The Land Unspoken

   Pinkie Pie’s usual cheerfulness had returned after the initial incident, and after they packed camp and moved off she resumed talking animatedly. Twilight appreciated the attempt to keep their spirits up, but for one pony in particular, the forced joviality was having the adverse effect.

“Pinkie Pie, will you please shut up?”

Tired from her earlier scouting, and restless from strict orders not to fly in unknown territories, Rainbow Dash’s patience was low, and she was growing more and more annoyed at Pinkie’s jokes. Applejack, being the first to spot the problem, motioned to Pinkie and quietly told her to back off, but that didn’t solve the problem. Twilight settled for positioning herself between the two while they walked but still Dash would occasionally glance over angrily and mutter under her breath. They made it through the day without incident, however, and as the sun set the group encountered an abandoned farmhouse where they could stay the night. The house was mostly intact, but the door and some of the surrounding walls were missing, suggesting it had been hit by some sort of explosion.

As they were readying themselves for the night Rainbow Dash approached Twilight.

“You think I should go out and scout while it’s night time?” asked Dash. “I’ll be much harder to see in the dark.”

“But Dash, you’re asleep on your hooves anyway! You can’t stay awake all the time!” Twilight replied anxiously.

“Pah!” the pegasus replied “I’ll be fine.”

Twilight sighed, seeing the defiance in Dash’s eyes. “Very well,” she said, “but be careful! If you see anything suspicious, come back immediately and report it to whoever’s on watch, okay?”

The pegasus was already joyfully in the air, and only a faint response came back as she disappeared off into the night. Twilight sighed again and turned to the others, who were already led down asleep, although Derpy was reading a book and writing something by moonlight. Twilight was the first on watch for the night and lay down in the doorway watching the stars. Here she remained, seeing no sign of Rainbow Dash, until it was time to wake Applejack for the next watch. After being relieved, she fell almost instantly asleep.

The next day, Twilight woke to find Rainbow Dash was back. According to Pinkie Pie (who had been on watch for the third and final portion of the night) the pegasus had only returned in the early hours of the morning and had not slept at all that night. Gritting her teeth at her friend’s stubbornness, Twilight asked the results of the scouting mission.

“Fluttershy is about two days travel ahead,” the pegasus replied, “they’re slowing a bit; we just need to follow this road and we’ll be able to gain some ground. Like you said Twilight, the land gets a bit nicer as we go on. It is kinda… odd, though.”

“Odd? How?” asked Twilight.

“Everything’s all… weird” answered Dash with a frown. She was clearly struggling to find words to describe her experience. “There’re trees and plants and things but they’re not behaving like anything I’ve seen before… You’ll have to see for yourself.”

Twilight nodded and was about to suggest a late start so Dash could get some sleep when the pegasus picked up her unused bedroll and joined the others. Twilight decided not to mention her friend’s evident tiredness. As they set off she caught Applejack’s eye and they shared a worried glance behind Dash’s back.

Finally the vegetation began to look healthier and Fluttershy’s spirits began to perk up. She hadn’t realised how much the dying flora had been affecting her emotions, but now she began to see greenery as they passed deeper into the forest and just some of the tension she had been feeling over the past days melted away.

Perhaps ‘greenery’ wasn’t the correct word, however. The vegetation that was gradually replacing the barren landscape was incredibly odd. Many of the plants were familiar, but intermingled with the common plants were oddities, many completely out of season. A giant baobab tree on her left was covered in fungus, and next to it grew an apple tree. Next to that was a palm tree, followed immediately by a weeping willow. The vegetation was scattered randomly; trees normally found on opposite sides of the world grew happily side by side. Many of the plants were so exotic or rare that Fluttershy, an expert on plants and animals alike, didn’t recognise them.

It wasn’t only the plants that were strange however. Animals appeared at intervals, many exhibiting incredibly odd behaviour. Fluttershy once saw a field containing a seemingly ordinary flock of sheep, marred only by the darker forms of wolves lying amongst them. Neither sheep nor wolves seemed bothered by the other’s presence. Before Fluttershy could do anything but stare, however, the rapidly moving cart brought her instead a scene of an elephant attempting to groom a tiger with its trunk. Next up was an alligator sleeping peacefully upside down in a tree.

