A Knight to remember

Chapters

On the shoulders of giants
Of socks and misconceptions
When Ducks Bark and Dogs Quack
The Rule of Assuming
So the stories say.
Upon the cobbles
Two steps forward
Let sleeping dragons lie

On the shoulders of giants

“Wh..what did I just see?” Gideon was still looking down the track in the direction the thing had disappeared, smoke still trailing in its wake, with a mixture of both awe and disbelief. Sure life had been far less predictable in the two years of becoming Sir Wallace’s squire, but even Gideon was having a hard time believing what had just happened.

“So long as you saw several moving carts, traveling quickly, and carrying a kaleidoscope of miniature ponies, then we are fine” Sir Wallace also seemed a little confused as to what he had just witnessed, and it had been a long time since the knight had seen something new and unknown. It felt almost as though he had tried to take a step down only to discover there was no step. The truth was, the thought of something new was exciting, but there was more then just himself to think about at the moment.

Gideon turned to see ‘The Wall’ falter, the man who, through their time together, had been like a rock throughout every challenge. This was Sir Wallace, a knight that had seen it all...all but this it seemed.

“Fine? FINE? How is any of this fine? Where are we? What was that? What were they? I thought you said the travel powder would be safe.”

“Gideon!” The knight’s voice rang out with an authority that slapped the youth in the face harder than even his metal gloves could have. With one word he had the child's full attention, two more followed soon after to keep it.

“Calm. Down.” Sir Wallace talked slowly and calmly, keeping a force to his voice that not only helped stem the tide of panic in his ward, but also gave the child something to grasp onto. While he might not be sure of everything at the moment himself, he was confident and hopeful that everything would turn out for the best, it always had.

“We are fine because we both saw the same thing, and, as the horses also saw something, we can assume that whatever it was, was real, and not some sort of illusion. We are fine because neither of us are hurt or in any immediate danger of becoming hurt. Lastly we are fine because we still have our horses and our supplies. That is why we are fine. You hear me. We. Are. Fine.”

“OK. We are fine” Gideon started to take deep slow breaths while the worry began to seep away. Sir Wallace was here to sort everything out. They had been lost before, this was nothing new. Apart from the pastel ponies riding around of horseless carriages on dwarven tracks. Nope nothing new at all.

“But what did we see? Are those dwarven horses? And what did you mean by ‘not an illusion’”

“I’m still trying to work that out Giddy, and no, while dwarves do keep ponies, they are bigger and stockier than what we just saw, and certainly not multicolored. Something in that forest must have really messed up the travel powder and sent us way off track.” Sir Wallace saw a question already forming in his young companion’s head.

“And before you say it, yes, the travel powder was made correctly. It smelled, looked and acted just as it should. This is not a mistake on our end, but some sort of outside influence.” Gideon nodded, that had been the question bugging the youth, and while it offered comfort that no one was to blame for their situation, it still gave no answers as to what their situation was.

Reaching up the Knight unclipped the cheek guards to his helmet before removing the piece of armor and setting it between his legs. He scratched at his graying brown beard before untying the arming cap that protected his head against the top of his helmet, to run a gloved hand through his also graying hair and clear it of the sweat that had collected.

“Hmm, let me think for a bit.”

Gideon looked towards the man that had gotten them through so much in only two years. His face held a scar that ran from the top of his right ear towards his jaw at a sharp angle, but apart from that one line, it showed little sign of combat; the sign of a smart fighter, Sir Wallace would always say. Age, however, could not be avoided, no matter how smart one was, and the knight was certainly starting to show his forty years with the wrinkles he now wore. Most of them however simply showed the sort of man he was. There were very few worry lines, but plenty of laughter creases around his eyes.

Even now, as he sat in thought, his hands gently patting Honor’s neck absently, he did not seem to be concerned that they were lost, on the contrary, he had a twinkle in his eye that always ended up leading them into adventure. His eyesight was also beginning to age and had started to fade, just a little. He found it harder to see things in detail when they were up close, thus often needed Gideon’s help when reading letters from the courts and Kingdoms concerning princesses that needed rescuing, and tournaments that were to be held. He rarely took part in these summons any more, but he did like to keep an eye on how his friends were doing.

Gideon was actually quite glad that the knight’s eyesight was going, or he might have found out, long ago, that his squire was hiding a couple of details from him. They might not be very large details, and thus easy to hide, but they did set - her - apart from the other squires. She had never meant to deceive the middle aged knight for as long as she had, but after two years she found herself reluctant to potential lose this life simply because she didn't have anything hanging between her legs.

Shifting in her saddle Gideon noticed a different bulge in her pocket before remembering the pear she had snagged. It looked so good right now, and would not likely survive the hard ride that was sure to follow Sir Wallace’s contemplation. She was about to take a bite when something pulled the fruit away from her mouth.

“Not a good idea Boy.”

“Why not? It’s only a pear.”

“Because if we want to get home we are going to have to keep our wits about us.” Gideon frowned and looked down at the pear and then looked back up at her mentor.

“So eating a pear will...OH!” Gideon dropped the pear so quickly one would think it had just burned her.

“Nononono, I paid. You saw, I paid my debt. They can’t take anyone they have no claim over.”

“Gideon, I don’t think we are in the Fairy realm, but yes, I do think we might have ended up in a different realm to our own. So, until we can be sure, its best if we don’t eat or drink anything from this place.” Gideon nodded but looked down at the pear forlornly, she was still hungry and that fruit had smelt so good. Getting back to her own realm, however, was worth more than a pear, and all knew the rules when it came to crossing realms, that eating the food, or drinking the water, could bind you, or let the inhabitants lay claim to you.

“I have also heard tell of tiny horses the Fairies keep, that they are colored as vastly as the flowers in their realm.” Sir Wallace was now thinking out loud.

“I thought you just said we are not in the Fairy realm.”

“I said that I don’t think we are. Look back at the tracks, what are they made of?” Lessons. Sir Wallace never missed an opportunity to teach his squire something new, however he prefered the approach of letting his ward work things out for himself rather then telling him directly.

Gideon turned to where the tracks lay. They were too far away to actually see them in full, but she could remember what they looked like, and were made of.

“Wood and metal, likely iron...Oh, fairies can’t stand iron.” That was an easy one. Silver, iron, salt, running water, there were lots of things that could work against magical creatures. Iron was one of the fair folks greatest foes.

“So now the question is, why are there fairy horses in a realm other than their own?” The knight’s tone was more puzzling than directing, this was a question for himself rather than for Gideon.

“Hmm, they could have been captured” Mused the knight, his eyes narrowing towards the direction the machine had traveled as though he could maybe gain new insight if he narrowed his vision.

“What use would tiny, bright colored, horses be?” They were clearly only suitable for the Fae to ride, as even dwarves would be too heavy for their fine frames, and they certainly did not look fit enough for manual labour.

“Anything from the Fairy realm is filled with magic, who knows what they could be used for. Hmm. Well it looks like I have a plan to get us back to where we belong.” Sir Wallace gave his mount a hard pat on her neck before reaching down and replacing the protection to his head.

“Really? How?” Gideon was cautious. Normally Sir Wallace spent at least a day planning things out. He only rushed into things when he could see no other option, and those times usually ended up quite messy and chaotic.

“Well those horses were being taken to the city you saw from the tree. So all we have to do it go in, rescue them, and then have them lead us back to the Fairy realm. The Fae are sure to grant us free passage back to the mortal realm if we are able to return their steeds.” The Wall sounded upbeat and hopeful. He had a plan and it would involve storming a Hold and rescuing the innocent from some nefarious ne'er-do-weller. This was a true knight’s plan.

“And how are we going to rescue them?” That really did not sound like a well thought out plan to the squire, and the sight of her mentor returning his greaves back to his hands meant that even he thought that things were going to get messy.

“I have no idea lad, we will see when we get there. Come on Honor.” Sir Wallace flashed a smile to his ward before snapping his visor shut and kicking Honor into action. The pair were soon cantering towards city that they knew lay at the end of the tracks.

“Sir wait for me!” Gideon kicked Duty on to follow. At least life was never boring as Sir Wallace’s squire.

Just as the group of interlopers had decided on their plan of action, the train that had passed them pulled into the Manehattan Grand central station. While it was a false assumption, on Sir Wallace's part, that the commuting ponies were prisoners, at this very moment, it was fairly accurate, as none of them were being allowed off the train.

After seeing the strange creatures next to the lines, the driver of the train had called the station to report them in. They in turn, had called in the police department to a possible situation. At first the police had simply thought that they were dealing with a train full of slightly hysterical passengers, after all ‘Giants’ were nothing but a ponytail, but it soon became apparent that, while nopony could say specifically what they had seen, they had all seen the same thing.

The best description the police could come up with, was that two ‘giants’ had been spotted a few miles up the track. These giants, one gray and one brown, seemed to be carrying equipment and a pair of other creatures, that nopony could quite identify, on their backs. One of the creatures had been in armor, so perhaps, they were some sort of guards to the giants. Whatever they were didn’t change the facts; there were a pair of large, unknown, lifeforms currently very close to Manehattan with unknown intentions.

Several procedures quickly took effect. First, all passengers were taken in for questioning as well as to keep them from causing panic within the city. Second, all trains were suspended from leaving or entering the city. Thirdly, a unit from the Manehattan air police was sent out to get visual confirmation on the whereabouts of the giants, as well as reporting their movements. Contact however was to be avoided unless necessary, or they were given permission to do so. A messenger pony was to also accompany the squad so that, if the giants turned out to be real she could fly directly to Canterlot to give news to Princess Celestia. After all, it was possible that these giants, if they existed, could be ambassadors from another land, and thus, would need to be handled appropriately, and by the correct ponies.

All this was set into motion quickly, after all this was not the first time the city of Manehattan had had to deal with this sort of a threat.

While it was not common, sometimes large predators would come in from the wilder regions of the north. These beasts had to be dealt with quickly and were usually soon sent packing long before they could even become visible from the city. These giants however had taken no hostile action against the train so, for now, they would simply be observed.

Captain Mistral was in charge of the reconnaissance. He had heard some of the statements given by the passengers of the train, though he was still a little skeptical as to how true they were. Pushing his gray wings to increase their speed he turned round to check the rest of his squad was keeping up. Only eight ponies had been sent out, himself included. More were on standby, but at the moment they were hoping whatever had been seen would simply turn around and go back the way they had come.

The squad did not have far to fly before they spotted the creatures that had been reported. Their size, judging from where he hovered, had not been exaggerated nor the fact that they were carrying equipment and unknown creatures. The worse of it though was the direction they were heading, and how fast they were traveling.

“Buck! They are heading straight to the city! Haze, fly back and warn the Chief, we might need back up.” A yellow female saluted before braking formation and flying back towards the city.

“Sir, I have instructions..” started a light pink mare, the only pegasus in the flight not wearing a uniform. Mistral nodded and wished the messenger mare luck and good winds. The sooner the Princess heard of this the better for all involved. That would take time though, and time was something they were running out of.

Captain Mistral was left with very few options at this moment. The giants, or whatever they were, had to be stopped from reaching the city, that much was clear to the police pegasus. Even if they turned out to be non hostile they would surely start a panic if they were seen, and the force simply did not have the hoof power to deal with the giants, and, a city full of panicking civilians.

“Alright, looks like we don’t have a choice. Form a line on that hill there and lets see if we can at least slow them down. I want no heroics, if things look like they are going to go bad get ready to fly.” The six remaining pegasi turned in unison to land on top of a hill directly in the path of the two huge ponies. It was time to see just what the intentions of these creatures was.

Both Sir Wallace and Gideon pulled back on their reins and slowed their mounts down to a trot when they saw six large shapes moving in the way of their ride. It would have been a simple task to just go around them but these were not birds, they were tiny, colourful pegasi.

“Um sir, they look like...”

“Yes, I can see that Gideon.” These were certainly the same as the ponies they had seen in the machine, or at least kin to them, but they hardly looked like they were captured and enslaved. A spell of control maybe? Sir Wallace pushed that thought away. All from the fae realm were known from being near impossible to control with anything other than debt contracts, and even they could be broken fairly quickly if the need arose. No there was something else going on here.

As they drew closer the knight looked the winged herd over and frowned. They were wearing some sort of uniform; not the usual caparison’s that the mounts would wear during tournaments to show of their masters colours, but proper fitted clothing that formed sleeves down the forelegs of the petite ponies, it looked almost like a jacket.

“Ok time for a change of plan.”

The gray captain wanted to let out a sigh of relief when he saw the invaders slow down to a trot. It was hard to tell the genders of the two huge ponies, they were both heavily muscled and very long in the face. Their eyes were small and beady, giving them a gormless look that was not helped by the fact that they were placed too far apart. The two creatures on their backs were also odd, and, just as the reports had said, the one was in full armor. It actually looked quite intimidating, even more so when he caught a glimpse of a sword that looked to be twice the size of any he had seen before.

The strangers stopped at the bottom of the hill and words passed between them. Mistral was unable to catch anything that was said, so he could only contemplate as to what would happen next when the armored creature un-straddled the giant and began walking towards them.

“Sir, what do we do?” Captain Mistral couldn't risk taking his eyes of the creature as it slowly made its way towards them, but he knew it was Free fall that had asked the question that was clearly going through every ponies mind right now.

“Stand your ground, lets see if we can talk this through” There was comfort that the creature had come alone but it still had its weapon, thankfully not drawn however. The Captain stepped forward to greet the creature. Up close he could now see that it moved strangely on its two hind legs, not at all like a bird,which had been his first comparison, but it looked to suffer no problems with keeping its balance.

The creature stood at over twice a normal ponies height, and the Captain could hear his squad ruffle their wings as they fidgeted. ‘Just keep it together everypony’ Mistral thought, any sudden movement could provoke them.

Silence stretched between the parties as each side looked over the other. It was the biped that made the first move.

It slowly lowered its top half towards them while curling one of its forelegs; or should that be forearms, thought the Captain; in and around its chest. It...it had bowed. After a moment of uncertainty Mistral bent his own forelegs and returned the bow before they both straitened to look at one another with a new respect. The simple gesture had lifted quite a bit of tension. Captain Mistral had meant to talk to the creature, but found his throat suddenly very dry. How was he meant to handle this?

The problem however was taken out of his hooves when the armored creature took of its helmet and began to speak.

“I pray you will forgive this intrusion into your lands, but myself and my squire find ourselves lost and in need of directions. Is this, by any chance, the Mortal realm?”

Captain Mistral heard Free fall at his side again.

“Did you understand any of that?”

“Not a bucking word.” replied the gray stallion honestly. So much for negotiations.

Author's Note

A huge thank you to everyone who has given a thumbs up and a favorite to this story already, it is amazing how much this story has caught peoples attention after only a few short days. Hopefully this chapter also lives up to your expectations. Oh and who saw the twist with Gideon? If you read chapter one back you will notice that it is only ever Sir Wallace that refers to her as male, now that was a very tricky thing to do. Oh and once again please note the lack of romance tag - their will be no hooking up between the human pair, it is more of a father son/daughter relationship.

Of socks and misconceptions

The light that shone through each of the southern windows was warm and peaceful, though that was to be expected in the Equestrian capital near the end of spring. Motes of pollen, blown in from an open window, drifted and danced with every gentle breeze and updraft, while the light took on the many colors of the glass pictograms, providing impressionistic copies of the scenes depicted on the floor below.

“And we still have no news from Manehattan?” The voice that spoke was warm, and as bright as the sunlight cast within the room, but it held a note of worry only noticeable to those that knew the speaker well.

The dark blue stallion before her shook his head slowly.

“There has been no word since the train lines were closed your Majesty. Signal transmissions are limited, even with the magic lines. They were originally set up to act as an early warning system if a train got stuck, or there was a problem with the line. The message we got though, and so far the only communications we have had, was ‘Standby’ ‘Unsafe’ and ‘Quarantine’.”

“‘Quarantine?” Celestia now, quite clearly, sounded worried. She cared deeply for every one of her little ponies, and the thought of a sickness spreading round such a densely populated city, such as Manehattan, worried her to the core. She might be able to move the celestial bodies every day without fail, but even she was limited when it came to the mortal problems of sickness and age.

“If the message had been sent with ‘Medical assistance’ I would share your fears my lady, but I feel that, in contexted with the other parts of the message, it is just simply a way to say ‘stay back, keep away’. As I said before, the communication lines are still very new, and they are limited in the amount of information that can be sent.” Relay, the blue earth pony who had spoken, had tried to give a demonstration of the communication system to the Princess when it had rolled out across the railways. It had gone well be he could tell at the time that Celestia had been a little distracted with the other ponies rather than the new technology at the time.

“In that case we must have faith in the coastal city and wait. Relay, if you would, please inform me as soon as you hear any more on this situation. Hopefully this will pass quickly and calmly.”

“Of course.” Relay bowed low, “I will have a messenger pegasus on standby.” Celestia nodded to him before the Earth pony turned to leave the chamber. The doors in front opened, but it was not for him to exit through, instead a guard walked into the room with a worn out looking pink mare beside him, almost leaning on him. Relay found himself hesitating to leave the room, the bag on mare’s side held the winged hoof insignia, could this be what they were all waiting for?

