked at port than normal the flow of information was certainly stifled. It could be some time before they even heard about something that could remotely be tied to the Necklace of Ponyseidon.

Rainbow Dash mentally shook her head and shoveled in another bite of waffles, licking her lips clean of the syrup on them. No use ever thinking negatively like that. It never helped. It was the same across the rest of her adventure, as long as she kept her chin up and knew things would turn out okay then they inevitably did. So now she knew that eventually they’d find what they were looking for too.

It all worked out in the end.

“How are you enjoying the waffles, Rainbow Dash?” Gilbert asked from beside her.

“They’re good… need to put some more butter on them too,” she answered.

“My pancakes are delicious!” Gilbert smiled between mouthfuls. “The caramel is so sweet and tasty!”

Breakwater looked over at the two of them and down at their slowly vanishing plates. “Maybe I should’ve gotten something like that too, this egg and toast is the same thing I always get when I come here.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the usual,” Daylight shrugged as she levitated a spoon of her oatmeal to her mouth.

Senax meanwhile was eating her crepe, and completely oblivious to the cream that had gotten all over her mouth. “Mmmm!”

“How do you think Ballast is doing back there? Did he really not want to come?” Daylight asked Breakwater.

“He’s fine. And besides, he eats here more often than we do anyways. If he says he just wants to work and do what he can, then we should let him. He’s the type of pony who wants to have something like that to do,” Breakwater said.

“I guess I shouldn’t exactly feel bad since we’ve all been helping each other recently...”

“I was wondering too but if he wants to work instead of eat breakfast with us then so be it,” Gilbert shrugged. “We’ll still have plenty of time to enjoy each other’s company… probably.”

“Unfortunately,” Daylight muttered.

“Less whining, more eating the good food,” Rainbow frowned up at them.

“Well I’m fine with that,” Breakwater said as he took another bite of his toast.

Senax also washed away most of her cream beard and mustache when she went to take a drink of coffee. It was a good way to get their minds off things. This breakfast had certainly been a good idea from Breakwater. Rainbow Dash almost wished they would have the opportunity to come back and eat here again. But the other things that would have to happen for that opportunity to present itself made it a bit unwanted. She wasn’t going to feel too bad if they came back here though, there were other menu items she wanted to try out.

It wasn’t that much longer that everyone was finished with their main dish and leaning back contentedly in their chairs. Now it was time to relax, reflect, and digest. Only the sipping of coffee was going on at the table, otherwise things were quiet.

Rainbow Dash turned her head and looked out the window of the restaurant to the street outside and the ocean beyond it. The port was still a shadow of its former self. Only a few ships were visible out at the docks and not even half as many ponies as usual were out walking around. Which meant probably even less opportunities for finding a way to make some money.

“Thinking about something?” Daylight asked her.

“Sort of,” Rainbow answered. “Not really.”

“I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have eaten all of that...” a very stuffed Senax said.

“We can stay here for a while longer, nobody is going to force us out of our seats,” Breakwater said. “Though I personally plan on going back to Ballast’s soon and checking on the Heart of Azure anyways.”

“And then back to finding an answer for our troubles,” Gilbert sighed.

“Yeah like… I was wondering what ponies and businesses are even going to be available here now,” Rainbow said.

“Probably most businesses, just maybe operating a bit slower. Some ponies though might have taken their business elsewhere already,” Breakwater said.

“The ones who wouldn’t have left are the ones who can still do their normal thing even without all the ships going in and out. Or who didn’t have a normal way of making money in the first place,” Rainbow thought. “Ponies like… hm.” What Daylight had said earlier was flashing in her head. Criminal, illegal activity. It was reminding her of something.

“Rainbow Dash?” Daylight raised an eyebrow at her when she saw the contemplative look on the pegasus’s face.

Rainbow rubbed her chin and turned back to face the table. “I just thought of something we can do that might get us that money we need. Although… I’m not exactly sure if you guys are going to like it.”

Onward to the Sarrarocco Archipelago

Barely an hour after their little conversation with Fair Drift and the group was already ready to go. They were rushing to get things done and very excited to have a new destination in mind, and something that felt more certain and special than before. An invitation from the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order? Even Rainbow Dash knew this was a big deal. She knew from Breakwater’s map and what he had said that the Sarrarocco Archipelago was one of the bigger places out on the Grand Ocean. This High Priestess may have been a little suspicious, but she also clearly knew something about Merlantis, Ponyseidon, and Senax. It was better than having nothing.

The ship was already fully stocked and they had everything they needed to make the trip. And plenty of money for buying whatever they might need when they came back. All that was needed now was to open the doors and have the Heart of Azure set sail once more. Ballast was a little sad to see them go again so soon but he knew adventure called.

That’s why all of them were on deck, finishing up the last few checks on the ship.

“Well I hope this trip turns out better than your last one,” Ballast said to them.

“So do I,” Breakwater said.

“So do all of us,” Daylight snorted.

“I’ve got a good feeling about it,” Senax smiled.

“Didn’t you also have a pretty good feeling after hearing about that trident?” Daylight asked her.

“Well… this is different. The High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order has to be a special pony, she wouldn’t just send a special invitation to us for nothing.”

“It feels more legitimate than a random rumor at least,” Breakwater shrugged.

“Exactly. If she was lying to us or wanted to do something bad then it’d hurt the reputation of the entire Order. I think she just wants to talk to us,” Senax said.

“Talk to you, you mean.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew by. “Yeah, we were all invited, but that’s only because we’re with you. It’s totally obvious that you’re the only one that Priestess cares about—because you’re a merpony. She must know something about merponies or Ponyseidon.”

“I got that feeling too,” Gilbert said.

Daylight thought for a second and looked over at Breakwater. “How old is the Sarraroccon Order?”

He shrugged. “Don’t ask me, I’m no historian. It’s pretty old though. I know it at least goes back to the times of the Golden Empire. Ponies from the Archipelago have told me that the ones in the Order are more than happy to talk about the fact that they existed before the Hundred Kingdoms.”

“Maybe they go even further back then that then. Maybe they go all the way back to the times of Ponyseidon himself...” Daylight wondered.

“That would explain why the High Priestess would care about there being a merpony sailing out through the ocean,” Senax said, she bit down on her lip in thought. “I don’t know enough about my own history to say anything for sure though… and there was definitely no mention about the Sarrarocco Archipelago or Order in the records or lessons passed down in my tribe.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged and flew in front of everyone else. “Like you said, this is way better than anything we’ve had to go on before. And if she’s got some sinister idea in mind? Or she can’t be trusted? Then bam! I deal with her like that and we go back to sailing like normal.”

Daylight rolled her eyes. “I doubt it would go that simply if things go bad.”

“The point is that Senax has nothing to worry about with me around,” Rainbow reassured her.

“Hehe, thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Senax giggled.

“Well anyways, whether or not the High Priestess is trustworthy or if she’s evil, it doesn’t matter until we actually get there,” Breakwater said. “So I think it’s about time we wet off for real. Ballast? How about helping us out.”

“Already on it,” the shipwright said as he went over to the large wheel that would pull open the doors. “Take care out there! Again.”

“I’d say you don’t have to say that but, uh, that would kind of be a lie...” Breakwater said as the doors opened.

“We’ll have more cool stories when we get back!” Rainbow waved bye to him.

“Now that I don’t doubt at all,” Ballast waved back.

The Heart of Azure then drifted its way out the back dock of Ballast’s shop and into the open harbor. Still with many hours of daylight and time to sail left before slowing down for the night. And now instead of going east like the past few times, Breakwater turned the wheel to starboard as soon as they were out of the big shipping lanes and had his ship angle to the west. A cool breeze blew into Rainbow Dash’s face as she stood right on the tip of the bowsprit with a big smile stretched across her face. The excitement of embarking on a brand new adventure almost couldn’t be beat. She still had reservations about this High Priestess, but after talking with everyone it was clear that they weren’t just stumbling thoughtlessly into this. Everyone was just as prepared as she was.

Whatever they had to go through and however long it took, Rainbow Dash had no intention of breaking her promise to Senax. She was going to help her friend find the merponies’ long lost home.

They had actually stayed very close to shore so far and probably were planning to for most of the trip. After all, from what Rainbow had seen on that one map Breakwater had showed her, the entire Sarrarocco Archipelago wasn’t that far south of the Hundred Kingdoms at all. In fact its outer reaches were pretty much in viewing distance if you were on the coastline. That was why right now for the first time she was looking north at the coast of Winderbadon—the Kingdom directly west of Malkonrik.

She remembered hearing the name once or twice but no one had really spoken much about it. Must be a quiet, boring, place. There was nothing special about its coast from what she could see either—it wasn’t different like Evergarden’s. In fact both it and the port were pretty much exactly like Malkonrik’s so far, with a large number of ships either docked there or sailing close by.

Rainbow Dash still wished they could hurry up and sail faster until they got somewhere more interesting.

The only other Kingdom she knew about to the west—or at least the only one she remembered—was Alth-Verika. And she only remembered that because it was known for alcohol and the Sarrarocco Archipelago was directly south of it. A small part… a large part of her wanted to ask Breakwater and the others if they could stop there. Not for long, just a day or two to have a little fun, sample a bit of the local culture, but she knew not only would they refuse but they really had something more pressing to get to right now anyways.

One day she’d get there. Maybe.

It was probably a bad idea to for a multitude of reasons at the moment.

“Enjoying the view up here?” Gilbert asked her.

Rainbow Dash blinked and looked to her side to see Gilbert flying alongside the crow’s nest. “It’s alright. What about you?”

“I’m having a decent time just flying around,” he shrugged.

“You excited to go to the Archipelago? It’ll be your first time there too.”

“Very much so. New place, all new culture, it sounds like a very interesting place to see. If anything else I’m happy for Senax.”

“Yeah I’m with you on that one. And yeah, from how that Fair Drift guy was I think the ponies at the Archipelago are going to be pretty interesting.” She took a deep breath and raised an eyebrow at him. “You just come up to ask me about the view?”

“No—want a muffin?” Gilbert said as he pulled out a blueberry muffin.

“Oh. Yeah, sure, I could go for a muffin right now.”

He tossed it to her and Rainbow Dash caught it, taking a bite out of the muffin immediately and chewing it up. “Not bad.”

“Things like that are going to go bad pretty quickly, figured we might as well eat them while we can.”

“Yeah not everything keeps as good as hardtack or your dried out meat, eugh.”

“You could always try it too...”

“Gilbert, don’t make me throw up when I’m trying to eat.”

“Sorry.”

Rainbow Dash quickly finished the muffin and took another brief look at the coast of Winderbadon before shooting a glance over at Gilbert. “Up for a race now? Nothing better to do.”

Gilbert chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. “I suppose I’m up for losing another race.”

“Oh come on, you’ll never win with that attitude,” Rainbow grinned.

As they flew off, they were watched from below by the others. Daylight Gleam shook her head in amusement and walked up to the helm where Breakwater and Senax were. The Heart of Azure was making good progress, with both the current and the wind on its side for the moment. That was one positive thing she could think about when it came to their various trips, they hardly had to work against that.

“So how many days is it before we actually get to the Archipelago?” She asked Breakwater.

“Just a few. It shouldn’t take as long as it did to get to the Wandering Island actually,” he answered.

“That’s good. I wouldn’t want to keep the High Priestess waiting.”

Senax shot her a questioning look. “Are you still suspicious of her and the Sarraroccon Order?”

“Of course. Even if I’m wrong I’m still going to stay suspicious just in case. That’s how we survive out here. Unfortunately we can’t just believe in the good will of everyone—especially after knowing she’s been spying on us.”

“That’s a little concerning but I’ve still never really heard anything bad about the Order,” Breakwater said.

“And they’ve never had a merpony around yet,” Daylight said. “We still don’t know exactly why Senax is such a big deal to the High Priestess, so until we do we’re going to be careful.”

“Yeah, good point. We don’t want anything to happen to Senax after all,” he smiled at the merpony.

“You all don’t need to be that considerate of me. I don’t want you worrying for nothing,” Senax said. “Especially if it ends up with any of you getting hurt.”

“Well don’t worry about that—Rainbow Dash will always come out on top. Or at least that’s what she says,” Daylight smirked.

Senax giggled. “True. I promise not to be pessimistic about it.”

“Now if only Daylight could promise the same thing...” Breakwater mumbled.

“What was that?” Daylight frowned at him.

“Nothing.”

The sound of something whistling through the wind got their attention and they looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Gilbert swiftly returning from their race. The pegasus looked the same as always while the lithe griffon was breathing and panting heavily. It was pretty obvious to tell who had won the race again. As the two of them landed, Gilbert practically slumped over while Rainbow Dash helped him stay up.

“Did you two have fun?” Daylight asked from the helm.

“Yep!” Rainbow answered immediately. “Gilbert did a lot better than normal too.”

The griffon was panting too hard to speak, but he gave the others a thumb’s up.

Daylight snorted in amusement. “Well if you want some water there’s plenty down below to drink. Going to be racing some more before we get to the Archipelago?”

“Maybe instead of a flying race with Gilbert you can try a swimming race against me?” Senax enthusiastically asked Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash grinned awkwardly. “Pretty sure I know how that’s gonna go but… alright, sure. I’m not going to refuse a race.”

“You’ll need to find something to occupy yourself with while we’re out here. It’s not a long trip but we’ll still be sailing for a few more days,” Breakwater said.

“Great. Not like I didn’t know that already...” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever, got races to race, boardgames to play, deck of cards, I can even go fishing again if I feel like it. Or just spend all day taking a nap—not like I haven’t earned it. Might even need the rest in case things get dicey at our next stop. Speaking of that I should get back to toughening up some more...”

“Gonna go lift crates and barrels again?” Daylight asked her.

Rainbow shrugged. “Maybe. Unless you want to fight and hoof-wrestle to help me out instead.”

“No thank you,” Daylight grimaced.

“Then for the moment… for the moment I would like to get some water, if we’re all done up here,” Gilbert wheezed and walked himself down to the hold.

Rainbow Dash got a devilish look in her eye as she watched him go. “Hey, Gilbert? How about you help with my strength-training too?”

“I… I sadly must refuse...” the exhausted griffon looked nearly frightened at the thought.

“You get some water too, Rainbow Dash,” Senax winked at her. “I don’t want to put off our race for too long.”

“Yeah… I’ll be right back up,” Rainbow said as she went to follow Gilbert down.

"Someone’s afraid to lose~” Daylight couldn’t help but tease the boastful pegasus.

Rainbow glared at her. “I said I’ll be right back up.”

Lost Isle of the Lizard People

A wall of leaves was pushed aside by Coral Sea’s magic and the six of them once more found themselves walking on a wooden floor. Finally at the end of the jungle room, a single large door flanked by two brightly burning lanterns rested. Coral Sea opened the door and strode into the new room, and as soon as the others were past the threshold she closed it up with her magic.

Inside was a dimly lit room that looked somewhere between a bedroom and a meeting room. There was a large wooden table constructed of a great piece of gnarled driftwood that took up the room’s middle, with fluffy pillows for seats around it. To the left was a marble spa with an octagonal bath tub that looked like it could fit ten ponies at once and to the right was a translucent silk curtain with a bed lying on the ground behind it absolutely covered in more pillows, sheets, and blankets than any pony could possibly need. Large candles on metal stands covered most of the walls, while other stands were burning with yet more incense. From the ceiling there was something hanging but it wasn’t quite what any of them would call a chandelier. At first it looked like tree roots coming down, but on closer inspection Rainbow and everyone realized it was actually supposed to be wooden carvings of giant squid tentacles. Crystals of all colors were hung from the wooden tentacles, shimmering and reflecting the light from the candles.

But what caught their attention most of all was the far wall behind the driftwood table. A huge slab of stone made up the back wall of Coral Sea’s private chamber—painted and engraved with a map of the entire Grand Ocean. Rainbow and the others could see the Archipelago, the coastline of the Hundred Kingdoms, islands like the Three Spears, and Sharktooth Island and Bosche below. There were no labels or borders drawn anywhere though, it was purely a geographical map.

Senax for some reason felt a strange compelling urge coming from looking at the map. She wanted to walk around the table and touch it…

“I’m afraid I do not have refreshments for you, but I think you all just want to talk anyways,” Coral Sea said as she calmly walked around to the other side of the table and saw down on one of the pillows. She raised a hoof and gestured to the pillows across from her.

They sat down with Senax sitting directly across from her. Gilbert was looking around in fascination at everything while Breakwater studied the large map and Rainbow Dash and Daylight kept themselves tense and ready for anything.

Coral Sea smiled as soon as they were all seated and she nodded to Senax. “So then, I have a question for you first. Although I do believe you to be well-meaning, what is your end goal here? Is it to just find your ancient home of Merlantis? Or do you plan to use the Trident of Ponyseidon in some way? It is an artifact of immense power—as you know. I want us to be able to trust each other, so please tell me your honest intentions.”

Senax’s lip trembled and she looked beside her for some assurance from the others. A nod from Daylight and a smile from Breakwater gave her what she needed. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before looking at the High Priestess again. “I don’t care about the Trident. I understand what it can do, I know there are others out there who want it, but to me its only value is as a historical relic of my people. The only reason we’re looking for the Necklace is because it leads to the Trident which leads to Merlantis. That’s all.”

“That’s very reassuring,” Coral Sea said, nodding along. “Since learning that a merpony had come back to the ocean, the Order has been worried that you might be just like your progenitor.”

Senax frowned and leaned back slightly. “What… what do you mean?”

The smile on Coral Sea’s face turned downright unfriendly. “It seems that answers another sneaking suspicion I had. You know nothing about Ponyseidon and the Sarraroccon Order’s ties to him. I see that when your people were scattered out of the Grand Ocean you lost quite a bit of your history. You really are ignorant of nearly everything, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the table. “What are you even talking about?! I don’t care what you think you might know or whatever’s going on, but you can’t talk to Senax like that!”

“Sorry,” Coral Sea’s smile faded slightly before it came back. “Call it… repressed feelings.” She took a long look at Senax before continuing. “The reason why I—why the Sarraroccon Order—knows so much about Ponyseidon, Merlantis, you merponies, and the reason for my words… is because we of the Sarraroccon Order are the descendants of the slaves of Ponyseidon.”

“That’s impossible!” Senax shouted, startling even her friends. “That’s not—Ponyseidon didn’t have slaves!”

Coral Sea merely raised an eyebrow. “And exactly how would you know that? You even lost the location of your home, what other knowledge might you have lost? We on the other hoof have had this knowledge passed down since the founding of the Order on the Archipelago.” She shrugged, thoroughly unimpressed. “The merponies of Ponyseidon enslaved and ruled over the ponies of the Grand Ocean with the power of the Trident. That is the truth.”

“But...” Senax hesitated.

Daylight frowned and put a hoof on her back to steady her. “Senax… even if that’s true, you and the merponies of East Glade didn’t do anything, you’re all good ponies.”

“That’s what I was hoping,” Coral Sea said. “We of the Order didn’t want a possible return of Ponyseidon’s tyranny.”

“You’re… your people were really slaves? Did Ponyseidon actually-?” Senax asked.

“It’s all true, yes. An unfortunate truth, but a truth nonetheless. You don’t know why everything fell apart for the merponies. Why your people became scattered to the corners of the world? It’s because the slaves finally revolted against Ponyseidon. His empire was destroyed,” Coral Sea said.

“That’s why my people have been suffering in exile for generations?” Senax sat, her mouth hanging open, eyes downcast at the floor.

“I’m sorry for your people, you don’t deserve to continue suffering just for what Ponyseidon did ages ago. But that is simply the reality we all live in,” Coral Sea said. She turned her head to look at the grand map behind her. “Now though—now fate has perhaps given us the opportunity to heal these ancient wounds. Somewhere out there is your home, and I can help you find it.”

Senax raised her head, while Rainbow Dash and the others shared a look.

“You can?” The merpony asked.

“I did not choose to contact you for simple curiosity. There is much more I know about Merlantis and Ponyseidon’s treasures,” Coral Sea looked back at Senax and smiled. “Including the location of the Necklace.”

Everyone now sat up straight and looked expectantly at the High Priestess. Senax felt a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face. Did she actually have the answer? Was she going to be able to tell them where their quest would end? After so long, after so many failures, to have the answer right here in front of them seemed almost impossible.

“Where is it?” Senax quietly asked.

Coral Sea placed her hooves on the desk and clasped them together. “The Necklace of Ponyseidon is being held somewhere almost as fabled as Merlantis itself: The Lost Isle of the Lizard People.”

Breakwater’s eyebrows shot up. “That place is actually real?”

“Real as the island you’re on right now,” Coral Sea nodded. “The Necklace is there, and I know how you can find your way to the island.”

“Hold it,” Rainbow Dash interrupted before more could be said. Senax’s eyes meanwhile were darting from side to side, the merpony deep in thought. “I’ve got a few questions. How do you know it’s there? Why is it there? And if you know it’s there why haven’t you gone to get it yourself?”

“All good questions. And I can tell they come from a place of loyalty to your friend and a desire to look out for her.”

“Forgive us if we’re a little suspicious,” Daylight snorted.

“Heh,” Coral Sea laughed. “No worries at all. To answer Rainbow Dash’s questions in order, how we know is that it was recorded by our ancestors, the same as the fate of the Trident and Merlantis during the upheaval. Why it’s there is because the merponies that had it didn’t want the slaves to get it so they took it to a trusted ally. And lastly, we have tried to get it. Or at least other High Priestess’s in the past did, but the keeper of the Necklace turned them away every time.” Her eyes flickered to Senax. “The keeper will only give the Necklace to a merpony—a child of Ponyseidon.”

“So that’s why you were so interested in me...” Senax said.

“Only you could ever get the Necklace. With us being the only ones who know the island’s location but the keeper not willing to give the Necklace to us… no one would ever actually be able to get it but you.”

“Is that your game?” Rainbow Dash grit her teeth. “You want Senax to get the Necklace and then you’ll-”

“Take it?” Coral Sea raised an eyebrow at Rainbow Dash and huffed derisively. “No. How could we, even? The island is far from here, if you acquire the Necklace we’d be unable to do anything even if we wanted. This is a time for honesty, and a time for healing. I’m telling the merpony this so she can reclaim her ancestral home and her people can live peacefully. And so the Trident can be kept away from anyone who would use its power for evil. Which I know I can trust you to do after meeting you.”

“Hold on a second, I’m curious about something,” Daylight said. “You said “Ally” earlier?”

Coral Sea nodded. “That’s correct. The Lizard People are as ancient as Ponyseidon himself, they were not the same as the other slaves—more like subjects. And they were trusted enough by his merponies to safely hold onto the Necklace and the path to the Trident and Merlantis while they became exiled from the Grand Ocean.”

“Well it’s nice to know that they’ll be friendly to Senax...” Breakwater said.

“Now there’s also something I’m curious about,” Gilbert said as he raised a talon for attention. “Even if you can’t get the Necklace—with everything else you know, how does the Order not simply know the location of Merlantis itself?”

“Even we don’t know everything. It was long ago, knowledge becomes lost, previous High Priestess’s suspected that the merponies tried to erase its location as the scattering happened,” Coral Sea said.

Rainbow Dash, Daylight, and Breakwater didn’t look entirely convinced but they didn’t say anything as of yet. Gilbert was curiously twiddling his mustache and Senax still looked deep in thought. The merpony looked at the huge map, wondering where on the ocean her home could be. Her heart ached for the opportunity to find it and finally bring her people back where they belonged. Even after… even after learning some things she wished weren’t true. Which she couldn’t believe were true.

“You… you truly wish to help us?” Senax asked Coral Sea.

The High Priestess sighed and sat back. “The blood of my ancestors coats the Trident of Ponyseidon. That will never change. But we can move past it. Yes, I truly wish to help you.”

“Then please… tell me where the Lost Island is. Tell me how to find the keeper of the Necklace,” Senax pleaded.

Coral Sea smiled. “Of course.”

Her horn lit up and a puff of smoke appeared above her head. Once it cleared, everyone saw a rolled up piece of parchment being levitated over her head. The High Priestess lowered it to the table and spread it out in front of Senax and the others. What they saw was essentially a downsized copy of the stone map on the wall—with one obvious difference. On the far east side of the ocean, and halfway between the coast of the Hundred Kingdoms and the arctic shores of the south pole, was a glowing golden dot.

“This is an enchanted map. It will guide you not just to the island itself but also through the dangerous weather that has helped hide the island when you get closer,” Coral Sea explained.

“Dangerous weather?” Breakwater raised an eyebrow.

Coral Sea nodded. “Of course. There is a heavy fog and whirlpools all around the island that have protected it over the years—without that it may have been found by explorers by now.”

“That’s not really surprising when you think about it. It had to become lost someway,” Daylight sighed.

Rainbow Dash frowned as she picked up the map and stared at Coral Sea. “So that’s it? We just go now?”

“I understand why you don’t trust me, but yes, that’s all. You may leave the Archipelago anytime you wish,” Coral Sea said.

“Senax? That work for you?”Rainbow asked.

“Yes,” Senax nodded. “I—I believe I’m ready to go.”

Gilbert smiled and reached over to put a comforting talon on her shoulder. “I think finally there’s a lot for us to look forward to, my friend. We’ve finally found a real way to get you home! This should be a happy occasion!”

“I-I know, Gilbert. It’s just a lot to take in at once,” Senax shakily smiled back at him.

“We’ll deal with it. You’ve got us to help you out through anything,” Rainbow said.

“Then I suppose it’s time to get back to Blue Coral Island,” Breakwater said.

“Before you do that—I do have one last thing to give you,” Coral Sea said with a smile on her face. Another spell was cast from her horn and a wooden chest appeared on the table. She unlatched it and pulled open the top to reveal it overflowing with gold coins inside. “Malkonrik coins. You’ll be able to get anything you need with this when you return to your friend’s shop at the port of Malkonrik. Consider it a gift from the Order to make your journey to the Lost Island easier.”

“T-Thank you...” Breakwater said as he blinked in stupification at the absurd amount of money in front of him.

“Well, that’s going to help,” Daylight said.

“Certainly,” Gilbert nodded.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Rainbow stiffly said to the priestess.

Senax took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I guess this is it for now then. Thank you for telling me how to find the Necklace, and for giving us this gift. I will—one day when things have settled down, when my people are back in Merlantis, I hope one day we can truly fix things between us and the Order.”

“It’s a start. I know you’re a good pony, and I wish for the happiness and well-being of my people,” Coral Sea smiled. “One day I believe the past can truly be left behind. It truly has been a pleasure getting to meet with all of you and help you like this. Now all I can do is wish you good luck on your journey.”

Gilbert and Breakwater closed the chest of golden coins up and carried it away with them, while Senax folded up the map and allowed Daylight to hold onto it. Rainbow Dash gave a single, lingering, look back at the stone map on the wall and the smiling Coral Sea sitting across the table before standing up from her cushion and walking out with the rest of them. When the door opened, the candles flickered, and when it closed the smoke and incense thickened.

Why Don't We Just Ditch Him?

While Daylight Gleam locked eyes with Godfrey, more rustling came from the bushes behind her and out came Breakwater, Gilbert, and Senax. When they all saw Rainbow Dash the relief and joy in the air was almost palpable. Despite it not even being a whole day since they had seen each other, it felt like years. That was the sort of thing panic and a lack of knowledge really did to you.

Smiles spread on the others’ faces and Senax happily called out to her. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Guys!” Rainbow grinned and ran forward—before accidentally yanking herself to a halt as Godfrey didn’t budge. “Oof!”

“Oops,” Godfrey snickered.

The others then paused as it seemed much like Daylight they finally realized just who else was here. Gilbert gulped as he saw the chain connecting the two of them.

“Oh dear… that’s not very good,” he said.

“What happened?” Breakwater asked.

Senax meanwhile shivered and went to stand behind the two of them. “Why is he here?”

Rainbow Dash sat up and sighed, rubbing her head in exasperation. “It’s a bit of a long story… either way it’s great to see you guys again.”

Daylight kept her eyes narrowed on Godfrey and her horn ready. “Are we safe right now, Rainbow Dash.”

“I-” Rainbow glanced over at Godfrey, who silently returned her look. “For the moment. We don’t have to worry about Godfrey right now.”

The large griffon grinned. “How nice of you to say that.”

“But we’ve got other problems incoming that are his fault,” Rainbow glared.

“We’ve kind of got a problem of our own we need to take care of too,” Daylight said, biting her lip.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“Well uh… at least we know the Necklace is here,” Rainbow Dash said as the others filled her in on what they had just been through.

Godfrey thoughtfully stroked his chin. “Huh, so I was half right about this place.”

Rainbow frowned at him. “I really wish you weren’t around to hear all this right now.”

“Me too,” Senax said, still hiding behind Breakwater and Gilbert.

“Oh relax, we’re on the same side right now. Heh. Sort of,” Godfrey shrugged.

“And what does that mean?” Daylight asked.

“It means that right now there’s a huge Bosche slaving fleet coming to the island,” Rainbow explained.

“Bosche?!” Breakwater yelled. “How in the hay do they know how to get here?”

“That would be my doing,” Godfrey proudly said, hooking a thumb at himself.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash frowned. “Godfrey here felt like playing a couple of different sides. He sided with Bosche at first to have something to use against us in case the situation called for it. And it does. He knows Bosche isn’t exactly going to thank him for his help, so right now we have to work together to stop them first. Then we’ll have to do something about Godfrey.”

“It’s far too big a fleet for you to fight on your own,” Godfrey nodded. “You need me.”

“You-!” The sharp and angry voice coming from Senax surprised the others as she stepped out from behind Breakwater and Gilbert and stalked over to Godfrey. Standing directly in front of him and glaring up into his eyes. “How dare you! How dare you do something like this! Don’t you even care? Do you have any idea what Bosche will do to the poor people living here? Even for you—even for a monster like you this is too much! These lizards have lived here for centuries alone, and now, and now you’re going to bring a fleet of slavers right to their shores! How dare you, how dare you, how dare you!”

Godfrey’s talon shot up before Senax or anyone else could react and grabbed her around the throat.

Rainbow and Daylight were already in motion when Godfrey just as suddenly let her go. They paused as Senax stumbled backwards, coughing.

