The endless expanse of the valley rolled past Luna’s window. She remembered seeing this valley on her map, a lowlands basin nestled between the Foal and Canterhorn mountain ranges. They called it the Valley of Flowers. She vaguely remembered someponies in her sister’s court discussing it as something of an emerging tourist destination.

She could understand why, the landscape really was quite gorgeous. She had thoroughly enjoyed her trek to Valley Dale, as well as the days that she had spent wandering the countryside surrounding the town after her first departure. Her current journey was admittedly less pleasant due to the circumstances surrounding it, but watching the scenery was a fine way to pass the time.

The former princess was very used to extended journeys through Equestria in carriages. She had long since learned to pass the time with idle thoughts, admiring the breadth and beauty of Equestria. However, it appeared that her young apprentice had no such patience. Windy fiddled and appeared agitated for almost the entirety of their trek so far.

Perhaps extended time to ruminate on her thoughts was exactly what she wanted to avoid?

Understandable, given the trauma that she had recently experienced. For most of the days of their journeys so far, Windy had been outside of the carriage as she soared above them amongst the clouds and wind currents. Even though Luna wanted to spend more time getting to know her new ward, she did nothing to discourage these jaunts. It was probably good for the filly's mental health to burn off her agitated energy and think over her thoughts. Or so she thought anyway.

The lieutenant had initially been hesitant to allow her apprentice such free rein, but once Luna made it clear they weren’t prisoners—and that she would raise Tartarus if he tried to confine them—he reluctantly conceded. Although, he kept a close eye on the filly.

Perhaps he saw the young pegasus as another potential pressure point to stab at Luna with and wanted to keep her close or maybe he was simply a control freak and was loath to let any variable venture too far out of his control. Either option seemed plausible based on what she knew about the officer.

It was a little past noon and the convoy of soldiers had recently resumed movement after a short break for lunch. Windy was currently sitting across from her, staring out the window with evident boredom. She had flown on her own for most of the morning.

Luna decided to make conversation with the filly to help relieve her lack of stimulation. The perfect entry for discussion presented itself in the form of an aspect of Windy's appearance that the former princess had overlooked until now. A gold ribbon that she used to tie up her mane into a high ponytail.

She didn't think much of it initially but after the populace of Valley Dale had bid them farewell while wearing black ribbons, she wondered if there was some sort of meaning to the colours. The blue ribbon that Windy had given her came to the forefront of her mind as well. It matched nicely with her illusionary mane but she was now curious if there was anything more significant to the choice of colour than mere aesthetics.

“The colours of the ribbons, do they mean anything?” Luna broached while gesturing to the gold ribbon in Windy's mane. The filly looked a little startled at the sudden breaking of silence with the question being directed at her.

She took a moment to ponder before answering. “Yes, well… sorta. Not all colours are symbolic but a few certainly have meaning,” She started to explain. “To start with, white ribbons are worn during mourning, you probably saw at least a few of them after the attack.”

The explanation cast Luna’s mind back to her stay at Valley Dale. The entirety of the nursing staff at the clinic had worn their manes up with white ribbons. She had assumed that it was a part of their uniform. She also vaguely recalled many more white ribbons at the funeral but hadn't thought much of it until now.

Windy continued. “Darker, more practical colours like brown, grey and green are worn during work hours but they don't really have much meaning.” She dismissed with a flicked of her hoof. “Brighter colours like pink, yellow or orange are more festive and celebratory. We use them during holidays or parades.”

The last explanation confused Luna slightly, as she remembered a very different color scheme during her first departure, prompting her to voice her question. “I remember many coloured ribbons during my parade. A great variety of all colours, including white and darker tones.”

Windy just shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, y'know, the rules aren’t exactly... strict. Tossing ribbons, hanging them up—it’s more about the spirit of it. It's only really when you weave them in your mane or display them prominently that they are intended to be taken as a statement. Otherwise, it's just aesthetics.” She clarified before continuing.

“Gold or Silver,” Windy said, gesturing to the golden ribbon in her mane. “are usually worn during weddings or after foal birth, but it's a general symbol of positive change or renewal in a pony's life.” She explained.

“Like a new apprenticeship?” Luna asked.