“Princess Celestia. News from Manehattan.” The guard quickly moved to support the mare who had tried to bow but instead had ended up almost falling to the ground.

“Quickly fetch some water.” Celestia had moved from her throne pulling several cushions with her magic along to lay beneath the mare. What dire news could have driven the messenger to fly so hard?

The pink mare shook her head.

“I’m, I’m fine.” she said with a tired smile while trying to stand before realizing that it would be a mistake. It was embarrassing to be receiving so much attention, especially from the princess, but there were more important things at this time then her own needs.

“Princess, I flew as fast as I could from Manehattan. Giants are making their way to the city. I saw them. Two huge ponies, even taller than yourself, carrying equipment and other creatures along with them. The Police force are doing what they can and I was sent to ask for your help.” All in the room repeated the word ‘giants’ with a note of shock and worry. Even Celestia had not expected anything like this to be the cause for the lockdown on Manehattan’s rail system.

“Have they attacked anypony?”

“No, they were first seen by a passenger train. No pony was hurt, in fact they didn’t do anything. Someponies think they might be ambassadors from the north.” Celestia felt a small weight lift from her at the news that no pony was injured or sick, but giants? Was that even possible? It was true that the north had been explored very little, even during Celestia’s long and peaceful reign. Could there really be an undiscovered civilization living in the cold mountains? Two ponies, no matter how big, was hardly an attack force. So what were they then?

The more Celestia thought about it the more sure she was that these Giants must have either come to seek help or an alliance, both matters would require her to go and meet with them, sooner rather than later.

“Thank you so much...” Celestia paused, not knowing the name of the mailmare she was addressing.

“Sunny Disposition, Sunny D’ for short, your majesty. The mare was smiling though still very tired from her flight, nothing a good rest would not fix.

“Well then Sunny D, thank you for bringing this message so quickly, if you would like to stay the night I can have a room prepared for you.” The Princess watched as the little pink pony perk right up, she also saw how the guard at pegasus’s side was looking at her.

“Flintlock, I am sure I can leave Sunny D’s arrangements to you?” The Alicorn could not help but chuckle to herself as the charcoal stallion quickly agreed to looking after their guest.

“Brass Hilt.” At the call a guard moved a few steps from his position by the door and stood to attention ready for orders.

“Prepare my four teamed carriage, and a company of twelve to travel to Manehattan right away. ” The guard saluted before turning to leave alongside the rest of the room’s current guests.

Celestia was actually feeling quite excited at the prospect of meeting these new ponies. It had been a long time since she had encountered anything this momentous or unknown before. Things would have to be handled carefully, but maybe this was just the situation she had been waiting for to encourage a certain draconequus to engage a little more in the workings of Equestria, something like this might just be exciting enough to catch his interest.

Soon Celestia, Luna and a very bored looking Discord were standing, or in Discord’s case swimming, next to the waiting carriage and guards.

“So what has got your feathers all in a flutter than Princess? Wake up with a gray hair or something?” Despite his flippancy Discord was clearly intrigued as to why he had been called, and this interest was the only reason he was really sticking around. Luna knew a little more about the situation, but she was keeping tight lipped, that, however, was normal around Discord, the two did not get along all that well.

“Discord I would like it if you could accompany me to Manehattan. It would seem that there are giant ponies from the north causing a little disruption to the coastal city.” Celestia paused for a moment to gauge his reaction, but other then a slight raise to one of his, very, bushy eyebrows he seemed as disinterested as ever.

“It would be a great opportunity to see something new in Equestria.

“It sounds simply riveting.” Discord’s monotone voice was broken by a yawn. “But I hardly think you need me along on this little trip.” He turned over so was now on his back in the air, floating about eye height, with his arms crossed behind his neck as mismatched feet lazly paddling in the air. Cracking open one eye Discord watched Celestia, he did so love winding the Princesses up.

“Why not take your little shadow instead?” Luna took a very purposeful step towards the draconequus but Celestia moved to get between them. She wished the two could get a long a little better but Luna’s emotions were much closer to the surface them most and it took very little to get a rise out of her, something Discord loved to play with.

“True, but since agreeing to use your abilities to do good all you have done is laze about the kingdom and cause the occasional storm; raspberry fish last time, if I remember correctly.” She did. Not only had the fish been fully alive and bright red they had blown raspberries at anypony that looked their way. Still it had been an improvement over the singing street lamps Discord had decided to install to “liven up” the capital.

The master of chaos smiled and stretched.

“Well all this ‘behaving’ is still rather new to me. You can hardly expect me to change overnight. After all, I have all this power to play with, so isn't enough that I'm not turning the whole of Equestria into my toy box?” The flicker of a warning laced its way into Discord’s tone. As of late he had stopped using threats that he was going back to his ‘old ways’ if he did not get he wanted, and, so long as he got his weekly ‘sessions’ with Fluttershy, thankfully, that was all they were, threats.

“Which is why I would like you to come along. We don’t know what these Giants are capable of and your assistance would be most welcome.” Celestia hoped to appeal to Discords pride. It did, at least, stop him from his ‘air backstroke’ and cause him to pay attention to her now, so that was a start. Eagle talons stroked at his beard for a moment of contemplation.

“I think I’ll pass.”

“DISCORD! MINE SISTER GAVE YOU AN ORDER.” Luna had had enough. She had never agreed with the decision of setting Discord free in the first place, even now she could only see the Chaotic creature simply being passive and waiting for them all to be lured into a false sense of security.

“Put a sock in it Lu lu.” Discord snapped his fingers and in a flash the moon princess now stood with a giant, daisy patterned, knitted, sock snugly covering her body. With a frown Discord looked at his fingers and shrugged.

“Not quite what I was going for but the look suits you.”

“Discord, Luna, please.” Celestia’s own patience was starting to wear thin. There were more important things to deal with right now then these two fighting, again.

“Look. Princess.” Discord move in a put a lion pawed hand around Celestia’s shoulders while Luna glared at him as she use her magic to remove the sock from her body.

“I might be playing nice, but, as per our agreement, you can only request that I help you, and that means no orders.” The draconequus turned to look at Luna now “Got that.”

“How DARE you talk to myself and my sister like...!”

“Luna. Discord is correct.” Celestia raised her voice, just a little, she might not be able to get these to to coexist peacefully but she could at least stop the argument from progressing any further.

“Discord. I would like to request that you accompany me to Manehattan. Please.”

The former lord of chaos stood and tapped a claw to his lips while looking up at the blue sky above.

“Err, no thanks.” He said with a smile and a click of his fingers. Once more there was a flash and Discord was gone.

“DIS..”

“Luna, this is not the time to be butting horns with our old friend. Hopefully there are new ones to be made today.” Celestia leaned forward and gave her sister a hug to try and calm her. It took a moment but soon the tension and anger left the midnight pony’s body.

“Are you sure we should not accompany you?” Luna hugged her sister back. She hated to be apart from her for too long but their royal duties often got in the way.

“I will be fine. Besides I need you here to deal with the day’s courts, and to keep the high strung nobles from overreacting to our visitors.” Luna groaned as Celestia chuckled at her reaction. Neither sister liked dealing with the upper class ponies at court.

“You will do fine and I will be back before you know it.” With one last head rub the two parted and Celestia stepped into her carriage.

“Send me a postcard when you get there.” Called Discord, who had positioned himself on top of one of the castles spires, and was now waving a little yellow and pink spotted hanky at the traveling princess.

“Oh and bring me back a gift! I do love getting gifts.”

Gideon stood at Duty’s side when Sir Wallace made his way back to them, she had dismounted a little while ago once everything had settled between the two groups, though how well everything had gone was still a mystery to her.

“Well?” she asked once the Knight was close enough. He still had his helmet off and a very confused and frustrated look to his face.

“I’ve tried almost every language I know, but nothing seems to be familiar to our hoofed friends over there. I even tried Elven. Still, they don’t seem to be hostile.” As he moved the knight took off his gauntlets and loosened the straps that held his armor together. It was a good show of trust to leave one’s self open and unprotected, plus he was starting to get uncomfortable in the metal casing.

“Elven? Good job they couldn't understand you. You do remember that last group of elven maidens you tried to talk to?” Gideon helped her knight remove some of the more awkward parts of his armor, not needing to be told what to do, this was after all one of a squires most basic of duties.

“My pronunciation might be a little off, but it is hardly that bad.” Each piece of armor was checked over before it was carefully stored inside Honor’s bags.

“You almost started an inter racial war by asking for a place you could bathe.” That had been one hell of a two weeks, mostly spent locked up in a tree eating nuts and salad. Sir Wall simply waved his squires reprimands off, that had not been one of his best moments but it had turned out alright in the end.

“Did you try Fae?”

“No, I don’t have any bells with me to even attempt Fae, plus when the Pegasi did speak they didn’t seem to be able to produce the same sounds as the fair folk, so i think we can rule that out.” Sir Wallace secured the last of his gear to his mount and gave himself a good stretch out, it was not that his armor restricted his movement all that much, it didn’t even weigh much either but it was always nice to be free of it after a long time suited up.

“So, if we can’t talk to these...people, then how are we meant to get any help from them? Shouldn’t we just leave and try and find our own way?” It was still odd to think of these ponies as a sentient and civilised race for Gideon but they had met stranger, and at least these pegasi seemed hospitable, if a little wary. Gideon looked over to the line of six. They were also talking amongst themselves but their attention never left the strange group at the bottom of the hill.

“You can communicate well enough with Duty without sharing a common language can’t you? The only difference here is that these equines are, I would say, about as smart as you or I. Surely you have heard the phrase, ‘actions speak louder than words’.” Gideon nodded.

“Well for now our actions will be our words.”

Something from above caught the squire’s eyes.

“Sir, looks like reinforcements.” Sir Wallace turned to see a flock, or would that be herd?, of more pegasi. At least twenty of them. Their current ‘guard’ also turned to notice the troops, who were making their descent.

“Captain Mistral what is the situation?” The brown mare, who was clearly in charge on the reinforcements, was surprised but relieved to see that nopony was hurt or seemed to be in any danger, it boded well that everything could be sorted out peacefully.

“Major Sycamore.” The Captain saluted.

“When we first came upon the giants and their companions they were making their way towards the city at a gallop. I, and my flight, took it upon ourselves to try and slow their progress.” It had been a rash decision now that he looked back on it but there had been no other choice the considering the situation.

”Against orders.” Sycamore said in a flat tone. The Captain nodded and gave a ‘yes Sir’.

“However by the looks of things you have everything under control.” The Major looked around her. At the fact that the threats had been pacified with no harm to either side. Somepony was going to get a medal out of this.

“Yes Sir. The hostiles are well, non hostile, at least from what I have seen so far. I have not had a chance to get close to either of the giants, but soon after landing the larger of the unknown creatures, who at the time had been in full armor, approached our force. It had bowed before trying to communicate with me however it would seem that Equestrian is unknown to them. Several more attempts were made at communication but, as of right now, it would seem we are at a bit of a stand still.” Mistral turned to look at the group of four who, for the most part, simply looked curious and unsure.

“I see. Good work Captain. I take it that the messenger mare was sent.” The gray stallion nodded.

“Good, then we can expect a reply back in a few hours. Till then we should try and keep this situation, contained, and maybe try and set up some sort of communication between both parties. Have you been able to talk to the giants?”

“No Sir, we have remained on this hill and simply observed, it was the creature that approached us of its own volition.”

“Well then lets see if we can’t get a little more acquainted with our large cousins than. Will you join me Captain? As you are already familiar with at least one of their guards.” After relaying her orders to stand their ground but not to interfere unless necessary, the two made their way towards their visitors. Captain Mistral took the lead with the Major following closely. As they drew closer the two bipeds turned and faced them. The giants, on the other hoof, barely glanced their way and seemed more interested in grazing on the grass.

“Not very civilised are they.” Sycamore said quietly, they hardly looked starved with the amount of mass on their bodies. Mistral kept his opinions to himself, he did not really want to voice what he had observed up until this point, he would rather let her see it for herself.

Once they were just a couple of pony lengths apart Captain Mistral stopped and bowed, the Major followed suit. Again the larger of the bipeds bowed back, as did the smaller brown covered one, though that had bowed much lower than the bigger one. The giants however continued to ignore them.

Slowly, so as not to cause alarm, the two ponies tried to make their way to where the gray giant stood. Up close they could now tell that the gray was a mare and the brown was a stallion though neither could discern what genders the other creatures might be. They were surprised that neither of the bipeds tried to stop them from approaching their traveling companions, they simply watched.

“How strange.” Noted the Major. “ Their forelegs look so stiff and unwieldy, how could they possibly use them to get anything done?” Sycamore also noticed that their hooves were thick and solid, and did not look at all pliable enough to pick anything up. No cutie mark graced either flank either, though that was not too unusual, neither donkeys or griffons had cutie marks and it simply implied that they had no connection to magic in any of it’s forms.

As they drew closer the brown stallion snorted and lifted his head to look at the two pegasi, he backed away but was quickly calmed by the brown biped, who had moved to stand alongside him and gently stroked his neck and whispered soft words. The giant calmed and turned his head towards the pair. Both Mistral and Sycamore held their breaths in the hope that they would finally get to speak to a fellow equine, but this hope was short lived. The giant simply sniffed them like some great dog before going moving away to continue grazing.

The two ponies were a little shocked at the primitive behavior they had just witnessed and chose to walk back to their flights.

“It was silly to suppose the giants would be able to speak equestrian when their companions cannot.” Sighed Sycamore. Silly yes, but it would have made things a whole lot easier.

“Captain, you don’t suppose,” Major Sycamore drew in a long breath through her teeth, she was not really sure how she should put her thoughts into words. The Captain, however, already had a pretty good idea as to what she was about to say, and he had had a little longer to think on it.

“That we might have a few things backwards? Yes it had crossed my mind. The giants don’t seem to really be the ones calling the shots. Truth be told, I don’t think they are smart enough to be saying anything, the only sounds I have heard from them have been animal noises.”

“And you didn’t think to inform me of this theory before.” The Major's wings flared. She was more than a little annoyed at being made a foal of.

“Would you of believed me Sir?”

“Point taken.” The Captain was right, she likely would have never believed that the giants appeared to be no smarter than dogs.

“I guess all we can do now is wait for the Princess or her instructions.” Turning to look at their strange guests she could not help feel just the smallest bit envious of the two equines and their lack of civilization, at least they could eat as much as they wanted from the floor. She was going to have a long wait before her own belly was indulged.

When Ducks Bark and Dogs Quack

“Sir Wallace, is it really safe to just be standing around here?” Gideon was feeling nervous as time passed with so many eyes on her. Particularly as these eyes were strangely large and intelligent. It also did not sooth her worries that they had removed their mount’s saddles a short time ago and now they lay uselessly on the grass at their side. The undressing of their mounts gave relief and helped to calm them, but the two humans also hoped that their kind treatment of their own equines would put them in good standing with their current guards. Not that either human could be considered unkind to their mounts, at least by their standards, but they could not predict how this new race would see the relationship between mount and rider.

“They clearly don’t want us going anywhere near their city, and its not like we can talk to them anyway. Wouldn't it just be better to use the rest of the day finding another town or village? Or you know, maybe a way back to the mortal realm?” The squire had grown used to meeting other races over her two years of travel, even if most races tended to keep to their own kind, but there was just something about these cheerful looking pastel ponies that made her wary. Perhaps it was because they looked so harmless and cute, much like the fae.

“Your right to question lad.” The knight was sitting on the grass with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. One might think he was asleep until you noticed how he held his back stiff and straight. In reality he was going over the last few hours trying to make sense of everything that had go on. Thus, while his body rested his mind was working at full speed.

“But I don’t fancy traipsing around an unknown land when I can’t communicate to the locals that we are not dangerous. As for getting back home, well, with any luck these ponies won’t want us here any more than we do. Right now we are in a good position.”

Gideon looked back up at the twenty or so flying ponies standing guard above them on the hill. This did not look like a good position to her. Small or not there was no way even Sir Wall would be able to deal with that many hooves charging towards them and with their horses unsaddled any attempt to run would be hampered. While Sir Wallace had no problem with riding bareback without his armor, Gideon was less skilled. Even getting on Duty without a saddle to grip was a struggle. She looked back at her mentor. How could he be so calm?

“Aren't you worried?”

The knight sighed before standing up slowly and letting his knees work out their kinks. He didn’t look at his squire at first and instead turned his attention to the Pegasi on the hill before scanning the sky above.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit. I don’t like not knowing where I am, and having no way to talk to these pint sized pegasi.” The Wall patted his mount on the side of her neck and was greeted with his girl’s face turning towards him so she could have her face rubbed.

“But right now I think staying put is in our best interest. The locals don’t seem to be hostile and I would like to see what they are all waiting for.”

Gideon frowned.

“Waiting for? They are probably just waiting for us to leave.”

“If that was the case then they would have likely tried to lead us away or advance on us by now. They have the numbers, and while they are not stopping us from leaving I would put money on the fact that if we did try and leave, they would follow.” Sir Wallace was almost certain of that fact. It was the way they were watching, how all ears would turn in their direction when either of them, or their steeds, would make a sound, as well as the quiet conversations that filtered down from the hill.