The scenes were almost comical for their ridiculousness, but Fluttershy felt twinges of alarm each time she spotted such a scene. The oddities exhibited here worried her; it seemed as if some sort of illness had turned every animal mad. She settled with watching the scenes anxiously as they scrolled past, a slideshow of madness playing through the bars of her cage, and desperately trying to rationalise each scene, as if by doing so she could remove such oddities and restore order.

Her thoughts were cut short, however, as, approaching midday on their fourth day since crossing under the mountain, the convoy suddenly stopped, and a pony turned to face her. It was the same one who had warned her of the barrier at the entrance to the caves, and when he spoke again, the speech was very similar.

“We are ordered to inform you that we are approaching our master’s castle.” he began. “You are ordered to be respectful to him and obey his will at all times. You are being given a great privilege in seeing him.”

With that he turned and began walking as the cart moved off again, not even waiting for an answer.

Privilege? Fluttershy thought, It’s hardly a voluntary visit.

She considered simply throwing this ‘Master’ an insult and hoping he killed her quickly rather than subjecting her to a life of slavery like the mindless beasts that escorted her. But the thought was quickly rejected; better to feign meekness and find some way of escaping once she had earned his trust. With a firm plan in mind, she began to feel a little more hopeful and turned to face the mountain that loomed in their path with determination in her eyes.

Meanwhile, far behind, Twilight was walking, lost in thought, when she was interrupted by a shout of alarm from Rarity who was at the front of the party. Rainbow Dash’s night-time expedition had given her the confidence, despite Twilight’s protests, to scout in the daytime. Now, however, she was returning at speed, and three black shapes were in hot pursuit.

Rainbow Dash had been fleeing for less then ten minutes, yet it felt like days. It seemed so cruel that now she was in sight of her friends, she was about to be caught. Her bedraggled wings and exhausted muscles gave her nothing of her usual speed and grace and, despite her best efforts, the shadows were closing fast. She began to drop, angling her dive downwards as steeply as she could, hoping gravity might give her the speed she needed. But even as she did so, a shock ran up her body.

The leading bird had hold of her tail in its cruel beak. She twisted in the air and lashed out repeatedly with her hind legs, desperate to shake it off, but her evasive manoeuvres only slowed her down, and brought the other birds in faster. Desperately she gave an almighty kick, and managed to dislodge the bird, turning to see the second about to hit her.

With little time to react, she slammed her wings downwards as hard as she could. Aching muscles protested violently but she shot upwards and managed to evade the second bird, only to find the third about to hit her. She folded her wings and prepared to drop, knowing she would be too late…

A grey blur streaked past her and slammed into her attacker. The bird immediately lost interest in Rainbow Dash as consciousness escaped it. Derpy angled her flight without even slowing and ploughed into another bird as it wheeled to face the new threat. The first impact had stunned her, but the second was still strong enough to knock her new target out of the air.

The final bird, however, had grabbed Rainbow Dash around the midriff as she tried to drop and, exhausted as she was, the pegasus could barely hold her own. She desperately blocked the stabbing beak as they spiralled dangerously towards the ground. About to be overwhelmed, she turned, desperately looking for Derpy, but the grey pegasus was far too far away to help and the moment of distraction cost Dash dearly. For a split second she was unable to defend against the bird’s attacks, and it caught her wing in its beak, crushing the delicate feathers. Gritting her teeth against the pain Dash bit down hard on the bird’s leg but it barely seemed to notice as it spread its wings and halted their descent.

Unfortunately for the bird, the halt proved to be its downfall as Derpy dropped in from above. The grey pegasus landed on the bird’s outstretched wing, grabbed hold, and rode the wing as her weight bent it downwards. She locked her jaws around the bird’s other leg. With one wing folded, and now trying to hold both the pegasi in the air, the bird tilted. It was forced to release Rainbow Dash and turn to face the new threat. Derpy dodged upwards then grasped the bird’s head, spinning it upside down and landing on its breast. Now she fell with the bird, just as Dash had done, two creatures of the air locked together and heading rapidly for the ground. Unfortunately for the member of the group currently facing upwards, however, the ground was very close and so the bird was taken completely by surprise when Derpy suddenly spread her wings and slowed her descent.