“Cry me a river,” Godfrey said to her, before his beak turned up into an amused smile. “That was quite the fire from you though. I’m impressed.”

Rainbow Dash grabbed his wrist and squeezed. “Don’t do that again. Or we aren’t working together anymore.”

“I get it,” Godfrey laughed and put his arm down.

“How long will it be until the fleet arrives?” Gilbert asked.

“He said it’ll be less than a day from when he first contacted them,” Rainbow said. “So we don’t have a ton of time.”

“It’s not just that,” Daylight said. “As soon as we get the Necklace… the whirlpools and fog that protects this island will disappear, and Bosche will have a straight shot at it.”

“Daylight,” Breakwater whispered at her through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think it matters at this point what Godfrey knows or doesn’t know. We’re not in a good situation,” Daylight said.

“She’s right,” Godfrey yawned. “I’m not about to betray you for Bosche at this point. To be honest it’s not even an option, they’ll just kill me at some point if I go back to their fleet. You guys at least wouldn’t just murder me. And besides, I don’t have a way of getting out of these chains on my own, or have a ship to leave on. We’re allies right now, though not exactly friendly ones.”

“Couldn’t we just, perhaps, wait?” Gilbert shrugged, casting an uncertain eye at Godfrey before looking at the others. “As long as the whirlpools and fog surrounds the island the Boschese ships won’t be able to dock here, right? In fact quite a few might be lost trying. We don’t need to retrieve the Necklace immediately, even if we solve the problem with those other lizards right now. Couldn’t we just wait out Bosche here?”

“That’s not exactly a bad idea…” Daylight said.

“It aint going to be that simple,” Godfrey shook his head. “They’ve put a lot of eggs into this basket. It’s a bigger expedition than practically any Bosche has made, and it’s being led by the fat cat Admiral Bin’Tavy himself. They aren’t turning away, they aren’t going to be waited out. The more time spent on this island the more blockaded it will get. He’ll send as many scouts as he needs to into the fog to find a safe route—and forget how many die trying to do that. He’ll ask for reinforcements from the homeland and the rest of the ocean if need be too. Putting things off and hoping they turn out well isn’t going to cut it. You’ll have to be decisive.” He grinned and winked at Rainbow Dash. “At least one of you can appreciate doing things like that, right?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Perhaps when we get back to the castle we should keep this to ourselves…” Gilbert frowned.

“No,” Senax said, her first word since Godfrey had grabbed her. The others turned to her and she continued. “We’re not going to lie to them or keep this a secret. They’ll have a right to know they’re in danger.”

“But keeping them safe from danger like this is exactly why they sent us on this mission,” Breakwater said.

“I know. We’re going to have to make the Keeper believe in us,” Senax said.

“So what even is the plan for dealing with Bosche then?” Daylight asked, throwing up her hooves in frustration.

“Fight them,” Rainbow calmly said. “We fight them and do the best we can. That’s it.”

Godfrey grinned. “Exactly.”

Rainbow sighed and tried to reassure her friends better. “It’s not going to be great, but when your back’s against the wall you’d be surprised with what you can do. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to let Bosche do what they want here. And I bet all of you feel the same. We can do this. We. Can. Do. This. We just have to believe in ourselves and each other.”

Daylight had a small grin on her face as she turned to Senax. “Does that sound good to you?”

“Yes,” Senax smiled. “Yes it does.”

“Anyways then-” Rainbow Dash said as she held up her shackled hoof. “Daylight? You think maybe you can get me out of these chains? Cause that’d be super.”

Daylight Gleam looked down at the metal around her hoof and the chain connecting her to Godfrey, then to the similar ones wrapped around her body. She frowned but nodded. “Cutting through or breaking apart metal isn’t my specialty, but I think I can manage that.”

“Sweet! Get to it!” Rainbow cheered and held out her shackled hoof.

“Alright, alright, just hold on one moment and don’t move,” Daylight said as her horn glowed and she lowered it to Rainbow’s chains.

“You mean we’re separating so soon? How sad,” Godfrey released a big, exaggerated, sigh.

“Yeah I bet you’re really torn up about it,” Rainbow rolled her eyes while Daylight got to work.

The focused magic grasped the manacle around Rainbow Dash’s hoof in a powder blue aura. Daylight furrowed her brow and concentrated as she put all the power she could into her horn. Rainbow saw as the manacle shook and Daylight’s magic seemed to be attempting to pry it apart, it very slightly started to warp in places but otherwise there was no actual break or crack in it. Daylight bit her lip and grew more frustrated with it as time went by and a sheen of sweat appeared on her forehead.

“Stupid brute force… telekinesis...” she grumbled.

She gave up and turned her magic off. “Ugh! Okay, instead of breaking it like that I’m going to attempt to cut through it. Uh… you might want to stay really, really, still.”

Rainbow Dash gulped and held out her hoof again.

Daylight took a deep breath and focused her magic into a very precise heat scalpel. Her magic was light-based after all, light could mean heat too right? That’s at least what she was counting on as she tried to laser through the metal shackle around Rainbow Dash’s hoof.

“That looks dangerous,” Gilbert whispered to Breakwater.

“Shh, don’t let Rainbow Dash hear you say that,” Breakwater said.

After a few seconds and a bit of smoke there was a slight clink! as the shackle broke off from Rainbow Dash’s hoof and fell to the ground.

“Alright!” Rainbow Dash cheered as she held up her free hoof, now no longer chained to Godfrey.

“Whew… glad that worked,” Daylight said.

“Hehe… well-” Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously and turned her side to Daylight where her wings were still chained down. “Now comes the hard part.”

“Ugh...” Daylight sighed.

“I’ll find something to wipe your sweat with,” Senax said.

It did take a little while and both unicorn and pegasus were pretty tired afterward, but Rainbow was finally free of all the chains. She stretched her wings out and flapped them proudly, hovering over the group and doing a few circles to get her blood pumping back through them. It always felt great to be able to fly again. Landing back down she took another big stretch before smiling at her friends.

“Okay, let’s do this!”

Godfrey coughed to get their attention, holding up his still shackled wrist he smiled at them. “Actually, could I get in on some of that action too?”

“No way-”

“I’m not asking for them all off, I know you wouldn’t do that,” Godfrey said. “I just want this one around my wrist off—it’s a little uncomfortable. And dragging a loose chain around the jungle wont be fun either.”

Rainbow looked down at the chain and at the ones still wrapped around his body. It’s true it wouldn’t really change anything at this point, as long as he couldn’t fly away on his own. She saw Daylight giving her a questioning look out of the corner of her eye, so Rainbow gave a small nod back to her. She could handle Godfrey like this. With her wings free and his chained down, she could definitely handle him.

“If you’re sure,” Daylight shrugged and hesitantly went to break the last shackle on Godfrey’s wrist.

Senax came up beside Rainbow Dash and whispered in her ear. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, trust me,” Rainbow nodded. “And besides, as much of a pain as he is we need him right now.”

“I hope you’re right about that.”

Rainbow grimaced. Me too.

After a few more minutes, Godfrey’s shackle was broken off and he started rubbing his wrist with a satisfied smile on his face. “Ahh, that’s much better.” He looked over at Rainbow Dash. “So we’re going right back to where we came from?”

“Yeah. All of us,” Rainbow said. “You can walk out in front with me.”

“Why am I not surprised you would want that?”

Nothing You Can Do

Rainbow Dash lied down on her back and stared up at the ceiling, expressionless. There was a lot she could be thinking about right now but truthfully she had already done that. Right now all she was doing was counting the tiles in the ceiling. They had come back up from the Keeper’s chamber some time ago—the elders leaving to notify the rest of the mountain lizard town down below the castle of what had happened. From there other lizards ran out to every other settlement in these mountains. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash was here with her friends. Despite what had happened, she hadn’t flown after Godfrey and Princess Fairscale and the Necklace in a mad rush. Though that would certainly have been a very Rainbow Dash thing to do. She couldn’t bring herself to act. She had hesitated when she realized there was absolutely zero way for her to stop him without him killing the Princess. Senax’s just as despondent attitude had also put a damper on things. No one had the energy to move. No one had the energy to even attempt to fix things. It was so completely unlike them but there was a feeling of defeat hanging over their heads practically before they had even began.

That’s why Rainbow Dash was just counting tiles. She couldn’t take the alternative at the moment.

A great sigh of despair and exhaustion came from Senax, the merpony slumped over on top of the table that they had dined on earlier. The table where they had treated with Fairscale. So much had gone wrong for her—she undoubtedly felt even worse than Rainbow Dash. It was all going so well and then it was all snatched away. The only respite she had was the images the Necklace of Ponyseidon had shown her. When she closed her eyes they were as clear as day and she almost felt like she could feel the Trident itself…

But that still didn’t change the fact that she had lost the Necklace itself and Princess Fairscale had been kidnapped. And with Bosche coming to the island her promise to protect the lizards was almost certainly broken. A deep feeling of lethargy had taken hold of her, her heartbeat diminished and weak.

Daylight Gleam, Gilbert, Breakwater, all of them wanted to say something. To try and shake their two friends out of this. Not just because they needed to do something but because they wanted to help their friends. There just wasn’t anything they could think of that they could say that would be comforting or constructive. They didn’t have any ideas either on how to save the day.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The ringing in her ears from the silence was getting annoying. She tried to clear her mind again-

NOPONY! IS DYING! AGAIN!

The screams from her memory shot through her mind and her eyes snapped open, Rainbow Dash immediately sitting up as she could see the image of a near-dead filly in the grass under her.

The three friends not completely in the doldrums looked over at her, startled. And even Senax lazily rolled her head to see what had gotten into Rainbow Dash.

“Umm… Rainbow Dash?” Daylight spoke up.

“Give me a minute,” Rainbow said back, blinking and staring off into space.

It wasn’t even really a promise she had made, now that she thought back on it. More like a denial of reality. She was trying to convince herself more than anything. Because the alternative was too awful to bear. Because it would’ve broken her apart failing there. Because she’d never be able to call herself awesome or a hero again.

It’s not even the first time I’ve felt like this. Bad. Worthless. Useless. Where everything awful that’s happened is my fault. Rainbow Dash thought to herself. In fact… geez, how many times have I failed before? Been beaten up, lost, imprisoned, totally helpless on my own. Celestia it’s happened a lot on this journey. It happened right from the beginning with Blizzard! How many times did I lose hope or really feel awful… like I couldn’t just bounce back, or feel like I could fix things? Barnaby… Anathema… the time when Vox… what’s always kept me going? What picked me up even when I didn’t have friends around or something great I did to point to?

Rainbow Dash frowned and propped her chin up on her hooves. She exhaled through her nose and thought about it.

It’s always just been… doing better. Knowing I could fix things and do better down the way. Staying as awesome as I ever could be, helping whoever I could, stopping any bad guys. It’s why I never turned back or stopped flying.

A small smile came to her face. So what’s the difference between then and now? How could I look any of my friends in the face if I quit before I even tried to make things right?

Aurora, Summer Rains, Wild Wind, everyone else in the Eternal Pegasus Empire… what would they think of me right now?

Those weather scientists who watched me fly through a hurricane and the huge pegasus who created it…

Larkon. What would Larkon think about all this?

All the gangs I united in peace in the Metal Mountain… Crush and Resin…

Ark’Nogt, Sia’Lorna…

So many ponies. So many creatures before I even came to this side of the world and really started to fail for the first time. Geez, and what would Barnaby and Anathema, who always tried their hardest for their homes, think? Those two trusted me, Barnaby—even unwillingly—left me to finish things. Anathema wanted me to live on at the cost of her own life. It’s because of them that I could even keep going in the first place and didn’t die right when I got out of the True North. Pff—and what about Daring Do and that obnoxious Valentine! They’d totally have a ton of words for me right now.

I don’t think anyone would lay into me like you though, Wish. After all I told you, after all I did to help you stay positive and be happy. Boy would you tear into me right now, wouldn’t you?

Rainbow Dash started laughing to herself, not a full belly laugh, but a light chuckling that shook her body. And also made the others quite confused.

“Are you alright, Rainbow Dash?” Gilbert asked her.

Rainbow smirked and stood up, cracking her neck and flexing her wings. “I’ve been better—but I’ve also been worse. Senax? How are you holding up?”

“I feel like the entire world has come crashing down,” the merpony huffed.

“Good,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Good?” Senax frowned.

“Yeah, because that means the only way you can go is up.”

A small smile came to Daylight’s face. “So does that mean you have a plan for dealing with this?”

“Nope,” Rainbow Dash shook her head.

The smile left Daylight’s face. “You… don’t have a plan?”

“I have no idea what to do,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, still smiling. “But. What I do know—from instinct and experience—is that having your heart in the right place is way more important than any plan. And right now my heart is telling me there’s no way we’re letting Godfrey and Bosche get away with this. What are your hearts saying right now?”

Gilbert clenched his talons into fists while he grinned and nodded at Rainbow Dash. “I would say my heart is saying exactly the same thing as yours, Rainbow Dash!”

“Mine too,” Breakwater agreed. He shot a questioning look at Daylight.

The more pessimistic unicorn bit her lip, but eventually nodded. “Mine too.”

They all turned to look at Senax, and Rainbow Dash walked over to her, offering a hoof.

“Well? I know how strong you really are, Senax. So I think it’s time you pick yourself back up. Plan or no plan, there’s a lot to do.”

Senax stared at her hoof and then her smiling face. “You always make it seem so easy...”

“It isn’t,” Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, I really know it isn’t. I’ve been in your position a lot, and I’ve had so many friends do the same thing for me that I’m doing for you now. I’m not a quitter but I… yeah, even I’ve had a couple of moments when I’ve almost given up. Sometimes you can’t help it. Sometimes, like right now, you definitely have the right to be feeling awful and wanting to just lie down and do nothing. But are you? Are you going to do that? Or are we going to get back out there and save the day already?”

“I think what I’d really like to do right now is fall asleep after eating an entire carrot cake all by myself,” Senax said, sitting up in annoyance. “But I suppose that can come afterwards. So the answer to your question is yes—we’re going to go save the day. I just wish I knew how.”

“Yeah me too...” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“Me three,” Gilbert nodded.

Senax stood up from the table and walked around to the middle of her group of her friends. “We still have something we can do, right?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it. The whole planning part when it came to plans wasn’t her strength. Thinking in general usually wasn’t her strength. And knowing Godfrey could and would kill the Princess at the first sign of them trying to get her and the Necklace back made her first idea of “fly right over there and beat him up” a bad one. She wasn’t letting anyone die again. So the simple fact was that they had to think harder and come up with a real plan for how to deal with him and Bosche. Rainbow just couldn’t think of what that would entail though. The Heart of Azure’s sail was still torn. They’d be seen if they tried to go after the fleet when they leave the island. The entire fleet would fire on them with their ballistas if they did anyways. The ships would be full of lizards that they had no way of getting back to the island. No matter how Rainbow Dash thought about it there were far too many problems and far too few options they had for dealing with them.

Twilight or Starlight could come up with something for sure. But as Rainbow Dash rubbed her temples and wracked her brain there wasn’t an answer coming to her.

“Ughhh… do you guys have any ideas?” Rainbow asked her friends.

“To be honest there’s not much we can do,” Daylight Gleam said as she shook her head. “Especially since the mountain lizards are probably pretty upset with us right now, I doubt they’ll be much help either. I can’t really think of a plan with everything else that’s going wrong right now at the same time! It’s too much all at once!”

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to respond when the doors to the castle’s dining hall were thrown open.

Perhaps it was just comedic timing after Daylight had mentioned the lizards, but the elders along with Smooth Tongue had rushed back in to see them.

Smooth Tongue’s eyes darted about for a swift second before they landed on Senax. “Child of Ponyseidon! Lady Senax! It is chaos in our society—please help us!”

“Y-You want us to help? But it’s our fault that...” Senax trailed off.

“The Princess and our matriarch both believed in you!” One of the elders said. “You are the only ones who can fix this!”

“We do not blame you, this tragedy does not weaken our loyalty to the Children of Ponyseidon at all!” Another shouted.

“So you’re not upset with us?” Daylight asked.

“Never!” The elders answered in unison.

“Our people are in just as much agony over the theft of the Necklace as they are the taking of Princess Fairscale,” Smooth Tongue told them. “Their hearts weep for both you and the Princess equally. Please, help us, we will do anything we can for you, we just have to make this right!”

Rainbow Dash grinned. “And we were just going over that.”

Senax was thinking, a little conflicted to be accepting their help in the first place, but knowing they needed it. “We could use your help… we don’t have much ourselves.”

“We don’t have anything,” Daylight grumbled.

“Everything we have on this island is yours now—to save the Princess and retrieve the Necklace,” Smooth Tongue said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “What does that include?”

“Quite a few things actually,” Daylight answered instead, her brow furrowed as she rubbed her chin. Thinking hard on the new opportunities that had presented themselves.

“Thinking of something?” Breakwater asked her.

“Now I might have a few ideas on what we can do...” the unicorn nodded.

Bye Bye Bosche

Divine Plaza was the capitol city of the Bosche island and thus their “empire”. There were two things in particular that gave it its name. One was the large central plaza, surrounded by large buildings that was often used as the grounds for any sort of festival or parade. The other was the great palace of the Emperor of Bosche nestled against the mountain at the far end of the plaza. Taller and wider than any other building, it sat on a higher plateau of rock that gave it a commanding view of the rest of the city and the ocean to the north. The port of Divine Plaza was also extensive and ever busy, with Junks and other vessels almost constantly going in and out, dropping off and picking up slaves, soldiers, supplies, and food.

In essence it was the only true city of Bosche as though there were plenty of other settlements, small ports, and mining towns in the mountains it lacked the flat surface nearly anywhere else to build such a large city. The amount of both slaves and native Boschese living in Divine Plaza was staggering—and were it not late at night at the moment the streets and plaza would undoubtedly be busier and crowded.

As it was though, it was late at night. The glow of the moon and the lights from several buildings lit up the city but that was all. Only a few who had business or some last minute errands to run were out in the streets now.

Lilac Petals was an earth pony mare originally from Alth-Verika. Twelve years ago, when she was just a filly, her parents planned a vacation for them to go and visit one of the tropical islands to the south. They didn’t get even halfway there before the Bosche Junk came upon their vessel. Ever since then she’d been here in Divine Plaza as a slave to Magistrate Luo, separated from her parents. She wasn’t even sure if they had been kept on the island or not. Or if they were even still alive. In the years since she didn’t have the time to think of them either and their faces were beginning a distant memory. Magistrate Luo was a strict and brutal taskmaster, his cat o’ nine tails always on hoof and always hungry for use.

And right now his mood was already sore as he and his slave walked through one of the side-streets of Bosche back to his manse. Paperwork that someone else had forgotten to stamp was the reason for this unexpected jaunt at night. Lilac Petals was hoping they would just get home without incident and he would go straight to sleep—too tired to take his frustration out on her.

That hope was dashed when she tripped on a crack in the street, the bag she was carrying the papers in opening up and spilling the important contents out in front of them.

For a moment she just looked on in horror, shaking. The bloody knee she had from falling was nothing compared to the dropped papers.

“What are you doing?” Came the low, whispering, voice of her master. He had stopped right as the bag fell, still as a statue.

“I-I’m sorry, Master! Please, let me pick those up!” Lilac Petals rose to her knees and started gathering up the papers as best and as fast as she could. The pain was ignored as she knew worse would come if she didn’t hurry up.

“If you were truly sorry you wouldn’t be so careless and useless as to do something that would anger me in the first place,” Magistrate Luo growled as he reached into his robe to retrieve his beloved cat o’ nine tails.

“N-No, please! I’m truly sorry! It will never happen again!” Lilac Petals squeezed her eyes shut and put her hooves over her head, tears coming out in anticipation of the pain that was about to be levied across her body.

“Why must you make me do this to you?” Magistrate Luo said as he raised the vicious whip high.

Lilac Petals tensed up-

But she didn’t feel anything. Instead she heard something clatter to the ground.

She opened her eyes and looked around, seeing nothing but the cat o’ nine tails lying on the street next to her and Magistrate Luo nowhere to be found. “M-Master?”

Magistrate Luo didn’t know what was happening. In one moment he found himself about to level out some discipline on his slave. The next, he was being lifted up at high-speed, far above the buildings of Divine Plaza and into the sky. It all happened so fast he couldn’t even say anything. He merely blinked as the buildings below turned into dots with only a few lights and fires from the city actually visible anymore. In the cold night sky there was barely a breeze but he heard the sound of something fluttering.

Just as suddenly he came to a stop, hanging there high above the city.

“Hey.”

The magistrate looked up, his face dumb and blank, at the pegasus holding him by his robe. She effortlessly floated there with her wings steadily beating while staring down at him with a frown. Her eyes were bloodshot red and twitching. After a second she looked past him, down at the city below, and took a long, lingering, breath.

“You’re ten-thousand feet in the air right now. Do you know what will happen if I drop you from here?” She asked him.

“I-I-I-” Magistrate Luo stuttered.

“You don’t need to answer. But you get it, right?”

He nodded fervently.

“I’ve got a question to ask you then, I’m pretty sure of the answer already, but I’d like to hear from a local to be sure. That big building at the back of the city? That’s where your leader lives, right? Your King, or Prime Minister, or Governor, whatever they are. I need to talk with them so I’d like to just get over there without stopping anywhere else first. Also… you looked like somebody who was about to do something that needed stopping.”

Magistrate Luo blinked a few times, his brain struggling to deal with the absurd situation he was in. “Emperor… he’s the Emperor. It’s his palace...”

The pegasus’s mouth turned up into the smallest of smiles. “Thanks. I’m Rainbow Dash by the way, what’s your name?”

“Luo.”

“Alright, Luo. Let’s go say hi to the Emperor.”

“E-Excuse me?”

The Emperor of Bosche was well known to enjoy spending his late nights watching the best dancing slaves of Bosche before he rested. This night was no different. Two mares—beautiful beyond almost any comparison—danced for the Emperor in his luxurious royal chambers at the top of the palace. They were thin, tall, bronze mares with scarlet red manes and tails, one had blue eyes and the other green, twin sisters raised specifically for this work. Clad in long, expensive silks with veiled faces, they danced rhythmically before their Emperor, moving like water fairies.

He was a corpulent pony, likely three times as heavy as a normal stallion. He lied down on a long couch before the dance floor and watched the mares while on either end of the couch were tables full of bowls of fruit and lit candles. This main chamber they were in had a number of fountains, paintings, and sculptures all around it, most of them ancient treasures pilfered from other nations. Unlike most of the higher Boschese ponies, the Emperor wore no clothes over his teal body. All he had on was a smile as he watched his favorite pair of dancers.

At the very forefront of this large chamber was a large window that gave a panoramic view of the rest of Divine Plaza and the ocean. Though right now it was too dark to see much, the Emperor still usually spent much time standing before it and gazing at his domain.

Behind his couch, two guards in golden armor with immaculately polished spears stood at attention. Though his slaves would certainly know better than to do anything it was always smart to have guards with you. The guards were perfectly taciturn, staring straight ahead, their eyes never once looking at the dancers for they knew they didn’t have the right to watch the same wondrous show as their Emperor.

That show however was interrupted by something suddenly flying through the window of the royal chamber, shattering it into a million pieces.

The dancers screamed, the Emperor sat up in a fright, and the two guards came rushing around to protect their Emperor. The thing that came in through the window landed on the floor and rolled right onto the dance floor between the twins where it finally came to a stop. The dancers screamed once again, the sisters running to the side and hugging each other while the Emperor blinked at the bloody and beaten form of the pony lying in his royal chambers now.

He was clearly a Boschese of high enough standing going by his clothes—as torn up and ruined as they were—and he groaned in pain, his face a mess of bruises and his body now covered in glass and cuts.

“G-Guards! Find out what has happened! Where did he come from?” The Emperor commanded, looking to his now destroyed window.

The guards walked forward without question, one of them leaning down to help pick the bloody pony up-

When a wind came from outside. The Emperor had to close his eyes as the sudden harsh wind whipped through his chamber and when he opened them again his guards were missing. Their two spears spinning around before they tipped over and fell to the floor.

In their place was a single pegasus with a rainbow mane.

“W-Who are you?” The Emperor asked, practically cowering up against the back of his couch while the twin slaves shivered. “What did you do to my guards?”

“They’re taking a rest outside, and my name’s Rainbow Dash,” Rainbow Dash said to him, a smile was on her face but there was nothing pleasant about it.

The Emperor—as fitting his position as the leader of Bosche—suddenly found a great anger welling up inside him at this pony who had invaded his home and assaulted his subjects. The rage could only be the type felt by a descendant of a noble and ancient bloodline that truly felt himself superior to all others. He rose up high, fire in his eyes, and stared down at the lowly pegasus. Most ponies on the Grand Ocean would be cowed into submission, knowing just who this was that was pressuring them. “You dare come here and do such a thing? You will be made an example of to all who commit such heinous crimes and insults to Bosche! That rainbow mane of yours will be put on display in the great plaza for all to see!”

But Rainbow Dash wasn’t most ponies. As the Emperor glowered at her and made his threats, she just stared back at him as if he was a little colt talking his mouth off.

She looked over at the two frightened slaves for a second before inhaling through her nose and calmly breathing back out.

“You know I’ve told other ponies from Bosche to stop what they’ve been doing but I guess the message never got all the way back to you,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What are you talking about you madmare?!” The Emperor shouted.

“I’m talking about how I can’t let you keep enslaving ponies and other creatures out on the Grand Ocean. I’m ending your reign of terror. I stopped some smaller raids before, and I just stopped a way bigger one too, but it’s not enough is it? It wouldn’t change things, it wouldn’t stop you from sending out more ships to pick off slaves from other islands and kingdoms. You and that Admiral Bin’Tavy guy won’t change your ways. I can tell that after talking to both of you and seeing how this place is. Your whole island is rotten. So I’m getting rid of it. You’re not going to be hurting or enslaving anyone ever again.”

The Emperor’s jaw slowly dropped in horror. “You’re absolutely insane! You’ve barged in here for this? You are only one pony, the rest of my guards will deal with you! Bosche cannot be threatened like this! We are the greatest of all civilizations, do you hear me? No one can do anything to stop us, certainly not some delusional pegasus!”

“Yeahhh...” Rainbow Dash rolled her twitchy, bag-laden, eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. “The problem with what you’re saying is that I’m not like any other pony you’ve ever met. And those guards you’re talking about? They’re not in this room are they? So nobody can stop what I’m going to do next. And once I’m done in this palace, the rest of Bosche is going to get the exact same thing.”

Despite his bravado, the way Rainbow Dash was speaking, what she was saying, made him shiver in fear. “W-What are you going to do to me?”

“Huh? It’s not what I’m going to do to you. Not even what I want to do to you,” Rainbow Dash said and pointed at the twin dancers. “It’s what they want.”

“U-Us?” One of the dancers spoke for the first time, the one with green eyes.

Rainbow Dash nodded. “That’s right. Because I’m here to save you too, you and every other slave on this island. I’m tearing Bosche down completely. Tell me, has this guy ever mistreated you? Have any of the Boschese? What do you think we should do to him? Do you want to get back at him for enslaving you? Even if you don’t feel that way, I bet there are plenty of slaves here that do. Maids, butlers, workers, cooks, builders, maybe we should bring all of them in the palace up here and ask them what they think should be done with the Emperor. It’s going to be your choice, not mine, you’re the ones who deserve to make it.”

“Y-You mean we can-”

“Slaves! Do not forget your place!” The Emperor shouted at them. “You will be harshly punished for even considering the delusional words of this mare! Now obey me as you should and go retrieve more guards!”

The twins flinched and shied away from the Emperor, but Rainbow Dash held a hoof out towards them to assure them.

“You’re not going to be punished. In fact, nothing bad will ever happen to you again. Like I said, this place is going down. The Emperor, his soldiers, all of Bosche won’t be in any shape to do anything. I’m helping all of you slaves. This island is getting turned upside-down and I’m going to make sure every last ship here is either used to get you away or burned to ashes. So tell me, what do you think this guy deserves for all of the awful things he’s done?”

“S-Slaves...” the Emperor panicked as he could see the gears turning in the heads of his dancers.

“I bet you never thought something like this would happen,” Rainbow Dash said to him, interrupting whatever he might try to say. “Or could ever happen. You probably have never had a single worry in your life. And now your whole life and your whole kingdom are about to come crashing down.”

The Emperor paled, his legs gave out and he fell onto his back, crawling away on the fluffy couch. “It’s not... Bosche could never...”

Riiiiiiiiiiip!

Rainbow Dash and the Emperor both looked over at the twin dancers.

They were tearing and pulling off the expensive silks that had been draped over their bodies. The veils were ripped in half and dropped on the floor while the Emperor looked on in shock and Rainbow Dash grinned. Soon, any semblance of the luxurious outfits they had been wearing were gone. Finishing off, the two sisters even stomped them into the floor to really get their anger out.

Some of it at least. There was still a lot of anger left to give. That was very plain to see as they turned to face the Emperor’s fat bulk as he sat in fear on his couch.

“S-Slaves... you mustn’t do this... I am your Master! Your Emperor! You must obey me!” He shouted.

Rainbow Dash just stood back. The rest of the palace would come next.

A hurricane might as well have gone through the palace and the rest of Divine Plaza as Rainbow Dash got to work. Not a single building was left undisturbed by Rainbow Dash as she started to turn Bosche inside-out. The palace was completely ransacked by the rainbow pegasus moving at speeds that no guard, soldier, or slave master could do anything about. Windows were shattered, doors broken, and every last slave freed and told what was happening now. All the higher nobles of Bosche who resided in the palace found themselves the target of a flash mob of the slaves they formerly controlled and abused. Throughout it all, Rainbow Dash kept the same icy grimace on her face, her body twitching and spasming as she completely let loose, exerting and pushing herself almost more than she ever had on this journey with the aid of the special potions.

The revolution quickly spread from the palace and the freed slaves helped her tear apart the other buildings of Divine Plaza in the middle of the night. Rainbow would bust down doors, shoot through windows and shatter every pane of glass along the side of a building with the speeds she was traveling. The city that was the pride of Bosche was turned into a riotous mess. Much like the palace, the slavers were overthrown, and then the ships and port were taken over, and a huge crowd of former slaves gathered in the plaza to celebrate and begin their true journey to freedom.