It was a troubling thought but, it was like these equines had never seen a human before. The language barrier was only helping to support this theory. Common was, well, commonly known among almost all of the races, and those who were too far removed from the trade routes would at least be able to recognise Elven or orcish, but neither language seemed to offer a bridge to communicate with.

“OK. So if they don’t want us any closer to their home but don’t want us to leave either, then what do they want?” Gideon was still not on the same page as her mentor though his talk of these ponies having perhaps captured them was more than a little frightening.

“I don’t think they know to be honest,” chuckled the older man, who gave his arms a stretch.

“These are clearly guards of some sort, what with their uniform and all, so that means there must be a higher up telling them what to do. My guess is that is what they are waiting on, their leader to tell them what to do next.”

“So we are all stuck here until some Lord gets off his rear end and actually does some work. Great.” Gideon slumped down on the grass and held her head in her hands while also looking up at the clear blue sky. It didn’t seem to matter where they ended up they would always have to spend time waiting on some nobility to acknowledge them.

Sir Wallace laughed at his squire’s response. The lad had always had a distaste for the rich and in charge, his youth blinding him to the need of such a position and the pressures it put on them. Not that the knight himself had met many dignitaries in person. He preferred to deal with everyday people rather than take on the grand quests set by the Lords and Royals. He mused on the matter for a moment. This meeting needed to go well if they were going to get back to the mortal realm.

“Giddy, is there anything in the packs that might make do as a gift?

It was another hour before something started to happen but, when it did, all on the hill snapped to attention. Two white pegasi in gold armor circled before landing.

“Situation?” asked the first of the Royal guards. Both were eyeing the giants and their strange companions. Lieutenant Sycamore gave a rundown of the current events.

“Under control. The giants appear to be under the care of the two unknown creatures, and while even I am still trying to come to terms with it, it would seem that the Giants are little more than beasts.” This statement came as a shock to the guards, though the only cue on their stoic expressions was a slight widening of their pupils. Sycamore missed the subtle change but knew anypony would find such a statement bordering on impossible.

“They have shown no sign of intelligence greater than that of a dog.” Despite the misgivings at her initial thoughts over the Giants there was no turning away from what she had witnessed over the past few hours. They ate, sought comfort from their two legged companions and defacated with no regard to anything or anypony other than to fulfill their basic needs. It was a disturbing sight for not just herself but also for those in her command.

“And what of the bipeds?” Both guards were now looking over to the small group at the bottom of the hill. Each of the two legs had stood up and were watching what was going on ahead of them. It was quite strange to see such pony like intelligence and curiosity on flat and hairless faces.

“They on the other hoof are very much intelligent, from what we have observed. The taller of the two appears to be in charge and when first encountered was in full armor. It carries a metal sword but has neither drawn it nor shown any sort of threatening behaviour. We have yet to learn what else in contained in the packs they are carrying though we have glimpsed items, mostly cloth. The harnessed seats on the floor beside the creatures have recently been removed from the giants, they look to be some sort of saddle seat to help the two legged creatures ride on their backs. Captain Mistral was in charge of the first meeting between our forces and the creatures” Sycamore motioned to the Captain who nodded his head while saluting before he continued with his own account.

“My small force was left with little option but to act at the sight of the Giants and their companions heading at full gallop towards the city. We positioned ourselves ahead of the party on this hill and were both shocked and relieved when they stopped at the sight of us. The taller of the two creatures left the group and approached calmly before, what I could only interpret, bowing in front of me. I returned the gesture.

“Many attempts, on both sides, were made to communicate but we have come to the conclusion that they must speak language that is, as of yet, unknown. It was actually quite fascinating to hear the creature talk, it seems to have an incredible range to its voice.” Having watched the creatures for so long now, Captain Mistral found himself wanting to know more about them and could not help his curiosity about them filter into his account.

There had been a lot of talk by the rest of the guards as they had waited on the hill. One popular theory amongst the ranks was that the giants were cursed, forced to become nothing more than beasts or shells while their intelligence, their souls, had formed the other two creatures, twisted and deformed, and now they were trying to find a way to be returned to their equine bodies. It was a crazy theory, and whoever had first come up with it had clearly been spending too many late nights reading fiction; but Mistral had to admit that it explained the giants’ current ‘condition’, as well as the way each of the bipeds seemed to match their respective partners.

“We will require full written statements from everyone here at a later date.” Replied one of the guards.

“But for now we need you to hold your subordinates in position here. The Princess will be arriving shortly to grant an audience with these foreign ponies, or at least their companions.” Corrected the Royal guard with a frown.

“It is still unclear as to what will be decided but we may need your assistance, particularly as you have had the most dealings with these creatures so far.”

“Well now, that looks promising” Smiled Sir Wallace as he watched the two metal clad pegasi meet up with the current forces. He had hoped that they might be the ones they were waiting for but had to accept he was wrong when no movement was made to approach their little party again. After a brief exchange one of the newcomers flew back the way it had come while the rest of the ponies continued waiting.

“I still don’t like the idea of just waiting around for some king of the tiny rainbow ponies to show up.” Gideon kicked a stone in frustration. Duty lifted his head and nickered softly while pawing at the ground. The squire really hoped Sir Wall had a plan because right now all she could do was remember the stories of her childhood, where some hapless kid would some how get themselves stuck in another realm. True, most of the stories were simply there to scare children into behaving and listening to their parents, usually with some sort of lesson interwoven as well, but most of them did not paint a pretty picture for any who found themselves in such a situation. Quite a few, if she recalled them correctly, also had grizzly endings.

“Come now Gideon, where is your sense of adventure. Right now we have an opportune chance to meet and learn from a race that has yet to be cataloged in the mortal realm.” The knight stretched his arm out towards the ponies on the hill and then swept it across the landscape.

“Why, when I was your age I was always trying to race off and learn about the different people that live along side us. Even if my own mentor, Sir Harold, would do everything in his power to keep me away. Stuffy old fool, only cared about human matters. He couldn't see how much we could learn from other races.” The middle aged man stared off wistfully into the distant memories of his youth. He sighed with a smile on his face.

“The things I learnt. There was this one dryad, Verena, who could contort in the most incredible ways-”

“Eww, no please. Sir Wall I don’t want to hear about that.” Gideon was trying to cover her ears as her face turned a rather rosy red. Those were not mental images she needed in her head. EVER. Sir Wall had a habit of chatting about his ‘personal stuff’ when there were quiet moments on their travels, likely because he thought she was a lad, but she also had a suspicion it was mostly because of how embarrassed she got.

Sir Wall laughed, they really had been good times, but he was simply happy that he had turned his squire away from thinking too hard about their situation.

The sight of the metal on the new pegasi opened up some new questions, but also hope. Someone must be making the clothes and armor they were all wearing, hooves certainly could not handle that task, so with a little luck they might soon get to meet up with another race. Maybe they would have a better chance talking with them, especially if they were traders with these equines.

As Sir Wallace thought about their predicament he noticed both Duty and Honor had suddenly grow restless, pawing at the ground and scanning the skies with their ears back. Horses were wary of sky predators, and for good reason, griffins were far more common than dragons and horse was their favorite meal. So it was understandable that the two were wary of the shape that was coming in to focus in the distance. Both humans turned to their respective mounts to calm them with soft words as they watched the shining object come closer into view. Sir Wallace noticed other things as well.

“Giddy, look at the guards on the hill.” The stationed pegasi had shifted positions and now formed what looked like two lines with a large gap between them. It was hard for the two humans to see from where they were standing, but they could see enough to get an good idea.

“You think this is who they are all waiting for?” Gideon turned back towards the gold looking shape in the sky and then again at the ponies on the hill. She really hoped this would not take long, after hours of sitting around under observation there was certain matters she needed to take care of, without others watching.

“Stands a good chance. Keep a good hold of Duty there, and stop fidgeting, you’re making the horses nervous.” Gideon gave a ‘sorry’ before making an effort to tidy off any grass that had decided to cling to her clothes. Sir Wall shook his head slightly before lifting a hand to his brow, shading his eyes and giving a better view.

It was a strange shape, thought the knight, at least strange that it was airborne. There didn’t seem to be any wings, and there was no balloon attached. Magic came to mind, but that was a given in almost all of the realms. Only when the golden form drew closer did the two humans realise that what they were looking at was a golden carriage, pulled by a team of four more of the gold plated, white pegasi. More white pegasi flew alongside the carriage.

“Well, now there is a sight worth waiting for.” Sire Wallace had never seen anything like it in his life. He was sure magic had to be involved now, there was just no way it could stay aloft without it. As the carriage drew closer the pair could see that the ‘rider’ within the opulence was much larger than the ponies drawing the carriage, at least double, maybe more. They were mostly white, with almost a rainbow like aura surrounding their form.

“Sir...um.”

“What is it Giddy?” Sir Wallace was loathed to look away from the steadily nearing grandeur but his squire sounded almost pained. He looked over to see him fidgeting again.

“I’ve really got to go.” Admitting her problem Gideon started moving from one leg to the other in earnest.

“You and your timing.” Scolded Sir Wallace, but he could hardly blame him after having waited this long. Gideon had yet to develop the iron bladder of a knight, he just wished his squire would be a little more honest with him. The Wall looked back up at the carriage. It was making a steady approach but there was still a few minutes.

“Give Duty to me and be quick.” Gideon wasted no time to hand over her mount’s reins and dart over to a nearby bushy outcrop while Duty tugged at his reins to try and follow hi rider.

The pegasi were lined up to welcome the princess with the remaining royal guard, Steadfast, facing inwards and the lines of city guards facing outwards to watch the surrounding area since the idea of turning their backs on the strange creatures was a foalish one. They still did not know why the strangers were here or what their intentions were. Ergo those facing the oddities witnessed the sudden departure of the smaller biped from the group. Muttering spread along the lines as the three commanding ponies drew close together.

“Has this behaviour been noted before?” Asked Steadfast. There were only a few more minutes before the princess would land and he could not risk anything going wrong. He and Sycamore turned to the Captain.

Mistral shook his head.

“No. Apart from the first meeting they have all remained close to one another.”

“Maybe the little one is scared. It seems to be crouching in that bush over there.” Major Sycamore was not really schooled in analysing foreign animal behaviour but the idea sounded plausible.

Commander Steadfast on the other hoof was a very military minded pony. He saw a different possibility.

“If the little one is scared then surely the large would be showing some sort of concern for it. Yet it stands there with its back to its companion. Something is not right. It is possible the little one is calling in reinforcements! We must move it back to where we can see it. You three with me.” Steadfast pointed at three of the city guards who followed him into the air. Sycamore and Mistral stayed put and told the rest of the guard to hold their position.

“Giddy, I would hurry up if I were you.” Sir Wallace had watched the change amongst the ponies the moment his squire had left. They did not look happy. Quickly he saw the ‘knight’ pony was flying to where Gideon had chosen to relieve himself, along with three of the other pegasi.

Gideon almost lost her balance when she saw the flight of ponies coming her way. She rushed to pull up her trousers and pull the cord tight.

“Easy there, I just needed to take a leak.” She knew the four would not be able to understand her but she was hoping her tone and upraised hands would calm the irritable equines. They had positioned themselves to block off any movement other than back towards Sir Wallace and the horses. Now very clear that the knight’s thoughts on where they were and were not aloud to go proved true, though Gideon was hardly happy on the matter.

Above, the carriage was starting to make its descent, however the problems on the ground had not gone unnoticed and it changed it course to circle the area until the all clear was given. This action however proved to be a problem for the two horses.

Both Honour and Duty were simple in their thoughts. They had their riders to take care of any decisions. There was grass here so they ate and without their saddles they knew their time was their own. The thing in the sky however drove them to seek comfort in their riders. They had long learnt that if their riders did not fear something then they didn’t either and, so far, their riders had been calm. At this moment though, with the strange thing circling like a predator, Duty did not have his rider. Honor had hers, and he spoke to calm and sooth, but he was not Duty’s rider. Duty wanted his rider to tell him what to do, what he should be feeling. The dark bay gelding turned his head and saw his rider. He pulled and whinnied but the other rider held him back.

“Easy there Duty, Gideon will be right back. Giddy get back here and get a hold of your mount.” The knight was having an easier time with his own girl but she was much older in both years and experience.

Not wanting to be around the peeping-tom ponies any longer then needed, Gideon ran over to take control of her horse but before she could reach the rest of the party the large white horse, who had clearly been the occupant of the carriage, gently flew down a short distance away. Its soft pastel mane and tail billowed around it like an aurora. Sir Wallace and Gideon watched in awe, both noting the long, slender horn that graced its head, as well as the crown it wore. Duty had a different reaction to the large, brightly coloured animal, flying down close by. He ran.

He ran from the shouts that arose and from the flying pursuers. Nothing good came from the sky. He ran.

A few moments ago…

“We are approaching the sight now Princess and will be landing atop the hill where the city guards are stationed.” Reported one of the guards. Celestia tried to keep her excitement contained. The report that had been given to her by one of her guards, Quick March, had been both calming and exciting. Calming in that nopony had been hurt and everything had been so peaceful yet exhilarating to find a new sentient life reaching out into the world. The mention of how the giants had behaved was puzzling, but it was a mystery she would gladly accept.

She could see them now, shapes slowly growing in size and detail. It would not be long before she would get to meet them and try to communicate, perhaps they spoke one of the long dead languages that had faded from the memories of her people. But why were they here? Had they been hiding in the north? How many were there living amongst the snow and mountains? A diplomatic mission seemed the most plausible reason for their appearance, and the princess relished the thought of how much could be gained and learnt from a new friendship. It might open up a whole new understanding of the northern territory.

“Somethings wrong” called one of the guards “Pull back” The carriage turned from its decent and circled the area above. Celestia watched as one of the clothed diplomats was corralled and moved back towards the rest of the group. The princess frowned. This was no way for her little ponies to treat them. They were guests not prisoners.

“Land the carriage. I am sure what ever happened was just a misunderstanding.” Celestia would take matters into her own hoof. Sometimes her ponies could be very distrustful of strangers, it was something she would have to put an end to at some point.

“Your Majesty we can not be sure of these creatures intentions. Until- “ The guard was cut off when Celestia simply stepped out of the carriage and flew down of her own accord.

“She doesn't make our job easy does she? “ Sighed Quick March. The rest of the patrol agreed in unison as they watched their leader take matters into her own hoof. The carriage was moved into landing on the hill while the rest of the guards flew to land at their willful rulers sides.

Celestia found herself with no time to extend a greeting to the newcomers in her lands, fore as soon as her hooves had touched the grass below one of the giants had run away from her, bolting at such a speed one would have thought a manticore at its tail.

“Please wait.” Celestia called out in desperation, a hoof raised and reaching out towards them, while she watched the larger of the two new creatures astride the gray mare in a swift and fluid movement. It sat for a moment atop the giant and bowed its head towards her, and for a moment Celestia hoped that her plea had been heeded. Alas, to her dismay the pair quickly raced in the same direction as their brown friend had gone. Only the smaller of the two creatures was left, looking lost as it shouted in the direction of the others. Had they abandoned it? Had she herself frightened these strangers away with her mere presence?

“Princess should we pursue?”

Celestia turned her gaze away from the fleeing forms towards one of her guards, they were waiting for her orders.

“No. They are here by their own choice, they may leave by their own choice.” The alicorn looked down at the equipment that had been discarded, while the smaller creature, such a fragile looking thing, stood looking around at the guards and Celestia herself. It made a very strange gesture with its shoulders and its arms part the way raised. A shrug maybe? It was hard to tell, especially as a gesture in one culture may mean something completely different in another.

Whatever its meaning Celestia could only hope that the others would return, if only for their supplies and their other companion.

It was a pity Discord had not come along with her - he would have loved this.

Author's Note

You guys have no idea how much fun I am having with this story. So much so that my other story, 'Impressions', will have to sit on the back bench for a little while, sorry. Hopefully I can keep you all entertained with Gideon and Sir Wallace for the time being. The next chapter leads to more problems when food becomes an issue.

The Rule of Assuming

The rhythmic thud of hooves hitting the ground was the only thing accompanying the knight and his horse as they quickened their gait to a gallop. It felt good for both of them to be riding without their equipment, free from the weight and constraint, open to the wind and the world. Sir Wallace stole a glance over his shoulder to the group he had left behind, relieved to see that his departure had not spurred the equines into action. From what he could tell by his glimpse, they seemed content to simply watch, which meant one less thing for him to worry about.

Duty was still running at a gallop but not knowing where he was going, nor having a rider to tell him where to go, was causing him to falter and hesitate, weaving from one direction to another. The pursuing pair could catch up to him quickly if they took the direct path, but Sir Wallace knew they risked Duty picking up the pace if he thought he was being chased. He might even assumed Honor was fleeing from the same threat as he. This was, after all, not the first time the gray pair had needed to catch a runaway horse. Though, come to think about it, it was the first time they had to do it in front of an unknown ruler of an equally unknown land, who they likely depended on to send them back to their own realm. So the knight felt it was probably best if he did not fall off Honor this time.

“Come on girl, you can’t let that stripling out pace you. Show them what you can really do.” Sir Wallace urged his dappled mount onwards, curving to one side so they could eventually cut in front of the fleeing gelding. They had to do this right the first time, or risk looking fools. More importantly, the knight knew his squire would never let him live it down.