Windy smiled appreciatively and nodded.

“The blue one that I gave you,” She gestured towards Luna’s own mane and the small braid in which the dark blue ribbon had been woven. “Is meant to be given as a gift, so show thanks and gratitude.” She blushed slightly, which the alicorn found adorable.

However, the former princess noticed one notable colour that had gone unexplained. “And black ribbons?”

Windy looked slightly more uncomfortable at that question. “You noticed that too when we left?” She took a moment to consider her answer. “Black ribbons are worn in times of war.”

The young pegasus paused for a moment to leave the heavy statement up in the air, so thought the topic was serious enough in her mind to warrant waiting a little while for its gravity to sink in.

“Ever since ancient times, our warriors would wear black ribbons into battle. The ponies of Valley Dale wore them to honour you as a sort of champion of the town, who is going into a proverbial battle on their behalf, “She explained, gesturing a wing at her new mentor. “It was also probably intended as a statement of hostility against the soldiers that threatened us.”

Luna nodded at that. It made sense in context. She was honestly a bit sorry that she had squandered the opportunity to learn more about Valley Dale's culture during her stay. It sounded like an intriguing and richly historied way of life for such a new town.

That last thought rang discordantly in Luna’s mind with a sentence that Windy had just said.

“Ever since ancient times?” The disguised alicorn inquired. “Isn't Valley Dale a New Town? Founded less than a hundred years ago.”

Windy raised an eyebrow at the question before seeming to ponder her response, her hoof lightly tapping against the hardwood armrest of the seat. “Technically yes… sorta,” She began to explain. “The town itself was founded about ninety years ago but the history of our ancestors goes back way further.”

The filly leaned forward as she became more engrossed in telling the tale of her town. “I'm sure that you noticed that a higher than average proportion of Valley Dale's population were pegasi?” She questioned in a seemingly unrelated tangent.

Luna decided to entertain the question, though and cast her mind back to her time in Valley Dale and realised that she had indeed seen far more pegasi than unicorns or earth ponies. That in of itself wasn't too strange. Equestria’s racial demography wasn't uniformly distributed and pegasi were more likely to be seen out and about than any other race. Earth ponies were usually farming in the fields or busy with trades like carpentry. Unicorns tended to prefer more artisanal skills like dressmaking or enchanting.
While pegasi drifted to professions like couriers or weather management that made them a more common sight in the street.

Luna assumed there must be something unique about Valley Dale's racial makeup for Windy to draw attention to it. She nodded in affirmation of the filly's question and gestured for her to continue.

“Well, our ancestors were Cumulus Pegasi who once lived in a cloud city before they settled down in the valley.”

Luna’s eyes widened at that. How very unusual.

There were broadly two subspecies of pegasi, Cumulus Pegasi and Alpine Pegasi. It was common enough for the latter to move out of their mountainous villages to intermingle with other ponies but for a community of Cumulus Pegasi to abandon their cloud city and create a surface village was almost unheard of.

Cloud cities like Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus had very strong communal patriotism and were fiercely independent. They did not part with their homes easily. So for one to peacefully dissolve and integrate with the rest of Equestria was a very unique backstory for Valley Dale.

“Oh?” Luna exclaimed, eager to hear more on the topic.

Windy looked pleased that Luna was well-read enough in pegasi culture to understand the significance of the statement.

“Our home was once called Windsdale. It's where my family gets its name. We were a small mercantile, trading settlement, that drifted across kingdoms and traded in exotic goods. Although, we eventually specialised in trading dyes and textiles. It was very profitable for a long time.” She explained to her mentor.

“Not profitable enough to keep doing it forever though?” Luna interjected.

Windy shook her head. “No, after Discord was defeated and his abominations were gone, overland travel became more viable between disconnected cities. It grew cheaper to do trade over land or sea, so Windsdale was seen as an expensive and unnecessary middlepony.”

The filly sounded rather bitter about Windsdale's turn of fortune, which surprised Luna. Outside of protesting against Guile's threats to her home, Windy had never expressed much attachment to her home, much less reminiscing about past glory days.