But that was only the one city. This was only one part of Bosche. Rainbow Dash had a lot more land to cover.

For the next two days, the rainbow menace shot to every corner of Bosche, crawling over every last little settlement, town, or lone building. She didn’t sleep or slow down while she scoured the island. The Boschese had no idea what was going on, it all happened so fast they couldn’t even communicate with each other. The slavers had no idea their entire civilization was being torn down to the foundation. Just like at Divine Plaza she broke into and through every building she needed to and spread the word to the slaves, from there they finished the rest and began to move to Diving Plaza to leave Bosche as well.

The infrastructure of Bosche wasn’t left untouched either. Bridges were destroyed, mills toppled, fields burnt, mines collapsed, Rainbow Dash and the former slaves were working to wound Bosche to the core.

By the end of that second day, hundreds, thousands, of slaves were gathering at the great port of Divine Plaza while behind them the city burned and fell to pieces. Junks and other boats were all taken by them, steered by the slaves who knew how to sail, and one by one they all began to sail away. Going back to the homes they had been taken away from. Rainbow Dash watched over it all. She made sure everything was taken care of, that no slave was left behind and nothing was going wrong. She watched until the last ship disappeared on the horizon and Bosche was left with nothing.

Then she flew away as well.

Of the thirty-six Junks that had departed on the expedition to the Lost Isle, five were now returning to Bosche.

And Admiral Bin’Tavy, on the deck of a new Junk after his personal one was destroyed, stared out in horror at what he saw.

“T-This is terrible! How could this happen?!” He grabbed his mane and pulled. “Bosche is... Bosche is-!”

“Looks like someone got here before you,” Godfrey said from beside him. The griffon pirate had his chin resting in a talon as he lazily stared at the burning and destroyed Divine Plaza. The golden Necklace still safely around his neck. “Boy, she sure did a number on this place. Pretty impressive what she got up to in such a short amount of time.”

“That pegasus!” Bin’Tavy growled. “She will never, ever, get away with this! I will hunt her down and destroy her! Bosche will come back from this, we will grow even stronger, and get our revenge!”

“Naw, you’re done,” Godfrey said, stretching and stepping away from the railing of the Junk.

Admiral Bin’Tavy blinked at him in disbelief and anger. “Excuse me?”

“I said you’re done. Bosche is done. You guys are never going to recover from this,” Godfrey shrugged. “That’s what you get for being weak losers. I always had a feeling something like this would’ve happened to you guys eventually.”

“How dare you! You disgusting pirate, you can’t say that to me! I had already planned to have you skinned when you were no longer useful but now-”

Godfrey slammed a talon down onto the admiral’s shoulder and squeezed, his claws digging into the expensive silken robes. “You know, you’re talking really big for someone with nothing to offer me anymore. I think maybe you really, really, don’t understand the situation you’re in.”

Bin’Tavy gulped. “M-My soldiers-”

“You mean those guys standing around on deck just as horrified and surprised at their home being destroyed as you?” Godfrey glanced over to them and Bin’tavy followed his gaze.

Most of the soldiers were in a daze, most of the ships were just floating on by, the few officers left looked just as lost. Even Admiral Tuon was gone. A couple, just a couple, of soldiers were actually paying attention to Godfrey and Bin’Tavy, but they seemed to not know what to do. The discipline in them had been broken. Formerly such perfect soldiers, too much had happened, and seeing their home like this had finalized it.

“W-Wait... hold on a second...” Admiral Bin’Tavy said as he pulled away from Godfrey and started backing up.

“Yep, there’s just nothing you have to offer me...” Godfrey ignored him and instead went over to pick up a discarded axe lying on the deck of the Junk. “You have something for me to take though. I just need one ship for the moment.”

Bin’Tavy paled. “Soldiers! Help! Help your Admiral!”

His shouting caught the attention of his subordinates on this Junk and some did indeed come rushing over. Godfrey knocked and tossed all of them aside though and soon Bin’Tavy found himself pressed against the back railing of the stern. Nowhere else to go. Some of his soldiers had spears and polearms leveled at Godfrey from behind, but they were all wary to attack.

Godfrey glanced back at them. “Hey, you guys are going to have a decision to make in a second. So just wait for now.”

“You can’t do this! I am Admiral Bin’Tavy—highest of admirals in all of Bosche!” Bin’Tavy yelled out him. However, it was clear from the way he quivered and the way his voice broke that he was far more scared than angry. A cold sweat had started to pour from his mane and down his pale face.

"Blah, blah, blah, you Boschese really are all the same,” Godfrey shook his head and lifted his axe.

“W-Wait, please! I don’t want to die!”

“Who does?” Godfey shrugged and just as swiftly lopped off Admiral Bin’Tavy’s head. It went sailing off the Junk and into the ocean while his body slumped to the deck.

Now Godfrey turned to face the horrified and stupefied soldiers. And grinned.

“Like I said, you’ve got a choice to make now. You can either try and get revenge on me for killing your Admiral right now. Or, if you want revenge on the one who’s actually responsible for your kingdom being destroyed, then maybe we can work something out and you can come with me,” he leveled the bloody axe at the soldiers. “What’s it going to be?”

The Trident of Ponyseidon

When they had walked further down this hall of pillars, statues and paintings started popping up between the pillars. Most of the statues were just merponies proudly standing on pedestals, the paintings showed all sorts of things, from landscapes, to seascapes, to some rather scandalous things that the group averted their eyes from. As they walked further the hallway changed slightly. The floor went down three little steps before leveling out for about thirty feet, then went down three steps again, then leveled out again, and so forth about five times. That explained why they hadn’t actually been able to see the end of the hallway. The statues also changed as they started going down, showing armored merponies holding tridents.

They all considered that a good sign.

With each step they took, Senax’s heart pounded just a little bit harder in her chest. The atmosphere had changed down here. It wasn’t a physical change but it was like she had started to go somewhere she shouldn’t. Her instincts were telling her these halls were not made for her to travel—she might have been a child entering their parents bedroom without permission. A cold sweat had broken out on her face and she felt herself going pale.

Each blink, the golden light she dwelled on gave her a vision of the Trident. She was trembling.

She had to see it with her own eyes, she couldn’t allow this vague feeling of unease to stop her. It didn’t matter if this was somehow Ponyseidon himself trying to tell her to turn back. She wouldn’t.

“Everything alright, Senax?” Gilbert asked her, noticing she had gotten a little “weird”.

“More than alright. Just… just excited, I promise,” Senax answered.

Forget the foreboding. Her friends were here with her and they’d help her through anything.

“Look, there’s the next place to go,” Rainbow said and pointed ahead.

What was now at the end of this hall of pillars and statues was another curving double staircase, but much smaller than the one that led up to the balcony at the great convocation chamber. It led up to a small landing with a pair of golden doors that looked to be made of solid metal on the far wall. Below the landing between the stairs was a large painting that showed off the sunny sky of all things with a flock of thousands of birds all painted into it. At the bottom of each staircase’s banister was another statue of a merpony standing atop it, like guardians that would look over anyone who walked up the steps.

Senax gulped. “I-I think this is it. I think through this doorway is...”

“Then what are we waiting for? Here-” Rainbow said and picked Senax up, the merpony giving a startled yelp, and flew her right up to the landing. “Let me speed things up for you.”

“A little warning first please...”

“Wait for us!” Gilbert said and also flew up while Daylight and Breakwater scrambled up the stairs.

“This is quite the unusual door,” Daylight said when she got to inspect it up close.

“None of the other doors in Merlantis have been metal. I don’t think it’s actually gold but it’s not just iron either,” Breakwater said.

“Is it locked? That’s the only important part right now,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Let’s see,” Senax said and walked up to it.

As soon as she approached it however the golden door slowly began to open up down the middle and slide into the walls. From the split between its two halves, a blinding light and rush of air and heat came, they had to shut their eyes to keep from being blinded. Once the wind had stopped the five of them were able to open their eyes again and look upon what was beyond the golden door. A steady and soft light was still coming from within, slowly shifting from golden, to white, to rainbow. The source of it was at the center of the large circular room. Standing atop a single granite stone poking out of the marble floor.

Senax gasped, sharply sucking in her breath.

Daylight’s eyes widened.

Gilbert was lost for words.

Breakwater gulped.

And Rainbow Dash stared.

With the center prong embedded into the stone, the Trident of Ponyseidon stood at an angle, proudly on display as any awesome treasure of great power should be. The needle-like end of the prong was only just barely scratching the granite—it shouldn’t be possible for it to stand like that—and yet it did, defying all logic and physics. As if challenging anyone to tell it that what it was doing should be impossible. The light was coming from it as well, though the more they looked and the more the room stayed open, the more it faded.

It looked just like the emblem. A perfect green, unmarred by any scratch or fade to its color. The otherworldlyness of it was palpable.

“W-What now?” Gilbert asked.

Breakwater shook his head. “Um… I dunno.”

The overwhelming power and strange aura radiating from the Trident was affecting all of them to a degree. They had been left dumbstruck by it. Even Rainbow Dash, far more used to these kinds of things than the others, had to admit that her hooves were trembling slightly.

“I-I think Senax just… just needs to go and get it,” Daylight said. “It’s hers after all. We’re finally here, she’s finally here. The Trident is right there for you to reclaim, Senax.”

“Just give me a moment,” Senax said, her legs shaking.

Rainbow Dash reached over to put a comforting hoof on her back. “You’ve got this. Take all the time you need.”

“I almost can’t believe it’s right there. It’s really right there,” Senax said. “All the visions… every single one I had about Merlantis, the feeling coming from the Trident that guided me here… it can’t compare. It can’t compare at all to really seeing it.”

“And I imagine it’ll be even more awesome when you’ve pulled it out of that stone and are holding it in your hooves,” Rainbow grinned.

“Yes. Yes it certainly will be!” Senax smiled and with a nod to her friends she took her first step towards the Trident.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow’s ears turned up and she glanced to her right where she just barely caught sight of something vanishing into nothing. She clenched her jaw and frowned at the intrusion.

Daylight saw her and raised an eyebrow. “Rainbow Dash?”

“Uh, nothing. Just thought I saw something,” Rainbow said and shook her head. “Forget it.”

Senax kept walking straight to the Trident, utterly consumed by the thought of removing it from the rock it was embedded in. The tiles of the floor radiated out from the rock where the Trident was, all a simple white while the ceiling above was painted as a stormy sky. Past the Trident, on the far side of the room opposite from where they had come in, was a door leading to another room. Rainbow Dash wanted to guess that it must have been Ponyseidon’s old bedroom beyond there. Not like it mattered to them right now.

Senax stopped right in front of the Trident, looking at it as it stood tall over her. She caught her breath and tried to stop her heart from beating so hard. Looking over her shoulder she saw her friends smiling reassuringly at her.

“Alright,” Senax said and looked back at the Trident. “The last treasure of Ponyseidon—I will now reclaim it for my people and make sure no one can ever misuse it or abuse its power. This moment signals a new day in the history of my people and Merlantis.”

She reached to grab it and pull it from the stone-

The moment she touched it a bolt of electricity surged through the Trident and up her hoof, shocking Senax and blasting her backwards across the room.

“AAAAGHHH!” Senax screamed in pain as she was thrown to the floor and slid back over to her friends with a thin wisp of smoke coming from the hoof that had touched it.

“Senax!” Rainbow yelled and rushed over with the others.

“What happened?!” Breakwater screamed.

“I-It shocked me!” Senax said as she stood up, there was smoke coming from her hoof but she hadn’t actually been burned. She looked otherwise okay—just surprised and frightened from what had happened. “Why? Why would it do that?”

“Maybe there’s some kind of protective spell around it,” Daylight said, frowning at the Trident.

“Maybe it just didn’t like you,” Gilbert shrugged.

The others glared at him.

“I um… I-I meant that in a good way. Honest.”

“What do we do now then?” Breakwater asked.

“I don’t know...” Senax shook her head. “Why is this happening? Is it—could it be because of Ponyseidon? Does he not want me to have the Trident?”

“If it is then you can tell him to shove it,” Rainbow Dash said. “There has to be something up with it, we’ll figure it out.”

“Got an idea?” Daylight asked her.

Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she stared at the Trident. “Uhh… one of us can go up and try to remove it from the rock instead?” She blinked and looked over at her friends, who were all expectantly staring at her. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, big surprise, just give me a second...”

The pegasus flapped her wings and gently flew over to the Trident and the rock it was still stuck in. She didn’t exactly want to do this but if anybody had to test it she figured that she should make sure none of her friends got hurt. Rainbow Dash dropped down in front of it and looked back at Senax—who gave her a simple nod. It was all the permission Rainbow Dash needed.

She took a deep breath and tentatively reached a hoof towards the Trident. Keeping it just an inch from touching at first to see if anything would happen—but no sparks or bolts of electricity came for her yet.

With a shrug, she reached forward and touched the green body of the Trident.

It was cool to the touch and didn’t feel like any metal that Rainbow Dash had ever felt before.

But more importantly she didn’t get electrocuted.

Rainbow Dash continued and grasped her hoof around the cylindrical shaft of the spear. Still no retribution. And with a frown and a sturdy yank she pulled it up and free from the granite stone it had been stuck in.

She heard the others behind her gasp in surprise and confusion at the lack of a response. And her own eyes widened in wonder as she now held the Trident of Ponyseidon—a treasure of great power that had been used for many, many, things—in her hooves. An odd feeling of familiarity rushed over her as she twirled the Trident around and held its prongs to the ceiling. She had held spears before, but they were just normal weapons, the Trident right now felt like it belonged in her hooves, like it was an extension of her very body. There was something mystical about it, there was no question.

It didn’t feel… wrong. Or evil. Or anything like that. It was just something powerful. Powerful and ancient.

Rainbow Dash turned around and plunked the pommel of the Trident onto the marble tile, the three prongs high above her head thanks to the Trident’s length. “I uh, I got the Trident.” She shrugged.

The others immediately swarmed to her, skidding to a halt just before her.

“H-How did you do that? It really didn’t shock you or anything?” Daylight asked.

“I just pulled it out. Were you hoping it would shock me?”

“No! But I don’t understand this at all!” Daylight groaned.

“So there really wasn’t anything to it being stuck there like that? I’m just as confused as Daylight is,” Gilbert said as he tugged on his mustache.

“Is there like… anything special about it? Do you feel like you can control the waters of the ocean now?” Breakwater asked.

“Uhh...” Rainbow Dash looked up at the tips of the Trident’s spears. “Not really? It’s definitely special, I can tell, but if there’s a way to using its powers or whatever I’m totally lost. It’s more like I just know this thing’s a big deal by holding it.” She then looked at Senax, who so far was just staring at her and the Trident. “So, Senax, do you want to try touching it again? You feeling alright?”

“I don’t exactly know how to feel right now to be honest,” the merpony said.

“Yeahhh… I don’t, uh, I don’t blame you for that.”

Daylight frowned. “Maybe just try to tap it a little bit at first...”

“Why don’t I try to see if I can touch it first?” Gilbert said and immediately patted the Trident with his talon before anyone could tell him to stop. Nothing happened though. He patted it a few more times before grabbing it too and then letting go. No electricity. “Seems safe.”

“Maybe it is only when Senax tries to touch it...” Breakwater said.

“But why though?” Daylight patted the Trident a few times too, and just like Rainbow Dash and Gilbert nothing happened to her.

“I’m going to try again,” Senax said and stepped forward. “Rainbow Dash, can you hold it out to me?”

“Sure thing,” Rainbow nodded and turned the Trident over, holding it out in her hooves as if she was presenting it to Senax.

Senax hesitated for a moment, but slowly reached a hoof towards the green Trident. She stopped less than an inch from touching it—a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face. Looking for reassurance and support in the faces of her friends she swallowed her reservations and went to grab it once more.

Right before her scaly hoof reached it a sharp spark of electricity shot off the Trident and shocked Senax.

“Ow!” Senax yelped and jumped back, rubbing her hoof. It smoked a little bit again but she wasn’t really injured.

Breakwater and Gilbert still went to see if she was okay while Daylight just frowned and Rainbow Dash stood the Trident up.

“Why can’t she touch it?” Daylight clicked her tongue.

“Darn it!” Senax growled, anger seeping into her voice after the second failed attempt. “I don’t understand! I don’t understand any of this! The Necklace led me here, all of you can touch it just fine, so why me? It… it has to be because it doesn’t see me as worthy. There must be something wrong with me...”

“No, Senax, don’t think that way. It doesn’t make any sense why it would let the rest of us touch it then,” Daylight said.

“Yeah, seriously,” Rainbow Dash nodded. “There has to be something else going on. I don’t care if we have to find some magic expert on the Grand Ocean—or if I have to fly all the way to my friend Twilight to undo whatever magic is keeping you from touching it—but we’ll make this right.”

“Thanks...” Senax said, though she was noticeably still despondent.

“We’ve still found Merlantis,” Breakwater said to cheer her up.

“That’s right! And like this we’re still making sure the Trident doesn’t fall into the wrong hooves,” Gilbert added.

“Mm… I know,” Senax nodded. “Finding Merlantis was always the real goal. That’s what I wanted, to find our home so my people could return here.” She started walking back out of the room with the others following her, Rainbow Dash floating along low to the floor with the Trident grasped in her hooves. Together they walked past the doorway where the golden doors had receded. “Now I can do that. I will do that. But it just… hurts. I feel inferior, unworthy, now. I don’t even want to use the Trident for anything but it’s still a treasure of my people. For it to reject me like this… I don’t understand. If it’s been waiting down here at the bottom of the ocean for so many years, why would it do this?”

“It’s because it no longer belongs to you.”

The five of them were startled by the sudden voice and they ran to the balcony to look down at where it had come from.

Walking down from the direction of the grand convocation chamber was a familiar pony and several others walking with her.

Senax’s jaw dropped. “Coral Sea? But how… and—what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about-” the High Priestess of the Sarraroccon Order said as she pointed at the Trident Rainbow Dash held. “The fact that that Trident will never be used by merpony hooves again.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes but was quiet for the moment.

Daylight frowned. “What do you mean?”

Coral Sea rolled her eyes with a huff of annoyance. “My ancestors made sure that no merpony could touch the Trident. They placed a curse upon it long ago. Near the end of the old days. Its power can never be wielded by a descendant of Ponyseidon again. It was also supposed to keep any merpony from removing it from here even if you did find Merlantis again. But we didn’t count on you having friends with you. We didn’t count on you being down here at all for that matter.”

“Because you were expecting Godfrey and Bosche to kill us, weren’t you?” Rainbow Dash said before anyone else could speak. “It was you who wrote that letter to him and had them both come to the Lost Isle, admit it!”

“Gladly,” Coral Sea shrugged. “The fact that you’re here means things didn’t go perfectly but I’d still consider this a fairly excellent outcome. As soon as the merpony received the Necklace, we were getting ready to come down here and get the Trident. I’m amazed that somehow you overcame everything to actually make it down to Merlantis faster than us.” She tapped her chin and looked at Senax. “Where is the Necklace anyways? Not that it’s of any use to us, but I’m rather curious.”

Rainbow’s grip angrily tightened on the Trident but it was Senax who spoke up next.

“You… you sent Godfrey and Bosche to the island?” She slowly said, blinking in disbelief, sorrow, and betrayal. “Why? Why would you do such a horrible thing?”

Coral Sea’s mouth twitched upwards into a smile, her whole body shook, and finally she let out a braying laugh. “Ahahahahaha! Why? Why? Why do you think! It was to give those disgusting lizards a taste of what my ancestors and the rest of the ocean had to go through under Ponyseidon while they were his loyal, ignorant, pets. Now I’m going to get the Trident—the Trident that belongs to the Sarraroccon Order—and use it to make sure none can stand against us ever again! We’ll use its power to make the Sarraroccon Order greater than your merpony empire and Ponyseidon ever were!”

“But… but you said you wanted us to be friends. You wanted us to fix our relationship. You wanted to heal the wounds of the past...” Senax said as tears started to drip from her eyes.

Coral Sea’s face instantly fell, a dark glare replacing the mocking smile. “Friends? Never. I’m going to get revenge for all of my ancestors that died by that Trident. I’ll use it to wipe you merponies from the face of this world. You won’t simply be scattered from the Grand Ocean this time. Every last one of you will die.”

“It doesn’t have to be like this!” Senax shouted. “What our ancestors did, we can move past and forget it all, we don’t need to-”

“I will never throw away what has been done! The thoughts and feelings of my ancestors, their desires, their pains! You and all descendants of Ponyseidon will suffer!” Coral Sea yelled. “Everything I’ve done since learning you were here on this ocean has been for this moment—all the deceit, all the false smiles, do you have any idea how humiliating it was to act like I wanted to become friends with you?! And you didn’t even know the truth about Ponyseidon until I told you! Easy for you to say to let the past go!”

Senax cried, lowering her head as sobs wracked her body. “I’m, I-”

“Forget it, Senax,” Rainbow Dash said as she laid one hoof on her back. “She’s not going to listen. She’s not going to forgive you. And you don’t need her forgiveness. Remember that.” Rainbow stepped forward with the Trident and glared at Coral Sea. “And you, you liar, I never trusted you in the first place.”

Coral Sea smirked, a brief chuckle coming from her. “But you needed me. Because you had nothing else. In fact you’d still be floundering around helplessly up there if not for me. I believe a “Thank you” is in order.”

Breakwater growled. “You can take that thank you and shove it up your-”

“Calm down, Breakwater,” Gilbert held him back. “Let’s not get crazy here.”

“Yes, no one here needs to do anything crazy,” Coral Sea said. “After all, not all of you need to die down here.”

“We’re not letting you kill any of us!” Daylight shouted.

“Quite right,” Gilbert nodded along with her.

Coral Sea chuckled some more. “We might be at a bit of an impasse then. Hm… very well then. How about I promise you safe passage out of here, so long as the pegasus hoofs over the Trident right now.” She reached up and pointed a hoof towards Rainbow Dash.

The others looked at her, Senax trying to rub the tears from her eyes.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighed before flapping her wings and gently floating down to the floor to be on the same level as Coral Sea and her warriors. She twirled the Trident around a couple of times before slamming the pommel into the floor, cracking the stone tile. “That isn’t happening. The only way you’re getting this Trident or killing Senax is if you go through me first.”

“So uh… any of you guys got any games you like to play? Any popular way to pass the time back at the Archipelago?” Ballast asked the Sarraroccon warriors watching over him and The Breakwater.

They didn’t answer.

“Boy, you guys really are as stoic as you’re reputed to be...”

The pool room had been just as quiet and boring since the High Priestess had taken her chosen warriors and left him behind. He was ashamed of how he had folded and told her about his friends—but she was scary. He hoped they would forgive him…

More than anything though he was thinking about how this was simply more proof that he really wasn’t cut out for adventuring.

That giant eel lounging its head on the side of the pool was also kind of scary too.

The moment he looked over at it though, the eel twitched and closed its mouth, head jolting up as it started looking around. Ballast didn’t know what it was doing, and from the surprised reactions of the warriors they didn’t either. The ponies watched as the eel suddenly dunked back below the water with a splash and disappeared—likely swimming back out into the ocean. As the warriors of the Order stared on at the rippling water, bubbles started to come up from the pool on the opposite side of where The Breakwater was floating.

A metal gray vessel of similar design to The Breakwater broke the surface and bobbed up and down in the pool. The warriors formed a line and stood at the pool’s edge, waiting to confront whoever was inside that thing.

Ballast though was just staring at it dumbly. Wondering how the hay something like that even existed.

A hatch on top of it was opened up and the thick and feathery arm of a griffon slammed its talon down on the metal surface of the vessel—before pulling out a very well-known pirate. The warriors stiffened and Ballast’s eyes went wide as Godfrey Goldenwing climbed out from inside the new ship and stood atop it. He cracked his neck, then his knuckles, took a look around the room with a smile stretching up his beak, and finally looked down at the ponies before him.

“Well—not like I expected to be the first one here, but some of you are unfamiliar faces. Interesting.”

Just as suddenly, a pony started clambering up through the hatch as well. He struggled a bit but finally pulled himself out.

Ballast blinked in surprise as he recognized Old Diver. The crazy old curmudgeon giddily looking around like a colt in a candy store.

“I knew it! I knew it was all real! Grandfather was right! I always knew it was here! I’ve found Merlantis and now my name will go down in history!” Old Diver yelled before jumping right off the ship and into the water, swimming over to the stairs leading up from the pool and walking up them. He knelt down to the cement floor and started kissing it in pure joy.

Another pony then came out and stood up there with Godfrey. “Wow, I’m just surprised this place is real at all.”

Ballast’s surprise quickly turned to anger. “Dredge?!”

Dredge looked over at him, surprisingly enough he didn’t seem angry. Just tired. “Oh, yeah I guess you’d be here.” He looked over at The Breakwater and awkwardly rubbed his head. “You know honestly I’d be furious right now about all this if it wasn’t for the fact I’m just happy I haven’t been stabbed yet.”

“Speaking of stabbing. That brings us to the next part of our mission,” Godfrey said and flew off the vessel to land on the floor. He stood before the warriors and pulled out his cutlass, leveling it at them. “I don’t know who you are and I couldn’t care less who you are. What I do want to know is who here wants to die first?”

Frozen Shoreline

“So let’s see… is there anybody I’ve met who’s ever been this far south before?” Rainbow Dash asked as she lazily flew through the sky. “Doubt it. I think the furthest we all went as a group was Mount Aris… but maybe Celestia and Luna traveled a lot back in the old days… or Starswirl and the other Pillars, they’ve been all over. Oh, Rarity went to that troll island or whatever, but that wasn’t this far south. Huh—I’m really going to have like, ten million things to brag about when I get back.”

She grinned and made a few loops and corkscrews while she continued her flight south. Earlier in the day she had had another piece of hardtack, it didn’t taste good but it filled her stomach and that was enough.

Rainbow Dash hm’d and looked up. “Speaking of Rarity… wonder what she and everyone else are doing right now?” She immediately snorted. “Okay, never mind—sewing, farming, taking care of her animals, baking, teaching. There, done.” She chuckled to herself. “And if they thought the same thing, I bet they could all guess that I’m flying right now.”

And so she decided to fly up a little further, no longer right over the ice and water. Looking down the ocean was now about ninety-percent covered in ice with only a few lines of dark blue water visible between the floes and shelves of ice. There weren’t anymore animals around, not even any birds flying in the sky with her. Up above the clouds had started to cover the formerly blue sky as well. It wasn’t dark out, or particularly cold relatively speaking, but it was definitely turning in that direction. She knew today would be the day she actually hit the south pole and that it shouldn’t be much further—as long as she reached it before nightfall she’d be happy.

Some real land below her, even if it was just snow and ice, would be a relief.

Coming out of another loop a cold breeze blew against her and Rainbow Dash shivered. She briefly looked back at her wings to make sure they hadn’t gotten frosty at all before continuing. She doubted something like her wings icing over would ever happen again but she’d be on the lookout for it just the same. If only there was something she could wear over them while flying that wouldn’t mess up a pegasus’s flight, but no such thing existed to her knowledge.

She could mention inventing something like that to Twilight when she got back.

“I’m close now,” she said. “I’m really close to making it back. It’s been so long and so far… but I’m seriously almost done, aren’t I? It’s not even going to be that long before I’m back on my side of the world—before I start seeing stuff I recognize. Heh, it’s too crazy to think about. And geez, my friends aren’t even going to believe half the stuff I’m going to tell them about. Applejack’s just gonna go: ‘Sure, sure, ah bet that happened just like you say it did’.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Ugh! I can totally picture that!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head and sped up—flapping her wings harder to reach the south pole quicker. Enough time being lazy and messing around had been spent.

Below her, visible water quickly became even harder to see as the entire ocean started to be covered by one large sheet of ice. She didn’t count this as the south pole just yet though, the ice was just a thin covering, it was still the ocean down there. If she landed on it she was willing to bet she’d be able to spread a bunch of cracks through it too.

Five more minutes of high-speed flying though and she started to see something ahead that made her squint her eyes behind her goggles. It looked like ice rising high from the water line. With the cloud cover her vision wasn’t great but when she got closer she could truly see what it was—a glacier stretching across the horizon. It rose high above the frozen over ocean below it, sheer cliffs of ice a hundred feet high at least. Rainbow Dash looked east and west and saw no end to it nor any indication that it started to curve.

A big smile split her face. “There we go.”

She flew up even higher to get a better view of it and past the high cliffs she saw nothing but a landscape of snow and ice expanding out to the south.

The Grand Ocean was gone. She had finally gotten to the end of it.

And now she had reached the latest destination on her journey around the world.

She stopped in midair for a moment before continuing. This really was the very last place she would fly over on this side of the world. It was finally hitting her.

She turned around and looked back north.

“Barnaby. Anathema. I hope the two of you are happy, wherever you are now. Raalzeron… I hope you’re still alive and kicking too. Supernova… I wish I could apologize to you, but I didn’t know what was going on with you, and I didn’t know how to do anything else. You too, Coral Sea. Daring Do, Valentine, I bet the two of you are on another big adventure right now, right? Don’t have too much fun without me. Cart, He… Neck… Long… whatever your name was, the two of you have a good time too. And Claude, do what you can for that swamp you love. Red Wing, I know you’ve probably got Hoofica back on track.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Wish, I’ll see you again someday. I promise. But I bet that you’re having a better time in Vissidia with your new friends and family than you ever would have if you came with me. And I can’t wait to hear all about what you’ve been doing when I come back to Arondel.”

“Heh. And you Gilbert, I bet you’ve already found a bunch of new friends to annoy. Breakwater, you must be working on the Heart of Azure right now, cleaning it up I bet. Senax… Daylight… probably still on your own boats heading east and west...” She bit her lip, her body shaking. “And… and...”