“Princess they are splitting up.” Warned one of the royal guards.

“No look the gray pair are coming back around.” Chimed in one of the city watch a few moments later.

Half of the pegasi were now in the air hovering to get a better view. The royal guards, to their credit, were holding their stoic composure fairly well throughout the display. The city guards however were more open to showing their feelings and speaking out. Most had not been witness to the moment of the giants arrival, thus had not seen them being ridden. This display of agility and strength, though unplanned, was enough to get even more theories on just who and what these visitors were. Celestia was pretty sure she heard some quite substantial bets being placed, she just hoped the won bits were not all spent on salt.

As the commentary of what the watchers thought was happening buzzed around her, Celestia kept her own observations to herself. She had long learnt to stick to facts rather than speculation when it came to things she had no knowledge of. Of course, it had been a long time since she had had the opportunity to encounter something new. This thought saddened her slightly. Nowadays discoveries were made by her ponies, and the closest she ever got, was a report or a book detailing everything. It felt good to be on the cusp of something new and unknown.

Her eyes glanced down at the creature that had been left behind, but it’s own focus was on the scene in front of them. What would they learn from this new race? Why had they chosen to reveal themselves now? All these questions hung in the air around the princess. She was supposed to always have the answers, at least in her ponies eyes. So to finally be able to say the words ‘I don’t know’ was almost a relief.

More eyes watched as the brown stallion continued fleeing, but his course had altered, as had his pace, to match the gray mare who was now at his side. Gradually as she slowed, so did he. Even though the situation looked like it was about to be resolved quickly, Celestia found herself trying to answer questions of a more immediate nature.

Why had he run in the first place? From her very brief meeting with the other creature, and by the way the smaller one left behind had remained calm, Celestia felt safe to assume they weren't afraid. More so, why had the stallion not stopped when he could clearly see he was not in any danger? After all, his only pursuers were his companions. The princess was put in mind of the cloven hooved that lived in her lands. The cattle, sheep and pigs had been accepted as full citizens of Equestria for a long time now. With all the rights of her ponies.

However, while they were fully capable of speech, and very much intelligent, they had a habit of falling back on their instincts, especially when frightened. It was not something Celestia could really fault them on. It served them well, in times past, against the beasts that roamed the lands, particularly with no magic of their own to rely on. Now however, with peace ruling and the beasts confined to small pockets of wilderness, such instincts only hindered them, and all involved found the resulting stampedes a nuisance and embarrassing.

So was she to believe that this was also true of these-. Celestia found herself reluctant to keep using the name ‘giant’ to describe them. True, they were larger than her by more than a head, and they were certainly stockier than her, but they were not the hulking goliaths from her stories. Their longer faces, small eyes and slender feet with hard hooves put her much more in mind of the Saddle Arabian horses that lived in the south, not that they themselves would be flattered by the comparison. Perhaps ‘Mountain Horses’ would be a better name to give to them, at least until they learned of their true title. It would also be a much better name for her ponies to refer to them by, lacking the myths that might be inadvertently connected if they continued to be thought of as giants.

Celestia could not help but feel the excitement growing as she watched the gray pair swing round from his side to cut in front of the brown stallion, who at this point was moving at a gentle trot. The way the rider leaned over to snatch up the dangling head harness made her hold her breath. How he had not fallen from that angle, nor the mare miss a step from the added weight, she didn’t know but she found herself glad that chase was over, and that it had concluded without incident.

“Princess how should we proceed?” The guards were starting to get a little restless now that they could see the horses and other creature making their way back at a trot before slowing to a walk.

“Commander, until they prove otherwise we must assume these mountain horses-” Celestia spoke so that her voice carried to all of the pegasi in place, ensuring the use of the new name. Naming them also had the added benefit in giving her ponies the belief that she knew who, and what, they were dealing with.

“- and their friends are visiting dignitaries from the north. Whether it is help, friendship or a yet unknown reason that has brought them to our lands changes nothing. I must also stress that at this place of meeting everypony here is now representing Equestria.” Her words brought a distinct change to the ponies around her. Discipline and pride blossomed from their postures and their eyes, especially to those from Manehatten, who had likely never thought they would ever be involved in anything more than a parade when it came to royal matters.

However, this was not simply just a rousing speech to raise spirits and insure behavior, she meant every word. This was a dawn, but she was going to need everypony’s help to raise the sun.

“Well that was fun.” sighed a sarcastic Sir Wallace as he swung over a leg and dismounted from Honor. He made sure to keep a tight hold of both horse’s reins, not really feeling up to making a repeat performance. However, even though he was a little out of breath, and knew that he would be feel a few twinges from the un-padded gallop in the upcoming days, Sir Wallace could not help but feel happy that things had gone as well as they had.

“I’m so sorry Sir. It’s my fault for leaving him.” Gideon moved calmly to take hold of her mount’s reins, not wanting to spook him any further. Both horses were snorting and tossing their heads as they worked the adrenalin out of their systems and Giddy did all she could to help calm her friend with soft words and touches. Sir Wallace peaked over to where the equine group was waiting and watching, hoping that this show of affection would earn them a reprieve for having to make such a rude exit. Though technically the fault did not all rest of the squire’s shoulders.

“Yes it is, though that is only because you can’t blame royalty for anything without losing your head.” Sir Wallace patted his squire’s back as he stretch his leg muscles, working out the cramps in his thighs after having to use them to keep his seat on Honor. He was pretty sure the elves never had this problem when they rode.

“Speaking of royalty, I guess we should go try our luck with this one. How have they been?”

Gideon shrugged.

“Just talking for the most part.” She didn’t want to admit that she had not really been paying attention. She had been too worried about never seeing Duty again. Hugging his brown head she was rewarded with him chewing on her leather jacket and nickering softly.

“What sort of talking though? Friendly? Shouting?” It was clear that this pony queen, her crown and lack of anything below at least hinted at that much, was waiting for them to approach. Her guards now stood, stoically flanking her on both sides, and forming a very impressive, if slightly adorable, path towards her. Sir Wallace doubted she would want to be left waiting for too long but he would rather not walk forward completely blind.

“Err, they weren't shouting just, talking. Like the horses do in the field, just with more sounds.” It would have been hard for the squire to describe even if she had been paying attention. If she had spent more time on the task, Gideon could probably pick out the extremes but subtle emotions were beyond her range. She had rarely needed to rely on only her own interpretations to work out what was going on is a situation, that had always been left to Sir Wallace.

“Fair enough. Get ready with the cloak when I ask, no point giving it away till we can be sure these people can offer us help, but stay back here with the horses, we don’t need them to get spooked again.” The Wall patted, in turn, both Honor and Gideon on their heads before making his move, a gesture Gideon accepted with a roll of her eyes and a flurry of movement from her hand to return her hair back to its proper resting place.

In his forty two years of life, Sir Wallace was proud to say he had strived to see as much as the realms could offer. From things so grotesque it made even his iron will crumble, too sights that brought him to tears from their beauty.

This being before him now, with her pristine coat of white and ethereal mane of the dawn's light, brought forth feelings of awe that made him want to stand in front of her and shield her from all the impurities the realms had. When he stole a look into her large, lavender eyes, they spoke of kindness and age.

Up close, and trying to keep his observations to a more factual base, Sir Wallace could see that the queen was a little smaller than Honor, though still taller then him by about a hand’s length, so long as he didn’t count her horn. Truly, she was a magnificent creature and Sir Wallace could only assume that none from the Mortal realm had ever laid eyes on her kind before, as there were no tales that spoke of her. The horn of a unicorn, the wings of a pegasus, someone clearly had interesting parents mused the knight as he lowered to one knee . He tore his eyes away from her to look at the ground instead - it was far less interesting.

“It is an honor to be in your presence good Lady and while I am sure you are unable to understand my words,” and just in case you do, thought the knight.

“I must say that never before have laid my eyes upon a slight so glorious as yours, and while I know my memories will pale in comparison, it will be a memory I will cherish till my last breath,” which hopefully will not be any time soon. He added to himself.

The Queen nickered softly; at least, that was as close to a description as Sir Wallace could give to the sound she made, and he took that as a sign to rise. He stood there for a moment as the Queen smiled and spoke a few soft words. There was a lilt at the end that might have indicated that they were questions, but whether they were or not did not change the fact that he could not answer them.

Once again Sir Wallace ran through the languages he knew, hoping that something would be familiar. There was a moment of hope when he spoke a few words in Nerøs, the natural language of many of the south sea aquatic races but it turned out to be a simple matter of some of the sounds being similar.

The Queen herself tried a few different languages, but they did not vary that much from her own. In fact it was only due to her repeating them, and how she stressed the syllables, that Sir Wallace was able to work out that she was speaking in anything other than her native tongue.

It was frustrating activity, but not unpleasant, almost like a game that neither had yet been able to master. Sir Wallace watched the Queen turn to one of the guards close to her and talk to him for a few moments, he answered. The knight noticed the pegasus that was speaking to the Queen was the same one he had talked to first. If he had to make a guess, and really that was the only thing he could do, then he would bet the Queen was asking if the same language puzzle had played same way during the first meeting. Sir Wallace took that as a good sign. It meant she valued her subjects enough to listen to them, maybe even care about their opinions. Looks, after all, did not always relate to one’s true self.

With the impasse reached yet again, Sir Wallace had to make the decision on the best way to get across they they just wanted passage to the mortal realm. The problem was that he was starting to doubt these people, ponies, whatever, even knew of the other realms. There were stories of realms that lived outside the the main collective, cut off for some reason or another, maybe even failed worlds that the gods had given up on. Then again, you didn’t have to search far to find stories on all manner of subjects, so it was hardly something he could rely on being true. Thinking harder on the subject of stories Sir Wallace found himself almost tripping up over an idea, or at least an answer on how to start.

Bowing low to the Queen the knight walked backwards slowly. He didn’t know the customs here so it was always best to err on the side of caution. Bowing seemed to have the same connotations in this realm as his own however, so, for now, he could use it as a stepping stone.

With his face to the floor, and his direction dictated by the rows of hooves either side of his vision, the elder was unable to see the look of confusion on Celestia’s face. She had thought things were going well, all things considered. Did he really feel that their lack of communication was that much of a barrier? Celestia wondered if this was the reason their kind had remained hidden, but if they left now then nothing would change. They had to learn from one another and embrace their differences, not run whenever there was an obstacle in the path.

The sun princess was about to step forward and take matters into her own hoof when she saw the elder reach his equipment. Despite what she had said to the guards she simply could not let them leave after such a short amount of time. They were just so different from most of the races that the princess found herself eager to learn more. She could assume the elder was male, from his deep voice and beard like hair that grew along his lower jaw but that did not mean she was right; and what of the smaller one? Was it smaller because it was female or because it was younger? Perhaps they simply had a vaste range in size within their race. More questions about this race hung in the air then stars in her sister’s sky. How did they walked on two legs with perfect balance yet with a completely different joint structure to any animal she had ever seen? Even their rich range of languages gave rise to many questions and hinted at even more races that had never been encountered.

Watching, and willing herself not to plead with them to stay, Celestia witnessed the elder pull something from one of their bags. For a moment the princess was not sure what she was looking at. In his hands he held some sort of cloth, though at first glance she had thought he had some how managed to pick up a length of water. The fabric’s pattern, if it could be called that, was a shifting mass of blues that rippled like water with every movement. She watched the fabric as it was folded and smoothed with such gentle care by his bare hands. No fur or hair or scales adorned them, only bare skin. Celestia wondered if the lack of natural covering was the same for the rest of their bodies, it would explain their over use of clothes.

Words passed between the small group before the elder made his way back down the corridor of pegasi, the cloth held out carefully in front of him. When he reached Celestia, he bent down to one knee, and presented the cloth towards her. This was clearly a gift but Celestia was a little embarrassed to admit that she had not brought anything to give them in return. It was, after all, common practice to exchange gifts between meeting nations. Unfortunately this had been a tradition she had forgotten due to worrying of her little ponies safety.

After a moment of hesitation, before deciding it would be far ruder not to accept the gift then to admit to not having one to give in return, Celestia took hold of the material with a golden glow of her magic. The elder flinched slightly but seemed far more curious than scared as he watched the material flow and unravel.

With closer inspection Celestia realized that the material was a cloak. It’s small hood would not fit around her own head without some alterations but the rest of its length would accommodate her well enough. More so it was simply mesmerising to watch the rippling blues on its surface. Clearly it was enchanted in some manner, and there were a few spells that she thought might produce a similar effect, she would have to see if she could get any of her ponies to replicate the pattern. It was beautiful to say the least.

Placing the cloak along her back Celestia gave her thanks, hoping that her tone and smile would not need translating. They didn’t, but the elder creature seemed to be trying to tell her something more. It pulled at its own clothing, placing it near its mouth, and started humming a single note before looking expectantly at the princess. Wondering if this was some sort of strange custom, and perhaps the cloak had been given to her so she could take part in it, Celestia levitated the cloak back towards her face and copied her bipedal guest.

Much to her surprise, and to those around her, the cloak’s blue patten rippled outwards from her voice with a gold light. The princess smiled and gave a genuinely surprised laugh. The elder produced his own smile and started humming a different note. Eager to discover all the cloak could do Celestia copied him and produced a much lower note than before. The cloak now rippled with reds and purples, it was a musical cloak. Never before had she seen or heard of anything of its like before. The princess could hardly wait to see how it looked when somepony sang whilst wearing it.

Not knowing how to fully express her thanks, nor having a gift to give to the ambassador, Celestia chose to show her feelings through her actions and walked towards the the elder calmly. He continued kneeling but his head lowered. Gently Celestia lowered her own head so that her horn was just a breath away from the top of his mane. Softly, like a warm mist, Celestia let her feelings of thanks and joy filter to the elder - his reaction was not what she expected

Sir Wallace quickly pushed himself away from the white queen when he realized that the gentle feelings of happiness that fogged his mind were not his own. The feelings were easily pushed aside with his own and faded to nothing the moment he broke contact with the queen. Glamour. The word echoed through his head as a warning.

Sir Wallace could not abide glamours, and had to suffer them enough with the elves, but here, in a realm he knew nothing about, he had to be even more careful to shield himself from anything that might want to twist his mind into staying or forgetting. Glamours could weave sweet words and soft feelings into nets of steel, able to catch and hold even the strongest of wills.

Seeing the look of confusion on the monarch’s face Sir Wallace composed himself and bowed, but this time he made sure to keep his distance, before backing up to where Gideon was waiting.

“What happened?” Gideon was worried. She had watched as the gift had been taken, with nothing less than magic, and the Queen had seemed happy with the gift, but when the she had lowered her horn to Sir Wallace’s head he had acted like he had been burned.

The knight closed his eyes for a moment to try and clear his mind of anything that was not him. For even the most practiced, it was a hard task, and Sir Wallace had always preferred to keep away from any situation that might involve glamors, rather than learn how to repair the damage caused by them. He felt clean, but he knew he must now keep his guard up to both outside threats and inside thoughts, least they were not his own.

“She used some sort of glamour. I don’t think it was anything strong though.” This turn of events caused a problem for the knight and his party. They still needed to find a way to get back to their own realm, and quickly if they were going to make it on their current supplies, but it seemed that these people were more dangerous than they had first looked. Thorns amongst the roses.

“You’re OK though?” Gideon was unsure and her voice showed it. They all depended on Sir Wallace to be of sound mind and the thought that he might have been, or could end up being, twisted and swayed through magic, sowed seeds of doubt and fear in the squire.

“But what do we do now? They are not just going to let us leave are they?”

“I'm fine, but no, I don’t think they are just going to let us leave. From the glamour I would have to guess that they are trying to make us stay. The feelings I felt were those of joy, warmth and happiness, they were gentle but certainly not my own. I think we should be thankful that they seem to have little to no knowledge of humans or the queen might have been more skillful with her magic. Thankfully I realised what was happening quickly. Dammit, why can’t things just be simple for once? ” Sir Wallace started digging aggressively through one of the packs piled on the floor next to the saddles.

Gideon tried to say something but she decided against it and held her tongue. While the knight encouraged her to ask questions that did not mean she had to question everything he said. Right now it was answers they needed.

The squire was not sure what Sir Wallace was looking for, but he didn’t seem to be finding it. That in itself was not too surprising as it was her job to sort and pack the bags.

“Sir, can I help you find something?”

“Yes, where is my journal?” Sir Wallace moved to another of the bags while still leaving much of the first hanging out or cast aside on the ground.

“And map book, and realm scrolls to.” Gideon frowned slightly, unsure if this strange behaviour was simply Sir Wallace with one of his plans or something brought on by the glamour.

“The dragon hide bag, like they always are. Why?” The squire spoke cautiously as she moved to return the disturbed items back to their proper place.

“We need to find a way back home.” Gideon relaxed a little as Sir Wallace’s said that, relieved that he was still set on that goal.

“Words don’t seem to be able to do the trick, so maybe we can use pictures in the books to get the point across.”