“Land was up for grabs in the empty countryside and Valley Dale was originally a colony of sorts. The Valley of Flowers, as its name would suggest, has a lot of flowers and can be turned into dyes. Flax plants also grew easily in the valley, letting us make linen and other textiles. We weren't just traders anymore, we were producers and pocketed all the profits.” Windy rattled off without hesitation. She was very clearly well-informed about her town's history. Very passionate about it as well.

“Sounds like an ideal situation,” Luna commented. “However, I presume that the good times didn't last forever?” She ventured, presuming that another turn of fortunes was imminent. Valley Dale was by no means in a terrible situation when she arrived but she never would have imagined that such an unassuming town was once a burgeoning trading empire.

Windy simply shook her head with a slightly morose expression. “More and more ponies began to move to Valley Dale from Windsdale and assimilated with the rest of Equestria. It was simply a more comfortable life for most pegasi than being nomadic merchants. Eventually, with so few ponies left to occupy the cloud city, it could no longer travel and was converted into a vestigial cloud housing district above the new town. However with time, a lack of maintenance caused Windsdale to just… evaporate away.” She finished in a very forlorn tone, almost depressed.

It made sense to Luna that the bold and adventurous youth lament the demise of the free-spirited and independent Windsdale. However, she suspected that there was more to the tale.

“That's not where it ends though, is it?” The former princess inquired.

A shake of the head was once again the answer.

“We were merchants, artisans and traders. We were never as powerful as other cloud cities like Cloudsdale or Las Pegasus. When Old Towns like Fillydelphia started to assert dominance over their surrounding territories, we never stood a chance. The only choice was to submit and we've been straining against the yoke of vassalage ever since.” She finished with a bitter tone.

Luna nodded in understanding. The broad strokes of Valley Dale's story were a common enough one amongst New Towns.

Young and ambitious settlements seeking to strike it out on their own after the fires of Discord's chaotic reign had died down, only to be forcibly reeled back into the oppressive spheres of influence of larger and more established Old Towns.

Luna lamented not being able to do more for towns like Valley Dale when she was Princess but the centralised government of her and her sister was never strong enough to challenge the influence of Old Towns and their nobles without the kingdom fracturing.

The former princess was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice Windy suppress a sly smirk as she took note of her mentor's distraction.

The disguised alicorn was about to offer words of comfort to her apprentice before the young filly unexpectedly continued.

“It was quite a fall for my family, we are descended from a long line of Pegasi Overlords, after all.” She commented nonchalantly, almost too nonchalantly, while looking out of the window.

Luna’s brain skipped a beat as she processed what Windy said.

“Wait, what!” Luna shouted with a queer look of utter bafflement marring her face.

Windy let a small, mischievous smile spread across her face, giggling softly as she noted the former princess’s expression.

Luna adopted a more annoyed frown. “That's quite a claim.” She commented flatly with no small amount of scepticism.

Overlords were the monarchs of ancient pegasus kingdoms. Though the title has effectively become extinct over the past few thousand years. Some tribal leaders like Reverberating Infamy have tried to claim the mantle but they are usually dismissed as pretenders. It's quite the lineage to lay claim to.

Seeing the obviously disbelieving face of her mentor, Windy began to explain. “It's not something that is widely known outside of the family. Thousands of years ago, Windsdale was once a part of the city of Stratopolis. My family were nobles with ties to the royal family.”

Luna’s eyebrows shot up at that. Stratopolis was one of the most powerful pegasus floating kingdoms of the Three Tribes Era. However, during the ice apocalypse brought on by the Windigos, the city simply disappeared and was never seen again. The legend of the lost city of Stratopolis became a myth, rivalled only by Marelantis.

It was a nearly impossible claim. “Windy, I hate to say it but many noble families often propagandise their origins…” Luna began to say but trailed off once she saw the smirk on the filly's face as she began to rummage through her saddlebag.

The young pegasus eventually produced a large amulet which she gave to her mentor. “My mother left me this, it's been in the family for a very long time.”

Luna examined the amulet. It was an intricately carved and sizable disk of precious metal that bore the heraldry of a nobility. At a glance, it was as fine a piece of jewellery as a jeweller could produce.

However, below the surface at an arcane level, something far more interesting was to be seen.