Rainbow Dash reached up to move her goggles to her forehead while tears started to fall from her eyes. “And I miss you all… I miss you all so much! I miss you already!” She cried harder, struggling to wipe away the tears with her boots. “Everyone… I really, really, miss you all! I’m sorry I couldn’t do everything right! I’m sorry I screwed up trying to stop Lord Copper! I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you from dying, Anathema! I’m sorry you had to suffer for so long, Wish! I’m sorry for everyone Heartless and Godfrey killed because of me! But… but I’m still here! I’m still going! And I want you all to watch me! Cause you better believe… you better believe… that Rainbow Dash is not stopping! I’m flying over the whole world and anything I’ve messed up? You bet I’ll make up for it! I’m going to make it all the way back home and show this world who’s boss!”

She breathed out deeply and placed her goggles back on—swiftly turning around and blasting towards the south pole, leaving nothing more than a rainbow trail in the sky.

Author's Note

So Are You Not Yet Convinced That I'm Invincible?

“You’re a real clown you know?” Rainbow Dash said to him.

“If that’s a joke about the name I’ve heard it a million times at this point,” the three said.

“No, it’s just me calling you a clown because of how dumb and annoying you are.”

“If I was facing any other pony I’d think you were stalling for time with this inane conversation to think of a plan. But we both know you aren’t smart enough for that.”

“I’m not a fan of thinking, I admit it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Well then please keep doing until you tire yourself out and die at my hooves.”

Rainbow Dash grimaced slightly. Thinking wasn’t her strong-suit but she knew she was going to have to do some more of that if she wanted to beat him. If she could just wrack her brain and figure out the mystery she knew she could take him and finally end things between the two of them. What was the secret? What was his power? What did she know about him?

Unfortunately there was nothing consistent she could think of. All the random times she had seen him, his different appearances, the things he had done. Not to mention that weird, writhing, thing she saw in the smoke when she confronted him under that weird circus. Unlike any of the villains and monsters she had fought on her journey, he was more like-

Rainbow Dash blinked. Discord.

Chaos magic. She remembered now. He was chaotic. Even though he professed to hate chaos that was the perfect word to describe him in form and feeling if not in action or attitude. But he wasn’t quite as absurd as Discord. He couldn’t just do anything could he? Otherwise this wouldn’t be much of a fight.

There are limits to what he can do… Rainbow Dash realized. She had finally figured it out. But I still need to know what those limits are and why he has them.

The three Harlequin Greys continued to stare her down. “I’m waiting.”

“Grrr! Nuts to this!” Rainbow Dash yelled in frustration and flew at them.

The earth pony jumped in front of her and pivoted on his front legs to turn and buck her with all the strength he had in his body. Rainbow Dash held her hooves out in front of her as she flew and met his back hooves. The two collided and the impact blasted away all of the loose snow around them while their limbs both shook from trying to overpower the other. Rainbow had to give up when the pegasus came flying from above and tried to land on her head. She flew backwards and then up as a laser blast came from her left.

Rainbow Dash started frantically rubbing her head and tugging at her mane. “This is making me so mad!”

She flew low across the snow and started flapping her wings hard to kick up a snowstorm and a whirlwind she could send at the three Harlequins. If she couldn’t punch them then maybe she could still do something like this? It was worth a shot.

The powerful winds she kicked up carried all of the snow on the surface level of the frozen ground towards the Harlequins. They were all in the path of it and Rainbow Dash watched with no small amount of expectation on her face to see what would happen. It washed over them and for a moment they all disappeared inside the snowy tornado she had created. But just as quickly the pegasus Harlequin shot out from inside it and started beating his own wings to clear away the weather. On the ground the bottom of the tornado was destabilized and blown apart by a red dome of magic that held the unicorn and earth pony Harlequin inside it.

Before Rainbow could do anything else the dome crackled and vanished while the unicorn inside threw a wave of magic at her. Rainbow Dash flew above it and immediately had to fight with the pegasus coming at her. He punched at her head and she moved to the right to avoid it before throwing a return punch at him. Pointless, as he just let it go right through him. He swung his wing towards her and Rainbow Dash brought up her own to block it—the two appendages crossing in the sky for a split second before they both flew back.

Rainbow glared at the opposing pegasus. She was back to not being able to hit him it seemed. And she still didn’t know why. Thinking wasn’t working out well for her so far but she still had to do it.

He came at her again and they traded more and more punches, every single time she tried to go on the offensive her attacks hit nothing but air. After she ducked under another wing slice aimed at her head she also had to fly to the side to avoid a laser. The frustration inside her was building more and more as the unfair fight continued. Rainbow flew higher to avoid the next laser, now at a pretty safe distance from the unicorn and with the pegasus still below her.

At least they aren’t all Alicorns right now… She thought to herself. And then stiffened as she realized something. Wait… why aren’t they all Alicorns? He just showed me he can switch between earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn. He could be three of one at the same time even. So why hasn’t he transformed into an Alicorn again?

She frowned, looking at her three opponents. Her one opponent in the three bodies of the pony tribes.

Why wouldn’t he be an Alicorn? His magic is weaker, he’s slower, he’s not as strong. It has to be because he can’t be one. And he hasn’t been one since I punched him in the face-

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. No… it was right before that. When I said there was no way he could be an Alicorn. When I said that, he changed. I don’t know what he is, I didn’t know what he was then, but I knew there was totally no way someone as rotten and wrong as him could ever be an Alicorn. Is it really like that? What I don’t know is just as important as what I do? What I believe, maybe even if I’m wrong, might be the big deal here as long as I really believe it myself.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help herself—a smile came to her face, she slowly started to giggle, and then burst out in laughter. “Hahahahahaha! I get it! I totally get it now! I was doing this all wrong, I knew thinking was stupid!”

Harlequin Grey was perplexed as he stared up at her. His pegasus body dropped back down to the snow and they once more stood as a trio together. “What are you going on about?”

“I don’t need to think at all! I should’ve just been believing,” Rainbow Dash wiped a few tears of laughter from her eyes. “I get it. What you are doesn’t matter. I don’t need to know that. I just need to know what you aren’t. Heh. I spent all this time confused about which one of you was the real one, how you were doing what you were doing, when I should’ve known that none of you are the “real” one. Nothing about you is real, is it? You’re not really a pony so how could the pegasus body be your real body? Or the unicorn or earth pony one? They aren’t—and it doesn’t matter what you really are beneath them—because it’s just as good knowing what you can’t be. All I had to do was believe in myself when I was attacking you. That’s why you can’t be an Alicorn anymore, because I know for a fact that you could never be an Alicorn. But every time we met around the world you kept changing yourself so I never knew what you were for certain… so I’ve been stuck fighting a phantom the whole time. You made sure to do that on purpose, huh?”

The three Harlequin Grey’s eyes twitched.

“When I really thought the pegasus body was the real one I could hit it. You had to dodge. It doesn’t matter if I was actually right so long as I believed I was right,” Rainbow Dash grinned. “Oh man—I was totally wrong! Twilight would have a miserable time fighting you! She’d overthink everything and get stuck because she’d have to know for certain what was going on and you’d never let her figure that out. But me? I’m too dumb to get caught in your stupid tricks. Anymore at least. Forget thinking! I’m taking you down and all I have to do is believe in myself to do it, and believe I’m stronger than you. And that’s something I definitely know is true.”

She pointed her hoof at them. “And another thing I know for sure is there aren’t three of you.”

Rainbow Dash blinked and only one Harlequin Grey, as a pegasus, was standing there in the snow.

“Whatever you are. It’s just you,” Rainbow Dash said to him.

A disinterested huff came from him.

“A setback is just that—a setback. This doesn’t help you as much as you think,” Harlequin Grey shrugged.

“Oh?” Rainbow Dash confidently folded her hooves in front of her chest and smirked down at him. “Care you explain why?”

“Knowing, or thinking you know, what I can’t do or be isn’t good enough. The slightest doubt, confusion, or ignorance is enough for me to worm my way through your mind and reality. It’s not the same as truly knowing what I am or what is real about me. And that isn’t something you can lie about or convince yourself of either. Even for a pony like you who so often likes to deny reality and act like her ego stands above the logic of the world,” he explained.

“Well guess what? You’re wrong. And I’m done with thinking and trying to figure you out after this. You’re just trying to trick me with words, words, words again. Knowing and all that stuff? Doesn’t compare to believing in myself,” Rainbow Dash stated and flew at him, her wings propelling her at high-speed while she pulled back a hoof.

He stood there, unflinching.

Rainbow Dash brought her blue hoof forward in a powerful punch—as strong as any she had delivered before in her entire life—and punched him square in the face.

He exploded the moment she made contact.

Not a fiery explosion.

And not into a cloud of smoke like last time.

He exploded into dozens of writhing, shadowy, serpents. Some of them fell to the ground while others slithered through the sky. A few briefly took the form, or at least appeared to, of other animals and even ponies before changing right back into serpents. Rainbow Dash had to back away from them all, not wanting any to touch her.

Now I’ll make you regret not turning back all those times I told you to. You’ll see why I was never afraid to fight you.

Rainbow Dash set down on the snow and scowled at the voice as it came from all around her. “You’re still not fighting me for real!”

Is that so? Let me show you what I can do when unfettered by anything. So what if I’m not an Alicorn or any sort of pony at all? I will not be tethered or limited by what you know I’m not. Willful ignorance is no help to you. If you won’t think, then we can both simply act.

The serpents sunk into the ground and disappeared, or flew off and vanished from sight while clouds appeared in the sky. Thunder and lightning crackled as the clouds darkened, the ocean off the shore of the south pole began to rage violently and the colors of the world kept shifting hues, looking as if a blue, then orange, then green, white, pink, red, black, etc. filter was being put over her eyes. It never lasted more than a blink but she could still see what was happening.

Beneath her hooves the snow and ice started to rumble and crack and Rainbow Dash braced herself, ready for anything.

That Feeling, That You Can't Put Into Words

Rainbow Dash was just about to the edge of the desert now, the emptiness of Klugetown pushed out of her head as she focused on the next part of her return flight home. One day. One day and she’d be back within the limits of Equestria. Appleloosa really close after that, and finally Ponyville not much further beyond that. Home. Places she had seen and been to a dozen times would be sprouting up shortly. Though she was considering stopping for the day the next time she found a nice place or small town where she could sleep. That way she’d be in Equestria by morning in two days and then probably back to Ponyville by evening if she kept up a fast pace.

That was only really if she actually found a real place to stop that also had some food. Otherwise she’d probably fly well into the night and maybe make it all the way to Appleloosa before she actually stopped again. She’d see how she was feeling.

Did she want to push herself to get back as fast as possible? Or did she want to glide back home all relaxed and really savor and enjoy the final flight over Equestria?

Either way for now it was probably just going to be her flying and flying until she got tired. She didn’t think there were any small towns in this part of the world. Unless one had popped up recently in the jungles south of Equestria. Which was possible, there was certainly enough room and it would’ve been a nicer place to live than the desert or even how most of the harsh land around Appleloosa was. In the past it would’ve been too dangerous or remote but now? No different really than living in some of the more out of the way spots in Equestria.

Being right next to the dangerous Everfree Forest had never stopped the ponies of Ponyville for that matter…

Back to focusing on her flying, it wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash left the hot, sandy, desert behind and found herself once more flying over a green landscape. The jungle beneath her was likely hot and humid but she had no intention of plopping down randomly inside it anyways. At least it was something a lot more colorful to look at and she didn’t feel like she was being baked on both sides anymore. At the end of this jungle were some cliffs and small mountains and then—boom—Equestria.

Rainbow Dash started rocking her head side to side, humming to herself again to pass the time and even did a flew flips and barrel rolls through the air to spice up her flight. It was just such a nice day too now that she had left the oppressive heat of the desert behind. She could actually appreciate the sun and the clear blue sky now. If she wanted to fly up higher she was sure she’d be able to see for miles in every direction. As it was she kept at her current altitude and kept flying north over the jungle.

Something caught her attention nary a minute later.

There was a thin wisp of smoke coming up from the jungle ahead of her and just slightly off to the left. Not a forest—jungle—fire or anything like that, the smoke didn’t look or smell right for that. It seemed more like smoke rising up from a chimney, or maybe some kind of campfire. Either way, it was the first possible sign of civilization or other ponies she had seen since leaving Klugetown.

“Guess I am stopping for now,” Rainbow Dash said and quickly flew over to the rising smoke.

As she got closer to the smoke she saw the jungle open up into a big clearing, the trees and grass had been pulled up and in their place was a tiny village. Small homes made of wooden twig roofs and brick walls painted yellow, it seemed like a quaint and quiet place to live. There was a single road, more like a path, made of flat stones all placed and cemented together, running through the village and leading up into the jungle to the north. She saw a well in the middle of the village, along with some benches around the road, most of the little homes had flower gardens or carrot patches around them as well. And just as she suspected, one of the homes had a chimney that smoke was steadily rising from.

“Nice place,” Rainbow Dash smiled as she dropped down to the middle of the town.

She landed by the well and took a look around, ready to say hi to the locals.

There weren’t any locals.

The smile fell off her face, replaced with concern, uncertainty, and a small bit of fear that welled up from a place in her body she pretended didn’t exist.

It might have been something that was tickling the back of her mind, but she only really realized it as she stood here now in the middle of town with no one else around her. There weren’t any ponies walking around outside. There weren’t any looking out from their windows or opening up their doors to see who had just dropped in. There weren’t any sounds of ponies talking or playing around or working or cleaning or moving about in their homes.

There wasn’t anything. Again.

No, there was one thing. She saw a few sticks of chalk scattered on the ground along with a faded hopscotch drawing.

Rainbow Dash frowned and immediately flew over to the house with the chimney. She threw open the door without knocking, forget about politeness right now, and took a look inside.

An empty house. A table, chairs, cabinets, stairs leading to a second floor, and a small living room centered around a fireplace where barely burning embers smoldered. She took a second look and saw one of the chairs had been tipped over. She walked back outside and took a closer look at some of the other houses here and began to notice odd things about them. One had a smashed window. One had its front door broken and hanging on its hinges. One had a doll lying on its front porch, discarded and forgotten.

They were gone. Whoever had lived here before hadn’t vanished into thin air. They had ran away.

Ran away from-

Rainbow Dash walked back to the well and stood there, lowering her head and closing her eyes. She brought a hoof up and fitfully pounded it against the side of the well. “No… no, no, no, no, no.”

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before lowering the bucket into the well. All of a sudden her lips were dry and she needed some water to drink. The well still worked perfectly fine and she heard it dip into the water just a few feet down so she pulled it back out and rested it on the side of the well once it was filled. Before drinking any of it she first splashed her face with the cool water to clean up and relax a little better, then she took a few deep sips and left the water bucket behind.

She walked over to one of the carrot patches of the tiny village and pulled up one carrot out of the dirt. Truthfully, she did feel a little bad for stealing, but she wanted to eat something before continuing. And she figured the ponies who lived here would understand.

Three quick chomps and a big swallow later and the carrot was gone.

Rainbow Dash felt her wings flutter, and her heart was beating a little harder and faster than normal. There was an anxious feeling running through her that she couldn’t stamp out and the hair on her legs was standing on end. A few more deep breaths and she dragged a hoof across her forehead before turning and walking towards the path that led out of the city. Halfway there she opened her wings and started hovering above the ground a bit, ready to take off and start flying north again.

There was an arrow drawn in chalk on the ground.

She followed it, casually hovering along with a blank expression on her face.

There was another one, and another. They were pointing to the end of the rocky path right before it started going into the jungle.

Rainbow Dash looked ahead and saw a piece of discarded chalk lying on the ground. She flew up a little higher to get a better view and saw that there was something written on the path. Foreboding filled her chest and her heart started to beat even harder. Hovering above it now she looked down and felt the spirit drain from her body.

It was probably something she had always known no matter how much she tried to ignore it or keep it buried in her head. She had never truly forgotten, only lied to herself about it.

Rainbow Dash read the terribly written message for her scrawled in chalk on the ground.

I’M WAITING FOR YOU RAINBOW DASH

“Heartless.”

Rainbow Dash and Heartless IV

“I’ve really never seen anything like this happen before, have you?”

“No—I’ve never even heard of this happening. I didn’t think it could.”

“You must’ve been shocked when you saw it...”

“Shocked? I almost dropped her right after the delivery. You know what else was strange? She didn’t cry at all, she was warm but she wasn’t moving or acting like any other newborn I’ve ever delivered. I might’ve thought there was something wrong if she didn’t smile as soon as we let her mother hold her.”

“Speaking of—how is her mother doing? She was exhausted, wasn’t she?”

“Yes, she almost fainted soon after, but she’s doing well. The baby too is doing perfectly fine in one of the incubators in Room 112.”

Nurse Cherry Pie, wearing her simple pink uniform, looked over at the door leading out of the office, envisioning the hallway and the newborn baby quietly sleeping in the room just down the hall. “A pony born with a Cutie Mark… it’s fascinating. It has to mean something, doesn’t it?”

Doctor Earnest in his white coat looked up from the papers and books on his desk and raised an eyebrow at her. “Mean what?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Cherry Pie shrugged. “But it has to be some kind of miracle or sign, don’t you think?”

The doctor wryly grinned. “I think it has to be some kind of unknown medical phenomenon… magic and miracles has never been my business. There may not be precedent for it that I know of but I’m sure it’s explainable.”

“But her parents are completely normal aren’t they? You’re looking over their medical history and their family trees right now, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Doctor Earnest nodded, returning his gaze to his desk and the various items there. “I was too curious not to look it up. Wildflower and Corn Flakes, both earth ponies, both got their Cutie Marks at the typical age for ponies, no unusual medical conditions, nothing out of the norm in their families either—at least as far back as I can see. This is their first child too.”

“I saw Corn Flakes’s face when the baby was delivered—he was just as surprised and confused as the rest of us.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Doctor Earnest sighed and sat back in his chair.

Cherry Pie tilted her head at him. “Is something wrong?”

The doctor merely shrugged and shook his head. “Wrong? I don’t think so. It’s just that I don’t like there being something that can’t be explained so far when it comes to a newborn baby. What if she’s sick in some way? What if something happens to her and we have no way of helping her? Yes, all the outward signs seem to point to a healthy baby, but with something like this I’m really not sure. We just have to hope she’s okay and this Cutie Mark birth is completely benign and harmless.” He chuckled. “And the Cutie Mark too… a big red heart with a black outline. Maybe you’re right about there being some kind of meaning to it.”

“Speaking of that, I heard that her parents already decided on a name for her. They were considering a few different ones depending on if she was a filly or a colt, but when she was born I think they felt that she needed a different sort of name.”

“So what are they going to call her?”

“Full Heart.”

Doctor Earnest smiled just a little bit. “Well, that’s a nice name.”

Cherry Pie smiled back at him and nodded. “Fitting too, isn’t it? Once Wildflower wakes up I’ll bring the baby in so she and Corn Flakes can spend some more time with her.”

“Right,” the doctor nodded. He rubbed his temple and went back to perusing some of the medical papers and Cutie Mark related literature on his desk. “You do that, I’m going to keep seeing if I can figure any of this out. There has to be something helpful in here...”

The nurse left Doctor Earnest to his research, leaving the office and closing the door behind her on the way out. Fascination and curiosity ran through her mind after the day’s events and the very unusual childbirth. Her heart was telling her that something truly amazing had just happened, an amazing filly had just been born. She wanted to go see her again personally and check up on her. Make sure the doctor was right about her resting perfectly well in the incubator.

So Cherry Pie walked to Room 112, down the hall of their clinic, right to what worked as their maternity ward even though they weren’t really a big enough hospital to have separate wards and wings. She peeked in the window first, seeing her beige face with amber eyes and big red locks of her mane reflected first and then the sole occupant of the room sleeping in her incubator. Cherry Pie opened up the door and walked in—walked right up to the incubator and looked down into it.

The baby was there, curled up in the middle, swaddled in a sheet. A perfect pink with a little tuft of white mane and tail. What a beautiful baby. Cherry Pie had thought that when she first saw her and her thoughts hadn’t changed at all.

“I don’t know what the doctor is worrying about, you’re just a precious little baby,” Cherry Pie smiled at the sleeping Full Heart.

Thump

Thump

The room was quiet enough where Cherry Pie could hear her own heartbeat.

“Hm?” Cherry Pie raised an eyebrow. The baby wasn’t asleep—not like pretty much every newborn would be at this point. Full Heart moved her head up towards Cherry Pie, looking towards her, and opened up her eyes.

Small but glistening blue eyes peered at Cherry Pie and the baby smiled. Wordlessly, Full Heart reached up towards her, reaching out with her hooves as if she wanted the nurse to pick her up and hold her.

“You really are special...” Cherry Pie said and lifted up a hoof to affectionately rub Full Heart’s head before she left. “You’re a little sweetheart, I know you’ll make your mother and father happy.”

As she reached Full Heart, the baby’s forelegs grasped her hoof.

Cherry Pie didn’t understand what just happened.

She fell over, knocking aside a tray table next to the incubator, and collapsed into the wall.

Breathing and gasping for air as her whole body seized up and her heart beat out of control.

She looked up at the incubator, where she could just barely see Full Heart’s hooves over the plastic lip of it.

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she took one last shuddering breath before her heart stopped.

The remaining leaves on Rainbow Dash’s body withered away and turned to dust, carried by the wind as Heartless continued to hug her. It was so much. It was so much more warmth and light than Heartless had ever felt before. No other creature had been like this. All it took was a tap for them, but now Rainbow Dash was still alive, still alive after being hugged tightly for so long as Heartless took everything from her. Heartless was smiling as she felt it. Her own heart and body were warm and beating with so much vigor. Longer and longer the two of them stayed there with Heartless’s hooves growing tighter around Rainbow’s body—not leaving anything behind. The faintest glimmer and spark were being taken away.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t fight back. Heartless hugged her until the pegasus’s wings and legs went limp, until her head fell limp too and her silently screaming mouth shut. Heartless hugged her until everything was gone and Rainbow Dash was nothing more than a shell being held in her grasp.

Everything.

Warmth.

Light.

Life.

She had everything.

Heartless opened her eyes wide and smiled.

And let Rainbow Dash go.

Falling through the sky.

A Reminiscence

Wind. Incredibly powerful winds constantly attacking her from the right side of her body as Rainbow Dash barreled through the massive tornado that encompassed the north pole of the world. A lesser pegasus would be thrown away, carried off by the tornado and dumped who knows where. But not Rainbow Dash. She was in her element right now and she had faced far more powerful storms and other weather phenomena on her adventure. Not to mention going through this blasted tornado once before not too long ago. So this might as well have been nothing. This was a cakewalk. And it felt good. It felt good to beat her wings and push her body hard, push past the world she had just left behind and go into the beyond. She loved the thrill, she loved the beating of her heart, the blood pumping in her veins, the strain of muscle. This was her kind of flying, the exciting, daring sort of flight that others would shy away from.

This was the life. Flying hard and being awesome. Something like this even beat out taking a nap after a long day of kicking flank. She had almost forgotten just how good something simple like this could feel, stuck in the doldrums for a second too long for her taste back in Nogt. She may have come on this adventure in the first place looking for new kinds of excitement and awesome things to do, but she shouldn’t forget how to appreciate the stuff like this. Flying. And just how much she loved it.

She had flown so much through the northern parts of the world, flown for miles and miles over snow and mountains and frozen lakes and rivers. To be honest, Rainbow wasn’t sure if she really understood just how awesome it all was until now that she had left that part of her journey behind. But that was just how she was. Someday she was sure another pony from Equestria would visit and travel through it all and they could write a book or draw a map and catalog the whole place. Rainbow was just fine with her vivid memories of all the truly important things she did back there.

Still, she realized now that the journey she had been on hadn’t satisfied her in the way she was looking for. Cause all she had been doing was moving on and on. If she had stopped to think, to look around, to appreciate the awesome wonders and uniqueness of the new and unknown world around her, maybe she would’ve found a true goal and been content with her adventure a long time ago.

Rainbow Dash grinned as the wind whipped her bangs around her head. “But then I wouldn’t be the first pony to fly all the way around the world, now would I? That’s my goal now. That’s something solid, something real, something pretty darn awesome I’m working towards!”

And the first step when it came to reaching that new goal was getting out of this high-powered tornado.

“Cakewalk”. Rainbow Dash licked her lips and with a burst of energy flapped her wings harder. She propelled herself to the outer edge of the tornado winds immediately, the world beyond them becoming suddenly clearer. The only thing she still really wished for right now were some flight goggles. An item that would’ve done her a spectacular amount of good on the rest of her journey. Unfortunately that lack of preparation is what came with shooting off on this journey without a care in the world or second thought.

Idly, she realized she had just done the exact same thing in Nogt as she had in Ponyville. Maybe there was a lesson to learn there…

Nah. Speed, recklessness, and impatience were some of Rainbow Dash’s best friends. She’d never betray such great friends. They always seemed to be just what she needed in the end anyways and things worked out fine.

As the fierce wind and her own whipping hair got into her eyes though she still wished for those goggles. Powering through the tornado was nothing but she’d like to be able to see while doing it. All she knew now was that she was close to exiting it and entering the world beyond. The tornado was big but she had charged through thicker storms and banks of fog and other things in the past. The wind coming in from the right side of her body only threatened to throw her off course or carry her along with it for a while, it wasn’t coming from directly ahead and pushing against her. While she was fighting the current it wasn’t as difficult as it could have been.

And even if it was she still would’ve had no problem getting through it. What was a little wind compared to some of the other things she had had to push her way through on her journey so far?

Being hounded by a giant unkillable ice monster? Beating up a stupid muscle-head of a pegasus? Getting through a storm that made all other storms pale in comparison? It went on and on for her. She had done so much and still had it in her to do an endless amount of things more as long as it was awesome and exciting.

She hoped the other side of the world contained adventures for her even better than the ones she had already been on.

Rainbow Dash tore past the last layers of wind licking at her body and emerged beyond the north pole tornado, beyond the city of Nogt and the Reindeer, beyond one half of the True North that she had flown through. With a celebratory shout coming out of her lungs she threw up her hooves and stopped in mid-air. “Woohoo!”

Lots and lots of snow greeted the cheering pegasus.

Her face gradually took on a much more neutral expression as she folded her front legs in front of her chest and floated there with the large tornado right behind her. “Well, this is pretty much what I was expecting.”

In front of her was a landscape much the same as a large portion of the True North she had traveled through had been. Massive, endless, drifts of snow and tall mountains as far as the eye could see. A winterscape to end all others. Glacial peaks and valleys between the mountains stood in front of her while directly below was an ocean of piled up, untouched snow that was whiter than anything Rainbow Dash had seen in her life. The cloudy sky above only allowed a dim light to travel down, bathing the world in an opaque glow.

No half-frozen lake existed right past the tornado like on the other side. As Rainbow Dash looked back at the massive walls of rock that shot up into the sky, bordering the east and west sides of Nogt and the north pole, she saw nothing but cold rock and ice staring back at her. The monumentally old dividers of the northern world appeared so much darker on this side.

A smile once again tugged up the corners of Rainbow Dash’s mouth as she turned to look back ahead. Without a single word she began her new flight over the snow and towards the mountains.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

Crevice

Rainbow Dash’s breath came out in ragged gasps as she sat in a crumpled heap on the hard rock ground of a crevice she had fallen into. A trail of frozen blood went halfway down her right front leg from a gash above her knee she had sustained in the fall. It was almost funny, the blood had frozen before it even had the chance to drip off her.

She frowned in annoyance and looked up at the narrow gap she had fallen through. “And things were going so well...”

Just a couple of minutes ago she had been out walking across the surface of the snow. It was as cold as ever but at least she had been making progress. The day was still “light” out as well so she wanted to get as many hours of walking in as possible.

The sound of the snow cracking and crumbling beneath her hooves had caused her to freeze mid-step. Once she had looked down she saw a fissure spreading in the snow from where she was standing, and then all at once the snow fell away and Rainbow Dash went falling down the crevice before she could do anything. It seemed snow had packed over the surface of the crevice but her weight had been too much for it to bear without anything holding it up beneath it.

Rainbow Dash liked to think that in a better state she would’ve easily had the reflexives to jump out of the way and not fall down. But as cold and drained as she was she just couldn’t react in time. She banged herself against the ice-covered sides of the crevice a few times on the way down before landing hard on the rock—thirty feet below the surface.

“Tch, just my luck,” Rainbow Dash grumbled and stood up. It hurt a little bit to put her weight on her leg but it was a pain she could easily manage. She’d felt worse.

She also supposed she should consider herself fortunate that she wasn’t just stuck at the bottom of a narrow crevice with nowhere to move or anything. The crevice was just an opening into the cave she now found herself in with the actual narrow crevice she had fallen through only starting about five or ten feet above her head. Better or worse she actually wasn’t sure which she should consider the situation as, but there might be something else down in this cave or another way out besides the way she fell in. If anything it also didn’t feel quite as agonizingly cold as being out on the surface. Though her wings were still frozen shut and ice and snow still covered most of the rest of her body.

Rainbow Dash shook herself and started using her hooves to knock off most of that snow and ice before taking a better look around. The light down here was pretty poor but she saw that she was in a small, circular chamber with one large path leading off to her right. Instead of fresh snow down here, the smooth rock walls of the cave were coated in a thick layer of ice in most places. With a glance up she saw it was the same case with the walls of the crevice. She wasn’t sure she could climb back up that, her unprotected hooves would freeze to the ice even if she was able to try shimmying back up. It was only because of the speed she was falling and her body weight that something like that hadn’t happened in the first place. And it was way too narrow to fly up even if her wings were working right now.

“Whatever,” Rainbow Dash shrugged as she started to explore the icy cave. It was obvious she wasn’t getting anywhere just standing around.

The lack of any sort of breeze down here or snow falling directly on her was helpful but it wouldn’t matter in the end if Rainbow couldn’t find anything else. So she quickly trotted down the only path there was, looking for either a way out or something that could help her get up the crevice. Icicles hung from the top of the cave like daggers as Rainbow passed beneath them, not making this place look any more inviting. But she had been through similar places before, something so simple wouldn’t scare her.

She still hadn’t seen any signs of life in this snowy wasteland so Rainbow Dash doubted she would be suddenly attacked by a beast or anything. It was doubtful any sort of creature called these caves its home. No, it was just Rainbow Dash trotting through a cold ice cavern. It didn’t take long before she reached another more open chamber in the caves, with the only other path leading out of it heading to her left. So it seemed like she was just going to be going back and forth for a while.