Celestia watched in silence as the two bipeds talked in their chattering language while the elder searched for something in their bags. What she wouldn't give to be able to understand what they were saying and to be able to have them understand her. Something had gone wrong, and she was sure it had been her fault, but what? Everything had been going so well up until the point she had touched him with her magic. The princess fretted, wondering if it had simply been the use of magic.

The notion had merit, many races disliked dealing with ponies due to the magic they possessed, often due to fear and jealousy. However the cloth draped across her back was clearly magical and it had been curiosity that had painted the elder’s face a few moments before when he saw her levitate the gift towards herself.

The princess stomped a golden shoed hoof to the grass in frustration of both the situation and her own lack of insight into the matter but forced herself to regain her composure. She watched as the pegasi in front of her shifted slightly to stand even more upright, a feat she would have thought impossible had she not witnessed it herself. Everypony was relying on her to solve the situation, and losing her temper with her own abilities was not going to help.

Eventually the elder ambassador returned to walk up the aisle towards the awaiting royalty. This time the contents in his hands were recognisable to everypony, a couple of books and scrolls. Celestia’s heart jumped with the hope that maybe whatever was written within these pages would give her answers.

Celestia was sad to see the elder remained further away from her then before when he came to rest, he was clearly still scared of her, but he was still making an effort to communicate and that in itself held promise.

As he opened one of the scrolls she could see that it depicted a series of coloured shapes with angular markings next to them. Waiting a moment the elder looked between the image and Celestia but the Princess was unsure what the picture was meant to represent. She watched as the biped sighed before using a single digit from his hand to point to the middle, and largest, of the interconnected shapes. He then tapped his chest using the same digit while making a short but clear vocalization.

Celestia tilted her head in an effort to try and see something more than what she currently could but as she took a step forward for a closer look, the elder took a step backwards. Celestia turned her eyes towards the scroll’s bearer, sadness and confusion etched on her face. For a moment their eyes met but he either couldn't or wouldn’t hold her gaze and quickly turned his attention back towards the paper. The princess wanted to continue the search for the reason of his fear but was worried it might push him further away.

Not getting anywhere with the first scroll the elder opened up one of the books. There was a lot of the angular script again, and Celestia took a guess that it was the creature’s written language, but there were also pictures within the pages. The first one he showed the princess caught her by surprise.

It was, at first glance, a white unicorn. Closer inspection however revealed inconsistencies such as a tail that was much more like that of a donkey, and hooves that belonged more to a goat then any equine. The elder tapped the picture before pointing towards Celestia, and it only took a moment for the princess to see that, whatever this pictured creature was, the biped clearly thought she, and it, were the same.

Celestia shook her head and spread her wings. The drawn equine had an elegance but she found herself feeling quite insulted that she was being compared to it. The elder stopped his pointing and looked back down at the book before flicking through more pages and coming to rest at another image. This one showed a pegasus, but not like any of her ponies, and looked far more like the elder’s mountain horses. Incredibly its wingspan was over three times that of Celestia’s own. Again the princess shook her head.

More creatures were shown from the book. Most she recognised but even those were not quite right in some small aspect or another. Griffons were drawn with much larger wings but also with a far more predatory form, however the dragons looked the same as those she knew. Hope grew at each of the pictures she pointed to and nodded at but disappointment and frustration ruled the elder’s face when she shook her head at each of the bipeds shown to her.

The images left Celestia even more confused. Were all of these pictures of beings that existed? If so, then how had she never seen or heard about most of them? The ambassador looked equally confused. It was like they were trying to complete a jigsaw with only a few of the pieces. Princess Celestia looked down at the books held within the grasp of the elder. What they needed were more of the pieces.

“Captain Mistral. How well stocked is the Manehattan library?”

Author's Note

Just a quick note for those who dont know:
Glamour; in fantasy it is the name often given to an illusion, or a spell, that is meant to tempt, beguile or seduce. To hide the truth with a beautiful lie. A witch that hides an ugly face would be using a glamour. The face itself would not have been changed, it is just an illusion. Fairies are well known for using glamours to capture and temped mortals into their own realm hence the reason such spells have a bad reputation.

So the stories say.

Time flowed like a thick mud as Celestia struggled to convey her wishes, not knowing whether each step would be met with solid understanding or losing her footing in the whole ‘conversation’. They needed to move the current diplomatic meeting elsewhere and only one place could really give them all they needed. The Manehattan library would be filled with all manner of books, and being one of the largest port cities, it also boosted a large collection of literature and scrolls from other kingdoms as well. Other than the Canterlot library, which would require a great deal of traveling, there would be no better place to conduct this trial and error form of communication.

The elder’s flat face and small eyes made it’s facial expressions a little hard to read, but Celestia felt a moment of relief when she saw him grasp at the idea that there were more books in the city up ahead. At least, that was what she was hoping that was what had been realised. For all she knew the elder might think she was trying to tell him there were some of the creatures from his books within the city.

Dismissing her doubts about what she had managed to convey the princess watched as an expression of contemplation graced the alien face before her. Celestia watched patiently as he rubbed his beard with one of his hands, an action so like many of her own ponies when they were in thought, before eventually nodding and pointing in the city’s direction. Had she succeeded? She was hoping so, but so long as they started moving in the right direction they were making progress.

Celestia instructed a small group of Police and Royal guards to fly ahead and insure the city would be prepared to accept the princess and her guests, as well as making arrangements for private access to the library. Her hope was to turn this into a Royal visit, thus minimizing any panic her guests might cause. If the ponies of Manehattan believed that this was an arranged diplomatic meeting then it was far more likely that they would become more curious than fearful. This port city had proven to be one of the more accepting places within her kingdom, mostly due to its regular trading with the Griffins and Sea ponies.

Before they got underway there was however the small matter of the visiting party needing to pack up their supplies. Up until now the equipment, packs and an assortment of items had been left strune around the grass. Despite the smaller one’s efforts to keep things tidy, the larger always seemed to require less effort to disrupt the task. It was quite endearing to see the two interact. The elder was certainly in charge, Celestia, once again wished she knew their names, yet the younger one seemed perfectly capable of standing its ground when it felt the need. Many gestures were made with the use of their hands, and Celestia could only assume that these gestures were also a part of their language, something that would only hinder communications it it turned out to be true.

“Captain Mistral” Celestia spoke softly as she continued to watch the diplomats converse.

“Yes Princess”

“While we wait for our guests to prepare would you mind telling me everything you have observed since arriving here?”

*************

Sir Wallace and Gideon had debated for a short while on whether or not they should tack their horses and load their bags but, in the end, they found there was little choice in the matter. Neither of them would be able to carry all of their supplies for any length of time, and leaving them behind was out of the question. The thought of trying to ask the equines for their help did come up a few times but Sir Wallace did not want to spend any more time playing in the communication quagmire.

The next problem was if they should ride to their destination or walk. While it was true that none of their hosts had made any sort of fuss over the few times the horses had been carrying them, both of the humans still felt a little wary in openly using their mounts as beasts of burden. Wanting to waste as little time as possible, Sir Wallace decided that if their hosts did take offence to the treatment of their distant kin, then they would simply adjust their behaviour. Once mounted, and after making sure there was no protest or hostility towards their actions, the pair made their way to walk behind the queen’s carriage.

The walk would not be lengthy but all felt the buzzing uncertainty that hung in the air as they walked in relative silence. Duty, and even Honour, pulled at their rains a little more than usual.

“Sir. I really don’t like this.” Whispered Gideon, she knew the ponies could not understand her but talking in front of them still made her feel uneasy.

“A point you have already made clear a number of times Giddy. Just follow my lead and keep your thoughts guarded. I very much doubt these equines can read minds,” Sir Wallace watched as his squire’s face showed an appropriate level of worry.
“but they may be able to pick up emotions. The glamour the Queen used had been based around good feelings so, if we are lucky, that is as far as they can go. She also seemed to need close proximity.”

“No touching then.” Gideon committed this rule to memory. Even if she wanted to pet a couple of them. Their hair looked much finer than her own mount’s and she would have loved to find out just how soft it was.

“Just to be safe. I only hope that the Queen, or other royal equines, are the only ones who possesses that sort of magic. The pegasi certainly don’t seem to.” The knight took note that most of the winged ponies had remained on the ground, likely to keep pace with the carriage. It also let them save their strength if they needed to fly after anyone who might try and depart.

“Why is she so much bigger than the rest of them?” Gideon wanted to steer away from thoughts of mind reading and glamors, it made the hairs on the back of her neck twitch.

“Who knows. Maybe the royalty in this Kingdom is composed of the the Pegacorns and the smaller Pegasi are the common folk. It would be easy for the larger, magic using Queen and her kind to subdue the smaller ponies.” It made sense. Those with power or in power often used their lessers to perform tasks they themselves saw as beneath them. At this very moment a team of four pegasi were the ones pulling the carriage that held their Queen, even though she was perfectly able to travel without it.

“Things are never fair are they?”

“Its the way of the realms Giddy, for the most part it works. So long as the Pegacorns care for their charges. I imagine they are much safer from the dragons and griffons that also appear to be native to these lands and might see them as a snack.” Sir Wallace leaned over slightly and patted Honour on her neck before scanning the skies for any would be predator. The blue veil was thankfully clear of all but a few clouds.

The two rode in silence for a little while until they crested the top of a hill and the town started to come into view. It was still a good way off but the mounted pair could now see the town was far larger than they had first assumed. Its huge towers reached up into the sky, some even touching the clouds, while a mass of smaller buildings clustered beneath them. No walls stood to protect the vast port, but the sea cradled it from all sides. Only a lone bridge, briefly seen, stretched out to connect the island with the shore.

“Quite a sight hey Giddy?” Even Sir Wallace was impressed with their destination while he watched all but the tallest towers disappear behind the rolling landscape.

“It’s so big, is it the capital?” Gideon lifted her self in the saddle to try and keep the port in view but she still proved too short to compete with the hill now in front of them.

“It might be but I think its just a big trade port since the Pegacorn Queen arrived from the other direction.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a Pegacorn before, are they found in the mortal realm?” Gideon was not very good when it came to remembering all of the beasts and magical creatures. Sure it was easy to remember the main ones like the dragons, salamanders, ogres and griffins but when it came to remembering if it was the Naiads or the Napaeae nymphs that made their groves around spring water then she was lost.

“Not that I have heard, I just needed to call the Queen something other than ‘magical horse’ and that fit. I guess a Pegasus and a Unicorn might be able to produce a foal, there are some stories that say that the first pegasi were unicorns to begin with, but stories are stories and no one has seen a unicorn in the mortal realm for eons.”

“What happened to them?”

“Hmm, well I guess we have time for one of the stories. It certainly beats riding in silence. Truth be told, most blame us humans for the extinction of the unicorns. Their magical properties rivaled even those of a dragon and, the rarer they became, the more they were sought after.”

“They can’t have been that powerful if we managed to wipe them out.” snorted Gideon. She had seen that dragon only a few hours before, there was no way a horse with a horn could be more powerful. Not even this Queen would have stood a chance against it.

“You see thats the strange thing Giddy, unicorns were powerful, but around humans they seemed to weaken. It was rumored that single girl could bring one to its knees with just a touch. All of the races have their own tales to tell when it comes to the unicorn, but it was one of the elven stories that I most remember. I can’t tell it word for word but I can at least give you the jist of it. I guess the best place to start is from the beginning.” The knight cleared his throat and looked off into the distance as he let the story surface from his memories.

“When the Realms were new and the gods were young, they began to make things to fill their worlds with. At first came the elementals, beings created from the very hearts of the gods but they soon tired of them, for they did not have hearts of their own. In time Water and Air tried to create something together, to see what they could make combined, but no matter how hard they tried their creations never held together and would drift apart. Soon, Earth and Fire joined in, eager to try something new and add their strength, but still their creation failed and fell apart.

The gods were puzzled. Never before had they faced a challenge they could not overcome. Fire, with his temper, grew angry with the shapeless blob and tried to hold it together with only partial success. Not to be outdone the other gods joined in, each one pushing as hard as they could to hold their creation, and with each surge of strength the blob grew smaller and harder till at last they could move back and view what they made.

Before them lay a tiny egg, the first egg any of them had ever seen, for it was the first egg that had ever been. The four gods stood and watched to see what their new creation would do, but to their horror its beautiful surface soon became marred with cracks. The gods watched helpless as their hard work prove to be for nothing, their creation was simply not meant to be, they had failed and the egg shattered.

But from within the egg came two beings, one light and one dark.

‘Who are you?’ The gods asked

‘I am Life.’ Said the light one.

‘I am Death.’ said the dark one.

‘What is Life?’ Asked the gods .

‘I am your will, your strength, your pride. Your need to succeed and to be.’ Said Life.

‘What is Death?’ Asked the gods.

‘I am your limits, your weakness, your humility. Your acceptance of failure and need to give up.’ Said Death.

The newly born twin Gods looked before them and picked up their eggshell. Together they blew on the fragments and from the pieces came trees and plants and grass that spread across the worlds, and brought colour to the realms.

The gods were amazed at what the Twins could make. Eager to see more, Air reached to her head and gathered a few strands of her hair for them. Again the sisters blew together and from the hair came birds and all manner of creatures who fly in the sky.

Water and Earth quickly followed suit and soon the worlds were filled with so much life that the gods found themselves truly happy.

Fire watched. He did not like that Life and Death could do something he could not. He sent his fires to burn the trees, the plants and the grass. To burn the creatures of the earth, boil the creatures of the sea and choke the creatures of the air. Thus death came to the realms.

The other gods wept to see the beauty of life gone, but Death collected the ashes.

‘Do not cry.’ Said Death. ‘For what I take away, my sister will return.’ Death handed the ashes to her sister who began to sprinkle them back upon the realms to once more bring life back to the worlds. Fire tried to repeat his actions but the other gods used their own powers to fight him, flooding the land and cooling the seas but their very actions only served to bring death back and destroy what they were trying to save, even Fire grew sad to see the colours and creatures suffer and fade, but his pride would not let him give in.

After many eons the gods came to a truce. No longer would they battle upon the worlds. No longer would they see their creations destroyed and for a time there was peace.

But again the gods grew bored, as is their way. Earth asked the other gods to help him make something new. Water and Air both agreed but Fire’s pride was still sore and he refused. When the Twins blew upon the mix of earth, air and water a very new creature came into being, for these were the first Elves.”

“Wait a minute.” Interrupted Gideon “I thought you said Dwarves were the first race?”

“In the Dwarven story I told you they were the first race. This is an Elven story so of course they are going to tell it their way. Im sure if you looked hard enough through Ogre stories you would find tales that shows that they were the first race. In the end it doesn't really matter who was first. May I continue?”

“Are we getting to the part with the Unicorns yet?” Not that Gideon wasn’t enjoying the story, she just wanted to get to the part she was waiting on.

Sir Wallace laughed.

“We are nearly there now, just be glad I am giving you the shortened version, you know how much those elves like to go on. Right then where did I get to...Oh yes the elves.”

“The elves were different from the other creatures that roamed the lands. For they could change the shape of the land, master the oceans and call on the winds to help their arrows fly true. Only fire would not obey them for fire was not a part of them.

The Fire god once again grew jealous but he was no longer allowed to work his magic on the worlds. Instead he asked the other gods to help him make a creature like the elves and all but Water agreed, for Water and Fire never got along. However, into the mix of earth and air Fire added a piece of his very heart in the hope that this creature would be greater than the elves and be his to control and guide. Thus from the mix rose the Dragons.

Many more races were created but soon the gods grew more interested in influencing their creations and watching them, then making new life. Thus Life and Death were forgotten.

Death did not mind, for she had always been humble, but Life had the pride of the gods within her. She felt that she did not need the others, she could create something all herself; and so, reaching into her own heart she took a piece and breathed on to it , but nothing happened. Lothed to ask the others for help Life searched the lands until she came across a single shard of the shell that had once held her and her sister, a single tiny sliver they must have missed. To this she added the piece of her heart and breathed upon it, creating the first Unicorns.

These graceful, beautiful beasts enchanted all who saw them, including the gods but the Unicorns proved to be too powerful and too proud for Death had had no part in their creation and thus they had no limit. With the power of life at their control and the magic granted to them by the shard of the first egg, the unicorns began to alter those around them. Even the dragons, who were also made from the heart of a god, were forced to bend to their will.

The gods pleaded with Life to control her creation, but unicorns would not listen to her guidance, and the truce of the war prevented any god for using their powers directly upon the worlds, even her. Eventually Life sort the counsel of her sister.

‘I will do what I can.’ Said Death. She asked for a single strand of hair from each of the gods and from herself she added, not her heart, but her tears.

‘Now we must breathe it into being my sister, but you must only give it a whisper of a breath.’ Life listened to Death and only gave a small amount of her being. And so, from the mix came the last creature. Humans.”

“So the unicorns are life and we are basically Death’s creations?” Gideon sounded horrified at the prospect. Sir Wallace on the other hand gave a sigh of mild frustration at being interrupted, again.

“Giddy its a story, an Elven story at that, and you know most of their early works hardly depict humans in a good light. Besides, out of all the ruling races we are by far the shortest lived, I guess it just made sense to them to think that we had been touched by death. Now no more interruptions, I’m almost at the end.” Sir Wallace waited to see if his squire had anything more to say on the matter but he held his tongue.