It was even more surprised, albeit very briefly, by the ground. There was a very audible crunch.

Derpy landed triumphantly, but went cold as she remembered Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had fallen from the bird’s grip but, injured as she was, would be unable to slow her own fall. She spun anxiously but sighed in relief as she saw her fellow pegasus floating in a bubble of magic. Twilight steered the injured pegasus downwards, her horn glowing softly.

The bubble popped when it reached the ground and Dash stepped out. She spread her wings again, nodded a thanks to Twilight, and attempted to take flight once more, but her hooves barely left the ground before her injured wing gave way and dumped her on her face. She rose on shaking legs.

“Careful Dash,” said Derpy sweetly, “you don’t want to cause any more damage than you’ve already done.”

The rainbow pegasus gave Derpy a sour look as Twilight came up from the side and began to inspect her damaged wing. “What happened?” asked the unicorn anxiously.

Dash was still glaring at Derpy. “I just don’t know what went wrong!” she snapped at the grey pegasus. If Derpy’s grin had been any wider the top of her head would have fallen off. Dash ignored her and turned to Twilight. “I was scouting,” she began, “then these three came out of nowhere! I barely escaped alive, and they chased me all the way back here. I guess I invaded a nest; but I didn’t see anything!”

“Rainbow Dash, what did I tell you about scouting in the daytime?” said Twilight.

“I… I thought it was safe. I guess not. Sorry Twilight.”

“It’s fine. At least this wing’ll stop you flying for a while. You can finally get some rest!”

“Yeah” replied the pegasus sadly. She turned to Derpy. “Uhh, thanks for the help. What were those things anyway?”

“Peregrin’ falcons.” It was Applejack who replied. The earth pony was standing next to what was left of the last bird after Derpy had introduced it to the ground. “But they’re huge! I ain’t ever seen a peregrin’ this big!”

It was true. The non-flyers hadn’t noticed it at the distance, but here on the ground the sheer size of the bird was evident. It was fully half again as long as any of them from beak to tail. Twilight shuddered as she looked it over; the beak and talons were razor sharp and looked deadly. She found new respect in her for the courage Derpy had shown in rescuing Rainbow Dash alone.

“Eww!” Rarity exclaimed as she approached the bird beside Applejack “that smells horrible! Where’d you find it Rainbow Dash?”

“I didn’t ‘find’ it” the pegasus replied in exasperation “It… kinda found me. I was some way off to the west, thought I’d have a little rest and BAM! Feathers everywhere. Mine mostly. They chased me all the way back here.”

“Why were you scouting so far off course?” replied Twilight in alarm, “we’re heading north, remember?”

Rainbow Dash mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Didn’t quite catch that?”

“I was following a butterfly!” the pegasus snarled. “It was the first sign of life for days and I was curious, okay?”

Rarity was about to respond, but Pinkie Pie chipped in: “Well! Seems like we haven’t lost Fluttershy after all!” she exclaimed and fell over laughing. The others joined in, all except Rainbow Dash who stood watching them coldly. When they showed no sign of stopping she turned and began to walk away, finding new strength in her anger. Sobering up, the others followed her.

The convoy had begun to climb upwards, taking a path up the slopes of a huge mountain. They had left the forest and its oddities behind, but Fluttershy’s anxiety was replaced by nervousness as their journey approached its close. Her plans suddenly seemed flimsy in the face of their impending arrival.

It took them almost two days to climb to the top of the mountain up the well-worn path, and Fluttershy’s nervousness only increased by the hour as they approached the summit. There, a huge black castle loomed out of the mist.

“Hey Fluttershy!” Ditto called mockingly “how’re you feeling about meeting ‘The Master’?”