Another round of shivers passed through her body and Rainbow Dash frowned. This place wasn’t as insulating as she hoped. It would be better if she could fly and not have to walk directly on the cold ground but her wings were still completely useless.

She idly imagined that this must be how a unicorn felt when they couldn’t use magic for whatever reason.

Or how Applejack felt when she didn’t have her hat. That thought made Rainbow Dash snicker, the light humor doing a good job to keep her mood up.

If only she could keep her temperature up too. It might be night soon as well and then Rainbow Dash would lose all of the meager light she had. These dumb caves hadn’t shown her anything yet, it was all just one path so far and there was a whole lot of nothing down here. If she could find a path leading further south or through one of the nearby mountains that would be perfect but it didn’t look like she was going to get that lucky. Instead it was more directionless winding through the caves and it was making Rainbow Dash more and more frustrated. The only positive about this was that she had no way of getting lost.

Maybe she should head back already and try her luck with climbing out of the crevice? But the actual start of the crevice was too high above her head… to even get to the part where she could attempt to shimmy or crawl up she’d need something to help her. Rainbow just couldn’t jump that high without a boost from her wings. She couldn’t climb a vertical wall with just her hooves either, even if it was only a few feet she needed to go. The ice was too smooth and she might get frozen stuck to it, just the same thing she was worrying about earlier.

Nope, it really sucked but she was just going to have to keep walking through these caves for now until she found a way out or something else that could help her.

“What I wouldn’t give for a torch right now...” Rainbow said as she glanced down at her bag. She wasn’t desperate or dumb enough to burn that right now though. But if she could find a stray piece of wood, that would really go a long way.

Copper, Silver and Gold

The hospital was close by to the prison but it was still too far for Rainbow Dash to travel under her own power, as both she and Chief Constable Barnaby learned. She was annoyed at having to wait around some more and be treated like an invalid, but in the end they had to have a nurse and stretcher come into the cell block and wheel her out. The good news was that the stretcher sure was soft and it felt way better lying down on it than the hard concrete of the prison. The bad news was she didn’t get to glare and gloat to the guards who had beaten her since Barnaby had sent them away long ago.

“I don’t even remember going down these halls before,” Rainbow Dash said as she went along through the halls of the prison with the nurse and Barnaby alongside her. “This is a pretty big place.”

It wasn’t all just cells either but offices, training rooms, a gymnasium, quarters, and other places she ended up getting wheeled past. Any guards they met along the way stiffened up and greeted Barnaby with a sharp “Sir!”. Obviously some of his subordinates were rotten eggs but he seemed to command the respect of most. The hallways were well lit up by electrical lights but they hadn’t walked past any windows yet, they must’ve still been in the interior of the prison.

“There are a lot of ponies in Oreville, that means a lot of policing to do and unfortunately an active crime scene. But we do our best,” Barnaby told her. “Although some of us simply add to the problems.” He added, bitterly.

It was certainly a bit different from Equestria, where crime was low and the word corruption might as well not exist. But Rainbow Dash knew well by now that not every place was as harmonic as her home.

When Rainbow Dash was wheeled into the lobby of the prison she took a look around at it since with any luck she wouldn’t be back here again. The back half of the lobby was sectioned off by a wooden barrier at desk height that had two doors in it on either side, flanking a large circular desk in the middle of the lobby where a mare, likely a receptionist, sat. There were a few closed doors going off into other hallways, along with some benches in the front of the lobby. From the ceiling hung a number of lights and the front wall of the lobby was taken up by large glass doors and even larger glass windows above them.

“You can say goodbye now if you want,” Barnaby said as he opened up the front doors to help the nurse push her stretcher out.

“I’m good, thanks,” Rainbow said.

The nurse smiled at her the moment they were outside. “Copper District Hospital is right down the street, you just relax now until we get there.”

Rainbow nodded but still took a look back at the prison before resting her head. It was a huge facility, no doubt, and it looked to be built directly into the rock wall of this underground cavern they were in. Rainbow Dash saw it stretching up several stories with row after row of windows (some barred and some not) on the cement exterior. Between the glass doors and windows of the front lobby was a cement beam that supported them both, and on the outside was a metal panel that ran across it painted with the words: OREVILLE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

Yeah, unless she was visiting Barnaby she kind of hoped she wasn’t coming back.

But now that she was out of the prison she could take her first real look around this part of Oreville. Since her memories of being brought here were muddied quite a bit.

It took only a single look for her to notice she was in a completely different part of Oreville. The ceiling was much lower and they clearly weren’t underneath or inside of any hollowed out mountain. The ceiling also wasn’t just left as a bunch of stalactites but looked like it was braced and reinforced by a layer of cement with several supporting pillars and ribs running up the sides of the walls. That being said it was still a pretty huge place, Rainbow Dash could see down several blocks of street in every direction and there were numerous buildings all over the place. However it wasn’t like what she had seen when she first entered Oreville, and Rainbow Dash belatedly realized that was because of the time.

There were hardly any ponies out on the streets at all and there were no lights shining down from the ceiling. The only things that were lit up were several street lamps that lined the streets. Barnaby had said when he first visited her cell that it was around midnight and after all the talking the two of them did it must be at most only around 3 or 4 in the morning. No wonder the streets were still so empty.

“Right now this is just about the westernmost section in all of Oreville,” Barnaby said. “There are only a few more smaller areas past this place.”

“I wasn’t sure what direction we were going in, I really need to look at a map of this place some time,” Rainbow said.

Barnaby laughed. “I’ll bring you one while you’re in the hospital if I can. Or ask a nurse to fetch it. There’s probably going to be quite a bit you’ll need to learn about our city, I’ll fill in for you what I can.”

“Thanks, so uh-”

“But first comes your hospital visit. You need to recuperate,” Barnaby cut her off.

Rainbow rolled her eyes but didn’t press the issue, to be honest she could really use some medicine and a few strips of gauze anyways. “Fine.”

As they made it to a four-way intersection, Rainbow Dash looked down the streets and saw mostly some more squat buildings made of stone and cement. But she also saw several tunnels and elevators leading to other places built at the far walls of this artificial cavern. It made her wonder how deep underground she was now. She had entered at a place that was practically ground level but at this point she could be pretty low.

“There’s the hospital,” Barnaby said and pointed ahead.

Rainbow Dash looked and saw that her destination was not exactly especially inviting. It didn’t look broken down or dirty or anything but the cold gray cement exterior wasn’t exactly good looking. Seemed these ponies cared more for practicality than aesthetics when it came to making their buildings down here. The only thing that let Rainbow know it was a hospital just by looking at it was the big red block letters spelling “Hospital” standing on the roof.

“Rest assured, you’ll receive excellent care,” Barnaby smiled.

“Ow!” Rainbow Dash yelped as the painful iodine swab was rubbed against her wounds.

“I’m sorry dear,” her nurse apologized with a well-meaning smile. “You’ve really been beaten up pretty badly.”

“T-Tell me about it,” Rainbow grit her teeth.

Nurse Abernathy was a chartreuse earth pony mare with a dark orange mane that she wore in a heavy braid behind her head. For the past thirty minutes she’d been looking over Rainbow Dash and doing an initial check-up on her to make sure there weren’t any serious internal injuries or broken bones. After being satisfied that all of Rainbow’s damage was external, then came the painful healing.

“I just can’t believe our own officers of the law would do something like this to you,” Abernathy frowned.

“Well to be fair, I did punch one of them in the face.”

“Still...” Abernathy continued to swab around and clean up Rainbow’s wounds, putting ointment and bandages on the darkened spots of her body. When she was just about done and Rainbow Dash was covered in bandages, her eyes naturally drifted to Rainbow’s wings. “Your wings aren’t hurt either are they? I’m sorry but I’ve never treated a pegasus before, I don’t know how your physiology might differ from ours, I hope I did a good enough job.”

“It’s cool, back home doctors always had the same treatments for everypony as far as I know,” Rainbow shrugged. “And don’t worry, my wings are the one part of me that doesn’t hurt.” She then got a thoughtful look on her face. “That reminds me of something I was thinking about.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve only seen earth ponies here. I know there aren’t any pegasi but are there any unicorns? Or is it only earth ponies in all of Oreville?” Rainbow asked.

Nurse Abernathy smiled. “Only earth ponies, I’m afraid. There have been unicorn visitors, more than pegasi at least, but not so much in recent years.”

“Well I totally understand why pegasi wouldn’t want to live underground. Permanently at least. I wouldn’t. But I’m surprised there aren’t any unicorns. Do they have their own place like the Weeping Mountain or whatever?”

“Hmm, I’ve heard that there are plenty of unicorns in the villages to the south, but I really don’t know.”

“Meh, pretty sure there are still plenty of places back in Equestria that are basically all one tribe or another. Whatever works.”

The nurse laughed briefly. “It’s certainly always been fine here in Oreville. Anyways, your wounds wont require any surgery or serious medication but you should still get some rest for a day or two. The swelling around your face will also go down soon, I’ll get you an ice pack to help you with that. Besides that you’ll only have a couple of mild painkillers to swallow down. Once Barnaby comes back I’ll get those for you.”

“Right,” Rainbow nodded.

Upon entering the hospital, Barnaby had left Nurse Abernathy to take Rainbow Dash to her room while he spoke with the leading doctor on shift about his new important guest. He said he wanted to talk to the hospital director himself but it was far too early in the morning for him to be around. Now Rainbow was just blithely waiting for her guardian and guide to return.

Thankfully after all the time it took Nurse Abernathy to treat her it didn’t take much longer. Barnaby walked in with a smile on his face that only grew when he saw Rainbow Dash.

“Ah, good to see the nurse has been treating you well,” Barnaby said to them.

“Thank you, Chief Constable,” Abernathy replied. “I’m going to go get some things for Miss Rainbow Dash now.” She said, excusing herself from the room.

Barnaby watched her go and as soon as she closed the door he walked over to the side of Rainbow’s bed. “You look… better.”

“I guess the bandages look better than the bruises,” Rainbow snorted.

Barnaby sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyways, while I know you’re going to want to get up and about and see more of Oreville, I strongly suggest you rest here for another day or two. You still need to recuperate and it would also be a little awkward for citizens of Oreville to see you walking—or flying—around while looking like this.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow furrowed her brows. “Doesn’t mean I won’t be totally bored or anything.”

“Sorry, there’s also something else I need to do for you to make your stay in Oreville easier,” Barnaby said. “While it’s still too early at the moment, later today I’ll be visiting Lord Silver and Lord Gold and getting you a diplomat’s visa.”

“A what? A who?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head.

Barnaby chuckled. “I see we can turn this time into an impromptu lesson for you.” He pulled up a stool and took a seat by her bed, coughing into his hoof before beginning. “You see, Oreville is divided into three districts; Copper, Silver and Gold. Each one governed by its own Lord.”

“Okay, I was going to ask if that Lord Copper guy was in charge of Oreville. Really good to know he’s not.”

“He wishes,” Barnaby nodded. “Although he does have considerable reach and power he is at most simply equal to Lords Silver and Gold. That’s why I’ve never been afraid of getting on his nerves or doing something he wouldn’t like.”

“How’d a jerk like him get the job in the first place?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s a hereditary position. His father held it and his father before him. It’s how the Lords have always operated. He’ll be Lord Copper until the day he dies,” Barnaby said. “Fortunately for us all, Lord Silver is much more amiable and Lord Gold is… well, not as young as he used to be but also very unlikely to speak out against you or anything. I’ll be telling them about you and get their seal of approval for your visa. It’s something that hasn’t come up in ages as far as I know but it’ll be good for essentially getting you everything you need here and anywhere you want to go. And it will make you completely untouchable to Lord Copper.”

“Sounds cool. But if Lords Silver and Gold are nice, why isn’t he?”

Barnaby shrugged. “His father was a fine Lord, but I think Copper has always been too ambitious for his own good. He doesn’t like sharing power with the other Lords and only governing the smallest section of the city.”

“Wait—hold on. You’re saying this huge city, this whole Copper Section or whatever, is the smallest one of Oreville? How big is this place?” Rainbow asked.

“Gold Section is about twice the size of Copper Section,” Barnaby answered. “Oreville is a big place and there are a lot of ponies living here. Although I don’t actually have anything to compare it to...”

“Geez, no kidding...”

“Although Oreville has a long history and Copper Section has been here for hundreds of years, it’s also the youngest and least affluent section of Oreville. Something I suspect has given Lord Copper a bit of an inferiority complex.”

Rainbow Dash knew “least affluent” was basically a code word for poorest. That being said though, it didn’t look like the average pony in the Copper Section was unhappy or that the place was destitute. Just like how Ponyville was less affluent than Canterlot, it certainly didn’t mean Copper Section was actually a bad place compared to Silver and Gold. So ponies here didn’t live in big mansions? Big deal. “Got it. So are you like, only the Chief Corncob of Copper Section then?”

“Heh, Constable,” Barnaby corrected with a grin. “And no, I’m in charge of security and criminal justice for the entirety of Oreville. The prison we just came from is the only one in the city, situated in Copper Section because the Gold and Silver Sections didn’t want something like that there, but there are numerous stations for constables and guards like myself throughout all three sections. My force in total, adding up all the myriad types of guards, investigators, and beat constables, numbers well over a thousand ponies.” He frowned. “Although as you’ve unfortunately discovered already, some see fit to take orders from someone else. And I always find myself with a mess of red tape tying up my hooves when it comes to dealing with those ponies in a lasting way.”

“Yeah I don’t envy you. I like having the freedom I have in my life, nothing chaining me down, you know?” Rainbow Dash quickly considered what she had just said. “Er, besides my obligations as an Element of Harmony and stuff like that. But that’s different.”

Barnaby shrugged. “It’s exhausting and frustrating at times but I still wouldn’t give up this job for anything. It’s about duty I suppose. Oreville simply needs me. And if one day I am ever able to laugh in Lord Copper’s face and see him dragged through the mud I’m not going to want to miss that.”

Rainbow grinned. “Now there’s something I can relate to. Speaking of him again though, you said his title is hereditary or whatever? So does he have any kids or something that will become Lord Copper when he croaks?”

“He doesn’t have children of his own. Or a wife for that matter, anytime another pony asks him about it he says he’s “married to his job”, the liar.” Barnaby snorted in derision. “But he does have other blood relations, an uncle, a cousin or two. If Lord Copper passed away or was ever stripped of his position for some unfathomable reason, the closest living relative would get it and then the position would be passed down by their line.”

Rainbow Dash was about to reply when light suddenly poured into her hospital room from the window outside. She winced and shut her eyes out of reflex. “Ugh, what?”

“It’s 5 am now. That’s when the ceiling lights come on in the city,” Barnaby explained.

“Could’ve used a warning...” Rainbow Dash grumbled as she rubbed her eyes. “So all the ponies are going to be up and about now? I saw yesterday how busy the streets were.”

Barnaby nodded. “It’s always busy in Oreville. The work never stops, we’re an industrious society of ponies.”

“I think Applejack would fit right in here,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Your farmer friend? Probably,” Barnaby agreed.

“Yeah but me not quite so much,” Rainbow Dash leaned her head back and rested on her pillow. “I don’t mind visiting and seeing all your cool stuff, but no way could I live here all cooped up, underground with nowhere to fly.”

“You’ve got restless blood in you. I can’t say I’ve ever had the desire to travel so much, but maybe if I ever witnessed the Weeping Mountain myself or some of the villages to the south of us it might change my mind,” Barnaby smiled. “But unfortunately that kind of thing will have to wait until I’ve retired. Duty calls for the present.”

“Good luck with all that stuff. And you totally should give traveling a try, you’re missing out on how awesome the rest of the world is,” Rainbow said.

“Don’t I know it after meeting you...” Barnaby sighed and looked out the window at the now lit up streets and buildings. “I suppose it’s time to go meet with Lords Silver and Gold. Though I doubt they’re even awake yet it will take some time to set up a meeting anyways and I want this done with as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like it’d take a long time for you to travel all the way over there anyways, what with how big you make Oreville sound.”

“If I was going by hoof, yes. But I’m going to be taking the tram. We have a rail line that goes through all three sections, it’s quite useful,” Barnaby told her.

“Have fun, dude. I’ll be… sitting here… doing nothing. For like two days,” Rainbow Dash groaned and looked up at the ceiling. “Hospitals are so boring, I don’t even have a Daring Do book to read.” She glanced at Barnaby. “Do you guys have any awesome adventure novels or something I can read while I’m here?”

Barnaby chuckled. “You can ask Nurse Abernathy to find something, along with that map I promised.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow saluted him.

“You’re welcome, and goodbye for now, Rainbow Dash. I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” Barnaby politely bowed and stepped out of her hospital room.

Pretty much instantly after he left, Nurse Abernathy came back in. She was likely waiting outside the door for their business to be done. On her back she balanced a metal tray that had an ice pack, a cup of water, and some pills on it. “Okay, dear. Now we can make you nice and comfortable for the rest of your time here. Which hopefully shouldn’t be very long at all.” She winked.

“A day is all I’m planning, even if I’ve still got some bruises at the end of it,” Rainbow said.

Nurse Abernathy giggled and had Rainbow Dash take her medicine while also putting the ice pack on her face. It made her shiver at first but eventually she became numb to the sensation and simply let herself relax in the bed. Her swollen face would hopefully be back to normal soon.

“So I don’t know if you heard but-” Rainbow Dash started.

“You want a book?” Nurse Abernathy raised an eyebrow. “No problem, I’ll find something from the hospital library that I think you’ll like.”

Rainbow Dash just smiled as she rested her head on her pillow, holding the ice pack in place and letting the other medicine do its thing. She closed here eyes and listened as the soft hooves of Nurse Abernathy left the room. By the time the nurse had come back, Rainbow Dash was fast asleep.

A Refreshing Dip

“Alright, let’s get those bandages off of you,” Nurse Abernathy said as she held a pair of clippers in her hooves.

“Finally,” Rainbow Dash groaned in relief.

“You wouldn’t believe how much she’s complained about having those bandages on,” Barnaby said with a slight smirk on his face.

“Well health and recuperation comes first,” Abernathy frowned. “I hope you didn’t try removing them yourself at any point?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “No, mom, I didn’t. Come on, I’ve been in the hospital plenty of times before coming here. And they’re my wings. It may be annoying but I treat these babies with all the care they need… when I’m not totally pushing myself. But that’s not the point.”

“That’s good then,” Abernathy said, ignoring the mom comment. “With the medicine we used and the bandages keeping you from stressing them, I’m sure your wings have fully healed. Um, it’s still just an educated guess though. I still have to take a look to be sure. Even if they haven’t fully healed though I don’t think you’ll need the bandages anymore.”

“Good, whatever, anything that lets me actually move my wings around. I miss feeling them and my feathers are going to be a mess,” Rainbow flexed, her wings twitching inside the bandages.

“Then let’s not waste anymore time if you’re that antsy,” Abernathy smiled and brought the clippers towards the white bandages covering Rainbow Dash’s right wing.

The clippers glided right through the soft material like they were absolutely nothing and the bandages fell free from Rainbow’s body. As soon as they were off she spread and flexed her wing, sighing in relief at the wonderful feeling. Abernathy quickly brought the clippers around to the other wing and swiftly sliced through the bandages there. Rainbow’s left wing shot out and she gave them both a stretch and very lightly flapped them both to get the blood flowing. Nurse Abernathy walked in circles around Rainbow, inspecting the unfamiliar appendages and occasionally poking and rubbing them in places.

“Hey, that tickles,” Rainbow giggled.

“Sorry, just giving them a final check-up,” Abernathy said while her scrutinizing eyes never left the wings.

Rainbow again had to patiently stand there and not immediately start flying around the small hospital room until Abernathy was done with her last visual inspection. It was difficult.

Nurse Abernathy finished up walking around Rainbow and stopped in front of her with a smile on her face. “Okay! Everything looks great!”

“No more damage or anything?” Rainbow asked.

The nurse shook her head. “None whatsoever! Your wings look perfect, good as new even.”

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof and flapped her wings to shoot up over the floor, careful enough to still mind the ceiling though. She buzzed around in circles over Abernathy and Barnaby’s heads before settling down and landing. When she tucked her wings in they just felt so much better than when they were covered and held down by bandages. “You have no idea how much better this is.”

“I imagine it’s similar to one of us getting a cast off after a broken leg, but I’m happy for you,” Barnaby said.

“I’m just glad I was actually able to treat your wings...” Nurse Abernathy said.

“You did a good job with em,” Rainbow winked at her.

“Well you’ve been a wonderful patient but I hope I don’t have to treat you again anytime soon,” Abernathy said with a wry grin.

“Me too,” Rainbow nodded.

“Me three,” Barnaby smirked.

Rainbow Dash snorted and turned to the Chief Constable. “So now what? I can do anything now with my wings back—I’m down for doing absolutely anything. So what did you have in mind?”

“Actually it’s something I’ve been thinking of ever since you told me more about Ponyville. Specifically a certain place of business you have there,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “What?”

In the most high-class part of the Copper Section, Barnaby and Rainbow Dash stood outside a particular business. The building was made of pink marble, polished to perfection and standing two stories high with circular black windows and a very inviting facade. Pink steps went up to a set of glass doors flanked by numerous exotic looking (but fake) plants. Above the door was a sign with very stylish wording on it reading: The Copper Exclusives

“Uhhh, I’ve got two ideas on what this place might be and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t take me to one of them,” Rainbow Dash said as she looked at the building.

“It’s a spa.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“Not just any spa either, the best place for hospitality and relaxation you can find in Oreville. Not even just Copper Section, the whole dang city. The masseurs, hairdressers, stylists, they’re all top-notch. Normally I’d never be able to get in here but thanks to your Diplomat visa we’ll both get the VIP treatment,” Barnaby grinned.

“Ohhh, so it’s a gift for yourself too, huh?” Rainbow chuckled.

Barnaby coughed. “Perhaps...”

“Well whatever, I could use a nice spa visit anyways. Specially after having my wings stuck in those bandages for so long,” Rainbow said.

“That’s why I was waiting. I figured you’d want them to get a good massage and you can’t really take a dip in any of the hot tubs or mud baths with those bandages still on,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash looked back at her wings and gently flapped them a couple of times. “Yeah they could definitely use a massage to get the kinks out. Let’s go inside!”

“Right this way,” Barnaby said and led Rainbow up the steps and to the glass doors. He grabbed a golden door handle and pulled it open for Rainbow Dash.

Immediately she was hit by a humid breath of hot air as she walked inside the establishment. Oreville was naturally a little on the cool side but The Copper Exclusives felt like a jungle on the inside. It almost looked like one too. The floor was carefully sculpted dark green tile while plastic palm trees and other bushes either decorated or crawled up the walls. Over her head, “vines” entwined with lights hung down and cast a twilight glow through the interior. A single gold and white quartz fountain sat in the middle of the lobby, with deep blue waters dancing and falling across it’s different levels and basins.

As soon as the door closed, a silk-clad mare with flowers in her hair glided up to Rainbow Dash and Barnaby. “Welcome~” Her singsong voice whistled out from her lips. The mare was obviously quite lithe under her silks, she had a narrow face and sharp emerald eyes that went well with her daisy-yellow coat.

“What’s up,” Rainbow Dash waved.

If the mare was put off by the not exactly formal greeting (and appearance) of the two guests she didn’t show it. Her eyes quickly scanned over Rainbow’s wings and she smiled. “The ambassador we’ve heard about, a pleasure that you would come here to The Copper Exclusives. What services would you like to receive from us? And of course, you needn’t worry about the expenses.”

“Give her the works,” Barnaby cut in. “The best treatment you’ve got, she deserves it. As for me I’ll take the Golden Stallion treatment.”

Rainbow just shrugged. “Yeah, I’ve been to some spas before—uh, n-not like I go to them all the time or anything—but I don’t really know what your specialties and whatever might be. So I’m all for just letting you decide what’s best.”

“I’ll be sure to have you worked on by our most delicate masseuse. For a pony with wings only the most expert of hooves will suffice~” the mare’s melodic voice said. She turned and began to walk towards the fountain, further back in the lobby, Rainbow saw a number of velvet curtained off hallways leading elsewhere in the spa.

“Please follow me~” the mare said to Rainbow before glancing at Barnaby. “As for you, sir, another will be out to help you shortly.”

“Have fun, Rainbow,” Barnaby said with a smile and waved to her.

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” she grinned and gave him a salute before following her guide through one of the velvet curtains and emerging into a hallway covered in fake vines and roses lit up by candlelight. Rainbow Dash thought it looked pretty snazzy, especially compared to what the rest of Oreville looked like. She then looked ahead at the silky mare walking in front of her. “So what’s your name? I’m Rainbow Dash.”

The mare giggled. “I know, it says so on your visa.”

Rainbow looked down at the visa dangling in front of her chest. “Oh yeah.”

“And I read about you in the newspapers already, The Copper Exclusives is truly honored to have you, as will the masseuse I select to perform your massage and guide you through the rest of your treatment,” the mare smiled. “And my name is Maria.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rainbow smiled.

Maria slightly nodded her head in acknowledgment and continued to guide Rainbow Dash down the hallway. Occasionally they walked past other doorways that were blocked off by the same velvet curtains, Maria taking no mind of them but Rainbow kept trying to peak inside. They also passed by a few more silk clad mares, and stallions too for that matter, who always politely greeted Rainbow Dash. It seemed they had been walking through the foresty interior for a while when Maria guided them down a corner and into a room with twelve different little rooms blocked by oaken doors. Maria took her to one on the right side of the room and opened it up for Rainbow Dash.

“Please, make yourself comfortable and your masseuse will be in shortly~” Maria told her and then bowed her head low and walked backwards out of the room.

“Alright, don’t keep me waiting for too long,” Rainbow teased and took a look around the room once the door closed.

It was small but cozy and warm, not humid like the rest of the building had been. The floor was white carpet and the walls were also painted white with a lamp hanging from the ceiling. In the corner there was a decorative vase with a few sticks lying next to it. Rainbow hated to admit that she recognized it as an incense burner. The middle of the small room was taken up by a comfortable looking massage table. Rainbow Dash shrugged once and hopped up on it. The only other thing in the room she noticed was a clothes bin that she obviously didn’t need. Rainbow stretched and found just the right spot on the table before lying down and relaxing her head.

“If all I did was take a nap in here it would be worth the trip...” Rainbow told herself as she closed her eyes.

But she had barely closed them for long before the door was opened and another mare walked in. This one was a very light orange with a wavy blue mane and tail. She was a bit older, with slight lines under her eyes, but her smile and the way she walked was still youthful.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash. I will be your masseuse for today, my name is Fleur,” she stepped over to the table and looked at Dash’s wings. “I was told to be extra delicate with your wings, would you tell me if there’s anywhere you’re sore and would like to receive special attention?”

Rainbow Dash just wryly grinned at her. “Everywhere.”

After a full hour of having her body worked over by who may well have been the best masseuse in the world—Rainbow Dash was in heaven. All the soreness, knots, and kinks in her muscles had been taken care of and she felt like jelly. It had been a long, long, time since she had felt this relaxed. Fleur was like a magician when it came to the art of massages, even though it was her very first time with wings it was like she had worked with them her whole life. She was going to have to thank Barnaby a lot for this and the spa trip wasn’t even close to being over yet.

Fleur brought her to the next part of the special spa treatment: the mud baths. Rainbow Dash didn’t really think it was her kind of thing but as soon as she dipped down into that warm mud and had the facial cleansing mask placed on, her thoughts evaporated into pure pleasure. The tingling sensation all over her body, revitalizing her coat and skin, felt just as good as Fleur’s amazing hooves.

Similar to when she was on the table, Rainbow Dash nearly fell asleep with everything below her neck submerged in that special mud. A light chime from a brass bell told her her time in the mud bath was over though and Fleur came to collect her and help Rainbow out.

“Did you enjoy your time in our mud bath?” Fleur asked her as Rainbow’s body was still dripping mud, practically covered with it like it was chocolate frosting.

“Yeah...” Rainbow’s voice was light and floaty.

Fleur giggled. “Please, let me take you to the shower and then you can go to the indoor hot spring. After that will come the mane and tail treatment and then you’ll be done.”

“R-Right on,” Rainbow’s legs shook like gooey jelly as she tried to walk.

Fleur just smiled and took her by the hoof to the shower in the mud baths room to clean off before the next part of the spa visit. After the powerful jets of water had rinsed away all the mud, Rainbow Dash was toweled off and taken to a new room. The doors to it were large and painted gold, Fleur pushed them both open together and a wall of steam came billowing out. Rainbow let the warmth wash over her as she stepped inside and took a look around at the true spa of The Copper Exclusives. It was a very large room, with a central spa in the middle that was more like a shallow pool than anything, the hot steamy water inside it being fed by a stream of water coming from the stone mouth of a lion at the far end of the pool. The floor was a sleek white while the edge of the spa had a golden shoulder going all around it and the walls of the room were actually huge mirrors—making the room seem even larger. Fake plants and rock formations to give the spa a more natural look decorated the entire room as well, some rocks even dotted the interior of the pool.

Rainbow wasn’t the only one in here either, other guests were relaxing in the water or lounging beside the pool on chairs, being tended to by others like Fleur.

“Nice place you’ve got here,” Rainbow couldn’t help being cheeky about the sheer extravagance before her.

“Please, take a rest in the waters and relax for as long as you feel the need to,” Fleur said and bowed her head, backing away from Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Works for me.”

When she first dipped her hoof in, the water was just barely below the point where the initial dip was painful. Rainbow smiled to herself and walked down the steps at the only spot the gold didn’t cover until she was submerged in to her neck. It was so much better than just taking an ordinary warm bath or shower. There must’ve been some kind of special treatment or thing added to the water, that was the only explanation Rainbow had for why the water of the spa just felt so darn good. Her hooves hit the stone floor of the spa and left her head above water—right until Rainbow Dash gently dunked it in as well to get her mane nice and soaked too.

As she waded out into the waters her tail fanned out behind her like a large rainbow fan. She looked around at some of the other mares enjoying the spa and realized that thanks to the customs of Oreville this was the first time she was seeing ponies from here not wearing clothes. It didn’t bother her at all but it did feel kind of weird.