“It was not for many years till the unicorns and the humans met, and in that time the short lived race had already built a kingdom. The unicorns were at first delighted at the thought of another race to improve upon but the closer they got to the kingdom the weaker they became and soon they began to fear the humans. Retreating into forests where they could hide. But humans spread quickly and brought death wherever they went, through wars or hunts. Soon nowhere was safe.

The unicorns at last learned death and they were afraid. They pleaded with Life, whom they had once ignored, but she would not help them. So instead they turned to the other gods. Each god promised to help so long as they would give up their horn, the source of their power, for it was made from the shard of the first egg, and to those that agreed the gods gave a gift. From Air, they grew wings and became the Pegasi. From Earth, they grew antlers and became the Golden Hinds. From Water they grew fins and became the Hippocampi. Only Fire would not help, as he would not forgive the unicorns for deforming many of his dragons into mere shadows of themselves for they now roamed the land as salamanders and sand worms.

The last of the unicorns, who refused the aid of the gods, were caught one by one by the humans who saw fit to take their horns for themselves. Eventually even riding them and using them as beasts of burden until finally, the death that the humans carried within, seeped into the very being of these unicorns, forever changing them into horses. The End.”

“Well that was rather grim. Are all elven tales so dark?” Gideon just felt sorry for the unicorns now. She even felt bad about riding Duty in a way. Was he really descended from unicorns?

“Isn’t there some sort of happy ending?”

“Few stories have happy endings Giddy, even in our culture. And though I very much doubt we are the product of a death god, sometimes you can find grains of truths in stories. The fact that unicorns have been over hunted is true, so maybe some Unicorns and Pegasi some how managed to flee here and have ended up flourishing cut off from the rest of the realms.”

“You could have just said that, it would have been a lot quicker.”

“Then how would we have passed the time.” Sir Wallace laughed again and Gideon did have to admit that her knight had a good point. Finally giving her surrounding more attention she could now see that they were not far off from the bridge that would lead them to the giant port town. Something looked off though.

“Um, Sir, what is that bridge made of?”

Sir Wallace frowned in confusion before turning his own attention towards the bridge.

“...That can’t be right.” Forgetting where he was for a moment Sir Wall kicked Honour on into a trot, breaking away from the train of pony guards and towards the massive bridge that now lay ahead of them. Not wanting to be left behind Gideon followed behind him, after all he had told her to follow his lead. The surrounding pint sized pegasi stopped and shifted, unsure with what they should do. It was unnerving but since they did not move to stop either of them Gideon felt herself a little relieved to be away from the guards, if only by a short distance. The problem was that she knew, sooner rather than later, they would have to return.

“Sir shouldn’t we get…”

“This can’t be real.” The words were clearly aimed towards himself as the knight struggled to come to terms with what he was seeing. Gideon soon realise that Sir Wallace was not even listening to her at this point. His focus totally upon the structure before him.

The bridge was huge with only a single set of supports holding the massive length in suspension above the water. Further supports spread out like fingers from the top of the pillars to cradle the middle section of the bridge.

“The metal should be buckling under its own weight.”

“Sir.” Gideon tried again but found herself ignored

“Good grief. Its been painted, the entire structure is covered with paint” The knight was now patting one of the protective barriers as though too much pressure might bring the whole thing down.

“ SIR WALLACE.” Finally, after shouting at him, Gideon got his attention.

“I think they want us back in line.” Gideon pointed back towards the line of guards and gilded carriage that had all quickened their pace to catch up to the runaways. Many pairs of eyes were currently on the both of them and half the pegasi were now in the air, clearly preparing to move in if needed.

“Yes, right. Of course.” Gideon watched as her mentor gave the bridge a few more glances before they returned to their position behind the carriage. The Queen actually stepped out of her moveable throne when they drew close and even Gideon could read that she was both concerned and confused. The two acknowledged her, but there was no way to explain their actions.

“I don't see what’s so strange about the bridge Sir, its attached to both sides and looks more than strong enough to hold. Its made out of metal and stone right?” Gideon knew she must be missing something, be for the life of her she could not see what it was.

“It’s too big, thats what is wrong with it. Metal and stone might be strong but they are also heavy. Too much weight and the metal bends, the stone brakes.” Yet here is was standing tall and strong, Sir Wallace added to himself.

“So its magic then?”

“I guess it must be,” Sighed the knight, disappointed that yet another piece of knowledge was denied him.

“but by the gods I know some humans, and even some dwarfs, who would love to go over that thing with a fine toothed comb to find out how it stays standing against its own weight, least of all the wind and sea.” Surely there had to be some way to unlock the bridge’s secrets and bring them back to the mortal realm. It could change the very essence of how things were constructed! Why, this method must have also been applied to the many towers that filled the town, helping them to stand strong and tall. There was just so much to learn.

*************

“Now what do you suppose that was all about?” Asked Celestia as she watched the diplomats return to their position behind her.

“Maybe they have never seen a bridge before Princess.” replied Steadfast, who was keeping a close eye on their ‘guests’. So far they had been fairly amenable, even with their constant chattering, but the stallion did not like variables and these mountain horses and their bipeds were just too unpredictable, not to mention big.

“If a bridge is going to cause that much interest then they are in for a shock when we hit the main city.” Chuckled Celestia, for even she often had to marvel at the new innovations that her little ponies came up with.

Author's Note

OK, yes, I know this took far too long to come out but, better late than never right? The truth of the matter is that most of my creative time has been spent on an audio adventure since I am not only one of the voice actors but I also help out with the script and provide a lot of the artwork that will accompany it. Its a lot of fun but also very time consuming.

Anyway enough excuses, what does everyone think of this chapter?

Upon the cobbles

“It’s so big!” Gideon’s eyes wandered over the expanse of buildings that continued to grow in both size and number. She had thought the elder trees glimpsed in the elven grove had been impossibly big, but as the hooved procession drew closer, the full size of the city was becoming harder and harder for the squire to comprehend, stretching out before her, and filling her entire field of view. With her mind brought back to the enchanted groves the only thing she could compare it to was a forest of shining towers reaching up and out from the sea, chaotic at first but with an almost organic growth, it really was dazzling to behold.

“It certainly is impressive. Bigger than any of the human cities by at least four fold.” Sir Wallace, for once, was just as awestruck as his ward, though that still did not leave him lost for words.

“I think only the two largest dwarven holds can rival it in the mortal realm, though I can only go by hearsay since they are at depths a human would never endure.”

The impossible bridge they now walked on had more or less been forgotten by the pair since it had proven to be both stable and safe. The tracks that lay across one side assured them that their added weight would not be an issue. Besides, there was too much to marvel at ahead of them than to focus on what was at their feet.

“Look, over there at those boats. No sails or oars, yet they're as swift and controlled as swans on a lake, and that statue, it must have been inspired by some great figure in their history.” The two humans found it hard to look anywhere and not find something to puzzle and wonder over.

“Sir look,” Gideon pointed over to a large building at end of the bridge, “there are more of those loud snake wagons.”

“Good eye Giddy, though I think track runners might be a better name for them, at least until we can find their true title." The two travelers quickly proceeded to go backwards and forwards with different ideas on what to call the transport till they eventually settled on Giddy’s idea of ‘Smoker’.

Having now started their game of naming the Smoker the pair proceeded to pass the time by tossing around and guessing the names for other new oddities.

***********

Celestia stole another glance over her shoulder at her guests, a smile continued to play on her lips as she noted their reactions. While the mountain horses continued to show no real sign of greater intelligence, the diplomats were quite clearly the opposite.

Their words, still foreign to her, nonetheless spoke volumes through tone and responses to all they could see. Nearly everything that came into view was commented on with an enthusiastic air; it reminded her very much of the first time she had brought Luna to the city. What a day that had been. Celestia had wanted to share how much their little ponies had advanced after a thousand years, but the trip had ended on a low note. Luna had indeed been impressed, she had always been the one to dream up new ideas, but, the changes and advances their little ponies had made had gradually weighed on her, emphasizing just how long she had been away, how much she’d missed. Even now after a few years had past, Luna still felt a little out of place, out of step with the world around her. She tended to visit the more humble towns and villages now, echos of times past.

“Princess, I think we have company.” Steadfast nodded towards the city where a handful of pegasi were flying towards them, but it was clear that these ponies were not part of the guard or the city police.

“Judging from their cameras I would say our guests will soon be making front page news.” The Princess sighed. She used to enjoy the newspapers from each of her cities and towns, but lately they had been more focused on providing the most outrageous stories, all in an attempt to sell more than their rivals. The worst of it was when such stories were believed.

“I can take a few of my flight and confiscate their cameras Princess.” Captain Mistral knew all too well how much damage and panic could spread by a single news story.

“Thank you Captain, but that won't be necessary. We have nothing to hide here. Besides, since I plan to address the city about our guests, I think we are safe from the newspapers running anything that would contradict my words.” Turning towards the flying photographers, Celestia smiled and waved, encouraging them to come closer. The Captain shifted a little. He hoped the Press would not prove his Princess wrong.

“Princess!” One of the newsponies had decided to try his luck by flying much closer to the royal carriage.

“How did you manage to capture and subdue the giants and their monsters?” Other pegasi were now starting to descend after seeing their peer not immediately chased away by the guards.

“My little ponies, I am happy to say I have seen no giants or monsters today.” The Princess smiled gently as she watched the confusion in the ponies spread. In unison all seven newsponies leaned to one side to glance back at the strange creatures keeping pace behind the royal carriage.

“However that is not to say there is no news for you, my guests here are the diplomatic envoys from a nation beyond Equestria.” Celestia decided to leave out the part that it was the bipeds, and not the horses, that were the diplomats, at least for now.

“But I am afraid that questions will have to wait until I make my address at the Manehattan library.” More questions sprang from the reporters, Celestia paid them no mind and simply raised one hoof to silence them.

“Of course all reporters will be given a section near the front so they may ask their questions at a more appropriate time, that is so long as they have proper identification.” The Princess watched as all seven pegasi looked sheepishly around at each other. Just as she had thought. They had come without their ID in order to avoid problems if they got caught. It proved quite satisfying to watch the ponies quickly bow in midair before racing one another to get back to their respective places of employment.

Celestia always loved how a few well placed words could completely change a situation, it was one of the greatest weapons she had learned to wield. Looking behind at her puzzled guests however caused the princess to wonder how she would manage this situation without words at all. Her gaze stopped their chattering and caused both diplomats to bow their heads but what caused Celestia to pause herself was the way the smaller of the two almost crumpled in on itself, desperately trying to avoid eye contact. The elder on the other hoof carefully watched her from beneath its brows, only lowering its head when his eyes met hers. Celestia turned back around, not wishing them any more discomfort. Were they afraid of her?

Something had gone wrong during their meeting, but had it gone worse then she had first thought? Her use of magic on the elder still seemed to be the most likely cause of the matter, she was sure of that now, but when he had first seen her use magic there had been no fear, only curiosity. The gifted cloak was also a puzzlement, it was magical, there was no doubt about that, yet the elder had shown no sign of discomfort or disdain in holding it. So many questions hung in the air, Celestia could only hope the literature inside the library could help answer at least some of them.

Passing into the threshold of the city proved nerve racking for everyone. The unexpected royal visit had quickly gained the attention of the resident ponies who now lined the streets to watch, though this was mostly due to the sudden closure of one of the main roads and thus a near standstill of the normally bustling city. Police patrolled the area to calm anyone who got a little worked up about the interruption to their busy schedule but, for the most part, everypony took today as a day off, and all hoped the time would not come out of their pay or holiday hours.

The diplomats and their mounts were open to a lot of speculation from the crowds as they made their way slowly behind the royal carriage, yet despite the initial fear that rippled its way through the city, Celestia’s open display of them helped calm most of those present. Talk of war and monsters was quickly replaced with questions on where these strangers had come from? What new trade might open up? As well as how they might be able to find and employ saddle guards like those atop the diplomats. Manehattan was after all a city of trade and opportunities and those that were able to make a living here normally had a good eye for both.

*************

“Sir, why do I getting the feeling that we are being led to some sort of volcano, or pit, before being thrown inside to appease their Gods?” Gideon pulled Duty as close as she could to Honor, hopelessly trying to shield herself from the staring eyes of the multi coloured ponies. It was creeping her out how happy they looked. The fact that now there were not just pegasi but also similarly sized unicorns living in the city did not help matters, the two humans had already seen a few of the horned ponies teleport or hold things using magic that seemed to emanate from their alicorns.

“Because you read far too many story books and have an active imagination. Look around, these are clearly an advanced and intelligent race. Their streets are clean and their people look fed and happy. These are all good signs.” Despite the knowledge that he needed to keep his guard up Sir Wallace could not help feel swept up in the excitement that swam around them. A small herd of youngsters caught his eye, as they squeezed their way to the front. The knight found himself unable to resist smiling and bowing his head in their direction, much like he would with the children of small towns who still saw wonder in the life of a knight. Three of the foals ducked down and tried to hide back in the crowd, but one brave grass green youngster with a mop of gray and pale pink hair smiled back and waved.

“It's weird, and I don’t mean the fact that they are miniature horses. They are just too happy. Its like a story book. Where are the normal folks?” While Gideon could see exactly the same scene around her she lacked the experience to see the similarities between this race and those she was more accustomed to. Instead she focused on the strange clothing, or lack thereof; the buildings that reached up all around her and, strangest of all, how clean everything was. There was no mud, no discarded reeds from the floors of homes and no muck or smell other than the salt air and a slight smell of smoke. Who ever heard of a city that showed no signs of being lived in?

Duty, unfortunately, decided to rectify this problem with a lift of his tail.

While Sir Wallace and Gideon heard the soft pats as they struck the smooth cobbles below, neither would have paid the sound any mind had there not been angry shouts from behind and gasps from the crowd. The procession quickly came to a halt as the guards in front tried to work out what had happened, while the guards behind tried to forget what had happened, particularly one guard that had almost gained a new accessory to his helmet.

“Giddy, I think you had better clean that up, they don’t seem too happy with Duty.”

******************

It was an eerie sight as a ripple effect happened to the ponies lining the street. Their smiling happy cheers falling into shocked and angry whispers so palpable that it seemed to oozed like a thick fog. Celestia’s elegant form turned from left to right to survey the sudden change in her subjects, part of her fearing that some sort of spell had been cast on her little ponies, but a spell was not the cause of the sudden hostile atmosfear.

She and her guards might know that the horses were nothing but beasts, but the rest of her ponies believed them to be visiting dignitaries. Dignitaries that had just...relieved themselves, not only in public, and so callously upon their beloved city, but in the presence of their princess. The city population stood at a tipping point and Celestia needed to act carefully if she was to gain control. The guards were at a loss as to what to do, this was after all not a duty they knew how to handle.

“Princess Celestia, the smallest is moving.” Unsure what might happen next Celestia stood up in her carriage and turned around to confirm that the smaller of the dignitaries had indeed climbed out of its saddle and was now pulling at the packs on the brown horse’s back. The poor thing looked positively terrified with the way it hunched over, and was clearly trying to avoid making any sort of eye contact with the dark gazes surrounding it. Celestia had to stop herself from moving towards it and offering comfort. She was sure now that this smaller being was much younger than its companion, were the pair a parent and child? Teacher and student?

The crowd watched as a brown sack was removed from the saddlebag and Celestia found herself watching in confusion, and no small amount of disgust, as the student then proceeded to fill the sack with waste using nothing more than its pale hairless hands. Silence fell upon Manehattan, and only a cough echoing a small distance away proved that her ponies had not been turned to stone. Unfortunately it was in this silence that the gray horse chose to duplicate the natural act of its kin.

It is often said that a mob’s intelligence can be calculated by taking the lowest individual's IQ and dividing it by the number comprising the mob. Manehattan might be an intelligent city on the whole, but when a mob of this size builds up it can only be compared to a force of nature. What first started with a single angry shout soon became five and then twenty. Ponies began moving forward as they tried to make themselves heard and within a matter of moments the greeting crowd had become far less welcoming.

“Continue to the library.” Was all Celestia said to her guards before she leapt from her carriage towards the eye of the storm. Ponies pressed in from all sides while both of the diplomats were already struggling to hold onto their horses, who were at least smart enough to know that this was not a place they wanted to be. Her guards meanwhile had quickly moved to circle their guests and hold back the tide of angry voices and hooves.

Celestia wished for no harm to come to either her subjects or her guests but she knew that it would not take long for a stone to be thrown or for someone to trip and fall beneath the tide of hooves. Her best option was to remove her guests until the city had regained its senses. As she moved forward her guards moved instinctively out of her way and allowed Celestia quick access to the diplomats circle. Angry shouts, demands and insults flew all around, mostly towards the diplomats though there were plenty of voices aimed at both the guards and even the Princess. The ponies of Manehattan wanted retribution for this affront to their beloved city, even if individually they would not know what it was they were trying to achieve.

So concerned by the angry mob just beyond the wall of guards, that Celestia found herself caught by surprise when she had to dodge the gray mare who had tried to strike out at the Princess. Celestia held back for a moment, once again unsure of her actions, but she could see the foam starting to dot the corners of both horse’s mouths. They were panicked to the point of blindness and would clearly become a danger to both her ponies and themselves if things continued to the way they were. As Celestia collected her magic and focused the teleportation spell her eyes locked on to those of the elder. Shock, and then something else registered in his face before he quickly shouted something to his kin.