The amulet was like nothing Luna had ever seen before. Not only the outrageous complexity of the enchantments but the sheer density. It was an artefact that was far beyond the skill of any enchanter in the kingdom, perhaps even herself.

If she had crafted such an object at the same pace as she had her illusionary cloak, it would have taken her a decade of work. The matrix of enchantment nexuses was such a whirling labyrinth of complexity that it was difficult for Luna to determine what the artifact even did. However, there were a few things that she could determine about the amulet.

Firstly, the enchantments seemed to be divided into an outer layer and an inner core. The outer was an exquisite piece of craftsmanship but nothing extraordinary. It was a standard Seal of Nobility. A crest was given to newly formed noble houses to signify their ascension and were the foundational relics of all noble families. Luna had even created and distributed several during her time as a princess.

An authentic Seal of Nobility, which this seems to be, would by itself be an extraordinary possession for the Wind Family to own. However, this amulet was so much more. The Seal appears to have been grafted on top of something else, something much older.

The threads of enchantment of the outer layer were easy enough to untangle. Durability enchantments, auto-polishing enchantments and several distinctive nexus markers that were probably left by the monarch that had created it as a form of authenticity verification. All standard amenities of a Seal of Nobility.

However, what lay beneath was simply beyond her ability to identify, with nexus patterns and structures that she had never seen before.

Some information could be gleaned from the artefact. The thick, heavy-duty cords that connected the nexuses ran in stark contrast with the delicate, silk-like spiderweb structure that was usually characteristic of enchantmented relics. That indicated that this enchantment matrix intended to handle incredible volumes of magic coursing through it.

Although, despite the obviously robust nature of the matrix, it currently stood utterly dormant. Not a speck of magic flowed through the core structure. There was nothing to feed power into it.

A piece was missing or perhaps it was the missing piece to something.

Windy leaned back in her seat, smirking at the stunned look of awe and wonderment that Luna held in her face as she looked over the Seal. “See? Told you. It was given to my family a long time ago by the Overlord of Stratopolis because we were his blood relatives.” She claimed, not realising the true source of her mentor's startlement.

The former princess simply nodded and gave the amulet back, still not quite sure how to answer.

Luna wasn't certain that the artefact was proof of Windy's claim. She didn't know enough about the nexus markers used by the Overlords of Stratopolis to verify it, but it was certainly proof of something. She just didn't know what.

For an uncomfortable moment Luna contemplated how extraordinarily unlikely it was that she would encounter such a very special young pegasus in possession of such an incredible object.

‘Perhaps nothing was unlikely about it at all?’

A treasonous part of her mind whispered.

‘After all, more improbable things have happened. Such as two fillies, fated to wield the Elements of Harmony, finding themselves apprenticed to the only pony in the world who could find the mythical relics.’

Luna had never been one to give much credence to the idea of destiny. At least not until she had read the prophecies that foretold of her and her sister’s victory against Discord and seen the ancient manuscripts that described her Talent Mark on the trunk of the Tree of Harmony.

She couldn’t help but feel that far greater forces were in motion and something tumultuous was bubbling up within the undercurrents of fate.

A deep dread settled in her heart.

‘Just what have I set into motion?’

Author's Note

SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

Jeez, when was the last time that I got a chapter put this quickly? Maybe never.

I don't know what got into me over the past few days. I just git my stride and stormed through this chapter like I haven't done in a long time.

I think it helps that I didn't plan for this chapter in my outline. So many people in the last chapter commented on how curious they were about the ribbons and wanting to see more Luna/Windy interactions. I suppose that having no laid out plan to adhere to let me flow with the writing.

I understand that there are a lot of moving pieces to keep track of in this story. Stuff that I write about a year ago will become very important in the future. As such, I'm planning to create a Codex of sorts for my story, to keep of important lore and information. I'm also planning a character sheet. However, I can't guarantee when I'll finish with that.

I've created a Discord. I'll be posting updates there about this story and any future projects, as well as justing chatting and hanging out with all of you.

https://discord.gg/QhnsC8zNNz

Big thanks to my Beta-readers:
https://www.fimfiction.net/user/644525/History+Student

I love reading your comments and hearing your opinions. As well as interacting with you guys. Leave your thoughts down below.