The title was spoken in an eerie voice, and the little pony then began to perform a very bad imitation of a terrified Fluttershy: “Ooh, please don’t hurt me Master, I’ll do anything you want!” He sniggered and began to jeer at her, but it seemed half hearted. Ditto’s mockery had taken a noticeable decline over the last few days; clearly he too was feeling the draining effect of being in the shadow of the castle. It was like a physical force, the huge black structure blocked out the sun and suddenly you felt so… cold...

Shortly, they reached the entrance. The front wall of the castle was dominated by a huge set of double doors, made of thick oak and reinforced with iron bars. It swung open soundlessly as they approached. Before they stepped through, Fluttershy’s cage was unlocked and, wings bound, she was escorted in by two of her captors. The rest turned and, leading the empty cage, began to walk back the way they had come.

The entrance led immediately into an ornate throne room. A single huge window covered most of the rear wall, while tapestries covered the other three. The two side walls each contained two balconies from some unseen side rooms and curved upwards towards a high, domed ceiling.

The scene would have seemed almost homely were it not for the shades over the window muting the light passing through, and the fact that each tapestry was entirely greyscale. A grey throne, matching the grey walls, floor and ceiling, sat on a raised dais near the rear of the hall, and a blood red carpet, startling for its colour, led up to it. It was along this carpet that Fluttershy was lead. A cage sat beside the throne, and it was here she was placed and told to remain until the master came to speak to her.

As if I have a choice, she thought sadly.

It was some time later (Fluttershy had already lost track of time; the shaded window showed nothing of the outside and it was impossible to even tell if it was day or night) that a different pony entered the room. He was grey like the others but much larger, and the dull colouring of his body was offset by a blood red mane. The colouring reminded her of the castle itself, and Fluttershy assumed this must be the ‘master’. With surprise, she also noted the resemblance to Ditto, and recalled the foal referring to Fluttershy’s captor as his father. On cue, Ditto emerged into the room awkwardly, following the larger pony who spoke in a voice deep and powerful.

“Fluttershy I presume? How delightful to meet you.” His tone spoke otherwise. “My name is Xerox. I hope you’re comfortable?”

“I’m in a cage” she replied flatly, noting with surprise how level her own voice was.

“You are indeed, and you would do well to remember that. Now then,” He began to circle her, “perhaps you would like to know why you are here?”

Fluttershy stared straight ahead and didn’t reply. Xerox continued after a pause; “Well, my dear, you are here because somepony amongst your useless rulers seems to have finally noticed my work. I decided that if I had a little leverage, perhaps they would be more inclined to leave me alone, hmm?”

“So I’m ‘leverage’?” replied Fluttershy flatly. “But surely that will just make you more of a target? If you’ve captured me, people will come to my rescue.”

“Ah, but that is the wonderful thing! They can’t! Did you like my little piece of protection? It shows a pony their worst nightmare! Even I myself could not pass it! How can anypony hope to challenge me if they must first battle themselves?”

That, thought Fluttershy, is because you’re clearly not as strong as you think you are. The truth in the statement hit Fluttershy hard, however, and she redoubled her conviction to escape on her own. This thought brought with it the memory of her thoughts outside the castle: look meek and accepting, gain his trust. She dropped her head.

“Ahh, much better,” replied Xerox in a softer voice “you see how easy things are if we co-operate? Now I must leave, and do some of my vitally important work. I shall order you something to eat. Ditto!” now his voice was suddenly harsh and his son approached him submissively. “With me.” He stalked from the room, dejected son following behind.

Twilight was walking, once again lost in her own thoughts, when Applejack approached her. The earth pony seemed agitated and when she spoke it was barely more than a whisper.

“Twi,” she began “don’t look back, but we’re bein’ followed.”

“Really?” Twilight replied, keeping her voice low, “any idea what it is?”

“Just another pony, one of Xerox’s lot,” the earth pony replied, “followin’ us a few miles back. Seems to be alone, but I ain’t sure. Want me to take a look?”

“If you like. Be careful.”