********************

“Giddy, shield ya’ eyes!” Sir Wallace didn’t know what was about to happen but by the way the Queen’s horn glowed something big was on its way. Gideon was still fighting to control Duty when she turned to catch the knight’s voice, her eyes quickly moving to see the light coming from the Queen’s horn before raising one arm to block her sight.

Suddenly the world seemed to shift, too large and too small at the same time before the humans felt their stomachs lurch as though for a brief moment they were on a ship at sea. Despite the discomfort it was a relief to all that the angry voices had faded to the background and now the loudest sounds were those of hooves on cobblestones. Both of the riders quickly took stock of their new location, their mounts snorting loudly as they were controlled to walk in circles rather than bolt at the sight of the open streets.

“I am never going to complain about travel powder again.” Giddy was sure she was about to lose what little she had gotten to eat that morning while her mentor merely gave a relieved laugh.

Author's Note

Over a year, over a year I have made you guys wait and I am so sorry for that. This chapter has been sitting partly done for such a long time but I hit a wall and then so many other things kept getting in the way. Still it is done now and I can (hopefully) start writing chapters at a much more regular rate.

This chapter did not go as planned, but that is not to say I am not happy with it ^.^ The characters just took a life of their own and I had no choice but to go a long for the ride. Still the next chapter should be much less...messy, and will start getting into the heart of the story.

Big thanks to GMZ_Casper for helping clean this chapter up (well at least the grammer)

Two steps forward

Free from the angry mob Gideon and Sir Wallace found themselves still a little dizzy after the teleportation. In the peaceful, though slightly spinning world, they took stock of where they had ended up this time. Not enjoying the sudden shift in location the horses pulled and danced before being reined in and given a chance to settle after the narrowly avoided stampede of tiny hooves.

Ahead of the small group was the Queen. Her dawnlike glowing mane and tail drawing in any gaze, though the bright white coat and golden regalia helped with the effect. She stood just a few paces away next to a wide, stone, staircase looking eagerly towards the mounted pair before turning to look up the steps towards a large and impressive, white, columned building. While the humans remained cautious of her power, she had clearly been the one to get them out of the crowd so both felt a little less intimidated by her, at least for now.

“Is that a palace?” Gideon had never traveled to any of the human capital cities, but she imagined that the Kings would live in something like this. Two carved gryphons adorned either side of the stairs while carvings of ponies were set high above the entranceway and into the roof edge. The only thing that made her unsure of her palace theory were the lack of spires or spikes to put heads on. On second thought was likely a good thing.

“I don’t think so Giddy. No guards or banners, and judging from the Queen’s first appearance I think her palace would have a lot more gold. This might be a place of worship though.” The knight scratched at his beard. Religion in different cultures was best avoided, there were just too many opportunities to either insult them, or their Gods.

Despite the lack of gold the building was, on all accounts, impressive. Four pillars supported the three grand arches that framed the front of the building, while intricate carvings and depictions graced any stone surface available. It was clear that a lot of time and skill had been spent on this structure. The building was also very large, though much wider than it was tall, a feature that made it stand out amongst its kin. Both of the humans found it to be much more pleasing to the eye then the smooth, featureless towers that stretched up into the clouds around them. It was also much kinder on their necks.

Sir Wallace urged Honor to take a few steps towards the building and thus towards where the Queen stood waiting. There were other ponies dotted around the area, most had moved towards the Queen upon their arrival but stopped after she had presumably commanded them. Now they just stood watching. Waiting. As her eyes met the knight’s her regal head began nodding with a gentle and encouraging smile while a nicker called to them both. The Queen then stretched out a single swanlike wing to point in the direction of grand wooden doors that stood open and welcoming atop the steps.

“Looks like she wants us to go inside. Come on Giddy, best not keep her majesty waiting.” Sir Wallace dismounted and gave Honor a pat on her neck before leading her slowly to the steps. He was grateful to see that they would be wide enough to pose his mare no issue in scaling them, so long as they went slowly.

“Um, Sir.” Gideon paused, it was now or never.

“I know you don’t like this Giddy but I can already hear the mob starting to get closer, best we get off the streets and let this all blow over.” It was true, there was definitely more noise than there had been just a moment ago.

“I know Sir, it's just that, well, there are not many of the ponies around here, its only really the Queen. So don’t you think we should be trying to escape while we can?” Giddy could count twelve ponies around them, there were two pegasi, seven unicorns and three that didn't seem to be either. If they had any chance to get away then now would be the time.

Sir Wallace turned to face his squire who ducked her head before looking back up at him. She hated when he looked at her like that. It always made her feel so small. Worse was when he crossed his arms.

Sir Wallace crossed his arms.

“Gideon,” The man started, but he didn't get chance to finish.

“Sir, what if it's the glamour? What if you are so willing to follow the Queen because she wants you to?” Gideon looked down at her hands as she twisted the leather reins between her fists. She was scared. She was scared that she couldn’t trust Sir Wallace anymore. Her teacher, her mentor, her protector, her friend. After everything they had been through together in just two years she didn't think she had ever felt so scared.

Silence

When she eventually looked up from her hands and towards her knight Giddy found his face troubled, a look she so rarely saw on the man. With a deep breath the squire knew it was up to her to do something.

“Let’s just go. We still have plenty of daylight to get somewhere safe, somewhere away from here. There is no way these pony’s little legs can keep up with the horses, we can even use your forest trick to get away from the pegasi like we did the dragon.”

“No.” Sir Wallace's face settled to a strong resolve.

“Sir we can’t,”

“No Giddy, I understand you are worried, you have no idea how much it scares me to think that my thoughts and choices might not be my own, but right now running is not an option.” Sir Wallace looked his ward in the eyes and could already see the rebellion forming.

“Do you even know which direction to head?” Gideon resolve cracked as she turned to look around her. They had teleported so technically they could be anywhere. The only reason they knew they were still in the same city was due to the sound of the angry crowd, which was really starting to get louder now.

“And don’t forget that we both saw there is only one way in and out of the city.” With that he saw Gideon deflate as the whole idea of running fell to pieces around them.

“Gideon, look at me. Right now is not the time to run but there might come a moment when it is. I need you to promise that you will keep me on the right track. If I look like I might be wavering I need you to tell me, and possibly stop me. Can you do that?” Gideon swallowed and nodded, she didn't think she could trust her voice at the moment. The knight smiled.

“We will solve this together and get home, I promise.” The two shared a smile before Gideon dismounted and followed her mentor’s example.

“I’m also going to need you to keep your distance from the Queen. We don’t both need to be questioning our actions the whole time we are stuck here.” Again Gideon nodded though in truth it had not been a request Sir Wallace had needed to make. She was already very happy to keep as far away as she could from the Queen, or anything else that looked like it might want to mess with her thoughts.

***********************

Celestia felt relief wash over her when she saw both of the bipeds take to their own feet and lead the horses towards her and the library. What exactly had happened between the two would likely remain a mystery but it seemed as though the younger one had wanted to leave with the way it had animated its arms and pointed. For a brief moment she had thought the elder would follow. That disaster had thankfully been avoided, or more likely postponed judging by the distance the two still tried to keep from her. Now was not the time to push them, she would have to deal with her own subjects first, then she could focus on trying to find a way to mend and rebuild whatever trust they had built when they had first met.

As the princess walked through the doors of the grand building she turned to watch the faces of her guests. Unfortunately she was not the only one there to see their arrival.

“Princess Celestia, as the head librarian here at the Manehattan Library it is a pleasure, Oh my.” Celestia turned to the unicorn stallion that had come to greet her, his speech halted as the golden mare next to him paled and back away from the sight of the two huge equines, and the bipeds that led them, walking through the doors.

“The pleasure is mine. I always enjoy my visits the cultural pride of Manehattan.” Celestia turned and presented the diplomats to the stallion.

“These are my guests, er…” Celestia stumbled on her next words, normally she would introduce them by name but that was not an option at this moment in time.

“Diplomats from a kingdom far away from Equestria.”

“Princess? Is everything OK?” The librarian, could hear rather a lot of noise coming from outside, and while he had been preparing for the Princess's unplanned visit, after a Royal Guard rudely informed only an hour ago, he had not expected her to be so flustered, or with such odd companions.

Celestia looked the stallion over. Clam, observant, with an air of certainty to himself. A simple white winged collar was the only garment on the his mahogany coat, which complimented his white mane and tail. She could certainly do with help right now.

“If it’s not too much to ask, sir?” Celestia waited for the stallion to introduce himself.

“Black Step, your majesty. Just Black Step.” He gave a polite bow as Celestia noticed that his coat did indeed darken to black down his legs and hooves. His cutie mark was of an open book with five smaller open books set above its pages.

“Well Black Step, there was a slight, incident, a moment ago on our journey here. A simple misunderstanding.” Which Celestia really hoped would not repeat itself inside the library.

“And it’s just going to take me a moment to get everything straightened out.” Angry voices were starting to make their way through the open entrance of the library. Acting quickly, Celestia used her magic to close the doors and slide the locks into place. She turned back to the stallion with a slightly sheepish smile. He raised an eyebrow.

“It would be an honor to offer my services in anyway I can.” Black Step felt a slight chill go up his spine as he said those words.

“If you could just watch them.” Celestia pointed to her guests, who at the time seemed to be entranced by the tall standing lamps. She held her breath for a moment and was just able to stop the elder from using the end of his sheathed sword to poke one of the bulbs. Of course it meant that she had to use her magic to pull the offensive object away, but what was done was done. The diplomats chattered and checked the sword over before giving her a worried look and moving away from the lamps.

“We don’t really allow pets within the library.”

“That’s the problem I’m afraid. Black Step, those two are the Diplomats that I have been escorting here.” Celestia pointed towards the two bipeds who were now peaking out of the window at the crowd they could all hear outside before running their hands on the glass in a stroking fashion. Ignoring the strange behaviour Celestia focused on the matter at hoof. She was going to have to explain about the horses and diplomats to Manehattan’s in a moment so she might as well have a practice run on somepony that had not been stirred up to a frenzy first.

The stallion, and the recovering golden mare, looked at Celestia in disbelief, or as though they expected a joke, before looking at the strange two legged creatures that were clothed from head to hoof, and talking in some unknown language.

“But then, what of your other guests?” It was the mare that spoken this time. Her colour had returned and she looked more curious than cautious now.

“I know it will sounds strange at first, but these two equines have more in common with a dog than either you or I. They don't seem to have any grasp of language other than maybe a few commands from the bipeds and simple body language between each other.” Both of the ponies gasped but strangely it was the mare who recovered.

“Thats incredible!” The golden female moved forward while grabbing quill and parchment from nearby with her magic.

“Are they safe?” She asked. Celestia nodded.

“So long as you don’t go too close. They seem fearful of anything new. The bipeds use them for transport and to carry equipment but from what I have seen it is an almost symbiotic relationship. They utilize the mountain horse’s strength and speed and in return they are cared and tended to.” It felt good to talk about what Celestia had seen as well as the conclusions she had come to while watching the odd group.

“This could be groundbreaking! To think, a non-sapient ungulate! Studies might even reveal the moment in which a species develops from sentient to higher learning.” The mare continued to watch while the quill danced across the page.

“That’s Papyrus, one of our historical experts. I’m afraid you won’t get much sense out of her now.” Black Step would have rolled his eyes at his colleagues antics if he was not currently in the presence of royalty. Celestia however gave a gentle laugh.

“I’ve known a few ponies like that in my time. One in particular would become so obsessed over such simple things that she would have to be reminded to eat and sleep.” Before she could reminisce any further there was a firm knock on the library doors.

“Princess Celestia, are you in there?” Celestia recognized Steadfast’s voice. She knew she would not be able to put off the address to the ponies of Manehattan any further. The bolts across the door were smoothly pushed aside with a satisfying click. The Princess took a final look behind her at the Diplomats.

She pointed at both of them in turn with a hoof.

“Stay.” With that simply yet pleading command the Princess opened and walked through the door calmly into the wall of voices ready to engulf her.

Black Step watched as the Two-legs moved with uncertainty towards the opening before the door closed firmly, bolts sliding back into place. Meanwhile Papyrus was still enraptured by the beast horses, she barely gave a glance to the other creatures that they now shared their space. That was to be expected. She tended to focus exclusively on ancient pony, zebra or donkey cultures. Amongst the rest of his staff however Dusty Quill came to mind. He was an expert with cultures outside of the norm; griffon, diamond dog, minotaur and even dragon. There would be no one better to offload/introduce these new creatures to. Black tried to remember where he had seen the griffon last.

Outside the library there was no problem with finding anyone as it looked like most of Manehattan was packed into the grounds around the building. The royal guard had formed around the main steps to stop anypony, either on hoof or wing, from getting close to the entrance way. Sycamore and the rest of the Manehattan police had taken up the difficult job of keeping everypony under control, which was easier said than done when a few individuals used the mob to their advantage.

Flashes of light caught Celestia’s attention first as she noticed a group of newsponies trying to push their way to the front of the crowd. Police stood, and flew, to try keeping them back but there was little they could do to stop the cameras from doing their jobs.

“Captain Mistral please allow the media access to the front, we need to make sure they can hear exactly what I’m about to say.” It was going to take a lot of work to repair this but if she can get the newspapers on her side then she can let them get the word out to the rest of Manhattan.

Voices started to shout out. Questions. Demands. Mostly varying on just two issues. Firstly; where were the Diplomats. Secondly; what was she going to do about them.

“Ponies of Manhattan.” Celestia waited a few moment for the crowd to die down to a hush.

“Today I brought two very distinguished guests to your great city. Two diplomats from a land far outside of Equestria’s reach. They do not speak our language. They do not know our customs. Just as we don’t know theirs.” Celestia tried to ignore the comment that flew up from one pony about fouling in the street not being a custom he wanted to know.

“They have reached out to meet us and must have traveled a great distance to get here. Yet it is not Canterlot they traveled to. Nor even the Crystal empire. Instead they chose to come here, to Manehattan.” Celestia watched a little pride swell in the crowd. Everypony wanted to feel that their home was special.

“Alongside the diplomats are two others.” The Princess took a moment the pause and try to ease her suddenly dry throat.

“They are primitive in their thoughts and actions yet even they might open up a whole new understanding of our world and ourselves.” Whispers floated on the air.

“It is because of this innocence that I ask you all to be understanding and to forgive the mountain horses for their actions. No offence was meant. The Diplomats have now learnt that it was unacceptable behaviour and I am sure they will do their utmost to prevent their companions from committing the same mistake.”

It was one of the reporters that spoke first, his voice cutting through the confused drone.

“Princess Celestia, you can’t honestly be telling us that those, creatures, are in fact the diplomats you are referring to!”

“I am.” Uproar. Partly angry and confused but disbelief made up the largest portion of voices. Celestia gave them the time they needed to let the news sink in. She knew it was not due to the fact the diplomats were a little unusual to look at, there were plenty of races outside of the norm just in Equestria, it was the fact most of them now realized that the horses were nothing more than animals. It was still something Celestia herself was reluctant to fully believe, but try as she might to see some form of sapience in them, there was just nothing there. Maybe with more research there would be more answers.

“Princess!” Another reporter spoke up.

“You say we know nothing of these strangers, that you can’t even understand them, what’s to say they’ve not enslaved the horses or have them under some sort of magic!” Agreement rippled in the crowd. A spell would be much more likely than the possibility of some sort of primitive beast horse.

“I understand your skepticism and I can assure you that I, and other officials, will do our upmost to make sure no spell, enslavement or other unnatural methods are the cause of the horse's current mental state.

Those of us who have spent time with both the diplomats and their companions will confirm that we have witnessed no sign of aggression or violence from any of our guests.”

A blood curdling scream echoed from the Library causing many of the crowd to bolt. Loud bangs and crashes suddenly followed leaving Celestia to curse the universe's sense of humor and timing. As she quickly gathered her Guard, the Sun Princess had just one thought, if Discord was not behind this, then he was going to be very upset he hadn't come along with her.

Author's Note

Im on a roll!! Brownie points to anyone who can work out why I named the librarian Black Step.

Oh and a big thankyou to GMZ_Casper for helping me clean up this chapter.

Let sleeping dragons lie

“Good dragon, nice dragon. You stay on your side of the cave and I’ll stay on mine.” The words were breathed out of the helmet as much as they were spoken through its vents, and were quickly swallowed up by the cavern, hungry to consume all light and life. It was large and roomy, with the typical stalactites and stalagmites associated with a cave of this age, however, many of the more central spires and towers were broken and now little more than stumps jutting out of the floor and ceiling. The message was clear, something big had passed this way.