Rainbow gently traversed the entire hot spa, going from one end to the other and even swimming around the spout that was ceaselessly pouring fresh water into the pool. She unfurled her wings and used them to move her body through the water for a while instead of her hooves. It was a nice way to give them an easy workout while relaxing the rest of her body. Rainbow could pretty much fly while asleep so this was much easier.

Soon even that stopped and Rainbow Dash just allowed herself to lazily float on by until she came to rest by a rock, leaning against it and just letting the water do its wonders.

She wondered if she really could just stay in here for as long as she wanted? She was getting some kind of special treatment after all, right? And Barnaby probably wouldn’t care even if he had to wait around for her. Right now she really didn’t feel like ever getting out of this spa. So Rainbow Dash tilted her head back against the surprisingly smooth rock and allowed herself to drift away. Her thoughts were as light and fluffy as her body felt.

When her eyes closed it was impossible to tell how long they had been shut before Rainbow Dash opened them again.

But she did feel perfectly relaxed and rested. Rainbow pushed away from the rock and allowed herself to swim back towards the steps leading out of the pool. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Fleur was already there waiting for her with a towel.

“Did you enjoy it?” She asked as Rainbow stepped out of the pool with warm water dripping from her body.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow grinned and grabbed the towel.

Three different ponies worked on her mane and tail at the same time, taking numerous different types of shampoos, conditioners and oils through the prismatic colors. Combs brushed through it, hair-ties were used as needed, and any attempts by the ponies to cut or style her hair in a different way were refused. Rainbow liked how her mane naturally looked.

At the end of it though they were both still a glossy and silky pair of masterpieces. Even Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but check out how stunning her mane and tail looked in the mirror. Rarity would be jealous of how good they looked right now.

“Wow, you guys are good,” Rainbow said as she turned around in a circle to see herself from every angle.

“We’re glad you enjoyed our services. Your mane and tail were a wonder to work with,” one of the silk-clad manedressers said.

“That concludes your treatment as explained to us by Maria,” another said. “Please allow me to escort you back to the front.”

Rainbow Dash took the short walk with her from the mane salon to the front lobby of The Copper Exclusives that she and Barnaby had first entered hours ago. The pleasant temperature and humidity of the building just added to the experience and kept Rainbow Dash relaxed even as she was finished with getting massages and other treatments.

Once she passed the velvety curtain she saw Barnaby and Maria waiting for her by the fountain. He looked far more chipper and cleaner than normal as well. Seems they both got something they really needed.

“Welcome back, I take it from the time you’ve been away that you enjoyed your visit to the spa?” Barnaby said with a smile.

“Yes,” Rainbow instantly replied.

“Your approval of our enterprise honors us greatly~” Maria said. “And hopefully you’ll come again.”

“We’ll see how long I’m here,” Rainbow smiled at her.

“I think regardless of everything else this would be a perfect place for you to revisit right before you leave Oreville. You’ll be perfectly rejuvenated for travel,” Barnaby said.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Maybe, thanks for this though.” She looked at Maria. “You too.”

Maria bowed and stepped away from the two of them while Barnaby motioned her to come with him. “Come on, we should get something to eat after all this, and there’s still plenty else for you to see in Oreville.”

“Problem is I think it’s going to have a hard time measuring up to this place. Maybe you brought me here too soon,” she grinned at Barnaby.

He laughed and pushed open the doors to take them outside. “So be it then.”

Melancholy Over the Trees

Rainbow Dash flew over a quiet redwood forest that existed south of the Ore-Range mountains. Compared to her usual exuberance, and her usual excitement of getting to see something new, she was very subdued. There just didn’t seem like there was anything to be happy about today. She wasn’t even flying that fast, in fact she was going very slow by her standards, but she just couldn’t find the energy or motive to do anything about it. The sea of trees beneath her was tranquil, but cold. Almost a reflection of how she was feeling right now. Only a soft wind was blowing right now, Rainbow Dash almost thought about closing her eyes and just letting it carry her along.

Nothing was right.

Nothing felt right.

There was nothing to be happy about.

She knew she had to think about it, had to reflect. But she just couldn’t right now. She didn’t want to think about everything that had gone wrong and everypony she had let down. She wished she could go back in time and change things but she couldn’t do that either. Failed. She had failed.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and ascended a little higher. Trying to avoid those thoughts, she got to just under the lowest clouds and looked south. She knew that a village by the name of Pinetree Warren existed somewhere directly south of where she was right now. Or at least it had in the past. The maps that Oreville had were likely incredibly out of date.

If the village was there she couldn’t see it yet, so Rainbow sighed and swept down low again until she could smell the pine scent from the trees. The mountains had almost died down completely at this point, being replaced by hills covered in trees. A pure green forest that stretched for miles in every direction by the looks of it. Not dissimilar from the landscape she had passed over when she first came down from the True North. But the temperature was slightly warmer, it was something she noticed. While it was still in the realm of “cool” it was inching every so slightly towards temperate.

She was willing to bet that another few days of travel south and things would feel like Ponyville during spring.

As she licked her lips she was also willing to bet that she was getting kind of thirsty. The weather here looked like it could rain anytime soon, she saw some clouds that looked fairly stormy to the east that might come this way. But she wanted a drink of water now, not in a day or two. So Rainbow Dash looked down for any river or creek that might be snaking through the forest that she could visit. Even from directly above, the thickness of the trees made it a little difficult to see anything like that.

Rainbow Dash glided upwards to fix that, getting a higher view once again and using her sharp eyes to find a small gap in the trees where a river went through.

She didn’t smile at her discovery, her face was still blank as she flew right down to it. The scent of the trees, the forest, and now softly running water filled her nostrils as she descended below the treeline and landed at the grassy edge of the river. It wasn’t much to look at, just a small thing only ten feet across and not very deep. But she didn’t need anything more than that.

She was breathing a little heavily for some reason. She hadn’t been pushing herself or anything but she was almost out of breath. A trout splashed in the water before disappearing downstream and Rainbow Dash remembered why she had come down here in the first place. Just a drink. All she needed was a quick drink of water and then it would be back to flying.

Back to flying south.

Getting away from what she had left behind.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and groaned, leaning down to the water’s edge and opening up her mouth to lap up some of the cool stream. One gulp, two gulps, three gulps. It would last for now. She wasn’t dehydrated or dying of thirst or anything like that. She wasn’t that hungry either but she’d keep her eyes on the lookout for any fruit or vegetables she could eat around here. Might be good to grab some berries.

She stood by the river’s edge with droplets of water dripping from her mouth, looking at the forest on the other side but not really seeing it. Her eyes vacantly stared at nothing until a shimmer of a reflection caught the edge of her sight and she looked down. Her own face stared back at her, wavering just slightly as the water kept running.

Something disturbed the surface of the water and sent ripples through it. Rainbow Dash brought a hoof up to her face and felt wetness building around her eyes.

“Barnaby… I’m so sorry,” she said to her broken reflection. “I’m so, so sorry. Everypony… if I h-had just… if I hadn’t screwed up. If I… if I hadn’t even come...” More tears fell from her face and into the river. “It’s all my fault. Everything’s my fault...”

Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground and started to cry. “Barnaby, why? It’s not fair, y-you didn’t deserve to die. Crom, the miners, everypony else, none of you did! Celestia… I’m so sorry. I was so selfish, and I should’ve just left, or done something else, or—I don’t know! And now I don’t even know what will happen. J-Just hope that… they’re good ponies. I know they’re good ponies. B-But if I wasn’t such a stupid failure all this wouldn’t have happened! I don’t even know if Eleanor and Abernathy are okay… and there were so many other ponies in Copper Section.”

“But I just couldn’t go back. I just couldn’t stay around anymore after all of that. And I know Heartless is still chasing me. Barnaby, you probably hate me now. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie… you’d all look at me like I was some loser too. You’d hate how badly I screwed up and h-how I got all those ponies killed,” Rainbow Dash sniffled. “Oh man, this is so not awesome...”

She dragged a hoof across her face and sat up on her haunches. “Copper was right… so much of that was my fault. I-I was so caught up in myself that I wasn’t thinking. Caring about a cool adventure when I should’ve cared about the ponies I said I was trying to help. I… I just wasn’t awesome.” She looked up at the sky and could almost feel the phantom wing of Fluttershy draped over her shoulders trying to comfort her, and hear the chiding but supportive lecture of Twilight as she tried to convince Rainbow to do better next time.

The smiles of all her friends were there in her mind. They wouldn't hate her, she knew that.

But it made her feel worse. She didn’t deserve those smiles. Not according to her, not after what had happened.

“I have to do better. I have to be better. I have to make up for this and make sure I never screw up or fail again,” Rainbow said. “Not for me. But for any other ponies or creatures in need I meet out here.”

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and gently flew over the river before coming back to her hooves and walking through the grass. She just didn’t feel like flying right now. A sign of her current state more telling than anything.

An image of walking down the streets of Oreville with Barnaby flashed through her mind and Rainbow Dash bit her lip, a few fresh tears coming from her eyes. The journey was going to be slow for the near future.

Redwood Forests and Rocky Roads

Rainbow Dash sat slumped against a tree in the middle of the night. It was pretty cold in the forest and a fire probably would’ve done her some good, but she didn’t have any rocks or really anything to contain it with and she didn’t want to accidentally burn the forest down. So for now she was just shivering in the chilly night and completely unable to get to sleep.

At least there weren’t any bears, or Ursa Minors, out to give her trouble. That’s the least of what she needed right now.

She looked up at the sky through the canopy of redwoods and saw a few clouds floating under the bright full moon. A cloud bed would probably be much more cozy and comfortable right now but Rainbow Dash was too apathetic to bother. When she got tired enough she’d curl up in the roots of this tree and sleep like that. If she woke up a shivering mess then whatever, no big deal.

“Hoo, hoo~” The hooting of an owl reached her ears, Rainbow looked up into the branches of the trees around her but she couldn’t spot it.

“Hope you’re having a better night than I am,” Rainbow mumbled. There were probably lots of other owls and small critters in the forest, most of which would keep their distance from her.

A breeze blew through the trees and Rainbow Dash shivered, wrapping her hooves and wings around her body. Already she was regretting letting this malaise she was in make her make stupid decisions. Extra punishment for letting herself get into such a funk and depression in the first place. She should’ve been more active, working harder to get over it or deal with it better. Crying and mourning was one thing, falling into this slothful mode was another. This wasn’t about being contemplative anymore it was about her simply being unable to move past it.

Oh she really wished she had a fire and some food right now.

At some point she had fallen asleep and she woke up to a bank of fog rolling through the forest. Seemed like it was just barely past dawn, a lot of moisture was in the air along with that same kind of early morning chilliness. She shivered herself awake before she had even opened her eyes and stood up from the base of the redwood tree she had slept by. In truth it was hardly the worst sleep she had gotten or the most uncomfortable she had been upon waking, but it wasn’t great either.

With nothing else to do, Rainbow Dash resumed her walk south through the forest. Despite the fog and the early hour, it was still fairly bright out and Rainbow Dash could see far into the forest. It was nice to not be snow blind at least. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a rabbit dart from tree to tree, something that would normally elicit at least a small smile from her but just did nothing now.

After a few more feet of walking, Rainbow Dash sneezed. Rubbing her nose she frowned down at the ground. “Great, just great, wonder if I’m coming down with something now?”

She looked up at the sky she could still just barely see through the branches and needles. “Wouldn’t be a surprise...”

Her physical condition would just match her mood then. Still, Rainbow wasn’t the type to just stand around and sneeze or worry about being sick. She had places to go after all. Even if she didn’t really know what might come after Pinetree Warren or how long she’d stay in a small village like that to begin with. It would probably help her out to be around some new ponies with new faces and new friends to make.

Weird how much she tried to avoid slow, relaxing, boring places on this adventure normally but that’s what she was craving now. Just a place where she could sit down, eat a nice dinner with a friendly family of ponies, and catch up with herself for a day or two before moving on. She just needed to channel that part of her that loved naps and being lazy when there wasn’t anything cool to do.

Because for the moment it made her cringe when she thought of adventure. It felt selfish. It felt like she wasn’t considering at all what had happened, and she knew it was wrong to just say “Oh well, time to go be awesome somewhere else!” without really taking into account how serious things could be. And without giving respect or thinking enough about the ponies she had failed.

“Ugh,” Rainbow Dash shook her head and kept walking along. “Stupid feelings. I’ll find a way to deal with this my own way.” Considering how much she was used to brushing things off or talking it out with her friends, she really didn’t know how to deal with this all alone right now.

Before she had even noticed it, her hooves came to a slight gap in the forest where the ground had changed beneath her. No longer dirt and grass but gravel made up the ground and it went in a long path heading northeast and southwest before disappearing down a curve in both directions.

She had found a road.

Rainbow Dash kicked a few loose pieces of gravel by her hooves, it was impossible to tell when the last pony or vehicle had traveled down here, and she wasn’t sure if she should start traveling down it either. According to the maps, Pinetree Warren existed directly south of the mountain she had come out of. And if there was any obstruction that this road was made to circumvent it wouldn’t really matter since Rainbow Dash had wings. Walking down it would probably just be an inconvenience that made her trip take even longer.

Wondering if there were any other roads like this though, Rainbow Dash used her wings for the first time today and flew high up above the redwoods.

The fog had more or less lifted by this point and Rainbow Dash was able to spot a few gray lines etched out in the forest that indicated more roads. It seems they roamed all over the forest and hills now, probably going to Pinetree Warren, those other places Rainbow had seen on the map in the library, and maybe all the way up to Oreville or even as far as the Weeping Mountain. No matter which one she looked at though she didn’t see any ponies traveling down them at the moment. This part of the world was rather quiet—barren might have been the better word.

And since she still wasn’t in the mood to fly that much and had gotten all the information she needed, Rainbow Dash descended back down to the forest floor.

She stretched her hooves and body when she landed, some soreness from her poor sleep still with her, and started walking again. The forest that existed past the road was full of overgrown grass and shrubs and she kept a lookout for anything edible once again. If need be she could just eat the grass but she really wanted something a little more filling and tasty.

After another hour of walking her hooves had gotten tired and Rainbow Dash decided to take a short break.

“Wonder if this place has a name?” Rainbow idly thought as she looked around at the tall redwoods. Some of their trunks were considerably thick and the tallest might have gotten close to 300 feet. “Everfree Forest, Whitetail Woods, Hayseed Swamp… The Big Dumb Forest?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and got back to walking after less than five minutes. She would never consider herself a forest pony at all but she had sure been in a lot of them in her life. Not so many on this adventure but that was already changing after she came to this side of the world. And she’d probably be in this one, or at least in a foresty area, for a good while longer.

She just couldn’t think of a good reason to hurry up yet.

Not Your Sacrifice to Make

Rainbow Dash and Doctor Anathema sat inside Cocoa Bean’s shop, sitting across from each other at one of his tables and snacking on some chocolate he had brought out for them. The both of them were being fairly quiet and not really looking at the other. Cocoa Bean had noticed the odd atmosphere and wasn’t bothering them. Rainbow Dash took a bar of bittersweet chocolate and started chewing it bit by bit while Anathema took a sip of hot chocolate and started tapping her hoof on the table. They’d been in here for over an hour now just doing this and things like it without really talking.

As soon as she was finished with the chocolate, Rainbow Dash deeply breathed in through her nose and then right out, finishing by staring at Anathema. The doctor, for her part, stared right back at her. Both mares stared down the other, both stubborn and defiant with neither one of them wanting to be the first to look away.

“So-” Rainbow finally started after too long of a silence. “You wanna tell me why you have a death wish?”

“I don’t have a death wish. I have a desire to save the ponies of Pinetree Warren,” Anathema answered.

“And it’s just that the only way to do that is to kill yourself.”

“Sacrifice, Rainbow Dash. If as a doctor I need to sacrifice myself for the sake of my patients, then I will.”

Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves down on the table and stood up. “Well I don’t accept that! I don’t accept that one bit! You don’t even know if you can do it or if it’ll work at all!”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“And if anyone tries it it should be me! I can fly, I’m tough, I’m resistant to the spores and everything!” Rainbow glared at her. “You can bet I’d be willing to sacrifice myself too to save ponies in need. You don’t need to do this!”

Anathema shook her head and continued to stare down Rainbow Dash. “This isn’t your village to sacrifice yourself for, Rainbow Dash.”

This isn’t your city, Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow grit her teeth. “So what?! So what, so what, so what?! Does that mean it’s okay for you to just go out and die?”

“Better me than anyone else,” Anathema replied. “I’m the only one who can do it. I’ll put on as much protective clothing as possible to last longer before it starts to reach my body. And with my inability to feel pain I’m going to be the only one who could force her way further through the spores, you know it’s true. I’ll be loaded up on medicine too to try and make myself as resistant as possible.”

“But you’re still going to-”

“I know, Rainbow Dash. There’s no coming back from it. Even if I drank some of the potion while I was out there, it still wouldn’t save me,” Anathema sighed. “But I’ve already made my decision. This is the way it has to be. You said it yourself, you’d sacrifice yourself for other ponies if you had to. I wish there was another way too but there isn’t. It has to be done.”

“You make it sound like I’m just going to let you do it, but I’m not. There’s no way I’m letting any pony die on my watch!” Rainbow angrily shouted. “I-I’ve already seen enough of that.”

“I hate to make you see more, but I don’t want anyone else to die on my watch either. I’ve helped put so many ponies in coffins over this disease already, Rainbow Dash. If I can stop that I will. If I can make sure no one else in this village has to see a loved one die, I will. Just like how I wish I could go back in time to before Turnip’s family died and save them too,” Anathema sadly said to her.

“Ughhh!” Rainbow grabbed her mane in her hooves and pulled. “This isn’t fair! There’s gotta be something else we can do, we just haven’t seen it yet!”

“You were already one miracle. We can’t hope for two,” Anathema shook her head.

“You should have some more faith in me then… hold out hope for a way for us to get through this without losing anyone,” Rainbow grit her teeth.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shut up,” Rainbow Dash bitterly refused any apology for the moment. She grabbed another bar of chocolate and took a big bite out of it. “We’re not done talking about this yet. Any of it. Not by a long shot.”

Anathema gazed down at her hot chocolate for a moment and shifted in her seat. She chewed on her lip for a moment and seemed to be thinking of saying something before giving up. “Fine. Let’s enjoy our snack here first.”

“That’s right,” Rainbow said. “Then maybe we’ll see if Ardent Elm can help us out. Maybe he’ll know some protective spells or some other way to deal with the plague.”

The mood in the chocolate shop really didn’t improve any and the two still barely talked or looked at each other. Cocoa Bean kept bringing out new snacks for them in an attempt to liven things up but it didn’t do much other than cause them to slowly chew some more. Rainbow could tell that Anathema just wanted to leave. She wanted to finish things with Rainbow Dash entirely and go marching into the forest. But at this point she had to know that Rainbow wasn’t going to be letting her out of her sight at all. The magical potion was left at the auditorium, Rainbow was not going to let Anathema convince her of this sacrifice and let her go get it.

Anathema finished drinking her hot chocolate and put the empty mug back on the table. “I’m ready to go if you are. It’s obvious nothing else is going to get done by us talking here.”

“That’s fine by me,” Rainbow said.

“Let’s go back to my cabin first then. After that we can visit Ardent Elm,” Anathema said and stood up from the table.

“Yeah, sure,” Rainbow said and got up too.

“Thank you for the food, Cocoa Bean. It was as great as always,” Anathema smiled to the baker.

He was startled a bit by the sudden acknowledgment from where he was standing behind the counter. He awkwardly forced a smile and waved to the two of them. “O-Oh, well thank you too, Doctor.”

The two mares left his shop and started walking through Pinetree Warren back on the way to Anathema’s cabin. Rainbow Dash had a hard frown on her face but Anathema had a much more neutral expression as she quietly looked around at the other homes and buildings. It was still so empty in the village, but she could imagine that finally being different soon. She could picture things being back to normal with smiling ponies and happy families going outside and enjoying their time together. More than anything, Anathema wanted things to be able to return to that.

When they made it back to her cabin, Rainbow held the door open and watched Anathema go inside before following her in.

“What? You planning on locking me in here?” Anathema asked her.

“The thought occurred to me.”

“You’re being silly, Rainbow Dash. And you’re living in denial.”

“You’re being defeatist,” Rainbow poked her in the chest. “I-It’s like you’re giving up all over again. The alternative is too tough for you to face so you don’t even care if you die. What about the ponies who are going to miss you?”

“It’s not just about that and you know it. It’s how I’m still the only one who can do it,” she closed her eyes and took a calming breath. “And it’s still better me than anyone else.”

“No it’s not...” Rainbow frowned.

Anathema rolled her eyes. “Agree to disagree. I’ve made my peace with what needs to be done, Rainbow Dash. And yes, it does need to be done. We shouldn’t be wasting time like this. Ponies are still suffering, they’re still in danger right now.”

“I know that. I know it,” Rainbow Dash groaned and started pacing back and forth over Anathema’s messy floor. “But… there’s… we’ve...”

“Rainbow Dash...”

“Shut up!” Rainbow glared at her again. “We’re still not done talking about this. I-I don’t care if I can’t think of something right now, this is one thing you’re definitely not going to out-stubborn me on. Got that?”

Anathema sadly looked at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, Rainbow Dash. I understand that perfectly well.”

Rainbow frowned at her. The way she said that was kind of weird. “Well… good.”

“Let me freshen up a bit in the bathroom, then we can go talk to Ardent Elm like you suggested,” Anathema said and stepped by the pegasus to use the bathroom.

Rainbow Dash ended up wandering over to the bed and sat down on it with a sigh as she heard Anathema run the water in the sink. She hated this and she hated not being able to come up with a real answer or response of her own. But she wasn’t letting Anathema die on her watch. She had already failed and lost Barnaby earlier, she almost lost Larkon too on the other side of the world. This was part of her adventure and she was trying to make it so no one would suffer or die again. That was one of her goals, that was what a Rainbow Dash adventure should be, right?

“Not dying on my watch...” Rainbow Dash mumbled, staring out the window.

The faucet turned off and Anathema came out of the bathroom. She walked over to Rainbow Dash and waited for her. Rainbow Dash blinked and looked over at her before jumping off the bed.

“Hey, so we’re heading out then?”

Anathema just stared at her.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Something up?”

“I just...” Anathema started and then stepped forward, wrapping Rainbow Dash in a warm hug.

Rainbow Dash was surprised but quickly smirked and returned the hug. “Heh, I’m pretty used to giving hugs, you just needed to ask. Didn’t think you’d be up for something so mushy though.”

“I just have to thank you, for everything,” Anathema said as she hugged Rainbow Dash tighter. “And to tell you I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for-”

Rainbow didn’t finish that sentence as she felt a sharp pinprick in her front right leg. She pulled away from Anathema to see the doctor holding a spent syringe in her magic. A numb sensation was running up her leg and Rainbow Dash started to feel light-headed. The doctor in front of her put the syringe away back into her coat and reached forward to tenderly rub Rainbow’s shoulder.

“A-Anathema...” she muttered, teetering about on her hooves.

“Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”

The floor and darkness came to meet Rainbow Dash all at once.

Less than an hour later and Doctor Anathema was standing at the northern edge of the forest, in full view of the green spores of death. She wore a double-wrapping of clothes around her entire body, had shoveled medicine and anti-biotics into her mouth, and she carried the bottle of magical potion upon her back. And she felt… calm. Peaceful. Right. It was like she had been born to do this, not just as a doctor but as herself.

Doctor Swab wasn’t happy. Neither were the nurses or volunteers. But they had seen how resolute Anathema was and knew how important what she was doing was. In the end they hadn’t offered up any resistance. Swab gave her a tearful hug and that was all.

A letter she had written for Rainbow Dash and put on her nightstand contained the last words she would share with another pony.

Anathema began to walk towards the green haze, keeping her eyes forward and centered on the heart of it. No one else could do this. It had to be her.

Strangely, she felt a smile come onto her face and she picked up the bottle with her magic, carrying it in front of her. All these years I’ve spent hating my lack of pain, and now it’s only because of it that I can do this.

The inside of the auditorium was completely quiet as Swab and all of the various nurses and volunteers had been gathered for the day to watch over the patients. Anathema had told them that they might need every hoof ready. Right now Swab went up and down the rows in a fugue, only barely conscious of what he was actually doing. That was until most of the patients started to shiver and writhe around in their beds. He and his helpers watched as the green spots on dozens of ponies flaked away and vanished over the span of just minutes. Ponies formerly at death’s door sat up and looked around, and Doctor Swab began to cry.

Big Behemoth Blimp

The splash of water on Supernova’s face instantly made her wake and sit up with a start, looking around and trying to remember what had happened. “W-What?” She narrowed her eyes at the unfamiliar tent she now found herself in.

“Relax, you’re alright,” a voice said.

Supernova looked to see a robed stallion standing behind her, a half-empty skin of water in his hooves.

“Who are you?” She asked. “And where… she escaped.” Supernova grit her teeth and her eyes narrowed in anger. “She got away from me… I have to find her again.”

“I think our interests coincide somewhat then,” the stallion said to her.

Supernova’s head snapped back to attention. “Do you know where she went?”

The stallion started to sweat as she stared at him, well aware of what she could do. “Yes and we can help you get to her.”

“Tell me,” Supernova asked, standing up stiffly. “Tell me right now.”

“W-Wait,” the stallion tried to placate her. “She’s already gone, it’s been hours since you fought with her. You won’t be able to catch up to her without our help now.”

Supernova’s eye twitched. “Who’s our?”

“My name is Sand Flash. I work for an enterprising pony by the name of Shining Diamond. He’s in search of something that we believe your quarry is also searching for. We’ll bring you along with us in exchange for you dealing with her and her friends once we inevitably come into contact with them. Would that be an acceptable proposition to you?” He asked.

“As long as you take me to Rainbow Dash. I don’t care what else I have to do,” Supernova coldly replied.

“Good,” Sand Flash smiled.

“What sort of transport does your boss have? How are we going to find them?” Supernova asked.

“Transportation is coming,” Sand Flash said. “As for tracking and finding them, Shining Diamond has his ways, you’ll see.”

Supernova ground her teeth back and forth. “I don’t have time to wait around…”

“Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be-”

Before he could finish his sentence, his mare partner threw open the flap to the tent. “Sand! He’s here!”

“Excellent!” Sand smiled. “Perfect timing.” He looked at Supernova. “Come on, you’re about to see something special.”

Supernova raised an eyebrow but followed the two ponies outside the tent. She glanced at the mare. “And who are you?”

“Velvet Hooves, hired hoof of Shining Diamond,” she replied.

Supernova looked around but saw nothing. All there was in Two Hump Oasis were some buildings and tents, and lots of scared ponies and a few fires in the distance. She didn’t see any sort of transport or a pony that looked like this “Shining Diamond”. “Where is he?”

“Heh,” Sand Flash chuckled. “Look up.”

Supernova tilted her head up alongside Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves. And her jaw nearly dropped. Coming from the clouds was a colossal object the likes of which she had never seen before. A vessel—an air ship of some sort. It was very long, perhaps upwards of 500 feet, and the body of the vessel looked to be mostly some sort of giant balloon. As it made its way over Two Hump Oasis she saw six huge upwards facing propellers attached to it—three on each side—to keep it airborne and on the back was another large propeller and steering rudder. At the bottom of the balloon was a large metal section that spanned its length which she assumed must be where the pilots and everything else important was. She had heard of and seen hot air balloons before but no flying vessel like this. Nothing nearly so gargantuan.

As it came to a stop practically directly overhead, most of the other denizens at Two Hump Oasis had looked up to gawk at it as well. She couldn’t blame anyone for being caught up in the spectacle.

“We shouldn’t keep him waiting,” Velvet Hooves said.

“No, we shouldn’t,” Sand Flash agreed.

The two robed ponies shifted their robes about and open flaps appeared on their sides that pegasus wings emerged from.

Sand Flash looked over at her with a smile and reached out a hoof. “Need a lift?”

In another minute, Supernova was being carried through the air towards the large air ship. Flight didn’t bother her but she admittedly preferred her hooves on the ground. As soon as the trio reached the underbelly of the vessel, a hatch opened up midway through the metal body and a small set of stairs flipped out for them to walk onto and board the vessel.

As soon as they got inside, Supernova looked around to see a fairly cramped interior of mostly pipes, pistons, and gears moving about. There was a lot involved with keeping this thing up and running, it appeared. The metal floor went in two directions, towards the back of the vessel and towards the front. From the front path, a pony was walking towards them.

“Sand Flash, Velvet Hooves, welcome back to the Ziz,” the mare said. She was a snowy white unicorn with a braided blonde mane and blue almond-shaped eyes. She raised an eyebrow as soon as she saw Supernova with them. “Who is this?”

“A partner, soon enough, her name is Supernova,” Sand Flash said.

The white mare’s brow knitted in frustration. “I hope this isn’t why you broke your locator crystal, Shining Diamond-”

“We have information about the Crystal Sea as well,” Sand Flash answered. “That’s why we broke the crystal.”

“So let’s hurry up and get to the boss,” Velvet said impatiently.

“Very well,” the white mare said and turned around, walking towards the front of the ship.

Supernova and the others followed behind her, with Supernova constantly checking out everything around her out of a combination of irritation and paranoia. If anyone tried anything she’d light this place up in an instant. Though she didn’t think they’d be so dumb after seeing what she could do back on the ground.

A metal door sat at the end of the walkway they were using and the white unicorn opened it up by spinning the metal wheel on it until it unlatched. She then led them inside and closed the door, standing by it like a guard. Supernova’s eyes briefly narrowed at the other unicorn before she took a look around to see where she was in this air ship now.

Her eyes widened back up in surprise. A large open space sat in front of her with a wide window at the very bow of the ship that showed the open sky and the desert below. In front of the window was a metal deck and station where a large wheel sat in the middle alongside numerous other controls and readouts. The sides of the room—the bridge she now knew—were taken up by other seats and control panels with constantly shaking dials and hisses of steam escaping them.

And a single pony stood by the wheel of the ship, looking out the window.

“I trust-” he suddenly spoke with a crisp voice. “That you did not bring me here for no reason. Those locator crystals don’t grow on trees after all.”