Applejack grinned and vanished into the trees while Twilight mulled over this new development. She had been surprised at the complete lack of defences around Xerox’s kingdom, but perhaps now they had triggered a trap and he had sent a pony to investigate. It seemed surprising that, now Rainbow Dash was ground bound and they were less obtrusive, they had only now been spotted. Nevertheless, Twilight was confident in the earth pony’s abilities.

Applejack returned at nightfall as they were making camp. None of the others had mentioned her departure but now she was back they clustered around to hear what she had to say.

“There’s a unicorn followin’ us,” she began quietly, “she’s under Xerox’s control.”

“A unicorn?” Pinkie Pie injected “I thought all of the Reppy-like-us were earth ponies?”

There was a pause.

“You mean the Replicus?”

“Yeah! Those things!”

“Well,” said Twilight, “apparently not. The fact this one’s kept her horn suggests she might be quite powerful. Let her follow us for now. It’s best if we avoid confronting her unless we have to.”

Are they even trying to sneak?

Shuriken Star had long since abandoned her name. Names were fickle things, designed to constrain you and curb your talent. Why should she only be a ‘star’ with shurikens? Why not every weapon?

She had, of course, perfected every weapon she knew of.

The Replicus rarely had a chance to speak to one another, and even when they did they rarely spoke to her, but she had discovered many rumours spread of her deeds. A master assassin, highly trained and able to eliminate any target with any weapon imaginable. A unicorn, with magical power second only to Xerox himself, powerful enough that she was allowed to keep her horn upon Replication (this was the name given to the transformation when a pony fell under Xerox’s spell). Finally, a master diplomat, cunning, manipulative and loyal only to Xerox. She was his personal strike force, solely responsible for the capture of at least half of the current Replicus.

For this particular mission she had chosen a blowgun. It was quiet and deadly. She would strike once to panic them, then pick them off one by one while they chased at shadows. She had carefully assessed the group and decided to strike at the orange one first; the one who had slipped away earlier to spy on the illusion Shuriken had placed following the party.

As they made camp for the night she moved into position. The site they had chosen was one of several possibilities Shuriken had scouted earlier that day, and so by the time the group had laid their bedrolls out she was already in position. From her hiding place, a bush just yards from where the white unicorn was lying down for sleep, she assembled her blowgun, keeping her eyes locked on the orange pony. Conveniently her target seemed to be the one on watch for the night.

Just then, the signals from her peripheral vision alerted her. She turned her head slowly, letting the soft wind mask the faint rustling, and almost swallowed her tongue.

“Hi!” exclaimed a bright pink face inches from Shuriken’s own. “What’s your name?”

HOW DID SHE-

The orange pony spun around. “Hey! What’re you doin’ sneakin’ around our camp?”

Skuriken dropped her blowgun and leapt up with her horn glowing.

Twilight winced as Applejack smoothly dodged the magical bolt and bucked the newcomer into a tree. Pinkie Pie advanced on the comatose unicorn evilly.

“Pinkie!” Twilight’s call brought the earth pony up short.

“Yes?”

“Just… Rarity and I will block her magic, and we’ll take away her weapons. If she struggles too much, let her up, okay? I don’t want to kill her.”

“Okie Doki, Loki!” replied the earth pony, positioning herself on top of the unicorn. Applejack sat alongside her. Twilight readied her spell and nodded to them.

When Shuriken awoke she was upside down against a tree. Two unicorns glared at her and a weight on her back suggested the earth ponies were holding her down. The orange pony’s face appeared in her vision, upside down.

“Try that again,” it said sweetly, “and you’re goin’ into orbit. Now, what were you doin’ sneakin’ around our camp in the dark?”

Shuriken stayed quiet and instead shifted, angrily. Another face appeared in her vision. This one was familiarly pink.

“You reeeaally don’t want to be struggling!” it said dramatically.

“Why?” Shuriken snapped back.

  “Weeell, Twilight gave me orders on what to do to you if you resisted. I don’t want to have to do it, but I will. That’s right isn’t it Twilight? You told me very specifically what I was to do if she struggled too much?”