A far smaller creature then the one that had left its mark, carefully moved along the edges of the cavern, keeping as much rock and distance between itself and the sleeping mountain of scales. Heavy feet made surprisingly little noise against the stone underfoot, though that was mostly due to the layer of ash that coated everything; footprints would be left, but the owner of the feet was hoping to be long gone before the cave’s occupant would notice the disturbance to its decor. Slow breathing echoed around the cavern helping to mask any misstep, or other unintentional sound, that might cause the dreamer to stur. Its breath was hot and sulfurous, and almost seemed to cling to the vacating visitor like a blanket, before it would sweep past and raced to meet the cooler morning air. Almost out and with the light, quite literally, at the end of the tunnel, the dragon’s ‘guest’ quickened his pace. Luck, however, seem to leave him at that moment, as the sound of claws on stone and very large bones snapping into very large joints echoed around the cavern. Nap time was over.

A man, clad in metal, suddenly made an extremely quick, and extremely loud, exit from the cave that was situated in the side of an impressively large mountain. Behind him, and far closer than the man would have liked, trailed a dark green dragon whose blinking eyes and shaking head pertained that it had, until very recently, been asleep.

“Quick! Ready the horses!” The metal man shouted, with more than a little bit of panic staining his voice. The words were push forwards and towards a rocky outcrop, where two stocky horses were being restrained, though not without protest, by a wiry figure in the standard leather and cloth of a squire’s livery. The knight-in-training, who could be no more than fifteen of sixteen, was quick to unknot the grander and bulkier looking dappled, gray mare before going round to its right side to hold onto its saddle. The movements were quick and practiced, this, after all, was not the first time they had had to make a quick getaway, though this was the first dragon, unless you counted Madam Rillat three towns over.

The combination of clanging metal and reflective bursts of sunlight off the armor made the knight, for that was what his current apparel suggested he was, a rather hard to miss target, and, had the dragon been fully awake, the plume of fire that now stemmed from its jaws would have not fallen short of said target. Then again, this dragon had dealt with its fair share of knights, so perhaps it simply did not want to deal with clearing up a smoldering lump of metal and flesh; at least not first thing in the morning and before he had had his daily ash bath. The heat turned up, both metaphorically and quite literally, certainly gave the knight a little more speed so, for all intensive purposes, the fire had done its job.

With more grace than one would expect from a man covered in metal, the knight raised himself up into the saddle with ease, his weight counterbalanced via his squire on the other side to ease any strain on the horse.

“Get to Duty, that dragon won’t miss again.” Said the now mounted knight, who was having to rein in his steed as she danced with impatience and fear against her rider’s will. After all, there was a rather large dragon to take notice of, and horses were not stupid when it came to knowing what dragons tended to do with small herbivores. The youth took to the other horse, a dark bay, with a perfected agility, and very quickly both horses were given the chance to act on their instincts, which at this moment, told them to get the hell out of there.

The dragon yawned and blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision. He had not been expecting to have breakfast delivered, but, he was hardly going to look a pair of gift horses in their mouths.

The squire kept looking behind them while riding so saw when the green giant crouch low to the ground before springing up and catching the air beneath its wings. However it was only due to the experience of the bay mount, as well as its own need for self preservation, that stopped the youth from plowing into the other rider.

“Sir, the Dragon has taken flight!” Glancing over the knight took note of his ward, but did not bother looking further to the dragon.

“And so will you Boy! Give Duty his head. He’ll throw you if you don’t start riding with him and give him some rein. Now keep close, that Dragon won’t be able to follow us into these woods.” The silver pair turned to their left and were quickly swallowed up by the greenery closely followed by the younger brown pair, who seemed a little more reluctant. Having a dragon behind them, however, quelled any questions on the wisdom of riding, at full gallop, into a forest they knew nothing about.

Noticing that his meals had taken to the wood by his home, the dragon decided to take his time and gain a little height before he would start the hunt, after all the forest might be a good size, but it was barely a few wing flaps to reach either edge. All he needed to do is to wait for them to make a break for it, and their fate would be decided.

“Sir Wallace?!” The squire was forced to pull the gelding into a trot as soon as they had fully entered in emerald realm in order to avoid running into a tree or tripping over vegetation. Unfortunately this also meant losing sight of probably the only one who could get them out of this situation.

“Over here lad.” The knight trotted his mare over towards the youngsters while patting her neck. Neither of the horses were particularly fond of the closeness of the woods, and being cut off from any open route, should they need to run, was hardly reassuring, but they had enough faith in their riders to stay relatively calm. He lifted his visor up and motioned with a finger to his lips.

“Keep ya voice down, we’ve got some nasties lurking.” Sir Wallace’s words sounded one part warning and two parts excitement, after all nothing got a knight in a good mood better than getting one over on a dragon.

“What sort of nasties? Goblins?” The squire looked around nervously. Goblins were a pain to deal with, especially when you were in their territory as they always had all sorts of traps and tricks setup. Not to mention they liked to hide until they had gathered a large enough group to simply swam over any sort of defence you could put up.

“No, not this close to a dragon. Dragons can’t stand the smell of them, and even if they could goblins are quick to try their hands at stealing from any treasure, and that is one traite no dragon will ignore. More likely pixies and sprites, so watch your footing. The last thing we need is to be dealing with those pests, I am still finding quilled arrows in my clothes from the last batch. Here you go Gideon, catch.” At his last words the knight tossed something that flashed green in the dappled light. It was about the same size and shape of a small dish, and a dull green colour when properly inspected. The squire, having caught the thing, turned it over a few times to marvel at it.

“Well at least you got the scale, why did you only take one?” Gideon turned to access the large pack that sat behind the saddle. It took a moment, but eventually the squire found what was needed and pulled out a small leather bag that sagged under the weight of whatever was held within.

“I was hardly going to hang about any longer then I needed to. Beside, dragons prefer to burn their scales off rather than let them fall naturally. I was lucky to find that one. Just be glad that it’s the last ingredient.” Sir Wallace looked up, as did both the horses and Gideon, a thunderous roar echoed around them.

“Sounds like our cue to get out of here Boy. Powder it up with the rest and lets see if we can’t rob this dragon of a meal.”

Gideon nodded and placed the scale into the bag of powder. Once the drawstring was pulled, the bulge of where the scale edges pushed against the leather walls began to shrink back, until the squire was able to feel nothing more solid than sand within the bag.

“This will work won’t it? I don’t really like the idea of going back out there.” The dragon let off another roar which caused both of the horses to pull at their reins and worry the mulch beneath their hooves. It would seem that the equines felt much the same about that plan of action.

“Steady there Honor, good girl.” The knight patted his steed on her neck a few times before stroking her absently.

“Have a little faith lad, these powders are perfectly safe so long as you know what you are doing. Lucky for you I do. Now lets go find an open patch in this wood before the sun sinks too low.” At this the knight dismounted and pulled the mare’s reins over her head so he could lead her on.

“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have bought some travel powder from that vendor in Lillyoak.” Gideon copied the knights actions thus soon the human pair were both walking either side as their mounts trailed behind.

“Two reasons lad. One, I only buy from vendors I know I can trust. This is not the sort of magic you want to take chances on. If you are lucky, and you just get a bad batch, it will simply fizzle out and not work. If you are not so lucky you can end up stuck inside a rock or teleported a league above the ground - very messy.” The squire gave a visible shake, that was not a nice way to go.

“So, what about the second reason?”

“This is useful stuff for a squire, and in turn, a knight, to know. Now answer me, why is it we need sunlight.” Sir Wallace watched as his ward turned his mind away from the possible grisly outcomes of teleporting and instead focus on his teachings.

“Sunlight is needed to activate the magic, it is the trigger.” A thought crept through the teens head.

“But then, couldn't we just use a word trigger? Like that fire scroll you used?”

“A good question, but you see Giddy, word triggers are hard to craft into spells. The scroll was from a mage, as they tend to be the only ones that can craft anything that complex. This powder might be primitive but it’ll do the job. Now we could have added silver instead of gold than the powder would have activated by moonlight instead of sunlight, but most moon triggered spells only reach full potential on a full moon.”

“OK, that makes sense. Oh Sir there is a clearing over here.” The squire pushed past some vegetation to reach the open area where the sunlight was able to reach the ground. It was a perfect spot to cast the spell as it was free of anything that might get in the way.

“Gideon, what have I told you about not looking where you are walking” Sir Wallace sounded disappointed and it was that tone that stopped the youth.

“What do you mean?” Gideon turned to see Sir Wall and Honor standing on the edge of the glade but not within it. His arms were folded as he glared with his ‘you dug the hole, you fill it in’ face. Looking around Gideon tried to see where the mistake had been made. The place was open and large enough for the both of them and the horses to stand, though, it was a little odd that the clearing seemed to be almost perfectly round. A small bit of information tickled inside the pupil’s head before the mistake was picked up. Mushrooms. Well toadstools to be exact. They were dotted around the outside of the circle, almost holding the forest back. This was a fairy ring.

“Not again!”

“Yes, again. What is this, your fourth time in two years now? How on earth you managed not to be carted off by the fae before you signed up with me I don’t know. Go on you know the drill.” The knight showed little to no worry, he was mostly just enjoying his students embarrassment.

Gideon grumbled as a loaf of bread was pulled out of the bag as well as some cheese before braking, what would have been lunch, in half to lay on the ground at the center of the fairy ring.

“No Gideon, all of it, and some of Duty’s mane to since he crossed the circle along with you.”

“But...” Gideon held back any protest, it was no use arguing with Sir Wallace, after all ‘Sir Wall’ was more than just a nickname. Once he decided on something he was not going to move from it. The youth, after giving up what little rations they had saved for the rest of their journey, walked over to the bay, who at least had enough sense not to eat the grass from the fairy ring. Gideon ran long and nimble fingers through the horse’s mane to pull loose a good handful of black strands. These were also left in the center, held down beneath the bread and cheese.

With the payment made the two left the enchanted glade feeling only a small amount of resistance as they passed over the toadstools. Sir Wallace had already turned his back on the innocent looking clearing and was making his way back into the forests embrace. Gideon made sure to also keep the glade out of sight, even when the sound of childlike laughter could be heard emanating from behind.

“Your lucky lad, had you tried to cast the transport powder in the middle of a fairy ring you could have ended up anywhere.”

“Really? But how would that have made a difference?”

“The environment is always buzzing with magic, and that can get tangled up with any spell you cast. Normally it is not enough to affect a spell, most times it just helps to power it, but you always have to be careful around any sources of power.” With the lesson over Sir Wallaces tone changed to become more playful.

“Now, if you have finished trying to lure a fairy bride, I think I see another small clearing up ahead.”

Gideon blushed. It was common knowledge what happened to young lads that were caught by the Fair folk, and that was a situation would not end well, for either parties involved.

The second clearing proved to be far less fae made and was due to an old tree having come to the end of its life and finally falling after the insects of the forest had eaten away at its supporting roots. It was a messy opening but that hardly mattered, the sun was above and there was enough room for the group of four to stand side by side.

The knight removed both of his gauntlets and wiggled his fingers slightly in his thin leather gloves before placing the metal pieces into his own smaller bag on Honor. He also fished out a small leather pouch.

“Right then lad, hand me the bag and I will lay in our destination” This task proved to be no more difficult than adding a handful of dirt to the awaiting mixture.

“Good rich soil from Saltridge, and from there it is only a days ride to reach the port of Tal’fort. I’m looking forward to a nice big fish dinner and a stiff drink.” The talk of fish only made Gideon’s stomach grumble in protest, it would be at least a day before it would get much to eat. Stupid fairies.

“Perfect.” Said Sir Wallace wiping the remainder of the soil from his gloves.

“Take a wiff of that lad. Thats what top grade, fresh, travel powder should smell like.” The squire leaned in and took a smell of the dark, but slightly glistening dust, inside the bag.

“Ugh, it smells like charcoal and..umm.”

“Wet dog, at least thats what it has always reminded me of. You ready then lad?” Gideon nodded and held tightly to Duty’s reins in order to stop him from running off when they reached Saltridge. Using travel powder was hardly the nicest of ways to travel but it certainly beat riding for three weeks on no rations.

“Of we go then.” Turning the bag inside out Sir Wallace readied his hand to catch the dust. It immediately started to glow gold as the sun touched it and as soon as the bag was empty the knight tossed the glowing powder into the air above to let it fall and encase the travelers.

The glow was in fact bright enough to catch the eye of a certain flying reptile, who was becoming rather impatient that breakfast was going to end up becoming lunch if it didn’t hurry up. Feeling the human magic, and not wanting to let the little thief of a knight; for the dragon was sure the knight must have taken something from his hoard, get away without so much as a scorch mark was unthinkable. He did, after all, have a reputation to uphold. The dragon let off a focused fire ball at the golden glow.

The dust had grown around the four in a matter of seconds, and swirled like liquid sunlight as each grain took its turn to charge up in the heavenly fire ball’s energy. Unfortunately just as the spell had reached its peak another fiery ball decided to give it a boost, this time with very different implications. The heat seemed to melt the sand like dust into a twisted golden ball of glass which glowed from the inside, not with a soft golden light however, but a harsh white light that intensified with every moment until...

SMASH

The ‘glass’ shattered and tinkled to the ground as small fires burnt along the now charred remains of the old tree. There was no trace of the humans, or the horses, not even their smoldering remains. Upon seeing his failure, as well as the resulting mess that his shot had made, the dragon thought it best if he also disappear before his tiny neighbours decided to retaliate. Even so, if that knight ever showed his face around this area again he was going to end up welded to his caves entrance.

“Wow, that home made stuff really packs a punch” Gideon was having to hold onto Duty till he calmed down. The gelding had only traveled by powder once before, and even then he had not liked it, but this time had been enough to shake even Honor who was usually no problem.

“You can say that again. That forest must have been really old to give the spell that much of a boost. Steady girl, you're OK. That’s it. Maybe we were caught on a layline or somthing. Now lets see where we have ended up.” The knight mounted his now, almost, calm steed in order to get a higher view point. Green grass, rolling hills, a few trees dotted here and there. High mountains were visible from the north, they had been Sir Wallace's first clue that the spell had blown them off course. The problem now was working out how far off course.

“What do you mean ‘ended up’? Aren't we at Saltridge?” Having not been to Saltridge before Gideon had yet to realise that something was amiss.

“Not unless Mountain ranges grow like weeds.” Sir Wallace saw the panic flare in his ward’s eyes.

“Don’t worry lad, it’s quite normal to over shoot your destination when you get a little bit of stray magic into the mix. Think you can climb that tree there and give us a better idea of where we are? Maybe there is a town or a village we can head to.”

Gideon looked over to the tree and nodded. It was still a bit worrying that Sir Wallace didn’t know where they were, the man always seemed to know everything, but he was only human and there did have to be some limits to his knowledge. With Duty’s reins handed over to Sir Wall Gideon set to work on climbing a medium sized pear tree while also snagging one of the fruits on the way up.

“What can you see lad?”

“I can make out the sea to the east of us and...” Gideon used a hand to block out the sun’s glare from above but it still didn’t help give a clearer image of what was in view.

“I think I can see a really big town, no it must be a city”

“What do you mean ‘think’?”

“It doesn't look like any city I’ve ever seen. It has these big blocky towers sticking up with no rhyme or reason so I don’t think it is from a castle. There is a road that leads towards it, but even that looks weird.”

“Weird or not a road and a city are just what we need right now. Come on down and lets see just how weird this road is.

A short ride later had the pair looking down at a pair of very straight ‘roads’ running side by side and ribbed with metal and wood. The ground beneath and around the network was covered in rocks and gravel and there was a certain smell in the air, like ash and coal. It was certainly like nothing the squire had ever seen.

“I told you it was weird” Said Gideon matter of factly, happy to be right about something.

“I admit that it is odd but only because of where it is. These are tracks, dwarves use them to move goods around their holds, but I have never heard of tracks being used above ground before.” A sound started coming from the west. At first the pair didn’t notice it because of how gradually it built up but their mounts certainly did and displayed their agitation through head tossing and ground pawing.

“Sir what is that?”

The ‘thing’ making its way both quickly and loudly towards them billowed thick smoke above it. It looked to be maybe a little bigger then a carriage in height though it snaked back along the track for quite a distance.

“Easy lad, see it’s keeping to the tracks. Lets just back up and give it some space. I don’t know what Kingdom we have ended up in but it would seen the dwarves have shared their secrets with them. This must just be some new form of transport.” Moving a good distance back away from the tracks, and the approaching hulk, the small party stood and watched as the contraption got closer before passing by them. It was at that moment that the humans were greeted with possibly the strangest sight either had ever seen in their lives, and that was saying a lot for Sir Wall, who had once seen an orc who thought it fashionable to braid live pixies into her back hair.

The contraption was divided up into sections, most of which had windows all along their sides. Sir Wallace had been right to guess that it was designed for transportation but as for what it was transporting, well that was when things really took a strange turn. Miniature horses, tiny little ponies of every color imaginable, some of them even had clothes and hats on, and pretty much all of them had an expression of either fear or wonder, normally both, directed towards the mounted pair. One of the creatures held up a black box which caused a flash of light to dazzle both of the humans, who sat with their mouths agape, on top of their mounts, who were dancing around and trying to keep from panicking as the great beast roared past.

As the contraption finally ended, the pair were left looking at its back slowly shrinking away and where a light gray pony, with a blond mane and tail, clung to a railing with one hoof and waved at them slowly with the other. Then, as the thing faded from view, Gideon heard, for the first time in memory, Sir Wallace swear.