“We didn’t, sir,” Sand Flash said.

“Really now?” Shining Diamond said as he turned around and Supernova got a good look at him. He was unlike any pony she had ever seen before. He was a unicorn dressed in a dapper blue military style coat with yellow trim and a white undershirt while black boots covered his hooves and a feathered blue cap sat on his head. But it was not his clothes that were the unusual part. His golden coat was shiny and reflective, even almost translucent, and his platinum mane was the same. His body looked almost… crystalline.

“What are you?” Supernova asked.

He raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. “May I ask who you are first, my lady?”

“Her name is-” the white mare from behind started to say.

Shining Diamond raised a hoof to stop her. “I’m sure she can introduce herself, Whitesheet.”

“I can,” Supernova scowled over her shoulder at the white mare. “My name is Supernova. Your lackeys here told me we can help each other.”

“Oh? Well that’s good news then, I’d hate to have come here and stopped my blimp for absolutely no reason whatsoever,” he said as he looked over at Sand Flash and Velvet Hooves. His face didn’t change but the threat behind his words wasn’t lost on the two of them. His eyes flickered back to Supernova. “Now, as I’m sure they told you, my name is Shining Diamond. And to answer your earlier question, what I am is a crystal pony.”

“A crystal pony? Never heard of you,” Supernova said.

“We’re quite a bit more rare than the average pedestrian ponies such as yourself,” Shining Diamond shrugged, the casual insult running off him like water.

“Whatever. I don’t care. I don’t care about what you’re doing up here with this huge… “blimp” or whatever it’s called either. I was told that you’re looking for something and that a pony I’m after is looking for the same thing. If this is true, I’ll gladly come along and help you so long as I can get my hooves on that pony,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond raised an eyebrow. “I see. I have no reservations with accepting your help if it will be useful to me. But you have me at a disadvantage as to the current situation. Sand, Velvet, explain.”

“Ah, right!” Sand Flash snapped to attention and cleared his throat. “We found The Red Hornet and her group in Two Hump Oasis. Like last time, those two stallions and that other pegasus called Daring Do were with her. However, this time there was another pegasus with them called Rainbow Dash. We learned where they were going next, they got a big clue as to the location of the Crystal Sea-”

“Which is why we broke the locator crystal and called you here in the first place,” Velvet Hooves added.

“Yes, that’s right,” Sand nodded. “However before they left for their next destination, a fight broke out between their group and Supernova here.” He gestured to the yellow unicorn. “I confess I do not know the reason for the fight but I did learn a great deal while watching it. Including the fact that this new pegasus would be a formidable adversary if we came into conflict with her.”

“As if The Red Hornet wasn’t bad enough,” Velvet said.

“So... what then?” Shining Diamond asked.

Sand Flash nervously smiled. “Well, sir, since conflict with them is inevitable, I thought it would be a good idea to enlist the help of Supernova here. Taking on their group with just us and the others under your command would be dangerous. So why not have her fight and take them out instead while we go on to the Crystal Sea. Supernova has already made it apparent that she cares about nothing but getting Rainbow Dash, I think this will be mutually beneficial to us. We bring her along and she does the fighting.”

Shining Diamond looked to Supernova. “And this arrangement works for you.”

“Yes. I must kill Rainbow Dash. If you can track her down and take me to where she is, I’ll kill the others with her too for you,” Supernova said.

“Wonderful!” Shining Diamond clapped. “Everything is turning out quite well for us then.” He smiled at Sand and Velvet. “Especially if it’s true that you know where they’re going next? And that we’re getting close to the Crystal Sea now?”

“It’s very true,” Velvet eagerly nodded. “I overhead them talking, they’re going to Camelback and their next step is going into the desert to search for something just a little north of there. Three of them took a sand ship to Camelback already and the other two are heading there now. It should still be almost another full day before the sand ship arrives.”

Shining Diamond chuckled. “Excellent, excellent. Astral Comet and Popcorn are in Camelback. We’ll send them a missive and tell them to be on the lookout for The Red Hornet and her group, once they arrive I’m sure Astral can place a discreet tracking spell on one of them. Meanwhile we’ll start heading there too.” He stepped forward and reached out a hoof to Supernova. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance and I do hope our partnership benefits us both greatly.”

“Likewise,” Supernova simply responded and shook his hoof.

“You may make yourself at home on the Ziz, we have food and drinks and a comfortable lounge back before the engine room that Whitesheet will be happy to show you to,” he let her hoof go and suddenly stared into her eyes. “I trust that you are worth bringing along? You will indeed be able to take care of those pests for me?”

“If you want evidence of what I can do, just look out the window. I’m sure you saw the smoke on the way here,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond grinned. “Now that’s what I wanted to hear.”

“I’ll show you to that lounge for you to relax in while we travel if you’d like,” Whitesheet said, coming up beside Supernova.

“I don’t think the interior of this ship is big enough where I’ll get lost. Most of it is just a big balloon after all,” Supernova said.

Shining Diamond laughed once more. “True, true. I can assure you that the Ziz is truly the finest hydrogen blimp to ever soar through the skies though. If you wish I suppose you could even stay on the bridge and look out the front viewport while we travel. But for now, I must write that missive to Astral and Popcorn. Whitesheet, quill and paper please.”

Supernova watched as the white unicorn went over to one of the stations alongside the side of the bridge and bent down to open up a locker beneath one of the panels. She came back with a roll of parchment, quill, and ink for Shining Diamond to use. Supernova had to knit her brow in confusion.

“What good is a written letter going to do? Do you have carrier pigeons to take it to Camelback or something?” She scoffed.

“Oh, far better than that,” Shining Diamond smiled as he started writing his letter, the quill and paper gripped in his white aura of magic. As soon as he was finished he walked back over to the wheel of the ship and pulled a lever on the station next to it.

Something above her hissed and Supernova looked up to see a metal platform coming down from the ceiling. She hadn’t noticed it all until now, too preoccupied with what was on the floor. As it lowered, she realized it wasn’t just some platform, but a large metal cage supported by cables and extending pistons. It landed in the middle of the floor between the door and the wheel, and now through the bars, Supernova could see its occupant: a large winged, reptilian creature with green scales and blue spikes running down its back. Its arms and legs were both shackled to the sides of the cage and its head was held low. Supernova walked around the front of the cage to look at the creature’s face and saw a huge jutting jaw and half-closed eyes.

“A dragon...” she muttered.

“Indeed he is. Now time for him to wake up,” Shining Diamond said and flipped a switch by the lever.

Bolts of electricity ran through the cage and painfully shocked the dragon awake, he screamed and howled and thrashed about as he was electrocuted. Shining Diamond waited a few extra seconds before switching the electricity off, leaving a bit of black smoke to waft up from the groaning dragon. The crystal pony chuckled and walked forward to tap on the steel bars of the cage and the dragon’s head lolled about to look his captor in the eye.

“Wakey, wakey, I have a letter for you to send again. To Astral Comet and Popcorn in Camelback.”

“Please… no more...” the dragon tried to protest.

“It’s either you send the letter or you get the electricity again. Make your choice,” Shining Diamond waved the letter in his face.

The dragon groaned and weakly opened up his mouth. For a moment, it looked like he was heaving or choking on something, but at last a spurt of green flame came out and washed over the paper. Supernova watched as it all disappeared into nothingness.

“Ah, dragon fire, the best way to send a message,” Shining Diamond said and looked at Supernova. “I can now assure you that Astral Comet and Popcorn will get that message and be on the lookout for our adversaries well before they arrive in Camelback.” He walked back over to the wheel and moved the lever back, the limp dragon lifted back up to the ceiling in his cage.

“Right...” Supernova said as she watched the cage recede. “I suppose I have to take your word on it.”

Shining Diamond smiled widely, his teeth shining a bit too, and gripped the ship’s wheel. “And now we make way for Camelback!” He pulled down another few levers and spun the wheel to the right.

Supernova felt the blimp shift and begin to move, turning right. The window ahead soon no longer showed the smoky wastes of Two Hump Oasis, but the open blue skies and sea of sands to the east. With a powerful thrust, the great airborne vessel started traveling forward. Supernova didn’t smile. Her mind was fervently focused on one thing and one thing only: reaching Rainbow Dash again and finishing things. She could not fail.

Giraffe Glade IV

“The leaves are green in the heat.”

“The leaves turn yellow as they age.”

“The necks are short.”

“The necks become long.”

“Giraffes go on. Giraffes sleep. Giraffes eat. Giraffes grow. Time goes on, giraffes come and go. The trees stay. The leaves stay. The rocks and the ground stay.”

“The necks are short.”

“The necks become long.”

“Running. Prancing. Dancing giraffe. Dancing leaves, and dancing grass. Spinning, running, tumbling about. Legs still short, neck still short. Running. Prancing. Dancing giraffe. Legs no longer short, neck no longer short. Walking. Sitting. Resting giraffe. That one sees more giraffes, legs and necks still short, running, prancing, dancing about. Happy giraffe. Calm giraffe. Peaceful giraffe. Content giraffe. Those ones see that one. Sad giraffe. Boring giraffe. Tired giraffe. On and on. Leaves fall about. Old giraffe, neck no longer strong. Those giraffes, no longer dancing. Together. Walking. Sitting. Resting giraffes. All giraffes. Necks short. Necks long. All giraffes happy. Those that sit and those that dance. Those with old necks and those with young. Running. Prancing. Dancing Giraffe.”

“Giraffe.”

“Acacia leaves.”

“Giraffe eats acacia leaves.”

“Ground.”

“Soil.”

“Giraffe becomes part of the soil.”

“Neck long. Neck short. Giraffe eats acacia leaves.”

“Neck long. Neck short. Giraffe becomes part of the soil.”

“There was one giraffe. His neck long. Time went on and his neck grew longer still.”

“There was another giraffe. Her neck long. Time went on and her neck grew longer still.”

“There were two giraffes. Now together. Together as the seasons went on. Together as the sun and moon rose and fell. Together as the trees grew. As the wind blew. As the leaves became plentiful. As the leaves became sparse. More time went by.”

“There were three giraffes. His neck short. Time went on and his neck grew long.”

“There were four giraffes. Her neck short. Time went on and her neck grew long.”

“Together, giraffes. Together through everything. The good, the bad, the cold, the warm. Giraffes together forevermore.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“G. For gazing eyes that gaze long ways.”

“I. For idleness that leaves us calm.”

“R. For recitals of poetry that mean much.”

“A. For acacia leaves that are eaten.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“E. For excitement that poetry brings us.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“Giraffes with necks that are long. Giraffes that live quiet lives. Giraffes that make homes of mud and grass. Giraffes with legs long. Giraffes that embody all in giraffe.”

“Giraffe walked home.”

“Giraffe whose neck was just right.”

“Giraffe was happy.”

“As were giraffes with necks short and necks long. All giraffes together and happy. All giraffes that embody all in giraffe. All giraffes quiet and calm. No giraffes, no other giraffes at all.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

“G. For gazing eyes that gaze long ways.”

“I. For idleness that leaves us calm.”

“R. For recitals of poetry that mean much.”

“A. For acacia leaves that are eaten.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“F. For fur that covers us.”

“E. For excitement that poetry brings us.”

“Giraffe. Gir-affe.”

Rainbow Dash felt drool leaking from her mouth as she stared in a complete daze at the stage. The fugue her mind was in could not be understated and she was slightly worried about her brain melting and dripping out from her ears. What was even happening right now?

“Quite the variety of poems today. Some sad. Some happy. Do you have a favorite so far?” He Whose Neck Is Long asked her.

“Umm… I… the one that had the word running in it, maybe?” Rainbow answered.

He nodded. “This one enjoyed that one as well.”

Giraffe Glade V

“The next poet coming up should have quite the poem to recite,” He Whose Neck Is Long told Rainbow Dash.

“Why’s that?” She asked, desperate for anything that could possibly be exciting.

“The poet had been courting another giraffe, but she chose a different poet who is not performing tonight. I am certain the poem we are about to hear will be wrought with intense emotions and very passionate. You may even see some giraffes cry as they listen to it,” He Whose Neck Is Long said.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and looked around. Seeing all the completely stoic giraffes around her made her pretty doubtful of that. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You seem to be enjoying the poetry so far. Perhaps you will be moved too,” her giraffe friend said.

Rainbow had to fight the urge to look at him like he was insane.

“I-It could happen...” she very stiffly responded.

A minute later another giraffe walked up on stage, the poet He Whose Neck Is Long must’ve been talking about, as far as she could tell he was a slightly younger looking giraffe. Not quite as tall, and his neck not quite as long as most others. Dear sweet Celestia, was she starting to think in giraffe terms? Is that what this insane repetition of poetry was doing to her?

The giraffe onstage took a moment to gather his thoughts it seemed, quietly looking over the crowd and then bringing up a hoof to rub his elongated throat. Maybe that meant he had a long poem. She kind of hoped not. In any event he cleared his throat and took a deep breath before speaking-

“A giraffe, whose neck is long.”

Rainbow Dash immediately sighed.

“A giraffe, whose neck is longer still.”

“Together, opposite sides, another giraffe between them.”

“Her legs, short. Her neck, short.”

“Her walk, her prance, her dance, her run. Like flowers. Like beauty. All that the giraffes can see. No leaves, no village, no trees, no sun, no sky, no other giraffes. Just her. Her legs short, her neck short.”

“A giraffe, whose neck is long. Dances. Together.”

“A giraffe, whose neck is longer still. Dances. Together.”

“The world stops. The village stops. Three giraffes only.”

“She whose legs and neck are short dances with he whose neck is longer still.”

“A giraffe whose neck is long dances alone.”

He stopped there and took a slight bow before shuffling off the stage. To Rainbow Dash’s surprise there were a few very quiet claps and stomps of appreciation, and many giraffes had a more solemn expression on their faces. She had to admit too that at least that poem had a little more real emotion in it than the others.

“Young love,” He Whose Neck Is Long sighed. “It can be beautiful but also sad.”

Rainbow Dash had nothing to say on the topic, love wasn’t exactly her thing, so she just watched the stage and waited for the next giraffe. Hopefully things were almost over. How many hours of insane giraffe poetry had she listened to now?

A Loyal Heart on Valorous Wings

Wish pulled back her hoof and shook her head. “This... this isn’t right.”

A crack appeared in the darkness over her head, like a pane of glass suddenly on the verge of shattering.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong. What matters is if you want it. Don’t you want it?” Harlequin Grey asked her.

“More than anything,” Wish nodded, looking at the black question mark. “But that isn’t my Cutie Mark. My real Cutie Mark, whatever it is, will come to me after I’ve discovered what my special talent is all on my own. It can’t be given, it can’t be shown to me, it can’t be sped up, and I can’t take a shortcut to getting it. W-Whatever Cutie Mark you’re showing to me... it wouldn’t be what I have inside me.”

More cracks started to spread out through the darkness and Harlequin Grey’s eye twitched.

“You don’t know what you’re doing right now. You’re not just refusing a Cutie Mark, you’re refusing the only possibility you have to be happy in your life,” he said to her, a bit more forcefully than he had spoken so far. “If you don’t accept this, you’ll always have to live with those thoughts in your head, those memories of what you did as the Avatar. You will never be able to escape them. Your father, dead by your hoof, how you attempted to drown the entire kingdom and more in despair, you will never escape that reality for the rest of your life. Only by taking what I offer you will you be able to find peace. You’re just a filly, do you truly want the rest of your life to be nothing but regret and despair?”

“I’d regret it just as much to live the lie you want me to. T-That fake life couldn’t make me happy either,” Wish shook her head and defiantly looked up at him. “I don’t know what my future will be like, I-I don’t know how many nights I’m going to cry myself to sleep, or wake up from a horrible nightmare, but I know that I have to be the one to grow and get the happiness I’m looking for. Rainbow Dash told me that. I have to make the life I want. It’s going to be tough, sad things will happen, but it’s my life. And I know that one day if I keep holding onto hope that I’ll be happy. It’s not just a Cutie Mark I want, but a life full of friends, a life full of magic, honesty, laughter, generosity, kindness, and loyalty.”

With each word, Harlequin Grey’s hoof shook in anger and the cracks spread out even further.

“Are you sure?” He glowered at her.

Wish narrowed her eyes and looked him dead in the face. “In the words of Rainbow Dash: Go jump off a bridge.”

The stars and black question mark disappeared as he put down his hoof and clicked his tongue.

“Fine then. It’s time for the hard way,” he said and tilted his horn (that may not have been there a second ago) down at her.

Wish shrank away from him and leaned back on the stool. “W-What are you-”

She didn’t get to finish. And he didn’t get to do anything. The darkness around them shattered into pieces and fell away, revealing a cosmic starscape that swirled about them like a galaxy, while a rainbow pegasus landed right between them with her wings outstretched.

Harlequin Grey grit his teeth and jumped away.

“Rainbow Dash!” Wish yelled.

“How did you get here?” Harlequin Grey growled before a frown settled on his face. “Tch, that obnoxious fool... I’ll get him back for this.”

Rainbow Dash ignored him and looked at Wish. “Are you alright?”

Wish nodded, exhausted after what she had been through she could barely find the air to breath. “Y-Yes, I-”

“Sleep,” Harlequin Grey sharply said as he glanced at the filly.

Instant drowsiness overtook Wish and she slumped down on top of the stool in the middle of speaking.

“Wish!” Rainbow Dash shouted and reached over to pick her up off the stool. “Wish, talk to me!” She said as she lightly shook the filly.

“Relax, she’ll merely be asleep for a little while. I didn’t need her talking to you right now,” Harlequin Grey huffed.

Rainbow Dash checked and noticed that Wish was indeed still breathing easily. She sighed in relief and hugged the filly close to her chest before carefully placing her on the starry ground. “Good... you’re okay.” She then took a deep breath and glared at Harlequin Grey. “And you.”

“Been a while. I see that my brother helped you out, I hope you didn’t thank him at least, he’s not any better than I am in your eyes.” His eyes narrowed and he ran a hoof back over his slick mane. “Hmph, this entire day has been a colossal waste of time and effort then. And I have neither the desire or means to engage with you right now in any other fashion. Farewell until I find a different way to deal with you, Rainbow Dash,” he turned and started to walk away.

“It was you in the first place. Wasn’t it?”

Harlequin Grey paused and looked over his shoulder at her, raising a questioning eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”

Rainbow Dash blankly stared back at him. “I remember what Dreamweaver said. About a “peculiar” pony he met who gave him that device and crystal. That was you, wasn’t it?”

At first it seemed like he wasn’t going to answer, but then he turned fully to face her again. “You are correct.”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash bit out, her expression instantly darkening.

“Because I thought he could help me. Unfortunately he didn’t do what I wanted with the device given to him, he adjusted it for his own purposes and tried to make that nonsense dream of his come true. Originally it was meant to completely drain the emotions from the wearer, not harvest them, and leave them an empty husk. Dreamweaver selfishly went directly against what I asked him to do. I wanted emotions deadened, not despair increased. Typical pony only causing problems for me.” His eyes then flickered down to the sleeping form of Wish. “And it turns out his daughter is as worthless as he was.”

The blue hoof of Rainbow Dash collided with his face before he could even blink.

However, Harlequin Grey was not knocked away, his head didn’t turn with the blow either. Instead—much to Rainbow Dash’s shock and confusion—his skin expanded outward before popping like a balloon and blasting her away with an explosion of smoke. She coughed as she slid backward across the starry floor to come to a stop by Wish, squinting her eyes shut and lifting up a hoof to try and block most of the smoke from getting in her eyes. When the blast faded and the smoke stopped spreading, she was able to look at where Harlequin Grey had just been standing.

A cloud of smoke now obscured that side of the starscape, and behind it, a writhing mass of something squirmed in the shadows. It never stopped moving, or settled on any solid form, it melted and shifted like wax constantly.

“Well. That’s the first time you decided to strike me.”

Rainbow Dash immediately came back to her senses and protectively stood in front of Wish, glowering at Harlequin Grey or whatever it was behind the smoke. “And it won’t be the last.”

“It will be today. I’ve already told you how I abhor fighting and violence. Especially the pointless kind. And I am not so at my wit’s end that I will resort to such here. There is no reason for me to engage in such disgusting noise with you yet.”

“So you’re just going to slink away again?”

“That is also correct.”

“Then let me give you some advice. You had better never show your face in front of me again if you aren’t prepared to fight. What happened in Hoofica... the other things I know you’ve done... and what else? I don’t know what’s going on in your head, what you really are, or what you want, but I know it’s nothing good. What else have you done out here and in the rest of the world?” Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth in anger as she asked him.

“...” The writhing figure of Harlequin Grey was silent for a moment.

“Well? Too scared to answer?”

“Quite a few things that have been undone by you and your friends as of late.”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at him. “Huh?”

“First your friend Applejack dismantled my cult before it could even get off the ground and do what I wanted it to. Then she freed an imprisoned city that was kept stagnant due to my efforts. After that it was Rarity completely tearing down an entire kingdom I had helped to keep locked in an unchanging stasis for centuries. Then even that moronic blue unicorn you know destroyed a useful tool of mine before he could help me and caused a number of chaotic mishaps along the way. But those in the end were only minor problems and setbacks. Nothing I couldn’t eventually reverse with a little time.”

“You, however, you and your stupid adventure to the north were too great of a threat. What you’re doing threatened everything I’ve been working towards since I was created. I could no longer sit back and do nothing. That’s why I’ve been trying to stop you, and taking greater measures to try and stop you as of late.”

“What are you...” Rainbow Dash’s eyes slowly widened. “Supernova. That was you who sent her after me. I knew no one on this side of the world could’ve known I was here or would want me dead... except for you. And... and...” Rainbow’s body trembled in rage, every fiber of her being filling with anger. “Chaotic little circus. Chaos magic. You’re the one!” She shouted at him, spit flying from her mouth, practically frothing. “You’re the one who created the plague at Pinetree Warren!”

“And what if I am?”

Tears spilled from Rainbow Dash’s eyes as she grit her teeth together so hard they almost broke. “Because of you.... because of you Anathema died. Turnip’s parents, all those other ponies, they all died because of you!”

“I could just as much lay the blame at your hooves, if you had simply taken my earlier advice and turned around it never would’ve happened. The fact is you’ve always been selfish and you know it. Your adventure, your very actions have caused just as much death and chaos as anything I’ve done since it started. Perhaps that’s what happens when you try to play the hero without Twilight Sparkle to guide you.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head swiftly, bringing a hoof up to wipe away the tears as best she could. “I don’t... I don’t need you telling me any of that. I know how badly I’ve messed up. But nothing’s changed since that last time we met in Pinetree Warren. And I still need to stop you from doing anything more.”

She exhaled and took a few seconds to catch her breath before looking up at the stars passing by overhead. “You know something?”

“What?”

“I said something horrible, something so wrong, to Dreamweaver when we were all in that tower, and he was trying to get Wish to despair. I said I would kill him. And I meant it. I know it’s wrong, I really do, and I’ve told others on my journey it’s wrong, but I still meant it. Because he was just that evil, he made me so mad, so disgusted, I hated him so much for what he did to her, to me, and everyone else. Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Starlight, Spike, Scoots, everybody... I-I really think they’d be horrified to hear me say something like that, but I’m not going to lie to myself. It’s wrong, I wouldn’t want to have to do something like that, but that’s the thing. If I had to do it. I would.”

Rainbow Dash shut her eyes to compose herself before tilting her head back down and opening them, staring straight at the shadowed unknown form of Harlequin Grey. “And it’s the same here with you now. This is me telling you, right here and now, that the next time I see you—I’m going to kill you.”

The writhing thing that existed beyond the smoke regarded her silently for another moment.

“Likewise.” Harlequin Grey finally said.

A flash of light came from his shadowed form, blindingly intense it washed over the entire starscape and Rainbow Dash had to look away. There was no warmth or heat to it, merely an unwelcoming light. When she could see from behind her eyelids that the light had died down she opened her eyes up and looked around.

The desert. The white sandy desert she and Wish had been traveling through just earlier.

Rainbow Dash looked up at the sky and saw that seemingly barely any time had passed since they had entered the big top. Wish was fast asleep on the sand right behind her, her chest rising and falling in frequency. Rainbow took the time to breathe deeply a few times before sitting down next to Wish and placing her hoof on the filly’s head. She spent a little while just sitting there, letting herself and the filly rest as the sun lazily passed by overhead. After what might have even been an entire hour, she stood up and picked Wish up before carefully depositing the still sleeping filly on her back, making sure to not wake her up. It all felt okay right now. Even for just this moment.

With a small smile on her face, Rainbow Dash continued to walk south with Wish through the desert.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntG_EEfpasM

Like Long Lost Friends

“Do you think Rosalie painted any of these on her own? You might want to ask her about them,” Rainbow Dash said to Wish as she looked at the many cat pictures hung up on the walls of Rosalie’s home. They were alone right now, left to relax in the cozy little cottage while Rosalie went to find her friends. She said she wouldn’t take long, it was a small town after all.

“She didn’t.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at Wish and raised an eyebrow. “And you know that how?”

“There aren’t any art supplies or anything like that around. And she just doesn’t feel like an artist to me,” Wish shrugged.

“Uh huh, guess I’ll take the expert’s word on it.”

Wish frowned. “I’m not an expert.”

“You don’t need a Cutie Mark in art to be an expert.”

“Don’t you?”

Rainbow Dash bit her lip, a concerned look growing on her face. “Uh, Wish, if you want to talk I’m pretty sure I’ve already made it clear that you can say anything around me.”

Wish’s frown wavered and her expression seemed to soften a bit. “I-I know… but this is all just-”

She couldn’t finish her sentence as the front door was pulled open and three excited mares rushed in. Of course it was Rosalie in the center but she had two friends beside her, a pegasus and a unicorn, both wearing the same white dress and flower crown she was. The pegasus was light pink with a long blonde mane and pretty blue eyes while the unicorn was lemon yellow with a braided orange and white mane and yellow eyes. All three of them were of course smiling widely and those smiles only grew bigger when they saw Rainbow Dash and Wish and came right over.

“I’m back!”

“Hello!”

“Hi!”

“H-Hey,” Rainbow Dash waved and awkwardly smiled while Wish clammed up again.

Rosalie giggled and put her hooves over her friends’ shoulders. “These are my two best friends in Arondel.” She first nodded to the pegasus. “This is Angie.” And then to the unicorn. “And this is Jolene.”

“Hello there,” Angie said again. “It’s a pleasure to meet anyone not from Arondel. Always wonderful to meet new ponies. Like Rosalie said, I’m Angie, and I grow some of the nicest flowers you’ll see in all of Vissidia.”

“That aint empty boasting either,” the unicorn, Jolene, said with a heavy accent. “Her flowers are all over Arondel right now I tell you what. Me on the other hoof, I raise chickens out behind my cottage. Lots of the eggs you’ll see being eaten tomorrow come from my place! Course that’s about all we do when it comes to preparing for the festival and what not. Just giving the stuff to the elders and letting them take care of the rest, then the three of us just hang out.” She smiled at Rainbow and Wish. “Though looking like it’ll be five for this festival.”

“It sure will be, we’re all going to have a lot of fun together!” Rosalie said.

“That all starts tomorrow morning with the breakfast signifying the beginning of the Harvest Festival,” Angie said. “The whole town gathers in the square and after a few short words from our mayor we get to eat and then have a good time.”

“Singing, dancing, the works!” Jolene said.

“It definitely sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun. Right, Wish?” Rainbow Dash asked her companion.

Wish seemed surprised to be asked that but she quickly responded. “Yep. You um, you really make it sound like it’s going to be a really happy festival. Sounds like the whole town really loves it.”

“They sure do,” Rosalie nodded.

“So uh… since this happens every month, do you guys pretty much start planning the next one as soon as this one finishes?” Rainbow asked.

“Hmm...” Angie looked up and rubbed her chin. “There’s about a week before anyone does anything I’d say.”

“I guess after learning what else I have about Vissidia I shouldn’t really be surprised that this whole place revolves around farming and festivals. You guys… you really don’t seem to have anything else to worry about. You’re nice and secluded, food grows all the time, everything just sounds like it’s so relaxed in this country,” Rainbow Dash said.

Rosalie tilted her head at her. “Is that wrong? You make it sound like it shouldn’t be that way.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Nah, that’s not what I mean at all. It’s just unusual for me to see a place like this. Even my home, which is super nice and peaceful most of the time, isn’t like this. This isn’t the sort of place I would live… but it kind of makes me happy knowing it’s here.”

“Well we’re sure glad to have you just blowing through at the very least,” Jolene said.

“Speaking of that, how long are you two staying? Just for the Harvest Festival?” Angie asked.

Rainbow briefly glanced at Wish. “Not sure yet really. I’m kind of doing something… but I’m not on a time limit or anything. But I also can’t really stay in the same place for too long.”

“How come?” Rosalie asked.

“Reasons,” Rainbow looked away. “Er, anyways I wanted to give Wish plenty of time to relax and have a real vacation too. Someplace where she didn’t need to worry about anything.” She put a hoof on the filly’s back. “She deserves it.”

“Mm,” Wish mumbled.

“Rosalie told us you were from Hoofica,” Angie said as she went to sit down on the couch beside Wish. “Some really bad things happened there, didn’t they? We don’t know the whole story but we all heard about the country vanishing and no one returning from it...”

“You poor thing!” Jolene said. “Whatever you had to go through there it’s all behind you now, you can rest easy in Vissidia.”

“Mm… thanks,” Wish said, trying to avert her eyes from the three other mares.

“A-Alright, we don’t need to give her any special attention or anything like that. Pretty sure Wish wants to just be treated like normal and not dwell on the past,” Rainbow Dash said, mentally wincing at herself for starting this.

“Oh, sure! Of course,” Angie said and smiled down at Wish. “You just enjoy the festival, sweetheart.”

“We don’t need to do anything special to make it a great festival, it always is!” Jolene said.

Rosalie giggled and hugged her unicorn friend before smiling at the others. “How about we all stay here and have dinner together too? Then we can all meet up again early tomorrow morning.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Works for me. I mean, you’d obviously know best what to do.”