“Uhh…”

Twilight had seen people exploit a bad hand, but Pinkie Pie was bluffing with no cards. As the black unicorn turned to face her she adopted a fiercer look. “I did. I suggest you answer my friend’s question. What were you doing sneaking around our camp?”

Shuriken drew herself up as much as was possible. “I am an expert in magic, armed combat, unarmed combat, stealth, diplomacy, all forms of…”

“Modesty?” interrupted the grey pegasus, dropping from the tree in front of her. Shuriken glared at her.

“I am Xerox’s personal assassin! I am far above the likes of you!” Shuriken felt her voice ascend into hysterics and angrily asserted control over herself.

“Oh for goodness sake,” the white unicorn now stepped forward. Shuriken began to struggle again. “Pinkie Pie, do it.”

Shuriken felt something then that she had not felt in a long time. These ponies had somehow detected and overpowered her, something none had been able to do for centuries.

And she was afraid of them.

She ignored the feeling and faced the white unicorn contemptuously, but could not suppress a wince when the pressure was released from her back.

Several seconds later, when death by ‘It’ didn’t occur, she looked up.

“Remember” said the purple unicorn. “We had your life at our mercy, and we’ve chosen to let you go. Take that for a weakness if you must, but don’t bother us again.”

Shuriken was, as had already been explained, a master of unarmed combat. She could quite easily take on these six, and would probably win.

Probably.

Um.

She turned and slunk off into the trees.

Four pairs of eyes watched the black unicorn go, with the usual slight question mark where Derpy was concerned.

One pair that didn’t was the one belonged to Rainbow Dash who was already asleep.

The second belonged to Twilight who was watching the sleeping pegasus anxiously. Rainbow Dash had taken no part in the proceedings, simply watching the action from afar. Something was troubling her, and Twilight vowed to keep a close eye on the rainbow pegasus over the coming days.

Rainbow Dash’s irritation was growing by the day. The brief period where she had flown made her current earthbound state doubly as bad as it might otherwise have been. She often found herself looking longingly up into the air, but then the stark memory would return of how close she had come to disaster and her injured wing would begin itching again. Pinkie Pie wasn’t helping either with her constant jokes and laughter. To the sullen Rainbow Dash every joke, every laugh, seemed directed at her. Not only that, but they had begun to climb upwards, and the going was tough. Dash’s legs ached. She was tired, unused to walking such long distances, and yearned for the freedom of the air. Then her wing would itch and the cycle of thoughts would begin anew. On top of this, rain had begun to fall again and the constant, depressing, stream did nothing for her mood.

Contrary to Twilight’s thoughts, Rainbow Dash hadn’t even noticed the assassination attempt; she had already been asleep when it started and exhaustion had kept her that way. The next night, however, was eventless and her condition was finally noticed. Rarity noticed the clumsy movements as Dash prepared her bedroll and called over.

“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” she replied, turning away “just a little tired.”

“Well maybe if you’d been sleeping as much as I told you too, this wouldn’t have happened.” Twilight added as Dash turned to face her. The pegasus bit back a retort and turned back around. This time it was Pinkie Pie’s face that filled her vision.

“Hey Dash, you know what would wake you up? A party!” she exclaimed “A party always helps!”

“Pinkie Pie, a party I the last thing I want right now. Watch your tongue.” Dash replied, gritting her teeth and turning away.

“Watch my tongue?” Pinkie said, “but that’s impossible!” she demonstrated by sticking her tongue out and going cross eyed. Rainbow Dash turned away again and growled under her breath. Oblivious to this, Pinkie giggled at her own joke and continued talking animatedly. “Ooh, how about a song? They do that in stories!”

Something inside Rainbow Dash snapped. Days of mockery, exhaustion and resentment all came to the fore in one massive surge of anger. She lashed out with her rear hooves, catching Pinkie Pie full in the face and knocking her into the mud. Lightning flashed as she turned, illuminating her face just for a second, and Pinkie cowered at what she saw there.

“Well, Pinkie Pie, guess what? This is NOT a story! Now Leave. Me. ALONE!”

She spun and stalked off into the night, leaving the wide-eyed faces of her friends behind her.