“Ooh, there was something else I wanted to do while we ate dinner,” Angie said, her face turning to Rainbow Dash with an excited and curious look. “That home you talked about? We heard you’re from a far away place called Equestria, what’s it like? How far have you traveled? What sort of things have you seen?”

“I’m interested in that too!” Jolene said.

“Me three!” Rosalie chimed in.

“Oh boy...” Rainbow Dash blushed and bashfully rubbed the back of her head. “Well I hope we’re having a long dinner because there’s a lot to tell.”

“Then please tell, we’ve met a lot of ponies who have traveled far in their days but you seem… different,” Angie said.

“Well you’re right about that. There’s no pony like me,” Rainbow said.

“How so?” Jolene asked.

Rainbow Dash grinned and leaned back against the couch. “Let me start from the beginning...”

Naturally it took quite a long time for Rainbow Dash to tell her entire story, and in the middle of it Rosalie went to get them tea and bread for dinner. But by the time she was done the other three mares were looking at her like some kind of impossible superhero had graced them with her presence. Wish had been listening too even though she knew most of the story already, it was something to take her mind off of everything else. There was now a pregnant pause in the sitting room of the cottage as none of the Vissidian mares could gather their thoughts to speak.

“Umm… and that’s it,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Now I’m here.”

“Wow… you’re really… wow,” Angie said.

“I hope you can stick around for a while now actually, I’d love to get to know you even more after hearing all that,” Jolene said.

“Me too,” Rosalie nodded.

“Well maybe. We’ll see,” Rainbow said.

Rosalie looked at her clock and noticed it was getting fairly late. They had all gotten absorbed in Rainbow Dash’s story. “Oh dear, it’s later than I thought. Well whatever happens it will have to wait for breakfast tomorrow. We can all talk again at the festival.”

“I suppose we’ll be leaving then for the night,” Angie said. “But Jolene and I will be back here first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Sure will be!” Jolene nodded.

“Alright, I’ll see you girls then,” Rosalie hugged the both of them as they started to leave.

“See you tomorrow. And it was wonderful getting to meet the two of you,” Angie said to Rainbow and Wish.

“You’ll have a great time tomorrow, Rainbow Dash, Wish.” Jolene said and politely nodded to the both of them.

“Bye! Was nice meeting you too,” Rainbow waved goodbye to them.

“Bye,” Wish also quietly waved.

Rosalie closed the door behind them and took a deep breath. “This day has turned out much busier than I was expecting it to.”

“Same here to be honest,” Rainbow said.

“Hehe,” Rosalie chuckled and walked back over to the couch. “Well the den is yours now, you two can go to bed whenever you want, but be prepared to wake up early.”

“We probably will soon,” Rainbow said and looked over at Wish. “You tired?”

Wish yawned. “Hmm… maybe a little...”

Rainbow Dash snorted. “Yeah, I think we’ll hit the hay soon.”

“If you need some water in the middle of the night, or anything else, my home is yours,” Rosalie smiled.

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash smiled back at her.

Less than an hour later, Rainbow Dash and Wish were in bed, in the den. Despite Rainbow assuming the filly would want to sleep in her hooves, she was currently bundled up as close to the edge of the bed away from Rainbow Dash as she could get. Facing away from her. Rainbow Dash blinked a few times, listening to Wish’s breathing. The filly was still awake.

“Wish? Are you doing alright?”

It was quiet for a moment.

“Yes. I just want to enjoy the festival tomorrow.”

“O-Okay. If there’s anything you want to talk about...”

“No, it’s just… really happy here.”

A few minutes later and they had both silently drifted off to sleep.

An Ignored Warning

The lighting inside the large hut was pretty low, which made sense as they obviously had no electricity and had to be very careful when it came to fire. But there were enough candles inside of glass bulbs to at least let Rainbow Dash look around. Most of the interior of the hut was one large central room that she was now in but she saw doors on all three walls besides the one she just came in, but those might have even led to the other smaller buildings on the platform. Directly in front of her, the floor space of the hut was taken up a large sunken square section with a wooden bench running the interior for ponies to all sit and face each other on if they were sitting there. Behind that, was…

A very old, and very overweight pony.

She sat on a couch with no back to it, her corpulent rolls practically pouring off the sides. A light-brown earth pony with a graying mane and tail, wrinkles covering her, and a wide hat of leaves on her head. To the side of the couch sat a wooden staff of gnarled wood with feathers tied to the top. And next to that was a bowl on top of a tiny table that looked like it was there exclusively for the bowl to be placed on, the bowl itself was full of some sort of green food.

A couple of other ponies were standing by the couch too, some dressed in elaborate clothes of leaves and reeds all tied together while some just looked the same as Belle.

Once Rainbow Dash and Belle had stepped forward, the overweight pony on the couch looked up. And despite her great age, a warm smile appeared on her lips and recognition lit up her face.

“Ah, Belle, good to see you. I was not expecting you today,” the old pony said.

“Elder,” Belle bowed low to the floor.

“Rise, child, rise,” the Elder let out a hearty laugh.

Belle rose back up and smiled to the Elder. “I also didn’t plan to come here today but fortune had me meet this pony instead.” She pointed a hoof to Rainbow Dash. “This is Rainbow Dash, a visitor who travels here from far away. She has never been to the swamp or Mile Moss Crannog before and so I thought it was only right to bring her here to you.”

The Elder’s eyes drifted to Rainbow Dash. “I hope that was your own choice, dear? You didn’t feel like you were being forced to come say hello to me, did you?”

“Whoa, whoa, definitely not,” Rainbow Dash waved her hooves around. “Belle didn’t do anything like that. I didn’t have any real plans for what I was going to do in Mile Moss Crannog either, when I heard about you I wanted to come by.”

“That is quite good to hear. I simply know Belle from when she was a baby, she was always an enthusiastic one,” the Elder chuckled.

Belle blushed. “Eheh… I may have gotten into a few arguments with others from the crannog when I was younger…”

“Heh, I don’t have any complaints about a pony who takes their ways and traditions seriously,” Rainbow Dash lightly elbow-bumped Belle.

“Well with that out of the way then, hurry up and come a little closer, dear. Where are you from if not the swamp or Vissidia?” The Elder beckoned her on.

Rainbow grinned and stepped around the sunken part of the hut, coming over to stand in front of the Elder along with Belle. She nodded to the other ponies who were there, first the ones in the strange outfits and then the others. “Heya, so are you the shaman I’ve heard about?”

“Bahahaha!” The Elder laughed, she grabbed her staff and pointed at the ponies wearing the reedy clothes. “These fellas are our shaman.” She pointed at the others. “These ones are here to make sure I don’t accidentally roll off the couch!”

Rainbow Dash snorted and bit back some laughter. “Well nice to meet all of you then—sounds like you both got important jobs.”

“Hah, I like you!” The Elder said. “Rainbow Dash was it? Certainly not like any name I’ve heard before in my life—and it’s been a long one! I take you’re from farther away than just another country or two?”

“Oh yeah, really far away,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

The Elder smiled. “Then let this be a momentous occasion for both Mile Moss Crannog and your home. Please, share with us all you want, and we will share with you.” Her eyes twinkled and she leaned in to Rainbow Dash and whispered. “That includes food in case you were wondering.”

“As long as it’s fruit or vegetables,” Rainbow said.

“Ahah, no problem there, have a stuffed grape leaf if you’re hungry right now,” the Elder said and pointed at her bowl.

Rainbow shook her head. “Naw, thanks for the offer but I’m fine for now, I ate not that long ago. I’d just want another meal depending on how long I stay here.”

“More for me then, hah!” The Elder said and grabbed one of the grape leaves before shoveling it into her mouth. After a few moments of chewing she swallowed it all down. “So tell me about your home, what’s it called?”

“It’s called Equestria. It’s a huge country of ponies all the way on the other side of the world,” Rainbow Dash proudly stated. “If you want the full history I can totally get into that, but it’s gonna take a loooong time to tell.”

“Well missy Rainbow Dash, if you’d take a good hard look at me I think you’d be able to tell that I don’t have much else to do around here,” the Elder laughed. “So talk away! Let it drag on into the evening if you want!”

“And then we can tell you everything about Mile Moss Crannog and the swamp!” Belle enthusiastically nodded with a big smile.

Rainbow Dash shrugged and chuckled briefly amusement. “Alright, that works for me too. Now… where to start?”

As Rainbow Dash had done many times on her journey now, she related pretty much everything she knew about Equestria to these ponies. It never got old doing it though, even though Twilight could’ve given a more detailed account, Rainbow was pretty sure she gave the most awesome account. It was fun telling others about her home and it was especially fun when it got to the parts revolving around her. Everyone always seemed pretty wowed by how grandiose and amazing Equestria was too, it filled Rainbow Dash with no small measure of pride.

“And you’ve traveled so far from your home. What could possibly be the reason why?” The curious Elder asked after Rainbow Dash had gotten done with her history lesson.

“Well it’s pretty simple actually. I’m flying around the world,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Flying around the entire world?” The Elder repeated.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “Yep. One day I just… felt like going on an adventure. The further I flew the more awesome stuff I did but I was never really satisfied. Never had a real goal. Until eventually someone I met gave me the idea to do this. To be the first pony ever to fly completely around the world. That’s what all this is for and why once I’m done here I’m heading south of Mile Moss Crannog too.”

“South is it?” A mild look of dismay crossed over the Elder’s face, she glanced at both her shaman and Belle. “I take it Belle or another pony has already told you about our problems here in the swamp?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “I’ve heard about the monster.”

“Then as much as it pains me to say, I believe you should try staying up and out of our swamp while you travel south. It is a shame that you won’t get to meet other ponies or see our home… but it is for your own safety, Rainbow Dash,” the Elder glumly said.

“Mile Moss Crannog has plenty of history to it and ponies for you to meet anyways,” Belle said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “You know, I was going to ask this anyways since I’ve dealt with a lot of dangerous stuff on my journey, but what is the story with that monster? Where’d it come from? Is anyone in the swamp trying to actually do anything about it? I know you just want me to be safe and I appreciate that, but if there’s a problem here then I’d like to try fixing it too. Taking care of monsters is something I have experience with.”

“Well it is still our problem and we couldn’t possibly ask an outsider—a guest—to help us with it,” the Elder said. “Please dear, I’d like to ask you to just spend a day or two here, eat and have some fun, and then be off to safety. Fly until you get to the southern edges of the swamp, past where the monster resides.”

“But if you’re still having trouble with it then I want to help,” Rainbow Dash pressed a hoof against her chest.

“It’s a dangerous monster, not some normal alligator with a chip on its shoulder. I don’t want you to see such a vicious thing in here,” the Elder shook her head.

Rainbow Dash smiled. “It’s not going to make me think negatively about the swamp or your home or anything. Believe me, you’ve been good hosts already and you barely know me. I’ve had some terrible receptions at some of the places I’ve been to, anyplace like this is already good in my book. I don’t see having to deal with a monster as a bad thing. I see having to deal with it and help some ponies in need as a fun thing.”

“Well it’s not like we can keep you from going there if you’re so dead set on it. That would be against our ways as well,” the Elder said, seeming to give in to Rainbow Dash.

“Sweet!” Rainbow said.

“So if you are going to be heading deeper into the swamp I suppose it is for the best that I tell you what I can,” the Elder said, now looking at Rainbow Dash with tired and half-lidded eyes. “A while back, after we realized that this monster wasn’t simply going away and would continue to attack and cause problems for those living in the swamp, some of the best and bravest stallions from Mile Moss Crannog left to stop it. They joined up with ponies from other settlements and elsewhere in the swamp and created a large hunting party to go after the monster. Every now and then a pony from the group will come back here to tell us how things are going… so far they still haven’t managed to catch or kill it. It isn’t just that it’s big, it’s smarter than any normal animal, and fearsome.”

“A lot of ponies who lived deeper in the swamp have disappeared. And many on the hunting party have never returned either,” Belle said.

“Sorry… has it ever tried to swim all the way here? I’m just wondering if you’re in danger. Like, what does the monster even do in the swamp?” Rainbow asked.

“It’s never come close to this far out of the swamp’s heart. If it’s tried then the hunters have been keeping that secret from us but I doubt it. And the monster’s origins and what it wants? Feh—who knows? It’s been eating and attacking everything in sight when it isn’t lurking in the water. Maybe that’s all it cares about. Maybe that’s all there is to it,” the Elder shrugged.

“How tough do you think it’ll be for me to find these hunters if I stick with flying through the swamp?” Rainbow asked again. “I want to join up with them as soon as I can.”

“They’d probably find you before you find them, and there are other ponies living out there south of here, on the edge of the monster’s territory, who can direct you on the further you go. I’m sure a pony with your energy can find them before long, hah!” The Elder laughed.

“The pony who first gathered everyone from Mile Moss Crannog is an old stallion by the name of Claude,” Belle said. “He’s still leading them, you’ll want to greet him as soon as you’re able to.”

“SHAMAN!” The Elder suddenly banged her staff on the floor a few times. “Bring me my sacred mud!”

“Yes, Elder,” the Shaman collectively bowed and walked away into the door on the wall behind the Elder.

“Uhhh, now what?” Rainbow asked.

The Elder smiled to Rainbow Dash. “Consider it a gift we’re sharing with you. Something deeply important to us.”

The Shaman came back out carrying a clay pot and bowed down before the Elder, holding it up for her. The Elder set her staff back down and reached forward, taking the lid off and placing it beside her before gently dipping her hoof into the sacred mud and scooping out a small bit of it. Her warm smile widened and she beckoned Rainbow Dash to come forward. Though Rainbow Dash was fairly apprehensive—since she knew what that mud was and what was about to happen—she still stepped forward and silently allowed the Elder to do what she needed.

“With this-” the Elder said as she placed the edge of her hoof on Rainbow Dash’s forehead. The slightly wet mud already seeping a bit into Rainbow’s coat. “You become a friend of Mile Moss Crannog. The hunters you meet will see you as one and know that you have met with me. You’ll get along well with Claude and the others.”

And she dragged her hoof down between Rainbow Dash’s eyes and stopping at her nose, giving Rainbow a single line of mud in the middle of her face.

“Alright then,” Rainbow said, blinking and trying to avoid the strange feeling of the mud on her face. It wasn’t quite the same as that facial cream at the spa. “Not the same lines under the eyes as the rest of you?”

“Different meaning,” the Elder shook her head. “But no less important.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Thank you… I guess I’ll keep this on until I meet the hunting party.”

“I’ll give you another dab before you go. But will you be staying the night now since you’ve spent so much time here?” The Elder asked.

“I think so,” Rainbow said. “I could probably use a bed and another meal again, since I don’t know when my next time with either will be.”

“Heh! Well then-” the Elder reached over and grabbed a stuffed grape leaf. “Ready for one of these now?”

The Griffon From Griffonstone

“Thirsty, thirsty, thirsty...” Rainbow Dash said to herself as she once again walked down the sidewalk of the long port. Now she was on the lookout for something specific instead of just aimlessly wandering around.

It was getting later in the day too so she decided that she could let things wind down. After finding a place where she could at least get something to eat and drink she could hopefully find a place to sleep as well. That would be all for her first day at the port of Malkonrik.

The problem of course was she still had no money so she’d just be relying on luck and kindness some more. And her luck in that regard might have been stretched to its limits finally. Since as she was looking at the various buildings she was now walking by, it became readily apparent that she had wandered into the seedier part of town. A lot of buildings were boarded up entirely or abandoned and there were more ponies guarding the ones that weren’t. More than once she felt suspicious and daring eyes crawl over her body from the shadowy alleyways. To her right, the docks were just as well guarded by angry looking sailors. Though there were far fewer boats tied up here in general.

“Typical that I’d just end up walking right into trouble,” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Whatever, if anyone’s stupid enough to try something then let them.”

A seedy place like this should be even more likely to have a tavern or dive around anyways.

Rainbow simply kept walking on the sidewalk with her eyes trained on the storefronts. No more distractions.

It didn’t take her long before she walked in front of a shoddy looking building with blackened windows and a heavy double-door in the front. Above that door was a lopsided wooden sign with “BEER and FOOD” painted in black letters on it.

“Works for me,” Rainbow grinned and almost walked inside before she noticed a piece of paper that had been nailed to the rightside door. There was something written on it as well: No Boschese Allowed

Rainbow Dash had no idea what a Boschese was but she was pretty sure she wasn’t one. So with a shrug she strode inside.

The inside of the bar was as grungy and dark as she expected it to be. Only the bar itself on the left side of the large room had some decent oil lamps above it lighting the place up. The other tables and alcoves on the other side just had some candles, but the ponies seated at them probably preferred it that way from the look of them. A few eyes and heads turned towards her, suspicious and unfriendly ones, she had definitely stepped into the wrong kind of establishment. Not that she cared—that just potentially made it more fun. Rainbow Dash also looked over at the rough customers seated at their tables to show she wasn’t afraid of them. Let them glare all they wanted.

Most were stallions but there were a few scandalous looking mares with them as well. That made things a little awkward. A lot of the stallions had very rough looking coats, saltwater stained manes, scars, even eyepatches. Sailing the ocean looked like a tough job. For the most part right now they were just drinking and playing cards, it didn’t look like any of them wanted to do more than stare Rainbow down for the moment. So she let them all be as well and walked over to the bar—where an equally rough looking bartender stood.

“Yo,” Rainbow Dash said as she jumped up on one of the barstools.

The bartender just squinted his eyes at her, pleasantries well out of his domain. “What’ll it be?”

“Well I’d like something to drink, something to eat, and maybe a place to stay. But I don’t have any money,” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

The bartender blinked at her. Slowly he frowned and raised an eyebrow. “That your idea of a joke?”

“Nope,” Rainbow shook her head and opened up the empty pouch around her neck for him to see inside. “Flat broke.”

“Then I’d like to kindly ask you to get out of here. I’ve got other customers,” he not so kindly said.

“Come on, I’ll do dishes, or help clean after closing, or anything like that,” Rainbow offered.

“Well if that’s the case I’ll tell you what you can have,” the bartender leaned in.

“Yeah?” Rainbow smiled.

“Nothing,” he said.

Rainbow Dash frowned. “So you don’t exactly hate jokes then.”

“Just get lost. I don’t give anything out for charity.”

“I’m not asking for charity. I’m offering to do some work after to pay for a glass of beer and maybe a bite of food. That seriously so much of a problem?”

The bartender grunted in annoyance and reached under the bar, bringing up a small glass bowl full of cashews. “There. Have a hoofful of those and shut up. Then once closing time comes around you can have a glass of water and clean the place. No beer. Deal?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and sighed. “Fine. Deal.”

She grabbed a few cashews and started to sullenly eat them, frowning down at the dirty bar the whole time. The bartender shook his head and proceeded to ignore her while getting back to his prior business and the rest of the building was equally quiet. Only a few muted conversations were taking place and Rainbow Dash wasn’t paying attention to them at all. For now she was going back over the day’s events in her head and thinking about what to do tomorrow.

And she was so engrossed in that that she didn’t even realize when someone else pushed open the doors of the bar. They stood in the doorway for a moment and let the others in the bar gaze upon them—every conversation now going completely quiet. The other patrons stared at the new entrant with wide and fearful eyes while a grin stretched on the newcomer’s face. Then, a surprisingly bright and colorful sight caught their attention and they turned their head to look at the pegasus seated at the bar. Thoroughly intrigued, they strode in and let the door close behind them before coming and sitting up at the bar, right next to Rainbow Dash.

The bartender meanwhile was staring in complete shock at his new customer, he was frozen in place and dared not make a move. While Rainbow Dash still remained totally oblivious.

“Now that-” a sharp, masculine, voice came from beside her. “Is quite the eye-catching mane.”

Rainbow Dash finally glanced to her left and noticed the griffon now sitting right next to her.

He was bigger than the average griffon, with a broad chest and strong arms with talons that looked like they could crush coconuts at the end. His plumage had a golden sheen to it while his headfeathers were more of a green color. He wore a black coat with golden cuffs over his body that he left unbuttoned at the front, with a puffy white shirt underneath it, and on top of his head rested a black tricorne. And lastly on his left side there was a broad cutlass currently stuck in its scabbard.

“Uhh, thanks?” Rainbow Dash said to him.

His golden eyes twinkled down at her as he scratched under his beak, grinning. “You’re from Equestria, aren’t you?”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “Wait, you know about Equestria? Who are you?”

“Hah! I knew it!” The griffon laughed and stuck out a talon to her. “The name’s Godfrey. And of course I know about Equestria, I lived right next door for a while.”

Rainbow blinked, and then a smile slowly tugged up her lips. “You’re from Griffonstone!” She eagerly took his talon and shook it. “Awesome, I’m Rainbow Dash by the way!”

He seemed surprised, his eyebrows briefly shooting up a bit. “Rainbow Dash? The Rainbow Dash? Friend of Princess Twilight Sparkle? Hero of Equestria?”

“That’s me,” Rainbow proudly grinned and puffed out her chest. “You know about that stuff?”

“Even though I left a long time ago I’d have to have been living under a rock to not hear about all that,” Godfrey shrugged. “Surprised to see an Equestrian—much less you—out all the way here though.”

“Right back at ya. I didn’t think I’d meet anybody from the other side of the world here,” Rainbow said.

Rainbow Dash was too engrossed in the conversation to notice that a large amount of the other patrons in the bar were getting up and leaving while she and Godfrey were talking. The bartender too was still standing there like a statue.

“What are you doing out here on the Grand Ocean?” Godfrey asked her.

Rainbow shrugged. “It’s just part of my adventure. You see, I flew out from Equestria a while back, and now I’m on a journey to be the first pony to ever fly all the way around the world.”

“Now that’s a trip, heh. So did you fly east right past Griffonstone like me?”

“Nope,” Rainbow’s grin widened. “I flew north, dude. Went right over the north pole and came down south to finally reach here.”

Godfrey was surprised. “Really? Never heard of a pony traveling all the way to the north pole. Or anyone really. That’s even more impressive of a trip than I thought. You must’ve been out doing this for a long time now too. Bet you’ve been to a lot of crazy places that most can only dream of—and I thought I had seen a lot just going over the eastern mountains of Griffonstone.”

“Oh yeah, been to a lot of places. Gotten into a lot of trouble,” Rainbow Dash nodded.

“Hahaha, sounds like fun to me!” Godfrey cheered. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be all the way down here, would you?”

“Heh—well you’re right about that too,” Rainbow admitted.

Godfrey then looked in front of her and saw the bowl of cashews. “Not having anything to drink?”

Rainbow Dash chuckled mirthfully. “Flat broke.”

“That so?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I would figure that if you traveled so much of the world you would’ve found some kind of treasure or riches to bring with you. Nothing exciting like that?”

“Well...” Rainbow Dash looked up at the ceiling and rubbed the back of her head. “Honestly there probably was a lot of stuff like that. Or at least I bet I could’ve found some if I was on the lookout for it. But really that’s not why I started this journey in the first place. I was just looking for cool adventures. Treasure, money, that sort of stuff doesn’t really interest me.”

“I see, I see,” Godfrey nodded along. “Still, I’m pretty impressed with you. You made the whole trip on your own?”

“Yep!” Rainbow Dash smugly said. “Er… well, it’s not like I never had friends, or ponies to help me through tough spots, but I started the trip on my own and have always flown from place to place on my own power. I’m not kidding about the flying around the world part.”

“Then here, let me give you a little gift,” Godfrey said and reached into a pocket on the inside of his coat, pulling out a single golden coin before flipping it with his thumb onto the top of the bar. He grinned at the bartender, who flinched. “Barkeep? A drink for me and my new friend here—and keep em coming.”

“Dude—you are awesome,” Rainbow Dash patted the griffon on the shoulder.

“Gehahahaha! Thanks,” Godfrey winked.

The bartender shortly brought up two big wooden mugs of frothy beer for the both of them and stood back, keeping well out of their conversation. Rainbow Dash and Godfrey both were quick to grab their own mugs, they clinked them together and both took a deep drink, gulping down the beer and sighing in relief before slamming them back down on the bar together.

“That’s the stuff!” Both shouted.

They looked at each other and grinned. “Hah!”

Rainbow Dash wiped some of the foam from the beer off her lips and raised an eyebrow at Godfrey. “So I told you why I’m here but what are you doing so far from Griffonstone in the first place?”

“Well I told you I left a long time ago, right?” Godfrey shrugged. “Can’t say there was any big reason like flying around the world, I just didn’t like Griffonstone that much. Boring place, annoying brother and sister, I wanted to have some fun.”

“Actually that’s kind of the same reason I first left Equestria. The whole being the first pony to fly all the way around the world thing came later. Started out because I was bored and wanted to do some adventuring,” Rainbow told him.

“Heh, I guess great minds think alike then,” he said to her and brought his mug up for another toast.

“Guess so,” Rainbow grinned and they took another drink together.

“And boy I’ve sure seen my fair share of adventure ever since leaving Griffonstone too. Probably nothing too crazy compared to what someone flying around the whole world has seen, but it’s still been a pretty crazy adventure for me so far. I don’t regret ditching Griffonstone one bit. The Grand Ocean has given me everything I wanted and more,” Godfrey said.

“Nice, that’s exactly the kind of thing I wanted to hear. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to have the same kind of adventure here you have,” Rainbow said.

“I’m rooting for ya. And the ocean’s a big, big, place with a lot to see. I’m sure you’ll find something,” Godfrey nodded. “Speaking of stuff like that—you got any stories to tell about your journey? Or hey, I bet you have a ton of stories to tell about your life even before you started this. Being a hero of Equestria and all that.”

Rainbow Dash felt her grin grow even wider as she put her hooves behind her head and leaned back. Godfrey was stoking her ego and she was enjoying every minute of it. “I definitely do. What about you? I wouldn’t mind hearing about the kind of stuff that goes on out there on the ocean—what do you do anyways? Do you sail a ship or something?”

“Sail wherever I want, do whatever I want,” Godfrey shrugged. “Got my own ship and everything. I guess you could say I go looking for treasure or any wild rumors that sound exciting. I’m a thrillseeker, that’s pretty much as deep as I get. Like I said, Griffonstone got old fast… got some fun stories about my family and some of the stuff I got into there though, but that was pretty much right before I got fed up and finally left it behind.”

“Didn’t get along with your brother and sister, huh? And you don’t need to explain the thrillseeking part with me, I totally get that,” Rainbow Dash nodded along.

“I bet you do—I’ve got a good eye for others and I get the feeling you and me like to have a lot of fun. Sitting around and doing nothing makes my feathers itch,” Godfrey said.

“Totally. That’s why tomorrow I’m getting right back out there and looking for a way to travel this ocean. I know it’s got a lot to offer me,” Rainbow said.

“Well then how about for the rest of the night the two of us just drink here and relax before you start prospecting for an adventure again? It’s all on me,” Godfrey winked.

“Sounds like a plan!” Rainbow raised her mug again and took another drink.

“-and so then I say to my sister “Those aren’t tail feathers”. You wouldn’t believe the look on her face! She knocked me into next week, gehahahaha!” Godfrey loudly guffawed after finishing up his story.

“Pfffhahahahaha!” Rainbow laughed along with him. “You’re kidding me? That really happened?”

“Honest eagle,” Godfrey promised. “Hah! I was probably going to get kicked out of Griffonstone at that rate anyways.”

“It’s changed a lot for the better since you left,” Rainbow told him.

Godfrey shrugged. “Meh. The Grand Ocean’s my home now—and it’s way more fun than Griffonstone could ever be. Maybe I’d go back someday to visit but I can’t say I even care to make the plans for a trip like that now. Got plenty still going on here.”

“Fair enough,” Rainbow said and took a sip of her fourth mug of beer.

They had been drinking and sharing stories for hours now. Godfrey would tell one, then Rainbow would tell him about one of her recent adventures. Both of them had been drinking heavily, him even more than her, and were very much enjoying the evening and each other’s company. By now Rainbow had mostly finished up telling him about her trip around the world (he was one of the few who didn’t think she was lying about the giant pegasus she found) and he was just going on about old stories from home before he left. The two had a natural rapport.

Godfrey brought his own mug up to his beak, tilting his head back and downing its entire contents at once. “Ahhh… well, I think that’s all I should be drinking tonight. Might be busy tomorrow, just came here to drink and relax anyways, wasn’t expecting to meet a pony like you in this dive.”

“Yeah me too honestly… I wasn’t exactly planning to drink so much,” Rainbow said as she sighed and relaxed on her barstool.

“Might have to spend a day resting up tomorrow instead,” Godfrey suggested.

“Heh, no way, things aren’t going to stop moving just because I’m hungover,” Rainbow grinned.

“Hah! Aint that the truth!” Godfrey laughed. He put his now empty mug down onto the bar and yawned, taking a big stretch. “Well it was a really fun evening, I’ll say that, but unfortunately now I’ve got a bunch of smelly sailors and a seaworn ship to get back to. Bit of a flight to reach it from here.”

“You’re not just at the docks out front?” Rainbow asked.

“Naw, too crowded, I like to lay anchor somewhere a bit quieter,” Godfrey said. He stood up from his barstool and Rainbow Dash got a good look at just how broad-chested and top heavy for a griffon he was. He reached his talon into his coat again and took out another gold coin before tossing it to her. “That’s for giving me a fun night. Get yourself some real food and water tomorrow. Goodbye, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash caught the coin and smiled at him as he walked away to the bar’s front door. “Bye, Godfrey. It was super cool getting to talk to someone from Griffonstone. Especially someone who knows how to have a good time and has some awesome stories, like you. Still surprised about that. And hey, if you spend most of your time out on the Grand Ocean, then maybe we’ll see each other again out there when I’m traveling over it.”

Godfrey paused and looked over his shoulder at her with a wide grin opening his beak. “Maybe we will, I bet it’d be a lot of fun if we happened to cross paths again out there.”

He gave a curt wave and exited through the doors, letting them close behind him.

“Heh,” Rainbow was in a good mood as she put the coin he had gifted her into the pouch around her neck and then grabbed her mug to finish off the last few sips of beer she had left. As her buzz slowly died down, it occurred to her how much she had lost track of time talking and drinking with her new griffon friend, and the fact that she still had no place to stay for the night.

Author's Note

If you're a reader who's been following my stories since more or less the beginning, you'll know how long I've been waiting to introduce this guy.